Disclaimer: I don't own the Outsiders.

Johnny's POV

"Has anyone seen my shoes?"

"You guys seen my wallet?"

"No..."

"Two-Bit!"

"Fine!"

I sighed. It was another energetic morning at the Curtis' house. Everybody was busy doing something. Sodapop was looking for his shoes, nothing new there, Darry who had just gotten his wallet back was setting out plates for breakfast, Two-Bit was watching Mickey, Steve was watching Sodapop with an amused smirk as he bounced on his left foot, trying to place his foot in his right shoe. One shoe down one to go. And Dally was at Buck's but he'd be over soon enough. I was going to watch Ponyboy today and was currently sitting on the floor with him, helping him build a tower with his plentiful blocks.

We almost had all of the blocks used, the tower was standing a little under Two-Bit's knee, until Steve who had apparently found Soda's missing shoe threw it in our direction, unintentionally knocking it over.

"Oh god Pony I'm so sorry baby!" Steve began moseying his way over. Ponyboy shrugged and grinned and started building it over again. Any other kid would be bawling their eyes out right now but not Pony, he was never the one to cry.

"Steve what did you do?"

"Nothing Dar! I swear!"

"Darry don't listen to him! He's a liar!" Two-Bit cried out over dramatically. I rolled my eyes and crawled back over to help Pony.

"Shut up it was an accident!" Steve argued.

"Or was it?" Two-Bit raised an eyebrow as he always does.

"What? You know it was!"

"How about you both shut up?" Soda smirked, moving to sit down beside us, helping us build the tower back up.

"He started it!" Two-Bit shouted defensively.

"No I didn't! Maybe if someone learned how to put their shoes away we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"Don't try pinning this on me!"

I rolled my eyes as the three continued to bicker. I picked up Ponyboy and went into the kitchen for breakfast. I was slightly worried about what I'd do for lunch. I never cooked anything before whereas even Two-Bit knows how to cook. I sighed and continued to think, which was almost next to impossible to do with all of this ruckus. Maybe I can just take him somewhere...

"Hey Darry?" I quietly asked.

He glanced over at me, finished making his plate then sat down across from me at the table. "Yeah Johnny?"

"What should I give him for lunch?" I finally asked after a bit of hesitation.

Realization etched across face as he looked at me for a brief moment before jogging off into the other room. I sat Ponyboy down and watched him eat. Man could he eat fast. Darry came back into the room by then and was digging through his wallet for something.

I eyed him hesitantly when he pulled out what looked to be twenty dollars. He handed it to me and then went back to eating his breakfast. I looked at the money guiltily. I couldn't just take this they needed it. I looked back up at Darry, still feeling guilty. He must've expected this because he smiled at me encouragingly.

"Take him to the Dairy Queen. He loves it there." At 'Dairy Queen' Pony's head instantly shot up and he shifted his eyes from Darry to me excitedly. Darry smiled at him and ruffled his hair affectionately and took their plates to the sink. I sighed and stuck the money in the pocket of my jeans jacket.

Darry went back into the living room, glanced at Sodapop an rolled his eyes at his brother's laziness. "C'mon Soda hurry up. You're going to be late! And you haven't even got both shoes on yet!"

Sodapop rolled over to lay face down on the couch mumbling, "I don't know where it is."

Steve picked up the 'missing' shoe and threw it at him. Sodapop groaned and tumbled off of the couch with a thud. He quickly sat up and lazily put his shoe on, but not without complaining the whole time. With a another groan he picked himself up off the floor and stalked off to the kitchen and grabbed a chunk of chocolate cake, practically inhaling it.

"Soda! Johnny's taking me to the Dairy Queen!" Ponyboy told him smiling brightly.

Sodapop gasped and grinned wide at him. "He is? You're so lucky!"

Ponyboy beamed and grinned up at him.

Sodapop grinned even wider at him then turned to me. "Could you bring him to the DX later? If you don't mind?"

I smiled a bit and nodded.

A few moments later Steve came in with a huge smirk planted on his face. "Now we're going to get even more business. If that's even possible."

Sodapop just stared at him. "Steve we're not selling my baby brother. How many times do I have to tell you that?"

Steve shrugged with a smirk, Sodapop rolled his eyes, I stifled a laugh and Ponyboy just looked confused and tilted his head.

I smiled at him and rubbed his head. He smiled up at me and hopped out of his seat running back over to his blocks happily, Steve and Sodapop following. I finished my breakfast quickly then ran out after them.

