So I wanted to write fluff. Past week has been hectic, Beth's 'dead' (#TeamDelusional here), actions, spoons. And I just needed to write fluff, well because Shipwrecked is horror and drama and Vive la Révolution is Drama and Angsty. So I hope you enjoy! It's not beta'd and I'm kinda tired as I upload this, sorry for my errors.

First prompt: Hot Chocolate
Modern AU: With no-one to spend Christmas with Beth stumbles across Daryl, who got locked out of his home.

Christmas Eve

The heels of her boots crunched on the snow covered pavement, trying her best not to slip over the icy streets. Beth shivered and pulled her jacket tighter around herself, her teeth chattered since she started to walk. She sniffed and rubbed her cold, red nose with her cloth covered hand. Her jeans felt cold and stiff against the skin of her legs. A great discomfort. She should have brought more clothing with her to work. And she should get her car fixed already.

Beth felt the cold settle in her bones and she feels herself shaking uncontrollably. All she wanted now was getting home, take a hot bed, drink a mug of hot chocolate and roll herself up in comforter and watch a cheesy Christmas movie all weekend. She sniffed again and kept walking as she decided to walk through the park, which is kind of a short-cut to her apartment, it doesn't really matter though.

A loud cough broke her train of thoughts and she moved to the source of the sound. Beth frowned in confusion as she saw someone familiar. "Daryl?"

Daryl Dixon, a good friend of her –and maybe crushing on, sat on the park bench, slouched and with a cigarette pinched between thumb and pointer in his right hand.

Said man turned around at the sound of her voice and looked back at her and nodded. "Beth."

"What are you doing out here this late?" Beth asked, rubbing her numb fingers against each other in her coat pockets. "It's freezing tonight and I find you here sitting on a park's bench."

"Can ask you the same," he grunted out, his southern accent thick on his words.

"It's Tuesday, I work a double shift at the hospital," Beth rolls her eyes and smiles, trying to control her chattering teeth. "Besides that, it was, like, really busy at work."

Busy was easily put, it's the winter period. A period where people break their bones by slipping on ice, people get easily sicker. Beth has done nothing but support people getting casts all day, mostly elders. She shifted her weight on her left feet, rubbing her ice cold jeans together to get a little warmth from it. She noticed that he was shivering despite the attempt to hide it.

Beth frowned in worry and bites her lip. "Why are you out here in the park, you'll freeze to death –especially with what you are wearing." She pointed her clothed finger at the leather jacket that got thinner by age and the worn jeans that sported tiny holes in the fabric. "It's five degrees out here!"

"Night shift at the bar, closed up really early after an accident. When I got home I got locked out on accident. Merle was sleeping on the couch, probably passed out drunk or high on the couch," Daryl scoffed. "And I forgot the key."

"I'm surprised that Merle locked the door," Beth raised an eyebrow.

Daryl scoffed again. "Yeah no, he wouldn't do that. The lock's kinda broken and locks itself sometimes. Should get it fixed soon."

"You can stay at my place for the night, if you want," Beth offered, without thinking first. She flashed the man a sheepish smile. "I mean it's Christmas Eve and I usually spend it Maggie, but she's married now and has a family…So…?"

"Don't you have to visit your family tomorrow?" Daryl asked, getting up from his position from the bench, stretching his sore and cold muscles with a groan.

Beth smiled sadly. "I ain't going anywhere, car broke down yesterday. I called my parents, telling them I won't be there." Beth sniffed again, feeling the disappointment hit her again. All her family were together and she's stuck in the big city. Beth looked at Daryl again. "What about you, you got anyone for Christmas?"

Daryl shook his head and a visible shiver shook his body as a cold wind blew. "Nah, never celebrated Christmas before."

Beth looked down and then back up and smiled with a glimmer in her eyes. "Do you want to spend Christmas with me? I mean you don't have to, but I think nobody should be alone on Christmas." She spoke with honesty in her voice and let out a soft laugh at his dumbstruck face.

"At least stay the night, I don't want someone finding you frozen to death," Beth pushed a lock of hair behind her ear again.

