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It was around 9pm, the whole gang in the Curtis living room, just talking and stuff but there was one big problem. One that was making darry pace back and forth from the kitchen.
Ponyboy had gone out with some friends and still hadn't came back, he was supposed to be back around 3 but it was 6 hours past then and the whole gang was tense about it.
Johnny was biting his nails so much they probably were bleeding, as dally tried to distract johnny with card. Dal and johnny were playing with two, but even two wasn't really focusing on that either.
Soda was freaking out too, but steve was good at keeping soda calm, it was like his gift that no one else could do except maybe the Curtis brothers.
"Darry" soda called out from the couch. "Calm down and come sit with us"
Soda was rubbing his temples either from a headache or just overthinking.
Darry paused for a second, clearly not wanting to, but he came over and sat in the arm chair anyways.
"Jesus kid we're gonna have to put bandages on all your fingers if you keep bitin' em" dally comments, trying to calm johnny down at least a little.
"Sorry 'm just worried" johnny says quieter than he probably intended to be. "He's never this late"
"Yeah cuz hes usually smart enough to not want to deal with the wrath of darry" steve says laughing at his own joke.
"Im right here" darry says using one hand to cover his face.
As they continue random talking, and playing cards, even though no ones really paying attention to it and two had somehow managed to lose every single time despite swearing he was amazing at cards.
As it had just hit 10:30 ish the door slowly opened and before they even saw who it was everyone was look at the door.
And in walks ponyboy, his face Surprisingly calm, despite the fact his nose was actively dripping blood like a stream and his knuckles were sore and bleeding.
Soda shot up before ponyboy could even fully close the door, rushing to pony and grabbing his face to check how badly he hurt his nose.
"Jesus pony what happened??" Soda question, as he tried to stop the bleeding.
Before pony knew it he was surrounded by both his brothers worried and confused on what happened.
"I was at the movies with scout and some random socs jumped us" pony says pushing sodas hand away from his face, he wasn't entirely lying but he wasnt telling the truth either.
He was at the movies with scout, curly, angela, cherry and mark when some random socs were being jackasses and weren't leaving scout, Angela and cherry alone.
So obviously pony got annoyed and told them to back off, which lead to i fight breaking out.
They had hit pony straight in the nose and before anyone could jump in to help him or at least stop what was happening, they were already throwing punches.
And pony won.
"Do you know their names?" Two pressed, clearly itching for a fight.
"No i dont" pony says quickly "and it dont matter anyways, they're worse off than I am"
Soda pauses, looking at ponys knuckles. "What do ya' mean?"
"Well i think one of 'ems got a split lip at least" pony says finally looking at soda. "Think the other two got couple bruises one the face, maybe a black eye but I couldnt really see they ran off real quick"
"Damn i didnt know you even had that in you" steve says, the first one to break the silence.
Dally and johnny just stare at pony, they know him. Probably better than his brothers themselves, even though they'd never admit that to their faces.
Well dally might but johnny wouldn't.
And they could tell real quick he was lying about something. Whether it was who he was with or what really happened in general.
Pony looks away, covering his nose with his sleeve, to avoid johnny and dallys gaze, clearly able to tell that they don't buy it like everyone else did.
As pony tried to just patch up his nose he kept getting questioned by everyone, its clear they all dont or cant belive that the youngest in the group can actually take a fight.
Eventually everyone got off his back and darry only left him with a warning to be careful, it was just pony sitting in the livingroom with johnny and dally, patching up his knuckles.
He was always good at patching up wounds, usually not on himself though, he taught himself all about that kind of thing since no one could afford a hospital trip and they always ended up at the Curtis door.
Pony still remembers the time that tim sheperd shown up at there door, with a huge gash on his arm that he refused to tell anyone how it happened.
As pony was lost in thought, he was interrupted by dallys voice.
"What actually happened?" Dally questioned crossing his arms.
"I told you what happened" pony replied way to quick, refusing to make eye contact but he kept stealing glances at there faces. They both were hard faced, pony couldn't read what they though or how much they really know, which is one of the worse things when your trying to lie your ass off.
Pony not answering seemed to annoy dally further.
"Who were you really with?" Dally pressed, trying to get anything out of him.
Pony freezes at the question. Now he knows they know he wasn't just with scout but now he has to think of a lie.
Dally didnt move, but his fists tightened as he leaned on the doorframe, stopping pony from being able to leave.
Smart but also an asshole move.
And pony couldn't turn his head neither, since johnny had perched over the arm of the couch pony was sitting on, watching pony like a hawk with those eyes that have seen way to much.
