Chapter Text
The greasers were all scattered around the living room of the Curtis house.
They were sitting around doing nothing but talking like Sodapop and Steve, or whispering jokes to each other like Two-bit and Ponyboy.
It was the night of the rumble, and they had won. So now, all that was left to do was to patch each other up in hopes that their bruises wont stay as permanent scars.
A few hours ago, Dallas had stormed out after a small argument with Johnny over something small and stupid. Johnny regretted it deeply and truly wished he could turn back time, just so they could talk it out. Maturely this time.
They all knew something was wrong. Dally had never missed a rumble, never.
Johnny couldn’t do anything but sit on the edge of the couch that was closest to the door, biting his nails and picking at his lips anxiously. He knew Dallas was upset, and Dally does the worst things when he gets angry.
He sat there in silence for a bit longer, nothing to do. His mind suddenly flooded him with thoughts from earlier. Their argument. How Dallas had yelled at him. How Johnny had snapped back. How tears welled in both of their eyes. That alone should have set off alarm bells for Johnny, Dallas never cried.
They were fighting because Johnny was being stubborn again and had decided to sleep in the lot, which of course, resulted in the soc’s finding him.
Which didn’t end too well.
———————————————————-
Dally had scared them all off first, and Johnny thought for a second, that he wouldn’t be mad at him tonight. Boy was he wrong.
“Fuck. What the hell were you thinking, Johnny?!” He yelled, dragging the younger boy by his arm towards Buck’s place. Johnny tried his best to catch up as Dallas was practically speed-walking through the streets. “Huh?! Haven’t i told you that if you don’t go to the Curtis’s house, you come to mine?!” He reprimanded, slamming the door open slightly and tugging Johnny along.
“Im sorry.” Johnny had muttered, pulling his arm back when they made it to Dallas’s room, rubbing it slightly as the older teenager had practically gripped it with all of his strength. Dally stood by the window, eyebrows furrowed as he breathed in a cigarette, slowly exhaling.
Johnny stared at him for a while before making his way towards the bed, plopping down on it before looking down to fiddle with his fingers. The silence in the room was practically deafening. It made Johnny want to kill himself right then and there.
“Shit, kid.. What’d you even do to get ‘em so pissed off?” Dally asked in a snarky tone which made Johnny scoff. “I didn’t do anything, Dal!” He argued, standing up to meet Dallas’s stern gaze.
He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t scared right now.
“Well then what the hell could have possibly made them that mad. Huh Johnnycake?!” Dallas yelled, hands flying in the air as he over exaggerated his words.
Johnny was just about sick and tired of Dally blaming him for everything.
He stomped up to Dallas, standing directly in his face, even though he stood a bit shorter. “I didn’t do anything and you know it! I mean, for fucks sake, you should know that better than anyone else!” He bickered, crossing his arms as he let out another small huff when he was done.
“Don’t talk to me like that, you little wise-ass!” Dally growled. And before he knew it, he raised his hand to slap Johnny across the cheek which practically sent the smaller boy stumbling back.
They stood in silence, none of them daring to move a muscle. Johnny was staring directly at Dally, who was staring at his palm in disbelief.
He had hit Johnny Cade, the boy he promised himself that he would never strike. When Dallas finally gained the courage to meet Johnny’s gaze, he noticed tears streaming down his face, his right cheek blazing red. “Johnny..” Dally muttered, stepping closer to him.
Dally placed his hand on the side of his face that he had slapped, taking notice of how warm it was. All of a sudden, Johnny finally came to his senses, bolting out of the room. “Don’t touch me!” He exclaimed, slamming the door on his way out.
Dallas dropped to his knees, unable to believe what had just happened. He knew what needed to happen next.
————————————————————-
Johnny was snapped out of his thoughts when Darrel came barging into the living room, his coat on as if he had somewhere to be.
“Come on, Dally did something stupid and needs us to hide him from the fuzz.” He declared, and Johnny immediately shot up, eyes widening.
Johnny was the first out of the door as everyone sprung up quickly, running towards the area that Dally told them that he was going to be in.
Johnny had never pictured himself as a religious person, but hell was he praying like there was no tomorrow.
