OHMYGODGUYS. THIS TOOK FOREVER. I'M SO SORRY "orz; Real life decided to rear its ugly head and bite me in the ass. BUT HERE IT IS. THE EXCITING CONCLUSION. :D Hope you guys love it 3

"The fuck are you talkin' about. Chink?"

Although his response had been delayed, Daryl's eyes were narrowed in a sharp glare as he looked at Glenn. The shorter male took his time in replying, hoping that if he spoke reasonably and slowly, like to a wounded animal, he wouldn't freak out his lover, boyfriend, whatever it was he could call Daryl. He seemed to be opening up at least a little bit, and the last thing Glenn wanted was for him to freak out and shut down again.

Slowly, he slid the small ring off his finger and held it up for Daryl to see. The redneck glanced down at the piece of jewelry and then back up at the Asian, cocking an eyebrow as if to say 'yeah, what about it?'

Groaning slightly in exasperation, Glenn slid the ring back on. "When you gave me this at Christmas, it really had me thinking- no, don't interrupt."

Daryl shot him a dirty look but closed his mouth anyways, holding onto his thoughts.

"I know it's not a promise ring or anything like that," he ignored the bemused snort that statement earned him, "But they definitely mean something, don't they? We don't need to get hitched or anything, but damn, Daryl." A heavy sigh escaped him. "I thought even you could tell that I cared for you."

The redneck remained silent, but he glanced off to the side and his ears turned faintly pink. Glenn looked down at where the small silver ring sat on his finger, biting his lower lip in slight show of his nerves. God, he hoped Daryl didn't think he was trying to jump the gun and take this much too seriously or something. Scaring him off was definitely not his plan for the evening.

"Ya really are turnin' inta a girl on me, ain't ya, Glenn?"

The Asian blinked, caught off guard by being called by his actual name, before looking back up at Daryl. A bewildered expression struck his face. It wasn't often that his roommate referred to him by his name, so it was shocking when he did. After the mild surprise wore off, Glenn scowled slightly and smacked Daryl's arm. "I am not, dick!"

A grin spread across Daryl's lips when he saw the familiar fiery side of Glenn he so enjoyed dragging out. He reached up to push the Asian's baseball cap down over his face, chuckling as his hand was smacked away. Glenn indignantly fixed his cap properly on his head.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever ya say," Daryl replied with the barest hint of a grin.

"At least you're not ignoring me now..." Glenn muttered, before looking at Daryl curiously. He knew he probably shouldn't ask, and that if he did ask it would be tiptoeing along a dangerous line, but he couldn't help himself. "So, uh. Why were you ignoring me?"

For a few moments, he was worried that Daryl was gonna shut down on him again. There was a cold, empty look in his eyes, but he forced out a choked reply.

"If ya grow up bein' told that bein' a fag meant ya should be killed, then yer brother beats th'shit outta ya fer bein' gay, don' ya think you'd shut up, too?"

Oh. Now that Glenn thought about it, that did make a lot more sense than Daryl just trying to avoid him after the confrontation. "Aha..." He forced out a little sheepish laugh, earning small half smile from the redneck. "Yeah, that makes sense, I guess... what did they do to Merle, anyways?" The last he'd seen of him was getting toted off by the cops- and Daryl hadn't mentioned anything since.

Daryl glanced off to the side before grabbing his almost forgotten beer to take a swig. "He gets arrested fer battery charges a lot, even 'f I didn' press charges. Still had th'cops called on him... he's in jail until next week, then they're gonna review his file again." He shrugged. "That'll take a fuckin' while- bastard's gotta fuckin' long-ass record with th'cops." His explanation was simple, as if it were the most understandable thing in the world. Which, when you grew up with Merle, was understandable.

For once, Glenn thought before speaking and bit back the urge to comment on how he hoped that Merle stayed locked up. Before he came up with something else to say, however, Daryl raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"Say, chink. Where th'hell'd ya get that bat from?"

A loud, sudden laugh left the Asian at the sudden change of topic. "That thing is so old," he replied, shaking his head with a playful grin. "My father tried to get me into baseball, 'cause I was so shitty in school, but I stopped going to practices. Loved watching games, but I hated to play," Glenn tossed his shoulders in a half hearted shrug. "I kept the bat for memory's sake- and self defense, 'cause I live in such a wonderful part of town. Looks like it came in handy, too."

Daryl snorted at the last comment, taking a drink of his beer before shoving the cap down on Glenn's head again. "Never woulda guessed ya were a fan," he replied sarcastically.

"Fuck you, too, Daryl," he muttered obstinately, fixing his cap for the upteenth time with a disgruntled expression.

He glanced up at the taller male silently for a few moments before grinning. Thank god- they were bickering again, just like they had before the whole Merle incident. It was one hell of a relief- even if it had to be solved through a rather interesting method.

The rest of that evening seemed to pass pretty quickly... and smoothly, for that matter. They had a small party to celebrate that they had gotten back on talking terms which involved Chinese takeout, and now they were curled up together in bed, clothing dropped off and forgotten somewhere in their impatience. In their now dazed and post-coital bliss, neither had any rush to get redressed. Instead, they remained tangled up in each others' limbs, not entirely sure where one ended and the other began.

Glenn made a soft, satisfied noise against Daryl's chest, drawing an amused chuckle from the redneck. In his sleepy, sex-exhausted mental state, he mumbled a quiet "love you, Daryl" under his breath, but it was what his lover-slash-boyfriend-slash-partner said in reply that was what followed him to sleep with the largest smile he could muster. It was the first time he had ever said it, and it would always be remembered.

"Love ya, too, Glenn."