Safe

AN: Thank you so much to all my reviewers, whenever I get one it makes my whole day :)

Chapter 4

Try as he might, Glenn couldn't get Daryl's revelation out of his head. He felt a deep seated need to talk to the older man about it, but Daryl sat up at the campfire with Andrea and Dale all night, and the next morning when Glenn approached the pickup intent on riding shotgun, he found it stripped clean, the bed empty, as Daryl strapped a couple of saddle bags to Merle's bike and ignored Shane's protests about the modified hog being too damn loud. When everything was secured to his satisfaction Daryl hopped on it and took off without a word, leaving Glenn to scramble into the last available seat in the RV.

They stopped mid-morning to stretch their legs and let the camper's overtaxed radiator cool down a bit. Daryl lowered the kickstand on his bike and wandered off into the woods alone. Without letting himself over think it, Glenn followed. He wasn't sure what he was going to say, or even what his ultimate goal was, but he just had to talk to that big gay redneck.

Glenn lost sight of him almost immediately. He thought about calling out, but didn't want to alert any zombies to his presence. After a moment he gave up and turned back toward the barely visible road.

Daryl was in front of him a second later and Glenn was roughly shoved into a tree. Daryl wasn't really that much taller, but he seemed to loom over the younger man as he held him firmly with a forearm across the shoulders, being careful not to let their bodies touch anywhere else.

"We gonna have a problem?" Glenn frantically shook his head wondering what Daryl was talking about.

"You been staring at me funny since the fire last night. If you got a problem with me and my sex life, you can go right ahead and keep it to yourself. Because I don't give a fuck."

Oh. Whoops. Daryl let him go and turned back towards the street. Glenn reached for him, scrambling to explain himself. Daryl spun around as Glenn managed to snag a hold of his arm. "Wait wait, you've got the wrong idea. I'm fine with that, more than fine."

He crossed his arms over his chest and waited for Glenn to explain.

"We get along pretty well right?" He waited a beat for Daryl to confirm that, but got absolutely zero reaction. "And now neither one of us has any kind of prospects, and we aren't likely to be getting any. I just. . . I've been thinking about it since last night, and I don't think I would mind . . . you know, doing. . .that, with someone like you."

Glenn couldn't honestly say the fist slamming into his face was a complete surprise.

Glenn got some looks but no comments as he emerged from the woods ten minutes later sporting the start of an impressive black eye. He claimed the passenger seat in the RV for this leg of the trip before Shane could take his usual place there. The last thing he needed was to be in the back with Andrea and her overdeveloped sense of worry.

He realized his error almost immediately when they started moving again and he was treated to an unobstructed view of Daryl's muscled back. Not at all conducive to insuring he not think about what an ass he had made out of himself. Neither of us have any prospects? Really? No wonder he had gone through a four year drought before Kelsey had taken pity on him. Glenn kind of wanted to punch his own face. Why had he said something so unbelievably stupid? Why had he propositioned Daryl at all? It was true the stray thought had crossed his mind a few times the night before that it might not be so bad, but that certainly hadn't been his intention when he followed Daryl out into the woods. Well, he didn't think it had anyway. He really wasn't gay.

But as the scenery whizzed by and Glenn's gaze kept being drawn back to the lone biker in front of him, Glenn wondered if that was a hundred percent accurate. Glenn had kind of liked it when Daryl pushed him against that tree. He'd been scared, but at the same time he had felt an absolute certainty that as long as Daryl was nearby, nothing bad could possibly happen to him. And he'd smelled so good. Like trees and rain and sex. Far better than any man who was as unwashed as Daryl had any right to smell. Glenn had to wait in the woods after Daryl had left for the small bulge in his jeans to go down. At the time he had attributed it to adrenaline.

Couldn't blame adrenaline now. Glenn shifted subtly in his seat and hoped that Dale hadn't noticed his predicament. It shouldn't be sexy. Daryl was sweaty and filthy, unshaven. There was nothing feminine about the way his corded muscles bulged, accentuated somehow by that stupid, cut-off shirt. Glenn could see the very edge of his tattoo there and wondered what it was. A demon to go with the one on his bicep? An angel? Would Daryl ever show him? Did he have any more hidden tattoos?

