Hey everyone!

The soft buzz on Michonne's phone on the floor of Rick's room was her final alarm, warning her that she only had 5 hours left to sleep before having to get up for her morning class.

"I've been telling you to sleep since twelve 'Chonne, you can't blame me." Rick chimed, his eyes red from the lack of sleep that had accumulated much more this week than any week prior.

A month had passed since the first night the whole flat went out as freshers to a party, and the night had ended with Michonne in his room, both of them sober and not tired after putting a puking Shane and Sasha to bed.
Michonne remembered the mess of them both so clearly that night.

How the night had started with silly games like beer pong on their kitchen table, all of them shocked at how Andrea seemed to gulp the red cups down one after the other and not sway on her feet.

Both Rick and Michonne had reiterated in slurred voices that they had to stop before they couldn't even make it to the club… or dorm party… whichever one they were trying to go to that night. But they were still smiling, the comforting warmth of alcohol dilating their veins and making them feel invincible.

They had made their way first to a dorm party, where the alcohol was a lot less than the amount they had left on their kitchen table. Shane couldn't control his mouth enough to whisper and dissed the 'poor fucking excuse of a party' and ran away with a red cup as though it was a trophy.
It seemed at one point on the walk to this dorm party, the alcohol had coddled Andrea as she wafted their hands whilst they pulled her from a guy she barely knew, leaving her to pout.

Then they finally made it to the club, holding their breath and trying to walk in the straightest line they could past the bouncers until they were safely in the heap of messy, salty bodies.
The night went on, Michonne swatting away boys who's hands grabbed her waist without permission and Rick avoiding eye contact with girls who looked to eager.
"What's going on? I thought you and your girl were complicated?" Michonne had said, her hips swirling to the rhythm of the music as she faced him.

"Still cheating if we're together." He shrugged, the room only slightly spinning with every step he took. "You know… I can't dance." Rick laughed with drunken confidence.
"It's okay, no one can tell, it's too dark." She winked at him then as the tempo of the song changed and she swirled her hips faster, grabbing the attention of nearby boys with hungry eyes and a wayward stick.

Rick had been tempted to show her off then, act like he was saving her from all of them somehow, just so he could see the jealousy in their eyes.
Back home, he was all too used to the jealousy that came with Lori, but he knew she wouldn't be seen as a dime here and that… that shifted something shallow in him – for which he was sorry for. But Michonne, having her on his arm… man, that'd be like something out of a movie.

A movie that wouldn't happen because Shane came crashing into him, a drunken slur with remnants of sick breath that presented itself before every word that left his mouth. "Yo man, I think…. I thinksh we gotta goo!" He sung his confession. "I uh… got in a lil bit offff a ffffight… so…"
And that had been it for the night, the thing that sobered both him and Michonne up as she grabbed a drunken Sasha who was holding onto Shane's arm.
"He fought for me!" She cried hysterically as they walked home, so loudly that it rung from the buildings. "He saved me!"
In the end, it would be revealed that one guy had tried to touch her ass and Shane had hit him straight away.
Then it would be revealed that Sasha was in fact a crying drunk.

Rick and Michonne had put them to bed – separately – and left the respective rooms with a sigh. "Tired?" The night hadn't last long, it was only 1:15am and there were only late starts that followed in the morning.
"Nah," Rick replied, "Kitchen?"

"No, too dirty… Is your room clean right now? Mines a mess because getting dressed for girls is like that… which I'm sure you know because of your girlfriend." It wasn't much of a question, but an answer to their situation as she walked past him into his room. "Woah Rick, you put me to shame!" She had marvelled at the cleanliness of his room as he sat on his bed. "Haha, I bet Negan's room is nothing like this."

"Negan?"

"My boyfriend."

"Ah."

And ever since that day, they had found that their body clocks ran on the same time. Where waking up in the morning with a few hours sleep didn't hit them until midday, but they powered through until midnight or so to talk to each other.
They weren't long conversations until this week, maybe fifteen minutes or so, a recap of a part of the day they thought was funny or sometimes just pure nagging about their course.

