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Johnny was good at not crying around the gang. Hell, he rarely ever cried, the last time he cried was when he got jumped, he hasn’t cried since. It was just something he didn’t do. Being taught from a young age that crying would make you seem weak and would just make things worse made him toughen up, made him hold in his emotions until they all just boiled over and he broke down. He was also good at keeping himself calm around Dallas, not letting the other boy's words affect him. Dallas got angry at things around him without realizing, sometimes it just happened and Johnny happened to be in the crossfire. So, he was pretty good at blocking it out. But, apparently today was not one of the days where he could block it out....and stop himself from crying. It was a rare day where everyone that worked had a day off, and even though Darry had wanted to go to work, Sodapop and Ponyboy managed to convince him not to go in (They told him they wanted him to stay home so they could spend time together. It surprisingly worked).
So, that led to the rare chance of every member of the gang being there. Well, besides Dally, he was…somewhere, Darry was sure he’d show up eventually, so he wasn’t too worried. Johnny was worried though, Dally would come walking into the Curtis house at least once or twice a day, so he should’ve shown up at least once, but he never showed up. Well, not until around three in the afternoon, stumbling through the Curtis house silently, nearly stepping on Steve and Two-bit to get to the bathroom before slamming the bathroom door behind him. Soda looked at the bathroom door with concern in his eyes, glancing up at Darry, seemingly asking what they should do, causing Darry to sigh and shrugged before standing up from the recliner, stepping around Steve and Two-Bit, who were sprawled out on the floor, their wrestling match paused after Dallas walked in.
Johnny watched as Darry knocked on the bathroom door, waiting for some sort of answer from Dallas, chewing on his nail as he stared. He heard muffled swearing come from inside, and it made Jonny tense up slightly. "You alright in there, Dally? You just came stormin’ in, nearly stepped on Two-bit and Steve to get into the bathroom" Everyone stayed silent, just waiting for a reply from Dally, but all there was, was shuffling from inside of the locked bathroom. "Dallas? C’mon out man, we want to make sure you’re okay" Darry tried again, but when he didn’t get a reply, he just sighed before moving away from the door, shaking his head as he went back to the recliner. From his spot on the ground, Steve shoved at Johnny’s leg, and when the raven haired boy looked down at him, he motioned towards the bathroom. Steve, and probably the rest of the gang knew, the only person that could get through to Dally when no one else could, was Johnny. Johnny hesitated before standing up off of the couch, shuffling over towards the bathroom, making sure not to step on a sprawled out Two-bit, who was for some odd reason, still laying in the middle of the floor. Johnny let out a small sigh before reaching up his hand, knocking on the door.
Johnny heard Dallas groan angrily inside of the bathroom, a harsh ‘What?’ could be heard through the door, and Johnny cleared his throat. "Dal? Can you open up?" Johnny asked, and suddenly, everything went quiet in the bathroom. Johnny stood there, chewing on his bottom lip before he heard a quiet "Go away kid, M’ fine". Johnny obviously didn’t believe the blonde. If he was okay, Dally would’ve opened the door, he was hiding something. "Dal, C'mon man. You don’t even have to open the door all the way. We just want to make sure you’re alright" Johnny tried, hoping that Dally would just open the door so he didn’t have to keep doing this. He wasn't the best at convincing people. "Johnny, man, just leave me the hell alone. I’ll be out in a bit. Go sit back down or…whatever the hell you were doing".
Johnny shoved his hands into the pockets of his denim jacket and he glanced back at the gang, trying to figure out what he was meant to do now. Steve just motioned to the bathroom door again, trying to encourage Johnny to keep going. Dally would come out eventually, especially since Johnny was asking. The second youngest gang member looked at Steve before back at the bathroom door. Couldn’t he just sit down? Even if he was worried, it was clear that Dally was getting annoyed..but Steve and Two-bit were clearly expecting him to try again. So with a sigh, Johnny gently knocked on the door again. "Dally, if you got into a fight and got cut up, we can help. You just gotta-". Johnny was cut off by the bathroom door swinging open, and suddenly an angry, cut up Dallas Winston was standing right in front of him.
