Chapter Text
It was after sunset when he got home on Friday, so naturally, he wasn’t expecting anybody to come home. The whole gang had a tendency to always find something to do on Fridays, and as long as it didn’t cause too much trouble Darry couldn’t bring himself to care. All the boys in the gang were young, they deserved to have a chance to have some fun.
This is why he was mildly confused when he walked into the house, only to find Johnny sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal and looking over at a cartoon playing on the television in the living room.
Darry found two things odd with the picture. One: Johnny usually didn’t like to be at Curtis's house by himself. And would especially hesitate to eat some of their food with no one else being there. Not that Darry minded, the kid just seemed to think he would be a freeloader if he did that. Two: Darry couldn’t see Ponyboy or Dally nearby. Johnny always seemed to be attached at the hip with at least one of them at any given time. It was like they had some sort of joint custody agreement over the kid or something.
Johnny looked up and gave a quick wave to Darry before going back to his cereal. Now that Darry is thinking about it, it has been just over two weeks since Johnny had stayed here. And with how much Two-Bit has been drunkenly sleeping on his couch lately there was no way Johnny had been over at Two-Bit’s place. And while Johnny may have spent a couple of nights at Dally’s place, with the amount of fights that the blonde man had been getting into recently there was no way Johnny had been spending much time there. Because no matter how much it was obvious to Darry that Dally would never get close to hurting Johnny, the kid still didn’t like spending much time with the blonde when he was in one of his dangerous moods.
Johnny had some fading bruises on his face and since Darry hadn’t heard of the kid getting jumped any time recently, they could only have come from one place. But with how much they had faded, now only faint yellow marks on Johnny’s face, it’s clear that they hadn’t happened recently. The lot was the only other place Johnny could have been sleeping and honestly, Darry didn’t know how he hadn’t noticed sooner. The way dirt seemed to cling to him, his black hair greasier than normal, and how quickly he seemed to be eating his cereal. Chances are it was the first thing he had all day and it wasn’t even a proper meal. Darry would have to make sure the kid ate something good that night.
Darry wasn't sure how to approach that kind of conversation with Johnny so he took a seat next to him and the two of them sat in silence for a while. Johnny kept on looking at Darry out of the corner of his eye as if expecting him to start saying something so Darry figured he had to come up with something quick.
“You know where the rest of the gang are?” Johnny with the wide-eyed look on his face that he only ever got when talking to people in the gang but Darry was never fully able to understand. He couldn’t help but question if that meant he said the right thing or not.
“Two-Bit and Dal are at Buck’s and Steve’s trying to help Soda pick up broads at the Drive-In,” Johnny said and Darry couldn’t help but let out a laugh at the mental image of that.
“And where’s Pony?” Johnny just gave Darry a confused look without saying anything and it somehow made Darry question if he was doing something wrong more than he already was.
They stared at each other for what must have been at least two minutes until Johnny sighed and said, “He’s on the couch,” With such a subtle hint of disappointment that Darry would have preferred it if Johnny slapped him in the face and called him an idiot.
Darry forced himself to ignore that as he checked the couch, and sure enough, Ponyboy was there fast asleep. Except there was one other detail that Johnny forgot to mention: Curly Shepard was there too.
Honestly, Darry didn’t mind Curly so much. At least not to the extent of Soda, who always seemed to have some kind of reaction whenever Ponyboy and Curly were together.
Fortunately, Soda was now able to hide them a bit better and would usually only give Darry annoyed glances as if begging for him to kick Curly out of the house. Darry would never have the heart to do that though, not when their house was the only place where Ponyboy and Curly could act like a normal couple without fear.
Looking at Ponyboy, who was wrapped in Curly’s arms, gave Darry an odd sense of deja vu that took him a moment to place. But once he did he immediately let out a chuckle that made Johnny give him a confused look.
