The fire crackled low between you, casting flickering light on Daryl’s face. He sat across from you, cleaning his crossbow like it was the only thing in the world worth focusing on. You watched him quietly, chin resting on your knees, fingers picking at a loose thread on your sleeve.

It was just the two of you on watch tonight. Everyone else was asleep, and the woods were silent—too silent. You could hear your own heartbeat louder than any threat beyond the trees.

“You always this quiet?” he asked without looking up.

You gave a small smile. “Only around people who make me nervous.”

That made him glance up, just for a second. “I make you nervous?”

You shrugged. “A little.”

He went still, crossbow forgotten in his hands.

“Why?” he asked, voice low.

You didn’t answer right away. You didn’t know how to say it—that the way he looked at you sometimes made your chest ache. That you noticed how he always walked just a little slower when you were beside him. That you wished, more than anything, he’d reach for your hand and stop pretending he didn’t want to.

Instead, you said, “You don’t talk much, but when you do… it matters. I guess that gets to me.”

He gave a quiet grunt, but you saw the way his shoulders shifted—softer now.

Daryl wasn’t good with feelings. Not his own, and definitely not other people’s. But something about you had always made him feel… safer. Calmer. Like the world hadn’t completely gone to hell when you were near.

He glanced at you again, longer this time. You were staring into the fire like it held the answers to things neither of you had the courage to say.

He wanted to tell you. That your laugh made him feel human again. That he looked for you first in every crowd, every morning, every damn time they got separated. That when he dreamed—rarely—it was of you, sitting beside him just like this, with nothing left to fear.

But he didn’t.

And you didn’t.

Instead, you both sat there in the quiet, hearts full of almosts.

The fire popped. The wind rustled the trees. And Daryl leaned just a little closer—not enough to touch, but enough to feel the warmth of you.