Pony was trapped and one slip up and everything he'd been hiding would come crashing down.
"You gonna give a real answer or keep lying" dally finally spoke his irritating and skepticism clear in his tone.
"I already said what happened" pony says focusing on wrapping gauze around his knuckles.
"That ain't what happened and you know it"
"Dal" pony spoke before getting cut off by dally.
"Who were you really with"
"I was with scout" pony says irritation dripping in his tone even though he didn't mean to say it like that.
"Who else" dal says slightly amused at ponys reaction.
"Your the worse liar i know just say the truth" dally shrugged before turning his gaze to johnny for a second. "Back me up johnny"
Johnny didn't say anything for a real long time, he just looked at him. Johnny was always good at telling who was lying and who was saying the truth but he ain't never did it to pony, at least that he knows of.
"You were with the Shepard twins" Johnny said not asking, saying like it was a fact he asked knew.
"I.. no I wasn't" pony stuttered out panic already clear in his tone.
Johnny stared at him for a second, his eyes slightly widening "i knew it" he finally said.
Dally was staring at the with amusement clear as day on his face. "Johnny cade the detective" dally said a grin already spreading on his face.
"Shut up dal" johnny said looking down, finally stopping from staring at pony. "I knew you 'an the Shepards were close"
" I ain't never hanged out with the Shepards around you" pony finally spoke, giving up on hiding it.
"So i was right you've been hangin' around with angela and curly" johnny says starting to look at pony again, but this time pony didn't look away.
"We just hang out every once in awhile it ain't serious" pony says quieter than how he was talking before, probably to make sure his tone wasn't as sharp as it was before.
"I ain't never took you for someone to hang around with hoods" dally said half joking
"I hang around with you" pony says his voice calmer than he felt and the room froze for a second, everyone stunned from what he said.
"Damn kid" dal said finally speaking. "Thats fair but I didn't know you had that in you"
"Who else were you with? Angela scour curly and?" Dally questioned, there was no point in hiding it anymore anyways.
"Mark" pony hesitantly said.
"Mark Jennings?" Johnny questioned, Suprised. "Ain't that the drug dealer from school?"
"He aint that bad if you get to know him"
"Who else?" Dal said finally stopping from leaning on the door frame.
"Cherry"
"The soc?" Dally questioned suddenly interested.
"Thats what you care about?"
"Just checking" dally says shrugging.
"What happened?" Johnny asked "like the fight what really happened?"
Pony paused for a second before answering, should he lie or was there even a point to that?
"Some socs were hitting on the girls, I told 'em to back off, they didn't, they hit me so I hit back" pony says simply, as if its not the first time hes ever gotten in a fight.
"How many socs?" Dally asks suddenly more interested.
"Three"
"three?? You except me to believe you fought three socs and one??"
"Thats what happened"
"You? The same person who yelled at me for trying to beat up a soc that jumped you." Dal says looking at pony like he grew a third head. "That ain't like you"
"Didn't you tell me I needed to toughen up before I got myself killed?"
Both johnny and dally froze from what he said, pony wasn't the kind of person to get into fights, whether it was to protect someone or not.
"I did say that.." dal said finally breaking the silence. "Damn kid did you grow a backbone over night?"
Pony rolled his eyes at that comment.
"Where'd you even learn to fight like that?" Dal asked. "You dont just magically learn to fight like that"
"I taught myself.." pony said knowing damn well that was probably the weakest lie hes ever said.
"Bullshit"
"Curly" pony finally said, admitting how much he really was hangin' around the Shepards.
"I knew you were friends with the Shepards but I didnt realize how much yall really hanged out" johnny said finally speaking.
"We hang out when we dont got much to do" pony shrugged, even if he was close with dal and johnny he wasn't about admit how close him and the Shepard twins really were.
"When did he start teachin' ya?" Dal question pony, raising an eyebrow.
"Couple months back when I got jumped by those socs"
"I suppose he'd be an alright teacher since he's been in more fights than anyone i know" dal said still a bit suspicious. "Hood behavior I guess" he added in a joking tone
"So your friends with 3 drug dealers an alcoholic and a soc?" Dally asks his tone dripping with amusement.
"They're not" pony stats before getting cut off again.
"I've seen scout at bucks and everyone in town knows that the Shepards and mark sell drugs"
"Don't mention what scout does shes the only one I'm actually allowed to hang out with"
"Not for long if dar find out shes in a gang with you"
"We ain't a gang we're just friends"
"You have a group of 5 people who fight together, sell shit together and do shit that gangs do, that sounds like a gang to me"
"It ain't a gang" pony mutters, getting more annoyed.
