Chapter Text
College. The best period of your life as many people told him. Partying, drinking, making memories for the rest of his life. And he couldn’t deny it, he was pretty pumped for this. Shane had decided he wanted to be a cop and hell, that sure sounded like music in his ears. There was only one problem in his life: his parents. His parents got mad with the idea of their son being a cop.
Why? That was a good question. His dad wanted him to have a job that could make good money. One with a lot of status. Because he was an Alpha. So basically he wasn’t allowed to do anything he wanted because he was an alpha and alpha’s needed to have jobs that had a lot of influence. They had a big fight about it, but as always he couldn’t win it from his parents – unfortunately.
So he went to college, business major. How great. Not. It bored the hell out of him, he wasn’t interested in this at all. But he needed good grades, otherwise he was ‘just a failure of an alpha’. His dads words, not his. His dad told him that he needed to make a lot of money, so he could make sure that his family would lead a good life.
He knew that cops didn’t make that much, but as a family they would be able to live on that. It wouldn’t be any luxurious life, he knew that, but he was able to let that go in order for him to become a cop with Shane.
Shane had been his best friends since they were young kids. They went to the same schools for their whole lives, until now. Shane had presented as an Alpha before him, around his fourteenth. He presented not a month later, but with him being fifteen. He had been slightly older than his best friend, but most of the times it felt like Shane was older than he was.
Shane always had a more ‘alpha’ posture too. He had a strong build and broad shoulders. Muscles flexing and he had always behaved like an alpha. Dominant, sometimes aggressive. He couldn’t count the times on his hands how much he had to step in because Shane got too aggressive.
Shane was quite a flirt too. He’d gotten laid pretty easily. It was no surprise for him if he had another girl every week. But, well, Rick himself wasn’t a person like that. He only wanted to do it with the person he truly loved. Call him old-fashioned, but he had his morals.
He had put all his books for today in his bag, together with some home made lunch, some pencils of course and some markers. He didn’t like this at all, but if he had to he might be prepared right? Otherwise it wasn’t something at all. It would be more than boring.
He grabbed his keys and put on his coat, the college was, luckily, five minutes away if he took his bicycle. He locked the door when he left the house. It was not the best house, he had to say that, but it had just a bit more space than the rooms in college. He lived with some more students, but with everyone having his own room. No shared rooms at all. But they had to share the bathroom, the kitchen and the living room.
He unlocked the extra lock on his bicycle to put it around the frame of the bike and pushed the key in the bicycle to free the lock inside the bicycle. He sat down on the saddle and started to paddle to the college. He wasn’t ready for his first day – that was for sure. But he kind of had to. That’s what he reminded himself every time. Even though he still wanted to be a cop, he could be. Maybe. Later. When he was ‘all grown-up’.
He walked inside the college, not scared at all to meet people. He was quite the social type, if he could say that about himself. The bag on his back, his phone out to check for any messages. Two messages from his mom, wishing him good luck on his first day and that he shouldn’t forget to eat. He rolled his eyes and sighed. She acted like she felt sorry for him, but it was obvious from her behaviour that she wasn’t.
The second person who sought contact was Shane. Well, that was a lot better. Ready for the first day bro?
I’ll try to come by soon alright? Keep an eye out for any nice girls, tho. he snorted and shook his head. Oh man, still Shane after all right? Ah, it would be nice to have him here though. He always enjoyed his company. Hell, he could even enjoy his teases.
Not really, but I’ll keep an eye open for you. Also for parties. I’ll make sure to invite you to them ;) he decided to send back to him. It would be nice for Shane to blend into his new group of friends. He really wanted that, a lot.
He looked up when he saw a figure, waiting in front of the classroom.
It felt like a freaking fairy tale, the moment he saw him standing there right in front of the classroom. A person who was going to follow the same lecture as he was, it seemed. His mouth went dry, seeing the man standing right in front of the class. He was quite dirty, looking kind of rough, the short hair complementing his face. But the thing that stood out for him was the mole just above his lip.
He could feel a shiver running through his body, his fingers seeming to itch. He never experienced something like this, fuck they just met. They didn’t even meet. It was almost like their eyes locked and they weren’t able to look away. He almost wanted to growl, but he forced himself to be quiet.
“Hi.” He decided to say, stepping forward to the man. Their eyes didn’t leave each other for even a second. “What’s up?” the male answered him, leaning casually against the wall, his arms crossed. He gave the man a soft smile and shrugged. “You know, school, not too excited about that.” He said with a soft laugh to him. The boy in front of him didn’t really change his expression when he said those words.. well, everyone had his own kind of humour right?
