Chapter 1:

7 months, take a few days. Michonne thought as she looked at Negan, his body slightly sculpted from the gym membership he had taken up 3 months ago. That's how long we've been together.

She had met him by choice, allowing herself to look into his eyes as he sat on the couch with a beer in his hands, the smug look on his face all too enticing for her broken heart.
Her guard had been up since her previous long term "relationship" with her childhood sweetheart had ended abruptly, his sudden distance making sense to her.

'It's not you, it's me.' He had said, trying to wipe tears from her eyes as she stubbornly swatted his hand away. 'We've just grown up and grown apart, I'm sorry.'
Mike was a nice guy, always had been, that was what had drawn them together. Her feisty bite and his ability to settle it worked well, and so did the fact that their mothers were very good friends. It almost seemed too good to be true and then it was, and it had crushed her, the low and dirty because the year of their lives had begun. The seriousness of the future, the dreams, the further education.
They had talked about it together, where they would go, what they would do with the freedom in front of them before they were split apart by the universities hoped to pick – all of them were miles away from each other.
'We can make it work right?' Michonne her said, her eyes hopeful as they sat in his car after a heavy make out session and the fogged windows surrounded them. In that moment, she had thought nothing of his silence but accepted his smile.

And they hadn't made it work.

Which had led her to the party, where Negan sat looking like he owned the world.
It had been Maggie's idea, her incessant nattering through the day of what she would wear and how she would be alone if Michonne did not come.
"My parents won't let me." Trying to lie caused a chip to fly into Michonne's lap from Maggie's plate.
"You're lying because I know they trust you wherever you go." Maggie's eyes glistened. "You have to be there, or I'll look lame in front of Glenn and I've been trying to get with him for weeks. Weeks! A girl has needs."

Thinking about her own needs had led her to the party also.

And had given her the confidence to keep the conversation going.

"So you're a smart one then?" Negan jostled, bringing the beer can to his lips. Her eyes fixated on his Adam's apple that moved as he drank.
"I wouldn't say smart, Mr. Businessman." She smirked, bringing her vodka and orange juice to her lips.
They had been tiptoeing around each other in conversation for half an hour, the background dim in comparison to the racing of their hearts. It had been exciting and new to Michonne, the sudden rush of flirting after never having thought about it for years. Negan watched her like she was candy, something to be devoured but savoured and it killed her in many ways.

It led to holding hands as they walked up the stairs, Michonne finding Maggie's eyes just before she locked lips with Glenn and giving her a subtle thumbs up.
It had led to fumbled kissing, but no clothes being lost because it seemed as though Negan her hesitation. And the respect in that led to them swapping numbers, to going on dates, to dry-humping and oral sex around each other's houses whenever their parents weren't home, until they were confident enough that what they had before was sustainable and respectable enough for them to become official.

"Michonne?" He questioned as they stood together at the edge of the bed. "You phased out?"
"Sorry, I'm just thinking about our relationship."
"Ball and chain!"

She hit him, rolling her eyes. "Stop saying that, it's makes me worried."
"About the future… well we don't know the future, so what's the point in being worried?"
"I'd feel better if you at least gave me some form of hope."

Sometimes she wondered about them, whether she was wasting time, throwing away the possible beginning of university that everyone talks about. The parties, the messy kisses, would she miss out?
But then he would do something, like bring her favourite cupcake in for lunch or laugh with her mother and she'd just… forget it.

"You don't need hope when I kiss you like this."

There it was, the change. As intoxicating as it was, it would always bug her mind to no end, but her body would detour and allow him to have affect as he kissed down her neck and moved against her, causing her hips to buck against him.
Then he would enter her, a single moan escaping both of them every time they joined and moved against each other. Sometimes he moved too fast too quickly, the inexperience there and still ever-present.

She had lost her virginity to him, shy because they both didn't know what they were doing – which surprised her as Negan seemed so confident in herself.

