Trouble |The Outsiders|

21. Payback

"Remind me why we're doing this," Danny grumbled as he slung a backpack over his shoulder. Curly shrugged in front of him, the silhouette of his hair bouncing around as he looked from side to side. "Patrick saw him down by in the Tiger's territory. Tim doesn't trust him, I guess."

Danny didn't bother asking any more questions. It was obvious Curly knew as much as he did, even if his brother was the one directing the operation. The two boys stood in front of the blue chevy impala, Tim's directions fresh in their minds. "Fuck it up."

There was a childish excitement in Curly's dark blue eyes as Danny dropped the backpack to the floor and dug through it. Curly always looked like this when Tim trusted him with something, even if it wasn't important, but that wasn't what bothered Danny. He knew the streets were dark and there was no way either of them could be recognized, thanks to their black jackets, but something still made his stomach churn.

"You wanna smash the windows or slash the tires?" Curly asked casually. Danny shrugged his shoulders and looked at his partner in crime. The excited gleam in his eyes was impossible to miss as he continued to stare at their target's pristine windows. "You wanna break the windows, don't you, Curls?"

"I wanna break 'em so fucking bad."

With a smile, Danny took the long, thin knife from his friend's hand and moved to the car's front tires. Neither of the boys said anything for a while, the only sound was that of their thundering heartbeats and Danny carving a hole in the rubber. Curly walked around the car slowly, his hammer swinging from side to side in his grip. "Do we gotta jump Ponyboy tomorrow?"

Danny turned his head sharply to face him as Culry swung the hammer and left a large dent in the passenger side's door. "Why would we jump Ponyboy?"

"'Cause you said that's what we'd do if Sodapop broke Abigail's heart. I don't wanna jump him, but I will if you want-"

"What the hell are you goin' on about," Danny laughed as he watched the first tire deflate. "Last I heard, those two were happy as clams."

Curly swung the hammer again, this time leaving a massive dent in the car's hood and a large crack in the windshield. "Well last I heard, she was cheating on him at Buck's."

"That's bullshit," Danny snapped defensively as he carved away at the second tire. Near the back of the car, as he left another crack in the window, Curly scoffed. "Well, Soda told Steve then Steve told Evie and Evie told Angela then Angela told me."

"You got a screw loose or something, man. Abigail wouldn't do that."

Curly leaned against the hood casually as Danny made his way around and crouched on the shifting gravel. "She was kissin' Bobby Alex 'cause he had a gun an' woulda shot Tim if she didn't distract him."

"That is so fucking weird," Danny huffed as he slashed his knife through the final tire. "What is?"

"The whole my-sister-is-actually-your-sister thing," Danny explained as he passed the blade into Curly's open palm. He didn't say anything as they both walked to the hood of the car and each kicked out a headlight. With a wry smile, Curly leaned over the dented hood and began to carve. "Yeah. Ang likes having a sister, Tim was kinda pissed about it, though."

Curly took a step back to admire his handy-work, Shepard now gleamed in the pale light in the moon against the paint. "I just think she's Abigail. Y'know what, Danny?"

"What, Curly?" Danny responded with a matching smirk.

"Abigail's lucky to have us. We're the coolest fucking brothers ever."