Carl grimes imagines

protect

Alexandria seemed unreal, the people too relaxed, the skies too bright, and the walkers, nowhere to be seen. You lean against the wall of the home your entire group was sharing until you determined Alexandria to be okay. After the dreadful horrors of Terminus and the lies of Woodbury you all were less than eager to arrive at a new "safe haven." The idea of safe havens had turned to the opposite of safe over the years you had survived in this world. Carl sat next to you, his form stiff as he held one of your hands, his touch was cold. Like his father, Carl didn't trust anyone who wasn't in the group for a long while. The world had made it that way. You were also very slow to trust.

The house was deserted except for you and Carl, Rick was conversating with Deanna and the rest of your group was off doing things to monitor your new home. It was obvious to you that Carol was plotting something, she had worn false features and covered up her personality as soon as she arrived. Careful not to give anything away. Carol was brilliant and manipulative, and you had faith that she would be able to survive in any environment.
You leaned your head against Carl's shoulder and he gripped your hand tighter, his body was stiff and full of unease. He let out a long sigh, shaking slightly, his beautiful eyes filled with a type of hope.
"If this place is what it seems." He turned to you, his gaze filled with kindness and care, "Then it will have been the best place we have stumbled upon, a happy place." He paused suddenly, "But it will make us weak, like all of these people, they don't know what the outside world is like, I bet most of them haven't even killed a walker. These people are vulnerable, and it makes this place dangerous, they have no idea what they're facing." You nod at him, listening closely, "They're taking so many things for granted, they don't understand-" You cut him off, staring into his eyes closely,
"That doesn't make them lucky at all." He nods at you, you pull him to his feet and the two of you stand together, your hands intertwined. "We were told to go meet the other three teenagers earlier, Enid, Ron, Mikey-? I think, and we might as well." He nods at you pulling you into his embrace, he holds you gently, as if afraid you might break,
"I know, but I'm worried for the group, if anything happened to any of these people, you especially I-" You cut him off suddenly, standing on your toes to plant a soft kiss on his forehead.
"We're strong Carl, we've faced so many things, and we've done it together." You smile at him, "We'll be okay." He gives you a small smile then nods.
"Let's go then." The two of you move to the door, stepping out into the bright sunlight, you are not used to being unarmed, when you're outside, or ever for that matter. Unease creeps through your systems as you step down the porch steps, walking down the street to Ron's house. After exchanging glances you head inside and up a pair of stairs until you step into a room with three teenagers. You hear Carl suck in a surprised breath as he gazes at everything the Alexandria teenagers have, video games, books, all of the things which we would have killed to get months ago.
"Hi." A boy with brown hair steps forward, a playful grin upon his face, "I'm Ron, that's Mikey." He gestures towards another boy, "And that's Enid." He points to a girl sitting, her eyes dark and a book in her hand. She doesn't look up to meet our eyes.
"Hi." Carl says, his voice full of something that sounds like surprise as his eyes focus on Ron. I can tell that he is taking in the setting around him, shocked at the bounties these people have. Your stomach churns as you look upon it, irrational surges of rage moving through you.

"How'd you get all this?" You ask, the words practically escaping your system, Ron shrugs, a careless expression on his face, one that irritates you.

"We've always had it." A grin spreads across his face but it falters immediately as soon as he sees your expression. "You haven't played?"

"Not for years, not since this started." You grit your teeth, trying to keep the irritated tone from your voice. Carl steps forward, his eyes focusing upon the games, you can see a little bit of submerged happiness in his eyes, and the fact makes you smile.

"What's your name?" Ron asks, your eyes quickly move back to him,

"Y/N, and that's Carl." He doesn't look towards Carl, his eyes stay focus on you, making you slightly unsettled. Even though you knew you would easily be able to kill him with your bare hands.

"Y/N." He repeats your name in a flirtatious tone, "That's a beautiful name." You watch Carl's gaze flip back to Ron, anger reflecting in his eyes, as he paces back towards you. You look to Carl again, he comes over to stand next to you, his eyes furrowed. Ron completely ignores him. "Since you haven't played a video game in a while why don't you join Mikey and I?"

"And Carl." You add instantly, his fingers slip into yours, Ron pretends to ignore this, a flirtatious grin still on his face. Ron nods, his eyes still trained on you, your stomach churns.

Carl's eyes are narrowed but he doesn't say a word as you sit next to him, Ron, irritatingly sitting down on your other side. You inch closer to Carl, your fingers still intertwined.

Carl leans forward, whispering a string of words in your ear softly enough so that no one else could hear.

"If he makes you uncomfortable I could-" You aren't surprised to hear the suppressed rage in his tone,

"It's okay," You say quietly, "He doesn't know us, he doesn't know the world, he is only a kid." You swallow hard, realizing that you don't consider yourselves to be children anymore, you have faced too much, fought too long, to be bound to the idea of children. You knew that you and Carl could probably take anyone in this town, no matter how smug they might act. He nods at you, as you watch Ron turn on the video games.

Sitting there and pretending to be interested seemed to drive you crazy. Carl seemed to enjoy the game slightly but it was obvious Ron set him on edge, and you as well, you tried to avoid speaking with him at all. You realized how little these people were aware of the outside world. The only person who seemed to know anything about what was actually happening, was Enid, who had not spoken to us once. Once the four of you were finally finished, you set the console down, and you and Carl got to your feet.

"Thank you but we'll be heading back now." You said, trying not to sound aggravated. At the moment the only people you wanted to see were your family, your real family.

"I'll hope I'll see you again soon." Ron stepped forward and brushed a lock of hair out of your face, his hands skimming against your cheek. Your eyes narrowed as you stepped backwards instantaneously.

"Y/N is my girlfriend." Carl said, his teeth gritted as he tried to keep the rage out of his tone. "If you hadn't noticed." Carl gripped your hand and Ron's eyes flashed towards him, a glare showed on his face, it was as if he was trying to threaten Carl. You internally scoffed, knowing that these people were defenseless against you.

"Let's go." You said immediately, trying to prevent any pathetic brawls from occurring. Carl nodded and the two of you turned away, your stomach churned and the two of you didn't say a word until you were back into the home the entire group shared. You collapsed on the couch, leaning against Carl's shoulder.

"They don't realize what they have, they don't understand, they think they can fight me, they think they can get you-" I looked to him, shushing him,

"Maybe it's better they don't, we're the ones who really understand." You take Carl's hand, "I'm not at all attracted to Ron, not to anyone except you." You say, leaning into his chest, a small smile upon his features. You hear him take a heavy breath in.

"I don't remember ever feeling this angry in a long time over petty things. I don't even remember the last time I truly had a petty issue that troubled me." Carl said, cradling your hand in his.

"Well, I hope Alexandria turns out to be more than the land of petty issues. Even though they are pretty much the only issues they have." You pause for a moment, "I will always stay with you Carl, no matter what happens, I won't forget what you did for me, you saved me all those years ago, without you I literally wouldn't exist." You moved up to plant a kiss on his cheek, feeling him smile.

"I doubt I would either." He said, "Alexandria is good news... I hope."

"It is." You say, "And I don't think anything's going to change that."