Disclaimer: The Walking Dead and its characters are not mine.
Warning: Mature topics, attempted NON-CON, racism, racial slurs, homophobia, swearing, underage drinking, smoking, illegal parking...stuff like that. Additional warnings in each chapter.
From the twd kinkmeme Post #3 College AU Domesticity
Chapter 1
When Daryl arrives at his dorm, the room is already half full. Really, half full. One bed is made with pillows that match the comforter. There's a pretty good sized clock/docking station/stereo on a dresser and a mini fridge on the floor in between the two sets of furniture. A thin laptop sits on one of the desks and even though they haven't signed up for classes, one bookshelf is half full with binders and books. Even a skateboard and bat are just visible under the bed. Daryl slings his duffel and backpack onto the other bed, and looks around his own empty side.
He knew he'd be poorer than the other students. He has a scholarship and wouldn't otherwise have been able to afford college - at least not a four year college and living in the dorms, and books and food. His scholarship covers all these things, but he has to maintain a 3.0 grade point and, of course, stay out of trouble. He doesn't think that will be a problem, especially since Merle is locked up. All his scrapes seem to happen because of Merle. Not that his brother looks to get him into trouble, but trouble always finds the Dixons when they are together.
He is about to unpack when an Asian kid in a baseball cap and shirt walks in. He's the same height as Daryl, but still just a kid, all wide eyed and smooth skinned.
"Oh, hey! You're here! I hope you don't mind, I took this side of the room. We can move things around if you want. Oh yeah!…I'm Glenn."
His new roommate extends his hand. Glenn Rhee, Daryl thinks. He saw the name tag on the door when he came in. Didn't figure that was a chink name. Glenn frowns and retracts his hand. He must have said that out loud.
"Listen, that kind of shit may fly in Bumfuck or wherever you're from, but this is Atlanta so, try to at least hide your redneck tendencies while you're here."
Daryl is angry at the dressing down from this kid, who just called him a hick. Hell, he knows he's from the sticks. It's not like he meant anything by it. He glares but still takes the time to notice that Glenn's face is flushed red and is kind of...well, he looks good angry, Daryl thinks. He sees the kid's chest rise and fall as he takes a couple of deep breaths and then his face loses the hard line.
"So, I'm going to pretend you didn't say that, and maybe we can start off on a better foot than this. We have a whole year to try and kill each other, right?" Glenn chuckles, but it sounds humorless.
Daryl shrugs. "Whatever, Chinaman."
"Fuck!" Glenn shouts, throwing up his arms. He stomps out of the room and slams the door.
Daryl feels kind of bad. There weren't any Asian people in his town growing up and having Merle around, well, he picked up a few choice words he's realizing. He pulls a crumpled paper out of his pocket reads it, then glances around. Glenn's clock tells him that he's going to be late for the dorm orientation.
He opens his duffle and pulls out a rough looking blanket, a plain white sheet and a lumpy pillow. These he leaves on the bed and takes the duffel to the dresser on his side. He pulls an armful of clothes out, deposits it in one drawer, takes another armful and puts it in another. A plastic grocery bag full of toiletries he puts into the top drawer. A towel is the last thing to come out of his bag and he looks around for where to put it. He decides on the closet and luckily finds a couple of hooks on each side. (There are several jackets in there hung neatly on hangers.) Then he drops the backpack and empty duffel in the closet and goes to find the common room.
The large room with the ping pong and pool tables is full of people so he stands in the archway. He notices Glenn sitting on the floor a few feet in front of him next to a blond girl with long hair. He inches closer and can hear them talking. Glenn's talking about his day. He lives in Atlanta so he and his parents drove to campus early, unpacked, went shopping, had lunch, walked around campus and had just left, probably about the time that Daryl arrived.
"Ugh. So my roommate wins the contest for 'Most Ignorant Fuckwad'. He's already called me a chink and Chinaman. Can you even…?!" He shakes his head. The blond girl sitting next to Glenn makes a sound of sympathy. Daryl inches back out through the doorway just in time as he hears blondie say "Is he here? What's he look like?"
Daryl shuffles around the hallway. He kind of wants to leave, but knows he has to make an effort to learn all this new stuff. His scholarship sort of depends on it and he doesn't want to screw that up already. So he stays, but just barely looking into the room. They introduce the RAs, a girl named Carol with kind eyes and very short hair, and a guy named Shane who is super built. Dale Horvath is the RF and a professor of history. Daryl figures he'll have him for some classes or maybe as an adviser if he has an area of focus Daryl is interested in. They make other general announcements, like quiet hours, the alcohol policy, dorm trips, the dorm budget, elections, and the like. Mostly stuff Daryl isn't concerned about anyway.
Once the meeting is over, the students start talking and hanging out. Some start playing ping pong or pool, some he overhears are going to play Quiddich at some field. However you play that. Daryl looks at his schedule again, pulls another paper – a map – from his pocket and heads out. He's to report to the dining hall for his work study program. Sure, his tuition, room, board and books were covered, but he needed something for actual living expenses. Part of him wishes he could sell his meal plan and just hunt for his food, but he knows that isn't actually an option. There probably isn't any worthwhile hunting for at least an hours travel away from campus anyway.
The next time Daryl sees Glenn, the kid is in line for food and Daryl is serving. When it's his turn, Glenn stands with his tray looking at Daryl but doesn't say anything. He's supposed to say if he wants the meatloaf or pasta. Daryl quirks an eyebrow, but Glenn keeps quiet. Some kids behind him start making noise about the hold up, but blondie shushes them.
"'M sorry, kid," Daryl mumbles to the meatloaf. He looks up and Glenn is smiling.
"It's okay. Don't let it happen again. I'll take the meatloaf." His smile grows even bigger.
Something clenches in Daryl's chest at that, that smile, so he busies himself with serving up the food. Glenn is long gone when his insides feel like they're back to normal. He realizes he's been thinking about Glenn this whole time and it's a wonder he's been getting the food orders right, seeing as how he can't even remember anyone coming through after Glenn.
Aw fuck.