It became a nightly ritual.
The two men would retire to their separate tents, and about an hour after everyone had settled in, Daryl would appear outside Glenn's tent and quietly let himself in. He started bringing his own blanket by the third night (Glenn bitched up a storm if it was too cold and Daryl stole his extra covers).
This kind of unspoken arrangement was a comfort to both of them. It was hard to be alone in normal circumstances- but after the apocalypse? Shit, being alone was like torture. Having someone to spend the night with was downright agreeable. There was always someone there when you woke up. You knew you weren't alone anymore. In the morning, Daryl would sneak out before dawn and slink back to his own tent (which was now only a few feet away; he'd moved it next to Glenn's pretty damn quick).
On the fifth night, Daryl finally spoke.
"I appreciate this, you know. You lettin' me sleep here, not makin' a big deal of it or nothin'."
Glenn turned to face him. "Hey man, I'm just glad you're getting rest again. You're an ornery bastard at the best of times, and when you're sleep deprived? You're a major di-"
The rest of his sentence was cut off by the pillow slamming into his face. Glenn was so shocked for a minute that he couldn't talk, even after his face was uncovered again.
Then he started to giggle.
"Shut up, kid."
Glenn started to laugh harder.
"What are you tryin' to do? Blow our cover? Knock it off!"
Glenn quaked with (nearly) silent mirth, shaking his head. He gasped, "A pillow… a fucking pillow... Daryl goddamn Dixon tried to start a p-p-pillow fight with me…"
"I'd just as soon smother you with the fuckin' thing at this point, damn." But now even Daryl could feel the corner of his mouth being pulled up by a smile.
Sometimes the world was fucking ridiculous.
They calmed down, and silence fell over the tent once again. Glenn moved closer to Daryl in the darkness, and the older man said nothing about it, accepting the change silently. Eventually he turned his head so he was resting on Glenn's shoulder again, like the first night.
Things would never be normal again, but maybe this was a good enough substitute.
Daryl and Glenn slept and dreamed, for the first time in a long time, of life.