The Best of Me ( Rickyl )

Chapter 9

*Present*

Rick laid awake in his old bedroom at his mothers house, unable to stop himself from thinking about the kiss he shared with Daryl only a few hours earlier.

He kissed the man. He straight up kissed him and then ran off like a pussy, what kind of man did that make him? He didn't even want to think about how Daryl must be feeling right now. He was probably confused and rightfully so, but Rick hoped he didn't hate him for it.

It's been over 20 years and he knew Daryl didn't have partner, but what if Daryl didn't have those same feelings for him anymore? Hell, Rick was married with a kid and he still hadn't gotten over his feelings for the other man, so maybe Daryl still did too.

Actually now that he thought about it, Daryl had started to kiss him back. Daryl Dixon had kissed him back, did that mean he still had feelings for him? Or did he just image that whole thing and was being stupid? The latter was a high possibly.

He was too old for this shit. He was a grown man, he shouldn't be staying up late thinking about this sort of thing. The amount of late nights he spent lying on this exact bed thinking about the same man... guess somethings never change. Although, a lot has changed. He was married, he couldn't be kissing other people, especially Daryl.

Oh God, how was he meant to sit in a car with Daryl all the way to Dale's cabin, it was over an hour drive... Why'd he have to kiss him and things awkward?

Covering his face with a pillow, Rick let out a frustrated groan, stuck between dreading seeing Daryl again and eager to see the other man. How was he meant to survive a whole day with him when he ended up kissing him after a few hours? He was so screwed.

-

Daryl stayed up late that night working on Paul Rovia's Mustang. He couldn't stop thinking about the kiss he shared with Rick, although he was still struggling to believe that it had actually happened. Sure, he'd dreamt about kissing Rick many times over the past 20 years, but he knew it would never happen. He honestly thought he'd never see Rick again, but he's glad he was wrong.

He forgot how happy Rick made him feel. Even though the two of them weren't together anymore and the man was married, he still never failed to bring a smile to his face and Daryl couldn't even remember the last time he genuinely smiled or laughed until Rick showed up.

He knew nothing more could ever happen between them, the kiss was a once off thing. Rick had a life. He had the whole white picket fence life with a wife and son. Rick made something of himself and Daryl wasn't going to get in the way of that.

After finishing his work on the Mustang, Daryl had eventually gone to sleep on the old foldout couch in the garage and awoke early the following morning, forgetting how noisy the neighbours rooster was. How was the damn animal still alive anyway? The amount of times Daryl had wanted to jump the fence with his crossbow when he was a teenager and do the whole street a favour by silencing the animal. Rick had called his bluff all those years ago, saying that Daryl could never kill someone's pet and he hated that Rick was right, Rick was always right.

He tried going back to sleep, but the damn rooster wouldn't shut up which was probably for the best because he knew his dreams would be laced with nightmares that had already woken him up twice last night in a pool of his own sweat. Sometimes it would be flashbacks of his father, but others it was of the accident at the Logging Site.

With a sigh he kicked the blankets off his body and gingerly stood up. His body ached most mornings or if he's sitting down in one spot for too long, then he'd start to feel the familiar aches and pains all results from working at the Logging Site for all those years. Lifting logs and sawing of branches, took a toll on his body over time, but it was the accident that really took it out of him.