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Chapter Text

Inhale

Hold

Exhale

Inhale

Hold

Exhale

Those were the only thoughts that were in your head when you smoked. All the exhausting thoughts and events that would consistently flood your brain would disappear after the first exhale. You sure did love that feeling that was just so hard to snag in Windrixville.

You remembered being taught about cigarettes in class, the teacher was saying something along the lines of ‘dopamine’ and the danger of cigs in the school of the small countryside town you lived in, but…you never really did listen to anything those teachers said. I mean, you were always busy with other stuff, if you weren’t lugging heavy things around you were busy relaxing for the little time you had to yourself. Why listen to teachers when you’d be out and about doing more manual work than calculating confusing numbers on a sheet of paper? Is what you figured.

You were out of your small hick hometown right now, but you were only going to be here in Tulsa for a couple of days as the custom of visiting relatives was very much present. Even if they were so many miles away and you didn’t even know them that well, but your parents were persistent to keep in touch with any and all family that didn’t even bother looking like they wanted to reciprocate that feeling.

They’re definitely sweet folks though, something that you noted, but were very distant and at times enclosed in their own little world.

It was hard to talk to them comfortably and was even harder to think about coming around liking them to at least try to enjoy their company, so you didn’t bother putting any effort into your relationship with them. You’d only see them a few hours a day anyway.

Tulsa was a different thing altogether though, long-story-short, you didn’t like it here.

Even if you weren’t so perceptive in your studies, you could already tell the weird hierarchy this town had, especially with the two main groups that divided this place. First group were kids around your age wearing expensive watches and rings that just screamed ‘spoiled rich kid’ and second were the other folks that always had the greasiest hair known to mankind with these leather jackets that seemed latched to their backs like parasites.

It didn’t take long to know what kind of dynamic they had, especially with all the looks they were shooting each other. And those switchblades, oh those damn switchblades, what were kids doing casually swinging them around here?! It was a town full of hoodlums that you were forced to be with for a few days a month or maybe a year, it really all depended on what your parents felt like.

All wasn’t that bad though, those folks with the leather jackets, greasers they called themselves, were intimidating, but if you found the right ones they were easy to trade with. The cigarettes, alcohol, and the weed, oh the weed, you shivered a bit as you thought of the addictive joint that would spread all the way through your body.

The greasers didn’t seem to mind trading some for something like a booze or a couple of bucks, but boy was it just heavenly getting stoned for the first time in the last couple of occasions you’ve gone here.

Your parents and relatives were always busy doing all the weird shit they wanted to accomplish in Tulsa, so you were free to get drunk and smoke an amount that seemed almost taboo compared to the small humble town you grew up in, not that the amount had to be much to enter that criteria.

But, right now, you were taking it slow with the first cigarette you’ve had in weeks as you casually walked down the sidewalk.

It was sunny out, and the sun felt surprisingly nice on the exposed parts of your skin from your short sleeved flannel as you inhaled more nicotine from your cigarette.

You took in the scenery of the streets before looking at your arm, with just that you started to think. Since your brain was starting to feel more empty than tranquil after a bit of puffing the intoxicating fumes.

You were a farm boy, but your arms never seemed big enough for all the work you did. I mean, you could count as a lumberjack if you wanted, just for the amount of wood you chopped and were always tasked by your father to, in order to ‘be accepted into manhood’ or whatever that meant.

Father?

Oh yeah, your father, you had forgotten about him, truthfully you didn’t understand him. But he was strict and he’d probably kill you for what you were holding between your lips—

Wait, which part of town were Ma and Pa visiting again?, you thought as a bit of fear spiked on your back. You didn't remember which part of the town they were going to spend the day in, what if they were coming to this part of town?

If they caught sight of what you were doing right now, oh how what a storm you’d have to expect…

Thinking on that no further, you walked to a nearby alley and went behind the dumpster to finish the rest of the cigarette and go unseen by any bystanders. Yep, couldn’t have anyone seeing the state you were in right now. You let that thought pass through your head as you brought the cigarette away from your mouth to exhale.

You smoked for a bit longer, until the flame was getting dangerously close to your fingers. Unfortunately now was the time for the bit of rare fun to end, if it didn’t then your fingers would be burned off or something. What a buzzkill, you were thinking as you stood up to stomp on your cigarette before promptly sitting back down. Maybe you’d let the rest of the feeling pass through before getting back up again.

.

.

.

Those few minutes turned into a quarter of an hour and soon you forgot how long you were there when you decided to light up another cigarette that would probably turn into 3. A few footsteps passed through here and there and so did some surprisingly nice looking cars, you mindlessly glanced at these few objects as you breathed out a puff of smoke.

Oh a trash bag, there’s a dead rat, a half-eaten burger, ooh is that a pair of broken sandals?, you leisurely noted as you breathed out puffs of smoke.

Eventually you took note of some hurried footsteps from rather far away. Not to mention, the low rumbling of a car that seemed even farther. You didn't pay much attention to any of it, thinking of these little notes in your head as a fun pointless small game to think about later, that was..until both the car and the footsteps stopped just a couple of steps before the alleyway.

Murmured phrases from around 5 to 6 guys were being spewed that you could somewhat decipher from your position, easily telling you that whatever interaction they were having weren’t friendly, not that you were eavesdropping, well you were, but it’s not eavesdropping if they don’t know…

You still stayed behind the dumpster, whatever shit they were doing, you didn’t have any part in it. After all, what if the guy owed them money, you were sure that you’d do the same exact thing in order to get that dollar. Or maybe the guy was flirting with one of their girls, a guy back home named Thomas got into that situation once.

Putting out the cigarette against the brick wall, you continued to listen to what you could make out as if it was some bad soap opera playing on the home radio.

That thinking would quickly change as the guy who you presumed was getting cornered was being put in some sort of hold and the mention of a knife in the murmurs. Wait, a knife?!

Instantly you stood up and peered from the alley to view what was happening. Wow, wasn’t that a scene to behold, was all that was processing through your head as you quietly stared with widened eyes.

There were five of those ‘spoiled as a kid’ guys, Socs, you think they called em, and a greaser. One of them had a knife pointed towards the greaser and was spouting promises of cutting off his hair while the others were sinisterly giggling from behind like a bunch of wannabe mean girls.

Pieces were being brought together as realization hit you, oh, he’s getting fucking jumped.

That was enough convincing to get you to move from your ass.

Running over to the scene, you threw a right hook at the boy that was holding the knife, successfully toppling him over and disarming him as the knife flew from his hold. The others, including you, looked shocked, mouth agape and everything.

You’ve never gotten into a fight in your entire life before other than wrestling some pigs and a few rodeos from out of town, but they didn’t need to know that.

You threw another punch at one of the other guys and it was enough for everyone else to sober up. Quickly before anyone acted you took the knife from the ground and threw it the farthest you could away. It was far enough for it to be out of the equation in this fight. Good.

With that, adrenaline-filled confidence was starting to rise in you.

The greaser, getting the hint of the situation, broke out of the hold that he was originally in and began to throw punches towards the Socs as well. Your nose must’ve been bleeding when one of them clocked you in the face, but you returned it with a hard and solid knee to the gut.

You had no idea what you were doing, but it seemed to be working. All of those days working and doing physically laboring jobs for neighbors and parents day in and day out were finally coming through as the stinging sensations on your body were drinking into your confidence.

Glancing momentarily at the guy who you had rushed in to save, you noticed a few things. The kid seemed to be going good as well, now that you were actually glancing at him he seemed 16? 15? 14? But, he had a good build, and would probably be great for chopping wood and lugging around crates. You focused no more on him as you put your attention back onto the Socs.

Admittedly, despite holding up fairly well, your lack of experience was holding you down a bit. You were becoming nervous as you were sure that bruises would appear on your body the next day and the falter in your steps that came with each of their punches that were decorated with rings. Boy did those rings work as replacements for brass knuckles and they knew that.

As if your prayers were being heard, one of them, after painfully twisting their wrist in the wrong way, ran away. Each of their punches were getting sloppy, including yours as the next Soc seemed to follow suit by piling into the car instead. You could hear their shouts as the rest of them either ran away down the street or got back into the car.

The last one finally ran and hastily put the keys into the wheel and quickly drove away. With one big puff of gross smoke from the back, the car disappeared down the road, all while your eyes trailed it. Before you knew it, it felt like air was knocked out of your lungs as you heaved audibly. Twisting your head, you turned to look at the guy you just spent the last few minutes fighting for.

He also seemed to be relieved as he breathed loudly and slowly, however there were a whole lotta bruises that were just covering his face like Christmas decorations and there were probably more below the layers of his clothing, you wondered if it was the same for you too.

Any relief in that small moment of victory was short-lived as the greaser fell knee first on the concrete sidewalk and almost began to dry heave by the sounds of his choked coughs. Concern distorted your face as you ran to his side and began patting his back.

“Hey boy, you okay?” You asked as he slowly nodded his head. “What’s your name?”

