#normanxreader

4. Your family and the convention.

You've been at your parents' house for several weeks. It's a routine you've had since you finished the second season working on TWD. Although you got a good and cheap apartment in New York, until you got that money you had traveled to your parents' house after every long period of shooting and now you continue doing it, you don't stay so long since you have your own house, but you like to spend some days there. You also have a pending thing with Norman.

You're still not sure how you got tricked into this. You had brought him cakes for his birthday and he proposed a motorcycle tour around your town. In fact he didn't want to know the details of the trip, he gave you the number of his buddies who were handling the issue and between the two of you you worked out the route Norman would take. You would both travel on his bike, first you would introduce him to your own town, tell him the anecdotes about the street circuit and then you would make a route to the north and then return to see the new circuit that was just outside the town. You hadn't found many things that would involve biker groups or motorcycle specific routes, but Norman insisted that he didn't care. That he was looking forward to making the trip with you.

"So next week we're having a celebrity over?" your sister asks you when you go up to her bookstore and open the door.

"Sort of, but I'm a little offended, I'm supposed to be a celebrity too."

"Yeah, but you're my sister, I've watched you grow up and I know how glamorous you are." She jokes and you laugh nodding your head.

"Touché...I wish it didn't feel awkward. I mean...I know it's good for business, but try not to have too many people come see him when we're shooting around here."

"Relax, I'm busy this weekend with the little convention we're doing at the theater, I won't have time to show off my future brother-in-law."

"Yeah I kno…What are you talking about!?" You squeal feeling your cheeks burn.

"Don't look at me like that! That guy is smoking hot, he's coming all the way down here to do a show And you mean to tell me you're not going to get in his pants? Yeah, right."

"He's my co-worker! And we're very good friends, he's invited me as he does with many others, I'm not the first and I'm certainly not going to be the last..."

"Yeah, but you like him." She cuts off your argument making you almost bite your tongue.

"That doesn't... that has nothing to do..." You mumble lowering your head.

You feel guilty about how you feel. You and Norman have been friends for many years, you can say that for sure, but a lot has happened since you first shared a conversation and you've realized that yes, you enjoy his company and adore being his friend, but something inside you quirks up differently every time you see him. It excites you and makes you nervous at the same time, you look forward to being a good friend to him and yet every time he is near or you feel him hug you your whole body trembles and your knees go weak. You've tried to avoid him, to ignore him and it hasn't helped. You don't want Norman to know, you don't want him to find out and all is lost because he doesn't feel the same, you don't want to make him feel uncomfortable around you.

You don't want to be one more in the long list of women who fell hopelessly in love with Norman Reedus.

"I finally find you." You hear from behind you and quickly turn around.

"Norman!" Your heart races as he smiles stepping fully into the store.

"Quite a journey you've made me take to get here." He jokes advancing a few steps in your direction.

"B-but what are you doing here?" you ask incredulously. "Isn't the program next week?"

"Yes, but I wanted to come earlier to see you." He shrugs and his arms catch you in a tight embrace. You hide your face in his chest, the smell of smoke and cologne mingle sneaking in through your nose, you smile against his shirt and hug him back tapping his sides to break away from you hearing him chuckle softly. "Besides I saw around that your sister is hosting a convention this weekend, and I didn't want to miss it." He smiles again looking at your sister who watches you two with her mouth open.

"What, really!? Oh thanks Norman, that would be great! People would love to see two TWD characters." She says excitedly bouncing a little on the tips of her toes.

You smile and walk over to her to officially introduce her to Norman, he allows himself to give her a smaller hug and a kiss on the cheek before squeezing her hand with his. Your sister's cheeks are red and she looks a little shy now. You laugh softly and give her a little nudge to get her to react.

"Can I announce it on social media? Maybe we could stretch out the Q&A a bit..." You start mumbling planning the weekend again, actually as a highlight so far I only had you, several well known comic book artists and even some voice actor, but Norman was a big deal. I knew it would move a lot more people.

