This is only a oneshot. I'm sorry for the delay in my other stories, but school is kicking my ass, so here is a short oneshot for Daryl that I wrote a while back on this blog that I'm an admin on:
post/91928670011/brightly-colored-underwear
With love,
-Nebula
-
"Come on, Y/N!" You hear Carol's voice chirp happily before shooting up from your prison bed. You look over to her head that peaks through the makeshift curtain you had made. You blink rapidly, trying to focus your weary eyes.
"I'll be there in a sec, Carol." You rub your eyes with a yawn. She leans against the cell door without saying a word. You smile at her with a small laugh. "I'm going to get dressed now, Carol. It won't take that long, I promise."
"You better, Y/N, or I'll open your curtains in the morning." She threatens you playfully. You roll your eyes and smile at her before shooing her away. Once Carol leaves and close your curtain, quickly dressing into your favorite tank top and a clean pair of jeans. Sitting on your bed, you pull on your boots. You quickly get up and grab the pile of dirty clothes that you accumulated in the corner.
Nudging your way around your curtains, you lean against the second floor railings. Looking over Cell Block C, you can hear the snoring's of people in your group. You snicker to yourself as you back up before hitting something and dropping a few pieces of clothing.
"Sorry." You heard the gruff southern accent behind you. You spin around to see Daryl looking down at the ground at your clothes. A silent gasp leaves your mouth as your realize that in that pile of clothes, you can easily spot your brightly colored underwear. Your cheeks begin to burn as you try and kneel down to pick up the clothes, only for more clothes to slip from your hands. "Just-" Daryl lets out a small quick sigh as he begins to grab your clothes off the ground. "Here." He says, picking up the last of the pile and putting it on top of the pile in your hands.
"S-sorry." You mutter lowly, feeling your cheeks burning sensation lead to your ears. Your eyes darted from the pile of clothes in your hands to Daryl's face. He shakes his head.
"Just don't carry so much with you at once, sunshine." His gruff voice made you blink up to him. He gives you a small smile. "What's with all them clothes anyway?" He questions.
"I…uh, I have to round up clothes for laundry today." He raised an eyebrow at you again. "I lost a bet against Maggie…And I like to get all of my clothes washed before everyone wakes up." You explain quickly, feeling your face begin to burn.
"What was the bet?" He asks, folding his arms.
"Oh…nothing." You lie. He raises an eyebrow at you, quizzically before he starts to give you a small smirk. "What?" You question quickly. He shakes his head.
"Did you play Blackjack against her?" He questions. You only look down. "Don't play Blackjack against Maggie." He grumbles. You raise an eyebrow this time. "She's never lost a game." He chuckles lowly.
"Well, I'm glad I know now." You sass him. He gives you a small smile, looking up through his eyelashes with his light blue eyes. You could stay and look at this man all day.
"I better get goin' though, my watch starts soon." He looks down; breaking that ungodly trance he put you in.
"Oh, uh, yeah, I better get going too. Carol will have my head otherwise." You smile at him, hoping he hadn't realized that you had been staring. What were you supposed to do anyways? Talk to him? What would you say?
"Gosh Daryl, I really like to look at you! Your eyes make me melt! Your voice makes my knees weak! Let me sell you an indulgence because it's a sin to look as good as you do!" You think to yourself, making yourself laugh. He gives you a judging look before he shakes his head and starts heading down the stairs. "Don't judge me." You snap at him, which only gains you an eye roll.
"Don't put your underwear on the top of your pile." He calls back. Your eyes widen, feeling your ears heat up at the remark. He looks back up to you with his smirk. You grumble quietly.
You hope that it wasn't too obvious; how you acted around Daryl. You were hopelessly in love with the guy. You don't remember what drew you to him when you first joined the group back in Atlanta. I guess compared to his brother, Merle, he was a saint. He cares about the group, even if he tries to hide it behind his tough badass attitude.
You only needed to see his concerned face once to know how he looked at others. When you dislocated your shoulder back in winter while clearing out a house, he gave you the most concerned look. Hershel ultimately said after it was popped back in place, it just needed a few days to heal. That look of concern only became larger when Daryl was the one who had to pop the shoulder back into place. Maybe his whole face didn't show it, but his eyes did. Or maybe you were just imagining things.
