Title: Pretending
Prompt: Daryl gets tired of seeing Shane flirting with you and making you uncomfortable. So he steps up resulting in you and Daryl pretending to be a couple.
Paring: Daryl x Reader.
Warnings: Sexual Assault.
Word Count:1751.

You sat in a chair near the campfire shelling peas from Hershel's garden. "You're good with your hands." Shane said from where he stood leaning on a tree with his forearm as he looked down at you. You inwardly cringed at his flirting as you ignored him and continued with your work. "How bout when you're done with that you meet me in my tent and show me what else you can do with them?"

You bit your lips closed in an attempt to keep your mouth shut as you stood up and pored the shelled peas into the pot over the fire. You could feel him staring at you as you walked away.

Little did you know that Daryl heard you call Shane a creep under your breath as you walked away and when Daryl turned his eyes to Shane he saw the man glaring at you as if he wanted to eat you alive. Later that night Daryl glanced at you over the campfire to see Shane run his hand down your shoulder and complement you on your smooth skin. He also saw you scoot away and the shudder you tried so hard to hide. Daryl found himself clenching his fists at his sides as he glared at Shane.

"So, Y/N, any plans for tonight?" Shane asked as you headed to your tent which you had set up a good distance away from everyone else.

"Yeah, sleep." You answered flatly.

"That sounds boring. Why don't you spend the night with me?" He asked with a tone that was meant to seduce.

"Why don't I go to my tent and get some sleep?" you asked back as you came to your tent. As you bent down to unzip the door he grabbed your butt.

You jumped and spun around almost falling on your tent in the process. But you didn't have a chance to fall because he caught you and pulled you into him. "Shane!" you yelled out of surprise.

"That's right baby, say my name." he said as he leaned down to kiss you. You turned away and he ended up kissing your neck.

"Let me go." You said, twisting in his grip as you pushed at his shoulders, but he didn't listen. "Shane, stop!" You yelled now in full panic mode. Your body shook, and you felt like you couldn't breath.

"Hey!" Daryl's voice boomed over the two of you and Shane finally let you go. You stumbled away from him and landed on your butt on the ground. Daryl ignored you and moved to stand chest to chest with Shane. "The woman said stop."

"What, you stalkin' us Dixon?" Shane asked.

"Walk away." Daryl warned.

"Na, I don't think I will." Shane made a move toward you, but Daryl put a hand on his chest and pushed him back.

"Leave her alone, man, she ain't interested." Daryl defended.

While they argued you shakily picked yourself up off the ground to stand behind Daryl. "What, you think she's interested in your redneck ass?" Shane scoffed.

"Maybe I am." You surprised everyone, including yourself, when the words left your mouth. Daryl turned and gave you a questioning look. You immediately regretted telling the lie, but you were stuck now so you had to roll with it.

So you stepped up to Daryl and wrapped your arm around his waist. His muscles tensed beneath your hand, but you stood your ground. Daryl surprised you by throwing his arm around your shoulders and pulling you in closer.

Shane scoffed and walked away. You waited until Shane was out of sight before you released the breath you didn't realize you had been holding in, and let go of Daryl to place your head in your hands.

"Oh, my God…" You sighed, willing yourself not to cry. When you looked up at Daryl he just stared back with his naturally glaring eyes. You hugged yourself as you looked around. "Thank you, Daryl." You didn't know what to else say in your still panicky state.

"Ya alright?" he asked with a quiet grunt.

"Um," you shifted uncomfortably, "not really."

"You want me to go get Carol or somebody?" he asked with a motion over his shoulder at the other tents.

"No, no, it's fine. No one else needs no know about this. The group has enough problems without adding sexual assault to the list. If someone tells Rick about this we'll have civil war on our hands." You assured him.

Daryl nodded and turned to walk away, fine to leave it at that. And you were so ready to get into your tent and process everything that just happened that you let him leave. You ducked into your tent and ended up crying yourself to sleep.

