A/N: Hi guys! Just a heads up that this chapter is pretty heavy on the swearing. Also, it probably goes without saying, but there's quite a bit of violence in this chapter, what with it being the rumble and all. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading!
"Do you know why Shepard wants to have it out with the Socs tonight?" Dally asked from the passenger seat of Two-Bit's car.
Two-Bit shrugged. "Some beef with his gang. I just hope I can get Darry to show."
"He'll show. Darry never misses an opportunity to show off his muscles," Dally said assuredly. "Besides, nobody calls the fuzz in this neighborhood. He knows that."
"Well, I hope you're right. Otherwise we're toast. Especially since we'll be missin' you."
"You don't have to be missin' me," Dally grumbled, sinking lower into the seat. "If you'd just let me fight."
"Do you honestly think you're well enough to be in a rumble?" Two-Bit asked, glancing at Dally out of the corner of his eye.
"There's only one way to find out," he muttered, staring out the window.
Two-Bit turned left. "Forget it, Dal, you ain't comin'."
"I don't get what makes you think you can stop me," Dally remarked under his breath.
He had a point. Two-Bit's mom and Rick were going out tonight and he was sure Liz would have plans of some sort. So there'd be no one there to keep Dally from leaving the house.
"If you were smart, you'd stay away." That was all Two-Bit could really say. Ultimately, Dally would do what he wanted to do.
Two-Bit pulled into the Winston's driveway and put the car in park. "Why are we here again?" he asked, staring at the sorry excuse of a house in front of him.
"I just want to pick up a few things," Dally told him. "I'm sick of wearing your clothes. With any luck my dad'll still be passed out from last night."
"Well, make it quick," Two-Bit said. "I'm missing Woody the Woodpecker for this."
"Trust me, I never stay in this shit-hole any longer than I have to," Dally said as he got out of the car. He slammed the door shut and made his way up to his weathered and run down house.
Two-Bit leaned his seat back and waited. He tried to relax but he was feeling a little antsy about the rumble tonight. He always felt that way before a big rumble, but today he was especially on edge. He had a bad feeling about the whole thing. I just need to get boozed up, he thought to himself.
Dally emerged from his house a few minutes later, holding a duffel bag in one hand and continuing to stuff clothes in it with the other. He seemed rushed, upset. It didn't take long for Two-Bit to see why. Dally's father stood at the doorway, a beer in one hand and shaking his fist at Dally with his other. So much for him being passed out.
Two-Bit sat up and rolled down the window just in time to hear Dally tell his father to "go fuck himself."
He couldn't make out what Mr. Winston said in return. It just sounded like belligerent, drunken shouting. Dally pulled opened the passenger door and got in, cursing under his breath. Two-Bit gaped at him. He was crying.
"You okay?" Two-Bit asked softly. "What happened?" He'd never seen Dally get worked up about his father like this.
"Nothing, Mathews, just get me outta here." Dally angrily wiped his eyes on his sleeve and glared out the window.
Two-Bit obeyed and quickly put the car in reverse. He zoomed out of the driveway. He could still see Mr. Winston hollering at them in the rearview mirror.
Back on the road, Two-Bit glanced at Dally nervously. He was clutching his duffel bag closely to his chest and shaking slightly. He was pissed, alright.
"Dal…?"
"That motherfucker can go straight to hell," Dally growled as a reply. "He can go straight to hell." He continued to curse, accompanied by no good, washed-out drunk and what does he know?
Two-Bit's heart sank. "Look Dal, whatever that asshole said to you, don't listen to him," he said firmly. "You've never listened to him before so don't start now. You hear me?"
All Dally could do was nod.
When they got back home, Dally went straight to the bedroom and Two-Bit decided it was best to leave him alone. He went to the kitchen and grabbed three beers from the fridge. This was just a fraction of the amount of alcohol he planned on consuming today. There were still a couple of hours until the big fight, but there was no such thing as starting too early on the day of a rumble. Not in Two-Bit's mind anyway. Then he turned on the TV and settled into the couch. He was eager to drink down those beers and focus on beating down the Socs.
