Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Louis doesn’t really like fishing - he prefers the hunting, prefers his traps, and before he prefered the greenhouse over all this soppy waiting, timing and getting wet bullshit. He doesn’t have to be patient with his traps or working with dirt; he would just work with his hands and results would be there the next time he shows up.

But Marlon loves fishing, for some dumbass reason, and for another dumbass reason Louis loves Marlon so today the hunting and checking the woodland traps is left to Aasim and Violet.

Louis is just back from checking all the traps -three bigass fish- and resetting them, watching for a second as Marlon throws his spear into the water and pulls out a fish with it -soaking his pants in the process.

He opens his mouth for a super intelligent witty quip that absolutely nobody will appreciate and the genius of his wordplay will be lost on everyone when his voice is drowned out by something loud, not that far from here

“The fuck was that?” Marlon straightens up, the fish flopping from his spear, landing on the ground and flopping around until it ends up back in the river. It looks comical but the fact that there was an explosion so close to their “safe zone border” is very worrying and Louis fears blunt head trauma if he says something about the fish now.

So Louis grabs the spear out of Marlon’s hands, chucks it towards the shack and gets moving towards the sound -train station, probably. “Let’s go check,” he says. “Bring your bow, sound like that attracts walkers.” He grabs Chairles from where it was resting in the sun - and he isn’t jealous of a table leg, really, he isn’t - and looks over his shoulder to see Marlon hesitantly following, bow in his hands and arrow on the string.

Paranoid fucker, truly.

There are walkers and a crashed car. Louis is the first down the slope, dodging past walkers and kicking some in the knees to get them down, but not bothering killing them. An arrow whizzes past his head as he makes for the driver's seat and he knows Marlon has his back.

Marlon always has his back.

“Marlon, fuck, there’s a kid in here,” he says as soon as he sees the tiny form. Scratch that -two kids. The girl who was driving can’t be any older than him.

“You get the kid!” he waves his arm to the other direction and walkers drop in front of Louis’s eyes as Marlon makes it down. Louis grabs Chairles tighter and bashes some heads in as Marlon makes a break for it with the little kid in his arms, his bow strung on his back. An arm lifts in the corner of his vision, broken words sound from the girl’s throat.

Sounds like “don’t take him,” which is always a good sign -person who cares more about their kid than themselves. Not that Louis has ever seen that particular thing in action in, well, ever. So he crouches down after glancing around and most walkers are slowly making their way to him, but they’re all tripping on the way down and getting stuck behind trees and other dumb shit you do when you’re undead, so he reaches in, grabs the girl under her armpits and drags her out of the car.

There’s a lot of fucking blood, and jesus, head wounds may bleed a lot but this seems worrying. There’s a bloody hat lying on the bottom - or actually, the roof of the car, so he sweeps it up and because he has no better place to put it he plants it on his head.

If she still has the fucking thing she might be attached to it.

Anyway she might be tiny but he won’t be able to carry her the way Marlon carried the other kid, and she’s definitely out cold so he hoists her up, over his shoulder and grabs her tight by the knees.

Might not be the most gentleman thing to do, but she’s not awake for it anyway and it’s better than leaving her, or whatever.

Arrows start whizzing again as Louis slowly makes his way towards the safe zone border, picking up walkers coming up behind or next to him and while he’s not an overly sentimental person, he can’t help but be so fucking glad that Marlon was there so they could experience the end of the world together.

The kid’s name is AJ and he has better taste in people than the rest of the idiots here -meaning he glares in silence at everyone asking him questions and clings to Louis’s coat as they try to take him away.

In the end, Marlon gives up and lets the kid stay with Louis in the music room on the condition that he behaves.

AJ doesn't promise, and neither does Louis. He feels like they bond in their plans of mischief. A tiny mini-prankster might come in handy, might reach places Louis can not and accomplices in mischief are always, always appreciated.

He can teach this kid a thing or two.

The kid is mostly silent after asking where his caretaker was -didn’t mention a name, just asked ‘where is she’ a couple of times until Marlon sighed, rolled his eyes and told him that they were treating the girl for her wounds in another room but until they know for sure she’s not violent she won’t be allowed to leave.

“Why did they lock her up?” AJ asks after staring at the backpack Marlon also left with Louis. Louis looks up from the piano, debating whether or not he should play, and to the kid.

“Well, because you know we’re here to help you to, right?” he asks, and AJ nods, still looking suspicious. “She doesn’t. The last thing she saw was Marlon taking you out of the car, so if she wakes up somewhere strange, what’s the first thing she would do?”

“Look for an exit,” AJ says. “Look for me,” he adds after a second. Louis nods. “Yes, and gathering from your tough guy personality I’m gonna assume she’s tough as bricks as well and won’t stop till she finds you, yeah?” Louis guesses, and AJ’s look suggests that his caretaker girl would hail fire and brimstone on them to find her kid. “Exactly. So we place you in her room so you can explain we’re not bad which will probably lead to her taking you and escaping and maybe a few injuries on our part, or we keep you away from her, as soon as she wakes up promise her to take her to you and build good trust that way. You guys can still leave, but you could also stay, and that way she has a chance of experiencing what a delight I am.”

The kid still looks high-strung so Louis proceeds to tell all the jokes and puns he has in his vast arsenal until the kid looks less murderous and more like a lost kid who has been taken away from his mom.

Sad, but better than murderous.

When he carefully asks AJ why the kid decided to cling to Louis, of all people, the kid shrugs, looks at his feet and mumbles something about Louis getting the girl out.

They talk for a bit, Louis shows AJ the building and then tells him about how the piano works when it happens. Ruby means well, trying to mother everyone here and smelling the chance of mothering someone who actually needs it she approaches AJ but the kid visually startles and reacts as if he’s being attacked.

 Which, good reflexes in this world, but Ruby doesn’t seem to appreciate being bitten in a world where that usually means you die.

He plays some music for the kid and from the corners of his eyes sees him relax a bit. Louis isn’t gonna tell him off for biting Ruby - he isn’t the kid’s dad or parental figure or whatever. The girl can do that when she wakes up. Plus, getting yelled at by Ruby is scary enough.

So he plays, and maybe he loses himself in the music a bit because he totally doesn’t notice it when someone else walks into the room, but AJ sure does.

“Clem!” the kid exclaims, and Louis keeps playing.

Some kind of privacy for their reunion, or something, right? He hears the kid laugh and isn’t that a sound he hasn’t heard in way to fucking long. Despite him trying to always lighten the mood around here, most people don’t appreciate it and call him childish and careless.

Sure, he’ll do what it takes to survive. Even thinking ahead is sometimes necessary for that, but that doesn’t mean they have to stop having fun.

He hears the girl telling AJ off about the bites and the boy actually sounds sorry -Louis wouldn’t have been. There’s a silence falling between them and he stops playing.

“You’re not dead, that’s good,” he remarks, and both sets of eyes land on him.

Hers are actually quite pretty -he’d expected brown, what with her skin and hair color, but they’re an amber gold that glint in the light of the window. The bandage looks professional on her head and Tenn is really a little miracle worker.

He swings his leg over the stool he’s sitting on and smiles at her. Smiling’s friendly, right? And somehow he would really like for this golden-eyed girl with the too serious and guarded and too mature kid to be his friend.

He wants both of them to be his friends, but maybe making friend with a, how old would he be, six year old isn’t that accepted so he’d settle for just friends with the girl.

“Watched your kid for you,” he says and the girl straightens up from where she was kneeling to talk to AJ.

“My name is AJ,” AJ says bitterly, and wow, yeah, if a kid is this bitter about being called a kid he’s seriously lacking in fun in his life. Louis should remedy that.

“Excuse me,” he says, winking at AJ and then returning his gaze to the girl. “I watched AJ for you.”

 “Thanks,” she says, stepping forward. “I appreciate it.” And her voice is soft and something else he can’t quite put his finger on. Serious, too, but he can’t help imagining what she’d sound if she was laughing or telling a stupid joke or story.

If only times were different. But they’re not, and there’s no use in focussing on what if’s. Still, he’d love to bring some joy into their lives, looseness in their shoulders and a bit more fun into their guarded facial expressions.

