So I went to see Red Dawn last Friday night with a friend, and we pretty much simultaneously decided that Daryl and Robert are a couple (the car scene at the end had so much subtext I actually had a holy crap moment of thinking they were going to kiss in the film itself). This fic is a way of dealing with the mountain of unanticipated feels that film created. I went expecting brotherlyness and a badass film, and accidentally left with an OTP. This fic will be a series of oneshots really, set in the same universe, and probably posted in a vague chronological order. The majority of oneshots will be set during the middle of the film, particularly the training montage.

Enjoy!

Nightmares

Daryl found himself rising out of the muddled depths of sleep slowly. It wasn't the shock of an ambush, or the adrenaline burst of a shout. It was softer, but didn't make his stomach twist and tighten any less.

A rock poked into his side. It was their first night sleeping in the abandoned mine, he remembered. They had all been exhausted by the time night had fallen, both emotionally and physically, and hadn't really made a great effort clearing the floor to sleep on. That could be another job for the morning. The girls had taken the seats in the truck, which had left the floor to guys, huddled up in the few blankets that had been able to grab from the cabin when they ran.

Daryl blinked into the inky blankness, straining his eyes to try and pick out details, attempting to figure out what had woke him up.

A tiny noise, and his head snapped blindly towards it, eyes beginning to see the outline of a lump next to him. It had to be Robert; they had fallen asleep facing each other again, just like the night before, eyes drooping as they had simply stared at each other, not daring to believe they were both still free and alive.

Daryl sat up on one elbow, the slight scrape of his jacket against the ground silencing the other noise. He listened carefully. There was a soft snoring on the other side of their mine – Greg, definitely Greg – but other than that there was barely even the whispering of wind outside.

A shuddering gasp broke free into the silence, as if it couldn't be held back any longer, and Daryl knew it was Robert. Tentatively, he reached out into the darkness until his fingertips grazed fabric, and the next gasp choked off into a sob.

Immediately, Daryl shifted closer, his arms reaching out in a way his sight could not, wrapping around the other boy. Again, Robert tried to smother the sound, this time into Daryl's shirt as he buried his head into the hollow of his boyfriend's throat. He was shaking; Daryl could fell the tiny tremors running the length of his body as he tried to suppress whatever it was that was wrong.

Daryl wasn't sure really what to do other than just hold the other boy, and swallowed back the lump in his own throat. Their relationship had been borne out of a long, deep friendship, but this was a whole new level of crazy shit to deal with, and there wasn't a boyfriend guidebook for this kind of stuff.

So he simply buried a kiss into Robert's hair, and held him tighter until the choked, swallowed, near silent sobs died down, and he felt the body in his arms relax back into sleep.

The next night, he was awake when it happened. Everyone else had fallen asleep as soon as they had stopped moving, their first day of intensive training making muscles ache that they hadn't even known existed until now. The only other person still awake was Jed, sitting in the mouth of the mineshaft, his silhouette barely visible against the stars. Daryl had been sitting watching the dying embers of the fire, lost in thought, his hand unconsciously resting on Robert's arm while the other boy slept. He couldn't get the image of his dad out of his head, standing next to those soldiers, barely moving when they had-

A twitch, a jerk, completely silent, but all the more jarring as Robert moved in his sleep. Daryl was shaken out of his thoughts. Robert didn't move when he slept. That was just fact. He curled up on his side and just stayed there all night, neat, quiet and contained. He had been like that ever since they were kids, and it had always been a secret joke between them that they were so perfectly suited to each other (according to Robert, Daryl slept like a drunken octopus, and by staying still, he was acting in self preservation).

A great shudder ran through Robert, and his jerky movements stilled in an instant, his entire body tensing as his breathing changed. Daryl watched the darkening light pick up shadows on Robert's face as his arms curled tightly into his chest, and he knew that the other boy had woken up, even if he hadn't opened his eyes.

He shimmied down to Robert's level, accidentally kicking the edges of the fire, sending embers skipping up into the still air. "Hey…"

This time, Robert opened his eyes. They glittered too-bright in the darkness, the line of his jaw set tightly against the tears that wanted to fall. "I'm sorry…"

"Wanna talk about it?" Daryl ignored the apology, not even dignifying it with a reply.

Robert shook his head, attempting to burrow into Daryl's chest like he had the night before.

Daryl dropped the subject.

By third night, Daryl was almost certain Jed was secretly trying to kill them. He dropped off to sleep immediately, and this time, no noise woke him.

Robert shaking his shoulders so hard that his neck cracked, that definitely did.

"Whatssgoin'on?" He mumbled groggily.

Movement on the other side of the fire, still crackling warmly, and Daryl could vaguely see Jed and Danny sitting up with the commotion, easily the lightest sleepers of the group. Robert threw his arms around Daryl's neck as soon as the boy had half sat up, a mantra of mumbled words blurring as they spilled from Robert's lips, "You'realive-you'realive-you'realive-"

Clearly deciding this wasn't something they would be needed for, Jed and Danny lay back down, leaving Robert to Daryl. "Of course I'm alive." Daryl whispered, "I'm right here, I'm okay, I promise…"

Robert shook his head, tears actually falling this time. Daryl didn't think he had seen him let that happen since this shit all happened. "You were with them, you were with my parents, and I… I couldn't get to you…"

Daryl's throat tightened. Toni had told them how Robert's parents had died. Her house was across the street from theirs. It must have been a quick death, as the modest home exploded with one of the stray bombs that had first rained down in the attack. Daryl had always been selfishly thankful that Robert had stayed over that night; that his dad had been out late, that he had persuaded Robert to sneak through his window in the middle of a blackout…

"I'm right here." Daryl murmured softly, not bothering with any attempt at a joke to lighten the mood, because nothing could lighten this.

Robert nodded shakily, seeming to finally absorb the reassurance, curling into Daryl's arms. "I'm sorry…"

"Stop saying that."

"But I am. My parents are d-dead… I shouldn't be… Dreams won't bring them back, dreams won't help anyone back in town…"

Daryl's throat tightened, his thoughts drifting to his own dad, still breathing, surrounded by so many dead parents, shoulder to shoulder with their murderers. Nothing about this was fair, and there was nothing that he could say to make this any better except to tighten his arms around his boyfriend, and repeat his own mantra, "I'm right here."