"Sodapop Patrick are you eating in the living room?" Darry questioned him, throwing him a stern glance.

"No.." He said confidently, the crumbs of cake falling out of his mouth betraying him.

"Soda..."

"What? I'm not eating in the living room I'm swallowing in the living room," he replied back straight faced and completely serious. "There's a difference."

Two-Bit grinned, reaching over to high five Sodapop. "He got you Superman!" Darry's glare quieted him down quickly.

"C'mon Soda we gotta go!" Steve called out, stepping over the blocks, that are now halfway back to the the height Ponyboy and I had them at before they were knocked over.

"I'm coming! I just need my cap." Steve slapped his forehead.

"You know it's not mandatory for you to wear it every single day.." he trailed off hoping he'd take the hint and just let it go.

He nodded smirking. "Yes I do! It's an important part of my uniform!" he complained.

Steve rolled his eyes and mumbled, "You sure are a piece of work."

But he heard it. He always does. "Thanks Stevie!"

"Yep. You're welcome."

Shaking my head I glanced back over to where Pony should have been sitting but didn't see him. I looked in the kitchen, expecting to see him but still didn't see him. I could hear him, though, but couldn't see him.

"Okay it's been missing for over four minutes now Steve. This isn't right," Soda continued to whine. I just shook my head again and turned around when I heard the sound of feet pattering across the room. I grinned when I saw Ponyboy running around the room with Sodapop's DX hat on. It looked kind of adorable how the cap practically covered his whole face. Finally Sodapop turned around and looked up and saw Ponyboy and grinned wider than what I thought was possible, actually it kind of looked like it hurt. He walked over to him and picked him up.

"What are you doing baby boy trying to take my job?" He laughed as Ponyboy titled his head back so he could see through the cap.

"You know Soda, Pony would be a perfect fit. He could do everything you do. Well except work on the cars but he'd still be a good fit," Steve smirked playfully at him. Soda stuck his tongue out at him.

"And not to mention he could bring in more business," Two-Bit added.

"That's what I said!" Then Steve and Two-Bit got into another, probably their fourth or fifth one today, argument. I rolled my eyes and went back to watching Sodapop and Ponyboy. Soda was throwing Pony in the air, always catching him on the way back down, and kissing his face. I felt a pang of jealousy. I always wished my parents would pay as much attention to me as Ponyboy's brothers do him. I quickly shook off the feeling and smiled at them.

Darry walked back into the room, smiling at his brothers and hollered that they had to leave now or there'd be late, or later.

Sodapop groaned and rolled his eyes but set Ponyboy back down, taking his cap off of his head and placing it on his own. Then he suddenly perked up.

"Can I drive Dar?" He held out his palm expectantly.

Without a moments hesitation, "No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No Soda."

"C'mon.. Please?"

Darry sighed but reluctantly handed the keys over. "Don't make me regret this."

Eventually everyone left with Two-Bit tagging along with Sodapop and Steve. Ponyboy crawled back to his blocks, stacking them together with an amazed expression on his face.

"Johnny look!" he called out happily. I crouched down beside him and smiled. He managed to get them back to their previous height.

"Wow Pony! Your brothers are going to be so proud of you!" I told him, patting his hair. He beamed and continued to stack them, higher than they were originally. He always loves to make his brothers proud of him.

Grinning I stood back up and turned the TV on, randomly flipping threw all of the channels when something caught my eye.

"Hey Pone Bugs is on." Bugs Bunny is his favorite show, at least for now, and he'd get upset if somebody changed the channel. But he just ignored me and continued to stack the blocks higher and higher. I got up and sat beside him.

"Pony how big are you going to make this tower?" I question, picking one up and putting it on top. I really was curious because it was now taller than him and he couldn't even reach the top anymore.

He stood up and gawked at its height. "I wanna use all of them!" He smiled and handed me another piece so I could place it on top for him. After about twenty more minutes all of the blocks were finally used up. I looked back at Ponyboy and smiled. He truly was amazed by this, sure it wasn't hard to impress him in the first place but I've never seen him so astonished by something.

After a few minutes of just staring at the tower Ponyboy got a bored expression on his face, which I knew wouldn't last long. It never does. And I was right.

Ponyboy ran over to me with an excited look on his face. "Johnny can we play hide-and-seek?" To top it off he gave me his puppy dog eyes. Like I was going to even try and say no to that.