Two-Bit knocked on his bedroom door. It was almost time to leave for the rumble and he hadn't seen or heard from Winston since they'd gotten back from his house. Dally didn't answer his knock so Two-Bit carefully turned the doorknob and peeked inside.
Dally was sound asleep, but all the lights were still on and he hadn't taken his shoes off. It was obvious to Two-Bit that he hadn't meant to fall asleep. His brow furrowed when he noticed that Dally was clutching something in his hand. It looked like a photograph.
Two-Bit stepped into the room to get a better look. Being careful not to wake Dally, he gently pulled the print from his loose grasp. It was a picture of an older gentleman lifting up a young, tow-headed boy to pet a horse. Two-Bit assumed the young boy was Dally, but he didn't recognize the man. He was much too old to be Dally's father.
Two-Bit swallowed hard and set the photograph down on the nightstand. His heart was suddenly very heavy as he realized that he didn't know all that much about Dally's past. He knew about New York, but he had no idea what went on in his life before that. He couldn't even imagine Dallas Winston as a little, innocent kid.
Two-Bit sighed and pulled Dally's shoes off for him. He was amazed that Dally didn't even stir. Then he pulled the covers out from underneath him and draped them over his figure. That's when he regretfully noticed that Dally had beads of sweat forming on his brow. Two-Bit held his breath and gently put the back of his hand up to Dally's forehead. He was burning up, just as Two-Bit had feared.
"Shit, Dal," Two-Bit breathed. He sunk into his desk chair and ran his hands through his hair. "You sure pick the best times to be sick."
Two-Bit knew he couldn't miss the rumble. That was out of the question. But he found it unsettling to leave Dally alone when he was clearly running a fever. On the other hand, he was kind of relieved. If he left now, without waking him, there was a good chance that Dally would sleep through the whole thing.
Two-Bit decided he was going to have to take those chances. He turned off the light and quietly slipped out of the room.
When Two-Bit stepped into the Curtis household, he was greeted with chaos. Music was blaring and the guys were running around the house, getting riled up and failing at conserving their energy for the brawl.
"Hey, Two-Bit's here!" Soda shouted, leaping from the couch to tackle him.
"I take it Darry's lettin' you fight," Two-Bit said, struggling to get free of Soda's hold.
"Just as long as he and Pony beat it out of there if the fuzz show," Darry said. He pulled Soda up off of Two-Bit. "Cool it, little buddy."
Soda couldn't contain himself. "I just can't wait to knock those Socs to the ground!" he hollered. He was practically bouncing off the walls.
Darry shook his head as Soda went flying out of the room to go bug Pony and Johnny who were getting spruced up in the bathroom. They were putting on more hair grease than necessary, but all the greasers did that before a rumble. To really show what they stood for.
"The fuzz ain't gonna show," Steve said coolly from the couch. He was holding a cigarette and blowing smoke rings at the ceiling.
"Steve, what did I tell you about smoking in the house?" Darry nagged.
Two-Bit was still lying on the floor, having gotten the wind knocked out of him when Soda tackled him. Darry gave him a hand to help him up. Two-Bit dusted himself off and then he went to get revenge on Soda.
It was Two-Bit who threw the first punch. He was just so tired of waiting around. It felt like they had been staring at each other for hours, Soc vs. grease.
Normally Two-Bit stuffed beers in his jacket and got filthy drunk before showing up at a rumble. Normally he was so out of it that he didn't even remember big fights like this. His bruises and scars were the only thing to show for them. But today, once he discovered that Dally was sick, he hadn't had another drop of alcohol. And he was regretting it. Because now he was sober. And freezing.
Two-Bit stood in that line facing the Socs, listening to the heavy breaths of anticipation for the fight ahead. He knew that the more time he wasted staring at the idiots in front of him, the longer he'd be away from Dally.
It was a strange revelation, really. Two-Bit realized, in that particular moment, that he couldn't care less about the Socs. They were nothing but an inconvenience tonight, and he hated them for it.
