Chapter Text
Johnny stared out at the passing scenery uncomprehendingly. Ever since the church fire- no. Ever since that night in the park everything had been a blur. Jumping from one thing to the next without giving him time to breathe. After he had mostly healed from his injuries, the doctors informed him that he would have chronic pain in his back, likely for the rest of his life. They also told him that his living conditions had been evaluated and deemed unfit, so he was sent to live with a foster parent, until a more permanent residence could be found.
Johnny had still been out of it at that point, not able to fully grasp the situation, but the Gang had protested greatly. Not at him being removed from his parents, they all despised them, but because his Foster Mom apparently lived out in California. They wouldn’t be able to visit him because of how long the trip was, they couldn’t afford to miss work like that. The Gang had made him promise to write letters; they worried that the long-distance phone calls would rack up too much money but told Johnny not to hesitate if he needed something urgently.
That was another thing that had changed. His name, Johnny Cade. What happened in Tulsa was well known, at least parts, and Johnny didn’t want to be known as ‘that kid who killed someone’. After some consideration, he and the Gang came up with the name ‘Daniel LaRusso,’ Daniel was his middle name and LaRusso was his new Foster Mom’s last name. The Gang would still refer to him as Johnny, but everyone in California would be introduced to him as ‘Daniel LaRusso.’ Johnny’s train of though was interrupted by the slowing of the car.
“We have arrived!” announced Lucille, “Go grab your bike and luggage from the trunk, I’ll go unlock our apartment! It’s number 20, one flight up!”
Johnny slowly exited the car. Until now, none of this had felt real. He had hoped he would wake up in the lot, and all of this would have been a bad dream.
Johnny picked up his bike and luggage, wincing as he strained his back, the pain flaring up again. Maybe he’d see if Lucille had a microwave he could warm a wet paper towel in, or better yet, a heating pad he could use on his back. But only if it got much worse, he didn’t want to bother her too much. Especially since they had only really met a little while ago. Johnny had been introduced to Lucille about a week after his initial hospitalization to see if she would be a good fit for him.
As he approached the gate to the complex he realized a new problem, he had no free hands. Hoping the gate was still unlocked, he angled a kick at it, swinging it right open and into another person.
Immediately feeling bad Johnny apologized, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize there was anyone on the other side. Are you okay?”
“Don’t worry ‘bout it,” The guy replied, rubbing his forehead, “I’m Freddy Fernandez. I’m assuming you’re new? I don’t remember anyone moving in though.”
“Yeah… I’m uh, moving in with my… mom.” Johnny lied. “She already lives here, moved for her job. I finished up the semester at my old school before joining her.”
“Were you living with your dad before? My parents are divorced as well. Where’d you move from?”
“I lived in... New Jersey,” Johnny didn’t want to say Tulsa. News might have made it here about what happened and he didn’t want any questions.
“Jersey? That sounds cool what was it like?”
“It was fine.”
“Ok... Wait I just realized! I never got your name.”
“J-“ Johnny cut himself off, “Daniel... Daniel LaRusso.”
“Daniel huh? You know what Daniel? You wanna come hang out with me and my friends at the beach tomorrow?”
“Sure...” Johnny didn’t really want to go, but he had promised Ponyboy to try and make new friends so he wouldn’t be lonely. So, he figured he’d at least put some effort in.
They finally reached the apartment Johnny was in, so they said their goodbyes and went separate ways. Johnny walked inside slowly, taking in the apartment, noting the exits.
“Hey Johnny! Do you like swimming? I can ask about getting the pool up and running again?”
“No.” Johnny replied harshly, “No pool.” He didn’t like water anymore, not after that night.
Lucille frowned, probably thinking something along the same lines. She had been briefed on what happened in Tulsa to better understand Johnny’s situation. “Ok, no pool. But could you go down to the repair guy? The kitchen faucet isn’t working right. He’s down the stairs, take a left past the pool, then take a right.”
