Chapter Text
DX was loud that night.
Not normal loud either. Soda and Steve were already arguing, Two-Bit wouldn't shut up, and Dally kept making things worse on purpose. It felt like one wrong comment and somebody was gonna get hit.
Soda and Steve were arguing over some busted carburetor in the kitchen.
"I'm telling you, you tightened it too hard," Steve snapped.
"And I'm telling you I didn't," Soda shot back.
"You always say that after you break something."
Two-Bit was stretched across the couch like he paid rent there, throwing peanuts at the wall while Johnny picked them up before Darry noticed.
"One day," Johnny muttered, "Darry's actually gonna kill you."
"He loves me to much," Two-Bit answered.
Dally was smoking near the window with his boots kicked up on the table despite Darry yelling at him about it at least six times already.
Ponyboy sat outside on the back steps with a book open in his lap.
He wasn't reading.
Mostly he just needed air.
Things felt weird lately. Tight. Like everybody was waiting for something bad to happen.
The Curtis house was crowded enough already, and Pony kept feeling like he couldn't breathe inside it anymore.
He heard voices from the alley.
Pony looked up.
Tim Shepard's gang stood near the fence smoking cigarettes like they owned the block.
Curly Shepard leaned against the brick wall beside them with his hands shoved into his jacket pockets.
Pony had seen him around before.
Curly looked mean even when he wasn't doing anything.
Pony should've ignored them.
Instead he stared.
Curly caught him almost immediately.
"You gonna keep looking or say something?"
Pony straightened. "Wasn't looking at you."
"Sure you weren't."
Tim laughed under his breath.
Angela Shepard stood beside him with her arms crossed. She looked bored more than anything.
"Leave him alone," she muttered.
Curly ignored her.
Pony noticed the bruise near Curly's jaw.
Curly noticed him noticing.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Then quit staring at it."
Pony rolled his eyes. "You're the one talking to me."
Curly snorted.
Then Soda shoved open the back door.
"Pony! Darry said—"
He stopped the second he saw the Shepard gang.
Everything changed fast.
Steve appeared behind Soda immediately.
Then Dally.
Then Two-Bit.
Johnny stayed near the doorway looking nervous already.
The whole air shifted.
Tim smirked. "Didn't know this was your territory tonight."
"Didn't know rats wandered this far south," Dally answered.
"Jesus Christ," Johnny muttered.
Steve cracked his knuckles.
Soda instantly stepped between him and the fence. "Don't start."
"Wasn't gonna."
"Sure," Two-Bit said.
Darry's voice came from inside the house.
"What's going on out there?"
"Nothing!" Soda answered too fast.
Nobody moved.
Pony could feel the tension crawling up his spine.
Curly glanced back at him again.
Not threatening, Just looking.
That somehow made it worse.
Eventually Tim flicked his cigarette into the alley.
"C'mon," he muttered.
The Shepard gang started walking away.
Curly was last.
Before leaving, he looked back once more.
Pony watched him leave way longer than he should've.
After that, Pony kept seeing him everywhere.
At the gas station.
Outside the grocery store.
Near the lot.
Sometimes Curly would be alone.
Sometimes Tim's gang was nearby.
Either way, Pony always noticed.
One night Pony walked to the store after Darry sent him out for bread.
He found Curly sitting on the curb throwing rocks at a stop sign.
"You stalking me or something?" Curly asked.
Pony scoffed. "You wish."
Curly grinned a little.
It changed his whole face.
That bothered Pony more than it should've.
"You always this serious?"
"You always this annoying?"
"Probably."
Pony should've left.
Instead he stayed there talking for almost twenty minutes.
About nothing important.
Cars.
Music.
How much Tim pissed Curly off.
How much Darry pissed Pony off.
Curly laughed when Pony admitted Darry still checked his homework.
"Damn," Curly said. "You're like twelve."
"Shut up."
"Can you even fight?"
"Better than you probably."
Curly laughed harder.
Pony hated that he liked hearing that laugh.
When he got home late, Darry was waiting at the kitchen table.
"Where were you?"
"Store."
"For forty minutes?"
Pony shrugged.
Darry narrowed his eyes immediately.
"What's going on with you lately?"
"Nothing."
"Ya and the sky is red," Steve said from the couch.
Soda glanced between them.
Johnny stayed quiet.
Dally smirked around his cigarette.
"Kid's hiding something."
"I'm not hiding anything," Pony snapped.
Too fast.
Darry leaned back in his chair.
"You stay away from the Shepards."
Pony froze.
Dally laughed quietly.
"Knew it."
"I wasn't with them."
"Didn't say you were."
Pony looked away.
That said enough.
Curly wasn't doing much better.
Tim noticed things.
Everybody knew that.
The Shepard house was rougher than the Curtis place by a mile.
More shouting.
More fighting.
More nights where somebody came home bleeding.
Tim cornered Curly outside one night.
"You got something going on?"
"Nope."
"Then why do you keep disappearing?"
Curly shrugged.
Tim stepped closer.
"If you're screwing around with those Curtis boys"
"I'm not."
Tim stared at him for a long second.
Then Angela appeared on the porch.
"Tim," she warned.
Tim backed off eventually.
But not really.
Curly could feel him watching after that.
The fight happened three nights later.
Started over absolutely nothing.
Steve mouthed off.
One of Tim's guys shoved him.
Two-Bit laughed.
Then somebody swung.
And suddenly everybody was moving.
Pony barely understood what was happening before fists started flying.
Johnny tried pulling one guy back.
"Hey! Knock it off!"
Nobody listened.
Dally looked thrilled.
Steve got punched in the mouth and immediately tackled somebody into the dirt.
Soda was yelling.
Tim cracked someone across the shoulder.
Then Pony got caught in the middle.
Somebody grabbed his jacket hard and yanked him backward.
Curly.
"What the hell are you doing?" Curly snapped.
"I wasn't doing anything!"
"Exactly. So move."
Pony glared at him.
They were too close.
Again.
Curly had blood on his cheek already.
Pony could hear his breathing over the shouting.
"Pony!"
Dally's voice cut through the noise.
Too late.
A guy came charging toward Pony.
Curly shoved him away without thinking.
The punch landed square across Curly's jaw.
"Oh shit," Pony breathed.
Curly staggered.
Then laughed.
"You seriously can't stay outta trouble, huh?"
Pony grabbed his arm before he could fall.
Darry stormed across the lot at that exact moment.
"Enough!"
Nobody stopped.
Darry grabbed Pony hard by the shoulder.
"We're leaving."
"I'm fine!"
"Didn't ask."
Johnny hovered nearby looking panicked.
Soda wiped blood off his lip.
Steve looked ready to keep fighting.
Two-Bit looked entertained.
Dally looked smug.
Pony kept staring at Curly.
Tim noticed.
That was the first real problem.