Uh huh and whats the so called 'not a gang' called?"
"There's no name"
"So its a secret gang even worse"
Pony glares at dal and johnny snickers, trying to hid it.
"Dal we ain't a gang we just hang out"
"Yeah and white hanging out you fight socs together, sell shit together and" dal starts to say counting on his fingers before pony interrupts him.
"I dont sell stuff"
"Mark does"
"I ain't mark"
"But you hangout with Mark while he does it so your an accessory"
"That's not what I ment"
"Thats what it sounded like to me"
Johnnys silent, covering his mouth so he doesn't laugh. Making pony give him a side eye.
"Here lemme think" dal says holding up his fingers counting. "Curlys the fighter, scouts the help, marks the dealer, angelas the distraction and cherrys the get away driver"
"We aint in a gang and no ones the figher or the distracer or anything like that"
"And who's in charge?"
"No one"
"So its a democracy?"
"We aint in a gang dal"
"Surreee" dal says stretching the words much more than needed.
"So what are you in this so called not gang?"
"I ain't nothing"
"Hes the leader" Johnny says quietly but he shrugs. "Hes got a good left hook and looks younger than everyone else no one suspects the innocent one"
"Oh yeah and you were know that" pony says looking at johnny.
"We would know." Johnny corrects him.
"I will leave"
"Nopeee, wont let ya"
"So whats the gangs uniform?"
"Uniform?"
"Yeah every gang has at least one matching accessory or something"
"We aint a gang and we don't match"
"Your wearing curlys jacket" johnny points out. "You dont own a leather jacket"
"I mean it is kinda a gang if you ask me" johnny says with a quiet but steady voice. "Remember last month when I told soda you and me where hangin out on the couch and you fell asleep?"
Pony went red and turned to johnny like he betrayed him. "You wouldn't."
"And you really came back around 12 reeking of alcohol"
Dal perked up when he heard it, he always was one to love gossip and drama.
"That's not…"
"You were drunk"
"Nuh uh"
"Yuh huh"
"Dont make me list the other times"
"Other times?!"
"Fine just please stop" pony says covering his face with his hands.
"So wait you knew he was out doing shit he shouldn't and you didnt tell no one?"
"I ain't a snich"
Dally stares at him before laughing "johnny cade the keeper of secrets. Im learning new shit about you tonight"
"I got layers"
"You got secrets"
"Same thing"
"Nuh uh you got blackmail this is blackmail!!" Pony cuts in.
"Yall are moving past the fact the innocent johnny cade who wouldnt hurt a fly has been helping pony live a double life"
"It ain't a double life" pony mutters.
"Its a double life" johnny replies simply.
"Traitor"
"Nuh uh im honest"
"Honesty ain't spilling secrets"
"You owe me"
"Wait wait wait wait" dally says cutting into there argument. "All the times I gave you rides to the library and scouts house was that apart of this too??"
"… not necessarily.."
"Have i been an accessory to this??"
"You offered"
"I wasnt offering to help you live a double life??"
"You were being an accessory" johnny says quietly.
"Your enjoying this way to much"
"Im just observin' "
"Your judging"
"Same thing"
"Not the same thing!!" Pony cuts in.
'I'll tell darry your whole double life if you want? The gang and everything?"
Ponys eyes widened. "You wouldn't"
"Try me"
"You'd be snitching"
"I'd be honest its not the same thing"
"Since when have you been honest to darry?"
"… Fair point.."
"HAH blackmail goes both ways" pony says way to proud of himself, ignoring johnnys piercing gaze.
"Alright truce" pony says "you stop exposing me and I'll stop exposing you"
"What do I get in return?"
"You get my silence"
"I ain't scared of you"
"You should be"
"Of what when I lie that im not at the lot?"
"Of when you stole darrys beer and told him it was two"
Johnny freezes clearly not expecting pony to have any real dirt on him.
"I got more too"
"Alright alright truce"
"No i was enjoying that!" Dally says throwing his hands up.
"Im gonna go to the lot" johnny says standing up.
"And if you actually told me what your doing I could help you cover it up"
"I wasnt.."
"Im serious I got a system dont mess it up"
Dally watches as johnny leaves before turning back to pony. "Hes different tonight"
"Hes always like this"
"No i mean hes got teeth"
"He always had 'em"
"Hes been hidin' 'em" dal say before turning to really look at pony. "And you've been to"
"Were just good at hidin' 'em I guess"
"You've sure been hiding a lot" dal says leaning on the door frame again. "Do you have blackmail on me though?.."
