Title: "Collecting Dust"
Status: Complete
Fandom: The Walking Dead
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Daryl Dixon/Rick Grimes
Disclaimer: Copyright at AMC and Robert Kirkman. No infringement intended.
Rating: T
Genre: Future-AU, established relationship, slash, friendship
Warning: none
Summary: Nostalgia. Getting old. And walkers...
Collecting Dust
Daryl shouldered his crossbow, satisfied that no walkers where shambling about the tiny town they had discovered in a grove. It had been picked clean, of course.
Now, twenty years after the shit hit the fan, they had become slower, didn't move around as much. Wouldn't do to let their guard down, 'cause deadly aim didn't make up for getting plain too old for all this crap.
Daryl nudged Rick with his boot. He really needed to make new ones. The leather was falling apart, just like everything else. "What ya got there?"
Rick stood, wincing when joints popped and moved loose with the grind of bones. "Here."
Daryl took the handful of cards. Not used for poker those. Underneath a thick layer of dirt he could make out a multitude of faded colors: a dragon, a weird roundly-shaped thing with flowers and tentacles.
"For kids?"
"Pokémon. Carl used to love 'em."
Daryl nodded, not liking the return of that wounded thousand-yard stare one whit. He had no clue how Rick had managed this time to claw his way back out of being depressed and half-crazy, what after having to put his son down. Not with Lori and little ass kicker gone too.
Hadn't felt like a blessing at the time, just another cruel kick from fate right in the balls. Now he was grateful. If they bit the dust, they'd do it together, last two men standing, and all that.
"Feels like another life."
"Yeah." Daryl tugged at his sleeve and planted one on him as Rick turned, catching him by surprise. Licking his lips, the taste familiar right down to the filth, he added: "Let's go."
The End
R&R