“No problem,” he says, and that sounds way too serious, and if he’s trying to give them a taste of fun, why not start now? “Well, not no problem,” he amends with a smile. “He was a bit of a handful.” AJ looks at the ground, seemingly ashamed, and that was absolutely not the intention. “But I got off light compared to what Ruby went through,” he goes on, and the girl smiles, placing a hand on AJ’s shoulder. “AJ doesn't like people coming up behind him,” she explains, and AJ fixes a deadly serious gaze that doesn’t belong on the face of a six-ish year old in any sort of world, and shakes his head. “Don’t ever do it,” he warns.

 Louis is a bit put off by the seriousness and the maturity of this kid -and apparently the PTSD. He knows he’s been sheltered from the world, experiencing the apocalypse from the safety of the school, but these kids have been through hell and back the past few years and it seems to be worse than what Louis could’ve imagined.

The shock is probably visible on his face because the girl raises an eyebrow at him and he forces a grin. “Loud and clear, little man,” he throws in some finger guns because those are fun and AJ should experience fun as much as possible. It’s Louis’s new life mission: Get The Sad Kid To Be Less Like A War Veteran And Introduce Him To Fun.

The title is a work in progress.

He returns his look at the girl and moves his leg back to sit directly in front of the piano. “Thankfully I was here to calm him down with my alluring music,” he starts playing again, the melody as much muscle memory as swinging Chairles at this point, and turns his head to look at the girl. AJ’s stepped closer.

“I’m Louis,” he tells her. She smiles at AJ and then at him. “Clementine,” she tells him, and oh does that not open possibilities. Would she laugh, would she find it funny, or would she be offended, sad, mad maybe?

He decides not to risk it.

“Oh, yeah!” he suddenly says as he remembers that not only AJ was left in his care, but her stuff, too. “Totally forgot, Marlon left your bag in here somewhere.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it,” her voice is followed by footsteps and he sees her kneeling in front of AJ to unpack the bag. When he looks again, he misses the next key for two reasons.

The hat looks good on her and now every time he will see her without it will feel wrong.

Secondly, she’s handing a gun, to the six year old kid. “Uhm,” he voices his feelings as his hands stop playing. The kid takes it without hesitation, like it’s actually his, and opens it to check for bullets or something -Louis never has handled a gun, they’re loud and noisy and nobody ever allowed him to look at one, much less fire it. “Double uhm,” he adds on because yes, the world is fucking dangerous but kids are unstable even if their parents don’t ship them of to a boarding school for troubled youth, and as such kids should probably not have guns.

“Does he know what that is?” he asks Clementine, already knowing the answer and not wanting to interfere with her child raising or whatever, but a kid walking around the school with a gun does not comfort his mind.

He doesn’t know whether the behavior of the child so far makes it better or worse and it’s not something he would like to explore.

“It’s dirty,” AJ says, completely ignoring him. He sees how it is, clinging to his coat like a toddler for hours but as soon as the girl appears he’s forgotten, sure, sure why not.

“Clean it,” she tells him, also completely ignoring him. Family trait, then.

“Maybe later,” AJ decides, and then puts it in the waistband of his pants. “Back you go,” he says. Clementine nods. “Where it belongs,” she confirms, and fucking shit this is something they’ve done for months -maybe years.

“Dude,” Louis says, and they finally look at him. Usually everything about him would reject the idea of calling an attractive girl ‘dude’ but in this case it seems to get her attention. “That can’t be a good idea.”

“That thing’s bigger than him!” AJ turns to face him, looking kind of hurt that Louis wouldn’t trust him with the gun. “Is it actually loaded?” he asks. AJ considers him for a second. “Yes.”

“Oh, good.” is his reply and he’s pretty sure the kid doesn't get the sarcasm, but Clementine certainly does because she gets up and looks him straight in the eye and there’s something disconcerting about those golden eyes staring into his soul.

“I guarantee he’s a better shot than you,” she says, her tone light but her eyes warning, her eyebrows in a slight frown. And sure, everyone’s a better shot at him, he’s never touched a gun for fuck’s sake, but this girl seems to think shooting guns is important and she also seems to be giving blows to his ego or whatever.

“Hey!” he says, feigning hurt as he meets her eyes. Then he looks back at AJ and he feels his damn heart soften.

Well, the kid acts responsible enough, and if he’s a good shot it might come in useful against the dead. He swings his legs back so he can start playing again. “You guys do your thing I guess,” he says, making clear he wasn’t trying to bash her child raising skills.

He hasn’t even started playing when her voice interrupts him again. “You don’t know any others?” she asks, and okay, now he’s playing the song. She’s asked for it.

“Well there is one,” he says, shooting her a look. “But you’re armed.”

Don’t think he didn’t see that knife she slipped into her belt. She shoots him a look that totally screams “not impressed” and it just makes him want to impress her or show positive emotion towards him in any way and god damn he isn’t a puppy, he shouldn’t strive to make this girl praise him, but it’s more than that.

He wants to make her happy. Her and AJ both -and maybe not happy in the general sense, the biggest one, but he wants to bring fun to their lives, make them smile or laugh or feel good about the world, even if it’s just a few minutes.

It’s what he wants to do for everyone he meets.

So he shrugs, turns back to the piano and he plays and he sings.

“Oh my darling, oh my darling,” and he should probably sensor some of the lyrics, he doesn’t think AJ would appreciate him singing about the death of darling Clementine.

He might get lynched. Or shot.

“Oh my darling Clementine,” he’s looking at them, AJ’s face filled with wonder and surprise at his caretaker’s name and Clementine with her arms  crossed and a look of annoyed fondness on her face. A look he is very familiar with getting from everyone.

Like how everyone loves the puppy even when he chews on your shoes.

“You are lost and gone forever,” Clementine doesn’t say anything, but she smiles and steps closer, placing another hand on AJ’s shoulder. He notices she only does it after he’d be able to see her from the corner of his eyes.
He grins at her and goes on. “Dreadful sorry Clementine. Light she was and like a fairy, and her shoes were number nine,” it’s been a while since he’s sung, but he loves it, he loves the playing and the singing and the excited look on AJ’s face and the fondness on Clementine’s as she listens and looks at her boy.

“Herring boxes without topses, sandals were for Clementine.” and he reckons he should stop before the next verse and the light in AJ’s face becomes something dark as the song’s Clementine slips and falls into a river and the singer can’t save her.

Oh well.

He stops singing and playing and turns to face them again. He winks at AJ and the boy laughs -an honest to god laugh- and Louis doesn’t regret playing the song.

Hell, he’d play all the songs he knows until his voice dries out if the kid would ask him to.

“What do you think, AJ?” Clementine asks, and the smile immediately drops from his face, calculation taking its place and Louis wants to take the little face in his hands and tell jokes and puns and make funny faces until the lightheartedness comes back. “I dunno,” he says. “It’s loud.”

“It is,” Clementine replies patiently. “Loud is bad,” AJ concludes and Louis has to try his best not to wince.

Yes, loud is bad, loud attracts walkers, this kid would know all about it, but before the dead started walking it was the most common phrase uttered in Louis’s childhood house before his parents sent him off to this school.

Children are meant to be seen, not heard, and unless they could sit still and eat with proper manners and get perfect grades and be everything children are not, they’re not meant to be seen either.

“Not always,” Clementine retorts, and Louis finds himself smiling as he looks at her. Neither of them noticed his bad reaction to the phrase and he likes to keep it that way.

So he shoves over and pats the seat, pointing at a key. “Come press this key,” he encourages AJ.

The kid actually steps back, a daunted look on his face as  he looks up at Clementine as if he asked him to poke a sleeping bear.

He doesn’t have to encourage the kid because Clementine smiles down at AJ. “Go ahead, AJ. Press it” she says, and carefully the kid makes his way to the piano, touches the key with one finger and pulling his hand back as if he’s poked a live snake.

“Now press this one,” he encourages, and the kid does. “And this one.” The kid smiles up at him. Louis laughs, “you’re a natural!” he says and resists the urge to ruffle the kids hair.

He probably wouldn’t like being touched, not by Louis, not without good reason, not without warning.

AJ smiles at Clementine, Clementine smiles at AJ and also a bit at Louis and he opens his mouth to suggest that he teach her, too, when Marlon comes in and ruins the fun.

Oh, well, smashing in walker heads is good too. Last time Clementine was too unconcious to admire his fighting abilities, but he’s sure to impress her now.

(With her surviving out in the wild, mostly on her own from what he’s seen, for all those years, he sure fucking doubts it)

Anyway, he’d like to see her in action.

