AN: I know this chapter is boring, but don't worry! I have very high hopes for the next chapter. Thank you for all the reviews and follows! Reviews keep me going! Thanks to my editor! I know she's sick of fanfiction but I still really appreciate the work she puts into my story!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Outsiders! SE Hinton does!

Steve POV:

I had just accepted that I was never going to see the boy again, and I should just forget about him, when the others decide it's time to go home. We begin to clean up and Two-Bit goes to find Dally, who left about 5 minutes ago to get napkins. When we finish cleaning up our mess, we start the journey out of The Dingo, chatting and making witless jokes to each other. As we turn the corner, I don't expect to see Dally and Two-Bit in the state they're in. Dally has someone by the shirt growling something about "dealing with him'." I assume he's talking about dealing with Two-Bit later, but then I see that Two has his blade out and is scowling at the other person there. He looks familiar for some reason… I wish I could see his face. I hear Darry and Dally having a short argument, when suddenly, the other boy speaks up.

"What gives me the right to what?" I know that voice. Why do I know that voice? "You're the one who took my money! Some of us don't get that much very often! What gives you the right to cut in line and take other people's stuff? Huh? What makes you think you're better than me?" He pauses to take a breath. Finally, I can see his face. I let out a gasp. It's the boy. All of their eyes shoot to me at the sound, but I'm looking at the kid. "Shit." he mumbles, and starts running.

"Grab him!" I screech. I was NOT going to let him get away again. Not until I'd learned his name and at least thanked him! I'm not sure who grabs him first but suddenly he's on the ground in front of us. The others are still looking at me oddly, so I explain. "That's him! I knew I recognized his voice! That's the kid that got jumped earlier!" Only Darry and Soda knew that it was actually me who got jumped earlier. They had agreed to tell the others that I was just helping the kid. C'mon, I've got a reputation to uphold. "Hey, what's your name, kid?" I add, almost as an afterthought. He wheezes as he lets us know he's not going to tell us his name because we will make fun of it. Clearly, he hasn't met Sodapop. Or Two-Bit. Or heard anyone call us any of our nicknames. Soda tells him just that. Seriously, why would you make fun of someone for their name? There are so many better things to mock people for.

He stops gasping and tries to stand up. I push him back down. "You're comin' with us," I say. "You know what you did," I tell him, when he protests. I glance around at the others, hoping he'll understand and not make me say it out loud. He does. "Dally, give him his goddamn money back. Now. You don't need it." I rip the money from his hands as I stand, pulling the kid up with me and handing it to him.

The others make small talk as we leave the drive-in, but Soda walks in the front with me, asking me what the hell I plan to do with this kid after forcing him home with us. I tell him that I don't know but we have to help him out. "I mean look at him. He's not eating enough, that's obvious. He's gotten into two fights in one day, one with Dallas Winston of all people. He's been alone both times I've seen him, which probably means he either comes from a bad family, or he has no family. And have you noticed how he still hasn't told us his name? He needs help. I know I don't have a lot to give, with my dad being an ass and all, but someone might as well show him around the town—introduce him to the neighborhood. The more people he knows, the less people will fight him, and more people will stand up for him if he's with us. You know that." Soda is looking at me with an amused look on his face. "What?" I demand. He smirks.

"I just haven't seen you this passionate about anything in a long time. I mean, I know he saved your life and all, but I never would have expected you to become this protective." His smirk turns into a full on smile. "I like him. He makes me want a little brother. I feel like I'd be a good big brother, don't you think?"

"The best," I say. "Wait, no. That title is taken by Darry. Second best. How about that?" I snicker as he gives me an offended look.

I peek behind us, only to see that the procession had stopped. Dally, Two-Bit, and Darry are watching the kid. He's watching the sunset. No, he's not just watching it. He's engrossed in it. Absorbed in it. Captivated by it. I watch as he narrows his eyes and smiles. I take a look at Johnny and see that he, too, is staring at the sunset with a curious look on his face. I look away as Dally clears his throat. The kid jumps as he turns to us, taking in all of our expressions. "Sorry," he mutters. "Let's just go." I wonder why he apologizes. We continue walking to Darry's house. As we walk, the boy gains a look of dread on his face.

I look back to Soda and see that he's smirking. "I have a feeling that as we get to know that boy more, Darry will have to forfeit his title."

"Why?" I question. What the heck is he talking about?

"Because. If that boy didn't have a family before, he sure as hell does now. If he'll accept it, I know that every one of these guys is willing to help him. Especially you. I'm prepared to guess that you will make an excellent older brother to Mr. No Name. Probably even better than Darry." He paused. "Or maybe just a really close second." Soda laughed as he jogged to catch up to the others who now walked ahead of us.

Darry opened the door to his house and the boys all walked in dragging the kid after them. Surprisingly, he looked almost happy. You could see it in his eyes. They were much brighter. I just now realized that they had been an extremely dull green before this. Now they were more like a glowing gray. I stood on the porch for a moment, thinking about the kid. What the hell had he been through, for his eyes to be that sad? I shook my head, pushing those thoughts away. First, we need a name for him. Then, we can work on his past. Soda's right. There is a high probability that the kid would become one of us. We have to do this properly.

