I was basking in the warm, morning sun when rick climbed down the steps in his new sheriff outfit.

"Morning, Daryl." He said as he plopped down right beside me on the last step of the porch.

"Morin', sheriff." I said jokingly. Rick laughed, and just stared out at the rising sun with me.

"So, what's your plan today? I heard you got a job with Aaron." Rick asked.

"Yeah, I'm gonna be recruiting with him, said he didn't want Eric doing it no more." I said nonchalantly.

"Well, I'm glad that you have something to do now. When do you start?"

"Once Aaron and I finish building the fence and barn for the horse we caught the other day. But then I will have to start working on the bike before we head off, so maybe a week or two?" Saying it out loud made me realize just how much time I would be spending with Aaron, I just can't chat, I'll work in silence, then we won't get to know each other and won't get close. Perfect.

"Wow, you'll be spending a lot of time with Aaron, but you know what? I'm happy for you, making new friends, getting along with people; it's like a whole new Daryl." Rick said with a teasing tone, that I was now used too, if it was anyone else, I would have put my defenses up and snapped at them.

"Yeah, best buddies." I said going along with Rick's joke.

Rick looked down at his newly fixed watch and stood up, "Well, time to go to work, see ya' later." Then he started on down the road.

"See ya'!" I called out; I jumped up and went inside the house to get dressed for the day. I found a plain white t-shirt and some washed out blue jeans. Once I was dressed I headed off to Aaron's house.

When I arrived at Aaron's house, (which was like two houses away from mine) he was already sitting on the porch in a pair of old jeans and a blue t-shirt that fit him well.

"Hey Daryl," he said, standing up," I already got Buttons out and tied him to a tree close to where were building."

"Alright, let's get started."

Remember, no getting close, no knowing anything about him, don't talk. I was going through a mental check list of what not to do in my head and didn't even realize that Aaron was already standing right beside me, just staring at me with a weird look on his face.

"Uh, first we need to go get the wood that we'll be building with." Aaron started walking behind his house, not even looking back to see if I was following, "I collected this last night to move things a little faster," He said pointing to a pile of wood." Diana had some guys put tools over by the work area, so all we have to do is move the wood and build." Aaron said with a smile and started picking up the wood, I joined in and soon we were on our way to the work area.

The work area was a small clearing that was close to the gates, I guess we aren't making a very big place for Buttons to stay, but anything works for now.

Aaron and I sat the wood down in a pile and walked over to Buttons.

"Hey boy." I said as I rubbed his head.

"We need to get some apples for him later." Aaron said, I just nodded and headed back to the work area.

"So, we need to have a plan of how were going to build this place for Buttons." I looked at Aaron for suggestions.

"I was thinking we could put two posts in the ground, then make like a roof to go on top and put a fence around the rest of the area. What do you think?" Aaron suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds like plan."

We got to work on putting two of the bigger pieces of wood into the ground. Aaron talked the whole time, and it was getting harder and harder for me to give him one-worded answers, god! How am I going to not get close to him, he's so warm and inviting. Damn it! That's it; I'm no longer listening to my brain! I'm gonna talk to Aaron!

I guess Aaron saw my whole mental war play out on my face, because he was just staring at me like I had lost my mind, which I kinda have, but whatever.

"Are you okay?" Aaron asked timidly.

"Yeah, actually, I'm great." Now that I allowed myself to make friends, I was a lot happier.

"Okay, just checking because you looked like you were going to kill someone, then started smiling like a mad man, then had the 'oh shit!' face." Aaron said, joking. For some reason, that just made me laugh, a good hearty laugh, one I haven't felt in awhile.

Aaron smiled thoughtfully, "You should laugh more often, it looks good on you." Then Aaron had the 'oh shit!' face on, I don't think he meant to say that.

I just brushed it off as nothing; I mean Aaron wouldn't like me like that, would he? No he wouldn't, so there's nothing to say about his comment, anyways, I'm not gay, so it doesn't really matter, at least, I don't think I'm gay?

