His eyes were too wise for him to be only 15. No, wise wasn't it. He had seen too much for someone so young. It was no real wonder that he was jumpy and scared when he wasn't with another Jet, jumpy and scared to a crying extent if it was bad enough. Many a time he was thrown in jail for a time, little things like theft, the occasional minor assault, the stuff that couldn't keep him long. His friends were worried about his downward spiral. John "Baby-John" Smith was in trouble.
But just because he was going down didn't prepare his best friend A-Rab from freaking out when he found Baby-John in an alley, arms bleeding and a bloody knife in his right hand, tears running down his face.
"BABY-JOHN, WHAT THE HELL!" he shouted, running at the kid and confiscating the knife by throwing it as far as he could from both of them.
The kid didn't answer; just stayed silent as A-Rab lifted him up and guided him to Doc's to get some help.
"Baby-John, what happened?" asked Doc as he pulled him into a chair and started to bandage up his arms.
"I-I dunno," he replied, voice just above a whisper. Seeing A-Rab's look of 'you know exactly what, tell us both', he raised his voice. "I really didn't," he said, voice still choking, shooting A-Rab a pleading glance.
"Well, you're okay now, Baby-John," said Doc. "Just don't take those off, alright?"
Baby-John nodded and stood. "Thanks, Doc."
As soon as Baby-John and A-Rab were out of the store, A-Rab stopped the younger Jet.
"What were you doin'?" he asked spitefully.
"I wasn't doin' nothin'…" replied Baby-John warily, staring at his once-white sneakers.
"Stop lyin'."
"Okay, I was doin' somethin', but…I didn't know why, or what, alright?" he said dejectedly, biting his lip and staring right into A-Rab's eyes.
"Alright," replied A-Rab softly. "C'mon, kid, we'll skip out on Ice for today, yeah?"
The only reason that Ice was the one they were skipping out on was because Action was doing time for awhile. But in reply to this offer to go and sleep he crossed his bandaged arms and started walking, A-Rab next to him. He was bleeding and tired, and nothing sounded better than getting some sleep and reading an old Batman comic. The two Jets were near-silent as they walked, A-Rab occasionally telling Baby-John to look up and watch his step. They finally got to a small basement hide-out that only A-Rab, Baby-John, and Ice knew of.
"Ugh," groaned Baby-John before practically falling onto the makeshift bed. "Alright, you can leave now, A-Rab."
"Yeah, right, leave. I ain't leaving you alone, dummy. I said we'll skip out on Ice, not just you," said A-Rab, sitting on the floor next to the mattress.
Baby-John heaved a sigh then fell silent, facing away from A-Rab. But then the older Jet noticed his shoulders shaking.
"Hey! What're ya cryin' for, kid?" he said, uncertainly sitting next to the kid.
"Nothin'."
"What is it?"
Baby-John calmed himself down. "It's been a year, exactly a year, since Riff, Tony, and Bernardo kicked it, that's all."
A-Rab bit his lip. That was the first time Baby-John had ever cried in front of someone, just after the kid joined up with the Jets, that was the first time A-Rab had ever been seriously scared for his life, and someone else's. But then, a year later, here they were in the same situation. So A-Rab did something that he couldn't last year. He held Baby-John close and comforted him, telling the kid that everything was alright, that nothing could hurt him.
Baby-John didn't react much, just wound his arms around A-Rab and tried to stop his crying. But the crying exhausted the boy further, and he soon fell asleep in the arms of A-Rab.
"Ah, poor kid," he muttered, shifting Baby-John so that the kid was lying down. "I wonder if he'll ever be all there again."
In his sleep, Baby-John grabbed A-Rab's hand, as if to say 'as long as you're here, I will be'.
A-Rab did his best in falling asleep, and eventually did with his arms around Baby-John.
-.-
The next morning, Baby-John woke up, feeling an odd pressure around him. He frowned, and then remembered what had happened before he fell asleep. He rubbed his eyes and looked over, finding A-Rab.
"Hey, A-Rab, wake up," he whispered, shaking the older Jet.
"Unh?" grumbled A-Rab, rubbing his eyes.
"Get up, A-Rab, we gotta leave," he said jumping up with an odd grace that tough guys didn't usually have.
"No, I'm still tired, kid. Jeez," A-Rab grumbled, refusing to stand.
"Ice is gonna worry," replied Baby-John, fingering his bandages.
"Big deal…"
"Him too, just c'mon!" he said.
"No."
In response, Baby-John took the child route to this approach. He pounced on the older Jet, with a small 'ah-hah'.
"We hafta, A-Rab."
"Nuh-uh, Ice won't get worried until we're gone for three days. And get offa me."
A-Rab gave the kid a small push, and Baby-John laughed as he rolled off. A-Rab smiled, this was a good improvement over the day before, and possibly over the whole past year. Baby-John had gone back to normal. He was happy again.