Besides, how in the world could Daryl Dixon ever feel this way about you? He cared about people, yes, but never has he shown affection. Not the kind of affection that you tried to hide from him. You knew who he was and who he was when he pretended to be someone else. And sometimes, you just wanted to throw him into a bed and take care of him. A lot of things go onto Rick's shoulders, but no one ever realizes how much goes onto Daryl's as well. He could try and hide his worried and stressful faces from everyone else, but you could easily see the lines under his eyes.
You sigh as you finally found your way out into the morning air. You see Carol sitting in the shade with two washboards and two buckets. You walk over to her quickly.
"Hey Carol." You smile at her as you enjoy the early morning breeze. She smiles up at you and pats the ground beside her.
"Come on then, if you want to get all of your clothes done before everyone wakes up, you best do it now." She hands you a washboard as you sit on your knees and begin to scrub your dirty pants in the bucket.
~*~
You had finally finished up the last of the laundry on your own. Carol had gone to help Beth prepare dinner, leaving you to carry the clothes back to their rightful owners. You started carrying the large pile of dry laundry back to Cell Block C as the sky began to fade to black.
As you walk into the block, you could easily smell the prison food cooking. Your stomach growled quietly. Ignoring your hunger, you start your route for giving people their clothes. It would have been a bitch to sort out which clothes were which if you didn't have a system. A small piece of each different person's clothing pile stuck out so you could identify whose pile belonged to whom.
"Hey Carl." You say at the young boy when you walk into his cell. He looks up from his unknown comic book as you place his pile of clothes at his feet.
"Hey." He nods, looking back down at his comic. You read the cover. Batman: Joker's Asylum.
"Really, Carl. I thought you were better than this!" You say dramatically. He looks up at you, his eyes widening in concern. "You have betrayed me, Carl!" You say as the back of your hand covers your eyes. "You're reading…DC!" You pretend to cry. He lets out a grumble as he takes in a breath. You laugh as he glares at you.
"Don't do that, Y/N!" He hisses. "I thought it was something serious!" He snaps again. You laugh before you ruffle his hair, gaining another glare.
"Carl, you're so cute when you're mad!" You snicker. "I've known you since you were 12, Carly." You tap his nose. "You aren't very intimidating. Now, stop disappointing me and read those Marvel comics I found you!" You call as you walk out of his cell.
"I read what I want, Y/N!" You hear Carl sass, which only makes you laugh again. Carl was like the little brother you never had. You just had to torment him.
"Y/N, are you pestering Carl again?" Hershel asks you as you walk into his room, placing his pile of clothes on his bed. You shrug innocently.
"Maybe." You smile at him. He shakes his head at you as he continues reading his book without a front cover to it.
You walked up to Michonne's cell before knocking on the side of the cell door. She was new to the group and you didn't want to barge into her space like you had with everyone else. You peek your head into her cell. You see her lying on her bed, looking up at you. "Sorry, I just wanted drop these off to you." You apologize, laying her small pile on her bed.
"I don't bite." She says. You shake your head at her, trying to let your body relax.
"And I hope we keep you like that too." You smile at her meekly. She raises an eyebrow with a small smile. "I know that's not what you meant." You verify.
"Really? I would never have guessed." She sasses you. You're taken back in surprise. You hadn't really gotten to know the new group member, due to this "war" with Woodbury. She smiles at you innocently. You nod your head in approval.
"Not bad, Michonne, not bad." You compliment her before you wave yourself off and leave, going to everyone else's room before your own.
Laying your clothes on your bed, you notice your brightly colored underwear gone. You groan to yourself as you rummage in your pile before setting out to look. You walk past Merle's cell, seeing Daryl and him. You hope they don't see you looking around on the ground. One Dixon brother seeing your undies was enough.
As you started to walk towards the door to the prison yard, you hear your name being called from the cafeteria. A light sigh leaves your lips as you turn yourself around. Carol looks over to you with a smile as you enter the cafeteria. You hear Beth humming beside Carol.
"Hey, Y/N." Carol smiles before turning back to the cooking food. "Would you mind calling to everyone that the foods done?" She questioned as Beth turned around and waves to you before grabbing plates.
