𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑. ( 𝘫𝘰𝘩𝘯𝘯𝘺𝘣𝘰𝘺 )

SEVEN.

DECEMBER 10TH, 2018. (MONDAY)

A rough hand lands a harsh slap onto Johnny's face, sending him stumbling back a little bit from the force. For the past few days, Johnny has been avoiding his family when he was home. Tonight though, tonight they found him in his room. It was getting worse.

Johnny stumbles back a bit into his empty bookshelf, slamming his back against it. A small whine escapes his lips and he looks at his mother with slightly widened eyes. Usually, she never gave the beatings. She would stand back and just watch, laughing at him. For some reason, she thought it was her turn to participate.

"You little shit," his mother slurs out drunkly, a bottle of liquor in her free hand. Johnny tries to calm his breathing as he looks at her. "You better fucking listen to me and listen to me good!"

"Ye-yes ma'am," Johnny stutters out, not wanting to make her any angrier than she already was with him. He never wanted to make her angry.

His mother takes a step towards Johnny, almost dropping at his feet. She slaps him again, harder than the first time. The boy stays quiet, a small whimper lodged in the back of his throat. He knows better than to make a noise.

"Don't say a fucking word," she yells at him, her face getting closer to his. "I thought I taught you not to talk!" Johnny simply nods his head, his hands shaking by his sides. "Don't talk back to me, ever!"

Johnny nods his head again and stares into her angry, aggressive looking brown eyes. He swallows thickly and stays still, not wanting it to be worse. His mother growls softly and shoves him back into the bookcase more, getting a small cracking noise as a result. Poor Johnny wasn't sure if it was the bookcase, the wall behind it, or one of his bones.

She stares at him, her eyes still cold and her body swaying a little bit from the alcohol. Johnny couldn't take this anymore. He lightly shoves her away, using a decent amount of force. Since she was wasted, she topples over onto his bed.

Johnny glances at her, making sure she was okay before sprinting out of the room. He keeps running until he gets to the front door, stopping only to open it and get out. After he slams the door, he goes off running again.

He looks back at his house before turning back and continues to run. The boy wasn't sure of where he was going this time. It was cold out so the lot wasn't an option really. All that was left was the Curtis house or Buck's to see Dallas but he didn't want to bother anyone.

Sudden thoughts of Ponyboy's warm, comforting touch comes to his mind and his face goes red. He sees Ponyboy's greenish grey eyes looking into his own and he couldn't help but calm himself down a little. The boy sees Ponyboy making sure he was okay and telling him that it was going to be okay.

Johnny starts running towards the direction of Ponyboy's house, using what was left of the daylight to guide him. Once it got dark, it was going to be harder to see anything. The boy bites his already bitten up and damaged lip, continuing to sprint. He couldn't understand why he was thinking of Ponyboy in such a different light. It was new.

After a long ten minutes of running and running, he stumbles up the porch to the Curtis' house. He pants heavily and doubles over, putting his hands on his knees. He couldn't remember the last time he's ever run like that anywhere and for anyone.

The boy takes a deep breath, lifting a shaky hand up and knocks on the door lightly. He was still breathing heavily and his cheek stung from the slaps. Johnny hears footsteps come to the door and smiles a little as it opens.

"Hey, Johnnycake," Soda says, looking at Johnny. "What brings you here today?" Soda then sees the dark red handprint on Johnny's cheek and just nods, opening the door more and moving aside.

Johnny walks into the house, stuffing his hands into his denim jacket pockets. He calms his breathing a little and looks at the middle Curtis brother, still smiling weakly. Soda closes the door and sighs softly, smiling weakly right back at him. He hated seeing Johnny come to their house in pain or beat up.

"Ponyboy is in his room," Soda says. "I'm only going to assume that you're here to see him. I don't know if he's doing homework or if he's reading or something. You can go check on him and talk to him. He said he's been missing you these past two days. You never stopped by." Johnny simply nods in response.

Johnny walks back to Ponyboy's room, knocking on the door gently before peeking inside. The younger boy was laying on his bed, a book over his head. He couldn't help but smile a small genuine smile at the sight.

"Soda, go away," Ponyboy says, his voice muffled a bit by the book in front of his face. Johnny pouts a little.

"I guess you don't wanna see me after all," Johnny teases. "That's okay. I'll just go back out with Soda. Maybe he'll talk to me and stuff."

Ponyboy instantly bolts up, the book falling off of his face and onto the floor. The 14-year-old grins happily and gets up, quickly walking over. He pulls Johnny inside his room and closes the door before wrapping his arms around him in a semi-tight hug.

Johnny chuckles softly and hugs back, kind of stumbling a bit from the sudden action. He was thankful for it though, he adored getting hugs from Ponyboy. Although, it might not always seem like that.

"Geez, Johnny Cade," Ponyboy says, a little loud. "I ain't seen you in two days! Are you okay? Have you eaten well? Anything happen at home? Do I have to patch you up at all?" The 14-year-old looks up into Johnny's eyes, a warm and comforting yet worried expression held in them.

"Ponyboy, I'm alright," Johnny says softly. "You don't have to patch me up, of course, things happen at home. I mean, I got a bright red mark on my face. And for the eating part, I did what I could. I think overall in the past two days, I got like, three glasses of water and about a sandwich and a half eaten."

Ponyboy looks at Johnny's cheek and sighs softly, part from relief and part from the mark. At least Johnny made an effort to eat and take care of himself while he wasn't with him. It made him feel proud of the older boy.

"I'm so proud of you, Johnny," Ponyboy murmurs softly. "So so so proud of you... Thank you for taking care of yourself and thank you for making it back here to me alive. I don't know what I would do without you. I really don't."

Johnny just looks up at Ponyboy with a small smile, a sort of loving gaze in his eyes. He truly would be lost without Ponyboy. The 14-year-old looks down at him, keeping his arms wrapped around him carefully. The two stays like this for a while, just smiling warmly and looking into each other's eyes.

Ever so slowly, Johnny finds himself leaning up a little bit. Ponyboy's pale cheeks turn red and he feels butterflies swarm in his stomach. He's never felt like this before. It was new.

Ponyboy leans down a little, their faces now about an inch apart. Johnny could feel the younger boy's breath brushing against his cheeks. Just as they were about to connect their lips, the door opens.

Soda peeks his head inside, both boys pulling away quickly and standing a few feet apart now. The boy looks at them oddly before rolling his eyes playfully. He knew something was happening but didn't want to press it.

"Dinners ready."

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Word Count: 1356

How was this?

I'm so so very sorry for not updating this in a hot second! Exams are coming up and school is getting really stressful! Plus I've been taking more time to relax my nerves and all that so, yeah.

I really hope you enjoyed this update because I worked super duper hard on this. Thank you so much for reading!