A/N: so this is my first time writing anything fic related in 3 years, lol. don't be too hard on me, please? also, i'm not sure if this will actually become a collection of drabbles but i figured i might as well leave the opportunity open.
It didn't make sense to Daryl how one person could care about him so much.
Even before the world turned to shit, he was used to feeling like people just didn't care. They didn't care about how he was feeling or what he was thinking. The people who pretended to care were just waiting to get what they needed before they finally showed their true colors.
But, things are different with Beth.
Beth is always looking at him with her big blue eyes, always asking him "are you okay?" even though he always gives her the same answer – yes.
It's weird to him, really. She has nothing to gain from being nice to him. She knows that he won't just stop looking out for her if she wakes up one morning and decides to stop trying to be so cheery when he's such a downer. After all, she's all he's got now.
He tries to get a rise out of her, sometimes. He's as nasty as he can possibly be to her, and every once in a while she'll snap back at him, but at the end of the day she still gives him one of those warm smiles that lets him know she wasn't holding it against him.
Eventually, he stops pushing her. He lets himself be cared for, and in turn, he allows himself to care for her, little by little.
He teaches her to hunt.
She teaches him that it's okay to hope.
When he cries in front of her, he doesn't hate himself afterwards. He still feels a little pathetic, but she's there to hold him until the feeling fades.
They don't ever directly talk about what's brewing between them, but when Beth says "you're gonna miss me so bad when I'm gone, Daryl Dixon," he replies "I ain't gonna let you be gone," and they both understand all that it implies.
