ribs || carl grimes x reader

brave as a noun - ajj

Yay we finally met Carl yippee

After about 10 introductions in,  you were exhausted. Everyone in Carl's group was really nice and made you feel instantly welcomed. Except Daryl, but you conclude that he's secretly a huge teddy bear and you're determined to crack him one day.  

The sun begins to set and as night fell, more and more of Carl's group settled into the house. Even though they were given 2 houses, they all slept together in one room in the same house.

"I think it's really cute that everyone wants to stay together. You guys must all be really close." you say to Carl as you two watch the group setting things up from the sidelines.

"We are. We've been through a lot together, even the newer people. We're basically like a family." he smiles and looks down at you. You notice him staring out of the corner of your eye, but you decide to let him. He's probably still getting used to seeing you again. 

Deanna shows up at the door to make sure everyone is settled before she goes home for the night. You decide to head out with her. It wasn't like she was your mom or anything, but she let you stay at her house, so the least you could do was be home by a reasonable hour.

"I'll see you tomorrow Carl." you give him a tight hug and he hugs you right back.

"See you tomorrow (y/n)." He pulls away from the hug and you notice a light blush dusting his cheeks. 

You get cozy in your bed, but you're way too excited to sleep. Getting to see Carl and Rick again and meeting a whole group of strong, amazing people was too much for you to feel tired. You decide to get re-dressed and sneak out for a little late night walk, as you do on occasion. 

"Curfew just means go home at a certain time, doesn't mean you have to stay there, right?" you giggle to yourself, loving the feeling of being a little rebellious. You climb down the lattice below your window and drop down into the grass. You decide to walk around the dimly lit streets of Alexandria, since you didn't wanna risk getting hurt or dying as soon as you'd reunited with Carl. The streets are quiet, the only sounds being the bugs chirping in the forest and the buzzing of the electricity generators. It was a great time to let your mind wander and think all the thoughts you had racing through your mind.

"I can't believe he's back. All the way up in Virginia, after my years of turmoil on the road...all alone, he's back. And it feels just the same. He's still the same Carl. It's so good to see the world hasn't made him into a monster. He's still my Carl. Maybe it's because of his group. They all seem like really level-headed, strong, caring people.

Maybe I could join Carl's group. At least start hanging out with them more, take trips outside the walls with them, maybe even move in with them eventually. They all seem like survivalists like me. They can clearly handle themselves outside the walls, unlike others here."

Then you started fantasizing about you and Carl. Outside the walls together, having fun and goofing off like the old days. You weren't sure what to think about what happened in his room earlier that day though. You remember in school people would always poke fun at you two and say you were dating and gonna get married one day. But you never really saw him as more than a friend. You tried not to anyways. At most you two would hold hands or occasionally grant the other a kiss on the cheek, but you always thought it was platonic. Maybe seeing him in nothing but a towel kind of changed everything. Now you felt like doing a little more than just holding his hand or kissing his cheek. The apocalypse hardly seems like the right time to fall in love though. You shouldn't get distracted. You should be focusing on surviving, gathering food, killing walkers.