"You don't have to." You say to Norman as your sister gets engrossed in her business and goes into her office leaving you alone in the store with Norman. "Don't feel obligated."

"I don't feel obligated, I proposed it." He shrugs going through the shelves and picking up one of the TWD comics. "Besides since I'm here, it might be fun."

"You know it's going to be crazy..."

"I'm telling you, I don't mind, really." He smiles and hugs you again making you laugh and feel your cheeks turn a reddish color.

"That's enough, you just got here and you're already groping me." You joke and he laughs pulling away. "You can't keep your hands off me can you?"

"Yeah, you're right." He pulls away a little smiling sheepishly averting his gaze from you.

"Norman, do you mind if I take a picture of you to put on the store website?" Your sister appears again. Your co-worker's attention turns to your sister and nods.

"Yes, come on." He takes her by the hand again and the three of you walk out of the store.

On the store front, next to the door is the sign with the name of your sister's bookstore. Norman hands you your sister's phone number and puts an arm around her shoulders, sticking out his middle finger, resting his chin on her head. Your sister puts an arm around his waist and smiles broadly. Her excited gesture rubs off on you and you take a couple of steps back to take the picture and show it to her later. Norman looks pleased, even your sister.

"Mention me to post it too so more people can see it."

"Thank you very much, Norman." She says walking back into the store bouncing on her own two feet from the excitement that is pulsing in her veins.

You look at your co-worker with a smile nodding his head. Norman just shrugs it all off and shares the post your sister has put on her store's social media.

"How did you get here? have you ridden your bike here yet?"

"I rented a car, I parked it behind the church." He informs you and you nod, entering the store again.

"I'm going to take Norman home, so he can leave his things there." You inform your sister and she nods.

"Okay, I'll come over later for dinner, let mom know."

"Yeah, sure. Come on Norman." You tell him and he looks at you curiously, but follows you.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to my parents' house, we'll leave your suitcase there, if that's okay with you, and the car, around here you won't need it."

"No, I already realized it's a small town." He smiles and looks around again, amused. "You know what the best part is?" You look at him waiting for him to continue and he adjusts his glasses and cap. "It's been a long time since I've felt this calm, you know, being able to walk around and have no one pounce on me." He laughs and you imitate his gesture understanding what he means.

The good thing about your town that even though they know the show, people are disconnected from the rest of the world, Daryl, Rick, Michonne, Ezekiel, Carol, even your character, are just that, characters, the people behind them don't give a damn. Of course there are teenage girls in love with Daryl Dixon, and not so teenage girls, but they're looking for Daryl Dixon, not Norman Reedus. Which makes it easier to move around without a continuous escort or without having thousands of cameras taking pictures non-stop.

When you get to the car you tell Norman where to go until you get to your parents' house. It was one of the little treats you gave yourself when you started to have more importance in the series. You bought your parents a house. A nice and deserved house, with enough rooms to accommodate the whole family but without being something exaggerated and flashy. They lived on the outskirts of the city, away from the constant noise and bustle of people and you were sure that even their health, for the age they were, was much better now.

You gesture for Norman to stop in front of the huge front door, pull out a small remote from your bag and push the button causing the door to start moving to the side, opening.

"We'll leave it inside and make sure nothing happens to it, or do you want to go with this car in the program?" you ask him as Norman enters the lot and shakes his head, parking next to another car.

"No, we'll ride a motorcycle, if that's okay with you." He looks at you before bringing the car to a complete stop and you nod.

"Yeah, sure, no problem. Come on, didn't you want to marry my mom? Well, let's go meet her."

A small smile full of shyness forms on the actor's mouth, but he finally gets out of the car following you to the front door of the house. There's a man waiting for you, short, no more than five foot five, his hair struggles between gray and a deep jet black for his tall age, his chubby nose holds a pair of glasses and behind them you can see two big, bulging green eyes. Norman gives you a sidelong glance, if he is your father, genetics certainly hasn't given you any of him. At least to the naked eye.

"Hi, Dad."You greet the man and Norman takes off his cap and sunglasses to introduce himself.

