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The morning dew stuck to the dead weeds that covered most of the church's premise, as the gentle sunrise came in from overhead. All that could be heard was the quiet chirping of a bird and the peaceful snoring of both Johnny and Ponyboy; who were huddled up close to each other to escape the cold winds that tormented the two the previous night.
A quiet groan escaped from Johnny as he opened his eyes to find Pony all snuggled up close to him. Sure– this wouldn't be a surprise to Johnny because he and Pony clearly stated the night before that this was just for warmth and it was normal because the soldiers who are in the army do this when they need warmth.
“Nothing wrong with it.” They had declared.
But a nagging feeling kept tugging at Johnny’s heart no matter how much he tried to think normal thoughts.
Pony is his best friend, and Johnny knows he shouldn’t think these thoughts about him. Like how his greenish-gray eyes sparkle when the sun hits them just right, or how he automatically lights up when Johnny asks about what he’s reading and if he has seen any good movies recently.
We’re both boys though, it’s not right. Johnny has said to himself multiple times, but it never seems to work.
Johnny adverts his gaze over to where Pony is beside him, his eyes falling on the soft features that adorned Pony’s face. His cheeks dusted with a shade of rosy pink, and the few freckles that dotted his face like the stars in the sky.
Pony had this innocent and youthful look to him, like nothing bad had happened in his life. And that’s what some people would assume if you hadn’t met him at all. With his parents tragic death eight months ago, the pressures of trying to fit up to Darry and Soda’s standards of what he should and needs to be, and the fact he almost got drowned by Bob and his friends only a few days ago can impact someone his age so much.
His age… he’s only fourteen. That thought echoed throughout Johnny’s mind.
With Pony being so young, he sure grew up real quick– and it kind of makes Johnny mad. The kid is fourteen and got bumped up a grade for how smart he is. And here was Johnny: some dumb greaser who got held back a year and jumped at his own shadow.
His train of thoughts were interrupted by an almost silent mumble from Pony, who seemed to look quite distressed. A few beads of sweat pooled up on his forehead and he began to toss and turn in his sleep.
These actions quickly grab Johnny’s attention, he was having a nightmare…
Soda had told Johnny a bit about how bad some of these nightmares can get for him, and Johnny couldn’t help but feel bad for him. Of course, Johnny gets his fair share of nightmares from his dreadful parents sometimes, but he can’t imagine waking up screaming from them.
“M-Mom… Dad…” Pony mutters, and that’s enough to grab Johnny out of his daze. Johnny quickly moves over to Ponyboy, and hastily taps his shoulder.
“Hey Pony, wake up i-it’s just a dream man!” Johnny says, and thankfully that’s enough to wake the poor horse guy up. Pony shot up from where he was laying down on the ground and knocked him and Johnny’s foreheads together.
“Ouch!” Both of the boys yell out in unison as they both jump back. In opposite ways and grabbing their soon to be bruised foreheads.
“Sorry Johnny..” Pony says scrambling towards Johnny as he goes and places his hand on the dark-haired boy’s shoulder.
“Nah man it’s ok, are you alright though? Seems like you were having a pretty bad dream?” Johnny asked Pony with concern, Pony quickly looked away while mumbling, “Can’t remember what it was.. It’s probably for the best though. I honestly don’t want to remember them because I know they're about…” His voice trailed off as he was talking.
Johnny knew what Pony was going to say though, so the sentence didn't need finishing for him to understand.
“I know they're about Mom and Dad.” Is what he was going to say.
The silence is thick for the next few seconds. The two greasers felt like they were going to choke on the silence because of how noticeable it was. That’s when Johnny noticed something, Pony’s hand was still on his shoulder.
The pair made eye contact, and right away Pony’s hand went back to his lap, but Johnny could still feel it. The warmth left over from Pony’s hand still on his shoulder, practically burning through his jean jacket. And just as the warmth came– it was gone the next second.
And Johnny missed it. The gentle embrace of his hand on him.
And for a bit the two just sat there, doing well... nothing. Their shoulders were just an inch away from making contact, but the gap felt bigger. Johnny placed his hands on the cracked cement of the busted up church and looked up at the ceiling that looked like it was about to cave in at any moment.
Pony looked over nervously towards Johnny. His – now short and unevenly cut – black hair was all messy, and some of the pieces framed his face really nice now that he thought of it.
Johnny always looks nice. Pony thought to himself. Honestly, Pony didn’t know how long these weird feelings for Johnny had been going on for. But Pony swears to god that they’ve been getting worse since a few nights ago.
