WARNING: There will a be a suicide attempt in the next chapter, so if that makes you uncomfortable, please don't read any further, or skip the next chapter entirely (though you might miss a little context). Also, there is one homophobic slur, but it's not a rant or anything.
Enjoy!
Sunsets. Ponyboy loved sunsets. The way the colors changed, the vibrancy of them. They soothed him when things were turbulent, and made a good mood even better. Right now, it was soothing him after being yelled at by Darry for a B-. He'd been so mad he'd stormed off to the lot without a word.
Someone came up behind him, putting their arm around his shoulder. He smiled.
"Hey, Johnny."
"Hey Pony."
Ponyboy turned to face his not-quite-boyfriend. Johnny always seemed to know when Ponyboy needed cheering up. They sat down.
"Where's Dally?"
"Chasing some blonde, I think. He'll be here in a minute."
Ponyboy snorted. "Why's he always chasing girls when he's got us?"
"Girls will have sex with him. He don't want us to do that yet."
"Not like we aren't doing anything close." Ponyboy muttered, but he understood. There was a difference between touching each other and fully having sex. Ponyboy sighed, and Johnny squeezed his hand. When Ponyboy looked up, Johnny cocked an eyebrow.
That's one thing he liked about Johnny; he never forced Ponyboy to talk. Two-Bit and Soda were always bothering him to spill his guts, Darry was too busy to ever ask, and Steve and Dally didn't care. But Johnny understood without either of them saying a word. Ponyboy nodded slowly, and Johnny pulled his friend into a hug.
It was sundown by the time Dallas came around, stumbling. He was drunk and his knuckles were bruised, but he greeted them warmly, the Dally way.
"How're my favorite fags?"
The two younger boys laughed, each giving Dallas a kiss on the cheek. They headed toward the Curtis household, Ponyboy and Johnny listening to Dallas's encounter with the girl.
"Turns out the little floozie had a boyfriend. She really wanted me after I kicked his ass, but the broad wasn't even worth it." He threw his arms around the boys. "That's why I have you guys."
Just outside of the gate, Ponyboy paused. "Hey, guys?" he murmured. "Do you think we'd ever be able to tell the gang?"
Dallas shook his head. "Nah, they wouldn't get it. 'Sides, Pony, isn't nicer that nobody knows? That nobody's in our business?"
"I guess so." Ponyboy bit his lip, looking up and down the street and toward the house before asking, "One kiss before we go inside?"
Dally chuckled, pressing a chaste kiss to Ponyboy's lips. Johnny took Ponyboy's face in his hands and kissed him slow and deep. When they parted, Johnny was grinning.
"I like you a hell of a lot, Ponyboy… Ponyboy… Ponyboy…"
"Ponyboy. Hey, Ponyboy, wake up."
Ponyboy's shot up, eyes barely open. Someone put a hand on his shoulder, holding him steady.
"Woah, hey, calm down little buddy."
"Darry?" Ponyboy rubbed his eyes, blinking at his brother. Darry smiled gently.
"You and Steve fell asleep on the couch. How'd you get him inside?"
Ponyboy shrugged. "Told him I'd be in here if he wanted company. He came in on his own."
Darry looked like he didn't believe him, but let the subject drop. It was them Ponyboy noticed Steve was gone, and Two-Bit was sitting in Darry's recliner. Before he could ask, Steve came in from the porch, rubbing at his face. He nodded at Ponyboy from the doorway.
"Hey, y'all, you want to go out tonight? Don't y'all ever get bored staying in the house?" Two-Bit said.
"No time to be bored when you're working and sleeping off the exhaustion from working." Darry replied, and Two-Bit groaned before chuckling.
"But doesn't going out sound like a ton of fun?"
"It does, but I have work in the morning. I can't."
"What about you Ponyboy?"
"I work, too. Sorry, Two-Bit."
"I'll go."
Three heads turned to face Steve. He still looked tired, but not like before. He shrugged. "Ain't been out in a while. Can't promise I'll be any fun, but I'll go."
Two-Bit nodded. "That's fine, it'll be fun. We'll take it easy. You wanna go now, or wait a bit."
"Either's fine."
Two-Bit hopped up, grinning from ear to ear. "Well let's go then!"
Steve followed him to the door, and Darry did as well. As the two men stepped onto the porch, Darry said, "Y'all stay out of trouble. Come back here when you get tired, hear?"
