Black Sheep - Rick Grimes x Male

Still Gotta Mean Something

"You still mad at Daddy, Judy?" Moon frowned at the little girl lying beside him. He was on his side, ignoring the slight pinching he felt on his back anytime he moved. The man had his arm around her as she was curled up into his chest.

Carl and Moon Jr were on their blankets comparing books. Carl was trying to get his stepbrother to read one of his comics but Moon Jr insisted they read about the history of Palestine together. The boy thought it was about time they be freed.

Judith still had a grumpy pout on her face as she stared at her dad. "Daddy be mean." The toddler mumbled sadly, her tiny hand fiddling with his hair, expressing her hurt without any trouble. "Daddy wasn't trying to be a meanie, sweetheart. He just wants you to have time to play with your toys during the day."

Moon began explaining himself even if it didn't make much sense to Judith. To the little girl, Moon didn't want her to go to bed because he was being mean. "Sleeping is for when it's dark. You miss out on a lot because you sleep all day and stay up all night. But that's not your fault. Daddy should have tried helping you with that a long time ago."

He fixed the cover over them, bringing his knees up so they touched her feet. "I'm sorry, Judith." Rick needed space from him, and Judith thought he was mean. Moon knew it was childish to connect the two. But he still did it anyway.

"It can be night night time now." The father glanced over at the window, he couldn't see the moon but there were dozens of stars lighting the sky. Moon's eyes drifted down to his two sons, seeing they were able to come to an agreement. They would each take turns reading off a page from their book.

Moon watched Moon Jr read the lines faster than he was able to talk, he stumbled over his words and his eyes continued to backtrack so he could read and talk all at once. The two paces were much different which made it hard. Then Carl lifted his comic, his pointer finger tracing along the words as he read.

He had a tough time reading aloud. Moon Jr didn't seem the slightest bit annoyed as Carl stuttered and repeated himself. The older boy shifted closer so he could see the pictures on the page. The smile on his face was small, but anyone could see how happy he was to have someone to bond with.

Moon continued to watch them, his hand stroking his daughter's hair soothingly as she drifted to sleep. "You can just read it." Carl's voice was quiet with embarrassment, his face held a frustrated scowl. He was just twelve when the world ended, he knew how to read and write and he knew the basics of math.

But it's been years. He had a hard time remembering how to read the words he spoke every day. He could load a gun in under a minute but found it difficult to read Judith a bedtime story. He was nearly fifteen, it was embarrassing.

"No." Moon Jr put his chin in his hand, ignoring the comic being held out to him. He wanted them to read their own books.
That's what they agreed on, the teenager didn't want to do anything different now.
"Come on, you're better at it. There's only a few more pages left anyway." Carl nudged him with his elbow, not really in the mood to read anymore.

"You always read your comics. I don't. You're not very good at it but that's okay. I'm not very good at a lot of things." The older boy closed the book in his lap before setting it to the side. "We can do something else if you want, I don't mind." Moon Jr wanted to read but he didn't want Carl to not hang out with him because they wanted to do different things.

Carl huffed, taking minor offense to what he knew wasn't meant to be an insult. When Moon finally turned his attention away from the boys, it was so he could glance at the closed door. Rick should have been in bed by now. Moon knew he was inside the wall. Doing what? He didn't know.

Moon turned his head back around, resting the side of his face against the flat pillow he was quickly growing tired of using. He closed his eyes, waiting for his husband while listening to the two boys start to bicker quietly.