Johnny nodded and headed down. He passed by an old lady sitting with her dog next to the empty pool. Coming across a door he assumed was the repairman’s, he knocked lightly. After a second of no response, he opened the door and peered inside.
He met with yet another door, however this one was a screen door. He could see a man sitting on the other side, appearing to be… snapping chopsticks in the air?
“Excuse me? Are you the repairman?” Johnny asked.
“Yes.”
“Could you come take a look at one of the faucets in Apartment 20? The water isn’t working.”
“After.”
“After what?” Johnny wanted a solid timeframe to give Lucille, “My uh... mom wants to know.” It still felt weird to call Lucille his mom, but it was the story they were going with. Besides, it was even weirder to be called Daniel. Lucille still called him Johnny when they were alone, but even during the short conversation he had with Freddy, he had forgotten multiple times that when Freddy said Daniel, he was referring to him.
“After after!”
“…” This guy could not be any vaguer. Giving up, Johnny turned around and walked back up to Lucille's apartment. Opening the door softly, to prevent any squeaking, Johnny slowly made his way to his new room, noting which floorboards were creaking for future reference.
“Daniel? Is that you?” Lucille called from down the hall. She emerged from her own room, across the hall from his, “Did you not find the repairman?”
“I did.”
“…” Lucille stared at him, seemingly waiting for him to expand on what happened.
“He said he would come by after.”
“After what?”
“He just said ‘after after’.”
Lucille sighed, “It’s ok, we’ll make it work. If he doesn’t come by tomorrow night, I’ll go ask him again.” Lucille glanced back up at him, “How are your injuries? I think it’s about time for you to change your bandages.”
“Oh.” He hadn’t noticed. But now that she brought it up, he could feel the wrappings rubbing uncomfortably against his burn wounds. “Yeah, I’ll go do that…” He walked off to the bathroom, waving off Lucille’s offer to help.
Locking the door behind him, he slowly tugged off his shirt, grimacing as the movement pulled at his wounds. He unwrapped the bandage around his torso gently and removed the gauze on his back. He grabbed the burn cream off the shelf and turned so his back was facing the mirror.
Angling his head backward he awkwardly tried to smear the cream over his burns. They looked worse than before. His skin was mottled and charred, turning yellow in the middle and dead on the edges. The burn was throughout almost his whole back and halfway up his neck. He had been wearing a bunch of turtlenecks recently to cover the scarring. Swallowing, Johnny set back to work, gently rubbing in the cream, wincing every time he snagged on dead skin or pressed too hard.
By the time he finished, Johnny had tears welling up in the corner of his eyes. He bottled the cream and reached for the gauze, bandaging himself back up. He used up a couple of rolls, wrapping himself up so much, that his torso was starting to look like a mummy. Putting his shirt back on, he double-checked that it was covering any sign of bandage. He then put his denim jacket on, smoothing the whole thing down.
Johnny walked over to his bed and tried to lie down. The moment his back hit the bed he shot straight up, hissing through his teeth in agony. He stayed like that for a minute, panting in pain, before rearranging himself to be sitting upright on the bed. He stared blankly at the wall in front of him, trying to ignore the tightness of his back and the pain seeping through every pore.
He thought back to the Gang. Johnny missed them all so much. He imagined himself back in Tulsa hanging out with Pony and Dally. Pony reading to him, going to the movies, staying at the Curtis’s. He pointedly did not think about Pony’s new, almost permanent cough, Dally’s being hospitalized after being shot by police, and his own almost death. His burns started to itch again.
Scratching absent-mindly at his bandages, he was startled by a loud knock on his door. He jumped, eyes wide, spinning to face the direction of the noise. “Come in!” He shouted.
Lucille opened the door, “Hey Johnny, dinner’s ready.”
“Ok,” Johnny followed Lucille out to the kitchen where two sandwiches were set out on the table on plastic plates.
“I know it looks a little sad, but I haven’t restocked on food since my trip or washed the dishes due to the busted faucet. I’ll go to the store tomorrow.”
