Spaghetti Tuesdays
A Bethyl/Aaric one-shot
The house smelled amazing. The scent of tomatoes and garlic cooking wafted through the air like a thick perfume as Beth and Eric hummed and danced a little around the kitchen.
They had the process for making this sauce down to an art. It turned out perfect every time now. When they had first started this tradition, both of them had failed miserably at making the sauce from scratch.
Daryl and Aaron being the gentleman they were had never mentioned how terribly they had messed up. They just kept their heads down to their plates and choked back the god awful liquid their lovers had tried to pass off as spaghetti sauce, neither of them wanting to hurt their feelings.
Beth and Eric would just laugh when they tried to convince them it was good.
Both of them knew it was horrible but they applauded those two for trying to make them feel better. They didn't have to lie anymore though because between Beth growing those fresh tomatoes in their back yard and Eric getting an impressive herb garden started, their spaghetti sauce was envied by everyone else in the community.
"Beth I honestly don't know why we still call it spaghetti Tuesday. I mean, based on the calendars Alexandria goes by, we've been having spaghetti Tuesdays on Wednesdays for the last two months. We should probably just change it by now." Eric said.
Beth laughed, "Yeah I guess you're right. Spaghetti Tuesday just sounds better than spaghetti Wednesday."
They both continued to work Beth singing and Eric humming along. This was their usual routine when they made dinner.
It wasn't that they had started out intentionally trying call it Tuesday on Wednesday. When they had planned it out, spaghetti night was supposed to actually happen on Tuesdays. But as it often did, life got in the way several times over the last couple of months.
Once it was Beth was sick, they postponed until the next day. Then Daryl and Aaron had run overtime on their recruiting a few times. Once they had been made to wait an extra day to be rationed their pasta. Eric was right, for the past two months or so they had been having spaghetti every Wednesday.
"Hey Eric," Beth called over her shoulder "I hereby declare that we have Spaghetti Tuesday every Wednesday from here on out." She flashed a smile that was almost bigger than she was.
He chuckled at the officialness she tried to portray in her voice.
"Sure Beth, I think we can manage to talk our husbands into that." He joked back.
They went back to their dinner preparation. It wouldn't be long before it was time to eat.
Aaron and Daryl came clambering through the door right about the time dinner was ready. They seemed to have an uncanny ability to know exactly when they needed to be home.
Beth ran over wrapping herself around Daryl. Eric pulled Aaron in for a kiss, which he quickly cut short.
Wrinkling up his nose he said, "You know, when I went recruiting with you, you never seemed to come back this filthy."
All four of them laughed.
"I blame you Daryl." Eric stated.
"Yer welcome." Daryl snorted.
Aaron leaned in and pressed and soft kiss to Eric's forehead. "Why don't I just go shower before we eat then."
"Yes, please." Eric called after him, he had already started towards their bathroom upstairs.
"Got tha man wrapped around ya damn finger." Daryl prodded Eric.
The other man opened his mouth to respond but Beth beat him to it. "Oh no, yer showering too."
"What but…" Daryl started to protest.
Beth just propped her hands on her hips and cocked them out to the side. She looked up at him and he could tell by the fire in her eyes that she meant business. "Yer not sittin' down to our dinner table like that. Yer nasty Mr. Dixon."
"Yeah, yeah, ok." He mumbled as stalked off to their bathroom downstairs. Trying his best to act like he hadn't just backed down from a five-foot-nothing, woman who barely made it over 100 pounds soaking wet.
When they heard the bathroom door shut, Beth and Eric went back into the kitchen to start bringing everything out to set the table.
"You do realize that we run this household right?" Eric asked her, pride swirling through his words with a hint of humor.
Beth giggled, "We know that, but we can't tell them." She motioned with her head in the direction of were the other men were cleaning themselves up.
Dinner took place, same as it always did every week.
The air was filled with Eric and Beth chattering away while Aaron and Daryl would throw in the occasional "yeah" and "uh huh" to let them know they were listening.
They mostly just gazed beside them in wonder of how either of them had gotten lucky enough to find people that were so amazing. They'd talked about it when they were out on recruitment trips together and neither of them knew what they had done to earn love as amazing as they had both found. It was a wonder to both of them.
So they just sat in awe as Beth and Eric told them all about their day together and the things that they had done. It wasn't until one of them asked how the other's day had gone that Aaron would begin recounting the day they had had outside the walls. Daryl would throw in a few words here and there.
Then they would all stop and turn and look at Daryl as he slurped his spaghetti off his hands. They had convinced him, at one point, to use a fork but he always ended up elbow deep in noodles and sauce. He would always stop and look up with pasta hanging off his lips and grunt "What?" and then grin. The other three would just take turns saying "Oh nothing." And the whole group would crack up into laughter.
It was familiar to all of them. Being in this house with each other was just comfortable; it felt like home to them. They all felt safe inside the walls of Alexandria but none of them really felt at ease until they were inside the walls of their house.
In their home they are away from the prying, judging eyes of everyone else in the community. In their home they don't feel like they are being judged or looked at like outsiders. In their home they could all feel free to be themselves and none of them could be any happier.
So they will continue to enjoy their time spent at home with each other and they will continue having Spaghetti Tuesday on Wednesday.
AN: So this is a random one shot that I really wanted to write. I love Beth and Daryl and I also really like Aaron and Eric, they are awesome. I could totally see them all being friends