I nodded. "Of course we can baby." His face instantly lit up and he ran out of the room. I quickly turned around and shut my eyes and started to count to twenty. It never took him more than fifteen seconds to find a spot but I had to be sure.

"... Eighteen nineteen twenty. Ready or not here I come!" I shouted loud enough for him to hear me. I couldn't hear him giggling so I ran upstairs. First I checked Sodapop's room. When I opened the door I peeked my head inside, wrinkled my nose and made a face. There's no way he could've made it pass this mess.

"Pony?" I tried just in case. Nothing. I breathed a sigh in relief, glad I didn't have to search through this. I tried Darry's room next, knowing he wouldn't hide in his own room because he thought it was too obvious.

I opened Darry's door and stepped inside. I glanced around not seeing or hearing him. I opened the closet, checked underneath the bed and behind the door. He wasn't in here either. He must've found a new spot to hide in.

I went back downstairs and walked into the kitchen. First I looked under the table, then behind the refrigerator, and inside the cabinets. I still didn't find him. I walked back into the living room, about to yell that I was going to give up when I heard the soft sound of Ponyboy's giggling.

Chuckling softly I walked to the couch and looked behind it, grinning. "Hi Pony." He uncovered his face and crawled out. He grinned up at me and I vaguely wondered how he got behind there without me knowing.

I just shrugged it off and grinned down at him. He smiled back at me and covered his eyes. I took that as my cue to hide. His counting was getting better but he sometimes forgets the pronunciation of the larger numbers. I think his favorite number is four because he can say it without any trouble and he'll be turning four in just four more days. The thought made me smile and frown a bit. I think we were all sadder to see him hit four than happy. None of us wanted him to ever grow up but it'd happen no matter how much we didn't want it to. But we'd just have to enjoy it while we can.

I quickly darted up to Pony's room and looked around for a good hiding place. I smiled and hurriedly crawled under his bed and was shocked that I actually fit. I vaguely heard Ponyboy running around the house trying to find me. I heard him open the bathroom door then close it after a few moments. Then I heard the refrigerator door open. What is he doing? I could never fit in there. But he is three he doesn't know any better. Then I heard soft footsteps coming upstairs and open another door and then he shut it, opening another one and it closed then...

"Johnny!" He didn't find me and it wasn't a shout of him giving up. It was a cry of pain.

I crawled out from underneath the bed with speed I didn't know I even had and ran out into the hallway where Pony was clutching his elbow. I ran over to him and sat down beside him inspecting the cut. It wasn't too bad but there was enough blood to be worried. I picked him up, speed walking to the bathroom. There were tears leaking out of his eyes but I couldn't hear any sobs, I didn't know if that was a good sign or not.

In the bathroom I placed Ponyboy on the sink counter and rummaged around for a bandage. I sighed in relief when I saw a brand new package of band-aids lying on the floor. I picked the small box up and opened it. Before placing it on his elbow I gently wiped off the small amount of blood from his skin. There wasn't much blood so I just wiped my hand on my jeans. Pony smiled and turned his arm over so he could see the band-aid. It was blue and had red cars on it. He smiled and kicked his legs back and forth.

"Are you alright baby?" I asked him still concerned.

He nodded happily and watched his feet. I grinned sweetly at him and lifted him back up. He wrapped his arms around my neck and his legs around my waist as I walked out to the living room to check the time and saw that it was almost eleven thirty. I knew going to the Dairy Queen would probably perk him up and it usually takes at least twenty minutes to get there so I grinned at Ponyboy.

"Ready to go to the Dairy Queen?" I didn't even need to ask him because he was already nodding excitedly before I even finished the sentence. "Alright then let's go!"

I walked out the door sighing. I remembered that we'd have to walk and that would take about thirty minutes. I didn't mind, I liked walking it's always a great way to clear your head, Ponyboy liked it too. Well at least for five minutes then he'd complain the rest of the way there.

I sped walk for awhile until we were about halfway there then I had to stop before walking again, but slower. Once we finally got there I was beyond relieved. My feet were killing me. Right now I really envied Ponyboy for being a kid, he gets to be carried everywhere. But he also started a little protest about how 'big boys can walk all by themselves.' Sure we're happy he wants to be independent and all but we can't help but feel that this is happening way too quickly.

As if on cue he started to squirm around in my arms so when we went inside I put him down, keeping hold of his hand.