"Thats for me to know and for you to find out about when I need it." Pony says standing up to head to his room.
Dally stands in the doorway of the hallway stopping pony from getting past. "Alright whats it gonna take"
"Whats what gonna take?"
"For me to know what you and johnny got going on"
"Nothin'. You ain't gonna know."
"C'mon everyone's got a price"
"I ain't everyone am i?"
Dally stares at him for a second, he didnt know pony had such a good poker face. "I'll teach you how to hotwire a car?"
"I already know how to"
"Since when??"
"Since like a year ago when mark taught me?"
"Damnit.. I ain't got nothing else.. you already know how to fight, hotwire a car what dont you know??"
Pony shrugs "I dont know but can I walk past now??"
"Nopee"
"What about a truce? You keep your mouth shut about what you heard from me and johnny"
"And if I dont??"
"Ill tell tim you were askin' to many questions about his brothers operation"
"Is that a threat?" Dally asked hes eyes narrowing.
"Its a promise"
"Damn kid you really did grow a backbone"
Pony smiled at that.
"Fine I ain't gonna tell no one" dal says holding his hands up but not moving from the doorway. "But you gotta do somethin' for me"
"I ain't gettin' you in"
"I didnt even get to ask anything yet"
"You were thinkin' it"
"Fine but at least let me meet 'em"
"Why" pony asked studying his face.
"Cuz I wanna know who turned the baby Curtis who wrote poems into someone who threatens people with tim sheperd"
"And has a better poker face than some old men i see at bucks"
"Maybe"
"Just a maybe?"
"I'll think about it."
"M'kay baby Curtis" dal says finally moving from the doorway.
"And stop calling me that" pony adds walking past him.
"No promises"
Pony flips dal of before walking to his room, making dal laugh.
As soon as pony opens the door to his room and shuts the door hes greeted by everyone there.
"Heyyy leader" Angela says not looking up from her nails.
"How long have yall been here?"
"Since we found out soda was staying out with Steve for the night" scout says from were shes sitting on the floor.
"And since dal called me a drug dealer" mark says with an exaggerated hurt tone.
"Mark you are a drug dealer" curly says standing up from where he was sitting.
"And you are to sheperd." Mark clapped back.
"Hey dont bring me into this" Angela says throwing a pillow directly at marks face.
"Hey dont wreck my room! soda might realize I had people over"
"Geez ok" mark says tossing the pillow back on ponys bed.
"Im never gonna let down the fact you blackmail dallas Winston and johnny cade." Curly says grinning.
"Dal was askin' to many questions" pony says shrugging like this is normal.
"Remind me to never get on your bad side" Angela says finally looking up from her pink and balck nails.
"Too late remember yesterday when you stole his pack of cigarettes" scout says grinning.
"That was an accident!! And pony forgave me" angela says crossing her arms with a huff.
"Yall need to quiet down before someone here's you"
"We're fine darrys a really heavy sleeper" scout says waving her hand dismissivly.
"Oh yeah you would know your the some who snuck into his room to see if he'd wake up" cherry says rolling her eyes, laying down on ponys bed.
"You did what?!??"
"He didn't wake up so its fine" scout says shrugging.
"So apparently im a getaway driver now" cherry says propping herself up by her elbows.
"You ain't no get away drink" pony says crossing his arms.
"Thats what the bitch said"
"Dally, cherry, call 'em his actually name"
"Never. Hes a bitch. But i kinda like the title of get away driver"
"You ain't our get away driver" pony says rubbing his temples.
"Not yet"
"Cher no"
"Cher yes..."
"You guys are genuinely insufferable"
"Were your gang members" curly says walking over to pony.
"We aint a gang"
"Thats not what the news saysss" scout says showing the new title about a new gang reaking havoc and how no one can find out who the members are.
"Shut up scout"
"The news don't lie ponybaby"
"Ponybaby?"
"I like Ponybaby its got a ring to it" Angela says cupping her chin in her hands.
"Dont get used to it"
"Oh trust me I will"
As ponys about to says something snarky back he was interrupted by curly grabbing his jaw and tilting his head.
"You still bleedin' "
"Oh" pony says reaching for is face and when he pulls his hand back its covered in fresh blood.
"The fuck you mean 'oh?' Your nose is busted"
"I've been busy"
"Yeah busy blackmailing people"
"I can patch myself up" pony says trying to free himself from curlys grip.
"You clearly cant considering you stil bleedin' "
"So we sure dal ain't gonna snitch?" Angela asks.