Whoa slow down. Glenn deliberately turned so his torso was facing Dale and through sheer force of will managed to not think about Daryl and what may or may not be under his clothes for the next few hours.

He didn't think of Daryl, but the subject of his potentially curved sexuality came up again not two hours later, at the worst possible time while he was being shoved underneath a semi truck by Shane. For a half second he had slipped and thought about how he sort of wished it was Daryl under the truck with him, when his traitorous mind pointed out that Shane was also a rather fit specimen. If the apocalypse really had relaxed his preferences, maybe he should test them? He gave Shane a sidelong glance. He was a fairly good looking man, but Glenn didn't find him particularly appealing.

Glenn leaned in just a little closer and gave a tentative sniff. Ick. He smelled decidedly of rank man funk. Relief washed over Glenn. Maybe the thing with Daryl was a one time anomaly. Glenn would apologize and everything could go back to normal. Just to be sure he leaned in and sniffed again. This time when he backed off Shane was looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Thankfully, before Glenn could say something that further incriminated or embarrassed him, they were both distracted by the approaching horror of a swarm of rotted, shambling feet dragging past their faces.

When they crawled out from under the truck, who knows how long after, he tried to stammer out some sort of explanation, but Shane brushed it off.

"I don't want or need to know, but if-" Shane was cut off by Sofia's scream, and Glenn forgot his embarrassment for the rest of the afternoon.

Daryl searched for Sofia all afternoon and into the evening, so Glenn didn't get a chance to apologize. Rather than join the group around the single small fire as he had the night before, Daryl had climbed up onto the RV with Merle's hunting rifle and continuously scanned the surrounding trees with the night vision scope. After a tense hour Glenn made his excuses and headed towards the RV to talk to him. He'd covered about half the distance when Rick stopped him.

"I think we both know who it is gave you that shiner. Now, it ain't my place to be your keeper, but if Daryl attacked you I think I need to know about it. If you think he's getting dangerous you need to tell me."

Glenn glanced over to where Daryl was completely focused on checking something on the rifle. "No. He punched me, but I really fucking deserved it."

Rick looked like he wanted to ask about it, but after a moment he just patted Glenn's shoulder and gave him a wry smile. "Okay, but you tell me if he gives you any trouble."

Glenn nodded and Rick went back to sit with Lori and Carl. Glenn climbed the ladder to the roof of the camper as quietly as he could, but Daryl was waiting for him, staring at the top of the ladder while he ran his fingers over the stock bare inches from the trigger.

"You did deserve it."

Glenn nodded. "I did, and I'm sorry."

Daryl nodded back, "well, that's okay then." He offered Glenn his cigarette and got a fresh one from the pack in his front pocket. Glenn sat on the roof next to him, silently puffing and trying his best to both look cool and not inhale as usual, and started to relax. Maybe that was it. Maybe everything really was fine now. Then Daryl had to ruin it by leaning over him to grab a bottle of water from the small bucket nearby and Glenn got another whiff of that earthy, delicious smell.

He managed to get through the evening without alienating Daryl, managed to get to his chosen sleeping spot in the back of an abandoned conversion van nearby without humiliating himself. But it was the memory of that smell that kept him company as he slid his hand down the front of his jeans for the first time since Z-day. So much for back to normal.

AN2: Does anyone know what that tattoo is supposed to be? I know Norman Reedus has a demon on his bicep and his own name on his chest, but I don't think he has one on his back. In my second favorite Norman Reedus movie Dark Harbor (after Boondock Saints, but before Boondock Saints 2) he has two angels tattooed on his back over his right shoulder, but I paused at the scene in season 1 episode 3 where you can kind of see his tattoo and I don't think it's the same thing. Anyway, please review and let me know what you think! Reviews make me all warm inside :) even the ones with constructive criticism

AN3: Anyone thinking of watching Dark Harbor now that you know Norman Reedus is half naked in it, let me sweeten the pot by saying it's a young Norman Reedus, and it also stars Alan Rickman :D. Let me know if any of you watch it and like it, because I loved it, and I know exactly one other person who has ever even seen it :)