Chapter Text

They gather at the gate, Clementine walking half a step ahead of him and AJ trailing behind him. Marlon’s calling for Rosie and Louis wonders what kind of bone the dog’s found now that she doesn’t bother showing up when her beloved master calls.

Marlon seems to give up and turns to them instead. “You give her her weapon back?” he questions, and before Louis can say anything, Clementine flashes the knife at him. Marlon talks, explaining the situation and Violet makes a nasty comment about Clementine’s car crash.

Louis is fully ready for Clementine to spring to the defense, to make snarky comments back but instead the girl genuinely apologizes for causing trouble.

As if crashing the car had been her intention, god, Violet. Either way, Violet could use a friend and the more connections Clementine and AJ make, the bigger the chance they stay.

The group can always use fresh faces.

He clears his throat and tries to make his voice higher, knowing he sounds ridiculous. “Hello, Clementine, my name is Violet. Nice to meet you.” Clementine is smiling in that fond way again, the way she looks at AJ when he’s awkwardly stumbling through social interactions or the way Marlon looked at Rosie when she was little and chewing on everyone’s shoes.

“What he said,” Violet shrugs. The gate opens and they venture out, Clementine last.

Louis exists before her, promising Violet is worth giving a chance, and he sees her look at Chairles as he rests it on his shoulder. “Oh, this?” he asks, grinning at her again in the hopes of a smile in return. “It’s a chair leg. I call it Chairles,” he says.

If he’s not mistaken, she actually rolls her eyes at him, but there’s an amused tilt to her mouth.

He goes out and smashes a few walker’s heads in before he finds himself with none in direct reach and decides to watch Clementine. She’s facing down two, kicking the front one in the leg so it falls down, moving around it to the other one, kicking it and then placing her knife in its skull. She pulls back the knife in time to drive it up in the other walker’s head and that all while making it look effortless.

He calls out to her. “Wow, nice one, Clementine!” Then, because he can’t not show off, when she looks at him he grins. “Could use a little more finesse, though! Watch and learn,” he turns towards the trap and cuts the cord, catching the walker with the ginormous rock. Clementine looks up at the trap, clearly trying to figure out how it works. Satisfaction uncurls like a lazy cat in his chest.

He loves it when people admire his handiwork.
“There’s a whole bunch of traps lying around this area for these asshats,” he explains. Her head goes from left to right, finding them all and their ropes. “They’re all marked, so keep a look out!”

She readies herself to fight the rest of the dead in her path, and he grabs Chairles tighter so he can do the same.

And if he swings a little harder, if he steps a little faster and if his choreography to this killing dance is a bit fancy, well nobody who knows him is paying enough attention to tell.

He notices she does use his traps, though.

The hunting party arrives and Louis is quick enough with dispatching his walkers to notice Clementine rushing to Aasim’s rescue, and her reaction to Rosie.

There’s a story there, but it’s not his to ask about. So he pretends to not be paying any attention when Marlon looks at him and follows the group back into the school, ignoring Aasim picking a fight with Marlon, also doubting but not willing to speak up.

He catches up to Clementine and Violet. “Still standing, I see,” he looks at Clementine, and then over at Violet. Right, so these girls need to be friends.

“I call that a B+ performance there, Vi,” he says. “You’ve done better.”

She flips him off, her shoulders coming up and tightening, raising her defenses. “Fuck off,” she says.

He places his hand on his heart and pulls a face, knowing she’d push him if she could see. “B- then,” he says. “Now, Clem here,” he doesn’t know if he can pull off a nickname but she seems to not react at all, so he continues, “that was a solid A. A+ even!”

Clementine looks to the side for a second before glancing at Violet.

“Uhm, you kicked ass, Violet,” she says. “A+!” Violet smiles, her shoulders relax and her footfalls are less military, less strained. “I know,” she says, but she sounds happy.

He’s happy with the outcome, of course, but he can’t show that so he shakes his head. “You’re both delusional,” he tells them. They both shake their heads, bonding in their girl-things and Louis-is-an-idiot things.

When they approach him, Clementine focusses her attention on him. “Hey, guys,” she says. “Clem! AJ!” he says, making eye contact with the little guy. He seems on edge about something, but it’s a new environment so it’s probably to be expected. “This is Omar. Uh, excuse me, Chef Omar,” he grins at the other boy, who rolls his eyes and straightens his back to look at Clem and AJ. “Hello, and no, it’s not ready yet.”

Clementine’s confused look and AJ’s downcast one tell Louis that the food isn’t the reason they approached -either wanting to talk to Louis or make more friends- but that AJ is extremely hungry anyway.

“Omar’s a perfectionist,” he explains, “The slightest flavor out of place and he’s grumpy for a week.” Omar shoots him a look that tells him he isn’t impressed.

Shocker.

“You can eat or you can eat right,” he tells Clementine. “All it takes is a little patience.”

“I’ll let you guys know when we’re done,” Louis promises, but when Clementine turns to leave, AJ lingers.

“Saw you making friends, little guy,” Louis says, and AJ nods. “I’m practicing,” he says. Clementine turns back around to face Louis again, seemingly okay with continuing the conversation. “Practicing for what?”

AJ shuffles his feet. “Apologising to Marlon. I accidentally hit him,” AJ admits, looking at his shoes guiltily.

Louis crouches, bringing his face closer to AJ’s height. “Did he come up behind you?” he asks, making sure there is no blame or funny undertones whatsoever to be found in his voice -he doesn’t want AJ to think Louis is making fun of him or not taking his thing seriously.

AJ nods. “He touched my shoulder. I knew it wasn't a monster, but…” Louis nods. “But you reacted like that anyway. ‘S called reflexes, little man, and you got them,” Louis says. “It’s okay, though, Marlon didn’t know to not come up to you from behind. Reckon you and your Clem’ve been through things we couldn’t even imagine.”
AJ doesn’t say anything, but he is looking at Louis now instead of his feet. “Did you know Marlon’s my best friend?” Louis asks. AJ shakes his head. “I didn’t.”

Louis grins at AJ, ignoring how Clementine is looking at the both of them with a fond but wary look on her face. “Well, he is, and so I can tell you that he’s a nice guy. If you explain to him you were scared, and that you’re not used to friendly people grabbing or touching you if you can’t see them -because you’re not, are you?” AJ shakes his head and shit, is that tears in his eyes?

“I’m not used to friendly people except for Clem,” he admits. “Clem tells me once someone took care of us, when I was super little, but the monsters got him because he protected us. The people after that took me away from Clem,” and fuck, who does that? It’s pretty clear Clem isn’t the biological mother to this kid but it’s also obvious she cares for him as if he is. Who takes a kid away from their mom? “She found me, and it’s just been us since. All people and monsters ever have always been bad.”

Louis closes his eyes for a second and then tries for a reassuring smile. “Well, we’re not bad, I promise,” he says. “I’ll protect you, too. Both of you, though Lord knows your Clem doesn’t need me to. I also promise Marlon will forgive you when you say sorry -and I’ll make sure everyone knows not to sneak up on you, okay?” AJ blinks a few times, a tear rolling down his cheek before determination sets his features. “Yes, okay!” he says. Louis can’t resist and ruffles the kid’s hair. “There ya go, little man,” he says. “Go make friends.”

He straightens up and winks at Clementine, who sends him a grateful smile in return as AJ bounces towards the next person in sight -Aasim.

Clementine dutifully follows and Louis wonders whether or not either of them will ever fully trust someone else again.

Few minutes later he sees AJ talking to Marlon, and when the blond kid smiles Louis calls over. “Clem! AJ! Stew’s done!”

He finds himself at a table with them, as well as Marlon and Ruby. AJ scarfs down the food like he hasn’t eaten in days and Clementine mentions not having had a hot meal in forever.

He wants to keep them and watch them eat hot meals every night until it becomes a certainty instead of a treat.

Ruby is glaring at AJ for eating too fast so Louis decides to distract her by letting out a burp.

He’s hardly touched his food -had three bites- but he’s got a feeling AJ might be hungry enough for two bowls, and Clementine is probably just as hungry but would give up her food for the kid anyway. Louis has had regular meals since forever, he ate yesterday and the day before that and every day for the last few months, at least. He’ll eat tomorrow, too, so he can miss today.

Ruby indeed redirects her glare at him but then AJ decides to follow in his footsteps and let out a little burp as well.

Ruby looks at Clementine, probably hoping she’ll scold the boy and for a second there Louis thinks she will.

