Daryl had been pulling away from the group for a while now. Bit by bit, slowly but surely, he’d be trying to disconnect himself. After they finally found Sofia, just not in the way he’d hoped, all the fight in him had just died out. He grew angry and bitter and just kept pushing others away.

He knew he wasn’t like them. He was an outcast even before he’d started to pull away, he knew that. He wasn’t as stupid as everyone seemed to think he was.

And yet, there was one person who just kept trying. They were patient in a way he didn’t deserve, even when he yelled, even when he said the cruelest things his mind could think of, they still came back.

He stared now at the item in their hands, wrapped in a cloth. He knew that the others had been exchanging gifts, due to the wintertime. People needed a reason to be happy, after all -- and remembering old holidays and giving each other little items seemed to warm the biting cold of the snow. But he hadn’t expected to get anything himself. Most people tended to forget he was there. Hell, even Merle had never gotten him a gift before. Not really.

“You... shouldn’t a’...,” he trailed off, unsure what to say. He couldn’t find it in him to even be rude in the moment, too caught off guard.