"God damn kid, can you just stop your whining?" Dallas growled out, making Johnny shrink in on himself a bit. "I was just trying to make sure you were okay, Dal" Johnny tried to reason, taking a small step back from Dally. "Yeah, and I told you I was fine, and to leave me the hell alone. Do you not know how to listen?". Johnny wasn’t sure how to react, Dallas had never been this angry at him before. "Dally, knock it off man, he was checking up on you. He was worried" Two-bit said, finally sitting up from his spot on the floor, "Lay off the poor kid".
That seemed to just anger Dallas more, making the blonde scoff. "No, he was being annoying, all he ever does is whine at me, especially if I’m injured. He never fuckin' stops". Somewhere in his mind, Johnny knew Dally wasn’t angry at him, the other boy likely got into a fight with Tim Shepard again, which always left the blonde in a bad mood. But Johnny just couldn’t get over the fact that Dallas was actually so pissed off at him, to the point where the other boy was basically towering over him. "Dallas, lay off." Soda said from his spot on the couch, sounding more serious than he normally was. Soda was only ever this serious when something was happening with his brothers, or the rest of the gang..but normally his brothers. "I was..I was just trying to help. I just wanted to help, man". Johnny mumbled, his gaze now resting on the floor, too nervous to look up at Dally. "Oh, so you’re allowed to help us but we aren’t allowed to help you with your parents? Or when you have to deal with the socs? That’s fucking stupid and you know it, John". Dallas hissed out, and Johnny flinched slightly. “C’mon man…I just want to make sure you’re okay…". Johnny wasn’t sure what else to say, just…repeating himself, afraid of making Dallas more angry.
"Well I don’t want your help! Especially since the only things you’re good at are whining, complaining, and not saying a word. You barely even speak!" Dallas snapped, clenching his fists. Soda shot up off of the couch, glaring at Dally. "Dal, man knock it off! Lay of the kid" Soda walked over, gently grabbing onto Johnny’s shoulder, but Johnny quickly shoved Soda’s hand away. As Dallas looked away from Soda to take a look at Johnny, he froze. Johnny’s eyes had slowly filled with tears and a sob left the second youngest greaser before he was taking a few steps back, more small hiccups and sobs following behind the first one. Then, in a blink of an eye, the kid was quickly taking off, running out the front door, off the porch before running down the road. Pony quickly took off after Johnny, worried for his best friend, and Darry stood up from the recliner, looking at Dallas.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Johnny was just worried about you, trying to make sure you were okay" Darry questioned, and Two-bit stood up, walking up to Dallas, smacking the blonde on the shoulder, causing Soda to quickly move in front of them so a full blown fight didn’t start. Two-bit huffed, stepping back and he then crossed his arms. "You never see Johnny gettin" upset when you’re checking on him, when any of us check on him. Kid never gets annoyed, never yells at you, never raises his voice. He thanks us because we’re showing that we care, because he was just starting to realize that we are the ones that care" Two-bit started, and Soda leaned against the wall.
"God dammit Dallas, now you probably made the kid scared of you again, just like when you first met him. Johnny never cries, and you made him cry, Dallas...that's screwed up". Those words slammed into Dallas like a truck, making whatever anger he felt melt away. When Dallas had first met Johnny, the kid could barely look at him, could barely even stand next to the blonde without flinching. Later on, when they got closer, Johnny had told Dally that it was because Dally was loud, and let out his anger through fights and yelling. Johnny added that he wasn’t scared of Dally anymore, especially since he knew that Dallas wouldn’t hurt him. But when they had first met, Johnny always thought Dallas was going to hurt him, no matter how many times Mrs. Curtis told him that the older greaser would never lay a hand on any of the gang (She always sent Dally out of the house anytime he looked like he was about to start a fight, and he always listened, standing outside until he was cooled off enough to go back in).