Then Clementine lets out the best burp of them all and after AJ lets out another one the duo bursts out laughing, carefree in a way Louis hasn’t seen them before.

Surprisingly, Marlon sides with Ruby, telling them off and Louis doesn’t even have time to narrow his eyes in suspicion before the blond also lets out a burp.

Unsurprisingly, Ruby leaves, the entire table giggling in delight for a bit.

Also unsurprisingly, AJ is still hungry and before Clementine can even say a word, Louis has given the kid his still nearly full bowl.

“Are you sure?” she asks him in a hushed tone, and Louis grins at her. “You bet,” he assures her.

Later, as others have dissapeared inside and Violet has been called over and taken a seat next to Marlon, he takes out his cards. Him and Violet explain the game to Clementine and unsurprisingly, Violet looks unimpressed when he adds the “winner gets to ask Clem a question” thing.

“What?” he asks when Clementine looks at him with the exact same expression. These girls better become friends. Or maybe not -it’d be his downfall. “I wanna get to know you. We all do,” Marlon nods for emphasis and even Violet relents.

“And what if I win?” Clementine asks, and Louis grins at her. Of course. Competitive spirit. “Then you get to ask us one,” he shrugs. “It’s only fair.”

Clementine and Marlon talk about AJ and his newfound friendship with Tenn as Louis divides the cards.

Of course, Violet wins the first round.

“So, about AJ,” the girl starts. He sees Clem become guarded immediately, soft features hardening into iron and a cold, calculating gaze sweeping over their faces. “Where are AJ’s parents?”

Clementine sags, her shoulders folding in and shit, of course it’s a sad story. When it comes to people, friends or family, no one has happy stories anymore.

“They’re dead,” Clementine says. “His father saved my life, died buying me time as I was trying to free our group,” Clementine shrugs. “AJ wasn’t born, then. His mom, Rebecca, never really liked me. For good reasons, I wasn’t nice to her,” Clem seems remorseful over this, staring at her hands as her fingers tap out a rythem on the table. “She died because she was weak from giving birth, and me and Luke, we, we made her move. In the winter, it was cold and snowing and Luke and I decided we had to keep moving even if Kenny said it was a bad idea, and he could know because Duck-” the girl chokes here, and Louis reaches out, placing his hand on hers. “It’s okay, Clem,” he says. “It’s not your fault. You must’ve been, what, twelve?” he guesses, and she swallows and nods. “Eleven,” she whispers. Louis squeezes her hand and she looks up at him. “It’s not your fault. You took care of AJ for them, I’m sure that wherever they are, they are immensely grateful and proud of both of you,” he assures her. She nods, smiles a watery, thankful smile and goes for the cards again.

Honestly, he hadn’t expected such an honest answer, but maybe she needs someone to talk to about everything she’s been through.

A smile makes its way to her face again as she wins. “Hey, I win!” she says, and Louis leans on his chair. “Hey, you do!” he says. “So, what you wanna know?”

She stares at all their faces, thinking. “Grossest thing you’ve ever eaten?” she asks.

“Pretty easy,” Violet starts. “Horse eyeballs,” and ew, when was that, Louis definitely wasn’t there for that, that’s fucking gross! “Slugs,” Marlon says, and yes, he was there that weekend when Marlon’s parents forced Marlon to go to France with them. Louis still doesn’t understand why he had to come, too.

He hadn’t eaten the slugs.

“Cantaloupe,” he tells her, Violet immediately interrupting, “c’mon!” He looks at her. “Dude,” he says, “I fucking hate, cantaloupe.”

Clem giggles and then pulls a serious, morose face he doesn’t believe for even a second. “I ate a guy’s leg once,” she says, and the other two stare at her in horror, and Louis doesn’t believe her except -except to survive, she would. She totally would. Tough as bricks, this girl.

“I’m kidding!” she says when she realises how Violet and Marlon are looking at her. Louis catches her eye. “Are you?” he questions.  

She doesn’t answer.

He wins, next. “Boo-ya!” he exclaims. “Alright, so, Clem,” he looks at her, and Violet is already rolling her eyes -expecting him to ask about boyfriends or something.

But, the girl he’s seen, she wouldn’t have had time for that in between all the surviving she was doing, would she? Getting AJ when she was eleven? And AJ mentioned he was taken when he was young and that Clementine found him again, and after that they haven’t talked to nice people.

So, he’s already got that answer, and he decides to ask something else. “How’d you get that scar?” he waves in the general direction of her forehead. “The one above your eyebrow.”

Clementine smiles, something happy but equally sad about it. Melancholy, maybe?

“A few weeks after AJ was born it was just me and him and Kenny. I’d known Kenny since the beginning -he was good friends with… With Lee, who found me and taught me to survive. Anyway, we found this stronghold, a safe place, but it wouldn’t take us. Kenny bargained and they said AJ and I could live there, but Kenny couldn’t. I… I couldn’t leave him, not even for AJ’s sake. He’d already lost so much and I…” She blinks, steels herself and looks Louis in the eye, the rare amber gold in her eyes shining bright like the moon.

“He was teaching me to drive. It was still winter, and I slipped on a patch of ice. Me and AJ had seat belts on, but his was broken. We crashed and he flew out of the windshield. I hit my head on the steering wheel, that’s where the scar’s from,” she says, and then she lets out a low laugh. “Could’ve just said “car accident”, I get them frequently enough.” Louis smiles at her, but the implication that this Kenny guy -the one who took care of Clem and AJ- didn’t make it, is clear enough for him to not ask more.

Marlon wins the next one, and asks Clem about her fear of dogs. “Like, I know you said you had a bad experience and if you don’t want to talk about it,” Marlon shrugs. “But I’m curious.”

Clem holds out her left arm and damn, that’s a long, jagged scar right there. “I was alone. I lost the only other person I was traveling with, I’d fallen into a river,” and yeah, so he’s never singing songs about girls falling in rivers again, great, “and I found a campsite with a dog. His name was Sam and he stuck by my side as I explored. When I found food, he tried to take it all and when I kept it from him, he bit me. I had to kill him,” Clementine sighs. “I had lost so much blood, I fainted while trying to make it to safety. Someone else helped me, but the group thought I was bitten by a walker so they locked me up in their shed to see if I would turn. I knew that if I didn’t get medical help, I’d die overnight of blood loss and turn anyway, so I snuck into their house and found supplies, and I stitched myself up.”

So, this girl isn’t just tough as bricks, she’s as tough as a goddamn concrete bridge or something, god damn. “I stayed with that group for a while -it was the group of AJ’s parents. But, eventually, they all died too.” And now she just sounds sad so Louis decides they should move on to the next question.

He flips his card and the rest follows his lead.

“I win again,” Clementine proclaims, and then immediatly looks them all in the eyes before producing her next question. “Biggest regret?”

“Marlon’s haircut,” Louis says before anyone else can react. Marlon glares at him but the girls giggle. “Are you the one who did that?” Clementine asks in between giggles, “I know, we should throw him out,” Violet agrees, also laughing.

“There’s nothing wrong with my hair,” Marlon says. Louis grins at his best friend. “Whatever you say, dude.” Marlon glare turns deeper. “I say it looks cool.” Louis shrugs, and then Violet speaks up again, her face oddly serious.

“Trading places with Brody the day Sophie and Minnie went missing,” she says. “I was supposed to go with them and Marlon, but I wanted to work in the greenhouse instead.” her shoulders sag and she looks down at the table. “Not implying I’m better than Brody, but I just… can’t stop from blaming myself.”

It’s quiet for a bit, then Marlon turns the next card.

Everyone follows, but Louis notices that he didn’t answer the question. He knows his best friend, knows his biggest regret is not saying goodbye to his little sister when he went back to school after the holidays, knows that his last words to her being mean in the middle of a fight are his biggest regret now that he’ll never see her again, and maybe Marlon doesn’t want to bring it up in front of the new girl, but Louis doesn’t think that’s the case.

Strange. He’d just have to ask Marlon later, maybe.

Violet wins again, and then asks The Question. Goddamn, Louis hates The Question, mostly because he’s always the answer.

“Out of the four of us, who do you think is going to die first?” she asks. Clementine contemplates this, and Louis is ready for his name to come out of her mouth, but she seems to be looking between Violet and Marlon.

