Haha, thank you guys for the reviews! I'm so happy you like it so far! Here's the follow up chapter! Hope you like it! :D


Daryl Dixon is not what you would call a people person. Never has been and likely never will be thanks to a good majority of the population turning into grotesque, shambling corpses with a taste for human flesh. So yeah, the likelihood of him suddenly turning into someone who can stand the general population gets slimmer with each passing day and each new member of the walking dead. It's kind of a shame actually to think that the only real social interactions he ever had growing up were with Merle and his pa. He has no idea where his mother is, she left when he was two, and if she hadn't died with a needle in her arm before the zombie apocalypse started then he has no doubt she's one of them now. He avoided social interactions like the plague before the real plague even started. So it seems almost ironic that he survived the initial outbreak of Walkers and got mixed up in a group of survivors where he has to be socially inclined on a daily basis. Oh well, the whole world has turned to shit, why should what's left of it be any different?

He thinks it's funny in a way that he was the one who talked Merle into staying with the group when they first found them. He'd stumbled across Carl and Sophia and two of the other kids in the woods and had followed them back to their little camp by the quarry. It was about two months after the CDC completely lost their shit and control of the Walkers and had issued the evacuation of Atlanta. Daryl figured the group wouldn't last more than another month before they were all picked off by the Walkers for their stupidity. In the end he doesn't know why he stayed, maybe it was out of pity or maybe it was because he felt they had a better chance in a group than alone. Merle stayed because there would be more bodies to throw in the way in case a horde of Walkers ambushed them. His brother had always been the sentimental type.

Speaking of sentimental, Daryl's really not sure how Glenn ended up in his tent. Actually he knows how, the kid's tent had had a rather nasty run in with a tree branch the other night during a storm, but he's not sure why his tent had been chosen for a suitable temporary home. Sure, he'd offered out of some obligated sense of duty but he hadn't actually expected the kid to agree. The Korean always seemed to get that oh-shit-don't-shoot-me look on his face whenever he was in close proximity to Daryl and staying with him in a tent seemed like it would double that terror. It was really fucking annoying; if he wanted to shoot him he would have done it a long time ago. It's odd that Daryl actually hates the kid less than the other members of the group. Okay, so he doesn't hate them…he doesn't necessarily like them all that much but he tolerates them and puts up with their shit because it just comes with the territory now. But he tolerates Glenn a lot more than the others because the kid has more than paid his dues in Daryl's eyes and is actually a valuable member of the group. He doesn't know anyone else in the group that could make supply runs as quickly or half as efficiently as Glenn so he earns a bit of Daryl's respect in that regard.

Glenn had also been the only one to offer to go back into the city with him to search for Merle. Just before they broke camp after the Walker attack, Glenn had calmly approached him and said he was willing to go back into Atlanta to look for Merle if Daryl was going back. He feels horrible about leaving him in the first place, that much is evident from the look of guilt that crosses his features when he brings it up, and he tells Daryl he doesn't want to leave if there's a chance that Merle could come back to find them. Daryl is so surprised by the offer that he doesn't speak for nearly a minute before he finally shakes his head in response. He tells Glenn that if Merle is still alive and he made it out of the city at all that he would find a way back to them. He walks away before Glenn can say anything else. That moment stands out more than anything else during his time with the other survivors and he feels he owes Glenn for it because no one else in his life has ever offered to help him with anything.

Glenn shifts behind him, the tinny scritch of the sleeping bag sounding like nails on a chalkboard in the silence. Daryl has his back to him, turned on one side and staring at the walls of the tent as he tries to turn off his brain long enough to sleep. He's not used to sharing a tent with anyone, especially with Merle gone, and it's even worse because Glenn won't stop fucking moving. Every time Daryl is almost to the point of sleep, the kid will twitch and shift in his sleeping bag like a damn puppy and Daryl is instantly awake all over again. He knows the sleeping bag isn't comfortable from personal experience and he also knows it smells like the floor of a cheap bar thanks to it having been owned by Merle but Jesus, enough is enough.

He knows part of it is from the cold, the constant moving probably an attempt to keep warm. Its easily 45 degrees outside, unusually cold for this time of year and this part of the state, and Daryl's own sleeping bag isn't really providing the warmth he'd hoped it would. Daryl figures if he lays still long enough his body heat will be trapped inside the sleeping and he'll be warm enough to sleep. Its wishful thinking and he knows it but hey, it's worth a shot, right?

He hears someone walk by the tent and figures its Shane going to relieve T-Dog from watch duty. That means its well over half past fuck o'clock in the morning and Daryl's still awake. Son of a bitch. He hears Glenn shift behind him again and decides he's had enough of pretending to be asleep. "Yer makin' an awful lot of racket for someone who's supposed to be asleep," he mutters and he swears he can hear Glenn freeze behind him. He doesn't give the kid a chance to say anything before he rolls over onto his back and looks at him.

Glenn looks sheepish and embarrassed in the darkness of the tent and he stammers out an apology. "S-sorry…just more awake than I thought I was, I guess."