Boys shouldn’t think this way about other boys… Pony thought as his eyes continued studying all of the warm features of Johnny’s face.
God, Pony was helpless. He had heard some of the kids at his school calling him and Johnny slurs behind their backs while walking through the halls, and yeah, hearing that hurt. Because Pony has known for a long time.
That he likes boys.
Well sure, Pony had liked a few girls before, but nothing major. But this? This was major. This was more than “liked”. Because Pony has been going through hell with this damn crush.
The longer the blonde stared at Johnny, the more he felt his cheeks heating up. This crush wasn’t going away any time soon. More than once, when Pony used to go to church, he would always hear how homosexuality was wrong and how "unnatural" it is.
By now, the sun had fully risen and the chirping of the bird got louder, and the moisture of the morning was now gone.
Sometime during Pony’s thinking, Johnny had picked up a cigarette and started lighting it. Pony lost all his cigarettes after betting them with Johnny in their poker game a few days prior.
Johnny turned his head to look over at Pony, and to his surprise, he was already looking at him!
With a quick and surprised squeak Pony looks away, clearly embarrassed from being caught. The younger greaser starts fiddling with some of the stray pieces of pebble beneath him. Pony felt a small little tap on his shoulder, he looked up and Johnny was offering him his cigarette.
His cigarette.
Pony sat there frozen for a moment. In all of the movies he’s seen, only couples share cigarettes. Before his consciousness could tell him no, he brought his hand up to Johnny’s and grabbed the cigarette. After a bit of hesitation, Pony pulled the cigarette up to his mouth and took a drag.
After a few minutes of the comfortable silence and the two boys taking turns of sharing the cigarette, Johnny was the first to speak up.
”So uhm Pony–” He faltered and stopped for a moment before continuing, “Uhh never mind, it’s not that important.”
“Well shoot Johnnycakes, I don’t mind if it’s something useless. You can tell me anything, I love listening to you talk”
Shit. Oh shit.
Both Pony and Johnny are looking at each other now, as the almost-dead cigarette slips from Johnny’s fingers but he doesn’t have the care to acknowledge it. Right now, that was the last thing on his mind. The first thing you ask?
Pony likes— No, loves to hear him talk. Johnny instantly blushes as he sees Ponyboy attempt to scramble back a sentence.
”No— uhmm, Sorry man! That didn’t come out right… W-what I mean is… hearing you talk is relaxing.” Pony says nervously while picking at his nail beds.
Apparently, none of the boys heard footsteps come close to the church because of the blaring alarms in their heads.
Oh crap, I messed up bad! Ponyboy thought. He should’ve been more careful with his words. You know, Darry had always told him that he never thinks — and he’s right!
Great now he thinks you’re one of those boys and he’ll never want to see you again! Pony thought while internally cursing himself out.
”You know what.. to hell with being careful.” Is all that Pony heard Johnny say, as within the next second Johnny grabbed his face and pressed their lips together.
It took Pony a second to realize what was happening before the thought finally dawned on him; Johnny was kissing him! Pony moves his hand up to Johnny’s arm and melts into the kiss.
“Holy shit! It’s Goldilocks and the ugly sister!” Dally said loudly, but he trailed off as soon as he noticed what the two boys were doing.
“Oh shit, my bad! Please continue.” Dally quickly blurted out as he covered his eyes with his hand and began to turn around.
The two boys pull away from each other within seconds and see the one and only standing in one of the doorways, Dallas Winston.
“Dally– it’s not what you think!”
“Dally come on man!”
By now Pony has bolted up and grabbed Dally’s arm. “Please don’t tell Darry– please Dally you can’t! If they find out, god I don’t know what I’ll do! Maybe kill myself or something…”
“Woah man relax! I won’t tell superman or Soda deep breaths..” Dally said throwing his hands up in the air, by now Johnny has already gotten up and is standing next to Pony who looks like he’s about to pass out.
Dally looked around and sighed, “Look man, I’m not judging you for… that. You do you man, and don’t worry about your brothers finding out, you can calm down now jeez..”
Pony and Johnny made eye contact for a quick second, each of them knew what they were thinking about; how they were going to get an ear full from Dally about this later. Other than that, this was the first time that Johnny and Pony have seen anybody in about a week.
“Oh here ya go Pones, this is for you.” Dally says as he pulls out a piece of folded paper from his back pocket.
