dadyl | 𝙿𝙴𝙽𝙰𝙽𝙲𝙴 𝙸𝙽𝙱𝙾𝚇 ;

[ Daryl hums his agreement about the snow just as he hears the cluster of barks, echoing between buildings and a little muffled by distance. He never hears dogs in this place, not before or since the weird things that had passed as pets in Hellburbia, but that's not really what makes him stop and listen. He could swear he recognizes the tone of that bark and then his errand from the previous day rushes back to him. ]

Hang on.

[ He takes a few steps away from Gabe and whistles, heart in his throat, and waits. It takes less than a minute for the shape of Dog to appear in the road. When Daryl shouts, Dog breaks into a run again. ]

C'mon, boy!

[ He hadn't mentioned his ask to anyone. He hadn't even thought they would come through for him. But here he is, and Daryl goes down on one knee in the snow to greet his friend. ]

[ Gabe stills, one hand inching toward his rifle. An instinct, an old reflex he's happy he doesn't follow through on. Because there's a dog, suddenly. And something like recognition in Daryl's voice before he drops to a knee.

Oh.

Gabe huffs a little, covering his smile with his hand. ]

Shit. You know this one?

[ Daryl is grinning his way through a hefty several dozen dog kisses and he actually chuckles, trying to stroke Dog's head to calm him down. He whines and Daryl rubs his hands roughly down either side of him, realizing he's soaked in the same melting blood-snow. ]

Yeah. Yeah, I asked if they could... bring him. From home.

[ And given what they'd just talked about, Daryl has a feeling that Gabe might know a few of the reasons why. ]

I went to find out more about the fight against Barbas, offer what I could do for 'em. Didn't even realize I could ask to trade for somethin' in return 'til they asked. An' here he is.

[ Only one thing had come to mind and Daryl stands up, pats his pecs, and Dog rears up to press his paws to Daryl's chest for attention. He scratches him once more and steps away, motioning Dog towards Gabe, the silent command to check him out. ]

[ Like his armor, Gabe thinks silently. He spares a thought to what else they might ask for. Useful things, if he can think of them. Maybe additional weapons? He starts to ask, maybe brainstorm a little, but then the dog's trotting over and Gabe falls silently.

He doesn't know much about dogs. He's been chased and bitten by them more than once - security protocols on jobs, and a few times with zealous instructors - but he's never -

He's never really interacted with them. Not in a way that would matter. But this one's coming close.

Silently, Gabe strips one of his gloves off and offers out his hand. ]

Hey, dude.

[ A wet nose bumps against his hand. Gabe huffs a little, then shifts to run his hand over the dog's back. ]

He's soft.

[ Dog is amiable, calm and well-trained, and he sniffs out Gabe's hand and allows himself to be pet like he can't smell how unsure Gabe is in the moment. Daryl just watches the greeting, smiling broadly in a rare way. ]

He's pretty young still. But he'll smell later if we don't get that snow washed outta his fur.

[ He doesn't trust the red in the snow not to be blood and he doesn't want that drying in Dog's coat. He thinks, momentarily, about telling Gabe how he'd come by Dog and who he'd once belonged with, but he doesn't. He doesn't want to offer that memory or create that association unless asked. ]

Never met a dog as smart as this one. Huh, boy?

We should head back, then. We can scout another time.

[ Doesn’t seem like there’s much to find, anyway. He hasn’t picked up anyone else which his tech and if there’s anything to be gained from scouting the area now, it’s undercut by the risk of getting trapped by the weather. Gabe’s got survival training and Daryl’s got proven experience, but it’s a risk now. Maybe not one worth taking, either.

Gabe smiles just a little, rubbing the dog’s neck. ]

What’s his name?

[ Daryl takes a last look around, wondering why here and now was the time they'd decided to give Dog to him and curious where he'd been released from, but he knows he's unlikely to get answers to either question. He directs a low c'mon at Dog and turns back towards the hotel, letting him shoot out ahead of them to scout while Daryl sticks close to Gabe's elbow. ]

Just Dog.

[ He shrugs, not really wanting to explain that one, either. ]

Ain't a lot of 'em left in our world so it ain't like he's ever confused.

Just Dog?

[ Gabe's eyebrow goes up at that. Weird name. But he's heard weirder, he supposes. And it's descriptive. He keeps pace with Daryl, running background scans just in case. So far, there's nothing but the snow. ]

Well. He seems like a good one, anyway.

Just Dog.