“...Ponyboy”, he managed to shakingly say through his coughs and gags.

“Okay, uh, Ponyboy, I can take you to the hospital and they’ll fix ya up and-, and—”

“No- no-, it’s alright”

“Uh, um… I can walk ya home if you’d like instead? Maybe lead the way and you can patch yourself up there?”

“I…”

As you tried to listen to his words, you could hear footsteps from behind that you couldn’t care enough at the moment to check, too focused on the boy ahead of you. But, when the footsteps stopped right at you and Ponyboy’s position was when you bothered to look up.

Six people, six people who were staring at you and Ponyboy with eyes that were laced with concern, who were wearing something awfully similar to what Ponyboy was rocking.

So good chance they wouldn’t jump the both of you unlike the group before.

“Ponyboy?”, one of them voiced as they neared the two of you.

You looked back at Ponyboy and could see the look of familiarity he had in his eyes, oh, they know each other. Recognizing that, you stood up and took a step back, allowing for the other members of the group to start closing in around him.

“Darry?”

“Pony, what happened? Was it one of those Socs? Was it him?”, the man(who you presumed to be named Darry and to be around his 18s, 20s), hurriedly said as he pointed an arm towards you.

“No Darry, it was some of the Socs, they-, they pulled a car up to me when I was walkin’ and…”, he hesitated to finish putting in a rather big pause into his sentence.

“Ah, would you look at yourself Ponyboy, they really roughed you up”, another voice chimed in, kneeling beside Ponyboy as he placed a hand on his shoulder seemingly examining Pony’s face.

“Well, what were you doing walking around here lonesome, especially while the Socs are running rampant! You coulda gotten Soda or Johnny to walk with you! Just what were you thinking, Ponyboy!” Darry(?) said sternly, his concern switching over to well meaning anger. Like a mother hen, you half-heartedly thought.

As he scolded Ponyboy, you shifted uncomfortably in your position just a few steps away from the group. You could probably go now, right?

Loudly clearing your throat in order to get their attention, you skittishly said “I suppose I better get goin’ now, take care folks”. Fuck, why’d you say that? You could’ve just ran right there and then.

Avoiding their eyes, you could feel some of their gazes that were practically clawing at your head. You could guess what they were thinking, perhaps they were curious, about why you were there in that position with Ponyboy, what your involvement was, maybe they could get information out of you.

As casually as you could, you turned around and began to walk, one foot ahead of the other, soon enough that it turned into a sprinting, as you began darting down the sidewalk as if you were going to catch a stray chicken. Turns out that call happened to be right as a trail of footsteps were beginning to follow you before a voice, who you presumed to be Darry and Ponyboy, called them back.

Wouldn’t this be a story to tell when you go to buy weed again.

Chapter Text

“You know Ed, I beat up some Socs yesterday” You nonchalantly said as you passed over your joint after a brief inhale.

“Hmm, yeah, those damn Socs been everywhere nowadays”, Ed replied, Ed was a trading partner of sorts, someone who you could get smokes from and get all buddy-buddy with, he was a greaser, one of the many in Tulsa. “Can’t leave the house without some sort of blade. You should see what they did to my kid brother, poor Alf couldn’t come out for weeks”

You voiced a quiet ‘ohhh’, before reaching over to the joint again.

“Hey, [Name]”, Eds started, “Want to go to the drive in, happening tonight?”

“Which one?”

“Obviously the Nightly Double. Fuck else do you think we’d go?” Ed said, as if it was the most obvious thing ever. He made sure to give you a look that made you feel real stupid, the same one the Neighbor’s dog would give when you walked past. But, you couldn’t shake your curiosity just yet, after all, there were plenty of other drive-ins that folks could go to. It just sparked interest inside of you.

“What about the Dingo? Or how about the Way out? Ain’t those drive-ins too?” You inquired after blowing yet another puff of smoke into the air. The smoke flew mesmerizingly above you and danced gracefully before disappearing to who knows where, kinda like the exotic dancers in the old shows that your father liked to watch.

“[Name].”, Ed said your name plainly as he turned to grab the joint out of your hand. “The Way Out is for the Soc bastards and the Dingo is for the greasers. We can't be together like that, if we did, sirens would always be ringing at drive-ins or somethin’, that’s just common sense. I mean, you’ve been in and out of Tulsa for quite a bit now, thought you would know”, he said as he waved his arms into the smoke, “But even I don’t go to the Dingo no more. That place is a hot spot to get arrested” He mumbled the last bit as he pointed his free hand towards you all while taking another hit from the joint.

“Geez Ed, cool your pants, I get it” You said as you watched the last of the joint dissipate in Ed’s hand. The warm lively glow that was dying in his hand, closing into its last puffs and dancing dangerously to Ed’s fingers.

However, before the fire could burn the tips of his rough hands, Ed threw the joint onto the ground and stomped on it. “Great, now are you coming or not?”

“Well, not together, but we can meet up there”

Ed looked at you, it was the kind of look your father(or was it the neighbor’s dog again) always gave you when you explained something too vaguely, or at least that’s how he put it. You’ve been getting that look a lot nowadays. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I think my parents are gonna go to the drive-in tonight before I have to leave, I’ll tell em that I’ll get some snacks and we can meet”, You explained briefly, better to keep it nice and simple right?

“Thanks [Name]”, Ed’s face was flushed with relief as soon as you spewed a confirmation. Muscles that you didn’t know were tense before suddenly loosened up in his face and he looked relaxed. So unlike him, that you just had to wonder. Why is he so eager today? You pondered all the possibilities that you could in that split second, it just didn’t make sense to you. I mean this was also the same dude that would always be vague in his answers, you’d ask him ‘Hotdogs or Hamburgers?’ and he would respond with ‘Sure’, but yet now, he was so concise and tenacious for this particular drive-in. Really itched you in a way.

“Actually Ed, why do you wanna meet up anyway?” You asked, indulging in your curiosity. Although you guys were friends, business friends as you insisted, he was never this persistent. Never so clumsy and open, well maybe clumsy on the occasion, but definitely not open.

Ed’s eyes looked at the floor as if embarrassed, so different from his usual tough guy greaser facade. It was interesting to see what could’ve made him act this way. Fuck, this made you real curious. What could it be? The mystery alone was enough for your fingers to start twitching anticipatingly. Now that you think about it, it was kinda sad that this was all it took to give you a kick. Well, you didn’t have much to do in Windrixville anyway, so this much would obviously be interesting. It’s not weird, not at all, was what you deluded yourself with.

“...Well Ed, are ya gonna tell me?” You watched as his face seemed to go through all stages of grief in just a minute. Ed briefly alternated between shaking his head and biting his lip. From the look in his eyes, you could tell he was unsure of what to tell you. Plenty of kids back home did the same thing, so this was a no brainer, you didn’t need good ol’ school to tell you that unlike what your pops would preach.

“Fuck, [Name], you got me. A real pretty girl is gonna be there”, Ed finally declared while meekly rubbing the back of his neck as if he was a school girl in love. “And it would be fucking pathetic to try and pick up a chick without a buddy. Alf’s been out ever since he was jumped, so I figured that ya gotta be the most convenient” Well, only one of the two metaphors actually quite literally applied, ‘he was caught in the snare of love’ as your Ma would say. And by the looks of it that love was on the brink of giving cold ol’ Ed tetanus.

You quirked an eye and playfully punched his shoulder. Your clenched fist lightly grazed the thick fabric of his leather jacket, it was a nice surprise. Whether it was the feeling of his leather or the fact that tough guy Ed, your dealer, were really telling you this. “Well shit, Ed, who’s the lucky girl?”

Ed gave a real big toothy grin at the opportunity to tell about his new girl crush,“It’s this Soc chick, Cherry’s her name. Real fine I tell you.” Soc? You paused to give him a look, one that spelled confusion. Ed recognized that gaze as he quickly turned to defend himself, “Look man! Cherry’s different! She’s as nice as a gal could get! And rumor says her hair smells like real cherries too!”

“What’re you? A stalker?” You teased as you continued to poke fun at him. Man, tough guy Ed was acting real different this morning. “How’d you know she’s even goin’ in the first place?”

Ed shot you a glare, which made you sure that you weren’t going to get an answer to the last bit, but that was fine.

“Whatever man, when you see her, you’ll know I’m right. Heard she’s got a pretty friend too, maybe we can both get lucky”

He was getting real sure of himself today, something that you had noticed. Maybe he could score a rooster back at home with how cocky he was getting. His weed would always be good though, no matter how dog shit his words were. Just thinking about it made you salivate. That was the only way you guys could really be considered friends, business friends, but friends nonetheless.

“Right…next ya gonna tell me they have boy toys and that we’ll be somehow better.”

“Yeah, they do”

“Wha—-”

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.

.

