"I didn’t know it was a joke, alright? I didn’t want to be accused of anything. Can we drop it?” Rick said as he continued to pace. “Are you—are you…actually in love with me?” Daryl finally managed to piece together. “No. Don’t be dumb,” Rick spat.
If Only by SherriffsRevolver
Rick and Daryl end up trapped in an abandoned house while they wait out a passing herd. The stress of their precarious situation gets to Rick and he lets slip something Daryl was never meant to know.
I love Daryl’s characterization in this fic. So often we get Daryl as a blushing virgin whose pining after Rick, but in this fic, he’s closer to what we see in early canon. Brash, foulmouthed, angry. I like that they don’t fall into each other’s arms while the romantic score swells. It’s a fight, with themselves and with each other, all the way to the (happy) end.
If you like this one, you might also like
To Wrangle a Dixon by Violet_Rose