Eurekka

That being said, I hate it SO MUCH when people who write slash fics make one of the characters act stereotypically "feminine," and by "stereotypically feminine" I mean things like these:

• The character is suddenly weak as FUCK. He can't do shit in his own. He can't fight the other lead (even if he's canonically stronger), he is indecisive and he cries ALL THE TIME (even if in canon the character is actually kinda emotionally repressed)

• The character doesn't have any other character traits except for his sexual attraction towards the other lead (this is less about him being written as a stereotypical woman and more about the author creating a "y/n" without actually having to create a "y/n")

• He has to get raped at least once. And when it happens to him, it HAS to be some bullshit like "I couldn't stop him and I actually kinda liked it" (Don't get me wrong here. I'm not trying to say that topic like rape shouldn't be depicted in fanfiction. It's just that I personally believe that if you want to write about something as serious as rape, you better try to write about it realistically, without adding all that misogynistic stuff about victims secretly "liking" it)

• The character is treated like a woman that is surrounded by sexist dudes (they look down on him, view him as an object, do not actually respect his opinion and so on so on)

"I think you'd fall in love with anyone / Who fell in love with you"

This particular quote perfectly resonates with what I believe Rick felt for Jessie and basically explains why he got attached to her so quickly. He spent so much time BARELY surviving by doing terrible things that ended up fundamentally transforming him, that by the time he reached Alexandria it only took one person who was attracted to him and seemed to behave like a regular human being (something that reminded him of his old life, of course) for him to decide that he needs this, needs her.

A saw a lot of people saying that him wanting Jessie was important since it showed that he was ready for a new relationship, ready to move on from Lori, and they're right. However, I also believe that there is a serious reason why he chose to go for Jessie instead of Michonne, whom he already had a crush on (he admits that in TOWL). As much as he loved Michonne, he wasn't ready to completely abandon the idea of having a normal life. That's exactly what Jessie meant to him: she was so normal, so conventional. Michonne was someone who went from all kinds of shit with Rick, which made her belong to the outside world that was an utter disaster. On the contrary, Jessie never had to deal with walkers and people who lost their mind. She was a part of the fairytale that Alexandria initially seemed to be, and I feel like that's what made Rick desire her. He was never ACTUALLY in love with her. He didn't even have enough time to get to know her, so how was he supposed to actually fall for her? It was all about her lifestyle. She was sweet and caring, she had kids and most importantly, she was a victim to be saved. So it wasn't just her normality that helped him feel like everything was fine again, but it was also her situation with Pete. It allowed Rick to feel like a hero again. Like a cop.

And the other important thing: she liked him. She obviously liked him and being an object of someone's attraction allowed Rick to feel like an actual human being again. So OF COURSE he rushed into a relationship with her. OF COURSE he got so desperate he ended up rolling in the ground with Pete in the span of days. He wanted to feel normal so bad, because ever since the apocalypse that man had been feeling like nothing but a complete monster.