You sat on the somewhat torn seat in your parent’s pick up truck. Today was the last day you’d be here in Tulsa and your parents wanted to catch a movie, they would probably leave midway, but it would be more than enough time to attend whatever business that Ed wanted to accomplish. After all, the key to being good business friends was favors, that’s what friends do after all. It was practically a rule of getting friends back in Windrixville, one you didn’t need to say in order for folks to get the gist.

You both had agreed to meet up at the concession stand. Then Ed would take the lead and get Cherry’s number or something along those lines. But, first, you had to tell your parents. Which wasn’t that hard, for as strict as they were at times, they didn’t give a shit about what happened to you in Tulsa as long as it stayed in Tulsa. But there were exceptions, like smoking, drinking, murder, all that stuff would be enough to be disowned in this shit city forever.

You climbed out of the car and hurriedly made your way to the concession stands, in the process, occasionally bumping your side into the other cars in the lot. But, they didn’t seem to mind too much…you wouldn’t know though, you didn’t stay long enough to see their reactions. Soon enough though, you neared your destination.

From what you could see there were chairs in front of the concession stand. Sparing a glance as you hurriedly rushed over, you saw a familiar face. Ponyboy.

What was this kid doing here? That’s one heck of a coincidence. You let your gaze prolong on him as you walked past. Seemed like he was talking with a red head who was accompanied by another girl, looks like the kid had charm in the love department. What stood out the most to you however, was that his bruises were mostly faded, in fact, his face was surprisingly pristine for a kid who just got into a fight just yesterday. He healed fast, you would’ve whistled at how impressive it was, but you refrained, it’d kinda be like you were catcalling him. And that’d be kinda immoral as your father would put it. But, you could see why people might holla at him, he has a good build, an especially nice tuft of hair—, oh Ed.

In the corner of your eye, you could see Ed, slouched over and nibbling at a piece of popcorn somewhere distanced from the side of the concession stand. Was that a thing he always did? You wouldn’t know. As you approached him, he suddenly twisted his head right to your direction. The first thing you noticed when he turned towards you, was that he looked down in the dumps. His face was really drooping like the weird goop that the neighbor’s would call brunch on the occasion. As much as you had noticed it, you refrained from saying it. Otherwise, it’d be your own face that was drooping. You learned not to say a lot of things that were rash especially when a guy named Thomas learned the hard way when he flirted with the newspaper boy’s girlfriend.

“I got no fucking chance with Cherry”, Ed blurted out as soon as your eyes met. Well that was out of the blue. The same guy that was raving all this morning that he could snag a chick from her Soc of a boyfriend was suddenly so crushed and defeated. Damn, Ed was really raising a lot of questions today.

“And why’d ya say that?”

“Dally got to her first. No one would try to touch anything Dally likes!” You watched as Ed moped about the familiar name. Dally, you had heard he was quite the troublesome guy, apparently involved in quite a lotta gang stuff while being in and out of jail. Sure he sounded scary, but it could be that bad? Well, in your small hick town, that much oughta be enough for everyone to practically exile you. But, ain’t it different in Tulsa? Is what you wondered.

“Well, where is he?” You asked, you were kinda curious about this Dally guy if Ed was so reluctant to go on with his conquest. Ed pointed past you to something in front of the concession stand. “The chairs? All I see is Ponyboy and two girls”

Ed looked back, seemingly puzzled at what you had just said, “One of the Curtis brothers and two girls, that’s it? But, Dally was definitely there—, oh whatever”, Ed paused before he parted his lips to speak again, “Look, [Name], I’m gonna head back home, just thought I’d stick around to tell ya first.” He finished off his sentence as he began to walk past you. You turned around and surely enough, his greaser frame was getting further as he seemed to pick up pace, your eyes followed his back until he disappeared into the crowd of cars.

He left you just like that?

“Fuck, I could really use a cigarette”, You finally groaned out. It was disappointing really, how Ed acted so lovestruck and cocky, only for him to bail on you at the last minute, which left you bored and unimpressed. At least Thomas went through with his flirting attempts. Now you only had two options, you could go back to the stuffy car and watch the movie with the parents or you could kill some time by buying some snacks, then go back. “A coke and popcorn sounds real good right now”

Just like that, you ended up in line for two bags of popcorn and a coke. What would you do with two bags? Who the hell knows? A guy with a leather jacket who was originally in front of you had walked out with a handful of cokes, so maybe you’d do the same, just with popcorn.

When you walked back out, coke in one hand and two bags of popcorn in the other, you breathed deeply. You came to terms with the fact that your life in both Tulsa and Windrixville was boring without the aid of cigarettes and weed. But, in Windrixville, at least you had heavy stuff to carry around all the time. This was just another kind of boring, of course you could actually try to watch the movie. But, at the same time you could be doing something more fun and then maybe after you could actually sit down and watch the movie.

You looked towards the chairs right in front of the concession stand, just in time to watch a red headed girl throw coca cola right at the guy who had earlier walked out of the stand with a handful of coke.

“Wow”

Your thoughts had just been proven wrong, but at least it gave you something much more interesting to watch. I mean, if they don’t know, it’s fine right?

Compared to the group you had seen earlier with just Ponyboy and two girls, two more members had been added. A greaser with jet black hair and the greaser who had an armful of cokes, you could swear that you had seen these people with Ponyboy which was probably yesterday..

The guy who just had coke splashed on him, looked livid with the scariest grin you’d seen ever since that time you accidently knocked over your Ma’s favorite chinese vase that you could’ve shivered in your spot.

Straining your ears to the best of your ability, you could hear , “---That’s the way I like ‘em” as the Coca Cola Greaser moved closer to Miss Redhead. But, that was promptly stopped as Mr. Greasy Black Hair spoke up with, “Leave her alone, Dally”, quite a brave fella you would say, standing up to such an intimidating guy. So Coca Cola Greaser is Dally? I guess you learn something new everyday.

Disbelief seem to hit Dally hard as he stood still, just blankly staring at Mr. Greasy Black Hair. They stared at each other, seemingly trying to size each other up even though Greasy Black Hair was faltering. Kinda like ducks at a pond, just thinking about it made you snicker, but you quickly straightened yourself out and continued to watch with attentive eyes. Dally stood up and walked away towards you and away from the rest of the group with the most strained look you had ever seen in a man.

Fuck, if you didn’t know the context you would’ve probably wet your pants. But, you kept your cool as he continued to make his way to your direction. As he walked past you, you bumped shoulders. He put so much force into that shoulder bump that it felt as if a donkey was pushing past you.

It was a miracle that you didn’t outright fall butt first on the ground, but that didn’t mean your coke didn’t. It fell right into the dirt, it's contents quickly disappearing into the soil, which left a big wet spot on the ground. There goes your drink for the night.

“Watch it” Dally barked at you as he disappeared from behind you.

Man that guy had some bite, you didn’t seem to be all that curious about him no more.

Chapter Text

Your fingers twitched at your side, itching to give an applause at the outstanding performance that you had just witnessed.

You were impressed that this Dally guy could scare you so much, haven’t that much fear after accidentally knocking over your mother’s favorite vase, in a way you could see your Ma in Dally. It was so confusingly comical that it made it nearly fun in a way.

Man, that was fun. But, now it is over, and, worst of all, it left you unsatisfied. No matter how fun you could say it was, it felt empty, incomplete if you were gonna be more accurate. But, once again, the show was now over, gaining a standing ovation from you as one of the only audience. What to do, what to do?

You turned your head to look at the bags of popcorn in your right arm. Yeah, you could start thinking about this.

Could you really eat this without coke? Well, you could, or maybe you could just go back in and by another coke. Logically, you knew that was the most reasonable option. Just get another one.

Yeah, you could do that. Your eyes left the popcorn. But, what would be the fun of that? Your leg moved to kick the cup from below you. In hindsight buying two bags wasn't the smartest, especially when you really didn’t feel like eating two. Naturally your gaze locked onto what was in front of you to solve that problem.

Ponyboy.

Golly, ever since Dally left him, you could tell he was feeling a whole lot lighter with how he was talking to those girls. Up until now, you’ve only seen him either discomfortable or injured, seeing him laugh, was…endearing. Boy was he charming. You were sure your mother would’ve doted on him if given the chance, that is, if he wasn’t a greaser.

He was a real interesting guy in this city without being either an asshole or a dealer. Though, what would you know? You’ve only talked to him once.

But, you know, you could fix that. You could approach him right now, give him the second bag of popcorn and start up some small talk. It wouldn’t be all bad. Might give you what you were looking for.

…

Ha, what were you saying? Just thinking about that made you feel like you were sitting at home and watching your father’s favorite sitcom. Laughing along to all the stupid jokes all the characters would say, except what you were contemplating on doing was the punchline. It hadn’t even been a hot minute since the last exciting event and now you were looking for another one.

Made you feel real guilty for the kid. You already got two fun things from him, but a third one was a bit much, wasn’t it? You should really give him something in return for all the fun times.