"I didn’t…mean to scare the kid and make him cry." Dallas stated, crossing his arms and Soda gave a small shake of his head. "Doesn’t matter whether you meant to or not Dal. You still yelled in his face, insulted him, and you made him run off. As simple as that". Dallas went to move out of the bathroom door, he needed to get outside, go find Johnny and tell him he was sorry, that he didn’t mean what he said, but Two-bit stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder and shaking his head. "Give Johnnycake a break, Dal. Ponyboy will bring him back here, and we can just hope he’s calm and not…jumpy". Dal couldn’t argue so he just…gave a small nod, and Soda brushed past him to get into the bathroom, grabbing the med kit that was laid out on the counter, bloody gauze laying in the sink from where Dally had tried to clean up his face, but he had been interrupted. Soda looked back to Dally and he waved a hand at him, signaling for him to go sit in the living room. "Let’s get you patched up while we wait, man..".
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Johnny made it to the lot, struggling to get breath into his lungs as he collapsed against the old, rickety car seat and he clenched his eyes shut, tears streaming down his cheeks as he tried to stifle a sob. Pony wasn’t too far behind him, flopping down next to the other boy before slowly wrapping his arms around Johnny, eventually pulling the raven haired greaser into a hug, holding Johnny close to him. "It’ll be okay man, Dal didn’t mean it, Johnny. He was just…a bit irritated". Pony tried to offer his best friend comfort, wanting to convince Johnny that Dallas didn’t mean all of what he said. Dallas was always irritated after he got into his dumb fights. But Pony knew once Johnny had an idea in his head, and started to overthink things, there was no way to convince him otherwise. "You don’t-" Johnny broke off into a sob as he tried to speak and he slowly wrapped his arms around Ponyboy’s shoulders. "You didn’t see his face, Pone. His..his eyes were so cold and so..so full of anger". Johnny said, his words trailing off into a whimper as he curled in against Pony slightly, likely trying to curl in on himself but he wasn’t able to from how close he was to Ponyboy.
"John, he didn’t-". Johnny shot up straight, staring at Ponyboy as he shook his head violently. "You heard what he said to me, Ponyboy! All I do is whine at him, I bug him bad, man. I know I’m annoying him by not letting him help, but he’ll end up back in the cooler if I let him help, for a lot longer than a few months and we both know it!" Johnny exclaimed, and Ponyboy was surprised. Johnny rarely yelled, and he hasn’t yelled around Ponyboy in…god, he didn’t know how long. Before Ponyboy could respond, Johnny pulled himself away and he curled himself into a ball, his body trembling as he let out a sob. "How could I not realize he was getting annoyed, Pone? Dallas normally always gives hints when he’s annoyed". Ponyboy couldn’t get any words out of himself as he watched Johnny spiral, he didn’t really know what to do. He had never seen Johnny get this worked up before, at least, not when it came to issues in their group. Johnny always managed to handle issues within their gang pretty well, until it came to Dallas, but he still managed to handle them...kind of well. "If..If Dallas got annoyed at me, it’s only a matter of time before the rest of y’all get annoyed at me and then I’ll be all alone, I won’t…I won’t know-".
Ponyboy finally managed to get himself to speak, lurching forward as he then lightly shook Johnny’s shoulder. "Don’t think like that Johnnycake, we’ll never get annoyed or angry at ya’. We care for you man, and we sure as hell wouldn’t leave you. You’re family, man" The youngest greaser started, and when he noticed Johnny was about to argue, he shook his head. "Have you ever heard Soda and Darry talkin’ about you? They call you their kid brother all the time Johnny! I see you as a brother..both a brother, and a best friend" Pony trailed off and he watched as Johnny’s eyes fell to the ground. Pony knew he should probably lighten the mood, try to get Johnny to stop spiraling. So he forced a smile and lightly nudged Johnny. "Don’t tell Soda though, he’s still convinced he’s my best friend…I think he’ll always be convinced of that" he said, and he watched as the corner of Johnny’s lips quirked up in a small smile, and Pony decided to take that as a small win.