But this week had been different, purely due to the fact that both their significant others had finally grabbed a weekend to come down and see them… at the same time.
"You know, Rick, I'm a whole woman who can go to sleep whenever I want."
"Compared to half a woman?" He chuckled.
"Screw you Grimes!" She threw a pillow at him and got up from his bed, looking at him as he sat in his chair. "Aren't you excited for them to come? We can all go on a double date."

He sucked air between his teeth. The truth was, he was afraid.
Texts from Lori were often replied late to as he sat in class, then ate his lunch, then napped after class and etc… everything had been stagnant from his side, but Lori kept pushing, kept wanting.
And he was half a pig for keeping her, wanting her warmth at times when he felt lonely and had to bang on the wall he and Shane shared in order for him to keep it down. But then again, he was only half a pig, the other half wanted to let her go and venture and become.

But did he know what he was looking for?

At times he did, he had admitted it to Shane this week.

"You think girl's like Michonne are rare?"

"Dude, dangerous path." Shane had said, licking the ketchup of his chips from his fingers.

"Shut up. But seriously… it's stressing me out."

"Why?"

"Because she's the type of girl I'd like if Lori and I ever broke up and well… I haven't met a girl like her before."

"You sound whipped."

"I am not."

"Girls you vibe with are rare, so it's better to stick your dick in 'em rather than wait around to see if you can in the future."

"Is everything about sex to you?"

"That's the most stupid question you've ever asked me."

They fist bumped to drop the conversation.

Lori wouldn't like her, and he knew it. From the way Michonne kept her hair, to the way she caught on to every joke he made and threw in a new punch line he had no comeback to.
They'd have to stifle their words to each other, their glances whenever Shane and Sasha manoeuvred around the kitchen avoiding each other like the plague, like the stubborn people that they were.

He was afraid of how his eyes would follow her as she moved.

Though he wasn't afraid to admit it, Rick Grimes had a crush on Michonne. But… this was normal, it happened. The important thing was just to not act on it… because that's where a mess is made.

"I don't know how much you and Lori will get along." Rubbing the back of his head, he stood up and walked past Michonne to the door.
"Why?" She crossed her arms, her face screwing up as she tried to think of as many reasons as possible.
"Because you are opposites. What? You think Negan and I are going to be best buds?"
She sighed, walking past him as he opened the door. "You're right, he's more of Shane's type." Her eyes twinkled as she spoke about him. "Well, goodnight Grimes."

"I told you if you keep calling me that everyone will call me by my second name."
"Hey." She turned to look at him as she opened her door, "special people get special nicknames, deal with it."
His eyebrow raised, "So I'm special now?"
"Which other man's dorm do you see me leaving at almost two in the morning?"

She winked.

It seemed as though the universe had played a cruel trick that meant both Lori and Negan arrived at the same time, the bitter embrace of Rick counteracted with the soft embrace of Michonne. He almost winced at the contrast.

"It's so nice to see you!" Michonne swooned, grabbing onto Negan's hand and walking him up the stairs.
"Yeah, we have a lot to catch up on." Negan whispered as he planted a kiss on her cheek and placed a hand on her lower back. He looked the same, the tan, the bright of his eyes, the strong jaw. She had missed him, the dirty phone calls not enough to settle the burning she had for him in her lower stomach. You could sense the sexual frustration between them, but you couldn't sense the nagging at the back of Michone's mind that warned her that no matter how much she imagined their sex to be now… it wouldn't be that.

Something more could always be.

Lori and Rick sauntered behind them, their hands apart as they chattered away, Lori talking about how cheerleading made her dizzy.
"So, this is our dorm. And everyone's cool, aren't they Grimes?" Michonne cooed, looking expectantly at him, trying to bring the atmosphere up. When Rick nodded, she rolled her eyes. "Negan, this is Rick. And you must be Lori! Heya, I'm Michonne."