You put a hand into the pockets of your jeans to fumble with the contents. A piece of square paper, some real old stickers, and a pen? Nope, nevermind, just some change. How’d you even mistake that for a pen? Maybe one was in the other pocket. Quickly, you shuffled the bags of popcorn from your right arm to the left, spilling a bit of it in the process.

You shoved your other hand into the right pocket. An old piece of candy, a gum wrapper— Bingo. The sides of your lips curved up as you took a pen out.

You pulled out the paper and the stickers from earlier all while trying to securely hold the pen and the bags of popcorn. The stickers were probably still sticky, right? You didn’t even remember why you had these, but they were here. Perched like a doll on a shelf, except in your pocket, waiting to be used. You attached the paper with the stickers and scribbled down the first thing you thought:

How’re the bruises?

Basic, you were well aware of that. But, what else would you even say? This was probably decent enough, couldn’t say much about it though. You were never one to try too hard on things that weren’t physical anyway, which was proved with your test scores. Even if now would be a better time to put your brain into work.

Casually, you strolled up to the chairs and placed the popcorn on the empty seat next to Ponyboy.

The abrupt pause in their conversation that followed suit was damn awkward. They took note of you too fast for your taste. Just stick with it [Name], can’t fucking sike yourself out of this now.

“Huh? Oh, you’re that guy!”, that guy? Oh, right, you’ve never told Ponyboy your name. As you turned your head, you gave your friendliest smile to meet all of the eyes that were now focused on you

“Yup, how’re the bruises, kid?” You asked coolly, taking the time to look at the other members of the conversation you had just cut into. Black hair greaser definitely recognised you, that look he was giving you wasn’t very discreet, wasn’t anything bad per say, just pure curiosity. You turned your attention to the redheaded girl. As soon as you locked eyes, it didn’t take long to know that she was pretty. The kind of pretty that was hard to find in the dumps of Tulsa and the entirety of Windrixville. But, it kinda fit the description Ed gave you, was this the chick that Ed liked? Just a split second was all that was needed to deduce that she was out of his league.You knew he was cocky, but you didn’t take that his confidence would go all the way from Maine to California.

You looked back at Ponyboy, watching as he scratched the side of his head and moved a bit in his seat. Well wasn’t he a shy character? At least, that’s what his little movements suggested. Your Ma always said you knew how to tell someone from a few movements, didn’t take being smart to know that.

“Oh, they’re good”, Ponyboy replied rather stoically for someone his age. You could feel the sides of your mouth curl upwards even more at this nicely wrapped surprise. Well, you’d be darned, guess your judge of character isn’t as mint condition as it usually would be. Kid seemed to be real ballsy with that confidence.

“Alright kid, whatever ya say” You commented as pushed the popcorn onto his lap before turning to walk away. His bruises were probably good if you were gonna be completely honest, his face was near pristine in fact. But that didn’t matter, when you said that. With one foot ahead of the other, you walked with long strides back to the car.

As you grew farther from the group, you could hear the pitter patter of your heart. From that little interaction? Man, what were you thinking? You may not have thought all that much, but this was another kind of not thinking.

For a moment, you looked back. Ponyboy still seemed to be rather confused with how he held the popcorn. But, the atmosphere was otherwise left fairly unchanged with how they continued to converse. He was an interesting guy, you were curious about what else you’d see with him. If you would ever see him again that is. Tulsa was a big place after all and you learned not to expect to see the same person just right around the corner the next day after the third or fourth visit. Guess you just had to feel guilty forever for getting so many fun times from him.

It wasn’t long before you reached your parent’s pick up truck. You awkwardly scooted to the back of the car as you tried not to spill the remaining popcorn in the other hand. No one said anything all while you tried your best to comfortably sit in the back, ultimately succeeding after a minute or two.

It was all silence, your Ma said nothing as she played disinterestedly with the hem of her shirt, your Pa was silent seemingly content on staring at nothing, and you? You sure as hell wouldn’t say anything either.

“What took you so long boy?”, spoke a voice from the driver seat. Your Pops to be more exact. He turned his head to the side to see you, a vein was surging on his neck as irritation rang loud and clear on his face. “We were planning to drive back home and you’re messing about back there as if time don’t matter.”

You frowned, careful he couldn’t see your expression. How could he accuse you of messing around back there, in which he was 100% right, but surely it hadn’t been that long. How long did you even spend back there? You didn’t think it was all that much to get him all bothered like this. Ah, whatever, it’d be useless to argue anyway.

You turned to meet his eyes, a wide, plastic, smile adorned your face, “Sorry pops, the line was real long. By the time I got there, it could reach all the way to the moon.” you spewed to him happily, it was easy to tell that your pa could see through the bullshit. But, he nodded anyways, already pulling out of drive-in all while muttering something about where you learned to lie like that.

Nothing else was said as you rotated your head to the little window on the side of the car. Guess that’s all your folks wanted to talk about.

It was pretty dark outside, had to be in order to project the movie, but with all the lights back at the concession stand, you forgot about it. You forget about a lot of things don’t you?

Time seems to pass like nothing when in a car, but you stayed awake. You watched the street lights, the roads, the chairs. Taking note of these little surroundings let everything pass by easier. It would take most of the night to get there, you were no stranger by now. The car ride to Tulsa and home was the most boring out of it all. There, you were trusted with nothing but your thoughts and the silence of your parents. Like your fucking science teacher would say, there was nothing in your brain, it was all hollow. Lady luck was on his side when you barely resisted throwing pumpkin guts on his porch every time you passed by his house though.

Occasionally, during the ride, you’d glance over to the seats in the front, but it was always the same, your mother was sleeping and your father was driving.

But what had to be the worst about this stupid car ride was neither the repetitiveness or the silence, but the coming to terms with the fact that you wouldn’t get in arms length of another cigarette for weeks or months. That was the most agonizing thing back in Windrixville too, it itched you to the very core. To not have a flammable stick of nicotine wedged right between your fingers was maddening. You could try to sneak some in, but your Pops was a perceptive man, no matter how outdated and old you thought he was, you couldn’t deny that he’d probably find anything he disapproved of and give you hell for it.

Aside from that, you also knew that you would regret staying awake the entire time when you arrived back at Windrixville, but that’s what you always did. Not like you ever bothered to change it.

—----------------------------------------

As the car pulled up to the dirt driveway of your house, you blinked as you struggled to both let your eyes rest and stay awake. This feeling was nothing new, but was so fucking annoying everytime your parents decided to drive home in the late of night.

Speaking of night, in the early hours of the morning, dawn hadn’t set in just yet. Resulting in the dark that enveloped the entirety of you and your neighbors.

Your father had quickly gone out of the car, the loud slam was enough to wake up your mother who was dozing all the way here. You watched as she fluttered her eyes open, foggy and disoriented, was how she always was after these car rides. But, she would compose herself in no time and jump straight out to follow suit after your father.

All while you were still sitting there like a bumbling idiot due to the self-induced fatigue,

You gave one look to Jay mountain which held an abandoned church. It was there, you knew it was, but in the dark of the early morning, you couldn’t see it. Looking at it on this particular day made you sick so you glanced back to what was in front of you.

However, like your mother, you shuffled to the front of the car and got out anyway. Today it seemed ten times harder when you attempted to open the car door, your fingers felt slippery, too slippery. Though, that didn’t matter when you were eventually able to go to the front door of your house, waiting for your father to get the lock open so you could go inside.

**Click**

With that, you followed behind your parents as your Ma went to the couch and your Pa went to the armchair right next to it, as if they were meant to fill that place that was oh so empty after your two day trip to Tulsa, that you had no doubts that you were gonna visit next month.

With a firm slam, you shut the door and locked it. Trudging to your bedroom felt like a marathon as you struggled to keep your eyes open. Just one more step, one more.

What was probably seconds felt like an hour when you finally arrived at the foot of your bed. Your face hit the mattress as you closed your eyes, allowing yourself to think one final thought before visiting good ol’ dream land.

Ponyboy.

Chapter Text

“Bet you a dollar that you won’t go up there!” Thomas shouted into your ear as you tried to lay back and relax in the grass. It was your day off, the only time of the week when your parents approved any relaxation without you having to sneak around parts of town to avoid them catching you slothing off somewhere, which was set in place just yesterday.

It had been a day or so since you came back from Tulsa. Recently you’ve been distracting yourself from the lack of cigarettes in Windrixville by doing a whole lot of manual labor. Wasn’t easy doing that so repeatedly, you were sure of that. But, at least your neighbors depended on you at all to carry their heavy stuff from place to place. Made your parent’s, more specifically your father proud, when they would praise you for being so “strong”, your Pa would really emphasize that you were reaching manhood, or whatever crap he would say. But, he did recognize that you needed a break, so today was a break day and sleazy Thomas had to butt into it, man, you really wished he’d get from this town already. How’d he even find you here?

You turned your eyes towards him, letting your gaze follow his body, his hand was extended, pointing at…Jay Mountain. Is that what he’s talking about, why does he want you there?

