Carl grimes imagines

Together

With pursed lips and tear stained cheeks, your eyes raked over the boy laying before you. An unsettling silence filled the atmosphere as you laid on the thin mattress next to him, your mind flickering to the last encounter you had with Carl, which only made more tears pour from your crestfallen eyes.

Masked in a cloak full of walker guts, you stood before him, a perturbed look plastered over your face. An ailing feeling was present in your stomach. Alexandria was no longer a safe zone. Walkers flooded through the streets, drying up any hope you previously had for the place.

“Things never work out right for us, do they?” You bid, your eyes locking on his own. “The farm, the prison… now Alexandria. Are we ever gonna catch a break?“

He reached out, resting his hand on your cheek in an effort to redirect your thoughts. “Hey, it’s not over. We’re still here, and we’ll get through this together. We always have,” he offered, his eyes staying connected with your own. “We can take Alexandria back.”

Nodding your head, you leaned forward and wrapped your weak arms around his torso, basking in his presence. He had a way with words that was indescribable. His tone always had a collected aura to it, even in cataclysm’s like this. The calming statements that fell from his lips were both idealistic and realistic, and though it was slightly contradicting, the two easily worked hand in hand.

After minutes of embracing, you forced yourself to speak. “We should see what the others are up to. We might have to leave soon,“ you whispered out, slipping out of his arms.

You didn’t want to leave, but options were limited. Surviving now meant getting to artillery, and the only way to get to the artillery was to leave.

“Yeah, but… one last thing…” He paused a brief moment, as if he were contemplating his next words, “kiss me.”

Your breath hitched in the back of your throat. Your dad would be livid if he found out you kissed Carl, but in that moment you didn’t care. You didn’t allow yourself to be burdened by caring. Death could capture you today, you needed to do something for yourself. You couldn’t allow your dad to hold you back anymore.

A light shade of pink covered your face as you leaned in, pressing your lips against his own. All of your worries faded away as your mind was now focused on the softness of his lips. In a world filled with misery, you had finally found your true ecstasy.

Absentmindedly, you reached out, grazing your fingers across his pale, damp cheek. The rough material of the bandage was polarizing compared to the softness of his lips. You observed as his chest slowly rose and fell. It seemed the life had been drained out of Carl, his only lifesupport being your intense stare.

“It shouldn’t have been you,” you offered, interlocking your milky fingers with his own. Your grip was tight, as if you were trying to hold onto something more than his physicality. “You didn’t deserve this, Carl. It should have been me,” as you continued on, your voice seemed to grow meeker. “I… I  need you, okay? I need you here with me… Earlier you said we would get through this together, and you’re right. But we can only get through this together. We make it together or we don’t make it at all. Without you there is no we,” you susurrated, allowing your eyes to flutter shut in an attempt to withhold the tears threatening to spill from your delicate eyes.

Bringing yourself to open your eyes again seemed nearly impossible. You didn’t want to have to look at the limp boy who laid before you. It only made your mind drift to worst case scenarios. What if he never woke up? The thought caused goosebumps to rise upon your arms, and your head to pound. He was your stability, he was the only one you felt comfortable confiding in, he was the love of your life. The cruel world never ceased to ease your mind in and out of a depressive state.

Seconds after the horrid thoughts had plagued your mind, you felt something brush against your fingers in a delicate mannerism. Instantly, your eyes shot open, watching as Carl’s hand shakily encased your own. The tears of uncertainty that once blurred your vision were now replaced with tears of joy. Quickly moving your eyes upward to analyze his features, you noticed his eye twitching. Squeezing his hand tightly, you watched intently.

As you witnessed his eye flicker open, you let out a thunderous shriek and erupted into a fit of words that were incomprehensible. Your sunken shoulders were now perked up as you admired Carl’s wellbeing.

“(Y/N)? What’s going on?” He inquired, a deep, throaty laugh passing through his lips chapped lips. He was confused at your sudden outburst of excitement, now trying his best to think back to the last memory he had, which only caused his head to throb even more. Reaching up, he rubbed his forehead, only to feel the balmy material of the gauze against his hand. Following the gauze with his fingertips, he slid his fingers past the wound that would haunt him for the rest of his life, wincing. His mind raced, trying to figure out a plausible explanation reguarding why he couldn’t only see out of one of his eyes. Within seconds, the images of him being shot played in his mind, mocking him. Tears welled up in his lone eye, pain circulating throughout his body. Yet as you nuzzled yourself into his side, resting your free hand on his chest, he was brought back to reality, glancing down at your frail figure.

“Stay here,” he croaked out, pulling his hand away from your own and using all of his energy to wrap his arm around your frame, pulling you snug against his side. “Stay here with me tonight, I don’t care what Daryl says anymore. I’m sick of hiding us, I’m sick of not being able to show you affection,” he admitted, struggling to find his voice as his fingers gently massaging the side of your arm.

As you combed your trembling fingers through his matted, brown locks you took in his words, and you couldn’t help but feel the same way. You were sick of living in this shadowed romance, sneaking around with Carl and feeling guilty all because your dad was afraid of losing you to someone else. He was losing you though; all because he let his own insecurities come before his daughter.

“I’ll stay here with you,” you spoke out, shifting your head so your ear rested above his heart, allowing yourself to listen to gentle thud of it. “But you’ve really gotta work on this whole ‘getting shot’ thing. I mean, first in the stomach, now in the eye? I swear you’re trying to give me a heart attack,” you teased, closing your eyes and feeling your heart sync with his own.

“Yeah, well I hope it doesn’t take me getting shot again to be able to cuddle with you, (Y/N),” he muttered out, shutting his eye in an effort to block out the dimly lit light hovering directly above him.

“It won’t, I love you too much to hide anymore,” a yawn escaped your lips, the exhaustion from the late night finally becoming overbearing.

“I love you too.”

His reply was swift, as if he had planned this moment out in his head before. The words rolled off his tongue elegantly, confidence encasing his body. And though there was so much more to talk about, his eye became heavy from the day’s events. He craved sleep. Turning his head to the side, he attempted to block out the dimly lit light again, which was positioned directly above his bedframe.

As he was about to speak up and ask you to turn the light off, it seemed his thoughts were read. The light above him flickered off, and a voice sounded from the doorway.

“Goodnigh’ you two,” Daryl’s gruff tone echoed throughout the room, followed by the squeak of the door shutting.