Ryker's Guide (Mild)

Lonely Hearts

Daryl

Daryl had grown used to being alone again. It had been months since his relationship devolved to where he had his life and the things he was looking after and Ryker had his. So long, that he couldn't remember the last time they had been together alone for more than a few moments. More often than not, it usually involved sleep. Their time together mainly involved nights when Daryl would wake up to Ryker, usually drunk, in bed beside him.

There was nothing wrong.

When Meri had died, Ryker had Carbry and Daryl had Sam and the rehabilitation centre, both of them losing themselves into those tasks to work through the heartbreak and confusion from all that had happened in the last several months.

And even when things had gotten better, then really fucking weird, Ryker had turned to work, and the tasks set in front of them. Ryker hadn't been spending his time alternating between drinking with his boss and going on near suicidal missions with Carbry. He had just thrown himself into the missions and planning and never had to come home to sleep off alcohol infused haze.

Not that Daryl had room to complain, he still alternated between his architecture business, helping those in need and the work he was doing at the centre. Perhaps Ryker had been coming home, only to find it empty.

Perhaps they just weren't meeting up.

That night, Daryl was in a pair of sweatpants, sitting on the couch as he sketched out a building design for his latest contract gig. He was focused on his task and knew Ryker would not be home anytime soon. Wanting some independence, Meri had told Carbry to take the night out with his friends, which literally meant Ryker. Tim and Sam were trying to find some solace with one another, leaving Daryl alone to his sketches and plans.

"What are you doing?" Meri's voice, and he would always just consider Meri, Meri, was behind him. He jumped a little, cursing and erasing the mark his pencil made before glancing to his side as the woman jumped over the back of the couch to sit beside him.

"Planning a new Hospital wing." He offered, spinning the page to show her.

"Looks... like a.... Pretty building...?" Meri scrunched up her face and tilted her head to the side as she took it in.

He laughed and shook his head, pulling the notebook back and starting to sketch once more. "I thought you wanted some alone time... after all the attention you've been getting."

They sat in silence for a long while, Meri watching him sketch out the flowing lines of the sculpted glass sides of the atrium playhouse for the children's wing at the hospital he was hoping to build.

Finally, she offered a shrug. "I did. I read, had a bath, sat in silence for a bit. But then I got bored. And I realized we hadn't hung out in a couple weeks."

"I guess we can't do our contract work anymore, can we?" Daryl's smile was lopsided, a little bittersweet. She was still his friend, but back from the dead with some very interesting changes, she was also completely different.

"I think we'd be better at it." Meri rolled her eyes and reached out to grab the notebook. "I'm the same, you know."

Daryl chuckled softly. "What would have happened... if they had buried you? Would you be walking around in a decayed body? Or what about cremation? Or would you have just... inhabited someone new? Like gone down to the morgue and picked something particularly not gross."

She glared at him, before barking a laugh and shaking her head. "Sometimes I get this skin crawling feeling, and I worry that I'm actually just a zombie with worms and stuff crawling through me."

Meriwa didn't smell dead.

She didn't smell like her anymore, not really. Daryl leaned in and made a show of sniffing her, laughing as she shoved him away and ended up sending him tumbling off the couch and through the coffee table, which shattered in to a million pieces from the force of his landing.

Glass and wood went everywhere, and Daryl looked up at a slightly concerned Meri. "Holy fuck. I'm sorry D."

Reaching down, Meriwa hauled him to his feet as he shook his head.

Once standing he brushed himself off, watching as the table and its pieces disappeared. "Nah. It's alright."

"You take a lot of shit, you know that, right?" Meri reached out and squeezed his arm gently, and he knew for a moment that he wasn't looking at his friend. He was looking at and being seen by the other.

"Nah." He shook his head again, glancing away from her. "I don't. I'm just glad you're back. And everything's ok? With you and Carbry?"

Another squeeze of his arm and he looked back to her, seeing her giving him a sheepish smile. "I miss him."

"Go get him then. You'll know he'll happily come back to spend more time with you." Daryl reached up to rub the back of his neck, offering her a smile.

"Are you and Ryke ok? You used to be inseparable. And now... Car says Ryker is always working..."

Daryl opened his mouth to offer a hollow reassurance, but promptly closed it when he saw that otherworldly stare directed his way. There was no use in lying. "We're ok. I guess. We just... lived two very separate lives the last little while. And we didn't have a lot of time together before that. So there's... space between us. And we... he was busy, and I was busy... and we were both hurting.. But we didn't find comfort in one another."

The sadness in her expression then had him frowning and reaching to pull her into a hug, offering more before she could apologize. "I'm not complaining. I still have him, and we're good. We're not broken or anything, we're just not used to being together anymore. But it's ok. We'll figure it out."

"Do you miss him?" Surprisingly, Meriwa hugged him back, tightly. Tighter than was comfortable, but Daryl said nothing, just held her for a long moment.

When Meriwa didn't speak, Daryl finally sighed softly. "Whenever I'm not with him. I just know what he's doing is more-"

"They're at a strip club getting drunk off expensive whiskey." Meriwa pulled back and gave him a shake, glaring at him. "Let's go crash their party."

Daryl glanced down at the both of them, him wearing only his pants and her dressed in jogging pants and a sweater that smelled like it belonged to Carbry. He gave her a curious look that she returned confusedly for a few moments.

"Oh. Oh right." Meriwa smirked, and suddenly she was wearing dark, tight jeans, practical dress shoes, and a black, flowing top that appeared to have no back or sleeves, though it shimmered with pink as she moved. In her hands was a leather jacket.

It took him a few moments to realize that he was now wearing clothing as well, glancing down to see himself in a pair of extremely well fitted dress pants and a dark blue dress shirt that was unbuttoned enough to show most of his chest. She had even put socks and shoes on him, though they weren't his preferred boots.

"Really?" He lifted his hand and buttoned up a couple buttons, frowning at her when they popped open again. "Meri... I look like a pimp."

"No. I look like your pimp." She laughed and reached up to button one more button, patting his chest. "Let's go crash their party."

Daryl shoved his hands into his pockets, giving her a careful expression. "What kind of strip club?"

Instead of Meri answering him, she wrapped them in power and transported them out of the apartment.