/b Hey guys. Well, I'm a huge fan of uThe Outsiders/u and I thought I would write a fanfiction. It's not much for my first, but, I'm a strong believer that Darry is very underestimated. So I decided to sort of re-write the novel from his perspective. Don't knock it till you've tried it. It's really a great way to exercise your writing skills and try to get into the author's mind and what they might have been trying to say but never said out loud. And I named it "Only Thing Holding Him Back" because Two-Bit and Ponyboy discuss how the only thing keeping Darry from being a Soc is the gang. So please enjoy! R/R.
/b I don't own any characters. They belong to S.E. Hinton.
/b I own merely a couple choice, brief, scenes. You'll see them for yourself.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"How was work, Little Buddy?" I asked Soda as he approached me with a smile, along with his best friend Steve Randle.
"Fine enough. You?"
"Can't say it was that good," I laughed. My little brother and I got along quite well. Better than most brothers. Then again, I was not only a brother figure, but a father figure as well. I had to be what with everything that happened to our parents. I won't get into details because I don't much like talking about it. But death is a horrible thing and can change you for the worst.
"Reason 'nuff why I don't have a job," Two-Bit said happily, shoving his hands in his pockets. I rolled my eyes.
"Your mom still pays for you for everything," Steve protested, punching Two-Bit in the shoulder as we walked.
"His mom's tuff," Dally commented. He was easily the one out of all of us that looked most threatening. He had a dark gleam to his eyes that led you to believe he'd go off like a firecracker at any moment. And if you weren't careful, he just might.
"Hey, where's Pony?" asked Soda, wiping his greasy hands on his jeans. I shrugged.
"He said he was going for a walk and he'd meet us here. You mean you haven't seen him either?" Soda shook his head, appearing concerned.
"So he's alone?" Johnny asked with a frightened look in his eyes. He always looked scared like that. I couldn't blame him. After what he'd been put through...
"Look," said Two-Bit, pointing ahead of us. There was a red Corvair parked crookedly, and we could just make out the madras of the Socs within a few yards of it.
"There's trouble," Soda deducted, speeding up worriedly. I was right on his tail, the others behind us. As we neared, we noticed that the four Socs were crowded around something. It was a Soc on his knees, beating up on a greaser. And sure enough, it was Ponyboy.
"Hey!" yelled Dallas, charging at a Soc. The rest, save myself, started chasing the Socs off. For the most part, it was clean. A few punches thrown and nothing more. I rushed to Ponyboy's side.
I took hold of him under the arms and pulled him up to his feet, brushing the dirt off his shirt. "Are you all right, Ponyboy?" When he didn't respond immediately, I shook him lightly to get his attention.
"I'm okay. Quit shaking me, Darry, I'm okay."
I stopped at the tone of his voice. He didn't sound pleased. "I'm sorry."
He looked at me strangely, and said nothing. I noticed he was having a bit of a problem keeping himself stable. There was blood trickling down the side of his head, but from the look on his face, he didn't want my nursing. So I stood back and shoved my fists in my pockets.
"They didn't hurt you too bad, did they?"
He opened his mouth to begin saying something, but thought better of it. Instead he cleared his throat and merely said, "I'm okay."
Soda came back, out of breath. The Socs had gone, speeding off in their expensive red Corvair. I couldn't suppress my sigh of relief. Ponyboy's condition wasn't as bad as it could have been. I remembered the day we found Johnny. If that ever happened to Pony, I wouldn't be able to ever forgive myself. Not that I'd tell him that. He would never believe me, anyhow.
Sodapop got down to his knees beside Ponyboy, inspecting the damage that had been done to our little brother.
"You got cut up a little, huh, Ponyboy?" he asked in concern. Pony seemed to soften. I sighed. Ponyboy didn't trust me the way he trusted Sodapop. I would never understand why.
"I did?" he asked cluelessly. Sodapop began mopping away the thick red substance from Ponyboy's brow.
"You're bleedin' like a stuck pig."
"I am?"
"Look!" he declared, showing Ponyboy the stained handkerchief as if to prove it to him. "Did they pull a blade on you?"
Ponyboy paused a minute before responding. "Yeah."
Soda and I looked on with concern. Ponyboy turned away, beginning to shudder. Soda comforted him immediately, as was expected.
"Easy, Ponyboy. They ain't gonna hurt you no more."
"I know," he agreed. He rubbed at his cheeks. "I'm just a little spooked, that's all." He took a couple of deep breaths purposefully. Soda tousled his hair.