“Sorry, I need to get something real quick,” Darry said and went to his room. Where, sure enough, a scrapbook was buried in the bottom of the closet which had a specific picture that his parents had taken long ago. A small, five-year-old Ponyboy, fast asleep in the arms of a young Johnny in the exact same pose and on the exact same couch.
When Darry returned to Johnny, who had returned to his cereal, he saw that Ponyboy and Curly must have woken up in all the commotion, a fact that Darry couldn’t help but smile at because this was the perfect opportunity for him to tease his little brother.
As Darry set the scrapbook on the table and started flipping through the pages he said, “So Pony, did you have a thing for Johnny when you were younger?” Johnny started choking on his cereal as Ponyboy’s face turned bright red.
“What?” Ponyboy weakly asked as Darry finally found the right page.
“You were always holding onto Johnny when you were younger. We could never get you to stop. Mom and Dad even took some pictures of it. Ponyboy looked at the scrapbook, and somehow his face was even redder.
“Shit, I think you're right.” And something about the way that Ponyboy so quickly accepted that made Darry burst out laughing so much he didn’t even bother to comment on Ponyboy’s choice of words.
Darry looked back at the picture and he couldn’t help but remember how he acted all those years ago. About how he’d try to keep Ponyboy away from Johnny even though Johnny never seemed to mind it all. Darry remembers when he was in high school if he even heard the slightest rumor about someone being queer then that poor kid would automatically become the target of him and his friends. There was a small middle-class boy from years ago that Darry knew he and Paul had gone after a number of times. The main thing Darry remembers about him is how he curled in on himself when Darry kicked him in the ribs one time. The boy moved away from Tulsa shortly after that. Darry couldn’t even remember the boy’s name, but he was sure there was no way that the boy had forgotten him.
If Darry had caught Curly making out with some boy over Ponyboy he doesn’t want to think about what he may have done. He doesn’t think he’d be able to even if he wanted to. It was like there was some sort of barrier that physically prevented Darry from imagining what may have happened.
Curly leaned into Ponyboy’s side as they flipped through the picture book and Darry knew that there was no way he could ever tell Ponyboy about what he’s done in the past. Instead, he made himself listen to whatever the three boys were talking about.
“Curly, I can’t believe you stole my man from me.” Johnny calmly said without even looking up from his cereal.
“Not my fault you didn’t make a move first.” Curly responded.
And golly, Darry is glad he tuned into the conversation because he was not expecting Johnny to make that kind of joke.
Darry started reheating some leftover spaghetti from the night before as the boys talked amongst themselves. Somehow it was mostly a conversation between Curly and Johnny, which confused Darry until he turned around and saw Ponyboy silently flipping through the scrapbook. He was at the beginning of the book, a section that Darry knew mainly held photos of their parents before they had any kids.
He stepped away from the spaghetti and looked over Ponyboy’s shoulder to see photos from his parents' wedding staring up at him. All Darry could do was lean down and give Ponyboy a kiss on the head and say, “I know, baby, I know.”
Dinner was an uneventful affair. And despite Ponyboy’s solemn mood, Darry couldn’t help but be satisfied by the fact that he managed to get some food in Johnny.
Eventually Ponyboy and Curly left for Ponyboy’s room and while Darry checked to make sure that the boys left the door open he would let the couple have their space. Curly may have been young, immature, and too much of a hood for his own good but even he would be able to tell that Ponyboy wouldn’t have been in the mood for anything that would require a closed door. And despite all the boy’s flaws, Darry knew that Curly would never do anything to Ponyboy if he didn’t want it.
That left Darry with Johnny, who was eating his second plate of pasta faster than anyone should feel the need to. “You should spend the night,” Darry said in a way that wouldn’t allow for Johnny to work his way out without a good reason.
Luckily, Johnny seemed to agree with him as he laid down on the couch and closed his eyes and he couldn’t help but think about all those years ago when Johnny laid there with Ponyboy in his arms. Darry was never able to understand he never had issues with Ponyboy holding on to him all of the time. But now, when looks at the fading bruises on Johnny’s face he thinks he can finally understand.