It wasn't too terribly hot that day in Georgia, for which Merle was glad. He and his four (and a half, as the younger would insist upon adding) year old brother had headed out into the woods early that morning in the hopes of finding some entertainment. Well, really Merle had left before their father woke up, but Daryl didn't seem to catch on to that motive. In fact, once the little boy had gotten over being so rudely awakened at the crack of dawn, he'd been more than happy to follow his brother without so much as a question of where, exactly, they were going. They spent the morning hiking through the woods. Daryl found plenty of things to do, from catching frogs, to flipping rocks over for worms, to climbing up trees and showing off. Merle needed a little more to be entertained though, so they ventured close to the road and, upon seeing a new face behind the ice cream stand in the neighborhood, Merle got them some free (stolen) ice cream. Daryl had come to think all the running was just part of getting ice cream, and was thrilled even as they bolted back into the woods. They lost their pursuers easily, and soon after finishing their ice cream they stumbled upon a little creek that Daryl promptly jumped into. Daryl was small enough to swim, but the water only came up to Merle's waist so he focused on seeing how many times he could dunk Daryl. To his surprise (and shame) Daryl actually managed to sneak up on him and use his body weight to tip them both under. This had his little brother laughing hysterically even as he tried to escape Merle's wrath. Eventually they both ended up on the rocks around the water, relaxing and drying off from their swim. Merle had found a mostly flat rock to sit on that was close enough to another rock for him to have a backrest, while Daryl sprawled out on his back on a rock that was across from Merle. Merle fished a cigarette out of the things he'd left beside the creek and lit up, enjoying the tranquility of the forest. A few moments later, Daryl sat up and folded his legs, grinning from ear to ear.

"Merle!" He called, cheer evident in his voice.

"What?" Merle asked.

"When I grow up, let's get married!" Daryl announced with such sincerity that Merle had to take an extra second to process the words.

"Wha- we can't get married fag, you're my brother"

"What's a fag?" Daryl cocked his head, his face falling into a perplexed expression.

"It- it's a guy who takes it up the ass from another guy." Merle huffed, glossing over his (slight) lack of understanding of his own definition.

"Is that bad?" Daryl asked, innocent eyes wide.

Merle leaned forward and pointed his cigarette at Daryl "Yeah idiot, of course it is! Boys are supposed to- they marry girls"

"Ohhh." Daryl said, though Merle doubted he understood. Then Daryl launched himself excitedly into Merle's lap with no warning. Merle caught him without much trouble "I can be a girl! Can't I?"

Irritated with the little boy suddenly in his lap, Merle scoffed "You wanna be a girl? Guess it'd fit, you crybaby"

Daryl shook his head vigorously "Noo! But you said boys marry girls so I need to be a girl so we can get married!"

"Look, I ain't marrying you, even if you turn into a girl." Merle growled, trying to shove him off.

"Awwww, whyyy?!" Daryl whined pitifully.

"Because it's stupid!"

Daryl pouted monumentally at that.

"What if I get big and buy you all kinds of stuff, and we move to another country and fags aren't bad there?"

Merle gave Daryl his best 'you are an Idiot' look "Fags are bad everywhere! Why don't you shut up about this already?"

"Because I wanna marry you!" Daryl exclaimed, his hands still stubbornly on Merle's leg. "What if I was a prince, would you marry me then?"

Merle rolled his eyes "I'd be the firstborn prince then, and you'd have to do everything I said. And I'd tell you to fuck off"

"What if- what if I was an astronaut and brought you the moon?!"

Merle ran a hand over his face, then looked around to make sure no one could hear Daryl's little attempt at a proposal "God, would you shut up?"

Undeterred, Daryl continued on "What if I was a firefighter? Or I bought you Ice cream every day, or took you out to dances and bought flowers like mom always wants-"

"I'm a fucking guy, Daryl" Merle growled.

"Then if you were a firefighter, and I was an astronaut prince, and I bought a whole new planet and made it so we could get married there and we had ice cream for dinner every night?!" Daryl took a deep breath at the end of the sentence, hope in his eyes.

"No, Daryl!" Merle snapped, praying Daryl would finally give up.

Daryl frowned, "Then- then what if the whole world ended-"

"Fine!"

Daryl stopped, eyes big and shiny "What?"

Merle flicked the ash off his cigarette and took a long drag. "If the world ends, I'll marry you. Happy? Will you shut up now?"

"Really?!" Daryl exclaimed excitedly.

"Yes, whatever. Now stop talking."

Daryl threw himself back at Merle, wrapping his tiny arms around his brother's waist "YAY! I love you Merle!"

"Hmmm" Merle dropped a hand on his little brother's head, glad the conversation was over. A few seconds later Daryl's voice broke through the silence again.

"Merle?"

"What" He asked lazily.

"How do I end the world?"

Merle tossed him back into the creek.

Daryl spent the next two days busily trying to incite world war three by way of calling the Whitehouse and telling them Russia was being bad. Merle had no idea who gave him that idea, and had to wonder if it was really alright for his brother to have dreams of destroying the world so early; but the glorious quiet he found while Daryl was dialing random numbers in the hopes of reaching the president made him just smile and decide he'd grow out of it.

Merle let a smile tug at his lips as he thought back on the memory. Daryl was in his line of sight, busying himself by tuning up Merle's motorcycle "Hey Daryl" He called mischievously.

Daryl glanced up at him, a smudge of oil on his cheek from trying to push his too-long hair out of his eyes.

"The world ended."

There was a moment of silence, during which Merle could feel his grin widening, before his brother's eyes lit up with recognition.

"Shut up Merle" Daryl muttered; face heating as he turned back to the Harley.

"Aw come on, don't be like that! We got that nice courtyard to have the ceremony in, almost got an arch here with the walk and that old guy's a preacher. I bet you'll look stunning in a weddin' dress!"

A wrench flew at his head, a wrench he managed to dodge though he was cackling at his brother's bright red blush.

The few people outside cast a glance their way but, unable to hear their words, chalked up the antics to 'Dixon brother business that getting involved in might entail injury or severe annoyance' and let them be.