"You're an okay kid, Pony." Ponyboy smiled in response. The way he always did when Soda teased him.
"You're crazy, Soda, out of your mind."
"You're both nuts," I countered, feeling slightly agitated that Pony appreciated Soda's concern more than mine. I tried to shake it off. No use it letting it bother me.
Soda raised a brow at me. Damn Two-Bit teaching him that eyebrow thing. "It seems to run in this family."
I tried to pierce him with an intimidating glare. However, his expression and overall innocent face couldn't ask for such a look. So I didn't bother to suppress my grin. I didn't mind being teased by Soda so much. It was all in good fun and he was my little brother. I would do anything for him, and vice versa.
The rest of the guys began running back towards us after chucking rocks at the Soc's car. Not much of a trick, but it would do a sufficient amount of damage altogether.
Ponyboy rubbed his eyes. "Didya catch 'em?"
"Nup. They got away this time, the dirty..." Two-Bit proceeded to exercise his vocabulary concerning what he thought about the Socs.
"The kid's okay?" asked Steve. He didn't appear too concerned. Steve wasn't a bad guy, and he was Sodapop's best friend since grade school. But sometimes I got the impression that Ponyboy wasn't his favorite person in the world. He seemed to look down on him as being inferior.
"I'm okay," Pony confirmed. He paused uncomfortably for a moment. "I didn't know you were out of the cooler yet, Dally."
"Good behavior. Got off early." Dally began to light a cancer stick, then passed it over to Johnny. We all sat down to relax for a bit and hopefully ease some tensions. It seemed to work. Ponyboy turned back to his normal skin color and his trembling ceased. I didn't like that he smoked, and he knew it. He was only a kid. He'd be dead before he was thirty if he kept it up. But I didn't say it more than a few times a week. No use in lecturing the kid with stuff he didn't want to hear about.
"Nice looking bruise you got there, kid," said Two-Bit to Ponyboy in admiration.
Ponyboy reached a hand to his face in suppressed excitement. "Really?"
Two-Bit nodded in confirmation. "Nice cut, too. Makes you look tough."
Steve flicked his ashes in Ponyboy's direction. "What were you doin', walkin' by your lonesome?"
Good old Steve. I had almost forgotten that fact.
"I was comin' home from the movies. I didn't think..."
That kid had a way of making my blood boil like nobody else on this earth. He didn't listen. He never wanted to. And he scared me to death sometimes.
Not that I would ever tell him that.
"You don't ever think," I interrupted him, "not at home or anywhere when it counts. You must think at school, with all those good grades you bring home, and you've always got your nose in a book, but do you ever use your head for common sense? No sirree, bub. And if you did have to go by yourself, you should have carried a blade."
He avoided eye contact, appearing very interested in his shoe. Pony and I for some reason just didn't connect. He was always going against what I wanted him to do, purposely, if I didn't know better. If he had had a blade, he wouldn't have used it anyway, and I suppose I still would have yelled. He wasn't like Soda. Soda had a good head on his shoulders and knew what to do and when to do it. And at that present moment, he was glaring at me something awful.
"Leave my kid brother alone, you hear? It ain't his fault he likes to go to the movies, and it ain't his fault the Socs like to jump us, and if he had been carrying a blade it would have been a good excuse to cut him to ribbons."
Soda always seems to stick up for Ponyboy. Sometimes it sort of made me sick.
"When I want my kid brother to tell me what to do with my other kid brother, I'll ask you--kid brother." But from then I left him alone. No use in making both of my brothers angry at me.
"Next time get one of us to go with you, Ponyboy," Two-Bit said. "Any of us will."
Two-Bit is a good guy. He's always looking out for Ponyboy when Sodapop isn't. Two-Bit may have looked and acted like a common hood, but he had a good heart.
"Speakin' of movies"--Dally yawned, tossing away his cigarette butt--"I'm walkin' over to the Nightly Double tomorrow night. Anybody want to come and hunt some action?"
Steve shook his head. "Me and Soda are pickin' up Evie and Sandy for the game." With this, he cast a look of discreet warning in Ponyboy's direction. As if hinting that he didn't want to the kid hanging out with them on their dates.
Ponyboy wasn't that stupid. Besides, if he did happen to go with them, it was because Sodapop persuaded him to. Steve wasn't always thinking logically that way, though.
"I'm working tomorrow night," I added, trying to clear the air a bit.
