Tears into Wine - Chapter 3

Fandom: The Outsiders
Pairing: Johnny/Soda
Genre: Romance, Angst, Drama
Rating: NC-17 (overall)
Disclaimer: Characters and world belong to S.E. Hinton
Authors: Zayhad & M3535.


Chapter 3 - "Ain’t spaghetti supposed to be solid?"

Darry came home late that afternoon. Johnny was asleep on the couch. They had given him 5 aspirins and covered him with a blanket. Darry looked at the small beat-up kid and without saying anything he walked out into the kitchen where Soda, Two-Bit and Pony sat.

"What the hell happened?" he asked in a low, angry voice.

Since Soda was already home something big must have gone down.

Once again Pony told the story. Every time he did it he felt worse about himself. It was all his fault. He should have been able to look after Johnny. He should have stopped it. And now Darry was probably going to yell at him again for not using his head. And he would deserve it...

Darry sat down at the table and took a deep breath.

"So this teacher of yours pairs Johnny up with a Soc - well knowing the tension there is between us and them,” he said, shaking his head. "Why didn't any of ya say anything?"

Ponyboy just looked down at the table, not answering.

Darry sighed and looked at Soda. "Did he go to the doctor?"

"No, he won't. He got real upset when we talked about it. Do we have to?"

Darry frowned. Did they have to? Johnny never knew what was good for him and he just let things go as they did. Never wanting anyone to help him if it meant trouble for them.

"Why didn't you keep an eye on him, Pony?" he then said. "You asked him to come to school. And even if you got split in separate groups you could have stayed close to each other!" Darry got up from his seat and stared down his younger brother. He wasn't really mad at Pony. More frustrated, really.

"Darry, man," Two-Bit started. "The teachers are really tough on us greasers. I'm sure Pony couldn’t do anything."

"I didn't know what to do!" said Pony. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes and blinked furiously to keep them back.

It wasn't often Soda got angry, but now he did. "Don't you blame Pony! He asked Johnny to come to school because Johnny goes to school! And he's fourteen, for Christ sake. What did you expect him to do?"

Darry got up and walked around. He felt a little bad for blaming Pony like that. He was just so fed up with the Socs getting and doing whatever they wanted and just getting away with it.

"Sorry."

"Darry," Two-Bit said. "What are we gonna do about that Soc? Do we beat him up or what?"

"I don't know. Who is he, Pony?"

Ponyboy wiped his eyes in his sleeve and told him again.

"We're gonna keep him here, ain't we, Darry? Till he gets better? We ain't gonna send him home to his parents like this, are we?"

"Of course not." Darry said. "I guess… from how it sounds we can't really do anything. If we go after him, he’ll make even more trouble for Johnny." He sighed and sat back down.

"Soda, put Johnny in your room. If Dallas or Steve drops by, which I’m sure they will later, they’ll demand to know what happened and I gotta figure out what to say."

"So we're just gonna let that asshole get away with it?" Two-Bit sounded very disappointed.

"For now," Darry said. "Let's just let Johnny get better first. If he goes back to school and something happens we’ll take it from there."

o0o0o0o0o0o

Like Darry had predicted, Dallas dropped in for dinner. He was a little disappointed to find that it had been Soda's turn to cook.

"Ain’t spaghetti supposed to be solid?" asked Dally as he poked it suspiciously with his fork.

"Very funny," grumbled Soda. He wasn't at all in the mood to be teased tonight.

Dally looked at him in surprise. "What's with Mr. Happy here?"

"Nothing," Soda said quickly. "The stupid food just gave me a lot of trouble and it bugs me."

Dally looked at him suspiciously.

Then the front door slammed open and an agitated Steve came rushing in.

Shit, thought Soda. Steve had been at the DX when Two-Bit and Pony came racing in. He knew they were looking for Johnny and that there had been trouble with a Soc.

"Hey," said Steve as he entered the kitchen. "Wow... spaghetti porridge, Soda?" He eyeballed the food and sat down. His gaze went over each one of them and then added. "Didn't ya find Johnny?"


Two-Bit looked over at Soda and then Pony.

"They did," Darry said. "Kid had gotten upset about some stuff at school and went to the lot. They picked him up there and now he’s sleeping."

Steve looked at Darry and then back at Soda. "Right..." He didn't really buy that one and Soda could tell.

"What's with Johnny?" demanded Dallas.

"He... he just got uncomfortable in school and left. You know how nervous he is. I just overreacted. We found him and he's fine," said Pony.

"Where is he now?"

"He's sleeping, Dal. Leave him alone," Darry said and started to eat.

Two-Bit sent Pony a look. He hated lying to the others but for now this was probably for the best.

"He's here? Why ain't he on the couch, then?"

