Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders.

Wanna be our new Kid Brother?

Chapter Fourteen

Sodapop's POV

"Ponyboy?" I asked, gently knocking on his door. I heard a brief "come in" and opened the door. Darry and Johnny threw me a skeptical look. I just nodded my head towards the kid. We all shuffled in, towards his bed. He propped himself and leaned against the headboard.

"Yeah?" He asked. I looked at Darry. What was I supposed to say? "Hey, so were you abused? You were? Really? Okay, goodnight." Yeah, didn't think so.

"Listen, kiddo. We need to talk to you," Darry said. Okay, good start.

"...ok?" Ponyboy suddenly seemed nervous.

"Were you ever...like hurt or something? Before you came here, I mean?" The boy's face showed a brief flash of panic but then he quickly covered it up with an unconcerned mask.

"No. Why?" Darry shot a look at Johnny, who sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed, not looking at us.

"Ponyboy, I've been hurt. Real bad. My dad beats me a lot. I know what it's like and I know it's not good to hide it. Sometimes we need help..." He said, still keeping his head bent down. I glanced back at Ponyboy. He looked a bit pale.

"Listen, I'm real sorry about your dad and everything but no one beats me." Johnny jumped up from his position and looked my kid brother straight in the eye.

"Yes they do! Dammit, Ponyboy! I saw it in your eyes! You looked absolutely terrified when Two-Bit tackled you. Something happened. Someone hurt you! And hiding it ain't gonna help you any," Johnny said. Darry and me just gawked at the little sixteen year old kid in front of us. He looked like Johnnycake. Same dark tanned skin. Same ash black hair. Same scar on his cheek. But that wasn't Johnny. Johnny never yelled like that. We could barely get him to have a full conversation with the gang. But then I remembered him jumping all over Darry when he first brought up Ponyboy being hurt. This was Johnnycake and he was pissed. Real pissed. Sometimes I forgot how he was before he was actually hurt. He felt things a bit different from the rest of us. Sure, he was tuff. Real tuff. But he was the one that saw things in different ways and I think it was because of his dad beating on him and his mom ignoring him. This was Johnny Cade. Correction: this was a pissed off Johnny Cade.

"I—I don't know what you're talking about," the kid stammered.

"Kiddo, we wanna help you," Darry said softly. If we hadn't been in this situation I would've moved my wide eyes from Johnny to my older brother. He was less stressed and all in all happier. He was nicer and gentler ever since his promotion. It was a nice change.

"Yeah, Pony. We just wanna help you out," I said, putting a hand over his. He jerked his hand away, his face going white.

"Ponyboy, you need to talk about it," Johnny coaxed. He shook his head. I moved my hand, slowly, as to not startle him, and placed it back over his hand. This time, he only flicked his eyes up to mine before allowing my thumb to rub comforting circles in the back of his palm.

"How about we just start off slow?" I suggested.

"What if we just ask a few questions?" Darry asked, going along with my plan. Ponyboy looked up at him, seeing if he could trust us or not.

"I promise whatever you say will only stay between us," I said, gently.

"Promise?" He asked, his voice quiet. I looked at Darry and Johnny.

"Promise," we chorused.

"Okay," he said so softly I had to lean in to hear him.

"Can we ask some questions?" Darry asked again. Ponyboy nodded.

"Were you abused?" Darry asked again. Ponyboy looked at all of us. I sent him one of my grins, the ones that can make anyone smile. He slowly nodded. My grin vanished and I clenched my fists. I could see Darry doing the same thing. Sure, this kid had only been our brother for two days but he was family now, whether he was related by blood or not, and someone had hurt him.

"Who?" Johnny asked.

"...dad...," he mumbled. I felt Johnny stiffen. I didn't understand how parents could just do that to their own child. I mean, Johnny and apparently Ponyboy's dads hurt them, Steve's dad kicked him out at least once a week, Two-Bit's dad walked out on him and his family when he was younger, and I didn't even know about Dallas's family. Our dad was a good dad. He took us hunting and everything. I sure missed him. I suddenly remembered the scar I had seen when we were laying down in Darry's bed after his nightmare.

"Is that how this happened?" I asked, my finger gently tracing the scar going from his eyebrow to his eye. It wasn't big but it would be there forever. It was a faint white line, but still noticeable. He nodded.

"How did it happen?" Darry pressed. He stiffened and shook his head. I guess he wasn't ready to talk about that part yet. I squeezed his shoulder, reassuringly.

"I think that's enough for now," I said, quietly. He nodded.

"Listen, kiddo. If anything and I mean anything is buggin' you I want you to tell one of us. You can trust us. Ok?" Darry said.

"Ok, Darry. Thanks," Ponyboy answered. I hugged him, which was joined by Darry. Johnny just sat there on the bed. I extended my arm out and pulled Johnnycake in with us. I wish that kid could have a real family. We were family but we never could replace his parents and we knew that. Didn't mean we couldn't try, though.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm in the mood for some chocolate cake!" I announced, breaking apart from the hug.

"Race ya!" Darry challenged. We all broke out into a run. It proved to be difficult to fit four people through the small doorway but somehow we managed and Ponyboy ended up getting to the kitchen first. Man, that kid had wheels. I dished out the cake and we all sat down at the table. Ponyboy eyed it strangely.

Apparently, Darry noticed it to. "Kiddo?" Ponyboy poked the chunk of cake with his fork.

"Please don't tell me you're one of those vanilla people. Chocolate is where it's at!" I exclaimed.

He turned to me. "What is it?" What is it? It's chocolate cake, for goodness sakes! I thought he was joking but then remembered him living on the streets for who knows how long. He probably never had a chance for desserts.

"It's chocolate cake. Real good. I promise," I said. He eyed it again and hesitantly lifted his fork to his mouth. His eyes widened.

"Oh. My. God." Then he was shoveling. I laughed. Today was a good day so far. My brothers and Johnnycake were at the table together. Ponyboy had just eaten his first piece of chocolate cake. All of this had happened with the familiar sound of Mickey Mouse and the arguments and everlasting bickering between Steve and Two-Bit. Life was good.

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry about taking forever for this chapter but my computer pretty much sucks so if I'm not on for awhile then it most likely broke. Does Fanfiction have viruses or bugs? 'Cause if it does I can't be on it that much. I REALLY don't wanna break our one and only computer...

Anyway, how was that chapter? Good? Bad? Terrible? Golden? Review and let me know!

Sincerely,

Teenbookworm13