Windrix Hall - 22

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


Chapter 22 – “You Kids Thought You Could Hide Something like that from Me?”

Johnny sat in his dorm trying to concentrate on reading, waiting for Sodapop to pick him up once he and his brothers came back from Christmas shopping. Johnny hoped they would be okay. There was a lot of snow outside by now and the sky didn’t look like it was planning on stopping snowing any time soon.  

It had just turned dark outside when the door slammed open. In came someone resembling the Michelin Man - dressed in an extremely bulky padded coat, covered in snowflakes. It strode right up to Johnny and knocked him back on the bed, landing on top of him.

"Hey!" he said, his nose touching Johnny's. 

Sodapop’s face was framed in a hood with thick fake fur full of snow - which also meant that now Johnny's face was full of snow. As was the bedding and the floor where Sodapop had stomped in without taking his boots off or at least bothering to wipe them on the mat.

Johnny looked up at him rather startled and gulped.

"H-hey, S-soda?" he stuttered and tried to look over his glasses, which had become misty from the snow and Soda's warm breath. Johnny leaned a little to the side and looked down at the floor. "Now I gotta clean the room,” he sighed.

"What?" said Soda and let his eyes sweep across the room. "Is that really necessary? It's just a bit of water. Come on - Pony went ahead to make hot chocolate for us. They'll drink the whole thing if we don't hurry. Oh - and guess who's coming for dinner! Lauren. The first official ‘meet the family’ dinner. Even though she's met us all before, of course, this is kinda different. Darry's shitting himself. I think he's afraid I'm gonna embarrass him."

Johnny smiled up at him. "Yeah… I dunno where he would get that idea." He was a bit worried, though. Lauren didn’t know about him and Soda.

There was a knock on the door and Sodapop rolled off Johnny, both sitting back up.

"Ye-yeah?"

Mrs. Harris opened the door. "Oh hello, boys," she smiled. "I just wanted to say merry Christmas to you, Johnny. And then I was on my way to drop off some food at your place, Sodapop." She gave them both a hug and asked Soda, "Did you buy your little sweetheart something nice?"

She snickered as she saw the dumbstruck faces of the two boys.

"You kids thought you could hide something like that from me?"

"W-what? How'd ya know?”

"It's easy to see," she smiled. "Just the way you two look at each other..."

Johnny blushed a little and sent Soda a look.

"Oh, right," smiled Soda. Then he turned serious. "You ain't telling Two-Bit, are ya? Only my brothers and now you know. And, well, he's a great guy and everything, but..."

"No, honey, I won't say anything. I’ve known for weeks and have kept it to myself," she smiled and kissed his cheek.

o0o0o0o0o0o

Darry and Ponyboy were bickering over some small thing. Pony seemed grateful for the interruption when Mrs. Harris, Sodapop, and Johnny came in.

"Hello, Darry," said Mrs. Harris. "Are you pestering that poor boy again? Leave him alone or I’ll give you a good old spanking."

Johnny couldn't help but grin at the expression on Darry’s face and he hid behind Soda so Darry wouldn't notice. 

"Good to see you, Shirley," Darry said and he took the food she was carrying. 

Mrs. Harris put a gentle hand on Ponyboy's shoulder. "You just send him over to me if he is being too hard on you."

o0o0o0o0o0o

Darry was acting as if they were having the president over for dinner, bossing everybody around, preparing all sorts of thing so everything was just perfect.

"Darry," said Sodapop when Darry finally seemed to run out of things to make them do. "What about me and Johnny? Lauren needs to know at some point now you two are getting serious. Can we tell her tonight?”

"Yeah, I guess so," sighed Darry and sat down in a chair.

The three others waited patiently in the living room while Darry greeted Lauren in the hall. Ponyboy was ready to bet that Darry was going to introduce them formally, as if she didn't know them already.

"Lauren. These two are my brothers, Sodapop and Ponyboy," Darry said as he and Lauren come in. "And this is Johnny Cade."

"I've seen you all around, of course," Lauren smiled. "But not privately, so it's very nice to meet you. You sure have a couple of handsome brothers, Darry. I must run in the family.

"Oh... he he… I guess," Darry said and blushed a little. "Let's go sit down. I made cookies. Well… I bought cookies."

"And what about you, Johnny?” Lauren asked when they had all taken one of Darry's home-bought cookies. “I thought the students had already gone home. Are you staying at the school for some reason?"

"Um… M-my parents are n-not home for the holiday so Mr. Cur- Darry let me stay here."

"Yeah, he and Soda are… close. Really… close…" Darry started, shifting in his seat. "Johnny and Pony are close as well. But not close in that way."

