Stale M&M's (recently plagiarized as "Sweet Tooth") The Walking Dead Fanfiction

33. Season 5 ~ I Didn't Get the Corn

Summary: With Oliver finally awake, therein begins the road to his recovery. He shares a sad story from his past. Carl expresses how much he missed him.

CW: Mild sexual references between minors, not at all graphic or explicit, obviously, just boys being boys within the context of the story — promise it won't be weird! Think more along the lines of I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson which is a really great YA novel that respectfully goes into the same subject.

~

Oliver woke up in the night.

The first thing he said to Carl when he entered the room was, "I didn't get the corn."

And despite the small crowd of relieved people in the room, Carl flung his arms around Oliver's shoulders and clung to him for dear life.

"It's okay," he said, "I don't need any."

He stayed with him all night. His father, Carol, and Tyreese, too, took turns to keep an eye on him. Oliver didn't remember what happened. He mourned Beth just like the rest of them did. The meds kept him out of it for the most part. He was more lucid the next afternoon. Carl sat with him and Oliver let him hold his hand.

"Are you okay?"

Carl hadn't expected Oliver to ask him that. It was usually everyone asking Oliver.

Carl shrugged. "Just tired of burying people, you know? Glad we didn't have to bury you."

Oliver slept again after that. Carl, too. In the evening, he brought up food for them both and while they ate their canned strawberries, Oliver asked, "Did you come out?"

"Did I what?"

"Did you tell everyone we're boyfriends?"

"Oh. No. Why?"

"Apparently, you haven't been very subtle."

Carl felt his cheeks burning. He was starting to feel pretty bothered by how ashamed he felt about the topic. He didn't know how to talk about it but he knew that it felt unfair.

"Did my dad ask you?"

Oliver shook his head. "Ty did. Well, he didn't ask. He just called you my boyfriend and I didn't deny it. He was so casual about it that I figured everyone knew."

Carl blinked at him, feeling the blood leave his face.

"I'm glad he didn't make a big deal about it," Oliver admitted. "I don't think I'm a pride party kind of guy."

"What?"

"What?"

"Pride party?"

"Oh. Well, before the Turn, there was this yearly celebration called Pride — for the LGBT community, you know?"

"LT what?"

Oliver snickered. "It's an acronym. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender."

"Are you joking?"

"You don't believe me?"

"It's just... a community? For... gay people?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"I never thought of it as something to be proud of," Carl admitted. "I wouldn't change it, though, feeling the way I do about you." Oliver's face was very calm at that, like he'd just opened a window on a warm day. Carl moved on quickly. "How do you know so much about this stuff anyway?"

Oliver shrugged. "We had a family computer. The internet was fun, usually."

"My mom didn't let me use the internet."