[ Always just Dog. He'd understood when she'd told him the story of Dog's birth why she hadn't been able to bring herself to give him a real name. Or at least a different name. But it's always done the job for Daryl. ]

The best.

[ Another long pause, and then: ]

I didn't name him.

[ Oh, Gabe thinks. But Daryl doesn't elaborate or offer up the person who did name Dog, just lets it settle there between them. For a moment, there's nothing but their footfalls through the snow.

Gabe hums to himself. ]

She name him? Leah?

[ Of course Gabe manages to cut straight to it in a way that makes Daryl shiver slightly in a way that has nothing to do with the cold. Is he really that obvious? ]

Mhm.

[ It's a reluctant, quiet mumble. He hadn't wanted Gabe to know but he won't lie. He won't ever lie to him, even about something like this. ]

She left him behind for me when she took off. After I left to check on my people. Still don't know why.

[ Ah. So he guessed right. Gabe doesn't say anything for a moment, just lets that settle. He thinks Daryl would have named anyone else, if it hadn't been Leah. They're getting to that point, naming their people.

But some things are harder. Strike deeper. ]

I don't know.

[ If he did, he'd have to be a person who knew the first thing about Leah. ]

But he's with you now. That matters, doesn't it?

[ Daryl just shrugs. Dog is here, now, because he'd asked for him. He doesn't know how Hell managed the trick. It probably didn't have shit to do with Dog's preferences. ]

When she found us, he went back to her.

[ He'll never forget that moment when she'd pulled off her mask while holding onto Dog. It's in front of his eyes now, even as he walks. ]

Guess I thought that meant somethin'.

[ Meant what exactly, he doesn't know. That she couldn't have really been the person she'd just revealed herself to be. That there was still the gentleness he knew in there.

That hope had lasted until the waterboarding. ]

It didn't.

Do you want to talk about it?

[ He's quiet for a moment, keeping pace with Daryl and tracking Dog through the snow. ]

Sometimes I want to talk about Jackie. Just get it out. And then sometimes I think about all the ways I want to kill him that I'll never go through on, so, you know.

[ That's definitely healthy. ]

[ No, he doesn't want to talk about it. He never wants to talk about it, hasn't since the morning he'd woken up with those new memories and yet the words still come immediately to mind. He stalks on through the snow in silence, trying to remind himself that there's nothing to be gained from telling Gabe about what happened. He knows the broad strokes. There's no point.

It comes out anyway like it was a bullet already loaded. ]

She had me waterboarded.

[ It comes out flat and low. Daryl sees Dog heading back their way again and he swallows and whistles for him, but he only does it because he's trying very hard to seem unruffled. The memory flashes back to life when he says it out loud and he shivers when the wind hits him wrong. ]

Tried to get me to tell her where my people were. Made me hurt a new friend. Bad.

Fuck.

[ It comes out soft. Whatever pain he was expecting - because there had to be pain, in the end; because there's always pain - it wasn't that. And it takes a moment for Gabe to realize why it rattles him so much, why he's silent as they trudge through the snow. It's the parallels he'd drawn, consciously or not. All the ways someone they loved fucked them over, and how it scarred in them.

Only thing is, Jackie never tortured him. Jackie's sliced Gabe up with those fancy knives of his, but it was always in a fight. Always for a purpose, some end game that was understandable even if it swung cold. A payday, a bounty he was collecting. Nothing personal, love. It never was. And bad as it got between them - bad as it'll be if they meet up again - Gabe doesn't think Jackie would hold him down and hurt him like that.

Not like Leah did to Daryl. And that's a place where the lines diverge between them.

Gabe slows his breathing down before the tension can catch him. He shouldn't be thinking about Jackie right now, but he is. Maybe that was inevitable. ]

That's a new kind of brutal.

[ Yeah. Fuck. It had taken everything Daryl had in him to survive that compound, at least for as long as he had. It had been one of the hardest things he'd ever done, forcing himself down in order to blend, to earn their trust. To put away what was done to him and what would be done to his friends if he failed. If they failed. If anything at all went wrong.

Just like it had. And he'd been the one that judged wrong and fucked it all up. ]

She vouched for me after that. After I didn't give anythin' up, said I didn't know who she was talkin' about. So they tried settin' both of us on fire.

[ Pope and the way he loved his fucking fires. Daryl had never been so relieved as when Leah had drawn her knife and stabbed him in the neck. He'd thought it had been for him.

It hadn't been. ]

An' she still picked them, in the end. When it came to it.

