Chapter Text
Rick was stumbling through the dark. He didn’t know where he was so he reached his hands out and felt walls at each side. He realized he’s walking down a long hallway and tries to reach for a door or a light switch but ends up touching nothing but smooth walls. He keeps walking forward, occasionally reaching his hands out to see if there’s anything in front of him, but all he feels is empty darkness. Then he hears something, a faint sound. Something that makes his heart start to pound. Crying.
Not just any crying, it sounded like the cries Judith makes. Rick steadily starts to quicken his pace, and in moments he’s running forward in the darkness. His hands are flailing about him, trying to find anything but they come back with nothing. Then he sees it. A soft light starts to glow in front of him. He runs even faster towards it, the crying steadily getting louder. He slowly starts to make out what the light is; the outline of a door. When he finally gets to it, he scrambles for the handle and rips it open.
Only to find that on the other side of the door is a massive hoard of walkers. The crying is gone and quickly replaced by the growls and moans of the undead, their grey flesh hanging from their bones as they spill from the doorway. Rick tries to back up, but they overtake him easily and he falls down. They start to claw at his legs and the last thing he sees is one crawling up his body before it descends on him and everything goes dark.
Rick quickly jolts awake and grabs for his knife he keeps within in easy reach. His heart is pounding out of his chest from the nightmare. He looks around and realizes he’s in his cell at the prison, lying on his cot. He kicked his blankets onto the floor, but that didn’t stop him from soaking his shirt through with sweat. He gently puts the knife back down and sits up.
Rubbing a hand over his face to clean off some of the sweat, he tries to catch his breath and calm his hammering heart. He puts his hand on his chest and takes deep breaths. Rick hasn’t had a good night’s rest in months. Nightmares plagued him, and during the day anxiety constantly gripped him. He frequently wondered what new trial would be at their door the next day, maybe even the next hour.
He had gotten the group to a good place, behind safe walls. He had lost Lori in the process, but gotten Judith in return and was grateful for that much. He should be relieved with where they had gotten, but he still couldn’t help with the anxiety that gnawed at him. Nor could he stop the nightmares. And they only seemed to get worse.
Once his heart started to beat like normal, Rick stood up and stretched. He peeked out his cell and could tell it was still the early, maybe five. He knew there was no way he was going to be able to go back to sleep. He debated for a minute, looked down at his sweat soaked shirt and decided a shower would probably help him feel better. He grabbed his towel and started for the showers.
On his way he took a quick glance in Carl’s cell. He was still fast asleep on his cot; arms all sprawled out, one foot off the bed. Totally oblivious to the world around him. Rick envied that kind of sleep, but he was glad his son could get it. He walked down a few more cells and actually walked into this one. It was Beth’s cell, but she had Judith cuddled in a crib next to her. Rick looked in the crib and slowly smiled.
She was asleep too. She looked so peaceful that Rick wanted to pick her up and hold her, hoping that maybe some of her peacefulness would rub off onto him. But he thought better of it and decided that he didn’t want to risk waking her up which in turn might wake Beth up. He didn’t have the heart to let her lose sleep when she had continued to be so helpful with Judith. He really needed to think of a way to repay her for all the kindness she had shown his family.
He walked out of the cell and finally makes his way to the showers. He opens the door and actually hears one of the showers going, which seems odd. No one is usually up this early. He rounds the corner and stops dead in his tracks, mouth open, breath caught in his throat. He’s seen men naked plenty of times. Showered next to guys more times than he can count. But this was different, and it made him feel different.
Daryl was there, under the showerhead with water beating down his body. He was facing the wall and had a hand up against it. His body was hunched over with the water pouring down his back. The sun was just rising, only letting a little light into the prison, but it was just enough for Rick to make out the fine details of Daryl’s body. He was on the thinner side, but every ounce of his body, starting from his hands and arms, down his back, all the way to his calves was nothing but muscle. Rick could even make out some of the little scars Daryl had crisscrossing his torso.
But his body wasn’t the only thing getting Rick’s attention. While one hand leaned against the wall, Daryl’s other hand was quickly working at the massive erection he had between his legs. He was rapidly pumping up and down on the thick member and making tiny sighs as he did so. Rick felt not just his face, but his entire body flush a deep crimson. He should leave, should have already left. But his feet were rooted to the spot, and he didn’t know why.
Suddenly Rick took a deep breath and the sound must have attracted Daryl’s attention, because he suddenly turned his water soaked head towards the door and saw Rick standing there, towel in hand. Rick felt like he had just been caught with porn under his bed, and with wide eyes, abruptly turned and practically ran out of the door back to his cell.
Once he got there, he leaned against the wall of his cell, huffing deep breaths in and out. He suddenly realized his pants were a little too snug and looked down to discover he had a huge hard on. He palmed himself in surprise and sighed at how good it felt. Then confusion quickly clouded his thoughts and he couldn’t help but wonder where this came from. He had never felt attracted to a man, but here he was rubbing himself through his jeans at the thought of Daryl getting himself off in the shower.
Rick’s thoughts were getting even more muddled and he started to worry that maybe he would run into Daryl when he went back to his cell. Rick had no idea what he was going to say to him and was even more worried about what Daryl would have to say. He quickly changed his shirt, pulled on his boots, and put his gun on his hip and walked out of the prison.
“Hey! What are you doing up so early?” Glenn called from the watchtower.
“Couldn’t sleep. I figured I’d get an early start. Maybe check the fences.” Rick replied.
“Alright. But it’s been pretty dead. No pun intended.” Glenn smiled at his own joke. Rick gave him a smile back and waved him off. He was only half paying attention anyway. He couldn’t get the thought of Daryl in that shower out of his head. He needed to clear his mind, so he started finding things to do around the prison to keep himself busy.