"Yes, Mom!" Two-Bit called out, and after a minute, Ponyboy could hear Two-Bit's clunker pull off. Darry closed the door and turned to his brother.
"You okay, Pone? You were mumbling in your sleep."
"Yeah, I'm fine. It… It was just a memory."
Darry sat down in his chair, brow furrowed. "Who about? You sure it was only a memory?"
Ponyboy nodded, but didn't say anything else. Despite the fact that they didn't fight anymore, Ponyboy still had a hard time opening up to his brother, not for lack of trying. Communication had never really been their strong suit, and Ponyboy felt bad about it sometimes. Like right then, when Darry's face fell a little, though he didn't pry. He never pried.
"It was just a memory about Dallas and Johnny. We were at the lot. Remember, that night he hurt his knuckles cause of the blonde?"
"I remember that. Man that was a while back." He sighed, rubbing his neck. "I'm gonna head to bed. You gonna stay up a little longer?"
Ponyboy shrugged. "Probably in my room."
The two Curtis's went and cleaned up the kitchen before retired to their rooms. Ponyboy sat at his desk, tapping a pencil against his open notebook. He'd started writing fiction, simple stories about brothers and gangs and sunsets. It was sort of like his theme, but in the new one, nobody died, and everybody had parents. They still wreaked havoc and spent way too much time at a certain house, and Ponyboy smiled. He wrote a quick paragraph about two boys sitting on the porch before retiring to bed with a book.
The ringing of the phone startled Ponyboy into wakefulness. He looked at the clock on the nightstand - 1:53 a.m. He threw off the blanket, stumbling into the living room and grabbing the receiver off the wall.
"Hullo?"
"Ponyboy?"
"Two-Bit?"
"Ponyboy, I need your help. You an' Darry." Two-Bit was breathing heavily.
Fear spiked in Ponyboy's heart. "What's wrong, Two-Bit, what's the matter?"
"Me and Steve went down to Buck's for a drink or two, and he got in a fight with some guys who said soldiers deserved to die. I helped him fight, and we won, but he was shaken up real bad. My car wouldn't start, and he started screaming and cursing, and then he took off. I need you and Darry to come down to Buck's and help me look for him."
Ponyboy swore softly to himself. "Alright, I'll tell Darry. Stay put till we get there." He hung up just as Darry came out.
"Pony?"
"Darry, I need the truck."
"What's going on?"
"Steve's got himself into some trouble and run off. Two-Bit needs us to come out and help find him."
"I'll come-"
"No, I can go. You need the rest, and if would be good to have someone here in case he turns up. I'll call you if something happens." Darry looked ready to argue, and Pony said, "Darry, Steve trusts me. I can handle this."
"But what if you can't, and I don't have the truck to come help you?"
"Didn't you and Two-Bit finally fix that old car in the garage? I know it works well enough. You can take that one."
Darry considered it, then sighed. "Fine. But call me if something goes wrong, okay?"
Ponyboy nodded and went to put on a shirt and some shoes. Grabbing the truck keys, Ponyboy ran out to the truck and hopped in, pulling away from the house and heading to Buck's. His mind raced with hundreds of thoughts. Was Steve okay? Was he hurt? Why did he run away? If they were lucky, he would end up back at the Curtis house. Ponyboy gripped the steering wheel tightly, lips pressed into a thin line.
Two-Bit was sitting outside of Buck's when he pulled up. He rushed over to the truck.
"Where's Darry?"
"I told him to stay home. Steve won't want a bunch of us ganging up on him, and it's good to have someone there in case he shows up there." Ponyboy hopped out of the truck. "Which direction did he go in?"
Two-Bit pointed in the direction of the railroad tracks. "I don't think he got very far, we're both pretty smashed." He ran a hand through his hair. "Shit, man. You should have heard what they said-"
"We'll worry about that later. I'll see if I can find him. You stay here in case he comes back around." Ponyboy took off.
He waited until the racket from Buck's quieted down before he called out to Steve, sprinting as fast he could while still being able to look for the guy. Buck's was almost in the middle nowhere, to keep down the noise complaints. Ponyboy called out to his friend, looking around every tree and car he came across. He made it to the railroad tracks in record time, and he stopped short, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Steve, where are you?"
No answer. Ponyboy ran down the incline toward the tracks, and that's when he heard it. Somebody was crying. Ponyboy followed the sound, and that's when he saw him. Steve was on his knees on the ground, shaking and crying.
He was holding a gun to his head.
"Steve!"
Don't forget to review, loves! Silence is so depressing.
