Respite

Written for March Madness 2022, Prompt: belltower. Established Daryl/Rick. No Alexandria. Haven't seen anything since Negan showed up. Comments and kudos would be awesome. Enjoy!


"What do you think?" Rick asks, standing beside Daryl as they survey their surroundings.

Daryl thinks that things have not gone to plan. He's looking down at the dozens of walkers slowly shambling in to surround them. They could, at this point, still fathomably fight their way through, but the fuckers keep coming, and the noise of the fight would likely draw out even more. It's not worth the risk.

"Wait it out for a bit," he suggests.

They're pinned down in the decrepit old bell tower of an equally decrepit old church in the middle of the woods. They'd gotten cut off from the others on a quest for much needed supplies, ended up chased up here by a few too many walkers. They'd gotten inside, barricaded the doors with rotted out pews, and climbed the ladder, glad that their pursuers hadn't quite managed to figure out how to follow them up. They'd weighed down the hatch with their bags, heavy with the things they'd helped scavenge from a little strip mall they'd never risked hitting before. And now they're left to wait – either for their companions to come to the rescue or for the walkers to lose interest and wander off, whichever comes first.

Rick sits back against the low wall of the belltower, and Daryl does the same opposite him, their bent knees nearly touching in the small space. "This coulda gone better," Daryl grumbles.

"Coulda gone worse, too" Rick counters. He very pointedly reaches out, lets his hand fall to rest of Daryl's denim covered thigh. "And, hey, we get some alone time this way, at least." He grins when the other man's pretty blue eyes meet his, motions for him to come closer.

He does, without delay. Gets up onto his knees and shifts forward until he's straddled over Rick's hips, hands settled on the concrete behind him.. "I s'pose so," Daryl relents as he leans down to press his lips to Rick's in an easy kiss.

They don't get much alone time these days. This place they've settled, somewhere north of DC, north of Baltimore, is good, safe, home. A few houses close enough together to build a solid wall around. And, while it is well shielded from the threat of walkers, it results in some close quarters for their group. Carl and Judith are always with them there in the little house they share with a few of the others. It makes opportunities for things like this hard to come by. Mostly it's just hurried kisses, rushed encounters, a few midnight meet-ups after guard shifts before they return to the kids.

But now Rick's hands are on him, sliding under his vest and his shirt, up over the old scars that litter his back, the newer scars everywhere else. Rick pulls him in closer until their bodies are pressed flush together, the kisses escalating from lazy and languid to something a little more frenzied.

Rick tilts his head back enough to let Daryl get at his neck, and he leaves a line of biting, bruising kisses in his wake before he claims Rick's mouth again. Hands fumbling with belts and zippers, hands working fast and familiar until they're both catching their breath in the comedown, clinging to each other in a way that they do not usually have the time to enjoy.

"C'mere," Daryl says, moving off of Rick to sit at his side, pulling the other man to lean against him, an arm curled around Rick's back. They trade a few more unhurried kisses. "It's nice," he mumbles against his lover's lips.

"Wish we could do it more often," Rick agrees. He settles in, lets a hand trail through Daryl's unruly hair.

The rain starts to fall a few minutes later, pouring down in sheets all around them, but they are shielded by the mostly intact roof overhead. The woods get quieter – so much so that they hear a few errant drops of rain pinging off the metal of the old bell above them. Even the sounds of the zombies below seem to have dropped off a bit and a glance below reveals they've started to meander back toward the woods. Maybe they'll be able to leave soon, make their way back to the relative safety of their home here.

But not yet.

Just for a little while longer, they're going to revel in this moment of peace.