“Who’s it from?” Ponyboy asks as he grabs the piece of paper from Dally, still obviously a bit shoken up from the kiss he and Johnny had just moments ago.
“It’s from the president of the U.S.A. No dingus, it's from your brother.” Dally says then proceeding to laugh at the joke he just cracked.
Johnny hesitantly made his way over to Pony who was reading the letter that he was given. He didn’t know if he was going to make the younger greaser uncomfortable, hell if he already hadn’t.
“Gee now I feel awfully bad for leaving them.. Hey Dal, how are the others doing?” Pony asked while cocking an eyebrow.
Out of nowhere, Dally starts laughing his ass off before saying, “You won’t believe this,” he pauses, laughing for another two seconds before continuing. “I ‘accidentally’ let it slip that you guys were heading for Texas, and I had to practically stop Two-Bit from driving over there.”
Both Johnny and Pony chuckled at that but still looked out of it.
“Hey uh, you guys hungry?” Dally asks.
“You bet we are!” Johnny says practically jumping towards Dallas.
(time skip cus im not writing all that)
After the three boys got their order, and had the first proper meal in who knows how long– Johnny and Pony started gulping down the food like it was their last meal.
“Woah slow down, the food isn’t going anywhere.” Dally said while looking around, clearly being cautious of his surroundings.
The tension was thick with it being completely silent in the car because Pony and Johnny had just finished eating their meals faster than the speed of light. Both of them were refusing to look at each other, but Dally could see the glances the two would throw at one another when one of them wasn’t looking.
He had started to wonder why neither of them were thinking about moving up and sitting shotgun. As a minute passed on, he started tapping his finger on the steering wheel.
Eventually Dally decided enough was enough, and got so fed up with the two he just snapped.
“Ok, that’s it! You two need to get your act together. It's clear you both are into each other– so stop acting like two sissies and just get to the part where you admit your sexual feelings for one another!” Dally yelled at the two greasers who appeared to be shocked at what was just yelled at them.
Dally then raised his hand and gestured at them, as they both looked at each other.
Pony was the first to open his mouth.
“Hey man, I’m sorry how I reacted after,” Pony stopped to think for a second before continuing, “That. But the truth is, I really like you, Johnnycakes.”
With that single sentence, Johnny felt his heart do a million back flips.
Pony likes him back.
Johnny felt his face heat up while a cheeky smile made its way onto his caramel colored skin. For so long, Johnny had hated himself over this ‘crush’, praying that it would eventually go away. And before, he would always think his praying never worked and hated it.
But now, he’s glad it didn’t work.
“Me too Pony. I like you more than a best friend” Johnny says as he leaned closer to where Pony was sitting in the car.
Just then a girl and who they all assumed to be her little brother, walked up to the car and leaned in close before saying, “Any of yah guys got a quarter?” She insisted.
Both Johnny and Pony were quick to cover their faces, Johnny turning around and facing the other direction entirely just to avoid being noticed.
“No! Shoo! Get lost!” Dally yelled at the children while urgently shooing them away with his hand.
“Really? Not even a dime?” The young girl kept pestering the three while leaning in closer.
“No, get out of my sight little shits!” Dally yelled once more, and luckily enough, that got the younger kids to leave. But only after giving the three a dirty look before walking away with her kid brother.
After the kids were out of sight, the trio exhaled with relief. Just then Dally shot up, before eagerly saying something that would shock the other two's minds.
“Did I tell you two that we have a spy working for us?”
Both the boys looked forward with their eyebrows raised.
“Who?” Johnny said while leaning in closer.
“That one nice looking broad, with the red hair. Argh, what’s her name?” Dally said with slight frustration.
“Cherry Valance?!” Pony and Johnny yelled simultaneously with a shocked look plastered over their faces.
“Yeah, she’s gonna testify that you acted strictly in self defense when you killed that kid. And holy hell, he sure had a lot of friends– it’s practically a war zone back in Tulsa." Dally said while putting on a pair of black sunglasses.
Pony let that information sink in. Tusla was already tense as it is with the whole Greasers and Socs thing– but now this? He thought for a second and realized that most likely or not, a rumble was going to happen because of the death of Bob Sheldon.
“We’re going back to turn ourselves in.” Johnny said with confidence.
Both Pony and Dally whipped their heads over to Johnny; both of them looked gobsmacked at the terrible idea Johnny had just proposed.
Dally leaned in closer, moving his hand up to his ear sarcastically.
