RED [dallas winston]

ten

     harley sat on the couch in the curtis house watching the rain pour down outside the window. inside the house the gang was more than excited to prepare for the rumble.

     "no you have it all wrong, it's like this." steve announced pushing ponyboy off of two-bit to wrestle two-bit himself.

     "can you take that outside please." darry groaned. they called off on his roofing job today because of the rain and he wasn't too thrilled about it.

     "come on dar your a good fighter, show 'em how it's done!" sodapop cheered earning a small smile from darry.

     "seriously guys i don't want anything broken in here." darry said nudging steve in the side with his foot, causing him to sit up.

     "darry it's pouring outside." ponyboy complained.

     "oh come on, it's not that bad." said harley finally coming back from focusing on the window.

     "oh yeah harls, you gonna go out there and show us your moves." dally laughed from his spot standing next to darry.

    "maybe i will."

    "hell yeah. i wanna watch harley kick someones ass!" steve cheered earning a few laughs among the group.

    "are you gonna fight in the rumble?" darry asked looking over at harley.

    "no, i don't think so."

    "hm." was all he responded, causing harley to look at him with a confused face. "i just thought you might want to you looked like you had fun last time."

     "i don't know. i think it was a one time thing."

     the eight of them ventured outside in the pouring rain causing smiles from harley who loved the rain. surely enough their concerns from earlier drifted away when they found out they enjoyed pushing each-other down in the mud. harley laughed watching a fight between sodapop and steve cheering them on. at some point even darry had started wrestling them. none of it really counted as 'rumble practice' because it was all light hearted and fun, more play fighting than anything.

     "so what happened to those fight moves from earlier?" dally questioned as he walked over to harley who was sitting on the porch watching her friends in the front yard. she could hardly hear him over the sound of the rain hitting the tin roof above her.

     "just waiting for a chance to use them." harley said looking up at him.

    "i accept that challenge." dally said and harley stood up and followed him to a spot in the mud away from their friends. "throw a punch at me." dally said and harley nodded throwing a punch which he dodged. she tried again and he also dodged that one, he caught her next punch in his hand and she sighed as he continued to dodge.

     "you're pretty good, your no me, but your pretty-" dally was cut off by a punch in his stomach thrown by harley while he was distracted with his gloating.

     "aw you think i'm pretty." harley joked as dally laughed standing up straight again.

     "you got quite the punch huh."

     "i guess, but i think we just proved i am not ready to fight in a rumble."

     "nah you're just out of practice, besides none of those socs fight like me and i can guarantee that."

     "you know you kind of come off conceited sometimes." harley teased stepping forward.

     "do i? i should work on that huh." dally said shaking his head before leaning down to kiss harley, promptly being tackled by ponyboy followed by six other laughing boys.

    "just doing our duties to cock block." sodapop said with a cheeky smile.

     harley just shook her head and laughed watching dally try to get out of the pile of people he was in.

___

    darry made them all wait outside and take off their shoes while he got towels, although he tracked mud through the house himself. they all sat inside soaking wet, other than the curtis brothers who went to change into dry clothes. harley sat curled up next to dally as they covered themselves with his jacket. they were both still cold and wet and harleys hair was sticking to everything but they didn't move.

     "you're really not gonna fight?" two-bit asked turning to face harley. he was currently combing his hair back trying to hide the fact his grease had washed out in the rain.

     "why would i? i'm not a strong fighter anyways and i don't want anyone to worry about me again."

    "is that what this is actually about?" dally questioned sitting up so he could face harley. "harley every rumble we've ever fought in we've always looked out for each other. that very night i punched some guy who had two-bit pinned, the rumble before that i pulled a guy of johnny. that's the point of the rumbles, we do it together and we look out for eachother."

     "hell harley, i've saved some guys who's names i don't even know." two-bit cut in. "and if you're looking for a reason, the reason we all do it is because we're greasers. we fight because we have each others backs against the socs, and that seems like better motivation then whatever guy you fought for last time."

     harley smiled a bit looking around, the boys in this room would spend their lives labeled as criminals but she knew them to be the most selfless people she'd ever met.

     "also if it makes you feel any better, i worry about you at all times, especially when you aren't in a rumble. if you don't fight i'll probably worry more 'i wonder what harley's doing right now? i hope she's not dead.'" darry added trying to lighten the mood. he threw a couple t-shirts at the five of them still in wet clothes. harley knew there was some truth to his statement despite that he was just trying to make her feel better. darry had always felt like a big brother to her, to all of them.

     "what do ya say harls, your second rumble?" two-bit inquired.

     "my second rumble." harley said with a smile earning cheers across the room.

a/n: this chapter was so comforting for me to write.
the bond between the whole gang>>>
also the fact this takes place in the rain>>>
i love when i write happy chapters <3