CONTENT WARNINGS: Blood, light gore, child abuse.

"I think we should take him to the hospital. That could go septic." Ponyboy said uselessly, lurking in the doorway. For once my own brother was bugging me.

"You're overreacting, it doesn't look that bad." Steve mumbled, barely able to keep his head up. Dally had his right side and Darry had his left and they were both struggling to ease him down on the bed. Steve isn't real lithe or anything. He's kinda a big guy, a little bigger than Darry and only a little skinnier than Two-Bit.

Dal dropped him and he hit the mattress with a dull thud and a heartbreaking gasp.

"Y'know-" Pony started.

"Please. Go play in traffic." Steve growled lowly, proving he was still very awake and mean as ever. I didn't bother to tell him to play nice this time. I figured he could get away with saying that just this once.

Ponyboy seemed to finally get the message, turning and walking back down the halls where Johnny was already trying to wipe blood off the door.

I crawled onto the bed and held Steve's head in my lap, running my fingers through his hair like he liked. He was shaking, probably from the pain.

We'd all come home from dinner and found him on the porch, drenched in blood and clutching his side, disgusting red smears covering the old couch we had out there. Somebody had sliced him to ribbons.

"Was it your dad?" Darry said in his authoritative serious tone, breaking the silence and voicing the thing we were all dying to ask.

"Nuh," Steve's dad was an ass but I doubted he'd take a knife to his own son. "it's my own damn fault."

"You sliced yourself up?" Dally's thick brows furrowed.

"Tried to jack a car but the guy who was driving it sliced me." He didn't sound like he wanted to admit it. There was nothing heroic or sympathy-inducing about a car jacking gone wrong. Then again, what car was worth damn near killing a kid for?

Darry gently pulled up his shirt to inspect the damage. A cut down almost the entirety of his side. It didn't look too deep but it was long and it had bleed a lot. Now it was just dripping a little.

He left the room and I could hear him rummage around in the bathroom next door.

"You had me scared half to death." I said softly, running my thumb over his temple. He shut his eyes and leaned into it, looking as tired and pale as I'd ever seen him. "Thought you'd been shot or somethin'."

Darry came back holding an economy sized bottle of Betadine and a package of bandages. Dally leaned in slightly, morbidly curious about what was to happen next, as he was about all things.

"Y'all are probably going to have to hold him down." Darry mumbled, already uncapping the Betadine.

I grabbed Steve's hands, holding them tightly and staring in his eyes to try to distract him from what was about to experience.

He screamed when he disinfectant hit his cut, Darry was trying to work fast but I could see he was disgusted. Even Dally cringed in sympathy.

"Oh, I'm gonna be sick." Steve moaned, lifting his head off the bed weakly. Darry paused and I scrambled for the waste basket, offering it to him.

He wasn't actually sick, he simply flopped back down on the bed in a dead faint.

"Oh no." I whispered.

"Fuck, is he dead?" Dally backed away, genuinely looking horrified.

I leaned in close to his face. He was breathing evenly and soundly. He'd fainted before when he got half a car dropped on him.

"He's okay."

Darry went right back to scrubbing, I figured he hoped he could finish it before Steve woke up.

His eyes fluttered open after less than a minute.

"You passed out," I murmured, stroking his hair again. "I think you should go to the hospital."

"No, 'm fine now."

Darry was putting the dressing on and Dally had mysteriously disappeared in the couple seconds I looked away from him. I knew things could get too much for him. Johnny had been too much. He was tuff but he wasn't inhuman.

I chewed my lip nervously. Steve is the kind of person who only listens when he wants to and I knew he despised hospitals.

"If it hasn't stopped oozing by tomorrow morning, we're going straight to the emergency room."

Darry picked up the used cotton balls and bandage wrappers in silence. I wondered what he was thinking, if it was worrying about Steve or how stained the mattress was going to be. We had enough foresight to bring him to the guest bedroom but Betadine was impossible to get out of cotton.

After Darry left I helped Steve get his shirt off and situated him under the covers. He was tired and he was hurting real bad. I could tell. I turned off the light and crawled in against his uninjured side and settled next to him, still slightly in shock. He kissed my cheek apologetically.

"Steve," His pomade and cheap cologne ether drifted over me. He always smelled nice. Even when he was bloody or sweaty. Somehow, he managed it. "you really scared me."

I felt myself tear up. I was as glad as could be that the lights weren't on.

"Baby, I'm sorry." I felt him kiss my cheek again and I held back tears with all my might. I didn't like to get emotional during stuff like this, Steve should be the one crying, not me. I couldn't break down. It wasn't my time.

"'M gonna act like I got some sense from now on." He'd said that before.

I shut my eyes, willing to believe it. I was tired and I knew he was too.

"But not too much sense, then we wouldn't be compatible." I joked, feeling him wrap an arm around me. It was a little bit easier to not cry now.

I heard him let out a little snort-laugh and after a few more minutes we were both asleep.

What I could only assume was a couple hours later the door cracked open. I squinted in the harsh light from the hall. It had to be 10 or 11.

"You gonna sleep here tonight?" It was Dally. He was probably going to volunteer to sleep next to Steve. They were close after all.

"Yeah, just in case he needs me." I felt Steve stir against me and I could see some color had returned to his cheeks. Dally nodded and shut the door. I could hear Ponyboy talking in a low voice in our room. Probably to Johnny. He could be on nightmare duty for today.

"Isshe gone?" Steve slurred.

"Yeah."

"Thought he was my dad come to finish me off."

I jolted up, unsure if I had heard him correctly.

"Your dad did this?"

But he didn't respond, simply pretended to fall back to sleep, leaving me alone in the dark with my thoughts.

A/N: I wrote this in about 2 hours so I hope it flows alright and the spelling is solid! I originally wrote this as an one shot but I'm kinda feeling it and thinking about continuing? Anyway, I always love to hear feedback and ideas 3