“I’m sorry, pardon me?” Dally said with frustration and sarcasm embedded in his voice.
“We’re going back to turn ourselves in. I’ve got a good chance of being let off because of it being self defense.” Johnny added on while looking over at Pony. The two instantly understood what the other was thinking because Pony then decided to nod his head to Johnny’s statement.
Dally’s jaw was practically on the floor when Johnny said that.
“Really man?! I go through everything– helping you out and finding you a good hide out! And now you wanna turn yourselves in? Unbelievable…” Dally said whilst rubbing his temples.
Johnny and Pony looked towards Dally, their expressions showing that they were in fact serious about this decision.
"The things I do for you two shits.” Dally muttered as he slammed his hands on the wheel and started driving back towards the church.
(another skip because im lazy af)
As the car holding the three of them bounced up and down on the rocky terrain, Pony shot his head up and started sniffing the air.
“Do ya’ll smell that? It smells like..” Pony trailed off as they heard screams off to their left.
As dark smoke was filling the sky, concerned shouts came from over where the church was. Johnny and Pony looked at each other and nodded as they both jumped out of the car and started sprinting to where the old church was.
“Hey! Where the hell are you two going!” Dally yelled loudly, but those shouts apparently fell on deaf ears because the two boys didn’t acknowledge him.
“Dammit!” Dally yelled as he punched the dashboard of the car.
As Johnny and Ponyboy finally got to the group of people, who appeared to be an elementary class on a field trip, were all huddled and chaotically trying to count the amount of kids they had with them.
By then, more bystanders had gathered over to the fire, which also appeared to grow bigger as more smoke escaped from the building.
“Twenty-eight... Twenty-nine... Jerry! We’re missing five kids!” One of the teachers yelled out over all the commotion.
Pony thought fast as he rushed past the teacher who he assumed was ‘Jerry’, and he started looking for a way inside the burning church.
“Pony over here!” Johnny yelled as Pony rushed up to him and helped Johnny smash the window with a small boulder. Just then, a big poof of smoke flew into their faces as they automatically felt the heat from inside the church reach them.
Pony was the first to hop inside the burning church, accidentally cutting his arm on the hot glass of the now shattered window. The boy quickly grabbed his arm, internally cursing himself out as he felt a warm liquid drip down his forearm. But he had no time to spare, the church would collapse at any moment.
When he saw Johnny get past the window, he shouted, “Where’d the teacher go? He stopped chasing ya?” while inhaling an unhealthy amount of smoke.
“Couldn’t get past the window," Johnny yelled.
‘Why? Too scared?"
“Nah too fat.”
As the pair dove deeper into the church, Pony finally understood what it felt like to be a burning ember. And it didn’t feel good. He was starting to regret keeping Dally’s thick leather jacket on, because he was cooking under the damn thing.
Soot covered their faces and clothes when they reached the back of the church. And there the two boys saw five young children with tears falling down their faces while screaming for help huddled up in the corner.
They rushed over to them as Pony broke the charred wood covering the empty window frame. The wood clattered to the floor as he was met with the concerned face of Dally on the other side.
“Dal we’re gonna hand you the kids one by one, hurry!” Johnny yelled over the cracking of the flames and the roof.
Pony and Johnny quickly got to work grabbing the kids and tossing them out the window to Dally. One of the girls Pony grabbed a bit too harshly dropped her doll and decided the best option was to bite Ponyboy's hand which was covered in his blood from the glass slicing his arm open.
“Ow!” Pony yelped as he harshly tossed her towards Dally with more force than he should have.
“Come on man let’s go!” Dally yelled as soon as they got all of the children out of the building.
The two wasted no time in getting out to which Pony got the window first and started climbing out of it. But just as he was halfway out, the roof started collapsing in on them! Pony quickly grabbed Johnny from where he was perched on the windowsill and pulled him out just in time.
The two boys fell to the ground, Pony being the unlucky one as his head hit a small stone and acting as a cushion for Johnny; who landed right on top of him. As soon as the boys hit the ground, they were unconscious.
(time skip to the hospital)
Pony sat and Johnny sat in the quiet hospital waiting room covered in ash with parts of their clothes singed off from the violent flames. They were obviously quite shaken up from the fire, so the pair grasped each other's hand tightly, neither of them willing to let go.
Just then Pony heard the quick footsteps hurrying towards their direction. Pony snapped his head up and saw Darry and Soda.
Relief immediately filled his mind, as a few tears started rolling down his cheek.