"Hi, I thought you'd gone to help your sister."

"Yes, but I had an unexpected visitor." You say looking at Norman and your father follows your gaze having to lift his head to face your co-worker.

Norman has never felt like the tallest man in the world, in fact he feels short when compared to other men his age or older, like Jeffrey, but seeing your father having to raise his head to look at him makes him suddenly feel imposing in front of him.

"Dad, this is Norman, my co-star. I told you guys he was coming to shoot a show around these parts, remember?" You tell the man, stroking his hair with infinite affection.

"Nice to meet you." Norman says and his voice squeaks a little, you look at him in surprise and smile gratefully as you watch him try to communicate with your father.

"Oh, yes, I remember. Nice to meet you Norman." Your father's English isn't much better either and the actor smiles warmly shaking your father's outstretched hand.

"Thank you so much for letting me stay here." Norman tries again and your father nods.

"Just like your home." He lets go of his hand and opens the door letting you into the house.

Norman is the last to enter, you grab his suitcase to take it later to one of the rooms your mother probably already has ready for him. You put it aside when you see her appear with her unmistakable kitchen apron, her blond hair already had a handful of gray hair, her skin is wrinkled by age, but her blue eyes give off a lot of vitality.

Okay, now Norman understands all that hair you always have tangled and messy when you show up on set in the mornings, he smiles and rubs his hands together nervously, your father has been an easier test than he expected, but mothers are always more complicated. He knows.

"Nice to meet you." He repeats the words he's used with your father and you smile looking sideways at him. "Finally." He smiles and you laugh low. "I-I love your food..." You can't contain yourself and laugh loudly as you see your mother's gesture and how she blushes a little.

"Thank you so much, I... I didn't know you were coming so soon, Norman." You feel your mother's inquisitive look and roll your eyes.

"Neither did she, apparently he came alone." Your father explains and you nod.

"Norman is like that."

He doesn't wait for her permission, he walks over to your mother and hugs her warmly. Your mother's eyes widen and she laughs nervously as her hands rest on Norman's back. The woman's gaze shoots up at you with raised eyebrows, grimacing in surprise and you are grateful that Norman can't see her, but he surely feels your mother's hands feeling him up and down, examining him.

"Mom, please..."

"It's just so tight...and muscular." She dares to say knowing that perhaps the man can't understand her. "It's been a long time since I've touched a man so hard..."

"Mom!" You scold her feeling your cheeks burn, Norman breaks away from your mother giving her a kiss on the cheek before returning to your side.

"Don't be so confident, young man." Your father threatens him in a firm voice.

"I'm sorry, it's just..." He sheepishly lowers his head and laughs softly. "I was really looking forward to meeting you."

Norman continues to try to talk to your parents as you carry your co-worker's backpack to the room your mother has already prepared for him. You carefully set the backpack on the bed to return to the dining room and try to rescue the actor from your parents' hands, but the man seems comfortable and engrossed in conversation with them, so you don't bother going to the kitchen to help your mother with dinner while they continue talking.

In the evening you set up a large table in the garden behind the house so you can all share the dinner you have been preparing. Of course Norman is the attraction for everyone. There are many questions, anecdotes and conversations shared with the actor, about you, about your work together, about how things are going and about himself. Norman answers everything without hesitation, smiling, enjoying your mother's food live, also enjoying all the company of your family, getting to know them a little more, telling him some stories too that force you to shut him up and the laughter intensifies.

After dinner and sharing some more time with your family, Norman is exhausted, the flight has been long, the trip there tiring and then meeting your family and learning how your sister's convention was going to work have taken the last of his strength.

You say goodbye to your family and walk him to his room, at least for this week. You open the door to let him in and show him a bit of the layout and the bathroom that the room itself has.

"See you tomorrow, Norman. Get some rest." You tell him, but when you want to leave he holds you back by hugging you again. You smile against his chest trying to calm your beating heart. You wrap your arms around his waist caressing his back affectionately. "Are you okay?"

