It's Not Living Without You (Desus)

Chapter Two

Daryl drove in silence. Jesus kept shooting him sideways glances, and it was driving him insane.

"What?" He finally snapped.

Jesus grinned, only infuriating him further.

"Oh.. nothing.." He replied, casually glancing down at his fingernails.

Daryl let out a growl of frustration.

He started thinking about the night that Jesus had helped him escape from Negan.

He had been so broken that night, so terrified, and Jesus had seen him. Daryl had fallen asleep on the motorcycle, clinging to Jesus.

Jesus had seen him falling apart, and Daryl hated him for it.

Jesus's grin faded slightly as he took in Daryl's expression.

"Something wrong?"

"No." Daryl spat.

"Maybe we should talk..." Jesus began quietly. "About everything."

"No." Daryl repeated.

"Fine." Jesus replied. "Have it your way. I'll just have to talk at you, since you don't want to talk back."

Daryl scowled.

"You know what I miss about the world before the dead took over? Soap operas. I would watch General Hospital every single night and it was amazing. I miss icecream. I miss-"

"Stop." Daryl growled. "I'm not here to get to know you. I'm here because Rick needs me to be here."

Jesus grabbed his heart dramatically.

"Oh.. the pain. The rejection. How must I live? I simply cannot go on."

Daryl clenched the wheel and was about to spit out an insult when they came across a bunch of trees laying in the middle of the road. Great.

Jesus raised his eyebrows, and turned to face Daryl.

"Road block?" He asked.

Daryl grunted in response and got out of the car.

The two men walked carefully around, weapons raised.

"We're going to have to go on foot if we want to go on. We can't get the car around this. I'll radio Rick and see what he wants to do." Jesus said.

Daryl leaned against a tree waiting for Jesus to talk to Rick.

Jesus returned to Daryl's side a few minutes later and said,

"Rick told us to go on. It might take a few days on foot, but we're desperate for supplies."

Daryl growled. A few days?

"Whatever Rick needs." He muttered dejectedly.

The two men walked together silently for awhile. Daryl was somewhat surprised by the other man's silence, but he didn't dare question it.

It began to get unbearably hot out, and Daryl was desperate for a break. The sun beat down, and his hair fell into his face, sticky and wet.

Jesus looked annoyingly happy for how hot It was. He pulled a hair tie off his wrist and put his hair up in a bun. Daryl sneered.

"What?" Asked Jesus. "Did you want one?"

He held out a hair tie, and Daryl snorted.

"Nah."

They walked on for a few hours, not really finding much. They found a few cans of food here and there, but the trip was not much of a success.

"It's getting dark." Jesus commented. "We should stop for the night."

Daryl nodded in agreement, not in the mood to say anything else.

Once they found a small clearing, the two men laid out what little equipment they had, and Daryl began to make a fire. Jesus leaned against a log and watched him. It was beginning to make Daryl a bit uncomfortable. Out of all the people in Alexandria, why did he have to be with Jesus? His annoying chatter was sure to drive Daryl crazy, but his silence was almost worse.

Jesus was watching him intently, an odd look on his face. Daryl squirmed uncomfortably under his gaze.

He eventually finished building the fire, and heaved a sigh of relief. They hardly seemed to need a fire in this heat, but it was comforting nonetheless.

He leaned back on a log a few feet away from Jesus, and the two sat in an awkward silence.

Daryl eventually pulled out a cigarette, just to give his hands something to do. He stopped short after lighting it, as he almost had burned himself in front of Jesus, an old habit he had developed.

"You smoke?" He asked Jesus.

The silence was becoming more and more uncomfortable. Jesus was silent for a minute.

"Not really." He replied. "It'll kill you. But I'll make an exception tonight."

Daryl shrugged and passed him a cigarette. They sat quietly for a few minutes, but it didn't feel quite so awkward anymore.

"What was your life like, before all this?" Jesus asked unexpectedly.

"Like hell im telling you." Daryl replied with a snort.

Jesus sighed, wondering how he was going to get the other man to warm up to him. He eventually decided to share his own backstory before questioning Daryl about his own.

"I thought my life was pretty terrible, you know?" He began.

"I was put in an orphanage at ten years old. I moved from family to family. There was one family I lived with, they were really terrible. There was a little girl a few years younger than me. Her name was Emily. The couple we lived with abused her. I loved her. She was my sister. The day I turned 18, I went to court and got custody over her. I worked stupid jobs here and there. I thought I could protect her. But when the outbreak happened... I lost her."

Daryl turned to stare at Jesus. He had never seen such a bitter look on his face.

"Well. I had a brother. I couldn't protect him much either." He mumbled.

Jesus smiled.

"I knew I could get you to open up, Mr. Dixon."

Daryl glared and threw his cigarette at him.

"Prick."

Jesus laughed quietly.

"It was a true story though. Goodnight, Daryl."

Daryl did not respond.

The last thing he thought about was how much he hated that damn smile, and then he fell asleep.