Hey guys, I'm trying to help out someone asking for some fics with great Daryl characterisation (preferably with aspec leanings, but that's not a necessity). Platonic Daryl & Carol recs will be very highly appreciated, but any ships, romance or gen fics are eagerly welcomed as long as Daryl's written in-character!
My own recs are below, but I'm very distracted, I know I've forgotten some and I'm definitely not the best reader. So if you know any fics with top quality Daryl characterisation can you drop them here in the notes or reblog? Or make your own list and drop the link? Let's get some top tier Daryl Dixon fic in one place! Thank you!!
Daryl/Glenn:
While the World Falls Down by oleanderedits
Summary: They were supposed to have ten days to dispute the quickie wedding they'd had the night they'd been drunk. The world went to shit three days later. Part 1 of a series re-write focusing on Glenn, Daryl, Merle, and Maggie as what it means to be 'Family' is stretched, twisted, and redefined by circumstances no one should have to live through. Covers Seasons 1 and 2 and mostly follows the canon storyline.
How These Days Grow Long by Never_Says_Die
Summary: Rick & Co. are finding it increasingly difficult to deal with Daryl's outbursts, his racist remarks, and easily-ignitable temper. They are in fact, considering just cutting their losses and telling him he has to leave when they come across another group of survivors...one of whom is very, very special to Daryl.
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A Heart That's on Loan by smilebackwards
Summary: Aaron and Daryl discover Hilltop on one of their scouting trips and find that the community has an interesting throwback custom for establishing alliances: marriage.
The Streets are Full of Strangers by smilebackwards
Summary: When Deanna asks Daryl to leave Alexandria, he meets Paul on the road a little earlier.
Our Endless, Numbered Days by Neeka
Summary: In the aftermath of the war, Daryl and Paul somehow start to navigate their way through the New World. Maybe some things really are worth the risk.
Ripples on a Black Shore by Mugatu
Summary: For Daryl Dixon the world ended days before it did for almost everyone else, and it was heralded with a prerecorded phone message instead of a bang. An AU fic where Daryl met Paul several years before the apocalypse. (UNFINISHED!!)
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Taken by Sasusc
Summary: Beth and Daryl were both taken to Grady Memorial Hospital that night at the funeral home. AU Alone/Slabtown
And this one is sort of Daryl/Beth, but much more platonic than romantic (QPR vibes?) and Daryl is expressly ace:
Loving You is a Talent by donutcats
Summary: "Daryl," she gets his attention, "would you catch me if I fell?"
"You plannin' on fallin'?"
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Sleeves Will Go Ragged by Phantoms_and_Foxgloves (recommended by @wendihoe)
Summary: The hospital. Was this real? Was he really back at the start?
All those mistakes, every person he’d lost, killed, driven away…
He stood and stared at his face in the mirror, a face younger and more innocent than the one he’d seen in Alexandria’s mirrors, in the prison’s dusty windows, even in the station house that first time. He watched his features harden, the eyes sink and the brow furrow. He watched determination settle over him like a blanket of snow, chilling him to an icy resolve.
If there was even a chance he could do this all over again things were going to go goddamn different.
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there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought by iliveatlast (recommended by clasymasly)
Summary: Everyone keeps saying it's the end of the world. But for the three of them? Maybe it's more like a beginning.