“Why? Too bored to try and get the Paper boy’s girlfriend again?”, you sneered at him, quickly trying to get whatever he had to say, out. Thomas was a real annoying guy, not worth talking to in your opinion. Except for flirting with every girl that tolerated him, even the taken ones, he would always try to pick a fight with all the guys in Windrixville, including you. Always calling you the Adult’s “pet” or just stupid, but that was only because he was good at guessing when it came to multiple choice questions at school. He was real stubborn too, he’s been flirting with the Paper boy’s girlfriend even after he got beaten which you had noticed after returning home. Kind of stupid to think he’d ever stop in the first place, but he got beaten so bad that you figured he’d get the hint.

What had to be the worst thing about him was that he knew how to worm himself into your thoughts, even in Tulsa where you tried to blend in with the city folks.

“Come on [Name]! Don’t be a wuss. Just get up there, look, I’ve been telling my little sister that there’s ghosts up there at the Church and I need you to go up there”, Thomas waved his hands around hurriedly as he tried to explain, “You’re just gonna let my sister see you go up there and then tell her tomorrow that you saw a poltergeist or something.”

You quirked up an eyebrow. That’s it? So this guy wanted you to go because he wanted to play a stupid prank on his sister?. You’ve seen her before, her name was Edith and surprisingly really sweet when it came to children and being Thomas’s little sister, and he wanted you to scare her? Why did that have to do with you? Sure there was nothing to do here, but he couldn’t find anything better to do? In a way you could pity him.

Not your problem though.

You parted your lips to speak as you closed your eyes, “Can’t you ask someone else? Kind of busy.”,

“[Name], you’re the only one I can ask! All the other guys said they’d bash my head in if I ever talked to them again! I can’t do it myself either, my parents will kill me if I bring my sister outside without watchin’ her'”, Thomas whined, his voice cracking midway when the pitch got higher. He was real insistent was he? There goes that stubborn trait of his.

“Do you know how long the hike is? I ain’t spending my time getting sunburned just to scare your sister”

“I’ll pay you [Name], come on, please?”

Suddenly, your ears perked up as you reopened your eyes to look at him. “How much?”, money was money, even if it was Thomas, the profit you made off him could be worth it. Probably not if you were gonna be completely honest, but you know it’d be kinda funny to see him devastated if you made him cough up every he had onto you, you could use that money for more goods back at Tulsa too.

“A dollar!”, He quickly said. Wait, seriously?

“A few more bucks won’t be that bad.” You casually stated as you rubbed your thumb and index finger together.

“Fine, two bucks.” You said nothing as you continued to rub your fingers together, to hit the nail over his thick skull to make sure he got it, you shook your head. Did he think you were cheap or something? Well, you were gonna make sure he understood that you weren’t. “Okay, okay, three dollars, final offer”

This guy was really copping out on you.

“Make it five bucks”

His mouth went agape like a fish as if you had just bankrupted him the moment it slipped out your mouth. “No, no, never!”

You watched with pure disinterest as he yelled at you for the “absurd” pricing, did he really prepare to do business without this much money? You met a lot of people like that in Tulsa, one time, a greaser tried to trade a nearly empty cigarette pack for two full bottles of alcohol. Should’ve expected it though, Tulsa is different from Windrixville afterall, but at the same time, this is Thomas we’re talking about. “Do we want business or not?”

You watched as Thomas hesitated before responding, he rubbed his hands anxiously and opened his mouth before clamping it up again several times, a bit too much for you. “Four dollars”

“Four bucks and twenty five cents” Man, it was fun seeing his face grow redder and redder when you raised the price.

“Fine”, Thomas spat out with clear agitation on his face. “Get ready for the hike, meet me at the dirt trail by noon”

You gave him a friendly smile as you watched Thomas turn his back to stomp off muttering something about greedy snakes, couldn’t concern you any less though. You settled yourself back into the grass, letting your eyes slowly flutter close and allowing yourself to finally relax now that the rat was gone.

—------------------------------------------

A few hours passed, it was probably noon by now and you were still splayed on the grass. Get up [Name]. Even if it was Thomas, you still keep up your side of the bargain, right?

Whatever, four dollars are four dollars. Well, more like four dollars and twenty five cents.

The walk back to your house was pretty breezy, not much to say about it other than the fact that it’s a pretty long trip since every citizen owned a shit ton of land due to the farmers that were in your community. Really made your legs strong, your father told you it was perfect exercise so you guessed that it wasn’t that big of an issue.

When arriving home you noticed your Ma and Pa, sitting on the couch, reading the newspaper. You ran over to the kitchen, quick to pack some of dinner’s leftovers and a water bottle, okay, more like two water bottles into the nearest bag that was around. In the corner of your eye, you could see some cookies and without a second thought they were in your bag.

“[Name], sweetie, look at this!”, yelled your mother from the living room.

“Sorry Ma! I gotta head somewhere soon!”, you yelled back as you swung the bag over your shoulder.

“A boy was killed back in Tulsa! Apparently it was some hoodlums with those jackets and weird hair! They’re still printing the descriptions!”

You froze right before you twisted the doorknob, you looked back at your mother, “Greasers?”

‘Yes, those boys! They’re out of control gangsters I swear, their mothers probably didn’t raise them right. Oh how could parents give birth to such criminals, you know, I’m so glad that we raised you into a good boy ....”, you didn’t listen to everything else she said as she trailed off to who knows what. Greasers, gee, you didn’t take that they’d commit murder. All of them were scrawny and always smoking and drinking, except for an exempt few, but you didn’t think they were that bad. Oh whatever, Windrixville is a whole night away, what do you have to worry about?

You walked out as you made your way to the trail that would lead to Jay mountain. The farmer who owned the land next to the trail was Mr. Sinclair, at least, you thought that was his name, you never really did ask, did you? Anyways, what was important was that you had to go through his property in order to reach that part that would lead you to the trail.

Usually, the man enjoyed spending his days tending to the array of crops in his property, not once have you ever seen him do anything else, but at the same time you never saw him other than to help him work his farm every once in a while. So, he thought of you as a golden boy, the third son he never had.

For some reason, even when you took a shortcut through his cornstalk, you didn’t see him and his tractor today. It's really loud, make your ear pop kind of loud. Well, better for you, you guessed.

As you made your way out of Mr. Sinclair’s land, you could see Thomas and his little sister waiting at the start of the path and from the looks of it, he was squabbling with her plenty.

“I-I don’t wanna be here. I wanna go home!” Edith cried and repeated as she latched herself to Thomas’ leg, hands locked together in a seemingly tight hold from far away.

“What, you scared of the ghosts? You're scared they’re gonna take your soul or something?!” Thomas chided with a smirk, Edith cried more at the mentions of ghosts, in response, he proceeded to say ‘ghosts’ over and over again, which dragged out louder shrieks from Edith.

If he’s gonna fight with her, he should at least see you already next to him.

“Hey, Thomas!”

They both looked over to you before Edith pulled her arms away from Thomas’ leg and crashed into you.

“Don’t go there [Name]! Please, please, please!” Edith begged while offering several reasons, all saying something about being possessed.

“Hey! Get off him!” Thomas yelled as he pulled her away from you, in which Edith retaliated by biting his fingers and running over to you again. How she managed to have such a tight hold was beyond you.“You little–, little jerk!”

Thomas looked absolutely vivid as he tried to yank Edith backwards.

“Hey!”, you shouted, feeling a bit impressed with yourself afterwards. Boy, that was the loudest you’ve been in ages. Although you certainly weren’t a timid fella, that shout sure did a number on them with how they were standing, all frozen and stuff, you’d think of it similarly to some of those comic relief characters.

One or two seconds passed when Thomas snapped out of it and decided to straighten himself up, grabbing his sister by the collar in the process, his earlier irritation was replaced with a smile, and if you knew Thomas, that could mean anything, well except anything good. A spineless idiot like him wouldn’t know what good is even if it hit him with a nice dry smack on the head.

“[Name]! You’re here! Me and Edith thought we should send you off before you climb the haunted mountain”. What a sweet voice, the kind of sweet that was equivalent to donkey dung used as a creamer for coffee. Truly a shocker! Looks like he had the capability to be “nice” after all. You could feel the sides of your eyebrows twitch as that thought passed through. “Well, you should probably go now!”

“Alrighty”, you replied, your eyes settled on the start of the trail, the trees, the bushes, hell, the shadow in general was making you feel something, what was it? You didn’t know. But, you did know that you would need to climb that for the next hour, especially on your break day.

Why did you agree to this again? Welp, too late now.

Your eyes looked back at Thomas, that grin was still plastered on his face but below him, you could see Edith. Kind of made you feel guilty seeing her quiver and biting back whatever she wanted to say. Damn, it was gonna be hard to try and scare this kid, well, not really, but might as well pretend like you had a conscience. Your foot took one step forward to the trail, one turned to three, three steps turned into six, and six turned into however more it would take to reach the first pebble that was on the path. Before you disappeared up the mountain for who knows how long, you turned your head to look at the two people behind you. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head! I’ll be fine Edith!”