Dally turned to the remainder of the gang. "How about y'all? Two-Bit? Johnnycake, you and Pony wanta come?"
"Me and Johnny'll come," Ponyboy agreed. He turned to me. "Okay, Darry?"
"Yeah, since it ain't a school night," I allowed. I didn't like when Ponyboy stayed out too late on school nights. He needed to stay focused in class. And for that, he needed plenty of rest overnight.
"I was plannin' on getting boozed up tomorrow night," Two-Bit said. "If I don't, I'll walk over and find y'all."
Steve gestured to Dally's hand, where his ring was back. "You break up with Sylvia again?" he asked.
"Yeah, and this time it's for good. That little broad was two-timin' me again while I was in jail."
I thought it was for the better. Sylvia was the type of broad who went through a few guys a month. Once she got action, she got bored, and moved on. Dallas Winston was not one to put up with crap like that. I didn't blame him much, either.
"You're gonna have to put a bandaid on that cut when we get back to the house, Ponyboy," I insisted, taking the cigarette butt from his fingers and rubbing it into the ground with my shoe.
~*~
"Rub harder, Soda," I mumbled into the floor. "You're gonna put me to sleep." He did as I asked, sympathetic of my long days at work. I knew he worried about me. And I didn't like it much. There was no need for him to worry. I was careful and I knew what I was doing. Though he often threatened to skin me for carrying more than a single bundle of roofing up the ladder at once. I thought it was funny that /i threatened to skin /i. I was the older brother, after all. If anyone was looking out for anyone, it would be me for him.
Sodapop had it rough. He dropped out of school to help support the three of us. He always said he did it because he was dumb. That wasn't it. Sodapop was a smart kid, and I knew it. Ponyboy knew it. Soda knew it, too, in the back of his mind. But saying he did it because he was stupid was an easier excuse than saying because he needed to help us out. He knew that I would go off on him if he ever admitted it. I would work to the bone to keep the rest of my family together, and he knew it. He didn't need to work the way he did to help me help all of us. He didn't need that kind of a life at all.
"You worry us real bad sometimes, Darry," Sodapop declared, digging his palm into my lower back.
"You shouldn't worry, Little Buddy," I muttered. I felt guilty. I knew that he and Ponyboy worried about me. But I would do anything I could to support those boys. Sodapop knew it. I don't think Pony was so bright about it, though. I hoped he was doing his homework right then...Otherwise I'd beat him over the head.
But soon enough, Soda's backrub toned down once again, and he indeed sent me to sleep.
/b I don't own any characters. They belong to S.E. Hinton.
/b I own merely a couple choice, brief, scenes. You'll see them for yourself.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"How was work, Little Buddy?" I asked Soda as he approached me with a smile, along with his best friend Steve Randle.
"Fine enough. You?"
"Can't say it was that good," I laughed. My little brother and I got along quite well. Better than most brothers. Then again, I was not only a brother figure, but a father figure as well. I had to be what with everything that happened to our parents. I won't get into details because I don't much like talking about it. But death is a horrible thing and can change you for the worst.
"Reason 'nuff why I don't have a job," Two-Bit said happily, shoving his hands in his pockets. I rolled my eyes.
"Your mom still pays for you for everything," Steve protested, punching Two-Bit in the shoulder as we walked.
"His mom's tuff," Dally commented. He was easily the one out of all of us that looked most threatening. He had a dark gleam to his eyes that led you to believe he'd go off like a firecracker at any moment. And if you weren't careful, he just might.
"Hey, where's Pony?" asked Soda, wiping his greasy hands on his jeans. I shrugged.
"He said he was going for a walk and he'd meet us here. You mean you haven't seen him either?" Soda shook his head, appearing concerned.
"So he's alone?" Johnny asked with a frightened look in his eyes. He always looked scared like that. I couldn't blame him. After what he'd been put through...
"Look," said Two-Bit, pointing ahead of us. There was a red Corvair parked crookedly, and we could just make out the madras of the Socs within a few yards of it.
"There's trouble," Soda deducted, speeding up worriedly. I was right on his tail, the others behind us. As we neared, we noticed that the four Socs were crowded around something. It was a Soc on his knees, beating up on a greaser. And sure enough, it was Ponyboy.
"Hey!" yelled Dallas, charging at a Soc. The rest, save myself, started chasing the Socs off. For the most part, it was clean. A few punches thrown and nothing more. I rushed to Ponyboy's side.