Darry was getting pretty annoyed by all the questions and put his fork down. "He’s in Soda’s room. He has a headache, okay? He had a run-in with his old man yesterday.”

But Dally wasn’t stupid and sensed something was wrong.

"I'm gonna check on him," he said and before the others had time to react he marched into Soda's room.

"What the hell, Johnny?" he exclaimed when he saw how bad the kid had been hurt. "Who did this to ya? Don't tell me it was your dad, ‘cause I ain't buyin' it!"

Johnny rolled over on his side facing away from Dally. It hurt really bad to even move but he just didn't want to look at Dally right now. Mostly because he was afraid of bursting into tears if he had to try and lie about what had happened. "It was..." he settled with saying.

"TELL ME!" Dally shouted and shook Johnny.

"Stop it!" cried Ponyboy. He just couldn't stand it, and before he could stop himself he blurted out with the whole story.

Dally's face went crimson with rage. "WHAT?" he yelled. Then he grabbed Pony by the collar, nearly lifting him off the ground, and slammed him up against the wall. "What the fuck were you thinking, you little punk?" he yelled into his face. Then he shook him so hard his head bumped into the wall.

"Dal, Stop it!" Johnny cried and sat up.

Darry grabbed a hold of Dally and made him let go of Pony. "It ain’t his fault!" he said, pushing Pony behind him, shielding him from whatever Dally might try to throw at him next.

Only a few hours earlier Darry had been yelling at Pony for the same thing but he would not have Dally hurt him.

Steve stood in the doorway. His eyes burned with rage as well. He wanted blood.

"What did you say his name was?” asked Dally. “Andy something? Do you know him, Steve?"

Steve nodded and was already heading for the door.

Dally said, "Let's go! If any of you yella bellies wanna give us a hand, now's the time! Two-Bit - gimme your knife!"

"Dal, I ain't gonna give ya my knife, man. But I'm gonna join ya," he said as he followed Steve. He stopped and looked over his shoulder at Soda. "Sorry, but I ain't gonna let him get away with this."

Darry sighed. He was tempted to join them. He was just as angry as they were.

"Please don't!" Johnny cried. He tried to get out of bed but his legs wouldn't hold him and he dropped to the floor.

Soda immediately swooped down to pick Johnny up and got him back into bed where he tugged the blankets nicely down around him.

"Darry..." he said, "maybe we should go with them. You know - to make sure it doesn't get out of hand. Pony can stay here with Johnny..."

"Good idea," Darry said and walked towards the door. He turned and pointed at Ponyboy. "Pony - stay here. You got that? We’ll be back later." He left the house and took Soda with him.

"I'm sorry, Pony," Johnny whimpered. "I didn't do nuffin’ to him. I-I just bumped into him and then he was at my throat. I didn't mean to."

"Stop it. It ain’t your fault. You know they'll use anything as an excuse to beat us up."

Johnny nodded slowly. "Yeah... I know…"

o0o0o0o0o0o

"We gotta take it easy, ok?" Soda said to Steve. He knew there was no chance in hell Dally would listen to him, but Steve was his best friend.

Steve sent Soda a curious look and for the first time since he’d heard the story his eyes were not burning with hate. "Yeah alright," he nodded after a moment. "Why didn't ya tell us anyways, man? Soc needs a woopin and for good reason."

"Johnny's really scared. That guy threatened him. And you know he's gonna get all his friends and come after Johnny if we do this. How are we gonna protect him then?"

Steve stopped for a second. He hated to admit it but that made sense. "Look, Soda. Maybe I get what you mean, but Dal won’t. And I ain't gonna let him stand alone."

"Maybe we should just tell the guy to back off," Darry said as he suddenly stood beside them.

"Yeah and why don't we buy him a beer as well," Steve snorted.

o0o0o0o0o0o

It turned out the issue wasn't resolved that night. They searched the city for hours but didn't find Andy or anyone who could tell them where he was. Finally they decided to go home.

"At least we know where he goes to school," growled Dally, continually opening and closing his fists. "And I'm gonna wait for him outside the doors from early morning."

Two-Bit and Steve went home. Darry and Soda came back and found both boys sound asleep. Pony was lying in an awkward angle, his feet on the floor and his head resting on Johnny's legs.

Soda gave him a little shake. "Hey, Pony. Off to bed," he whispered, careful not to wake Johnny.

Johnny turned over on his side as Pony moved his head away. For the first time that day he looked peaceful.

Darry went to the kitchen and made some coffee. It was late and probably a bad idea to drink coffee but he needed to sit down and think.

It was such a mess. Dally was going to beat the crap out of this Andy and that would make Johnny a human target at school. And maybe Pony as well. They were known as best friends. Darry rubbed his temples.


oOooOo

To be continued...