Silent, fast, and lethal

4/8

If you had already spent the whole mornings out in the woods with Daryl whenever you two went out hunting, which you did almost every other day, now you both spent even more time out there as you trained together, going back to the prison at late afternoon. Daryl still kept helping you learn to track, hunt and shoot, but now you also trained with your knives, and you found he was as good as you with them.

As he'd asked you, you also tried sneaking on him, hiding and moving silently, trying to approach him without him noticing you, which to his frustration, you managed more often than not. The first day, as he cursed and scowled angrily when you grabbed his arm without him having noticed you, you had worried he was angry at you, but soon you had realized he was just frustrated at himself, and he asked you to keep going. You'd thought about maybe making more noise so he'd notice you and stop his frustration, but you knew if he found out he wouldn't like it, and besides, the point was training.

Day after day, he began noticing you sometimes, turning to grab you on time before you could grab him, and you were surprised with how proud it made you to see him getting better, no matter you managed to sneak on him more often than not. You also shared some tips with him about how to move more silently and quickly, training at it too, no matter Daryl was already rather good at it.

You thought that by now you both made a great team, and you liked to boast about how no walker had nothing to do against you two, to which Daryl usually just rolled his eyes, but gave you his soft, lopsided smile. You liked it, being out there with him, training with him...it was tiring, but also it was challenging and sometimes fun too. It did nothing to help you smother those stubborn feelings you sometimes thought you were harboring for Daryl, but you still managed to push them down and ignore them, not wanting to make anything awkward, and knowing how hard his rejection would hit you if you allowed it to happen.

You were now following him, hidden and silent, as he walked through the woods, and you knew half his mind was in the task of looking for something to hunt while the other half was focused on trying to notice you, and so you waited until he found a trail and was busy following it, lowering his guard, to actually approach him.

You were behind him, reaching to poke his back, when Daryl turned around and grabbed your wrist gently.

"Nicely done!" You praised, smiling

"Nah, you made it easy, you knew I could see part of your shadow from there," he complained.

"I wanted to see if you'd notice it, well done."

"Come on, try again."

It was past lunchtime when you went back to the prison, and you headed to the kitchen to clean your kills and have some late lunch. You hadn't been there for long when Glenn came to ask you both if you wanted to join a run they had been planning for the next day, to which both Daryl and you agreed. Time to put into practice all that training.

That night, as per usual, you went to meet with Daryl at the yard before trying to sleep, and you were startled to bump into someone on your way out, usually by now everyone was in their cells.

"Hi, Y/N" You realized it was Mark, who by now seemed to be adapting to his new home without any fuss. "Don't you have a run early tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to take a walk before going to sleep."

"I've noticed you doing that before, have trouble sleeping? Cos I do, nightmares and all that." He shrugged.

"More memories than nightmares...but yeah, I get what you mean...hope you can sleep without problem tonight, though. Goodnight." You gave him a smile and began walking.

"Mind if I join you?" Mark asked as he began walking by you.

"No, but I was just going to join Daryl there." You pointed at Daryl's silhouette on top of the table, barely visible under to the moonlight. "But you can come and join us if you want..." You appreciated your quiet talks at night with Daryl, but you weren't about to turn your back to someone who might need some talking and company too.