After that moment, Aaron and I continued to ask questions about each other and joked around, he was a really funny guy, and had a lot of stories from the old world. I didn't go into my past that much, but I told him about the adventures I had with my group and the good times that came out of the bad ones.

When with got done putting the roof on top of the two posts and making sure it was secure, we decided to take a lunch break.

"Let's go back to my house; I have some stuff there to make sandwiches." Aaron said, so we headed to his house, but when we got to the front porch Aaron froze.

Eric was leaning against the front door, which was open, and the dick that tried to fight Glenn the other day was standing there talking to him. I didn't understand why that was such a big deal, but apparently, it was.

"Eric." Aaron said with a hard voice, but you could tell there was hurting under that voice.

Eric jumped at his name being said, then jumped again when he saw Aaron,"Hey, honey! I was just… just talking to Aiden here about learning how to shoot a gun; you did say I needed to learn." Eric smiled innocently.

Aaron walked up beside Aiden, so I followed and stood behind him, what the hell was going on? Why was Aaron mad all of the sudden?

He pointed to Aiden, "Is this the guy?" Aaron half screamed, Eric put a look of confusion on his face, which seemed to make Aaron even madder. "Is this the guy you leave me for in the middle of the night? Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about, Eric!"

"Wha… How?" Eric stuttered.

"You're not that quiet! What, do you think I'm stupid?" Aaron was now fuming.

"Woe, man, calm down." Aiden tried to put his hand on Aaron's shoulder but Aaron slapped it away.

"Don't touch me!" That's when I grabbed Aaron and pulled him away from Aiden before he did anything rash.

"I want you out of my house by tonight Eric! You're not welcome here anymore!" Aaron pushed me away from him and started walking away from the house. I looked at the surprised faces of Aiden and Eric, then left after Aaron.

I followed Aaron until he ended up going back to the work area and started building the fence again, I didn't ask any questions, I just started building the fence too.

By nightfall, we had half of the fence done; we hadn't said one word to each other since the thing at lunch happened. I didn't want to be the one to bring it up, either.

I finished nailing in the last nail to one of the posts and looked up at Aaron, who was just watching me.

"Uh, I think we can call it a night, what'd you think?" I asked, looking at my feet nervously from Aaron's intense gaze.

"Daryl?" Aaron made it sound like an unsure question.

"Yeah?"

"Follow me." Aaron stated, not asking, but telling.

He started speed walking to his house, so I followed, thinking that this wasn't going to end well if Eric was still there. Luckily, he had already left, Aaron walked through the house and went straight for the garage, when he got there, he just stopped and looked at me.

"What did you need?" I asked, not sure what was going on.

Aaron hesitated, "I… I don't know." He looked defeated; his shoulders slumped, just looking at me. So I finally decided to pry into his life, it was time.

"Alright, what the hell went on back there?" Aaron looked surprised, "You know what, you can tell me everything, fill me in with the missing details, over dinner." With that, I walked into his kitchen.

Aaron followed me into the kitchen and told me everything while making us some done up, fancy sandwiches, he told me about knowing Eric was cheating for a long time and how he didn't love Eric anymore and was glad he finally ended it.

I didn't say anything all night, I just let Aaron tell me everything, it's the best medicine, to have somebody listen to your problems, getting the weight off your chest. Aaron looked a lot better when he was done talking.

"Wow, I'm sorry for putting you through that today, then burdening you with my life problems, I really just don't think sometimes."

"I'm the one who asked you to tell me everything, talking to somebody can make things ten times better, I can see that it worked with you." Aaron gave a small smile at that.

"Well, thank you very much, I do feel better, but I shouldn't hold you any longer, see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow." I said, then I walked home.

Man, I didn't realize just how tired I was until I lay down on my bed; it was a long day, but a good day. I couldn't help myself; I got closer to Aaron today, and I loved every minute of it.

As I faded off into the land of dreams, all I could think about was Aaron, and what I wanted to do to him, and I was just too tired to remind myself that I wasn't gay….