The Breakfast Club

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The distant bleat of an alarm made Daryl groan, and he pulled his pillow over his head with both hands, muttering a muffled curse into the mattress and burrowing deeper into the warm cocoon of blankets and silky, sweet-smelling skin draped carelessly across his back. His smothered swearing grew more distinct when the dog started barking in some kind of off-tempo chorus with the clock, and he stuck out a hand blindly, crab-walking it across the bed to seize and silence the damned thing. "I said shut the hell up!"

The dog obeyed for about a second before resuming making a general nuisance of itself, whining and thumping its tail hopefully against a hardwood floor strewn with last night's clothes.

When Daryl eased the pillow off his head and cracked one bleary blue eye open to spy the mutt staring at him with big fuckin' heart eyes and its leather leash held gently between its teeth, he growled. "Naw. Ain't fallin' for that innocent shit again. Go find you a new sucker." A giggle floated to his ears then, an auburn curl slithered across his shoulder to kiss his cheek, and the shadow of her sunny smile against his shoulder blade stirred his blood more hotly than the soft press of her breasts into the sway of his back.

"Milton's going to be so disappointed."

"'Bout what?" Daryl threaded his fingers through the hand she offered him, absently nuzzled the bend of her elbow. "Me finally gettin' you to walk up them stairs with me?"

She laughed, all silver sass, and squeezed his hand, the butterfly tickle of her lashes against his nape sending a shiver skating up and down his spine as she settled (even) more comfortably against his solid form. "Finally? What do you mean finally? Before last night you barely gave me a second look. Least not that way."

Daryl snorted into the sheets and shook his head. "Hear that, Hades?"

The dog, who'd slumped to the floor in lazy resignation and made a bed of his abandoned pants, lifted its head and whined again, a tiny flicker of hope sparking in its icy blue gaze.

"Somebody needs her eyes checked." Hades barked in seeming agreement, and Daryl grinned when she huffed quietly in annoyance, tightening his hold on her hand when she tried to pull it away and bringing it to his lips. She seemed to melt a little more with each knuckle that he kissed, opening her fingers like an unfurling flower, and by the time his mouth caressed her palm, one pale leg had risen to slink over his hip and the heat of her settled over the small of his back. "I been lookin', Sweetheart. You just ain't been payin' attention for shit."

Her lips curled into a smile between his shoulder blades, and the fingers of the hand not held hostage by his own carded through the dark blond softness of his hair as she teased him gently. "Seduce me with your words, Shakespeare." She lay her cheek against his back when he grunted in amusement, whispered her own confession after a while. "I've been looking, too."

"We just ain't been lookin' at the same time," Daryl sighed. "You been busy with Sophia and gettin' the Inn off the ground. I been tryin' not to run the diner into the ground. Ain't nobody's fault really. Just dumb luck we finally noticed each other at the same time."

"Dumb luck? Really?" she murmured, drawing lazy patterns on his heated skin with delicate fingers. "Maybe it was something else. Fate, perhaps?"

"Milton again?"

"Shut up," she giggled helplessly, her breath warm and whimsical against his ear. "I'm being serious."

"So m'I," Daryl shrugged with a twitching smile. "You brought him into this bed with us first, Sweetheart. Can't blame a man for bein' curious, mentionin' his brother like that. So 'fess up." He reluctantly relinquished her hand, and she folded her arms beneath her on his back, resting her chin in the cradle of them. "Well?"

"Milton has a hypothesis."

"Go on," Daryl encouraged, the alarm clock long forgotten as the rising sun set fire to her curls, and he and Hades settled in for what he hoped was one helluva story. "Tell me more about this hypothesis."

Surprising absolutely no one, I have zilch-o willpower. Like nada.

My block is finally fading with YMO, but I feel like I've spoiled you with long chapters with that one, and it's taking me longer to write said longer chapters. I'm not in the right mindset to tackle The Wonder, and Ebb and between are giant angst-balls right now, and I don't know about you guys, but that finale gave me enough of that.

So you have this little fic. Shae's attempt at fluff, complete with short, manageable chapters that'll hopefully get the creative juices flowing a little better.

It's AU, of course, and everybody's a little scrambled up (just like I like it, lol). You'll find out more about Daryl's connections to everybody, and Carol's too, as chapters move along. Like I said, chapters of this fic will probably be short and sweet and hopefully to the point. I think it'll be fun. At least I hope so. I've had visions of this fic swirling around in my head for a couple weeks now, and I've had fun with it, lol.

We're starting in the middle (well...I'm still debating that...we might be closer to the end here; we'll see), and future chapters will jump around somewhat. I'll do my best to keep things clear, and if I don't, by all means tell me.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling because I have an early morning ahead, and it's already morning. Ha. The joys of being a bit of an insomniac.

Feedback is love. Let me know if you're interested in reading more.

P.S The title's not gonna win any awards, lol, but it'll make more sense as we get deeper into the story.