Johnny nodded pushing around the food on his plate. He didn’t have much of an appetite. Hadn’t since everything went down in Tulsa. It felt wrong to still be able to eat while that 18-year-old kid he killed couldn’t. He knew what Bob had done was wrong and the judges agreed he had been acting in self-defense, but he still felt horrible about it.
After that incident, Johnny had refrained from fighting, not taking part in any rumbles or even small skirmishes. Most people in Tulsa avoided him now anyways, being recognized as the ‘kid who killed someone.’ It had a few perks he supposed, but it wasn't a great thing to be known for.
“Johnny?”
Johnny startled, “Yeah?”
“I’m gonna go to bed now, don’t stay up too late.”
Johnny nodded, watching as Lucille headed to her room and waited till she closed her door before getting up and heading to his room. He slowly changed out of his clothes and into pajamas before climbing into bed. He laid there for a while before finally drifting off.
Johnny awoke to screaming. He tried to move before realizing he was trapped. He started thrashing around, feeling restricted as something tightened around his shoulders, pulling him back into something. He tried to free himself a few more times, freaking out increasingly as he couldn’t escape.
He doesn’t know how long he thrashed against the restraints only that eventually his arms grew tired and his movements started to slow. The buzz around his ears was clearing to comprehendible sounds, “-ay, it’s okay Johnny, you’re okay.”
“L-Lucille?” Johnny murmured, voice horse. He looked around with his slowly focusing vision. His bed was a mess of sheets, tangled all around him. Lucille had one arm wrapped around his chest while the other was cradling his head in an attempt to calm him down. “Wha- what happened?” He questioned breathlessly, heart still jackrabbiting in his chest.
“You had a nightmare honey,” Lucille responded not unkindly, “screaming like everything. Thrashing about too.”
“Oh.” Johnny looked around the room, dimly registering that the ache in his back had returned at an alarming rate. That can't be good, he thought vaguely, before plummeting back down to his bed, the vague shouts of worry from Lucille fading into nothing.
When Johnny woke up once more, it was to a worried Lucille fretting over him. She was on the phone with someone while applying burn cream to his back. He groaned in pain when she pressed particular hard in one spot.
Her eyes widened, evidently not realizing Johnny had returned to the land of the living. She hurriedly hung up the landline and immediately started questioning Johnny, “Does it hurt anywhere? Do you feel like you’re going to pass out again? Are you-“
“I’m fine,” Johnny grumbled pushing himself up, before immediately proving himself wrong when his back screamed in pain and he collapsed back onto the bed with a grunt.
“Johnny!” Lucille shrieked, returning to fretting over him, “Don’t move, I was just on the phone with the doctor, and she said no strenuous movement for at least a day. You need to rest.”
“No- I got, I got invited to this party tonight and I said I’ll go.”
“Well, I’ll just explain to, Freddy, right?” She continued before he could even acknowledge the question, “That you can’t make it.”
“No, I said I’ll go so I’ll go,” It wouldn’t do to have his first impression on people be that he broke his promises, “I’ll be careful.”
Lucille fidgeted with her lip as she thought it over, “Johnny I know we haven’t known each other long, but I do want what's best for you. I’m just worried that your injuries will get infected if you go to this party. Is it at the beach?”
“No.” He lied.
She looked doubtfully at him, but continued, “I guess if it’s not at the beach and you don’t do anything that involves a lot of movement it’ll be okay. But you have to promise to be careful!”
“I will be,” he reiterated.
“Ok… but if you do somehow end up on the beach,” She looked at him knowingly, “Keep your back away from that sand, you wouldn’t want any getting in your wound.”
He nodded.
“I’ll leave you to yourself now, try to rest before the party. I’ll be off to work. Bye Johnny.”
“Bye Lucille.” Johnny watched Lucille leave before sinking back onto the couch, staring wordlessly at the wall opposite him as his mind drifted away.