I made my decision. Overall, it was his choice whether he stayed with our gang or not, but I wasn't going down without a fight. I was going to do everything I could to make him feel welcome. I pushed open the door and made my way into the house. First, a name. No, wait. I heard a low rumbling, coming from the boy. First, food. I began looking around their kitchen. There was leftover chicken in the fridge, eggs, cereal, and chocolate cake. They had other stuff, just nothing I knew how to make. I doubt anyone but Darry knew how to make most of that stuff and he was nowhere to be found.

"Hey, kid," I called. He had been watching Two-Bit and Dally in a wrestling match on the living room floor, but walked into the kitchen to hear me. "What do you want? Chicken, eggs, cereal, or chocolate cake?"

"Um, you don't have to feed me. I really should be going. My… parents will be missing me." Yeah, right.

"No, we took you away from your dinner. I owe you and you're obviously hungry. Just eat something. Please." I looked around, hoping no one else noticed the way I was talking. Luckily for me, Dally had just put Two-Bit in a headlock, sufficiently distracting the others.

"Uh, chicken, I suppose," he muttered. I popped the leftovers in the oven for a few minutes to heat up. When I turned back around, Darry was walking into the kitchen and the boy was practically cowering by the icebox. I looked between the two. Darry was intimidating, sure, but I'd seen this kid jump into a fight against five Socs, no sweat. Why was he so scared now? Darry smiled at me and held up a damp rag.

"Your nose is bleeding again," he said.

"Thanks," I muttered, grabbing the cloth. I nodded my head to the kid. "Grab him one, too, will ya? Looks like he could use it." The boy's face was covered in bruises and fresh blood was showing on his lip. Darry turned, surprised. I guess he hadn't seen the boy on his way in. The kid shrunk under Darry's curious gaze.

"If it's no trouble," he mumbled. He had his eyes pinned at the ground and again I wondered at the mood change. Why is he more afraid of Darry than those Socs? I will admit, Darry can be frightening, but the boy stood tall against five Socs and Dally. If there's any frightening greaser, it's Dally, but the kid argued with him about his money as if he were arguing with a senior citizen. He didn't back down. So why in the world is he cowering in front of Darry? It just didn't add up. I took the chicken out of the oven as Darry handed another damp rag to the boy. Setting it carefully on a hot pad, I looked at the kid. He was staring at the chicken as if it held all the answers of the world. He gulped and looked at me, his eyes desperate, then glanced at Darry and back.

"Now, you can eat this, and more, under one condition." I watched the boy nod slowly. "You have to answer some of our questions. Starting with your name." I saw his face rapidly change from desperation to dread in a matter of seconds.

"I… I don't think my parents would like me telling you that." he said, his eyes darting back and forth.

"I see… Well, frankly, I couldn't give a damn what your parents have to think. Tell me your name." I waited. Darry stood off to the side watching it all go down. The others stood in the doorway, waiting too.

He let out a sigh. "Ponyboy," he said, looking me straight in the eye. Two-bit let out a hoot of laughter that was followed by the snorts and chuckles of the others. The boy said nothing. He didn't move his gaze from my own. I was struck with the truth of his words as his clear eyes peered into mine. The gray was striking now. Serious. The name suited him, surprisingly, just like Soda's fit him. "It's not a lie," he said to the others. The snickers ceased immediately. "So. Can I eat now?" he questioned. His tone held doubt, as though he thought we would steal the food away from him and kick him to the curb. I had an odd sense that that exact thing had happened to him before.

"Go ahead." I placed the cooled plate onto the table and pulled out a chair for him. Soda grabbed him a fork and we all watched as he sat and began to eat. The chicken was gone in a matter of minutes. About a minute into his meal, Darry got up from his slouched position and began to make eggs. The last bit of chicken was barely in Ponyboy's mouth when Darry plopped three fried eggs in its place. Ponyboy swallowed and started insisting that he was full and denying more food, saying that he should go since it's past his curfew.

"You better eat those, kid. I went through all that trouble to make you eggs and if you don't eat them, they'll definitely go to waste. We all had food at the drive-in and I'll be awful mad if tomorrow's breakfast gets thrown into the trash." Ponyboy stared at Darry with great trepidation. He looked at the eggs. At Darry. At me. And he dug in.

Soon the eggs were gone too, and he had moved on to a slice and a half of chocolate cake. He also downed four cups of water while he ate. The six of us stood to the side and watched as he devoured every parcel placed before him. After he placed his near empty water cup next to his bare plate, he looked up at our gang. We locked eyes. His fearful and self conscious, mine amused and triumphant. While he was eating, Soda and I had spoken with the others. We were all agreed. He could stay. Darry, of course, wanted to find out more about his family before we invited him to live with any of us. Dally, of course, was the most reluctant to agree. Two-bit, of course, was elated and practically wanted to chain him to the floor, should he refuse our offer. Johnny, surprisingly, seemed the most curious about him. Johnny didn't usually like outsiders, but he seemed especially intrigued by this one.

"Um… Thank you for the food. And the hospitality. But I really think I should be going. You've already done so much for me, I wouldn't want to overstay my welcome." He slowly stood, placed his dishes in the sink, and turned to us. "Goodnight."

"We had a thought." Soda blurted out.