A silence followed before he mumbled an answer. "Fine, lead the way."

Beth returned from her bedroom after she showered, wearing her red and blue checker pyjamas, bright pink socks and a beige Rudolph the reindeer pullover to cover her bare shoulders. She carried a couple comforters in her arms along with a pillow, she walked to the couch and dropped them. She looked at the clock, ten past eleven. She yawned in the palm of her hand and started making the makeshift bed for her guest.

Speaking of Daryl, where is he? Oh yeah, probably in the kitchen, she remembers. She had told him to get anything he wants if he was hungry after she handed him her brother's clothing that she still needed to give back.

The meow of one of her cats brought her to the kitchen and she laughed softly as she saw Mabel, the calico cat, on the floor looked up to Daryl as Mickey, the red cat sat on the counter swatting his paw at the milk jug, trying to knock it over. Daryl, who had his back turned to her, turned around to face her. The tips of his eyes turned red as he noticed her standing in the doorway.

"Hey, whatcha doing?" Beth asked with a grin on her face, using that tone of her that girl Isabelle in her nephew's favourite show, Phineas and Ferb. She walked over to him and picked up Mabel from the ground, petting the thick fur of the cat. Beth saw what he was doing and a smile brightened on her face. "Making hot cocoa? That's really nice."

"Saw the cocoa in the cupboards, decided to make you some for you," he shrugged, pouring the milk into the two cups and placed them in the microwave. "As thank you for letting me stay the night."

"You're a friend, Daryl," Beth hopped on the counter and placed Mabel down and starting petting the tom who's attention was still on the milk jug. "You're always allowed to stay."

Daryl coughed and wiped his hands on the grey sweatpants Beth gave him. "Guess I was lucky to be found by you, someone else would have thought I was some homeless guy."

Beth sighed. "You're a good man, Daryl. Don't think otherwise." She hopped off the counter, almost slipping on the tiles of the kitchen but she caught herself by grabbing the counter. "Besides, can't have you die from hypothermia."

The microwave dinged and Beth moved to grab the mugs. "There is some cinnamon in that cupboard." She placed the mugs on the counter, licking a stray droplet from her finger that run over the rim of the mug and pointed at the third cupboard on her right.

After applying finishing touches to the beverage, they nestled on the couch and zapped through the late night channels on Christmas Eve. Beth decided to stop when a movie popped up on the screen. And albeit it was almost half way done, it's an old one Beth had watched a lot of times before.

Beth took a sip from the hot chocolate and smiled. "This is a good recipe, I like it."

"Just the basic one, nothin' special," Daryl brushed it off as he took a gulp from his own mug.

"Everyone has their way to make it special, even you," Beth smiled at him. "It's nothing fancy, but-," she looked down and then back up at him. "I like simple."

It's the truth, she likes simple. He's simple and she likes it a lot.

"So you comfy?" Beth tried to change the subject as she nestled herself deeper into the couch, staring at the screen of the television.

"Better than my couch," he grinned back at her.

"Good, at least you'll be comfortable tonight."

Daryl finished his mug and placed it on the table, licking his lips. "You really alone with Christmas this year."

Beth sighs and bites her lip. "Yep, all alone. My parents hold a Christmas party each year since Wendy was born five years ago, so we can all enjoy Christmas together."

"And you're car's broken?"

Beth nods and places her now empty mug next to Daryl's on the coffee table. "Besides, looks like a snowstorm outside. I don't think I use public transport either." Beth licked her dry lips and reached in her pyjama pants pocket and fished out a lip balm and applied it. "You were alone, too, right?"

Daryl shrugs. "Like I said, Merle and I never did Christmas. It's just another day for us."

Beth nods and smiles innocently. "So…," she dragged out. "You wanna spend it with me?"

"I guess that won't be so bad, I just don't have present for ya," he scoffed.

Beth laughed. "You can make me a mug of hot chocolate tomorrow, I'll accept that as a present."

Not really romantic yet, but other prompts will have that ;). It's a warm up. Maybe I can merge one of the prompts I got with this one-shot as a second part.

Thank you for reading!