"Im sure, dal ain't no snitch and he knows I ain't bluffin' "
"Wait so you actually have blackmail on 'em?"
" 'corse i do aint the kind of person to say empty threats, and I got blackmail on everyone even you guys"
"Damn no wonder your the leader" Angela says laughing slightly.
Pony rolls his eyes and looks at mark. "Hows your arm?"
"Oh you mean since scout STABBED ME" mark says practically yelling.
"It was an accident you dipshit"
"I HAD TO GET STITCHES?!?!"
"And who did those stitches?" Pony asked trying to get him to call down.
"…"
"Damn ponys got something on everyone its kinda creepy…"
Pony snorts "you guys say that everytime i open my mouth"
"Thats cuz you do" scout says righteously.
"And im still annoyed you let Angela name the group chat and not me"
"I didnt let her do shit she changed it herself I didnt even know shit did it till yall started spamming"
"She named it 'ponybaby and his delinquents' "
" 'His delinquents'?"
"I mean if the shoes fits" Angela says shrugging.
"So are we actually a gang or not? Cuz the whole news is about us"
"I take pride and joy from what I did and I regret nothing"
"Scout you spray painted 'the delinquents were here' on the side of a building that you also swiped from"
"Swiped stealing same dif"
"Not same different !! now everyone thinks theres a new gang named the delinquents thats been terrorizing town!!"
"I mean we have been terrorizing town tho.."
"Can it Angela I haven't done jackshit that was yall your doing"
"Nuh uh we got all the blackmail from you!! And in your exact words you made the gang for teenager rebellion!!"
"… I did say that.."
"So is our name the delinquents now?"
"It isn't anything"
"Its either that or the suicide squad" Angela says reaching into her purse and grabbing a nail filer.
(Lmaooo reference)
"Suicide squad?" Pony repeated, confused.
"Yeah cuz yall either do dumb shit that could get you killed or you just genuinely dont give a fuck about what happeneds to yourself.
"That isn't suicidalness or whatever"
"I mean yeah it kinda is tho"
"Scout dont encourage her!"
"So that means we're keeping the name the delinquents?"
"Fine… i guess so" pony says with a huff, taking the rag away from his nose, its covered in blood.
"Jesus pony you sure it ain't broken?" Curly asked genuinely concerned.
"Yeah its fine"
"I take proud in all my work" scout says replying to somthing mark said.
"You literally keep injuring yourself and other people"
"No im building our reputation"
"Building our reputation does not have to do with giving literally everyone bruises"
"Its not my fault yall bruise so easily"
"You hit mark so hard in the shoulder he couldn't wear short sleeves cuz the bruise was huge" Angela says crossing her arms.
"Hey let her be im just glad she hasn't done it to us" cherry says sitting up.
"Yeah and your lucky" pony says putting the rag back up to his nose. "Scout 'playfully' punched me in the ribs and I still have the bruise"
"It was an accident"
"Its a huge bruise across my whole rib scout"
"Accidentalll."
After awhile, when the realized it was past 4am and soda could come back any second they finally all decided to leave, so no one gets caught.
Scout has just quickly waved before leaving, mark had told him thank you for all the time he'd stitched him up and helped when he was injured. Angela had blown him a kiss before leaving and cherry said thank you again for the whole socs thing.
And curly, the last to leave, had Checked his knuckles, they were bleeding a lot more than anyone realized, blood already seeping through the bandages.
Curly had quickly tighten the bandages, and added a second maybe before leaving.
"You should be more careful next time" curly said quietly, finishing patching up the bandages.
"I will be i promise" pony said before curly left.
Curly smile before leaving through the window. "But that's was real tuff, didn't know you had it in you"
When curly finally left, leaving pony by himself he had sat on his bed looking at his knuckles.
Pony laid down on his bed, staring at the ceiling, just thinking.
Thinking about how he had accidentally created a gang who showed up even when disappearing was easier.
He had built something real. Something he didn't know he could.
He though about what dally had said all those months ago.
"You need to toughen up before you get yourself killed."
Dally said it deadpaned. Seriously, because he was serious. He had gotten used to pony always geting injured or hurt or just him being the baby.
He had the title for a reason. Because everyone saw him as the baby of the Curtis family. Of the gang. He was the youngest, the softest, the one who couldnt fight.
But now when people looked at him, when people called him baby Curtis it was with respect. He had earned it. He was tougher than he thought.
And he proved it. Not because he held up in a fight or because he had a gang, but because he knows there's more to it then dumb decisions and fights.
It was through calculation, bravery something people didn't think he had just cuz he was younger then them.