Ashes (Clementine X Male Reader Book 2)

Accord-Approval

You spent the rest of the day looking through the museum with Clementine, Diana, Marina, and Aj. You've been to museums before, but you've never enjoyed them. Maybe this time it was more enjoyable because you weren't by yourself. You liked seeing Marina and Diana smile.

You can't sleep now. You've been lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling, awake. You're anxious. You don't like it here. The last time you were here, you were taken for six months.

On top of that, you don't know where William is. You don't know if your community made it to Ericson's. You don't know who wants you dead in this community and who doesn't.

You leave the museum. A walk might do you some good. It's gotten a little cold outside, which you find refreshing. The community is mostly empty now, so you're not bothered as you walk through the streets. You still keep an eye out for anyone coming after you.

You stop close to the front gate. You can see buildings rising over the wall all around you. You hate it. That's one way you got the jump on Salvation. That's something they used on other communities. Cities aren't for communities. They're death traps. Walkers aren't the real issue in cities now. Most have spread out from them. People are the main problem. It's easy to hide in a city. There are buildings all around, glass stained to the point you can't see through it, vegetation, multiple floors, sewers. You liked your community. In the middle of a field, you couldn't sneak an entire army up to the wall, couldn't go underground; you had to approach in plain view.

"Y/N?" Aj asks from behind you.

You turn to him. "What are you doing up?"

He walks over and stops next to you. "Couldn't sleep. What about you?"

"Same." You shake your head. "I don't like it here."

"Me either. I don't trust anyone."

"That's good. What do you think about them helping us then?" You ask.

"That's up to Clementine. I'll go with whatever she says."

"Yeah. I trust her more with these things too." You wouldn't get help. It's not in your nature. "She'll figure it all out."

"She's good at this. She's good at a lot of things." Aj smiles. "She's good at being a mom, for sure. I don't know how she did it. With Diana or me."

"You saying she's your mom?" You know he doesn't call her that.

"I never knew my mom, and Clementine raised me, so I guess I look at her as my mom. She taught me everything I know. I'd be dead without her." From what Clementine has told you, after he was born, if she wasn't there, he would have died after the group fell apart.

Aj is like Marina for Clementine. Before, they'd have been adopted, but now it just falls on whoever is around. Not that it's a bad thing. It just put Clementine in a position where she had to take care of a baby far before she should have. You think that's part of the reason she hopes Aj can enjoy some of his childhood with your community. You understand.

"Hey, Aj. Clementine hasn't asked you because we just talked about it last night, but... We're gonna have a house built. Clementine wants you to live with us." You were gonna let her ask him, but maybe you can surprise her. You hope you can. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"Like those houses in your community?" He asks.

"Probably like that. We'd have to know beforehand so we can have enough rooms. There'd be five of us, after all."

"Um... I don't know where else I'd go." He puts his hands in his pockets and kicks a rock. "Will I have my own room?"

"Yep." You wonder why he seems so awkward about it. "You don't even need to answer now."

"No. I... I want to, but I don't want people to see me as a kid."

"You are a kid. Not that it's a bad thing. And it doesn't mean people think you can't handle yourself. Clementine trusts you enough to leave Diana with you for a reason."

"Can I move out anytime I want?" Aj asks.

"Sure. But that sounds like a mistake to me."

"Alright then." He agrees. You're happy he said yes.

"Don't tell Clementine, though. I want to surprise her."

Aj nods. "I like you, Y/N. I'm glad you're with Clementine. I'm glad you're here for Diana, too... I don't think I've ever said anything about it."

"Approving me, huh?" You didn't know if he actually liked you.

"Do you want me to?"

"Maybe a little." You put a hand on his arm. "We should get back before someone wakes up and starts worrying. Brooklyn nearly took my head off last time I did that."

"Thanks, Y/N." Aj smiles.

You have a hard time recalling what happened to Aj. You remember hearing the shots and then seeing him on the ground.