Daryl says nothing for a long minute and just continues staring at the kid. The sleeping bag is big enough to swallow him completely and only Glenn's head is poking out of the top. In a way it kind of looks like his body had melted into a pool of blue-black polyester and only his head remained. It's an odd thought and Daryl dismisses it immediately. He sighs and crosses his arms over his chest, staring up at the darkened ceiling of the tent. Great, now he's cold all over again. "Fuckin' freezing in here," he mutters more to himself than anyone, rubbing his hands over his arms absently in a vain attempt to warm up a bit.

"Maybe you should start wearing shirts that have sleeves then." Holy shit, was that snark? When did Jackie Chan grow a pair? For a second Daryl is so surprised by the comment that all he can do suppress a laugh into a snort.

"Keep up with that attitude and I'll kick yer scrawny yellow ass outside and let you freeze to death." He shoots back in return and he could swear Glenn flinched. Its not true, they both know it, but he thinks Glenn considers the possibility of the threat longer than he should have. He knows he comes across as rough and abrasive most of the time but he also knows a good majority of what he says is all talk. As much as he hates to admit it, he's gotten used to this whole group dynamic thing and actually does give a shit about them. Merle had always been an asshole growing up and had probably stayed one until his dying day but Daryl actually had some sense of family integrity and even though he'd rather rip out his own teeth than admit it, these people where the closest thing he had to family right now. And Glenn was part of that.

The kid shivers beside him and his teeth chatter in the darkness. He crosses his skinny arms over his chest and tries to conserve some body heat but its not doing much good. Glenn is thin, all long arms and legs like a baby giraffe, and he doesn't have the body fat necessary to keep himself warm in situations like this. Daryl is only slightly better off than he is because he actually has some muscle mass but at the rate they're going now, they'll both freeze to death by morning and wouldn't that be a bitch? Survive the zombie apocalypse only to be taken out by hypothermia. Fucking perfect.

"Come 'ere."

"What?"

"I said come 'ere. I ain't got all day," Daryl mutters, purposely not looking at Glenn as he speaks. He can't believe he's asking this, can't believe he's about to do what he's proposing on doing, but he figures desperate times call for desperate measures. They're both freezing and he's pretty sure if it came down to the two of them dying of exposure in this god forsaken that Glenn would be the first to go. He's not willing to risk that.

"Why-?"

"Jesus, kid, do I gotta spell it out for you? It's fuckin' cold and the two of us lyin' apart like this ain't makin' things any better. So get over here and stop bein' such a damn idiot," Daryl rambles off in an irritated huff. Its embarrassing enough to ask to share body heat with someone but Glenn damn near needs the invitation written on a banner and posted right in front of him to get it. When the kid still doesn't move, Daryl sighs heavily and rolls his eyes. "God dammit…" He reaches out and grabs a fistful of the kid's sleeping back and physically drags him across the floor of the tent. The polyester sleeping bag sliding across the tarp tent floor makes the process much easier than he anticipated.

Glenn is sitting wide-eyed and frozen in the sleeping bag and Daryl rolls his eyes again and sets to work with the zipper. It fights back for a minute and he's not sure how much of that is from the cold and how much of it is from the shitty polyester fabric but he finally gets the zipper loose and pulls it down the middle. He reaches into the kid's sleeping bag and grabs one of his arms, frowning at the coolness of his skin, and drags him bodily into his own sleeping bag and crushes him up against his chest.

Glenn freezes like a rabbit caught in a snare, eyes wide and body rigid. He's taunt like the strings of Daryl's crossbow and he's so still that Daryl can feel his heart thudding madly against his shoulder. Daryl just chuckles and shakes his head. "Relax, Short Round. I'm ain't gonna do anything' to ya." He can tell Glenn is trying to relax but it forced and stiff like the rest of his body is. Daryl sighs and ignores him, closing his eyes and keeping his arms wrapped around the younger man loosely. Eventually he feels Glenn slip his arms around his back, coming to rest across his lower back and waist. He releases a long, slow breath and wiggles again, shifting in Daryl's arms and twitching like he has a nervous tick. He moves again, shifting his shoulders and trying to find out whether he'd rather be closer or farther away and Daryl is getting sick of it.

"I swear to God if you don't stop movin' I'm gonna to string you up by yer ankles and let the Walkers use you as a piñata," he mutters, shifting abruptly and tossing one leg over Glenn's skinny hips and pinning him to the ground. The kid lets out a startled little breath but Daryl ignores it and instead tightens his grip on the younger man, bringing him closer and keeping him there. He moves his head a little bit and tucks Glenn's head beneath his chin, letting his jaw rest against the kid's soft, dark hair. Glenn immediately stops moving and allows himself to relax in Daryl's arms, soaking up the extra body heat like a sponge and literally melting into him.

Glenn's skin is cool against his own at first but after a few minutes it begins to warm back up and he can feel the kid's breathing shift into deeper, more even draws. He's almost asleep and Daryl is too but he figures he needs to say something in regards to the matter to at least cover all his bases.

"You tell anyone about this and I cut yer tongue out, got it?"

He can feel Glenn smile against his collar bone and if he wasn't so damn comfortable he might say something about it. "Got it."

"Good." He closes his eyes and tightens his hold just a bit, sandwiching Glenn's body against his own. He finally feels warm enough to sleep and the steady rise and fall of Glenn's chest against his own is making him drowsy. He closes his eyes, lets out a deep breath, and falls asleep.


Thanks for reading guys! :D