Darry POV

Hey guys, I just want to acknowledge the user Pony'sgirlfriend for helping me along the way of this story. She's given me idea's that I never would've thought of which has made this story like 100x better than what I had in mind and we've basically been working on the story together. I never really thought I would get to work on stories like this with other people, but once you do, it's so much fun sharing idea's with each other and listening to opinions and such. She's such a great writer and she has adorable stories and I just wanted to thank her dearly and shout her out and y'all should go check her out!

~Stay Gold

staygold-fandom (Malory)

I hauled Two-Bit into the bathroom after face planted into the bathroom door trying to be Superman. We were all gonna laugh until Two-Bit realized his nose was bleeding and he looked as if he was going to faint. I sat him down on the toilet and he looked like he was gonna start crying. I've only seen Two-Bit cry once and that was when he blamed himself for Ponyboy being sick and why he was in the hospital. He was pretty torn up about it and it just killed me to see him that way. Seeing Two-Bit break down and cry in front of everyone was one of the hardest things to deal with. Especially since Ponyboy was already sick at that moment.

"Here Two-Bit, hold this under your nose okay?" Just as Two-Bit put the tissue under his nose, there was a knock at the bathroom door.

"What?"

"I… well I have the medicine if you want to give some to Two-Bit…" It was Sodapop. I stood for a minute or so staring at Two-Bit who was breathing out of his mouth and moving the tissue constantly from one soaked spot to a clean one. I opened the door and saw Sodapop standing there, who was peering into the bathroom and looking at Two-Bit who didn't even acknowledge him

"What did ya get Pepsi-Cola?" Soda smiled to himself at the use of his old nickname given by dad as he handed the bag to me.

"Well, I got some cough drops along with cough syrup. Oh! And I got him s-" I dropped the bag to the floor and held Soda's face in my hands when I noticed something.

"Where did you get this black and how?" I was beginning to worry? Was he gone for so long because of this black eye?

Soda chuckled in amusement but I shot him a look which made him stop. "Well… ya see… it's a long story…" Soda picked up the bag after I let him go and I crossed my arms and stared at him.

"Well… I wanna hear it Sodapop Patrick Curtis when I'm done in here!" I slammed the bathroom door shut in Soda's face just as Two-Bit began to cough him brain's out. I walked over to him and took the tissue from his nose and wiped it one more time to be sure I got all the blood off.

"What was that all about Dar?" Two-Bit said quietly. I could tell he was getting sicker by the second and it broke my heart. I kneeled down in front of him, then remembering that I forgot to take back the medicine from Soda.

"Nothing Keith. Okay… are you gonna get in the bath now if I leave finally?" Two-Bit nodded and I stood up. "Once you're done I want you to get dressed like you were before and come to the living room. Kay?" Two-Bit nodded once again as I made my way towards the door. I looked back at him one more time, smiled to myself and left the bathroom.

"Soda!" I yelled. I never really realized how loud I was until I really focused on it. Soda came to me front and center and stood up straight and tall like he was a drill sergeant reporting for duty.

"Yes Darry?" He sounded bold and brave. I put my hand on his back and lead him to my room; sat him down on the bed and closed the door behind me to give us some privacy. I leaned my back up against the door and stared at him.

"I think you know why you're here Mr. Curtis." He nodded his head and slouched. I hated when the boys slouched. Pony did it out of habit, Two-Bit and Steve did it to look tough {they're trying to go for tuff} and Soda doesn't even know he's doing it most of the time.

"Darry, I don't know what you're expecting! How do you think this happened?!" I furrowed my eyebrows when Soda raised his voice.

"There's no need to yell Soda. I'm not mad at you. It wasn't your fault. You didn't give yourself a black eye, did you?" He slowly smiled and shook his head. I pushed myself up and off of the door and sat down beside Soda.

He let out a sigh and began his story. "I was just leaving the store, minding my own business. Humming a tune I picked up from Steve the other day. I think it was an Elvis Presley song. No… it may've been the Beatles."

"Soda!"

"Okay! Sorry… got a little off track. Anyways, I was mindin my own buisness when I notice this car full of these ugly, wine color sweater wearing socs pull up behind me. I only saw them out of the corner of my eye, so I hoped that they didn't see me. But… luck wasn't on my side this time, so they did see me. I was walking straight forward, trying my hardest to ignore them, but they kept honking and yelling 'greaser!' and 'trashy hood!' so it kept distracting me." Soda paused, sniffled and took a breath, then continued as if nothing ever happened. "They sped up and parked their car in front of me, then they got out and were walking towards me. I didn't know if I should've ran the other way or tried to walk right past them, but I guess fear overcame me which is why I just stood there in the middle of the sidewalk while they surrounded me," He was beginning to cry when his voice broke. I put my arm around him and some tears started to fall.

"It's okay Soda… you don't have to talk about it anymore if you don't want to." Soda shook him head and swallowed a sob.

"N-no… No, I wanna finish telling it. It kinda feels like I'm finally getting it off my chest. It feels good," I nodded my head and let Soda continue. "They started making fun of my hair… and my clothes. Then they started making fun of Ponyboy when I recognized one of them as Randy Adderson. Ya know, they one who visited Pony while he was sick?" I nodded my head. He was always a piece of white trash, two-timing bastard. "Before they head a chance to really get into the subject of Pony, I socked one of them right in the nose, it wasn't Randy though. They punched me in the eye, hence the blackness of the eye, and tackled me. Before they could really do some bad damage, Steve and Pony came to my rescue," Soda let out a sob and I pulled him into my chest as he cried his little heart out.

"It's all over Soda… no more. Nothing's going to happen to you, or Pony, or Steve and Two-Bit. Not even me." Soda shook his head and lifted his head up.

"No… no Darry. That's not the problem. I'm not scared…" I looked shocked at Soda.

"Then what is it?" He swallowed and looked petrified.

"They… they had a blade. And Randy… Randy said he was gonna… he was gonna get Pony for what he did to Bob…"