I took a quick glance up at the menu before waking a bit closer to the line. There were only two people in front of us so I thought we made great time.

"Johnny! I can't see!" Pony was jumping up and down to try and see the menu. He couldn't read the words but he'd always look at the pictures of the food and decide what he wanted based on that.

I lifted him up again. "Better?" He nodded happily. After another minute we had finally made up our minds and were heading to the front to order. I was getting two barbecue sandwiches and Pony was getting one barbecue sandwich and, after some convincing, a chocolate ice cream cone.

I was going to walk us back to his house but then remembered Sodapop wanted me to bring him to the DX so I turned back around and headed there instead. We ate on the way there. Usually everyone tried to make Pony eat the sandwich first then he could have the desert but ice cream was the one exception. And it was already dripping all over the place from melting, due to the hotter than usual weather, and since he wasn't the neatest eater to begin with. When he went to lick the ice cream he'd unintentionally knock some of it off the cone.

I was just happy that he seemingly forgotten about his little injury.

Once we got there my eyes wandered over to the door where the bell on the top kept ringing. Walking closer I saw the source of the increasingly annoying sound. Two-Bit. Rolling my eyes at his antics I made my way over to the counter and placed Ponyboy bedside the cash register. He was giggling at the bells chiming. I looked over at Soda who was twitching, trying to keep a mask of politeness etched onto his face, and Steve who just plain looked like he wanted to strangle Two-Bit.

"Open that door one more time Two-Bit.." Steve started then noticed Pony and I and tried to calm down. After a few more seconds he was calmed again.

Sodapop glanced over to where Steve was still looking at us smiling softly at Ponyboy. Soda smiled at Pony and walked over to him, petting his hair. Laughing softly, he wiped off the remaining barbecue and chocolate from his brother's face and lifted him up. He frowned when he saw the bandage on Pony's arm and almost immediately started coddling and hugging him. Steve's eyes became a touch softer when he noticed the bandage on the child.

"What happened?" Sodapop murmured so mellifluously I didn't know if he was speaking to me or Ponyboy.

"I think he got his elbow caught on something," I answered. Then I realized that I never did ask him what happened. I didn't want to upset him and I was too concerned with getting him better.

Sodapop nodded and gently pressed his lips against Ponyboy's band-aid and rubbed his back.

I looked over at Two-Bit and noticed he stopped messing around with the bell causing Ponyboy to frown and Steve to have a look of relief on his face. Two-Bit walked over to us and, after making sure Ponyboy was alright, turned to me with a grin slowly creeping onto his face.

"Hey kid you got a little.." he trailed off and motioned to his mouth. I felt around my mouth and felt some left over barbecue. Blushing, I wiped it off. He just laughed and ruffled my hair.

After a few minutes the bell on the door chimed and a customer came in. Steve looked at Two-Bit knowingly. Two-Bit's hands flew up in defeat.

"I know what you're thinking Stevie but it's not me this time." He then motioned to the customer who was approaching closer and closer. Sodapop noticed him and hurriedly set Ponyboy behind the counter, shielding him from the customer. I shook my head smiling. Those two really were protective over Ponyboy. The customer looked at Sodapop curiously then began putting his bag of chips and 7-Up on the counter, pulling out his wallet.

After he left Sodapop lifted Ponyboy back up then there was a string of people hanging around outside the station. Sodapop sent me a look to get Ponyboy out of here and handed him to me. Two-Bit came with us, offering to drive. I ran for his car, still holding Ponyboy, and got in before anyone could coo over him and scare him.

We drove in silence for awhile then Two-Bit began to tell stories that Ponyboy didn't even understand and that I wish I couldn't understand. I was pretty sure my face was a deep shade of red by now.

Once we got back to the house I was beyond relieved. That is until Two-Bit almost knocked over Ponyboy's now complete tower. Ponyboy smiled, bouncing around the tower happy as can be.

For the next few hours we just sat around and watched TV while Ponyboy played with some of his other toys. When he was bored with that he began to jump around the house happily, talking about his upcoming birthday. Four more days. After awhile he wore himself out and fell asleep on the floor, next to his tower, clutching his favorite stuffed animal, a teddybear. Two-Bit grinned at him and carefully picked him up, setting him on the couch and covering him up with a blanket. Then he sat on the floor next to me so he wouldn't disturb him. I smiled too, wishing now more than ever that he could stay like this forever.