Lauren looked a little confused. "What do you mean, Darrel?" she asked, watching the three boys curiously. 

"Well…” Darry cleared his throat. “Pony and Johnny are friend close... and Soda and Johnny are… close close."

Johnny looked down at his plate and took another bite of his cookie. Darry sure was bad at talking about this kind of thing, but Johnny wasn't sure he would do much better himself.

"He's my boyfriend," beamed Sodapop and wrapped an arm around Johnny. 

That was how simple it could be done, but obviously Darry needed help. 

"O... Oh," said Lauren, surprised. Then she smiled, and turned to Darry. "You could have just said it straight, Darrel. You aren't embarrassed of your brother, are you?”

"What? N-no of course not! I'm very proud of my brothers. I just… Well, I didn't know how to explain it."

Johnny leaned against Soda's shoulder. This was actually going well. It seemed that Lauren didn't have a problem with it either. Maybe it would also be okay for the rest of their friends to be told soon.

"Well...” said Darry and stood up. “I need to go check on dinner. And you! Stay put," he said, pointing at Sodapop. He didn’t want to risk getting him too close to the food. He might dye something a strange color or who knows what.

"I think it's brave to be so honest about it," said Lauren, looking at Johnny and Soda, sitting together on the couch. "There are still a good deal of ignorant, intolerant people out there."

"Well, it ain't nothing to be ashamed of," said Soda and kissed a rapidly blushing Johnny on the cheek. "And Darry - he really has been great about it. He's just real awkward when it comes to talking about romantic things." Soda laughed. "And just try to bring up the subject sex! He -"

Darry came flying out of the kitchen, obviously having heard the word sex come out of his brother's mouth. 

"SODA! Why don't you tell Lauren about the horses? Or Pony tell her about your… stories... or something."

He went back into the kitchen again, feeling rather stupid. Sodapop was always talking about embarrassing things and not thinking about what he was saying. 

Lauren laughed and winked at Soda. "Yeah - I see what you mean." Then she turned to Pony. "Ponyboy - your big brother has told me a lot about you, too. You sound like a very talented young man. Both with academics and sports. He's very proud of you."

Ponyboy looked at her in disbelief. Proud of him? Darry? He never told Pony that. And great with sports? Darry was disappointed in him because he didn't play football! But Pony wasn't about to start discussing with Lauren or talk bad about Darry, so he just smiled and said thank you.

"Yeah," said Soda and patted Ponyboy on the shoulder. "Pony will get far. Make the family proud."

Darry came back a good fifteen minutes later and told everyone they could take their seat at the table. 

"Aren't you guys freezing up here?” asked Lauren as they started eating. “I mean you aren't used to these kind of temperatures where you're from. You sound like you're from down south as well, Johnny?"

Johnny looked up as he heard his name. 

"Yeah. I-it kinda feels like a million minus degrees." He said, smiling shyly. "A l-lot different colder Georgia. That's for sure."

"I'm getting used it," Darry said, puffing out his chest. 

"Yeah, well," Pony started and wiped his mouth. "You’ve also been here five years."

"That doesn’t make it less cold."

"You just gotta wear a looot of clothes!" said Sodapop with his mouth full of potato. 

Johnny sniggered, remembering how Soda had looked in his gigantic coat.

"Hey, Johnny! We gotta go for a ride tomorrow - it's awesome in the snow. Real beautiful, and it don't even hurt when you fall off!”

"I… I ain’t planning on falling off!" Johnny said with a rather startled look.

"Yeah, Soda should know all about falling off," Darry said and helped himself to more salad. "There was a time you did that better than staying on the damn horse."

Sodapop laughed. “Yeah, I've fallen off a million times, but unlike Johnny I never had an awesome teacher and a calm pony like Sylvester. And Darry," continued Sodapop, "if you don't take chances in your life you never gain anything. And you risk dying of boredom."

"I'm very happy with my life, thank you very much," Darry said in a firm voice. "I don't need a 900 pound animal between my legs to feel alive."

Johnny and Pony exchanged looks and did their best not to laugh, but a snigger escaped Ponyboy anyway.

Darry sighed. "Teenagers… Soda, look how you've corrupted your little brother."

Lauren laughed. "Oh, Darry, don't be such a prude. What do you expect? He's a fifteen-year-old boy."

Ponyboy grinned. Lauren calling Darry a prude - that was priceless! Maybe Darry would actually take her more seriously that when he and Soda said it.

"So, you two - you're getting real serious?" Sodapop asked Lauren. 