The next day you sat at the camp fire when Shane came over and sat across the fire from you. You had decided that for the better of the group you would pretend like that night before had never happened, including the lie that you and Daryl had told. But when the others joined the morning circle for breakfast, Shane opened his big mouth. "So where's Daryl this morning y/n?" he asked peeking everyone's attention. You just shrugged and looked down at your plate.

"Why would y/n know where Daryl is?" Rick asked, curious.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because they're together now." Shane blurted out and everyone's eyes turned to you. That was until Daryl walked up to the fire, grabbed himself a plate of eggs then sat down. When he felt everyone staring at him he looked up with the fork half way to his mouth. "What?" he asked making everyone look at you.

"Shane just told them that we're together." you explained and he looked at you with a blank face. "I take it their stares mean that they want to know if it's true." you prompted, leaving Daryl fee to answer how ever he wanted. You didn't want to rope him into a fake relationship if he didn't want it.

"Oh, yeah, 's true." he answered then went back to eating his breakfast as if it were no big deal.

With that the rest of the group exchanged looks of bewilderment then went back to eating their own breakfasts. When Daryl was done he sat his plate with the rest of the empty ones and headed back to his tent. You got up and headed after him. "Hey, Daryl, can I have minute." you asked as you put your hand on his shoulder pulling him to a stop.

"Mm hmm" he hummed with a nod.

"So we're a…thing, now?" you asked with a confused look.

"Seems that way." he answered then started to turn and walk away, but you moved to stand in front of him.

"Well, what exactly does that mean? I mean, how are we supposed to act in front of everyone else? Where do we stand on PDA? Are we going to kiss in front of them? Am I supposed to sleep in your tent now, because if you think this means that we're going to actually be sleeping together then you've got another thing coming buddy." you opened your mouth to continue ranting at him, but he interrupted you.

"Y/n, chill." you closed your mouth and looked up at him. "It's simple. We just act like we always did. They don't know how long we've been a couple, so for all they know this is how we act together." you nodded, what he said made sense. "We don't have to kiss, an I ain't expectin' ya to sleep with me."

"Alright I guess that makes sense," you told him with a nod, "but aren't they going to get suspicious? I mean our normal behavior is kinda…cold for a lack of better word. We don't talk during dinner, or during the day. If you think about it this is actually the longest conversation we've ever had."

"So what do you suggest?"

"I don't know." you said with a shrug. "But can we talk about this somewhere more private? Last thing we need is Shane or someone overhearing." you suggested and he nodded and jerked his head toward his tent. He held the tent flap open for you and you ducked inside. "Okay, so why don't we just establish some ground rules. Where do we stand on touching?" you asked cringing at how stupid and childish you sounded.

"What do ya mean?" Daryl asked as he sat on his bed.

"Like how I wrapped my arm around your waist last night. Is that okay to do around the others?" you asked as you sat down on the floor across from him. He nodded and started biting his thumb. "And I'm fine with you wrapping your arm around my shoulder like you did."

"Mkay." Daryl said as he leaned up and place his elbows on his knees. "Anything else we need to hash out?" he asked and you shrugged. "I hate to be the one to ask, but are they gonna get suspicious if they never see us together at night?" he asked and you felt yourself blush for the first time during this whole discussion.

"Probably." you drawled as you looked around the tent awkwardly looking for something to do with your hands. You spotted a small pocket knife and picked it up. "What do you want to do about that?" you asked, looking at the knife as you fiddled with it.

"I don't mind if ya wanna move in here." he stated and you glanced up at him through your lashes.

"How 'bout I sleep in here tonight and we'll see how that goes?" you asked and he nodded. "Okay, so it's settled." you said then stood up and left the tent, but a thought hit you and you stuck your head back into the tent. "Hey, one more question, why did you tell everyone we were together when I gave you an out?"

"Why did you give me an out when you could've just told everyone the truth yourself?" he answered your question with a question making you blush again.

"Good point." you told him with a hasty nod then left.

To be Continued…