“Ponyboy! Johnny!” Soda yelled as Pony let go of Johnny’s hand and rushed over to his brothers. He tackled Sodapop in a tight embrace, burying his head in Soda’s chest. His older brother held tightly onto Ponyboy, though being mindful of his bandaged arm.
When Pony let go of Soda, he saw Darry. He saw the worried look that covered his eldest brother's face, he saw his concern and stress painted on there too. Then it hit him. All the stuff Two-Bit, Dally, and Soda had said came to mind.
Darry did care about me. He cared so much that he tried so hard to make something of me.
Without a second thought, Pony embraced Darry in the biggest bear hug he had ever given him– even after their parents died.
Darry desperately grabbed onto Ponyboy, and tears ran down both of their faces.
“I thought I lost like we did mom and dad.” Darry said with a choked sob.
A tidal wave of emotions washed over Pony as he held onto his brother. The brother who he previously believed hated his guts and wanted nothing more than to throw him in a boys home. Instead he saw a kid. A young adult who was forced to grow up and take on way too many responsibilities so suddenly.
Pony saw his brother who taught him how to throw a football when he was six, he saw the brother that was the first to congratulate him after getting first place in one of his track meets, he saw his brother.
(time skip like 8 months after)
The night was warm for an evening in June. All that could be heard was the faint sound of cars and crickets chirping in the background. The breathtaking sunset with colors of orange, magenta, and a faint navy blue painted the sky as a few stars were starting to appear above Pony and Johnny.
The two were sitting against the old car seat in the lot, cuddling despite the warm temperature outside.
They laid there together in a comfortable silence, simply taking in the beautiful views of their small town. Their hands were clasped together, neither of them planning to let go of the others anytime soon.
Eventually the sky turned all black, as stars started lighting up the sky.
Johnny tilted his head up while gazing up, taking a second to admire the wonders of his small town. Now that Johnny looks back, he couldn’t have imagined himself so happy. But that was all because of someone.
Ponyboy Curtis.
His boyfriend.
Even thinking about Pony gets him all excited, and who could blame Johnny? When the boy Johnny had been crushing on since forever finally confessed to him, and then saved him, of course he liked him back, Johnny had become giddy at any mention of Pony.
Right after they had told the gang of them dating a few months ago, Johnny has received endless teasing from the gang how he acts like a teenage girl in love whenever Pony gets brought up into the conversation.
Just then, a thought had crossed Johnny’s mind.
“Hey Pones.”
“Yeah Johns?” Pony said, he had looked away from the stars and started looking at Johnny.
Johnny let out a sarcastic huff because Pony was the only person to call him ‘Johns’. He first didn’t like the nickname, but it grew on him after he started dating Pony.
Johnny would never admit out loud that only Pony’s allowed to call him that, but he knows Pony already knows how he feels about the name.
Oh well. He thought.
“Do you wonder if anyone still thinks we're friends?”
Pony, after a moment, smiled to himself.
“Friends? No thanks,” he said while a small laugh escaped him before continuing.
“We’re best friends!"
With that, Johnny let go of Pony’s hand and got up.
“Hey wait where are you going?! The meteor shower is gonna start soon?”
“Well, if we’re only best friends, I guess that I should take my leave now.” Johnny said while shrugging.
Pony grabbed Johnny's arm and yanked him back down to where they were sitting. When they both made eye contact, it seemed like the world had stopped spinning for a moment. With Pony’s dorky looking bleached hair that took way too long to grow out, and the heart melting expression on his face, Johnny felt as if he’d explode at any moment.
Johnny placed his hands on Pony’s cheeks and pressed a quick kiss to his lips.
And with that, the two started giggling.
“Woah...” Johnny said in astonishment. When he looked up to the sky it was filled with bright stars and glowing streaks that moved across the sky.
“Told ya.” Pony said in awe, as he too had already started looking at the sky.
The two boys sat there in the lot, enjoying the view of the meteor shower. Pony leaned his onto Johnny’s shoulders before letting out a yawn.
“I love you Johnnycakes.” Pony said.
Johnny’s world froze.
Pony loves him.
Johnny looked over to Pony who was looking up at the sky. Johnny just stared, taking in all of Pony’s cool quirks, his greenish-gray eyes to which he swears are more gray than green. Or how his rosy cheeks are dotted with a few freckles.
“I love you to Pones.”
And with that, the night continued as the world had never stopped. So there Pony and Johnny lay in the lot together, with only the need to be close to one another.