"Sure. Where is everyone?" You ask. Beth turns to face you fully now. "Well, when I say everyone, I mean Rick, Glenn and Maggie."
"Well, I think Rick's doing a round up in the catwalk, and Maggie went up to talk to Glenn in the watch tower." She rattled off the names. You snicker to yourself.
"Maggie and Glenn just talking?" Carol snorts as Beth swats at you, making you laugh again. "Alright, alright, I'll go get them. Carol, you owe me tomorrow." You warn her lightly.
"Got it covered. Maggie may be good at Blackjack, but she's not too good at Solitary." Carol winks. You and Beth laugh before you make your way out to find Rick, and later call up to Glenn and Maggie.
~*~
"Everyone's coming down tonight, it seems." You smile at Beth, knowing she loves everyone sitting down together. She nods, looking at everyone walking into the cafeteria, humming a quiet melody to herself.
Your eyes drift across everyone's face until you see those light blue eyes. You blink as you realized that those blue eyes were looking back at you. You took in a sharp breath before looking down. Maybe it was the underwear thing this morning, but all of your subtly seemed to be gone. Beth looked over at you.
"You okay?" She questions. You nod at her too quickly for your liking. Her eyes begin to travel in the direction you had been looking at. Thankfully, Daryl had moved.
Your eyes traveled the room again. You see him looking around the room and biting the inside of his lip. You raise an eyebrow at him, hoping he glances over to you to see your questioning look. His eyes finally travel back around and meet yours. He blinks and shakes his head towards you before looking back to the ground and leaving.
"Maybe someone should go get Merle." Beth says, breaking your thoughts of Daryl's strange behavior. You look over to her.
"Hmm?" You question before you shake your head. "Oh, um, I'll go get him." She looks over at you, confused that you would even want to talk to the man. "What? You suggested it." You defend yourself.
"I know, but you've been running around doing everyone's chores today." She replies. You only shrug. "I thought you might need a break."
"I'll be fine, Bethy. What's a little more walking going to do?" You question her with a smile before patting her shoulder and walking back to Cell Block C. You walk down the darkening hallway quickly. "Merle?" You question loudly as you get closer to his cell.
"What?" Merle questions, sitting on his bed. You lean against the cell's door.
"Come on, food's done." You reply. His eyebrows furrow together. "Don't act so surprised. Someone might think you're an innocent little boy." You coo at him sarcastically. He rolls his eyes and chuckles.
"At least I don't got brightly colored panties." Your eyes widen as you feel your face start to burn. He chuckles at you. You can only glare.
"H-How do you know about-" He cuts you off as he flings your underwear like a slingshot at your face. You grab the bright colored cloth quickly, hiding it behind your back.
"Maybe you shouldn't carry so much laundry around." He leans his back up against the wall, closest to his bed.
"Maybe you shouldn't have gone and cut off your hand." You fold your arms, keeping your underwear tightly in your fist, out of site. He shakes his head and laughed.
"Touché." He shrugs off the comment. "I never realized how sassy you were, Y/N." You roll your eyes this time. You knew where this was going.
"Yes you did." You replied curtly. "So don't try and butter me up to try and wonder why we haven't had sex." He put his hands up in defense.
"Damn, Y/N. Put me into my place. And I would never do that to my dear little brother." He smirks as you cock your head at him, confused. He swats you off "Almost forgot that the cat's got claws." He said before meowing playfully. You can't help but burst out and laugh at him. You hear Merle chuckle against your slightly louder laughter.
"He was probably just being an ass with the Daryl thing." You convince yourself. Behind you, you hear a throat clear. You grab your knife before spinning around and seeing Daryl. His eyes are locked onto Merle's.
"Jesus, Daryl! You're going to get yourself stabbed if you sneak up on me again!" You scold him, sheathing your knife. He looks back at you quickly.
"Sorry." He mumbles before his attention snaps back to Merle as he chuckles.
"I never knew you was whipped, little brother." Merle smirks. You look back at Merle and glare. "Cats were like Gods in Ancient Egypt." He directs his smirk back to you.
"I ain't whipped. I just know how to be polite." Daryl hisses back at Merle, ignoring the cat comment. His whole body became tense as Merle laughed again. Your hand slowly grazes Daryl's.
