Rarl one-shots.

6|Mixed feelings part 1.

Carl was used to his father's girlfriends after his mother and father divorced when he was twelve. His mother had slept with Dad's best friend, Shane, and from there his little sister Judith was born. Carl was angry with his mother for a long time, even more so with Shane, but currently they were trying to mend their destroyed relationship.

On weekends, he stayed with Judith, because despite everything, she was he little sister and he loved her, neither he mother's infidelity nor he parents' divorce was going to prevent that.

Lori and Shane moved a little further away, to avoid any more trouble, and Carl would visit from time to time, but it was only to see Judith when they couldn't take her to her house for whatever reason.

So Carl perfectly remembers playing with Judith on the carpet in the living room, when he father walks in and tells him that her new partner, Jessie, was going to stay with them along with their two children. Carl didn't ask anything, he just accepted it because he couldn't do anything else, the decision was already made and he wasn't obligated to get along with Jessie or her children. According to the things Rick told him, Jessie had gotten out of an abusive relationship two years ago and her ex-husband had been looking for her. Carl supposed that maybe they would be safer in his house and he didn't say anything else.

Carl doesn't stay when the Andersons get home, he takes Judith and walks half the block to Maggie, Glenn, Beth and Hershel Jr.'s house. He and Beth were playing video games and talking about Beth's new girlfriend while Carl was of the fact that sooner or later he would have to return home, where it would be more crowded than usual.

At some point in the day, Daryl, Carol, Sophia, and Tara had arrived. Daryl joined them in playing video games, because according to him, it was more fun than discussing the color of the tablecloths for Tara and Rosita's wedding.

When it was too late and Judith was irritable, hungry and sleepy, Carl had no choice but to go home. He said goodbye to everyone and walked back home as slowly as he could, but Judith started crying halfway and literally ran.

Opening the door, he heads straight for the kitchen, ignoring the voices in the living room, and reaches for the jar of baby formula.

"Shh, Judith. You're hungry, I know that. Give me a moment." Carl tries to soothe he little sister's crying by lightly patting and kissing her forehead until the water is lukewarm and he can mix it with the powdered milk.

When Judith has her bottle, Carl sighs in relief and lets he dad clean up the little mess he made to prepare he sister's bottle.

Carl comes out of the kitchen and can't go upstairs directly to his room, because his dad stops him and tells him to go say hi.

Carl wasn't excited about meeting the Andersons, or about his father bringing someone who isn't part of his family to live here. The last time a woman lived here, it was his mother and they divorced.

Daryl didn't count, he lived everywhere and sometimes you just wake up to find him in the guest room, lying on the couch or on the floor asleep. He gets used to it over time. He stepped on him once by accident, but he didn't even move. Carl still laughs when he remembers.

"Carl, this is Jessie, my new partner," Rick says, smiling at a pretty blonde woman. "And they are her sons; Ron and Sam."

"Hello, nice to meet you." says Carl, bored.

Carl watches both blond children. The smaller one, Sam supposed, was nervous and uncomfortable, looking to the sides as if something was going to attack him. Ron, on the other hand, looked bored and irritated.

"Judy is tired, can I go to my room?"

"It won't make a difference if you put Judith to sleep here or upstairs, Carl. Sit down." Rick pats the empty space on the couch next to him and Carl sits there, completely ignoring the Andersons to finish feeding his baby sister a bottle.

"She is a very pretty baby." Jessie says. Carl looks up slightly and sees her smile fondly.

Carl nods.

"I think my little sister is the only good thing that jerk Shane ever did in my family." Carl mutters loud enough for the others to hear.

"Carl..." Rick chides, sighing. "We've already talked about this a million times."

"Shane's a jerk, dad. I can't believe I've been praising him for so long." Carl tuts and tucks he little sister into him to put her to sleep.

Rick apologizes to the Andersons and they continue to talk like it's nothing, even though in reality, only Jessi and Rick were talking. Ron and Sam were just silent.

Carl can't help but look up from time to time to see the older boy. When his eyes accidentally meet, they both blush and look away.

Judith falls asleep and Carl was about to do it too, but Rick gets up and Carl grunts, because he was leaning on his shoulder.

"We have a single guest room with a single bed, but in Carl's room there's an extra bed, so Ron can sleep in there." Rick says, messing up Carl's hair.

Carl notices Ron looking at him and presses his lips together for a moment, hesitating whether or not to speak.

"Do you agree with that?" Ron asks, he seems very shy.

Carl nods, because he doesn't really have a choice.

As he and Ron walk up the stairs, Carl can hear his father inviting Jessie to sleep with him if Sam isn't afraid of sleeping alone.

"Sorry for the mess." Carl says, opening the bedroom door.

Carl's room had a large bed with messy blue blankets, band posters on the walls, a pair of headphones lying, and a huge shelf full of comics, some of which were piled haphazardly with no more space to put them. The closet was open and with most of the clothes on the floor.

"Wow. You have too many comics in there." Ron says, amazed.

"I suppose you can take the one you want as long as you don't damage it. Although some are already in their last days of life." Carl shrugs and walks over to Judith's crib next to he bed, gently laying her down and kissing her forehead before pulling her bunny blanket over her.

From there, the atmosphere is somewhat awkward between them, but Carl tries to ignore this by shoving all the messy clothes back into the closet by force. Ron just sits on the bed, examining the posters on the walls.

"Nirvana, Queen, Three days grace, Skillet, Slipknot... You have good taste in music."

Carl allows himself to smile slightly at this. It was not normal for his acquaintances or new friends to recognize his musical tastes so quickly, or to say that they liked him. Maybe he doesn't get along with Ron as badly as he thought at first.

"What kind of music do you like?" Carl asks, sitting down abruptly next to Ron.

"Britney spears, Taylor swift." Ron replies, holding back a laugh. Carl doesn't.

"Taylor swift? Really?" Carl laughs.

"Problem with that?" Ron asks, trying to sound intimidating, but his smile gave it away.

"I'll let it go if you tell me what your favorite superhero is." Carl points a finger at him and Ron thinks about it for a second.

"I think Flash or Captain America." Ron shrugs.

"Flash, why are you blonde too? I think I'm going for Superman and Spiderman. The three of us are rather poor and they both have shitty jobs." Carl laughs too loud and has to cover his mouth to keep from waking Judith.

Ron also has to cover his mouth when laughing and he pays more attention to Carl's face. Carl was no longer amazed by this, it happened so often. A year and a half ago, his former teacher named Douglas, had thrown a ruler in his face, which stung his eye and hurt him so much that he was blinded in that eye and it lost color until it was almost white. That man of course had a big legal problem.

"I don't see anything on him if that's what you wanted to ask," Carl says, ruder than he intended. "Do you want to sleep?"

Carl gets up and waits for Ron to do the same before pulling the mattress out from under the bed.

Carl hates that he's ruined the comfortable and fun little moment he had with Ron, but he's already screwed up and he's going to go on. He now he only touched him one uncomfortable night.