Just like that, you were headed to climb Jay Mountain. You were no stranger to the strange dead end, or the progressive steepness, in fact, everybody in your town had to be acquainted with this mountain. Down to the elders and the children, the kids especially since they would play army and pretend to be in one of the great world wars. But, with how young Edith was, she was probably cooped up inside the house playing with dolls or something, how were you supposed to know? No one fell for the ghost mountain tale nowadays, so that has to be the case.

With fast strides you mindlessly walked up and up, the only thing people could actually do in Jay mountain was camp or visit the abandoned church since there wasn’t that much wildlife, at first it was the church that the christian community in the town would go to, but that walk would get all the nice Sunday suits and dresses all sweaty and dirty. You could remember this one girl, Sally was her name? Doesn’t matter, right before the hike her dress was all shiny and new in her new white satin dress that her mother had gotten her from out of town and when she came back she was crying with every part just smeared with mud since they weren’t able to get it out with the water from the pump.. But, years later, your community got a new closer church, so it was left up there to rot for decades.

Your hand reached up to grapple a rock on an especially big rock as you were able to lift yourself up from the ground onto the next platform, the trail would get clearer soon enough you’d just need to continue on, so continue on was what you did.

Occasionally during the hike, you would drink some water. But that was the only time you did anything but walk, as you continued to trudge on, the trees getting even more sparse as you went on, and surely enough, the dirt trail was getting wider and more defined too, just like how you remembered.

The ferns and tree roots were becoming greener as the grass became more grassy? Basically you were getting closer to the summit. And sure enough, you saw that small dingy church again.

Yeesh, that thing sure did deteriorate. Wincing, you took a step forward as you started to slowly circle the building, the paint job on the whole thing was, uh, interesting. Reaching out to touch it, you took your hand back almost immediately, just looking at it could be enough to give you splinters.

How long were you supposed to be up here again?

You were supposed to be up here for like, another hour or so right? Thomas said something like that once, didn’t he? I mean, that walk had you so exhausted(not really), it’d be a pain to go back down now. So with renewed “ambition”, you took to leisurely laying your back to the wall of the church.

“Ouch”, immediately you pulled away, damn splinters, I guess this spot was a no go. Gently, you pat your back to try and soothe the pains as you look around for other places to lie down. Well, there was a pretty good spot in the grass to lie in that was a few meters from the front of the church, but right now, you were really craving a nice sturdy surface. I mean, not saying the ground isn’t sturdy, but that grass. Not the kind that you would usually sleep if that made sense.

Turning your entire body around to look back into the woods, you were faced with the church again. Say, the church had some nice chairs or something didn’t it. If it didn’t then, I guess you could go back to the grass, but it couldn’t hurt to try, right?

You went up to the front door and tried to open it. No luck. You turned around and made your way around, catching a glimpse of an open window in the back, decently sized enough for you to climb through. The sides of your lips curled up into a smile. Bingo. Promptly, you climbed through the window and your feet were promptly planted firmly on the concrete. Your gaze, just as quickly began looking around at your surroundings.

“Alrighty, chairs, chairs, ch—”

Green-gray eyes locked onto yours, merely standing a few feet away. A boy most definitely younger than you looked in complete shock as if he was expecting someone else. You’ve seen him before, haven’t you? It was easy to spot that there were some differences, like the blonde short hair, but you’ve definitely seen him. From somewhere, from Tulsa maybe?

Then it hit you.

“Ponyboy?”

Chapter Text

“Ponyboy?”

He said nothing as you both stood parallel to each other. You hesitantly stepped forward, however the moment you took the first step, he scooted back further into the pavement. His eyes were glazed over, an unrecognizable expression was plastered on his face. It took you a few moments to figure out what it was. Fear? Conflict? Now why would a kid like him have that?

“Ponyboy? Now, what’re you doin’ here up in here?”, you said, giving a lopsided smile.

Ponyboy didn’t say anything as he continued to look at you with eyes so big it could explode out of his head.

Wow this conversation didn’t look promising just off that alone, but what else were you supposed to say to the boy? Maybe you could…carefully, you turned your backpack to your chest. He was still staring. He watched your hand so intensely you would’ve assumed that he thought you were gonna pull a gun out on him. Unzipping your backpack felt unnecessarily long when he was inching farther from you. You reached your hand in, rummaging around the contents before pulling out the cookies you had packed earlier.

From the corner of your eye, you could see the shock that momentarily flicked onto Ponyboy’s face before returning to his earlier expression. Your arm extended out to him with the cookies in hand while trying to keep your distance, almost as if you were feeding a wild animal.

“Want one?”

The silence that followed was excruciating to say the least, every time you did something or spoke to him it felt as if time had stopped in itself, fuck, you hated when this would happen. You saw as he hesitated, unsure on how to respond, before extending a hand out and delicately grabbing the nearest chocolate chip cookie.

Ponyboy coddled the cookie, seemingly indecisive on what to do with it as he looked at it suspiciously. “Thanks”, he muttered quietly.

“No problem, kid.” smiling fondly, you decided to take a seat just a mere few meters away from Ponyboy. You played with your own cookie, letting a few moments pass by before you said something. “Y’know, I kinda want to know why you’re up in our old church.”

“Our church?” He looked confused, but soon realization dawned on his face. “Oh, so you live in Windrixville.”

“Yep, that’s right. Now, back to the question”

Ponyboy looked panicked, seemingly unable to think of anything. Huh, weird. “Um, me and a friend are just camping, we forgot tents.”, he said, quickly spouting out his answer, almost making the last part of his sentence inaudible. Still weird, but you know, who were you to judge?

“Out of all things, you forgot the tent?”, you giggled as you took a bite of the cookie. “That’s funny”

“Uh, yeah”

“Well, um, kid, what’s up with the hair?”

“Um, I guess I wanted to try something new?” Wow, out of all hair styles he chose that one? His old one fit his character more. But most importantly, he phrased his answer like a question, now you weren’t a master detective or anything, but clearly he wasn’t warming up to you. It made sense though, I mean, you wouldn’t warm up to an acquaintance either if they asked you two, no, three questions.

What else could you ask? Your brain hurt trying to think about more things to talk about, this talk was already pretty damn sour but the lack of conversation that would follow suit would be even worse with all the awkward family dinners you were an expert with. Wait, how long were you thinking about this again? Your Ma always told you it was rude to keep a talk hanging like that. Hold on, stop thinking, you need to say something.

“Do you like horror movies?”, you tried.

Good enough.

“Horror ain’t my favorite kind of genre, I like other stuff better”, as he said that he took a bite of his cookie.His eyes looked glossy, presumably taking time to savor the chocolate chips, probably a good sign.

Talking about movie genres wasn't something that you were an expert on, it’s not like you saw movies every day or something, most of the time there just wasn’t any time to binge something on the telly, but…You could do something with this.

“Is it romance? Action? Come on kid, you can tell me!”, you probed.

“Well um, yeah I guess I like stuff like drama and action, they’re pretty cool. Especially when it all resolves nicely? I don’t know.”

“What about drama? My Ma watches a bunch of soap operas on the old telly. You like soap operas?”

Ponyboy didn’t say anything before muttering a quiet, “no?’.

“Oh, well, going back to action, you know heroes? Like the cowboy kinds and at the end of the movie they ride off in the sunset happily ever after. Actually, now that I think about it, have you ever seen the sunsets around here?” You casually said as you leaned into concrete more, deciding to switch subjects to talk about something you knew more about, the sunsets in Windrixville. Yeah, you could probably milk more small talk out of that than some movies.

“They’re beautiful.”

You barely noticed how Ponyboy’s eyes lit up the moment sunset rolled off your tongue. A little flutter in your stomach arose. What an interesting kid, not like you didn’t know that already though.

.

.

.

It must have been a good hour or so, hitting it off with Ponyboy. Is this what talking to city folk is like? You thought you already knew that from Ed, but talking to Ponyboy was more like you were talking to another country boy or something. I mean, how could you really explain this? He was so scaringly similar and different compared to you, that half the time, you didn’t know to react. You don’t think you’ve ever met a guy like this before, it really gave you the biggest shit eating grin known to mankind though, finding such an interesting dude like Ponyboy.

By now, both of you guys had finished the cookies, and you were now dabbling into events in Tulsa, things you’d probably have to pry Ed for.

“Really? A greaser and hitch hiker fought at the Dingo?!”

“Yeah, it was a dumpster fire, But, everyone watching left the moment they pulled out their blades” Ponyboy recounts the events as if it a normal occurrence, that had to be what baffled you the most.

“You see this kind of stuff everyday kid?”

“Sometimes, stuff like this ain’t rare, but it’s not everyday. Get me?”

“Yup. I hear ya. It’s still pretty cool though”

Ponyboy looked at you, confused as if what you said was the weirdest thing he’s heard. “I guess.” He paused for a moment. “But…what’s cool about it?”

