𝐂𝐀𝐍'𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐏 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 || 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐏𝐎𝐏

𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 - 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍𝐍𝐘

(A/N: so I thought there wasn't going to be any Oc's but Johnnys physical therapist has a role. Her importance isn't major but she isn't a side character either. I would have to say the level of importance of Randy in the movie/book. Also there is the F slur in here but I can say it just to clarify. Although it's censored!!)

— I sighed as today was another physical therapy day. Just like any other. Ponyboy put me into Darry's truck and climbed in as well. Darry came and got into the drivers seat after putting my wheelchair in the back of his truck. We started driving to the physical therapy place.

I honestly hated it. It was the embarrassment and frustration I felt after not being able to a simple thing. Ponyboy kept reassuring me that I shouldn't be embarrassed. I'm just all mixed up. We finally arrive. Ponyboy gets my wheelchair before Ponyboy puts me in it. Darry drives off; he'll come pick us up an hour later.

We walk in and sign in for my appointment. He sits down in a chair and I sit by him. "I'm proud of you Johnnycakes." He says. "Why?" I was genuinely confused. "Because you try. You try to get better at physical movement and all that stuff. And I'm proud of you for trying. Trying is all that matters. With enough practice you'll be able to walk again!" He says happily. I smile; someone was...proud of me?

Really the only person I knew who was proud of me was dally. When he said it that one time before I fell into that coma. Me and Dallas had a strong bond and I knew he was proud of me. I don't exactly get why he hates everyone but me.

I snapped out of my thoughts by Ponyboy. "You okay, sweetheart?" I nod. I was more than okay knowing the Dallas Winston is proud of a sensitive greaser. A greaser the complete opposite of him. Me and my boyfriend hid our hands and held them tightly. Someone saw it and said, "F*ggot."

Luckily no one else heard him but our hands immediately separated. Sometimes I hate living in the 60's. But I had the gang and that's all that matters...

I wish I could kiss his lips right then and there but I couldn't. That guy called us a slur just holding hands for gods sake. I can only imagine how much worse it would be if we kissed.

Ponyboy sensed my craving for physical touch and frowned, knowing he couldn't do anything. But we could get some hugs and kisses in in my physical therapists room.

Aurora is my physical therapist. The nicest woman you'll ever meet. She has strawberry blonde hair and green eyes. She's mid 20s. Around 24. She was a mass supporter for LGBTQ+ and was pansexual herself. Me and her relate real well and because of that have in depth conversations. Maybe about something random; or maybe it's a sensitive topic. Or maybe it's something about my physical condition. She'd defend me any day and supports me and pony. She's real funny as well.

Speaking of Aurora, she comes out of the break room and pony pushes me into her room. Ponyboy sits down on the chair after pushing me where I usually like to be. A crevice between the corner and a bookcase filled with anything but books. It's surprisingly easy to slip my wheelchair out after as well. Things are just less overwhelming in my opinion when I'm in that spot. And both my boyfriend and physical therapist respected that.

"Okay. How are you two doing today? Any healing with Johnnys burns?" Aurora says. "We are both doing good. And his right hand is healing a lot more than everything else." Ponyboy says for me. "That's amazing! Johnny, how's your back doing? What's the pain on a scale from 1 to 10. 1 being no pain at all and 10 being the worst pain." Aurora says. I sit and think for a moment. "Uh...seven." The strawberry blond girl nods.

"That's improvement!! 2 weeks ago your pain was at an eight mostly!! So far this week the most it has been is a seven. Although those numbers could get
higher— I can already tell that you can get better." Aurora says. I smile and she smiles back. Ponyboy kisses my cheek, causing my cheeks to go red. "See? You are gonna get better, sweetheart." Ponyboy reassures.

"Okay Johnny. Today we are just going to see how your postures doing and how we can fix it in the future." I nod. That was what I needed. A day not to overwhelming. I just felt tired today. Aurora gets up and starts digging through everything she has. She pulls out something that I don't recognize but it looks like for back posture. "Okay Johnny. Me and Ponyboy are gonna scooch you up your wheel chair just for a second."

I nod. I always had to be told because of the pain. Ponyboy started counting down. "3, 2, 1." Him and Aurora push me a bit and I wince in pain. Aurora quickly puts the object behind me and they both lean me back and help me relax. Although the object was keeping me up which felt painful. Luckily it was bearable.

After a while, my back started going numb because it was just used to it. Although when I shifted, it started hurting again. I would have to stay still and not move a single muscle for it not to hurt. And even then the pain still shined through a tiny bit. Not a lot, but it was there.

After 30 minutes of sitting with it and Aurora making me shift every 5 minutes, it was finally over. And the last 10 minutes were to just calm down and see what we can improve on. Aurora was real patient with me. And explained me and Ponyboy everything we needed to know.

"Johnny is actually recovering pretty fast so whatever Johnny is doing to move around, keep doing it and he might be able to walk sooner than expected. It would cut down that much. Usually it's 2-3 years. But maybe it could be one almost two years-2 years and a half." Me and Ponyboy looked at each other, smiling widely.

Maybe when Ponyboy is an adult I'll be able to play football again! I miss playing it with the gang. Now instead of football, we do board game nights. Which get pretty intense.

——

"DALLAS WINSTON GIVE ME MY 50 FUCKING DOLLARS!" Steve yelled. Dally gave him his 50 and tried to roll to get out of jail but failed. Darry was easily winning.

——

I smile at the memory. Sometimes I like game night but other times I just feel like a burden, we could've been playing football if I didn't run into that damn church.

After we left, we waited for five minutes before Darry arrived. Ponyboy lifted me into the car, put my wheelchair in the back and got into the truck.

"So how was it?" Darry asked. "We have some very exciting news for the whole gang." Ponyboy said.