"Exhausted, it's been a long day." He admits holding you a little tighter against him and you laugh. "But it's been worth it. Your family is very curious." He pulls away from you and caresses your cheeks staring at you, you feel nervous, not sure what is going through his mind, but you let him do it. "Your father wouldn't let me near your mother." He laughs letting go of you and you join him in nodding your head.

"Yeah, it sounds to me like he felt threatened." You joke and squeeze his hands when you're finally able to separate completely. "Rest."

"Yeah, you too." He leans in to kiss your cheek and you mimic him.

You walk out of the room leaving him alone in his room to go to your own, it's been a long day for you too, not as long as your partner's, but you do need to rest. You change your clothes and curl up in your bed falling asleep shortly after.

Norman despite the tiredness and the exhausting day, feels like he can't sleep, his body aches, his head is spinning, he chews on his lower lip several times before getting out of bed and carefully leaving the room. He doesn't want to wake anyone up, he just needs to smoke a little and he'll go back to bed. With the pack of cigarettes in his hand he walks down to the kitchen and carefully opens the door to leave.

"Everything okay, Norman?" The actor's heart almost leaps out of his mouth at the sound of your mother's voice behind him.

"Yes, yes..." He lifts the pack of cigarettes and she smiles in understanding. "I'm sorry, I don't... uhm..." he tries to search for the words in his head, but your mother shakes her head.

"It's okay, Norman, take it easy, good night." She waves goodbye to him and Norman doesn't move until he stops hearing the woman's footsteps and his heart returns to its place.

The rest of the week you spend getting to know the town, showing him a bit of the interesting things there, Norman absorbs all the information you give him by simply listening carefully. The weekend comes quickly and the convention attracts more people than you expect. The interview panels and signings with the actors and cartoonists are in the theater, but the rest of the activities take place in the old Market right next to the theater making it easy to get from one side to the other, with many booths with different things. Norman goes through the different booths before people start arriving and it is difficult to access. People who see him and know him stop him to take pictures with him and get posters, t-shirts, and even some DVDs of his movies or the series signed. You have your little group of onlookers too, but the main attention falls on Norman.

You're in the theater because it's your turn to go out to the Q&A panel. You're nervous, it's not the first time, but you always have that feeling before the panel starts. Norman next to you squeezes your hands trying to calm you down. His lips crash against your cheek and you feel better. You smile in gratitude for his affection and squeeze his hands between yours.

"What do you think they're going to ask us?" you whisper listening to your sister talking to the audience before introducing you.

"I don't know, but it sure is fun."

"My sister has the video of the new season, surely people have already seen it online, but..."

"Have you seen it?" she looks at you curiously and you shake your head. Norman opens the curtain a bit without anyone seeing you and points to the huge screen where your sister is going to play the video.

You both look over and when the lights go out the images start jumping from one scene to another in no specific order. You hear the raspy voice of 'Daryl', you also hear Michonne or Rick. Suddenly the succession of images stops to show a scene in which your character and Norman's character are staring at each other.

"Promise me you'll come back."

"I promise."

The video ends as your characters kiss, you tense up enormously not expecting that in the video. The lights illuminate the theater again and your sister's voice ushers you in, Norman makes you react and you both walk out onto the stage being greeted by screams, applause and cheers, you even hear some compliments thrown towards the actor playing Daryl. You approach your sister, hug her and Norman kisses her on the cheek with affection, you sit on the small sofa that your sister has placed on the stage right next to the couch where she also sits to interview you. The crowd continues to shout and call out to Norman who turns around greeting everyone with a wide smile, his eyes shining brightly.

When the crowd calms down your sister does a little interview with you before giving the floor for people to start with their questions, they are questions in general, how are you, what has the series meant for you, if you are excited about the new season. There is a very nice little rhythm between the three of you and the audience, a dynamic and fun conversation even making those who have come to see you laugh. You are grateful that Norman is with you as he seems more comfortable with it all.