"I’m pretty sure Soda can also be your best friend, Pone" Johnny whispered as he sniffled, reaching a hand up to wipe at his eyes, trying to get the tears to stop blurring his vision. Pony pretended to think about it, tilting his head before grinning and shaking his head. "Nah Johnnycake, I already deal with him enough as a brother, I don’t think I want him as my best friend" Pony said as he then leaned back. Johnny huffed out a small laugh before slumping against Pony’s shoulder.
After around 2 hours, Ponyboy managed to convince Johnny to get up and go back to the Curtis house. (Pony had tried to get them to leave a few minutes after their conversation, but Johnny refused, claiming he wanted to watch the sunset, which Pony didn’t exactly argue with. He knew Johnny just wasn’t ready to go back). As they trudged back to the Curtis house, Johnny lagged a few steps behind him until Pony had to stop and wait for Johnny to catch up to him before wrapping his arm around the other boy's shoulders. "It’ll be alright, Johnnycake. If Dallas says anything, you have the rest of us there for you" Ponyboy reassured, causing Johnny to give a weak smile and a small nod before he let his gaze fall to the ground again.
Johnny appreciated Pony’s attempt at comfort, the youngest greaser was always helpful when it came to comforting him since Pony just seemed to understand him. But Johnny had always looked up to Dally, saw the older greaser as an older brother, more so than the Curtis’s. And don’t get him wrong, Johnny cared for the Curtis brothers a lot, saw them as his family (he never admitted it though), but him and Dallas were just…closer than he was with the rest of the gang (aside from Pony). And right now, Johnny wasn’t really sure if he could handle having someone he cared about hate him again, he already dealt with his parents hating him..he really didn’t want Dallas to join that category. (Johnny wasn’t sure if he could handle that..)
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The two youngest greasers stepped into the house, Ponyboy first and Johnny right on his heels. Johnny noticed two things when he stepped into the house, Darry and Soda were both in the kitchen doing…something? No Dally, No Two-Bit, No Steve, just the two oldest Curtis brothers and the two youngest greasers. Johnny shut the door behind him as quietly as he could while Ponyboy walked into the kitchen, looking at his brothers. "Where’d the others go, Soda?" Pony asked, and Soda looked up from whatever he was doing next to Darry. "Uh, I’m not exactly sure, little colt. Dally just said he had somethin’ to do and the other two just followed him out the door". Johnny walked up behind Pony and his heart sunk, how long had it been since Dally left? Did he get pissed off after Johnny left so he stomped off? Darry looked up and he smiled gently at the sight of Johnny lurking behind his brother. "Hey, Johnnycake. We were just waiting for you guys to get back before we started dinner”.
Pony looked at his brothers before he noticed the bag sitting on the counter, grease beginning to stain the bag from the inside, and Pony’s eyes widened, looking from the bag to his oldest brother. "Did you get burgers, Dar?". That question caused Darry to chuckle before he gave a nod. "Sure did, got a little extra money on my paycheck and thought we could have burgers tonight. Is that alright with you two?". Pony quickly gave a nod and the raven haired greaser cleared his throat, rocking back and forth on his heels. "Are…are the others gonna come back and join us?" the second youngest greaser asked and Soda shrugged. "Probably, I let them know Darry was pickin’ up food before they left, and Two-bit told me they’d be back in time for dinner before just taking off out the door after the other two".
That information made Johnny relax a little, so Dally didn’t just immediately storm out after Johnny ran off, that was good. Both Pony and Johnny gathered plates for the four of them, set the table while also grabbing four bottles of Pepsi before sitting down. Pony grinned happily while Soda passed out the burgers, and they were even able to have fries with the burgers, which even made Johnny smile a little. They all began eating once Darry sat down, Johnny quickly scarfing down his food while the brothers ate at a slower pace, occasionally glancing at Johnny before back at each other. They didn’t want to comment in case it upset the raven haired boy.