Michonne ignored the evident flinch Lori gave beside Rick, shrugged her shoulder and took Negan to the kitchen, leaving Lori and Rick in the hallway.
"Well that wasn't nice." Rick whispered, unlocking his bedroom door. "She was trying to be nice."
"Yeah, by calling you Grimes… is she why you haven't been texting much?" Lori peered around his room, turning her nose up as the small specs of dust that had accumulated at the corner of his shelves.

"Lori," he sighed, falling onto his bed. "Do you ever listen to what you say?"
Pondering on the thought, Lori gave herself twenty seconds to recollect herself, before turning to face him with a smile and tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry baby, I've just missed you. Being so far from you is hard."
Rick extended his arms and she fell on top of him, resting her head on his chest as he ran his fingers through her hair.

It was weird.

His heart didn't beat the same from her scent.

Maybe this is what distance did to people.

Or maybe this is what distance did to him.

What would happen in the future, if he had to go on a business trip, would he fall out of love with his wife?

His head was stupid and crazy and so was his penis because it was hard from the simple warmth of her female body against his body.

"If you close the curtains and put on a loud movie…" Lori crawled up to kiss his neck, lingering there for a second, as if to smell if her territory had been marked by another. "We can do some things."

Whilst in the kitchen, Michonne poured juice in a cup as Negan pressed into her from behind and kissed her neck.

"You know, when I asked if you wanted a drink, I really meant it." She giggled, putting the lid back on the carton of apple juice.
"And if I had said you, you would have called my game weak." His hot breath made her weak in all the right places.
"You do have weak game, besides-" She turned to face him, taking a sip of the juice. "Someone could walk in here at any moment."

"Then let's go to your room, I'm dying to see it… and you."

The last admission made her falter so much she almost dropped her drink.

It had been great, in the beginning. The entry after so many weeks had felt like pure bliss, the hardness of him making her hiss into his ear. And that pleasure continued… but only shortly, because his hands didn't wander to flick her and his mouth didn't cover the mounds of her breasts or between her legs.

And when the tell-tale sign of his near ending came, she had only become.
And she felt shallow for hating him for the dissatisfaction, but the sounds that often came from Shane's room whenever he had a girl over sounded so different to the sounds that they made.

She had never begged for him to enter her.

She had never sworn outrageously.

Or been left with tingling, curled toes and requiring a moment to rejuvenate herself.

"Hey," he kissed her shoulder, the movie they put on still playing in the background. "Michonne what's wrong?"
The breath that left her body was heavy. "Can we try some… new things?" She winced at how bored it sounded.
The words made him sit up, "Like what?"

Hesitant… again.

"Like… let's start with 69 or something, you know? Let's not always jump straight to sex…"

"Are you not happy?"

"I am but…" The anger that laced his voice irritated her. "I haven't… finished, in a while. And I just think that doing things before… may help."
"How long have you been feeling like this?" The sentence sounded judgemental, and she scowled at him.
"Why do you sound so defensive?"
"Because my girlfriend has just told me I don't satisfy her."
"How did this turn into that?" Michonne turned away from him and gathered the covers to her neck. "Forget I said anything."

"Harder said that done Michonne."

The slow, rhythmless roll of Lori threatened to get rid of Rick's hard on for all that it was worth. He had tried, listening to the sound of her moan with his eyes closed, remembering the porn he had watched the other night.

But it didn't help.

The scent of her would catch his nose and he would be reminded that maybe this isn't what he needed, but what he wanted and the other way around for her.
He couldn't just leave her pining for him, so he kissed her shoulder and let her cum on top of him as he controlled the movement of her hips with one hand and rubbed two fingers against her clit at the same time.

Huffing on top of him, her smile didn't cause his heart to radiate anymore and it ached him in a part of his chest he hadn't felt since the last day he was truly in love with her.

"Did you cum?" She asked, the blush of her cheeks evident.

"No, but it's okay. Here, let's finish of the movie."

He kissed her cheek, before becoming the big spoon and trying to stitch his heart back together before it broke from the realisation of what he wanted to do.