Rick looked from the stranger to the classroom, back to the man. “You’re followin’ this course too?” he said, glancing to the classroom. What an obvious question. Great damn job Rick Grimes. And here he thought we was quite a social man. “Ya,” the man shrugged as a response to him. “I’m Rick.” He decided to say to him. There was no better way to get to know the other person right? He wanted to make friends as early as possible. Otherwise you’ll find that you’ll be a loner. And he wasn’t really a loner if he was honest.
“Daryl.” The man said shortly to him. It was already clear that the man wasn’t really a man of words, but he seemed like good company at the very least. Maybe he was just a bit shy, that was always an option too. “Want to sit next to each other in the course?” he decided to ask before anyone else had the chance. Well, there weren’t a lot of people here, but he just wanted to sit next to him.
The man looked at him and shrugged again. “Don’t mind it.” Well.. it was something he supposed. He softly smiled and nodded. “Where you from?” he decided to ask him with a soft smile. He wanted to get to know him better, even if this wasn’t going to end in a friendship. “Just outside a small town, in the middle of the woods.” The man told him, without telling him where specifically. He slowly nodded in understanding.
“I’m from Atlanta.” He said with a smile. He never liked the city, if he was honest, but well he didn’t really have a choice since he technically lived with his parents there. “I’d like to live in a smaller town, though.” He said with a chuckle. Earning some attention from Daryl. “Ya don’t hear that a lot from young people.” He couldn’t help but snort, looking at him with a soft smile. “You sound like you’re an elderly.” He said with a soft laugh. Daryl glared at him, but huffed a laugh. “I s’ppose I do.” The man told him.
The teacher arrived and opened the classroom. People went in like waves and just to be sure that was able to sit next to Daryl, he found himself grabbing Daryl’s arm. Like some instinct just took it. And the worst part? He didn’t really see what he was doing. It went full automatic pilot. Daryl didn’t seem to mind it either, so he supposed it was okay for him to do that.
He found them a space and sat down. He looked at Daryl with almost a proud look in his eyes. He had earned them pretty good places, quite on the front and in the middle of all the seats, which caused them to have a place to see anything pretty good.
Daryl seemed to have a bit of difficult time, though. He looked at him with worry, but he wasn’t sure that it was his place to ask him what’s wrong with him already. He didn’t really what to do, he wanted to take him into his arms and make the worry disappear.
That was one of his alpha characteristics. He felt like he always had to comfort everyone. Like he had to keep everyone happy. Like he was a pack leader. He knew he wasn’t, but when he saw or smelled anyone who felt uneasy, he wanted to take it away. With close friends he could, Shane was used to him caring for him. It didn’t matter for him what the secondary gender was, he just wanted to comfort the people.
But Daryl seemed like someone who didn’t like being comforted by someone he just met like what? Five minutes ago? He understood that, of course. It was kind of logical too. But he still wanted to comfort him, in any way. There had to be something he could do. So he just laid his hand on Daryl’s leg and gave it a soft, calming squeeze. Like he was there for him if he needed it, but he wouldn’t do anything without him asking at the very least.
He removed his hand pretty quickly after that, not wanting to make him feel any more awkward then it already was. Because it must have been a bit too awkward for him for him to drag him around and then look at him with that proud look. “Sorry, it’s kind of a characteristic of mine.” He said with a apologetic smile. “Always pamperin’ my friends, so, sorry for that.” He said with a soft chuckle, but it was probably clear that he found it pretty embarrassing and awkward himself.
The boy just nodded in response. “Just bein’ Alpha, I know.” The man reassured him softly. Rick softly smiled, a bit sad.. maybe? “You knew?” he asked him with an apologetic look on his face. He couldn’t help it, people always looked different at you just because you were an Alpha. He hated it. He wanted people to like him for he was. Like Shane did. They knew each other when neither of them were presented. They were just friends, because they knew each other for that long.
“Yeah, know an Alpha when I smell one.” The man said like it was no big deal at all. He slowly nodded in response, was he leaking with his scent? “Sorry.” He said immediately to him, earning a confused look from the redneck next to him. “For what?” he asked him with a deep frown.
Wasn’t it obvious? “For… you know.. instinctively do things.” Daryl almost snorted next to him, which left him confused. Like.. what? “It’s not like you can hold it back, y’know.” He slowly nodded and bit his lip. Well.. probably a bit? But he was quite right, he wasn’t able to hold it all back. Like he held back to hug the man next to him when he felt uneasy. Stuff like that he was holding back. It were those… little things, that’s what was quite hard for him to hold back.
The lesson started and he started to mark every single thing the teacher explained. In between he looked at the person sitting next to him with a warm smile. If this wasn’t a good start…