[ The family that had been happy to risk her life in a way Daryl never, ever could. ]

[ The sick part is Gabe understands that. The Wolves pulled shit like that too. Took them as trainees, beat them nearly senseless, ran them on no sleep and just enough food to stay coherent, and that was the trick. That was the test. Suffer, survive, rise above. If you survive, then you're worthy - better than the rabble, better than the ones who came before. Your suffering had meaning, possibly for the first time. It made you strong.

He doesn't say anything for a long time. Briefly, he wonders what they look like out here - two men walking through bloody snow, trailing a dog. He wonders if it shows on them, the things they've survived. If people can tell from a distance.

He's always wondered that. And dreaded the answer. ]

It was like that, in the Wolves.

[ He says it as neutrally as he can. ]

Not with my family. But with the others. A lot of the others. All these tests that didn't matter. It was just about suffering. Proving you could take it. Because then you were one of them. Better than the rest. They must've known it was bullshit. They must've seen it. But they didn't -

[ It never stopped them. They turned right around and hurt the new trainees, same as they'd had done to them. They backed people into corners in the locker rooms and -

And. ]

I'm sorry she did that to you.

[ Daryl knows it shows on him. He's known his entire life, known since he couldn't take his shirt off to go swimming with the neighbourhood kids when he was eight. It was all over for him by then and everything that came after just piled up on top of it. It's never been a mystery to him why he lived his life alone. The world has always known how broken he is and that's always been the problem.

And he can hear it in Gabe's voice no matter how even he tries to keep it. He can hear because he's attuned to it, because he knows the sounds. ]

So'm I.

[ And it still hadn't been enough to make him turn on her. Never completely. ]

'm sorry you an' your people are trapped.

[ And yet somehow, the one positive about this place is that those things can't matter as much here. They just can't. ]

At least here I can keep my eye on you.

[ That part, at least, is simple. For all the pain of this place, they’ve been taken away from what came before. What would have confined them back home.

Here, there’s room to maneuver. ]

I know you will.

[ He exhales, suddenly tired. ]

You have for a long time now.

[ A long time. It has been a long time, something Daryl has been very carefully trying not to notice but now he can't deny that it's true. They've been here a long time and whatever is happening between them has been building for almost as long. It's becoming comfortable in that safe, familiar way that Daryl knows from back home. The feeling of easy trust.

It feels so similar to what he'd had with Leah before it all fell apart that it scares him. ]

I just like bein' around you. That's all.

[ Because all he can offer is the truth, even if he does it shyly. ]

An' I wanna keep it that way. For as long as I can.

[ It's such a simple thing to say. Much harder to mean. And yet, Gabe believes it. He doesn't say anything for a moment, focused on moving forward, the snow crunching under his boots, and then he nods. Just once. ]

I like being around you, too.

[ They've reached the front of the hotel again and Dog is sniffing around the door, following a scent that Daryl can only guess at. Everything is quiet and red and Daryl feels sort of the same, calm but smouldering over so much he can't change and one thing he doesn't want to. The street is very still. ]

You wanna come up, then?

[ One of them had to ask eventually and Daryl doesn't like the cold. He snaps his fingers and Dog lopes over to his side and to Daryl's surprise, presses his nose into Gabe's hand again. ]

He needs a bath, I'm thinkin'. It'll go easier with two of us.

[ Even though it's true, Daryl kicks himself in his head for saying it like it's an excuse he's making for the company. ]

[ Gabe pauses, surprised, but lets Dog sniff his hand. After a moment, he rubs Dog’s ears as well, wondering at the texture. The softness of them. Like silk. He’s never known dogs in a quieter context, outside of a fight or a moment that was about surviving them and their handlers. He thinks he might like this one, though.

He huffs. ]

Putting me to work, huh?

[ It’s a gentle tease, though. No bite in it. ]

All right. I’m game.

[ Daryl smiles a little, relieved that these moments always seem to go easy with Gabe. He doesn't make it uncomfortable. He doesn't make Daryl pay for his clumsiness. He just says 'sure, why not'. ]

He behaves himself, don't worry. He's just got a lot of fur.

[ It turns out Dog also has no idea what to make of an elevator and when they get into it, Dog immediately turns around to get out again like they've all just walked into a closet. ]

Hey! Get back here!

[ The second time, Daryl keeps a hold of him until the doors close. When they get up to his floor and the doors open again, Dog shoots out and into the hallway to sniff at the crack of every single door in turn. Daryl just snorts and shakes his head. ]

He ain't used to any of this.

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