“Either one of you,” she says. Violet squeaks, “why not Louis, he’s clumsy and an idiot!” she says, clearly not okay with it being implied she would die before him. Clementine shrugs. “Maybe, but AJ likes him so I’m going to have to keep him alive. Might be hard work, but AJ’s worth it,” she grins at him and he grins back. “Of course, AJ likes me,” he teases her, “obviously you’re indifferent.” Clementine grins at him. “Obviously,” she agrees.

They flip again, and Louis wins again. “I am the greatest card player of all time,” he says, and Violet snickers at him and flips him off.

He blows her a kiss in return. She gags. Marlon hits him on the back of the head. “Violet is repulsed by your flirting, don’t make her throw up, mate,” he says, and Louis just laughs.

He looks at Clementine, and she looks relaxed. Okay. So, maybe.

“Hardest thing you’ve ever had to do?” he asks, and her face falls. Not necessarily into sadness, or grief, but maybe in concentration and reminiscence.

“Lee asked me to shoot him,” she says. “He was the one who took care of me when all of this started. I was eight, then, nine when he got bit. I was the only one there and I think he hated to ask it, but he was more afraid of turning. I couldn’t keep my eyes open, I couldn’t look at him as I did it,” she chokes up and they all fall silent.

“I think that might be enough for today,” Marlon says quietly. Violet nods her agreement and Louis smiles at Clementine. “Thanks for playing. Sorry for asking invasive questions,” he says. Clementine smiles back and shakes her head. “It’s okay,” she says, and yeah, somehow, he believes her.

Everything’s okay.

So, he’s gotta say, he didn’t expect this but is extremely pleased that the two new additions to their group have decided to tag along today. Sure, hunting’s quite boring -a lot of hurry up and wait- but Aasim is good at it. Louis just focuses on the traps, and maybe today he’ll have some fun, too.

Aasim is talking and Louis isn’t paying attention, but he catches the warning Aasim gives Clementine, and he also catches the look in Louis’s direction that accompanies it.

 “Pfft, please,” he says, “I think I can handle myself.” Aasim is glaring now, not that that’s anything new, so Louis focuses his attention on AJ. “I’m basically a ninja,” he tells the kid, striking a pose.

Clementine surprises him by looking at him with a serious face. “Oh, you too?” she asks, and his brain can’t comprehend what she’s asking him, what is she asking, him too what?

“I thought I was the only one,” dramatic voice, dramatic pose, and god she’s joking. She’s joking alongside with him.

“Me too!” AJ copies Clem, and Louis smiles. Aasim, however, groans and complains as he always does.

The stab at him only being around because he’s Marlon’s best friend hurts more than he lets on, and the look on Clem’s and AJ’s faces make him want to explain.

He sprouts some bullshit about survival being a day-to-day task. In most ways, it is, but without thinking ahead you can’t grow vegetables to eat, you won’t put up walls for defense. He knows the virtues of long-term planning, did a lot of it back when the greenhouse was still running, but everyone, mainly Aasim, seems to forget that.

Not his fault they took away the only thing he was goddamn good at.

He does prefer to live life day-to-day, put efforts in day-to-day. But not efforts of surviving. More efforts of cheering people up, bringing happiness to their group. He can’t bring stable happiness, the kind they’ve never really known even before the world went to shit, but he can coax a smile or a laugh here or there, at his expense or otherwise, he can compliment others on how they’re doing what they love, how they once used to compliment his plant-growing. He can cook with Omar, who always appreciates the help. He can talk with Marlon, play card games with Violet -let her win, more often than not because winning those games make her feel like she’s in control of something, and it’s a feeling she needs. He brings Brody flowers and sings her a silly song whenever he notices she’s had a bad day. He makes sure Aasim has pens or pencils, makes sure Tenn has paper.

Used to play music with Minnie, her voice so much better than his. Better suited for happy songs, at least.

Day-to-day things to make survival suck a little bit less.

Clementine, however, doesn’t just nod along with him, but offers up counter points instead. Talks about working as a team, and he’s pretty sure he loves this girl. Platonically. Or not platonically, he doesn’t really care either way as long as she can stay.

Clementine is the first of them to hear the walker, and he’s secretly impressed. However, the walker is hanging upside down from one of his traps, not going anywhere, and Louis is reminded of that birthday pinata that Marlon got, back when they could still go home.

Well, Marlon could still go home -his stay at the school advised by lots of people in the business to help with his thing. Louis never really paid attention to what it actually is that Marlon has, thinks he’s heard someone call it Tourette, but to him it means that Marlon gets mad easily, and when he gets mad or scared or any negative emotion at all, he acts without thinking. With violence.

His parents still loved him and he was welcome at home in the holidays. Louis was sent off because his parents were rich white people and pricks who adopted him to heighten their social standing -look at us, we’re so charitable, adopting a boy with a different skin color with no parents- and when he proceeded to act like a child, they kicked him out to the furthest away school they could find and told him he wasn’t welcome back until he was twenty-one and had learnt manners.

He doesn’t miss them much.

Pinata. Dude, bet AJ’s never seen a pinata before. Chairles is a comforting weight against his shoulder and this guy won’t spew candy if hit, but the hitting was part of the fun, wasn’t it?

So he steps towards the walker. “Hey, check this guy out! He’s like a walker pinata,” he pokes the walker with Chairles and the corpse swings, groaning at him the entire time.

“Cut it down, fix the snare and let’s go,” Aasim tells him, and Louis pokes the walker again. “I will, I will,” he promises, “eventually.”

Aasim continues to be a fucking douchebaggy drama queen. “You could come with me and hunt for some food. Or, you could stay with this idiot, and starve.”

Clementine looks back at Louis and he rolls his eyes at her. “Or you can starve,” he mocks, and damned if it isn’t a small smile she’s trying to hide. AJ is standing next to him, safely outside of walker reach, fascinated by the way it swings.

She approaches him and he holds out Chairles to her. The thing is heavy but he has not a single doubt in his mind that she can wield it just as easily as he can. “Wanna take a swing?” he asks. “It won’t bite,” he says, and then spots the walker again. “Well, that guy would, but the bat won’t. You know what I mean? You get it?”

She smiles at him, mocking but in a fond way. “Louis, you’re rambling. Shut up,” she says, and she takes the bat.

She gets into position. “I’m sorry about Aasim,” he says. “He helps in the way he knows best but he doesn’t really recognise what others do if it’s not in his exact way.” He shrugs. “Lucky for you two, this is team fun!” AJ looks up at him. “Team fun?” he asks, and Louis nods, ruffles the kid’s hair again -moving slow so he could dodge if he wanted to.

“Yup! And your membership has just been accepted!” The kid seems so delightfully happy about being accepted, being wanted somewhere that Louis either wants to hit the people responsible for AJ’s shitty life or hug the kid and never let go.

Neither is really an option because who the fuck knows who’s responsible for the apocalypse? And hugging AJ while he’s not good with touching and Louis is still a new person? No, no Louis’ll wait till the kid initiates it, or asks, or seems like he really needs it and then Louis’ll ask.

“Now, for our first order of business, some batting practice! Ever seen baseball, Clem?” he asks. She grins at him, mischief shining in her eyes. “No, but I met a famous baseball player. Before the dead started walking he played for money. Never seen him hit a ball but he was pretty good with a bat.” She takes position again and swings.

She hits it, nice and hard and the thing swings back, spitting blood. “Whoo! If the olympics were still a thing, you’d get a silver for walker bashing,” he says. “What do you think, AJ? Seven outta ten?” The kid contemplates this. “Seven and a half,” he decides, and Clem looks at them both. “Silver? Seven and a half?” she raises an eyebrow, and swings again.

She hits the thing so hard it spins in a circle. “All right!” he whoops. “Gold for you! Nine out of ten!” AJ bounces on his toes. “Nine!” he agrees.

“Still not a perfect score,” Clementine says, her eyes locking with his and there’s something about them, something about the way she looks at him, but she looks away and he just ignores the warmth spreading through his chest.

With the next swing, the thing’s jaw comes off, and allright. “Ten out of ten, Clementine, you’re officilaly better than anyone else at the school,” he tells her solemnly as she hands back Chairles. “Except from me, of course.” Clementine rolls her eyes, but it’s with fondness, not irritation.

New things around the riverbend. Or something.

“Of course,” she agrees. The walker is dead and she and AJ help him get the thing down and AJ asks a dozen questions as he resets the trap. In the end, he does it twice and then lets AJ do it the third time.

“Your kid’s a natural,” he tells Clementine as he watches the kid set up the trap, and she grins at him, motherly pride filling her face.

