AN: I know I shouldn't do this. Shouldn't be on here or anything anyway. But a lot happened this weekend and I wrote this to a song to kill time. Not going into it. It's just got me thinking in this mind set.

Recently finished reading the Outsiders. So...I wrote this.

Got to listening to More Than A Band from Lemonade Mouth (don't judge), and got to thinking about stuff with that group. You'll understand as this goes along.

It's not a song fic in any way, just used inspiration from the song and stuff. I will put a line or two in the beginning, just to show what inspired me.

Enjoy.

The night was absolutely freezing. The guys were all worried about Johnny, though. They knew things had gotten bad at his place earlier on, 'cause Dally had seen him bunkering down in the lot. They'd sent Dally back to get him, but he'd come back on his own saying that Johnny said he'll be there soon.

That was two hours ago.

"What if he got jumped again?"Steve asked, concerned despite himself.

Darry sighed. "If he got jumped again, we'll handle it."he said, eyes locked on the door, begging Johnny mentally to come through it.

When the boy finally showed up, Darry got up and greeted him at the door with a hug. "Where the hell were ya, Johnnycake?"he asked. "We were worried sick when ya didn't come home after Dal came back on his own."

Johnny tensed up pretty bad when Darry hugged him. "Thought I'd be alright in the lot for a while."

Darry let go and gave him a look. "You're crazy. It's freezing out there! You shouldn'ta even went to the lot, you shoulda came straight here."

Johnny met his eyes, his own dark ones confused. "Why'd you say home?"he asked. "You told Dal to tell me to come home."

"'Cause this is home."Ponyboy told his best friend. "It's home for all the gang."

"Oh."

That marked the end of Johnny talking for a while.

Once everyone else went off to their own homes or wherever they were going for the night, Darry got Johnny situated on the couch and then settled in to read for a while before bed.

Johnny was pretty alright when he got settled in for the night.

Darry spoke after a moment. "Johnny?"he said, voice serious.

"Hm?"Johnny asked tiredly.

Darry hesitated before he spoke. "You realize you ain't going at this crap alone, right? You got all of us. You're still trying to fight on your own, and you don't have to do that."

Johnny let that sink in before he broke. "I'm sorry, Darry.."he said through the tears.

Darry, who wasn't used to Johnny breaking, put his paper down and got up to pull Johnny into a sitting position, sitting next to him and keeping an arm around him. "Hey, whoah, it's alright,"

Johnny turned his face into Darry's shoulder just as the sobs really picked up. He hated crying in front of people. He never cried, not even with his dad being the bastard he was.

Darry sighed. "It's alright, Johnny. You're safe here, we ain't gonna hurt you."

Once Johnny calmed down, he pulled back. "Sorry..didn't mean to..."

Darry shook his head. "Hey, you needed that."he said, giving him a look. "It's fine. That's why I'm here. I'd do the same for any of you."

Johnny nodded, forcing himself to stay calm.

Darry gave a rare smile. "Get some rest, Johnnycake. We'll see ya in the morning."he said, getting up and letting Johnny lay back down.

When he turned to head to his room, giving up on reading, Johnny spoke. "Hey Dar?"he said.

Darry paused in the door and looked at him.

"Thanks. I needed that. And...thanks for giving me a home."
"Hell, don't thank me for that. Now get some rest. You've gotta be exhausted."Darry said, stern tone in his voice.

"'Night."

"Good night."

With that, Johnny let himself fall asleep.

Darry watched him for a moment after he was sure he was out before he stopped by Soda and Pony's room. They were still up, waiting on news. "He's asleep. It's been a long day. You two get some rest. You got work tomorrow Soda, I don't wanna hear you complaining about not enough sleep tomorrow."

The two of them nodded, glad to know that Johnny was alright. He always had it the worst out of the lot of them, and it worried them when he was so hesitant to come near them. It always held an aftertone of what had happened to the kid.

But things were okay, they all told themselves.

Still, Darry took the day off the next day and kept getting up through the night to check on all three of his boys.

Here ya go, guys. I gotta go, though. Sorry it's short and crappy. It's my first for this. I'll be adding more as I go. But I can't tonight.