When your sister finishes the interview and you don't have much more to add, the round of questions begins. There is a prepared microphone controlled by a moderator who gives way to your sister for people to ask questions. The first questions are simple, a contact shot before people dare to ask what they really want to know.

"My question is for both of you: what was it like to start working together? Because it's always said that you're like family, but you came in the third season, did it get weird?" they ask you and you laugh nodding your head in agreement, however you see Norman get a mischievous grin and raise his microphone.

"Oh yeah, let's just say our first contact wasn't very friendly, was it?" he laughs looking at you and you feel your cheeks burn.

"That's not..."

"What happened?" your sister insists, she knows perfectly well what happened, you called her full of shame and remorse that very day.

"Are you telling or me?" Norman asks you, of course it's rhetorical, because before you say anything, he keeps talking. "You insulted my intelligence."

"I didn't...! You showed up out of the blue asking me if I was sick!" You try to defend yourself by listening to the audience laugh.

"You were there in the middle that you looked like you were going to faint!" he reminds you and you laugh along with the crowd. "Then he spent two months after that behind me apologizing to me for it." Again the laughter intensified and you covered your face with both hands.

"I hate you."

"We both know you don't." He laughs and takes one of your hands kissing it. People cheer at that, he doesn't seem to mind, but you feel a little suffocated.

"You two are obviously getting along better now." Your sister brings some order to the room and you both nod, your hands still clasped. "Let's get on with the questions." She says letting someone else speak.

"Norman, we've heard a lot of rumors about new projects you have, can you tell us something, why exactly are you here?"

"Oh yeah, I've heard a lot of rumors too, what have you heard about?" he jokes making people snort again in amusement. "Yeah, well, to tell you the truth I'm involved in my own projects now, I mean, other than Daryl right now I'm not working with any other scripts, but we are starting to shoot new episodes of 'Ride with Norman', have you seen it?" cheerfully everyone answers in the affirmative. "Gee, are you guys just as effusive about everything?" jokes your sister to which a coy giggle escapes and you smack your forehead. Then the little sister is you. "I'm around because we're going to shoot some stuff, and you're going to accompany me." She points at you and people let out complicit exclamations and the occasional whistle. "Nah, don't think so, I've seen her sleep and she's no princess."

"Hey!" You punch him in the arm pretending to be offended and again people are amused by your interactions. "Don't think he's in a very good mood when he gets up either."

"You clearly know each other very well." Speaks another person who has been approached with the microphone. "Was it hard for you guys to do the scene we saw? Because there's clearly kissing..." Again insinuating whistles echo throughout the room.

"She forgot her line." An exclamation of surprise struck the theater dumb. "We had to improvise. It's the Reedus effect." He scoffs and people laugh with him, you cover your face with both hands feeling like you're going to burst.

"Well, it's not your first kiss with a TWD guy, is it? There were rumors of your relationship with Tom Payne." Another voice is heard on the other end of the microphone and Norman turns to look at you, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

He didn't know.

"Me and Tom didn't last too long..." You admit looking sideways at Norman. "We're good friends, we didn't want to mess that up...besides it's not like kissing the great Daryl Dixon." You joke and everyone seems to agree, but the smile Norman gives you isn't sincere and you get scared.

You can't say you know each and every one of Norman's expressions, but you know that gesture is a smile out of commitment, but there's something in his head that's messing with his head and you're not sure what it is.

The rest of the questions are normal, nothing compromising, people don't keep harping on the kiss between your character and Daryl, yet you sense some tension in Norman, but he hasn't looked back at you after he discovered your moment with Payne.

"You have no right to be mad, asshole." He says to himself rubbing his face with both hands as he walks out of the theater after your little panel.

For today you are done, people are making their last purchases in the merchandising area, you guys are done signing, only the last stragglers are left and you can go home. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his cell phone, he knows it's an hour when maybe Mingus is still busy, but he tries. He dials his number and walks away a bit so he can talk to him.

"Dad?" He hears on the other end. "Hey, hi, how was the convention?"

"Good, more intense than I expected..." he sighs taking out a cigarette and the first puff completely engulfs him.