Johnny was done eating before the others, and he sheepishly smiled at them when he realized just how fast he ate, but when Darry waved him off and told him it was okay, Johnny nodded and excused himself from the table, making his way to the living room before flopping on the couch, grabbing the remote and turning on the tv. Johnny flicked through the channels, chewing on his bottom lip as he looked for something to watch. Eventually, Johnny chose to watch cartoons, not too interested in the other movies that were on. The second youngest greaser heard the others talking to each other, homework and work was the topic of discussion, so Johnny didn’t really focus on it. Instead, he just focused on the tv, watching..he didn’t even know what cartoon it was, he assumed it was something Mickey related.
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Movement and his limbs being around was what woke Johnny up, (when had he fallen asleep?). Johnny forced his eyes open, letting out a soft huff as he looked around. Steve and Soda were arm wrestling, both of them muttering under their breath, likely some sort of playful insult, something they always did when they wrestled. Two-Bit was sitting on the floor, a plate of chocolate cake in front of him as he focused on the tv, and Johnny knew it was still playing some sort of cartoon, judging by how focused the rusty color haired greaser was. Darry was sitting in his recliner, reading a newspaper with Ponyboy sitting on the floor next to him, silently scribbling away at his homework. And Dally…Johnny couldn’t see Dally, was Dally even there? He doubted it. Johnny made an attempt to sit up, moving his legs around but when he heard a soft grunt, he looked up and…there was Dallas, sitting on the couch with Johnny’s legs resting on his lap.
"Geez kid, trying to kick me in the gut?" The blonde greaser asked with a small smirk, making Johnny sit up further. "You’re here?" Johnny asked suddenly before he could think twice, and Dallas suddenly looked confused. "Yeah, Johnnycake. Soda said Darry was buying burgers when we left, so we came back to eat. And now we’re all just hangin’ out. Why wouldn't I be here?". Johnny just slowly shrugged and pulled his legs off of Dally’s lap, swinging his legs off of the couch so his feet rested on the floor, and he looked back over at Steve and Soda, he didn’t think he could handle making eye contact with Dally right now.
He heard Dallas sigh, and that caused him to look up, watching as Dally stood up before motioning for Johnny to follow, and the blonde then stepped outside. Darry looked up from the paper as Johnny walked to the door and he gave a small nod. "If he says anything stupid, just come back inside, I’ll talk to him". Johnny nodded, and turned to the door. From behind him, he heard Soda snicker and say "You already talked to him Dar, twice actually. That’s probably the first time I’ve seen Dallas look nervous around you". Johnny looked at Dally when he stepped outside, seeing that the blonde was now sitting on the steps of the house, so Johnny went and sat next to him, chewing on his bottom lip as he tried his best to keep himself calm. Johnny knew realistically that he had no reason to be scared of Dally, he would be safe, he was safe. But part of Johnny, some random part of him, felt scared of Dally. Felt the need to run away from the older greaser, and Johnny felt ashamed because of it. The younger greaser was knocked out of his thoughts as Dally suddenly started speaking. "You know I didn’t mean what I said, right?" Dally started, not looking up at Johnny as he picked at the skin around his fingers, something he did to keep him preoccupied when he didn’t have any kools on him…Johnny would have to swipe some later for him.
"I was just in pain, and I was angry. It wasn’t right for me to take it out on you. I know you just wanted to help, and I’m-" Dallas cut himself off with a huff, running a hand through his hair before suddenly looking at Johnny. "Look, what I’m trying to say is- god kid, don’t look at me like that, be mad at me, shout at me. Don’t look at me like you’re the one in the wrong". Johnny didn’t even realize he was staring at Dallas like a ‘kicked puppy’...as the rest of the gang would call it, and Johnny looked down, clearing his throat. "Sorry Dal".