“Oh, uh, well, there just aren't that many things that happen around these parts”, You said, quickly explaining. “It’s kind of boring here in Windrixville, there’s nothing to do, so Tulsa is kind of better in a way?”

“Oh. Well, I think Windrixville might be better”, Ponyboy replied, merely adding a soft sigh at the end of his sentence. “Ain’t it better to be somewhere peaceful. It’s definitely boring here, but…”

Ponyboy stopped talking for a moment after that and you didn’t bother to say anything either. For someone his age and from the place he came from, the things he said was surprisingly, how do you put it…mundane? That’s the word, for a guy that piqued your interest, it was certainly something to learn stuff like this about him. Maybe you really weren’t the best at judging character, or at least, you weren’t good at judging the kind of person that Ponyboy seemed to be.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” you added dryly to the conversation before letting the rest of the conversation lead into a soft silence. Awkwardly, you scratched your neck and glanced at Ponyboy, a second turned a minute as you decided to do nothing but look. To your luck, or maybe misfortune, he seemed to have caught on, in which he just blankly stared at you.

Now that you were really looking at him and taking in his features, it was easy to notice his eyes. They were real pretty, maybe it was the shape, maybe it was his other features that complimented his face, or was it the color? I mean, greenish-gray eyes certainly wasn’t something you saw everyday, but with his old style, heck, even now you thought the color suited him.

A rustle from outside eventually caught your attention and you could tell that someone was going to go through the window that you had gone through in order to go inside the church.

“Psst, kid, is that your camping buddy?”, you asked in a near whisper.

“Huh? Oh, probably?”

“Why is everything you say a question?”

Neither of you were able to speak anymore as someone emerged from the window with a box.

“Hey, Pony, I’m back with more baloney. Your favorite”, you heard him say sarcastically. He was looking down which made it hard to see any other features except for his hair, but you feel like you’ve seen him somewhere. Fuck, how many Greasers had black hair again? A second passed before he looked up, probably to meet Ponyboy’s gaze. “Ponyboy?”. He looked really relaxed for a moment, that is, before he locked eyes with you.

Oh, OH, you knew who he was, he was that guy who stood up to that Dally dude back at the Nightly Double! He was an interesting person too.

You spared a glance over to Ponyboy before deciding to take the initiative to start up a conversation. “Ah, you don’t remember me? Oh! By the way, do you want a cookie?” You patted the seat right in between Ponyboy and you, hoping he’d take your offer.

It looked like he was on the verge of running away, but you could see his eyes trail down to Ponyboy who was still seated. Apparently, that sealed the deal as he stepped towards the two of you, albeit reluctantly.

You scooted a bit to make room for him and reached for your bag. He sat awkwardly next to Ponyboy, simply quiet. After digging around your bag a bit, you pulled out the container of cookies. You took another one for yourself and reached out your hand towards the two boys in front of you.

“Here, you guys can take the rest”

“Ah, no, we’re okay”, the greaser who you still didn’t know the name of, said.

“Just take it”, you playfully responded as you pushed the cookies into them, in which he set the box he had carried inside down to gingerly hold the container of cookies.

“Thanks.”, he replied in the same cold tone that Ponyboy had shown you an hour before.

Silence once again resumed. You had thought that you were going somewhere with the conversation with Ponyboy, but it looked like it turned sour with the presence of the black haired greaser. Actually, now that you had the time to think about it, did you even know his name? You didn’t, did you? Welp, never too late to ask.

“Hey, what’s your name”

“Me?”, he paused, “The name’s Johnny.”

“Yeah? Well, iI guess it’s only fair to also introduce myself. My name’s [Name]”, you smiled as you said that, “Nice to meet ya.”

You watched Johnny relax his shoulders a bit, as well as the small glint of shock in Ponyboy’s expression. You told Ponyboy your name earlier, right? Probably not, but with his reaction you probably neglected the opportunities to tell him a lot of things about you. Oh well, he knows something now, doesn’t he?

“Say, how old are you guys anyway?”, you asked to fill in the blanks of the discussion. It was pretty easy to tell, with your ‘impeccable eyes’, he’d probably be the same age as Ponyboy, not like you knew how old Ponyboy was though.

This time, Ponyboy was the one to answer you. “I’m 14 and Johnnycake over here is 16.”

Oh. Maybe looks aren’t so telling.

“Johnny, this guy in front of me, is older than me?”

Chapter Text

“Gee, that’s some hell of genes you got there,” you said, adding a soft whistle as you gestured towards Johnny. “So…how’d you fellas find this place anyway? I’m sure there’s better places to camp.”

Johnny seemed hesitant to answer, you caught his fast glances towards Ponyboy. Ponyboy met Johnny’s eyes and held contact for a split moment before turning back over to you. A slight change in the atmosphere, as if they were speaking telepathically. Freaky.

You leaned your cheek softly against your knee as you watched the interaction that seemed to happen over hours, in reality only lasting for a fraction of a second. Patiently, you lazily stared at Ponyboy, half expecting an answer just like before. Your eyes trailed to his lips as it began to form a sentence with slowed movements.

“A good pal recommended this place, and we came here after forgetting tents, ‘member?”, Ponyboy replied with a slight hitch in his voice.

You nodded, unsure of what else to do, your gaze turned toward Ponyboy’s friend, Johnny, he seemed to be doing the same thing, awkwardly nodding along.

“You guys do anything ‘round here?”, you asked.

The two paused in their speech for a moment. Now that you think about it, from the way these people have been acting, you’d say it was rather suspicious. Sure, you were a brute, yes you weren’t all that academically competent, but you still weren’t stupid on social cues. They weren’t like this the last time you had talked to ‘em, despite the closed off air about them, there was still some leeway to talk. You could still worm your way in one method or the other, but they were so evasive–

“We’ve been playing cards, looking at the sights, y’know?”. Ponyboy’s words rang out to cut the thoughts forming in your mind. With your full attention back on him, his demeanor had changed to the stoic persona that he had ready way back when. It faltered. He was still nervous after the arrival of Johnny. Underneath the exterior you couldn’t see past before, you couldn’t help but notice the doubt that viscously burrowed into his eyes. At least you know your skill’s still sharp.

Y’know, you’re starting to notice the way you’ve been asking questions all this time, maybe you should let them get some momentum into the conversation. They did seem to be kinda uncomfortable. It’d probably be better to target Johnny in this then, wouldn’t it? Maybe it would get both of them to open up. Or you could get some sort of ice breaker, After all, it was getting boring with all this repetition and you weren’t all that fond of that kinda stuff.

Ha, this kind of thinking kinda makes you feel smart, like school smart, who needs good grades when you got your big thinking?

Okay, okay, back on track! Plan: soothe your new buddy and BAM, fun galore!

You flashed a grin, allowing for your “charismatic” smile to try and get something going. Johnny and Ponyboy didn’t seem to think anything of it, aside from confused glances that they shot towards each other. Either way, you had closed any distance between them and you as you slammed a hand on each of their shoulders respectively. They flinched, Johnny especially, which had been enough of a cue to slide them off to ease the guy up. Wouldn’t want him to get worked up before you could even get out what you had wanted to say.

“Okay! Looks like you guys aren’t all that used to how we do things ‘round here! C’mon, I’ll warm you up with a good game of Statue Maker!”, you said with an overly confident stupor. It seems that they knew of the game, seeing as recognition towards it filled their gaze as soon as it left your mouth. But really, not much kids wouldn’t, considering how many people played it. But it was a bit hard to guage if they played the same way you did.

Usually, you wouldn’t act like this, wouldn’t be talking up people to such an unnecessary extent. But how could you help yourself when you were just so gosh darn curious about these fellas? Always changing, always doing something that caught your attention.

You didn’t wait for them to speak, or even show a sign to agreeing before you scooped up Ponyboy’s shoulder to bring him to his feet. Not noticing how he jolted for just a bit, Johnny, on the other hand, was met with your hand. A simple offer, to which he took after a moment of hesitance, slow and meek. Really, you still couldn’t get used to how quick these guys seemed to have changed up at times. It was hard to keep up with it, really. But, that hardly mattered.

Readily, you pulled Ponyboy to your side and led Johnny to the other side of the church, making a swift return to Ponyboy. Setting up the game with great glee. And thankfully, just fast enough to stirr up any questions from any of them. “Statue Makers! I’m gonna be the Statue Maker. Pony, you’ll be the stature, and Johnny, you’ll be the buyer!”, you shouted just loud enough for Johnny to hear from his position. “You can turn around now, Johnny!”

He looked a bit unsure, but eventually complied to your insistence. As soon as Johnny had turned his back, you looked right at Pony with a smile so bright and wide that it seemed to unsettle him just a bit.

“Alright, kid. You alright with me spinning you?”

“Slow down a bit, man!”, Ponyboy said, taking a step back to properly share eye contact with you.