"Is everything okay? do you need to talk?"

"I'm a dick." He says matter-of-factly. "I have no right to be angry, she can do whatever she wants, but... God I feel like punching Tom..." He confesses.

"Oh..." Mingus' voice trails off and Norman freezes looking at his phone for a moment and then puts it back to his ear.

"Did you know!" He questions him hallucinating.

"She told me, yeah, I thought you knew too...it was no big deal..."

"She...!" He bites his tongue in time not to scream again and looks around, takes another puff on his cigarette wanting to temper his nerves. "She never told me...why? I knew about her other asshole boyfriends...Is it that Tom did something to her?"

"No! It's not that dad, maybe she'd be embarrassed because he was a mate, I don't know dad, but yeah you're a bit of a prick for taking offence like that, a few days ago you had a friend in your apartment, remember?"

"I know, I know. I have no right to... get like that, but I thought she trusted me..." He says that last thing with a made up voice.

"And trust you, Dad, don't make a bigger deal out of it than it might be..."

"Norman." You call out to him, tapping him on the shoulder. Norman turns to you feeling uncovered but you smile kindly at him. "Sorry, I didn't know you were..."

"It's Mingus." He hastens to clarify. "Well son we'll talk, thanks for calling." He says quickly and hangs up.

"Poor Mingus, you didn't need to hang up on him so quickly." You laugh, but you're nervous, Norman is nervous, you can see it in his tense face, in how he's holding his cigarette and in the twitching of his leg.

"No, it's okay, it was nothing important, what's wrong?"

"Nothing... you're... you're fine?" you dare to get a little closer and pull his bangs back.

"Yeah, it's not... it's just that I'm a dick." He sighs long. "Don't make a big deal out of it, shall we go home?"

"Yeah, my sister's already finished picking everything up, I'll help her take it to the store tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll give you a hand too."

You smile gratefully and see his face change again, there's something still stirring inside him, but it's okay, it's no longer the same smile he showed you before, so you relax. You both go back inside, help your sister and go back to your parents' house to sleep for the rest of the day. You are both exhausted, physically and mentally.

When your mother arrives home a feast awaits you, your mother has made sure you are all well fed. As the night before, taking advantage of the nice weather, dining outdoors is pleasant and you can stretch the after-dinner conversation. Slowly everyone leaves, even your sister returns home to say goodbye to you, thanking you again for helping her with the convention, and you and Norman remain at the table. Your co-worker dares to light a cigarette and you finish the last morsel left on your plate. You both remain silent, but you know something is still on his mind, the way he touches his lip with his thumb holding the cigarette lets you know he's turning something over in his head.

"You want to tell me about it?" You say suddenly, you see his pupils vibrate bringing him back to reality, he blinks a couple of times and fixes his attention on you, you smile. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, just... I was thinking..." He starts to say and takes a long drag on his cigarette. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asks you swallowing the smoke, holding it in his lungs for a few seconds. "You didn't trust me?"

"What? are you talking about Tom?" you reply and you see him avert his gaze licking his lips with the tip of his tongue. "No... No! Of course I am, I..." You shrug not knowing what to say. "It wasn't... it wasn't important..."

"I knew about... the other assholes you were dating..." You try to justify your discomfort, but you remember Mingus' words, you have no right to be harping and nagging about it, but you can't help it.

"I know, but... Well we weren't hiding it either, it just... it only lasted a few months, then we each found another way... I don't know Norman, I'm sorry."

"No, God you don't have to apologize to me, I..." He rubs his forehead with his palm. "Just forget it, okay? It was a stupid question."

You stare at him, the nervousness is still in him, but he tries to disguise it with a small smile, he pulls out his phone and points it at the sky taking a picture of the moon. You sigh, you know the conversation has been left there, Norman is not going to bring it up again, and he will avoid it as much as he can. Yet you feel that there is a gap to be filled, something that has suddenly planted itself in the middle of the two of you. You can feel that strange distance and you don't know what to do.

To be Continued...

I hope you liked it!