Original prompt: "Beth and Daryl are already in a relationship and Beth plays guitar at a bar where Daryl goes to watch her after work."
(Another one set not really in the actual apartment, but after this we'll go back to their place for a few!)
Daryl Dixon is a fan of routines. It's funny because he never really used to be. Back when it was him and Merle, they never had a thing like a routine. It was just coasting, wandering, going wherever Merle felt like going and doing whatever he wanted to do next.
Now he has a routine and he kind of likes it. He goes to the garage at the same time every morning, he eats lunch at the same time every day, he gets out every evening when the clock hits 6:30… and on Thursday nights, he makes it to the bar in the next town over, just in time to see Beth Greene perform.
She has a regular spot there every week, and so does he. Only hers is on the stage of course, guitar in hand, and his is at the bar; the seat right at the end closest to the stage, a bottle of beer in his hand and his body half-turned to watch her.
She does a mix of songs; some her own, some favorite covers. Lately she's been on a kick doing songs from some girl named Ingrid. He ain't never heard of the girl before Beth anyway, but he can't deny the songs suit her soft, sweet, breathy voice. Like the one she's singing right now.
"There's a boy next to me and he never will be anything but a boy at the bar. And I think he's the tops, he's where everything stops. How I love to love him from afar."
She's perched on a stool on the stage, lit by a soft spot light. Her blonde hair is loose tonight, hanging down her back the way he loves. She's got her favorite brown cowboy boots on, tapping against the ground to the rhythm of the song as she strums it on on her acoustic guitar.
"When he walks right pass me then I finally see on this bar stool I can't stay. So I'm taking my frown to a far distant town, on an island in the blue bay…"
Tonight she's wearing a sundress, a soft shade of blue that matches her brilliant eyes. Blue as the noon sky, they find him in the crowd of people (he swears there's more each week, all here to see her) and hold him, a smile curving up her lips as she croons into the microphone without tearing her gaze from his..
"Far away far away, I want to go far away. To a new life on a new shore line. Where the water is blue and the people are new. To another island, in another life."
She looks away eventually of course, she can't keep her eyes fixed on one person for the entirety of the show, he knows that. He sips his beer and watches her the whole time though, and each time she glances back at him he feels his lips twitch, as if the curve of hers is mirrored in his own, or he simply cannot resist.
Daryl isn't surprised when she comes over at the end of her set, guitar case in hand. She sets it on the ground and hops up on the stool beside him, propping her elbow on the counter and turning to flash him a grin that is even more mesmerizing up close. Like looking into the sun, only there's no risk of going blind. Well, not literally. There are times he thinks she could render him speechless, at the very least.
"So what did you think?" Beth asked with a pretty little tilt of her head.
"Not too bad." A compliment, by his standards, and he figures she knows it. "So… boy on a bar stool, hm?"
She gives him a little 'hmmmm' sound, tilting her head back and forth until he chuckles at her. Only then does she murmur, "You know you're not just some boy on a bar stool, Daryl Dixon."
"No? So you don't think I'm the tops?"
"Daryl!" She giggles and brushes her hand down his arm and just like that, it's like the rest of the damn bar vanishes.
"Too bad, cause you know-" He takes a long pull of his beer, "-if you wanted to go far away to some nice private island, I could probably manage that…"
"No…" She shakes her head, her eyes flashing with amusement as she reaches out and runs her fingers across the back of his hand. "I mean an island would be nice but all I really want is… to go home." Her smile widens, curving across her pink lips as she adds softly, "With you."
Well, that's far simpler. Daryl just sets his empty bottle down on the bar, slides off the stool, and offers her his hand as he says easily, "Then let's go home, Beth."
Cause that's the thing about most of his routine these days. It involves Beth. Waking up beside her every morning, kissing across her neck as she makes them breakfast in their little kitchen, dropping her off at her job before heading to his own, calling her or meeting up with her on his lunch break every day at the same time…
And Thursday nights, coming to see her play, and getting to be the lucky guy who walked out with the gorgeous singer on his arm, to go back to their tiny apartment, together.
Yeah. Daryl is a pretty big fan of routines. Especially ones that involve Beth Greene.