"Well," said Lauren, sending Darry a soft smile. "Yes, I guess we are."

"When are you moving in?"

"Soda!" Darry said in a firm voice before smiling again. "We‘re taking things slow. It's not like I see you and your boyfriend making plans already either," he tried to tease back.

"Oh, we have! As soon as we turn eighteen we're running off to get married!" grinned Sodapop.

"W-what?" Johnny exclaimed, nearly falling off his chair, before realizing that Soda was, of course, joking. 

When Johnny's heart rate had gone down to a normal pace and the conversation had changed to a different subject, Johnny moved his foot over and ran it up Sodapop's leg. Soda stopped talking for a moment, looking up at Johnny, who was sitting opposite him. Johnny didn’t meet his gaze. After a while he let his foot slide further up but stopped just before he reached Soda's crotch. Oh, he had not forgotten what Soda did to him one of the first days Johnny had been by for dinner. Soda looked pointedly at Johnny again. Johnny responded with a questioning look.

Soda quirked an eyebrow. Was this really Johnny? Little, shy Johnny, whom you could embarrass by just saying a dirty word? Well, there was no way that he would dare take this any further, so Soda decided to ignore it.

Johnny waited a moment and then, peeking at Soda out of the corner of his eye, carefully placed his foot on Soda's groin. 

Payback....

Sodapop was so surprised that Johnny actually dared go there that he sputtered a mouthful of Coke out over the table. Fortunately, Lauren was sitting the farthest away from him so she didn't get sprayed.

"Soda, what the hell!" cried Darry and jumped up to get some napkins. 

Johnny quickly moved his foot away. He was a bit sorry he had got Soda in trouble but it had just been too tempting.

Darry had cooled down when he came back and handed them the napkins. "Did you choke on something?"

"Yes - the Coke," said Soda and wiped his mouth. "Sorry, Lauren. That was real embarrassing," he continued, flashing her his sweetest smile.

"No problem," she said. "That could happen to any of us."

Sodapop sent Johnny a subtle glance. Well, if that was how he was going to play… Johnny wasn't going to succeeded in getting another reaction out of him. He was prepared now. He caught Johnny’s eye and gave him a look that said: I accept the challenge. Then he took another sip of Coke and asked Lauren if she didn't miss her family back in Chicago.

Johnny rested his head on his palm, considering for a minute if he should back down, but then decided to go for it. He let his foot run back up Soda's leg and sent him a look that said he meant business. Then he placed his foot on Soda's groin again, gentling letting his toes feel their way around. Maybe it was a little mean but Soda had asked for it.

Soda swallowed hard and concentrated on ignoring the foot.

"Oh, okay," he said when Lauren told him that she had lived here most of her life and didn't have that many relatives back in Chicago.

Oh, God damn it. His stupid body was starting to react now - didn't it have any sense of timing?

"Soda and Pony," Darry said. "You guys mind taking of the table?"

"Pony and Johnny can do it," Soda said. No way was he going to stand up in front of Darry's new girlfriend with a probably visible hard-on. Darry would kill him. "I made breakfast, and I'm kinda tired."

Darry raised his brows at Soda and was about to tell him to get his ass in gear, when Johnny jumped up, saying, "I don't mind helping. You’ve been so kind to let me stay over, so that’s the least I can do.”

Darry nodded and escorted Lauren into the living room. As soon as the door closed behind them, Ponyboy sent Soda and Johnny a pointed look. 

"Okay, what’s going on here?"

"What do you mean?" asked Sodapop, smiling innocently. “Nothing’s going on.”

"Yeah, right. Why can't you stand up, then?"

"Ask Johnny!" grinned Soda.

"What? I haven't done anything?" Johnny said and put his hands up defensively. 

Ponyboy just rolled his eyes at them both. Soda sat there for a few minutes. Then he got up, walked to the counter and wrapped his arms around Johnny from behind. 

"You, young man," he said, resting his chin on Johnny’s shoulder, "owe me a looot of action later to pay for that little stunt."

"Oh, no - I don't wanna hear this!" said Ponyboy. Just thinking about family members having sex was... well, yuck. 

"You better put earplugs in tonight, then," grinned Soda. 

"SODA! STOP IT!" yelled Ponyboy, clapping his hands to his ears. 

The pot Johnny was holding suddenly slipped from his grip and as he scrambled to catch it, he accidentally bumped his rear into Soda, who was still standing right behind him.

"Oh, you wanna go right now?" grinned Soda and gave him a little nudge with his hips. "Impatient?

Pony put down the plates he was holding. "That's it - I'm leaving! You can clean up the rest."

oOooOo

To be continued...