I took hold of him under the arms and pulled him up to his feet, brushing the dirt off his shirt. "Are you all right, Ponyboy?" When he didn't respond immediately, I shook him lightly to get his attention.
"I'm okay. Quit shaking me, Darry, I'm okay."
I stopped at the tone of his voice. He didn't sound pleased. "I'm sorry."
He looked at me strangely, and said nothing. I noticed he was having a bit of a problem keeping himself stable. There was blood trickling down the side of his head, but from the look on his face, he didn't want my nursing. So I stood back and shoved my fists in my pockets.
"They didn't hurt you too bad, did they?"
He opened his mouth to begin saying something, but thought better of it. Instead he cleared his throat and merely said, "I'm okay."
Soda came back, out of breath. The Socs had gone, speeding off in their expensive red Corvair. I couldn't suppress my sigh of relief. Ponyboy's condition wasn't as bad as it could have been. I remembered the day we found Johnny. If that ever happened to Pony, I wouldn't be able to ever forgive myself. Not that I'd tell him that. He would never believe me, anyhow.
Sodapop got down to his knees beside Ponyboy, inspecting the damage that had been done to our little brother.
"You got cut up a little, huh, Ponyboy?" he asked in concern. Pony seemed to soften. I sighed. Ponyboy didn't trust me the way he trusted Sodapop. I would never understand why.
"I did?" he asked cluelessly. Sodapop began mopping away the thick red substance from Ponyboy's brow.
"You're bleedin' like a stuck pig."
"I am?"
"Look!" he declared, showing Ponyboy the stained handkerchief as if to prove it to him. "Did they pull a blade on you?"
Ponyboy paused a minute before responding. "Yeah."
Soda and I looked on with concern. Ponyboy turned away, beginning to shudder. Soda comforted him immediately, as was expected.
"Easy, Ponyboy. They ain't gonna hurt you no more."
"I know," he agreed. He rubbed at his cheeks. "I'm just a little spooked, that's all." He took a couple of deep breaths purposefully. Soda tousled his hair.
"You're an okay kid, Pony." Ponyboy smiled in response. The way he always did when Soda teased him.
"You're crazy, Soda, out of your mind."
"You're both nuts," I countered, feeling slightly agitated that Pony appreciated Soda's concern more than mine. I tried to shake it off. No use it letting it bother me.
Soda raised a brow at me. Damn Two-Bit teaching him that eyebrow thing. "It seems to run in this family."
I tried to pierce him with an intimidating glare. However, his expression and overall innocent face couldn't ask for such a look. So I didn't bother to suppress my grin. I didn't mind being teased by Soda so much. It was all in good fun and he was my little brother. I would do anything for him, and vice versa.
The rest of the guys began running back towards us after chucking rocks at the Soc's car. Not much of a trick, but it would do a sufficient amount of damage altogether.
Ponyboy rubbed his eyes. "Didya catch 'em?"
"Nup. They got away this time, the dirty..." Two-Bit proceeded to exercise his vocabulary concerning what he thought about the Socs.
"The kid's okay?" asked Steve. He didn't appear too concerned. Steve wasn't a bad guy, and he was Sodapop's best friend since grade school. But sometimes I got the impression that Ponyboy wasn't his favorite person in the world. He seemed to look down on him as being inferior.
"I'm okay," Pony confirmed. He paused uncomfortably for a moment. "I didn't know you were out of the cooler yet, Dally."
"Good behavior. Got off early." Dally began to light a cancer stick, then passed it over to Johnny. We all sat down to relax for a bit and hopefully ease some tensions. It seemed to work. Ponyboy turned back to his normal skin color and his trembling ceased. I didn't like that he smoked, and he knew it. He was only a kid. He'd be dead before he was thirty if he kept it up. But I didn't say it more than a few times a week. No use in lecturing the kid with stuff he didn't want to hear about.
"Nice looking bruise you got there, kid," said Two-Bit to Ponyboy in admiration.
Ponyboy reached a hand to his face in suppressed excitement. "Really?"
Two-Bit nodded in confirmation. "Nice cut, too. Makes you look tough."
Steve flicked his ashes in Ponyboy's direction. "What were you doin', walkin' by your lonesome?"
Good old Steve. I had almost forgotten that fact.
"I was comin' home from the movies. I didn't think..."
That kid had a way of making my blood boil like nobody else on this earth. He didn't listen. He never wanted to. And he scared me to death sometimes.
Not that I would ever tell him that.