So he threw the first punch. He didn't even bother looking to see who he hit. He just picked a Soc at random, wound up, and clocked him in the nose. And that did it. The rumble began.
Two-Bit yelped in pain as two Socs teamed up on him and kicked him in the ribs. That's what I get for starting it all, Two-Bit thought vaguely. Luckily Steve was looking out for him because he jumped on one of the Soc's back which caused him to butt heads with the other Soc. Leave it to Steve to kill two birds with one stone.
"Didn't know you had the balls to start one of these things, Mathews," Steve yelled to Two-Bit as he pulled him up.
"Neither did I!" Two-Bit yelled back. He saw a Soc start in on Sodapop and he made to help him out, but Darry beat him to it. Darry always had an eye out for his brothers in a rumble.
Suddenly, Two-Bit was kicked in the head and everything went black. He figured he was still conscious though, because he could hear the racket, but only dimly. Once he regained his bearings, the first thing he saw was Johnny getting pummeled by a Soc who was nearly twice his size. It made Two-Bit's blood boil and he scrambled across the lot to help him out.
Two-Bit grabbed the Soc and threw him on the ground. Two-Bit knew him. He was an old teammate of Darry's. Paul Holden. But while Two-Bit was preoccupied with him, trying to slug his lights out, another Soc started in on Johnny. And Two-Bit desperately tried to get to him, but Paul was much too big and much too strong.
Two-Bit tried to holler at Steve to come help Johnny out, when Paul slugged him right in the chin. Two-Bit could feel blood start to fill up his mouth. Then Paul kicked him hard in the ribs and Two-Bit's body went limp.
Paul left him lying there and went on to find a new victim. Unfortunately for Paul, he found Darry, and Two-Bit knew Superman would be the victor out of the two of them.
Two-Bit curled into himself and then tried to stand up, but the air was knocked out of him and the pain in his ribs was blinding. Rumbles sure hurt more when you're sober.
Just then, someone grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him to his feet. "What the fuck is Winston doing here?" he heard Shepard growl in his ear.
Panic rushed over Two-Bit like a wave. "What?" he demanded, looking around wildly. That's when he noticed that Johnny no longer had a Soc on top of him. He lay doubled up and groaning about ten yards away, with a concerned Ponyboy kneeling beside him. And now it was Dally who was being pummeled instead.
Two-Bit's stomach dropped into his toes.
"He needs help, c'mon!" Shepard hissed. He pushed Two-Bit forward and the two of them went to Dally's aid. Tim grabbed the limp and lifeless Dally and dragged him away from the action, allowing Two-Bit to have the Soc all to himself.
Two-Bit slammed him. His adrenaline was pumping so rapidly that he could've potentially taken on anyone with ease. He knocked this Soc's lights out, quickly and painfully. And when he was finished, he heard someone announce gleefully that the Socs were running.
And they were. Two-Bit wasn't sure if it was because they'd won or if it was because of the sirens that had gradually gotten louder. Two-Bit didn't care either way. He was just relieved it was over.
Shepard was kneeling over Dally, trying to get him to wake up. He stirred as Two-Bit dropped down beside him.
"Is he okay?" a nervous Johnny asked from a distance. The rest of the gang had slowly started to surround them.
Two-Bit couldn't speak, so he was thankful when Darry took action. "He'll be fine," he said. "Soda, Steve, get Pony and Johnny home before the fuzz shows." The sirens were much closer now. No one made any effort to move. "Go. Now," Darry demanded and the four of them took off running.
"Dally what the hell were you thinkin'?" Two-Bit hissed as Dally struggled to sit up. He was so mad at Dally's stupidity that he couldn't even see straight. Or maybe that was the blow to his head…
Darry dropped down beside them. "Hey, that ain't important now," he said gently. "We just need to get him out of here."
"Let's take him to Buck's," Shepard suggested. "It's closest."
Darry agreed, so he and Shepard half-carried, half dragged Dally to Buck's place. Two-Bit was having a hard of enough time trying to remain conscious, so he just ran behind them, praying to the heavens that Dally would be okay.
