Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders

A/N: For my bestie. You know what it is.

XXX

November 25, 1963

"You're not here for any other reason Tim," Ben told you as you both kept your eyes on the old warehouse.

Ben was the second in command in The Crawford Gang. You dated his sister, Lorraine for a while, at least that's what she told him. If someone told you they were casually fucking your sister, they'd be dead before they could spit it out. Lorraine had called it off though when she started dating someone, Dennis Richards. You didn't mind much; Lorraine was good lay but she was the type that wanted a boyfriend, something you couldn't give her. She was a good person and it was the only reason it didn't piss you off, she deserved to have a relationship and be happy, or whatever.

You had stayed friends with Ben though and you were pretty sure he was the one who suggested Tim Shepard to Wayne himself. You weren't really sure how much sway Ben had or how much Wayne even listened to his opinion. You'd only been there for a month but you were pretty sure it was Wayne's way or no way. You didn't really see the point of having a second in command if that was the way things were ran.

"Well, I still don't see what's so wrong with Marty," you said, tapping your fingers on the armrest of the door. Finally, Ben turns to look at you for the first time since pulling outside of the warehouse.

"Marty's weak, Tim," he said your name as if he were apologizing for disrespecting your best friend. You didn't take to it too kindly but there wasn't much you could do from inside a car, fighting outside wouldn't have made a difference either.

Ben was twice your size, he was turning twenty soon and still only being fifteen, there wasn't much of a chance. He was the only one you really got along with in the gang so far. The rest seemed distant, in your opinion it wasn't much of a gang at all, it was more of people doing Wayne's dirty work because they owe him a favour that will never be considered paid off until they were dead.

"He has too much heart," Ben corrected himself as he turned back to the warehouse. That was true enough but maybe that's what a gang like this needed.

"And we're just cold hearted pricks that don't give a fuck about no one," you added, concentrating on the door of the warehouse. You caught Ben's smirk from the corner of your eye and shook your head a little. When it really came down to it you cared about a grand total of five people, the people you would die for. Maybe you shouldn't have been thinking about dying for people at the age of fifteen but it's how you were raised ever since your old man up and left.

"This is pointless," you complained, resting your head up against the window. Highly doubting anything was going to happen because the both of you had been there for two hours and no one had entered or left the damn warehouse. You weren't given any specific details, just to go along with Ben and be his back up.

"If you're second in command, how come you have such a shitty job to do?" you asked half jokingly. If this was Ben's job, you could only imagine the grunt work Wayne would get you to do. Sitting in this car with Ben would become a wet fucking dream.

"Because sitting in the car isn't the job, Tim," he said, looking at his watch. You didn't like how he added your name at the end of the things he said, it made you feel like a little kid that needed everything explained to him. You sighed as you watched a car pull up in front of the warehouse.

Sitting up in your seat a little, watching a few guys walk out of an old '49 Ford pickup and into the warehouse. Ben cursed under his breath as he opened the door of the car, assuming this was your cue to follow, you quickly got out of the car and caught up to Ben's long strides toward the warehouse.

You had no idea what was going on, what the plan was or who you were dealing but there you were standing in front of an old, run down warehouse that you probably shouldn't have been standing in front of.

"Just keep your mouth shut and try not to look so fucking jumpy, we're out numbered," he said as he glanced at you, flipping up the collar of his jacket. Staring at the door, you stuffed your fists in your jacket. It was fucking cold outside and it irritated the hell outta you not knowing what was going on.

"Well, howdy fucking do. What do we have here boys?"

You knew who this guy was. He was the leader of the Tiber Street Tigers, his name was Warren Thomas and he was one guy that shouldn't be fucked with. The Tigers and the Crawford's had had a lot of disputes, everyone and their dog knew they hated each other, there was one thing you knew for sure: something was about to go down.

Counting five more guys behind Warren, you stood there wishing someone would tell you what the hell was going on.

"Do I really need to remind you, again?" Ben said, clenching his jaw. Apparently, this had happened many a time and literally beating it into his thick skull wasn't doing what Wayne or Ben wanted it to.

"There are six of us Benny. Who the fuck is this?" Warren spat as he motioned to you. You really wanted to knock his teeth out; he sure thought he was something special.

"This is Tim Shepard," Ben said impatiently.

"The newest member of The Crawford Gang. Wayne just picking up anyone off the streets these days?" Warren chuckled as he brushed the top of your shoulder.

You ran your tongue across the front of your teeth, angrily before shoving Warren, making him stumble backwards. Your fist met his face before he could regain his balance, feeling his nose crack. It wasn't long before his five other goons were all over both you and Ben.

Wiping the blood from your lip when three of the guys ran off through the parking lot. The point of having cowards as back up would never make any sense. It looked better on your part to tough it out alone rather than having your own gang not fight for you.

Ben's foot was on Warren's neck before the other two could help him up. It sounded as if Warren was choking on his own blood and he probably was, his nose being broken and all.

"We need a payment, Warren," Ben threatened as he stepped down on his neck a little more as you watched the two other guys carefully, making sure they weren't stupid enough to actually pull a blade.

"Not next week, tomorrow," he finished, releasing his foot and turning around, walking back towards the car. "I'll kill you next time I have to ask."

Swallowing the lump in your throat you kept a distance between Ben as you followed him back to the car. Anyone had the ability to kill someone, you didn't know what the payment was for or why it was so important but the way Ben had said it; you knew Ben wouldn't think twice about doing it.

Hesitating slightly before opening the car door and slowly sliding onto the passenger seat. You were supposed to keep cool and not say anything, you were pretty sure that included not breaking a gang leaders nose.

You glanced at Ben, awaiting your rightful cuff upside the head. He just gave you a smirk before pulling out of the gravel parking lot, spinning the tires.

"You ain't mad?" you asked, finally, after a long silence. Anxious to what was going to happen next, maybe he wasn't mad because he was going to feed you to Wayne himself.

"Nah," he said, still smirking. "Why do ya think I brought you along?"

You stared at him awhile, shrugging a bit. How'd he know what would happen? You could have very well listened to what he told you to do. Ben was smarter than you gave him credit for; it was then you realized why he was second in command. Hell, he probably had more pull then expected too.

"The most important thing you can learn is to always think ahead, Tim. Be prepared for any situation and there will never be any surprises."

XXX

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