“Can’t wait for our next round of batting practice,” she tells him, and he laughs. “Oh yeah, bring it on, Clem. I’m always down for adventure.”

“Is that so?” something about her tone suggest she caught a hidden meaning that he did not intend, but he doesn’t dwell on it.

“Yup. Life’s too short not to be,” he says. He debates whether or not he should explain the fact that him and Aasim don’t get along that well, but Aasim is back and complaining about today’s haul. Seems like he only shot one rabbit and there was nothing else stuck in the traps. Aasim volunteers to take the rabbit back to the school and suggests they check on the girls.

AJ’s declaration of him liking fish seems to settle the argument for Clementine, so Louis leads the way.

He’s kind of bummed AJ doesn’t believe him about eating the shark, but if he’s lucky there will be more opportunities to trick either of them.

Chapter Text

So someone has sabotaged their traps, stolen their food, ransacked the shack and Brody thought it was a good idea to freak out and leave Louis and Violet together with the two newlings, with an order to find food.

Louis and Violet are both not that good at planning or thinking things through, or people who like to stick to rules at all. Clementine seems like a hardened survivor who will do she feels necessary -which probably doesn’t include keeping to the safe zone- and AJ just follows Clementine.

Louis can tell this is going to be either glorious or a disaster, and he’s living for it.

The greenhouse had been his space, his base of operations, this thing , like how Omar is the cook and Marlon is the leader and Brody is the second in command and Violet is their official Kicker of Ass, he was Plant Guy. He grew plants, nurtured them, gave them all the love he could offer and the food was good.

Marlon, however, decided he’d rather have Louis in zombie bashing parties and hunting, sometime after Minnie and Sophie went missing. Marlon decided Louis couldn’t contribute in the way he could help best, and now that he’s doing shit he’s not actually good at -except for the traps, but he already did those before, too- everyone thinks he’s slacking, seemingly forgetting he has no patience for anything that doesn’t grow in soil.

Omar misses the spices and the herbs to flavor the food, but Marlon wouldn’t hear shit about it. Anyway, picking the garden up again is a lost cause, too much work has to go into the place being workable again.

Marlon also says they don’t have seeds. Louis has a box of seeds and everything he could scavenge under his bed, ready for when he gets to bury his hands in soil again. Violet is the only one who knows about it.

He’s never quite forgiven Marlon for  taking the greenhouse away from him, but Marlon is his best friend, so he’s definitely moved past it. Still, there is some lingering rebelliousness inside his chest so when Clementine suggests going outside the safe zone, he and Violet share a quick look and agree readily enough.

That’s a lot of fucking walkers and he doesn’t have the slightest idea for how to get into the train station to get the food Clem mentioned. But the calculating look on the girl’s face tells him that she might not have a plan, but she’ll have one soon.

“The noise of that bell could attract a lot of walkers,” she tells him and Violet. “If one of us climbs up there and starts ringing it, they’ll get distracted and the others can pass.” It’s a good idea, and as much as he kind of dislikes being separated from the group, he’s the best choice to climb up the train cart. He’s the loudest, he doesn’t have a problem attracting attention. Violet is great and an awesome fighter and survivor, but standing out is not one of her specialties. Sending her up there will force her out of her comfort zone and that might cause problems. So, of course, heroically as he is, he’s about to offer himself when Violet does it for him.

“Louis, I vote Louis,” she says, clearly anxious about having to go up there. Of course, he can’t let this slide without a little bit of protest. “I’d like to make an alternate suggestion,” he says, and Violet huffs. “Come on, Lou,” she says, and he hasn’t heard that nickname in ages -Marlon stopped when Minnie and Sophie disappeared and he became all stern, mature leader who has no clue what he’s doing. Violet stopped around the same time, too, but for reasons of grief rather than… well whatever it is that’s keeping Marlon constipated. “You’re loud, dramatic, a little annoying,” and wow , rude much, “you’re basically a walking distraction.” He rolls his eyes and glares at her.  

He knows she can tell it’s fake, that he’s already given in, but he proceeds anyway. “I think you mean charming and theatrical,” he tells her, then he smirks at Clementine, who’s looking at the both of them with a slightly amused look on her face. “Entertaining is another word that comes to mind,” he tells her. “Charismatic,” and Violet rolls her eyes at Clementine. “See what I mean?” she says in that tone that she and Sophie used when they were complaining about boys. Before Violet and Minnie got together, anyway.

Clementine is looking at him and if he’s not mistaken -and he could be, he’s only known her for two days- that’s mischief in her eyes. “Okay, prince charming,” she addresses him, and he might have a heart attack. “Let’s see those talents in action.”

He sighs dramatically. “Can’t say no to a face like that,” and AJ is grinning widely and he throws a wink at the boy. “High five for good luck?” he asks he kid, and of course the little guy taps Louis’s hand with his own.

“See, AJ doesn’t want me to die, unlike some people,” he says. He gets up, rolls his shoulders. “Fine, fine,” he says, still kind of reluctant. He wishes he had Marlon’s skill with the bow -he could be up there, distracting the horde of the dead but also providing backup from a higher vantage point. “But if I die I’ll make sure Walker Louis eats both of you first! Sorry, AJ, you’ll have to carry on alone.” AJ giggles, as do the girls, and he grabs the bell and climbs up there.

It’s fucking tense because he has no idea what’s happening, what’s going on and if they actually found food. But after a certain amount of time that simultaneously feels like seconds and hours Clem and Violet come running out of the door, AJ on their heels, both carrying bags that look fucking heavy. THey run past him and Clementine waves him on with her hand. “Fucking run!” she yells.

He catches up with them, hits a walker as she stabs one and runs with them, back to the safe zone. “What happened?” he asks. Violet passes them, bag over her shoulder, cleaver in her hand. “Fucking stop talking, run faster,” she hisses. Clem shakes her head at him. “Tell you on the way,” she says.

During the running he takes Violet’s bag from her -and if she asks it’s because he doesn’t trust her with their food, obviously, but he sees how her ribs poke out underneath the shirts that are a little too old, a little too tight, knows how, even if she’s their best fighter, she’s not as strong as him, can’t be, simple biology and she’s a fucking badass but he’d rather have her as healthy as possible so she can kick the most ass.

As they slow to a walk, Clementine talks about the guy with the bible cigarette, the guy who apparently ransacked their shit and stole their food, the guy who pointed a gun at AJ and, now, the guy who was pushed into a horde of walkers and who died.

Louis isn’t a big fan of death but as he looks at AJ, clearly scared and shocked while trying to hide it, he can’t help but feel glad this particular guy is dead.

Shit, would’ve gone back and done it himself, maybe. Nobody fucking points a gun at a fucking kid, man, that’s fucked up.

Speaking of kids, maybe he should censor his vocabulary a bit -he’s heard Clem telling AJ off about swearing.

When they come through the gate it’s almost dark and Brody and Marlon are arguing. Everyone is delighted by the food and Clem has the audacity to blush and call it a “team effort” when everyone thanks her.

“Yeah, well, neither Louis or Violet have ever brought back this much before,” Aasim says, huge eyes trained on Clementine. Louis’s eyebrow furrow and he glares. “Neither have you,” he reminds Aasim, who glares right back.

Brody and Marlon approach, both looking cautious. “Where did you find all this?” Brody asks. Louis shrugs. “The old train station. Clem knew where it was,” he says.

“That’s outside the safe zone!” Brody says, and she’s more upset than Louis anticipated -maybe it’s a Bad Day for her, or maybe there’s more to this than he thought.

“We’d have even more but we ran into the creep that fucked up our traps,” Violet says, and Louis winces as he sees Brody startle. Fuck.

“Who, who did you run into?” Brody demands, panic making her voice rise higher. “Clem saw him smoking those nasty ass bible cigarettes,” he says, hoping to play into her hatred for alcohol and smoking to distract her from panicking.

“He had weird, different colored eyes,” Clem explains.

Brody glances at the gate, then back at Clem. “Did he follow you?” she asks.

Clem shakes her head. “Nope. Shoved him into a pack of walkers. They took a chunk out of him.” AJ bounces on his toes. “It was awesome!” He says. Clem frowns, but says nothing.

