I don't own the Outsiders characters (I sometimes wish I did)

Pairing(s): Two Bit/Johnny Pony/Tim

Tuesdays. Darry effing hated them, but he knew he had to learn to enjoy the fact that he even had a job.

Darrel Curtis walked home with his hands shoved in his pockets; trying to look less like a greaser than his brothers and friends. He still couldn't get used to the thought of being without them.

Ponyboy was on a week long trip with a few of his track friends and Sodapop was with an old friend a few cities away, so Darry was alone with nothing to do but hang with the remainder of the gang.

As soon as Darry walked inside his house he was surprised to feel the cold air hit his face. He was used to their home being warm and cozy during the winter.

He threw himself on the couch feeling miserable. It was his fault that Pony and Soda were gone. Darry yelled at and scolded Pony a bit too roughly and he knew that it was about time for him to snap and/or crack under pressure. He just didn't expect it to be so soon. Soda left because he was so filled with emotion that he couldn't stand to see his brothers argue anymore. He broke down and ran out the door and no one had seen him since last month.

Darrywoke up sometime in the middle of the night. He dozed off on the couch. There was someone laying on top of him. It took him a while to recognize that it wasn't a broad. Actually, it was the black haired, sixteen year old, greaser Johnny Cade.

Darry bolted up quickly. Johnny was unconscious and looked as if he'd been beaten pretty badly.

"Johnny," Darry whispered to himself.

*JOHNNY'S P.O.V.*

I woke up on a bed in a room that obviously didn't belong to me. I slowly sat up, but couldn't move so much because it hurt so badly and my body felt so sore. For a moment I forgot what happened the night before. Until Darry walked in, I felt fine. Then I started to remember every detail of the night before as clear as the water from the Florida Keys, causing me to tear up.

Darry looked down at me with a bewildered expression on his face.

"Johnny, what's wrong?"

I didn't answer. I couldn't answer. All I could do was hold my head down and cry.

"Johnny?"

Darry put his hand on my shoulder and I jumped in surprise.

"D-Darry?" I asked kind of expecting him to say he was someone else.

I looked up into his icy blue eyes. Why? Why would he, Darrel Curtis, the one who hated, no despised, people like me, try to comfort me? Me of all people!

"Yeah Johnny, what's up with you? What happened yesterday?"

I wiped my eyes and said "Okay, but don't to tell Dally."

"Alright," he replied.

"Promise?"

"I said I wouldn't tell Dally."

"No! You have to promise!"

Darry sighed.

"Okay. I promise I won't tell Dally."

*WEEKS LATER*

Darry did promise that he wouldn't tell Darry. What he didn't do was keep what I told him to himself.

He told Soda, who (of course) told Steve, who (to everyone's surprise) told Pony, who told Two-Bit, who (to everyone's discomfort) told Dallas, who tried to solve the problem himself.

Well the results were this: Pony was left with a sprained ankle, Soda was emotionally scarred, Darry had been shot twice in the shoulder and once in the knee, Dallas was shot three times in the chest, and Two-Bit was left with a minor concussion.

"It's all my fault," I sobbed onto Soda's shoulder. "I could've just kept stayed in the empty lot and minded my own business."

"No, no, Johnny cakes," Soda reasurred me "It ain't your fault. You did the right thing. Telling Darry, telling someone was the smartest thing to do."

"I was scared," I cried.

"You were brave," Soda whispered

"I didn't fight back."

"You didn't keep something like this to yourself."

"I was scared. I didn't do anything. I just let my dad and those socs rape and beat me. And now Darry, Dallas, and the one that I love are all here in this stupid hospital because of me."

Soda and I looked at each other. I was stupid to say that. Now he'd ask "Who's the one you love?" Then he paused for a moment. "Is it Pony?"

I shook my head. "No, it's Keith Matthews