More times than none, Michonne would be in grasp of an orgasm, the eye-fluttering kind that could take someone's breath away and that all woman learned to do with their fingers. But he would finish and fall flat, panting on her stomach, leaving her unsatisfied… but content.

A confused kind of content that didn't quite fill her stomach.

And still when he asked, 'was it good', she would produce a white lie that she would ask God to forgive her about later and say 'yeah'.

Then she'd go back to wondering if they'd survive, despite her heart still beating for him.

Rick Grimes sat looking at his childhood sweetheart, his mind had been fighting him on the word 'sweet' recently, and he didn't know why.

Or he did, but he just didn't want to seem like the bad guy.

She had been vocal about how distant he had been – if you count being overly passively aggressive as vocal.

It was an age old story, parents who were close had kids of the opposite gender who spent so much time around each other that it morphed into… love.
Or something like that.
A month or so ago, Rick Grimes would have been able to call it that with pride and a lace of happiness. But he didn't know what changed. They would still hold hands, but his heart just wouldn't beat as strongly as it used to.

He put it down to fear. Fear of the unknown and the future before them.

The impending doom of university and the distance it presented had been resonating with him recently.

"Sweetheart, you look tense." Lori crawled over to him, placing herself on his lap. This was how it always started, her voice higher pitched than normal and her on his lap, then they would roll over and shuffle their underwear off until he finished in missionary.
Missionary only.

Shane often laughed when Rick complained about it.

'You mean to tell me, you just can't tell her?' Shane said slapping his knee, the tears of laughter starting to crawl out of his eyes.
'I tried! The last time she cried saying I didn't find her attractive.'
'Yeah, they get you like that.' Shane sighed, pressing a dramatic hand on his friends shoulder. 'University soon, same dorm and all. I won't tell if you get a side piece. Heck! I'll even help you break up with Lori if it allows you to have no guilt whilst hitting someone from the back!'

Shane's high five was not matched.

'I can't cheat on my girlfriend… we've been together for years.' Rick had commented whilst the thought ran across his mind. 'Especially not over sex… it's just shallow.'
'Listen, a man has needs. It's okay not be sexually compatible.'
Rick contemplated his statement. 'I need that to come from someone else for me to believe it.'
Shane's face had screwed up like a wasted idea on lined paper. 'What'd you mean?'

Saying 'You're one of the shallowest people I know' let Rick receive a bruise on his arm that didn't disappear for a week.

What would university have in stall for them?

She seemed so devoted, talking about how they would see each other twice a week - only being 2 hours away from each other – and how she would cook and bake for him, whatever he liked.
'Adults, living our lives together.'

The permanent way she had said it, like they were destined for forever had rubbed him a long way when he thought about the opportunities ahead of them – him especially – to step out of their comfort zones and become more.
He hadn't ever been much, always quiet and reserved, and only was known because of his affiliation with Shane the captain of the football team – it was a weird one that had begun way back in childhood when Shane had needed saving from a bunch of bullies… weird how the roles reversed soon after.

But university meant becoming much more… and he worried that helicopter girlfriending would ruin it.

But he didn't let on as he kissed her back, the same kiss, no tongue ever finding one another, no form of experiment.
Kissing anywhere around her ears was off bound, as she found it gross and her hands and her mouth rarely found the time to wrap around him.

Rick wished there was a way to tell her to move as he entered her, to moan with more want in her voice, to wrap her legs around him and trace her fingers lightly up and down his spine as they screwed or made love or whatever.

The looming suddenness of university was right around the corner and it found his mind then, making him stop and pull out of her.
"What's wrong?" The tears were already welling in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He pitifully replied as he willed for himself to grow from his flaccid state so they could continue the tango that only one of them seemed to enjoy.

A/N: After the intensity of my last fanfiction, I wanted something light (ugh... I guess we can call this lighter as there's no marriage involved) and quicker to write. With still enough drama.

Again, I hope you'll stick with me... and these poor two in quite unsatisfying relationships.