It really, really, really really isn’t his place but fuck it, he’s never been good with social cues anyway so he cuts off whatever Brody was going to say and kneels in front of AJ. “AJ,” he says, and he’s not looking at Clem, he refuses. “Listen, I think Clem did the right thing. The guy was pointing a gun at you both and threatening you. But taking the life of another person is not, and will never be ‘awesome’,” he says, his voice too serious in his own ears and he knows the rest of them are staring at him. AJ, though, is looking at him with confusion in his eyes, so Louis decides to elaborate. “This time, you had no choice but to attack him. But sometimes when people are a threat, it’s better to talk to them instead of handling them with violence. That way it gets worse.”

He knows. He’s dealt with Marlon’s anger issues for fucking years, and yelling back doesn’t help in teh slightest, and taking a swing is probably the worst thing you can do. “Sometimes people get scared, and when some people get scared, they get angry. Violent. Like you, remember? If people scare you by coming up behind you,” AJ nods. “I hurt them,” he whispers. “But I don’t mean to!” Louis nods, placing a hand on the kids shoulder, willing AJ to look at him. “Exactly. And neither Ruby or Marlon attacked you back, right? They gave you space, someone talked it out with you and then you apologised. Sometimes, most times, that’s the best decision when people are angry,” he explains, because if this kid thinks anger equals murder they’re not going to keep Marlon for long.

AJ’s frowning. “How will I know when to do what?” he asks, and Louis shrugs. “You don’t,” he says, “never for sure. But from what I’ve seen is Clem very good at it, so I say follow her example as much as you can and if she’s not there, ask yourself -what would Clem do.” AJ nods again and surprisingly throws his arms around Louis’s neck.

Louis wobbles for a second, his arms immediately wrapping around the kid and fuck, it’s been ages since he’d been hugged. He holds AJ tight and when the kid steps back, Louis smiles at him before he straightens up. “Sorry about that,” he tells Clementine. She just nods at him, a smile playing on her lips.  

“You were saying something, Bro?” he addresses Brody, who’s looking at him with wide eyes and he ignores Marlon who is, honestly, looking kind of shamed. Like he knew Louis did this to protect him -because everyone knows about his temper except for Clem and AJ, and nobody really saw the danger in not explaining it to them.

“Don’t call me that,” she says offhandedly. “Anyway, we should probably… If he survived, or if he has a group, they might come after us,” she says, “we should patrol extra, keep watch,” she suggests.

“We can take Rosie out in the morning,” Aasim proposes, “see if she catches any scents.”

Brody is looking at Marlon and Marlon is steadily refusing to look back. Something’s going on there, but damned if Louis is going to get involved unnecessarily.

“I just, I gotta,” Brody hiccups and strides away from the group. Louis looks from the food to Brody’s retreating back, and sighs. “You guys go on ahead,” he says, his feet shuffling so he can go after the girl. “I’ll be right back.”

He catches her as she’s going inside, slowing down to match her pace as she walks towards Minnie and Sophie’s old room. She stops outside, lowering herself against the door and burying her face in her hands, knees against her chest. Louis sits down next to her, lets her lean against him as she cries.

When her sobs quiet down he clears his throat. “Listen, I have no idea what’s going on here, and you don’t need to tell me. But you and Marlon are disagreeing about something, right? Something that happened?” Brody nods shakily. “It’s none of my business, but from what I’ve seen your argument is going to escalate soon. I don’t know what it’s about so I’m not going to tell you who’s right and who’s wrong, but I do know that both of you should get a say in the solution, that you should probably compromise. Marlon’s not very good at listening to advice and you’re not very good at staying patient when it comes to something that scares you, and that’s both okay. I just need you to remember…” he trails off for a second, feels like a horrible friend, but if the argument does escelate he might regret not telling Brody this, “if you argue and he gets angry, either break off the argument or keep your distance. He’s been doing worse keeping his anger in check and I don’t want him to take a swing at you, okay? He won’t mean to, we both know he never means to, but it happens and I don’t want to be at your beck and call as your manservant for weeks because you’ve got a concussion or something,” he tries to make a joke out of it and Brody releases a shaky laugh. “Thanks, Louis,” she says. “You’re a good friend.”

They sit there, in silence, and Louis contemplates on how Brody kind of retracted herself from the rest of the group after they lost the twins. Maybe she feels guilty, survivor’s guilt is a bitch, but all Louis knows is he’s been lacking as a friend and he should pick up his slack.

Also he knows there’s a shitton of food outside but she’s not going to want to sit with the rest of them. Too crowded. So he leaves, grabs two bowls of food from Omar and heads back inside. Surprisingly, Violet quietly joins him and if Brody is surprised by the girl showing up after their quiet antagonistic relationship, she doesn’t say anything.

It’s the screaming that wakes him up. For once, the screaming doesn’t stop when he sits up and opens his eyes, so his feet find the floor and his hands find his coat and his eyes blink, trying to see something in the darkness as he makes his way outside, into the rain.

Almost everyone’s there already, AJ pointing a gun at a very scared, blood covered Marlon -what the fuck, how did he get blood on his face? Louis can’t see any cuts, but who the fuck knows?

Everyone’s surrounding them, a circle in the rain, and the two nagging absences are Brody and Clementine.

Something’s wrong. Something is very, very fucking wrong.

“Where is she?” AJ’s demanding, Marlon backing off before pointing in the way of the basement door. “In the basement! She attacked Brody!” Collective gasps fill the room.

“And you left them there together?” Violet asks, offended. “Is Brody doing all right?” Ruby’s next, but Louis is suspicious.

Marlon has blood on his face, not on his hands.

“You should get your fucking story straight, Marlon!” Clementine’s voice comes from behind them, and AJ looks up in relief.

“You were arguing with Brody, I came to check what the screaming was about and when she tried to tell me you hit her! She’s unconscious, probably has a concussion but she’d be dead if she hadn’t dogded! And what does it say about you that she is so on edge around you that her reflexes kick in the second you take a step towards her when you’re yelling!”

Marlon glares at her. “Right, and that’s why you’ve got blood on your hands!” He accuses, and Clem actually rolls her eyes as she steps closer. “I’ve got blood on my hands from trying to wrap Brody’s head wound so she wouldn’t fucking bleed out! Where do you think my shirt went, Marlon? It’s covered in blood wrapped around Brody’s head to stop the damage you have caused!” And that’s when he notices -her jacket is buttoned up, nothing poking out from underneath it, no dirt stained light yellow shirt.

AJ’s staring at Clementine, distracted from Marlon and Louis sees his best friend lunge forward, knock over the kid and grab the gun from him.

“shit,” he mumbles, helping AJ up. “Stay behind me, kid,” he whispers, grabbing AJ’s hand and moving so he’s between Marlon and AJ.

Not that Marlon is directly threatening AJ. He’s pointing it in all directions, while sprouting some lunacy. “We saved their lives, when anyone else would’ve kept walking! We fed them, we kept them warm! And this is how they repay us? Guns being pulled, and… and murder!” the gun is pointing at all of them now, swinging around ready to put a bullet in any one of them, when Clem steps forward again.

AJ’s shaking behind him, his hand clasping Louis’s tight.

The gun points at Clementine. “Well FUCK THEM!” Clementine glares. “You shoot me, and what do you offer to your raider friends when they come knocking!” she exclaims.

“What the hell is she talking about?” Aasim asks. Marlon’s face is surprised and Clem laughs, an eerie, hollow sound. “Yeah, Brody came to for a bit as I was binding her wound. Told me that me and AJ were next!” She adresses the rest of the group. “Brody told me that Marlon traded Minnie and Sophie to raiders in exchange for safety! That’s when he hit her!” Marlon is getting angrier and Louis feels like he should do something, but he doesn’t want to step up to help Clementine because he doesn’t want to leave AJ behind. AJ, who is clinging to his hand, leaning against his leg, shaking in the cold and with the fear of seeing his own gun pointed at who is as good as his mother.

“They only met up with these ‘raiders’ because Clem insisted they go out there! Coincidence? Shame I don’t believe in those,” Marlon’s voice is weird, like he’s actually losing it, more so than usual.

“Think about how scared we all were when the adults left! I pulled us out of that fear, I gave us courage again! Who are y’all gonna believe, huh! Johnny-come-lately and her fucking little lunatic? Or me! Your FRIEND!”

Clementine looks around, her eyes finding Louis and then dropping to AJ, who at this point has practically crawled underneath his coat. He tries to smile at her but he doesn’t think he succeeds. Clem’s head dips in a barely noticeable nod, a silent thank you for protecting AJ.

Her eyes find all the others, everyone refusing to meet her gaze, staring at their shoes.