Dallas clenched his hands into fists and he let out a shaky breath, looking at Johnny before looking up at the stars littering the sky. "No, I’m…I’m sorry, Johnny". Johnny was suddenly staring up at Dallas again, his eyes wide with surprise. Dallas never apologized, not for anything, but yet..he was apologizing to Johnny for simply yelling at him?. "Why are you apologizing, Dal? You didn’t do anythin’ wrong. Sure, you were mad and your words did..upset me a little, but I know ya’ didn’t mean nothing by it". Johnny mumbled, and Dallas had to resist the urge to raise his voice, like he always did when someone disagreed with him (But he couldn’t do that to him…not Johnny).
"Kid, don’t fight me on this, I wouldn’t apologize for it if I didn’t think I did something wrong. You know that" Dallas said as he crossed his arms, looking back at the kid. And, Johnny couldn’t really argue with that. Everyone knew Dally didn’t apologize, it was a rarity to get the man to even hint at being sorry, but he did it for Johnny because he knew it would make him feel better. Johnny just gave a small nod and he gave a small smile, tilting his head a bit before he gently punched at Dally’s arm. "Yeah, Yeah…I guess so, man. I forgive ya’ man…ain’t nothing to worry about". Johnny replied, and he saw Dallas relax, a smirk replacing the frown he had.
They sat in silence for a bit before Dallas suddenly shot up, kicking a rock before turning to look at Johnny. "C’mon Johnnycake, I got you something, well…Two-bit snagged ya’ something, but I picked it out so…technically, it’s from both me and him" he explained as he walked off, going towards Two-Bit’s truck, giving Johnny no choice but to get up and jog after him, his head tilted to the side. "You guys didn’t need to get me anything" Johnny replied as he watched Dallas tug the passenger side door open, rocking back and forth on his heels as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket. The older greaser rummaged around in the car before pulling back, a dark brown leather jacket held in one of his hands. They both stood in silence for nearly a minute, Johnny’s dark eyes wide in surprise, and he blinked a few times before looking up at Dallas. "You guys…got that for me?".
Dallas shut the passenger door before leaning against the side of the truck, looking at Johnny before huffing out a laugh, tossing the jacket over to Johnny, watching the younger male scramble to catch it. "Isn’t that what I just said, kid?" he pushed himself up straight before walking over to Johnny, patting the younger teens shoulder. "I know you like your denim jacket, and you like wearin’ it. But we noticed it doesn’t keep you warm during the fall and winter. So this is for you to wear during the colder months, and then you can wear your denim one when it’s warmer out" Dallas explained before stepping back, shoving his own hands into his jacket pocket before stepping back. "Alright, try it on kid. It might be a bit big, but you’ll grow into it". Johnny gave a hesitant nod before shrugging his denim jacket off, letting it slip off of his shoulders before stepping over to Two-Bit’s truck and setting it down on the hood. The raven haired boy then tugged the leather jacket on, adjusting it so it sat on his body right. Dallas was right when it said it would be a bit big, but it wasn’t extremely large, so it didn’t really bother him.
Johnny then moved forward without thinking and he hugged Dally, his arms wrapped around the middle of the other boys torso and he let out a small sigh. "Thanks, Dal" Johnny whispered. The older greaser froze for a moment, surprised by the sudden hug, but he just hugged the kid back (even if it was a bit stiff) and he nodded. "Yeah, Yeah, don’t sweat it, Johnnycakes" The blonde responded, patting Johnny on the back before pulling away. Dallas went to walk back inside, Johnny following behind once he grabbed his denim jacket, but Dally suddenly stopped, turning to look back at Johnny. "So, we good, kid?" he asked suddenly, looking over Johnny’s face so he would know if there was any sign of discomfort or sadness at the question. But Johnny just gave a small grin and nodded. "Yeah, we’re good, Dal. Don’t sweat it" Johnny responded, and Dallas just gave his signature smirk and a pat on the back before stepping back inside, Johnny right on his heels.
The others were glad to see that the two were okay, still joking and messing around with each other even after the events that took place earlier that day. But, truthfully, they shouldn’t have been surprised. Dallas was Johnny’s brother, and Johnny was Dallas’s…nothing would ever change that fact, especially some small argument. They’d be okay, they always would be.