You raised an eyebrow, maybe he was confused about what he should do in the game? Didn’t seem likely, but didn’t hurt to explain some of it. “You just gotta stay in whatever position you land in, and we’ll take care of it from there!”

“That sounds dandy and all.”, he paused, looking at Johnny for a moment before continuing. It seemed to be genuine concern which was understandable considering their companionship. But what the concern was for really puzzled you, for all you know, they seemed just fine a couple of days before.. “This all is just a bit quick.”

For a moment, you just stopped speaking to consider Ponyboy’s words until all you were doing was blankly staring at him. The sincerity of it especially hid something that underlaid his words. Well, looks like you were stumped yet again. Something that was never a shortage of that when it came to him, especially when associated with Johnny, huh? “Quick for what?”

He stopped speaking after that and just stood there, seemingly contemplating. This kid was going to be the end of you someday, even if it wasn’t all that bad. But, how it always seemed like he always had his tongue tied recently in the past hour was frankly frustrating. Kid had a bunch of surprises, however it irked you to no end how he wasn’t willing to just show it. And it irked you even more that you just couldn’t wring it out of him nor that you didn’t hold the right to force it out of the guy. You’d respect that, of course, but how frustrating that could be at times.

With a poorly concealed huff, you spun him to take him out of his thinking stupor. Counting a total of three spins before you finally stopped his twirls.

“Aghhh,” Ponyboy groaned, just after the spins had ceased. His foot shifted from under him and before he could indefinitely have a hard fall onto the concrete floors, you caught him. Only supporting his back and head with your two hands, really, in hindsight it was a funny sight. Not only that, but he looked a bit sick from all that spinning, to which you just hoped he’d be alright.

“Okay, now hold that pose! Don’t move!”, you said. Carefully, you removed the hands from underneath him, which no longer supported his rather ridiculous pose. Ponyboy had fallen into a rather unique position, his head and back was leaned back and away from the rest of his body. His hands reached and splayed out downwards, probably in a reflex to catch him if he did really fall. His legs were far from another which attributed to his instability. Ain’t this just neat? “Alright, Johnny! You can look now!”

Johnny, before you had called out to him, was sitting down onto the ground. Fiddling with the debri on the floor, boredly mumbling nonsense to himself. He stood up and looked back towards the two of you, seemingly without much expectations. He simply stared at the two you, before his expression broke into a smile and then soon enough, he was stifling laughter. He looked…a bit more relaxed. His shoulders were definitely less tense. You didn’t know how to describe it, he just looked a little more free? You didn’t really know. Maybe he forgot something or something was worrying him, someday you’d piece it all together.

Just like Johnny, You had trouble holding back a few chuckles too and you’d admit, seeing Johnny smile was something else for sure. Ponyboy on the other hand didn’t bother to contain his annoyed expression from his disadvantageous pose, although he had also cracked a small smile at the sound of Johnny laughing.

“Heh…ha…okay, okay! Now Johnny, I believe this Statue is worth around…15,000 dollars!”, you had said, quickly attempting to quell your laughter in order to play the game. “As you can see, Johnny sir, this model had one of the most unique poses that a statue could possibly have! Quite durable, if I say so myself. And might I say so myself, very dashing for all of your lady friends!”

You gave a gentle pat to one of Ponyboy’s arms, which somewhat made his figure shake a bit from the lack of balance. “See! This statue is plumb strong!”

Johnny nodded along with your points as to the worth of the statue, or as you supposed, Ponyboy’s pose. Patiently, he waited for your speel to end before entering the debate.

“Well, gee, I don’t know. It’s very nice, but I’d say it’d be 40 bucks,” Johnny had stated with a soft but unwavering voice unlike before, he walked around Ponyboy and playfully looked and poked to the difficulty of Ponyboy. You faked sputtered. And you stepped in once again to appraise the value of the “statue”.

“I don’t think so, how about 9,000?”

“400?”

“5,000! C’mon, this is practically high way robbery. Statue is good quality, ain’t gon get that nowhere else.”

“600, [Name], last offer! Pony is hardly holding that, gust of wind is bound to take ‘em down!”

It was a staredown for a moment, quite unserious as it was.

Begrudgingly, you accepted, shaking your head thoroughly as you said a mere. “Sold.” Johnny snickered, his face shining with just a bit of pride at the victory. At last, Ponyboy had broken the pose, landing on his bottom and let out a few laughs with you all. Slowly, Ponyboy touched on what had broken his fall, also shaking his head with a smile. Didn’t seem to hurt too much nor be so serious though, so you looked back onto Johnny to avoid seeming too weird. Not sure why you felt like that, but you’d figure it out sooner or later. At least, before you remembered the polite thing to do was to help the guy up. You lent a hand to him which he grabbed, bringing him back to his feet with an ‘oomph’.

But above all! You’re doing pretty well for all you’ve got. It’s not perfect, but that doesn’t surprise you. Sooner or later, you’re gonna get these folks to crack. Maybe that was too apparent on whatever expression you were making as they stopped to speak or laugh for a moment to just take a look at you.

Soon enough, Ponyboy was across the room and you were being spun fast enough to see lights in such a dark church.

_________________________________

At this point, some time had passed. You three had begun to make some small talk after the initial game had died. Nothing of importance was being said, only to fill in a silence that would be no good staying for in any other circumstance.

“You boys ever been to one of ‘em farmer markets down here in Windrixville?”, you said absentmindedly while leaning on the walls. Some stray debri was what your fingers were giving attention to, just further proof of the crumbling infrastructure. Ponyboy had been somewhat sitting up on one of the benches of the church, he left just enough room for Johnny to slouch onto the same bench.

“Nah, first time here. Vegetables any good?”, Ponyboy had chimed in, looking up towards the ceiling.

“Mr. Sinclair, he makes great corn. But all the other geezers try to haggle with anything. Gotta keep a sharp eye for all the good stuff,” you continued fiddling with the debri until you got a small splinter. It hurt a bit, nothing you couldn’t handle though as your new objective would be to pick it out. “Maybe you folks should come around and check it out sometime.”

“I think that’d be great, but we can’t.”

“Wish we could though,” Johnny stated leisurely, his eyes were directed towards the floor. “I’d think it’d be nice.”

“Well, what’s keeping ya?”, it was a curious ask, nothing serious, yet still prying.

Ponyboy shrugged, a distant fear from what seemed like so long ago was still present. Looks like you havent fully gotten through to them just yet. “Just can’t, ain’t nothing much to it”

After that, conversation died down. It was pleasant, now that you really reflected upon it. Not quite the thrill you were searching for, but it wasn’t all that bad. The light that shined through the window and holes in the walls had made it known to you that it was time to go home. Orange and much darker than the usual yellow which paired with the elongated shadows within the church had done it’s part to convince you before it would be too dangerous to climb down the mountain.

You smacked your thighs with your hands as you stood up. Your bag from earlier that had otherwise been forgotten was now slung over your shoulder. “Welp, I suppose I should get going now.”

Ponyboy and Johnny seemed to have perked up at that, before warily waving at you as you made your exit. Once again, it seemed like a switch had been flicked with the odd Tulsa greasers. Could never quite figure it out, but didn’t mean you wouldn’t try.

Before you could actually completely walk out, one of your legs had already been over the window, you looked back to look at them. With a big smile and as dry as your throat was, which proved to be greatly difficult in speaking. Dang, you don’t normally get this clammy or clammy at all. Maybe it’s the Tulsa air.

“You fellas wanna play soldiers tomorrow? Mount Jay gets good coverage!”, it was a bit embarassing to invite fellow teens who could be your school peers if they went here, to play a kids game. But if it worked the first time, you just hoped for it to work it’s magic tomorrow.

Ponyboy shook his head at that. It was curt, but you nodded at the answer or rather the lack of it and now placed the other leg over the window. Foot placed ahead of another repeatedly. As you climbed down, careful to not slip, couldn’t help but to just think about them. Oddballs, for sure, they seemed pretty shocked at your invitations and general presence at time. A little stiff and jumpy at times, kinda like your mee maw’s old hound. Your hand grappled a rock and you jumped down, sturdy boots meeting the dirt of the ground.

The gravel crunched under your feet as you walked back from where you came from this morning. Really, the day felt awefully longer than how it really was. Which made you remember why you even came up in the first place, which didn’t matter all that much when Thomas and his kid sister left awhile ago. When would you get your money anyway?

Past the corn fields and up the dirt roads, you could see your father’s rickety pickup truck and the same old house that you saw everyday. Well, now that you were actually looking at your house, you were beat tired. All this hiking was wearing you out and right now, your bed was majorly enticing.

The door swung open just fine enough, unlocked, but from the entrance, you saw the glow of the TV. Probably speaking some gibberish that you didn’t really care for at this time of day.

With a just a few strides, you spread all your limbs upon the cushions of the bed. It wasn’t all that soft, but good enough for a nights rest. You thought about Ponyboy again, and then Johnny, and then Tulsa, and then smokes.

You’d go up Mount Jay again tomorrow morning. That’s for sure.