zoo hq: daryl x reader

chapter five

the night of the kiss, after the party, daryl dropped you off at home. as soon as you got inside of your house, you leaned against the door and let out a little squeal, smiling into the darkness of your living room.

but then, it wasn't darkness. the lamp clicked on, and your father dramatically spun around in his chair towards you.

you gulped. shoot. you had forgotten to text him.

your dad was holding a wine glass, and was swirling around its contents, which were dark brown. it actually looked like—no, it couldn't be—chocolate milk.

"care to—" he paused for dramatic affect. "explain where exactly you've been?"

"dad, i—"

"oh, i know what teens do. they stay out all night, smoking weed, hooking up with people twice their age, and ignoring their parents' calls. but i never, ever thought that would be you, Y/N."

"please, i promise i didn't—"

you were cut off yet again. "you know, i ought to punish you. take away your electronics. keep you in house arrest. not allow you to have dessert."

"dad, i'm not five. taking away dessert won't work. and also i wasn't out smoking weed, i was at a party with daryl."

your dad's eyebrow shot up. "a party, huh?"

you facepalmed yourself. "no, not a party party, it was just a harmless thing the zoo put on. a family event. little kids were there, nothing bad happened."

"oh," your dad said, his expression softening.

then, almost as if he just didn't want this display of his power to end, he boomed "and why should i believe that?"

"i—ask daryl. he can't lie, he's too good for that."

"right," your dad said, finally letting it go. he set his wine glass full of chocolate milk down.

"you're quite fond of daryl, aren't you?"

your cheeks reddened. "i, uh, i guess," you mumbled, taken aback by the question.

your dad nodded, chewing on this for a moment.

"how fond, exactly?"

"dad!" you exclaimed. "i—i don't know—"

"more than a friend?" he prompted.

you squirmed, refusing to answer his question.

"i'm sorry. i guess i'm a bit nosy," he chuckled. "it was worth a try, though."

"dad—what?"

but he didn't reply. he had already picked up his wine glass full of chocolate milk and was walking to his bedroom.

this brings us to the present day, where you were sitting in geometry class, daydreaming of daryl, until you were awakened by someone repeating your name.

"Y/N? Y/N!"

"oh, um, yes?"

"i believe i asked you a question," the teacher persisted.

you looked down at your paper, desperate for an answer. the proof on your paper was empty except for the given step.

"i got... x=8?" you tried.

the class erupted in laughter.

your teacher sighed. "this is geometry class, Y/N, in case you zoned out when that was mentioned. the answer is the segment addition postulate, which states that..."

the rest of her words were meaningless, and you rested your head on your desk, abandoning the effort to pay attention. you were meeting up with daryl after school today, and you couldn't be more excited.

the rest of the day went by at a snail-like pace, but when it was finally over, you sprinted to the mexican restaurant where you were meeting daryl.

"hi," you said breathlessly to daryl once you got there, sliding into the booth he had chosen.

"how was your day, Y/N?" he smiled, folding his hands neatly and putting them on the table.

what a sweet, polite soul.

you didn't have time to answer before the waitress stopped at your table, placing a bowl full of warm tortilla chips in front of you and daryl.

your mouth watered. "my day was fine, thank you for asking."

"yeet," daryl replied.

you almost choked on your own saliva. "what?"

"yeet," daryl said, as if it wasn't clear enough the first time. "i'm trying to be cool. to stay current with the kids. did i use 'yeet' appropriately?"

"um, well, 'yeet' is kind of a dance move, and a meme, and it's also used to describe empty water bottles...you know what? let's just change the subject," you said, rubbing your forehead.

"alright," daryl agreed, opening his menu.

you copied him, unsure of how to act. were you and daryl... dating? what did the kiss mean? what if daryl just did it because he was drunk on sprite?

after staring at the menu for a few seconds, you set it back down. "daryl," you began.

"the other night was amazing, and i don't know what you're thinking about it, it probably didn't even mean anything because you're you and i'm me and no one could ever love me, and i'm sorry i'm just rambling now but i guess what i'm trying to say is... what did it mean? what are we?"

you internally vomited at the mess that had just come out of your mouth.

daryl gazed at you with his big, chocolate brown eyes. "it means i want you. i choose you."

your jaw dropped and an unintelligible noise came out of it.

"i—i want you too," you said nervously.

daryl nodded and smiled. "good."

you nodded and smiled too as awkward silence fell over both of you.

you sat awkwardly for a moment, and then picked up your menu again.

"want a taco?"