"You don't ever think," I interrupted him, "not at home or anywhere when it counts. You must think at school, with all those good grades you bring home, and you've always got your nose in a book, but do you ever use your head for common sense? No sirree, bub. And if you did have to go by yourself, you should have carried a blade."
He avoided eye contact, appearing very interested in his shoe. Pony and I for some reason just didn't connect. He was always going against what I wanted him to do, purposely, if I didn't know better. If he had had a blade, he wouldn't have used it anyway, and I suppose I still would have yelled. He wasn't like Soda. Soda had a good head on his shoulders and knew what to do and when to do it. And at that present moment, he was glaring at me something awful.
"Leave my kid brother alone, you hear? It ain't his fault he likes to go to the movies, and it ain't his fault the Socs like to jump us, and if he had been carrying a blade it would have been a good excuse to cut him to ribbons."
Soda always seems to stick up for Ponyboy. Sometimes it sort of made me sick.
"When I want my kid brother to tell me what to do with my other kid brother, I'll ask you--kid brother." But from then I left him alone. No use in making both of my brothers angry at me.
"Next time get one of us to go with you, Ponyboy," Two-Bit said. "Any of us will."
Two-Bit is a good guy. He's always looking out for Ponyboy when Sodapop isn't. Two-Bit may have looked and acted like a common hood, but he had a good heart.
"Speakin' of movies"--Dally yawned, tossing away his cigarette butt--"I'm walkin' over to the Nightly Double tomorrow night. Anybody want to come and hunt some action?"
Steve shook his head. "Me and Soda are pickin' up Evie and Sandy for the game." With this, he cast a look of discreet warning in Ponyboy's direction. As if hinting that he didn't want to the kid hanging out with them on their dates.
Ponyboy wasn't that stupid. Besides, if he did happen to go with them, it was because Sodapop persuaded him to. Steve wasn't always thinking logically that way, though.
"I'm working tomorrow night," I added, trying to clear the air a bit.
Dally turned to the remainder of the gang. "How about y'all? Two-Bit? Johnnycake, you and Pony wanta come?"
"Me and Johnny'll come," Ponyboy agreed. He turned to me. "Okay, Darry?"
"Yeah, since it ain't a school night," I allowed. I didn't like when Ponyboy stayed out too late on school nights. He needed to stay focused in class. And for that, he needed plenty of rest overnight.
"I was plannin' on getting boozed up tomorrow night," Two-Bit said. "If I don't, I'll walk over and find y'all."
Steve gestured to Dally's hand, where his ring was back. "You break up with Sylvia again?" he asked.
"Yeah, and this time it's for good. That little broad was two-timin' me again while I was in jail."
I thought it was for the better. Sylvia was the type of broad who went through a few guys a month. Once she got action, she got bored, and moved on. Dallas Winston was not one to put up with crap like that. I didn't blame him much, either.
"You're gonna have to put a bandaid on that cut when we get back to the house, Ponyboy," I insisted, taking the cigarette butt from his fingers and rubbing it into the ground with my shoe.
~*~
"Rub harder, Soda," I mumbled into the floor. "You're gonna put me to sleep." He did as I asked, sympathetic of my long days at work. I knew he worried about me. And I didn't like it much. There was no need for him to worry. I was careful and I knew what I was doing. Though he often threatened to skin me for carrying more than a single bundle of roofing up the ladder at once. I thought it was funny that /i threatened to skin /i. I was the older brother, after all. If anyone was looking out for anyone, it would be me for him.
Sodapop had it rough. He dropped out of school to help support the three of us. He always said he did it because he was dumb. That wasn't it. Sodapop was a smart kid, and I knew it. Ponyboy knew it. Soda knew it, too, in the back of his mind. But saying he did it because he was stupid was an easier excuse than saying because he needed to help us out. He knew that I would go off on him if he ever admitted it. I would work to the bone to keep the rest of my family together, and he knew it. He didn't need to work the way he did to help me help all of us. He didn't need that kind of a life at all.
"You worry us real bad sometimes, Darry," Sodapop declared, digging his palm into my lower back.
"You shouldn't worry, Little Buddy," I muttered. I felt guilty. I knew that he and Ponyboy worried about me. But I would do anything I could to support those boys. Sodapop knew it. I don't think Pony was so bright about it, though. I hoped he was doing his homework right then...Otherwise I'd beat him over the head.
But soon enough, Soda's backrub toned down once again, and he indeed sent me to sleep.