She finds Louis again and raises an eyebrow. She’s planning something, he recognises the look from before. “Louis, you have to believe me,” she says, her voice pleading.

What? She knows he believes her -fucking hell, she must know! Why the hell is she- oh. She’s raising her eyebrows. Shaking her head.

Not about convincing him, then, but about convincing the others. Right.

He steps back, puts up his one hand, the other still secure, holding AJ’s. “Oh no,” he says, “I am not involved.”

“What?” Indignant, offended, scared. Shit, if the world hadn’t gone and died she could’ve been an actress. “I like you Clem but I…” His gaze meets Marlons. His best friend. His oldest friend. The guy who’se parents basically adopted Louis in the holidays because his own parents didn’t want to see him and he didn’t have anywhere to go.

The guy he went to france with when they were little. The guy who’s been standing beside him for years. The guy who knows about all his issues and worries and doubts.

Marlon inclines his head, rage clear in his eyes.

The guy who took away the greenhouse because he didn’t like how independent Louis was with it. Because he didn’t like Louis feeling confident about his status in the group. Because he wanted everyone to only accept him because he was Marlon’s best friend.

Because Marlon was a jealous bugger, a control freak and a kid with extreme anger issues.

“Not me,” he says, and it sounds like a lie to his own ears.

“Then you better bury me deep,” she says and if he didn’t know she didn’t mean it, his heart would rattle in his chest with fear and shame at the tone of her voice. “Because if I come back, I’m coming for you first!” And it’s a clear callback to the joke he made earlier, and he can feel AJ trembling.

He squeezes the little guy’s hand, hoping the kid realises Louis doesn’t mean him harm, that he wants to protect him.

“Shit,” he says, and everyone knows he’s scared of dying, everyone is of opinion that he’s a pushover, a softie. Everyone thinks he’d be a turncoat for the first pretty face that’d ask him to.

Maybe he is.

“Marlon, c’mon man,” he appeals to his friend. Maybe they can settle this peacefully. Get Marlon to calm down, discuss things rationally. Like adults should but never did. “Drop the gun.”

Marlon yells at him. “Louis!” and doesn’t that hurt, Marlon’s called him nothing but “lou” since the beginning. “She. Attacked. Brody. We can’t let her walk away!”

Clementine is glaring at the blond and Louis turns to her again. He can see she’s got more arguments up her sleeve, he just needs to give her the opportunity to give them.

He isn’t taking her side because he likes her. He’s taking her side because Marlon is his best friend and he knows the guy like no other. Knows that what Clem says happened is true.

Well, exchanging the twins to raiders for safety is something he couldn’t imagine Marlon doing, but attacking Brody in a fit of anger? Trying to put the blame on someone else? He can believe that, and he’s not saying he’s rejecting Marlon or whatever, his friend just needs to calm down.

Best way to calm down is to convince all the others that he’s wrong.

“Clem, I can’t. I trust him. He’s… He’s my friend,” he whispers, and all the pain and confusion he’s feeling seeps into his voice. “He’s always got my back, and I’ve got his. I can’t…”

Clementine’s face softens with something and he’s crying, hoping no one can see the tears in the middle of all that rain on his face. “Brody trusted him,” she instead says, looking at the entirety of the group. “Brody trusted him but the second she didn’t obey his every word he hit her hard enough to knock her out!”

“Shut up!” Marlon yells, pointing the gun at Clem again. “That’s a lie!”

“Marlon, mate,” Louis says. “We… put the gun down.” If he didn’t have AJ, he’d stand between Clem and the gun, but he has AJ, he’s staying here, keeping the kid safe.

Clem would rather have AJ live than that he’d save her, he knows, and no matter how much he likes her, he agrees.

“Guns? Accusations? Violence? This is how adults do things. We’re supposed to be different,” Louis says, but the gun never sways away from Clementine. He wants to step in between, he really wants to.

Then Violet moves, moves in front of Clementine and when the lightning flashes her cleaver reflects it.

“Violet being difficult, why am I not surprised?” Marlon hisses.

The others move forward too, calling for Marlon to stand down. Aasim is the first, Omar the second.

Then his eyes find Louis. “You don’t get it, do you? You don’t understand at all!”

Louis wants to retort ‘no I don’t because you’re blabbing like an insane maniac so please explain’ but that might not be the best thing ever to say, so he doesn’t. Clem seems to be good at convincing people of stuff, he’d leave this to her.

“I’m trying to protect you!” And the gun waves, swirls around, points at everyone and instinctively Louis pushes AJ further back.

“How does pointing a loaded gun around protect anyone? Brody’s unconscious. Sophie and Minerva are gone . You SUCK at protection!” she yells. Marlon visibly recoils.

“Shut your fucking mouth!” and the gun is pointed solely at Clem again. AJ’s still shaking, but right now it might be rage. Louis holds on to him extra tight, just in case he gets any stupid ideas.

“I made the right call! I saved the lives of everyone in this fucking school!” AJ murmurs under his breath. “Swear,” and if the situation was any different, Louis’s heart would’ve melted.

“If they came back, I’d do it again!” FUCK. Fuck, had Marlon really? Clem said, but… But he hadn’t believed it. Thought there was a different explanation. Fucking hell, Marlon, what the fuck? The others voice his thoughts.

“Excuse me!” Ruby.

“I didn’t realise we were so FUCKING expendable.” Aasim. No commentary from AJ about the swear.

“You told me they died!” Tenn’s voice is filled with sadness and grief and burning anger and Louis just wants to hug the guy. Fucking hell.

“I had to save the rest of you, okay,” Marlon says, his voice wavering.

“You gave my sisters away. Why would you do that?”

Silence.

“He made a mistake. He was in a tight spot and made the wrong call, but he thought it was for the right reason. Being a leader is hard, and being a leader when you’re a kid is even harder. Making mistakes is human, acceptable, normal , but you do have to own up to them. Confess when you do something wrong. Try to make amends. Do better next time,” she sighs, speaking with the confidence on someone who knows from experience.

“I wanted to get them,” Marlon says, the gun lowering to his side. “Stage, some kind of rescue? But… But I was too afraid.”

He starts crying. Clementine steps forward. “We can still fix this, Marlon,” she says, her tone of voice soft. Forgiving.

Sounding like Marlon’s mother whenever he’d broken one of her expensive trinkets in a fit of rage. Louis feels a pang of longing for the woman, always loving, always sweet, always welcoming even to Louis. Never complaining about how loud he was, never complaining about anything except that he didn’t eat enough vegetables and fruit, didn’t drink enough milk. He wishes she were here, for all that she hadn’t been his actual mom, she had been the closest he’d ever had.

“It’s going to be okay. We can make this right.” It could be her, saying these things, and Marlon and Louis’s eyes lock, sharing their recognition and their grief, their longing for their mother.

“We’ll help you,” Louis promises, edging forward to stand next to Clem. He looks down and sees that AJ is holding Clem’s hand now, too, and Louis and Clem share a look of grim determination. “We’re all family here, Marlon. The only one any of us has left.”

The gun drops to the floor. Marlon offers to leave, to never come back. He apologizes, and it hurts Louis’s heart. “Let me become a bad memory.”

“You can stay,” Clem says. “But you can’t make the calls anymore,” she decides. “I’m not saying that I need to lead your group, but let Brody do it. She was your second in command, right? Let her handle things for a while, but with more input from the rest of you,” she’s addressing the entire group now. “Like a democracy.”

“What’s that?” the question echoes from multiple voices, and Clem smiles. “A form of governmental ruling in which everyone has a say,” she says. “Historically it doesn’t work as awesomely as intended, but with a small group like this and an appointed leader who listens to the others, it’ll work.”

Silence stretches, Marlon looks like he might cry again and AJ is clinging fully to Clementine now.

“First order of business,” Louis says. “Getting Brody out of that fucking basement and getting her in a bed.”

Chapter Text

So at 25 january 2019 i decided that I'm going to write works like these for episodes two, three and four, so I deleted the latest two chapters & made this a series.

I want to thank everyone who read the other two chapters and some stuff will definitely make it into the next work.

This is just a heads up that in this series I'll be making a sequel for episode 2 and 3, and when episode 4 comes out hopefully that one, too.

This means the last two chapters had to go but the fourth chapter made it into the second work, so that's all fine.

Thanks for everyone who subscribed to this and will see this! I'm hoping you'll love the rest i'm going to write as much as this!

Love,

Me :D