When they made it to the park, they noticed Dally running towards them whilst cop cars were speeding through the streets. He almost made it to them. They were all yelling at him to hurry up, Johnny was the loudest, and boy that was new.
Then, gunshots were fired.
We all screamed as Dally hit the ground, bullets tearing and ripping through his flesh. I was frozen in fear, pretty certain that I was crying again. I sure cried a lot, Dally always loved that about me.
Dally kept trying to crawl towards us, before he couldn’t anymore, lying in a puddle of his own blood as the gang stood there, yelling at the cops as they drove away.
“Johnny..” Dally whispered, and i knew i was the only one who heard it. Almost immediately, i snapped out of my trance and ran to him, dropping down to my knees as i tugged my jean jacket off, applying pressure on his wounds to prevent any further bleeding.
Johnny was holding him in his arms, rocking back and forth slightly as he bawled his eyes out. “Fuck, Dal!” He yelled, hitting the ground with his hand. He looked over to the gang, they were all scared.
Steve had his hands up in the air, frozen in fear. Darry was standing there, hands covering his eyes as he tried his best to stay tough. Ponyboy was on the ground, gathered in Sodapop’s arms as he tried his best to stop crying. Two-bit was standing there, eyes shedding tears.
Johnny was saying nothing but letting out small murmurs of "no, no, no." as Dally looked up at him, staring at him with a loving gaze. Johnny had no idea how he could do that, especially in a situation right now.
“I love you, Johnny Cade.” He mumbled, shutting his eyes a bit too long. “Dally..stop it, keep your eyes open.” He muttered, his tear drops mixing with his lovers as they hit the ground.
“I’m not going to let you go, Dal. Not now, not ever. Do you hear me?!” He shouted, trying his best to remain calm as he let out panicked sobs and shaky breaths.
Johnny could feel how chapped his lips were and his voice was cracking.
He held on tightly to his shirt, his shoulder, his hand, roughly pulling him against his own body, anything to try and keep Dally tethered to this earth. He was too scared to let him go. He raised the same hand Dally had hit him with earlier and placed soft kisses on it, as a way to say “i forgive you.”
Dally eventually began to flutter his eyes closed and Johnny leaned down for his last kiss.
Kissing him as he dies, fuck, he never thought he would have to do this. At least not in this circumstance.
“No. No, stay awake-" he begged, shaking Dally’s shoulders before leaning down for another peck. Kissing him once more even when the life has left his body, Dally’s hand hitting the ground as he’s lost the strength to keep it up.
“No. God, come back. Please, come back. Please, look at me, I'm right here.” Johnny begged, screaming now. All of a sudden, he was being tugged away from his now dead lover. Ponyboy grabbing onto his waist as he pulled him away, crying out as Darry picked up Dallas in his arms.
Johnny collapsed onto the ground. Sodapop held him as he let out gut wrenching sobs and Ponyboy combed his hands through his hair, attempting to calm him as he fought back tears of his own.
Two-bit was in front of him, trying to snap him back to reality.
He looked over again, noticing Darry and Steve carrying Dally away.
That was the last thing he noticed before he passed out, head tilting down in which Two-bit caught.
————————————————————
When Johnny awoke, he noticed that he was lying in Ponyboy’s bed, pillows surrounding him as he laid on his side. He couldn’t bring himself to speak. He felt as if he had gone completely numb internally and externally.
Slowly, Johnny got up and snuck to the bathroom. Staring at himself in the mirror for a bit too long. This lead to him finding something he wished he hadn’t. Dally’s blood on his cheek.
Suddenly, Johnny got a wave of nausea and ran to the toilet, opening the lid and throwing up immediately, emptying whatever he had eaten yesterday.
He was sitting there for a few minutes, unsure of what to do next. And then it hit him. He had to be with Dallas.
He flushed the toilet and dropped the lid down, being careful as to not make any noise. He didn’t want anyone to be awake for what he was going to do next.
He opened the cabinet of medicine and grabbed random pill bottles, not caring which ones he took, just as long as they did the desired job. He popped open the cap and began to swallow them.
In those ten minutes that Johnny was in there, he had swallowed over thirty pills.
Maybe, just maybe, he’ll meet with Dallas once more.