"Merle, just go get your food. This might be the only time you're actually welcomed." You hiss before you felt your hand be pushed away. Merle put up his hands as he smirked.
"Alright, alright, no need to get those pretty little panties of yours in a twist." He laughs as he stands up and nods towards your underwear on the ground. Your face lights up. You must have dropped them while grabbing your knife. Scrambling to grab them, Merle gets off his bed. You stand up quickly as he walks by, winking. You see Daryl's fists begin to ball up before you brush your hand over his again. Daryl blinks as Merle starts walking towards the cafeteria.
"He isn't worth it." You say softly, trying to calm the man down. He shakes his head and walks out of Merle's cell, with you close behind.
"Not worth it, my ass, Y/N." Daryl hisses. "How could you let him talk to you like that?" He begins to pace before you grab his wrist gently, stopping him instantly. He huffs before turning back around and looking at you.
"He's doing it to get under my skin, Daryl." You say gently, hoping the man will calm down. He pulls his wrist away from your grip.
"That don't make it right." He snaps. You shake your head.
"You're right, but-" He shakes his head now, interrupting you.
"There ain't no buts." He growls. Annoyance begins to seep through as you roll your eyes at the burly man.
"Merle's an asshole to everyone. Why am I any different than the rest of the group?" You can see his eyes narrow in the moonlight shining through the prison's window bars. You gulp subconsciously.
"You ain't." He hisses at you. You roll your eyes at him before you begin to lean up against the closest wall. Something inside of you begins to swell. You weren't special. You were…you were just you.
"So why stop when I tell you not to kick Merle's ass? You don't need to ask me for permission to kick anyone's ass." You snap at him. He glares at you as he starts to close the space between the two of you.
"And I don't need to nice to your sorry ass either!" He snaps again. You roll your eyes at him, still feeling the swelling in your chest.
"I never asked you to be nice to me, Daryl." You snap back at him. He lets out a small, dark chuckle making the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
"You're right. You didn't ask me to be nice to you. I wanted to be nice to you because if I weren't, no one would be. You ain't the friendliest person here, Y/N." You suck in the air around you. It felt like you were the oxygen from the air disappeared. "In fact, if I weren't nice to you back then, you'd probably still be out in those woods outside of Atlanta, or dead." You blink, shocked by his harsh words.
"Fine." You hiss out to him as the swelling in your chest begins to ache. "Why don't I just go back to those damn woods? See how long I last on my own!" You snap at him letting the anger bubble through your veins.
As you start to walk away, his arm blocks your exit. You turn back to glare at him just as his lips crash onto yours. Your whole body freezes before you realize what's happening. You feel your eyes flutter shut as your back touches the cold prison walls and your heart speed up. You didn't want to admit that you thought about what this would feel like, but in reality, you did. You thought about it more than once. The only difference was that his lips were a lot softer than you had imagined. You felt his hands begin to cup your face as your hands wandered up against his shirt before pulling it towards you. His lips suddenly leave yours. You blink rapidly, as you hear a light, shaky breathes leave his lips.
You looked at the light pink that spread across his cheeks in the moonlight. He suddenly pulled his hands away from your face. One flew behind his neck. You saw his mouth open and close as nothing came out of it. His eyes darted every way as he thought.
"Sorry." He mutters. A small giggle escaped your lips. He looked through those damn eyelashes of his with concern. "Don't say you'll leave." He mumbles as his eyes drop down. You raise an eyebrow. Suddenly, that tough, rugged badass was replaced by a nervous, sputtering man. "And…uh…don't talk to Merle." His eyes darted back to you.
"Someone jealous?" You question teasingly. He looks down again.
"I weren't jealous, Y/N." He denies quickly. "Just…uh… tellin' ya." He looks up at you again.
"Fine by me, as long as I can do this-" He cocks his head before you pull his shirt down and steal one last kiss from him. His body relaxes against you hand. His lips soften before you pull yourself away and take in your own shaky breaths. His eyes light up.
"Fine by me." He gives you a small smile. "Just…don't go droppin' these." He looks at you as his smile turns into a smirk. In his hand, you see your brightly colored underwear.