Chapter Two

I woke to be greeted by a bright light above my head. I groaned and squinted my eyes against it. There was a beeping noise to my left and a sickening dripping noise to my right. My head felt as if it was stuffed with wool and my ears sounded like they were plugged. I tried to sit but my limbs wouldn't listen to me, it felt as if my bones had been swapped with lead.

My eyes finally got used to the light so I could finally open my eyes. I looked down at myself and I was loosely tucked into a hospital bed. There were IVs and wires stuck to various places on my arms and -the only thing that was new- an oxygen wire under my nose. I was incredibly groggy, everything seemed fuzzy and hazed. I looked around the room and my gaze locked with a pair of chocolate brown eyes and I knew exactly who it was. Sodapop.

"Hey Johnnycake." He greeted coming closer to rub my shoulder. I felt goose bumps rise on my forearms. "You gave us a real scare there for a while. Man, when you closed your eyes we didn't know what to think!"

"Really?" I asked. I was confused. What had happened after I passed out? "What happened here? I feel weird." It was true. My stomach felt sunken and my limbs weighed tons. I could hardly keep my eyes open because I was so drowsy.

Ponyboy came from behind Sodapop with a smile that looked… relieved? I couldn't tell. "Well, Johnny," he started out with a sheepish voice. Like he was getting in trouble. "We brought you here and they looked you over and they found some internal bleeding… so theyhadtogiveyousurgery." He had rushed through the last part so fast I couldn't catch it. He smiled at me innocently.

"Hold on Pone…" I looked at him confused. What was he hiding? "I didn't catch that last part. What did you say?" Ponyboy sighed in defeat as I said this.

"What I said was…" He shifted his eyes and looked at his shoes. Soda perched himself on the bed next to me and started to rub my shoulder again. Was it that bad? "We let them give you surgery…" That was it. It hit like a wall of concrete in the face. I could feel stomach acid stinging my throat as my stomach itself churned and quivered. Getting surgery was the worst thing that could happen.

"What!" I almost snapped up but Soda put a gentle restraining hand on my chest. Everyone looked surprised at me. It wasn't like me to raise my voice but this is the worst thing I've done. Surgery was dangerous to even think about. "How am I supposed to pay for it? What are my parents gonna do to me?" I digested that for a moment and groaned. "Aw… my parents."

"Hey, hey easy. Don't worry about it." Soda was smiling down at me. His eyes were twinkling and I found my breath was taken away from me. "We paid for it with our insurance and Darry put down that he was your guardian. It's gonna be alright."

He patted my head, trying to soothe me but now I was just feeling worse. "You shouldn't have wasted that on me. I wasn't that bad hurt, really." I really didn't think the Socs got to me like Sodapop and Ponyboy were saying; it felt like any other beating. I guess everything just felt better when Soda was around. On the other hand they really shouldn't waste insurance money on me, I'm not worth it.

"Don't you say that Johnny." This was a new voice. It was familiar but new to the conversation. It was Darry and that's what made me look up and realize the whole gang was in the room. "Johnny you needed the surgery, you coulda died without it and we have insurance that mom and dad left, we've never used it and you needed it. It's not like it's gonna run out either, its health insurance…" He stopped to think for a second. "Oh yeah, and you're staying at our house. I don't want you goin' back to your folks for a while." I nodded without urge because Darry was talking in a deep, demanding tone, his 'alpha tone' Sodapop once called it.

Sodapop sunk down into a more comfortable position next to me; he put his arm around me which resulted in me being pulled me against his chest and my back was leaning against him. I looked around the room at the gang. Could they see the rosy blush I could feel spreading across my cheekbones? Could they hear my heart pounding like I could? Were they paying attention to the heart monitor that sped up next to me? Luckily, the guys had the attention spans of squirrels and they chatted loudly at each other. I looked up at Soda. He had a wide smile on his face; he was listening to one of Two-bit's horrible knock -knock jokes that were only funny because they completely didn't make sense. I was wondering if he noticed, and hoping he wouldn't. I was relieved to see he was distracted and I was about to join the conversation when I noticed someone was watching me. It was Ponyboy. He was looking at me confused and questioningly with concern marring his features. I shook my head at him, saying 'I will explain later' with my facial features, he still looked concerned but he nodded and turned to a conversation Steve was starting up (they got along better lately). That's what I love about me and Pony's friendship; we understood each other without having to say anything out loud.

After a while of talking and laughing with the gang I was exhausted. My eyelids felt heavy and they started to droop in my line of vision. I slouched into Soda's strong arms that were delightfully warm, that made me feel so safe. I leaned back to a laying position so that my head was resting on his shoulder. I sucked in a breath that had my ribs protesting but I ignored it and reveled in the sweet scent of Soda's cologne. My heart was calming and my breath was slowing, I was about out of it when the conversations that had filled the room came to a halt. I cracked my eyes open to see everyone staring at me with the same affectionate smile on each of their faces, they all saw me as their baby brother, even Pony, but that was alright with me.

"I think Johnnycake is getting tired." It was Dally who pointed this out, he has been very protective over me since the 'incident'. "Let's let him get some rest." Everyone said their goodbyes and started to file out of the room.

"Your outa here tomorrow." Darry said before exiting. "We'll be here bright and early to pick you up and take you home." I smiled sleepily and said my thanks.

Soda gently slid out from under me and layed me back down. He reached down and ran his hand through my hair once, he had no idea what that does to me. "I'll see ya tomorrow Johnnycake." With that he turned around and made his way to the door signaling Ponyboy to go with him but Pony stayed.

"Wait up for me." Pony said looking from me to Soda. "I gotta talk to Johnny real fast." Soda shrugged his shoulders and went to catch up with the other guys. Ponyboy turned to me quickly with crossed arms, an eyebrow arched and an expectant look on his face. "You need to tell me what's up Johnnycake. You're freaking me out. The whole heart monitor thing, yeah, I heard that. The way your face is always flushed. What's going on? Is there something else wrong we should know about?"

"Pony!" I had to raise my voice with an exasperated tone to stop his rambling.

He got the picture and caught his breath. "Okay, then, tell me what's wrong."

"Umm…" My palms got sweat and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I could feel my pulse speeding and the monitor caught. Ponyboy snapped his head toward the small screen then back to me with his forehead crinkled. "You're my best friend right?" A wrinkle formed on his forehead but he nodded. "You won't hate me no matter what, right?" He looked really confused but nodded again. "Okay, uhh…" My breath quickened and I sucked in a gasp. "W-well… I'm… I-I'm g-g-gay…" I closed my eyes, afraid he'd be staring back disgusted with me but all I heard was a sigh of relief and felt a hand on my shoulder.

I looked up at Ponyboy startled. He was smiling at me. "That's perfectly fine Johnnycake. I don't care who you love. It's all good with me." I smiled back up at him then bit my lip. "Is there something else?" He looked worried again.

"Yeah…" I stared passed him, up at the ceiling. "I'm… I'm in love with your brother. Sodapop."

Ponyboy was quiet for a moment. I looked at him and he had his chest puffed up and a look of determined confidence on his face. "That's okay, Johnny. 'Cause I'm gay too." He sucked in a sharp breath. "I'm in love with Steve."