Starboy - DarLas -The Outsiders

Chapter 3

I watched Darry as he cooked breakfast, frantically trying to cook a cake and fry eggs at the same time. I couldn't help but smile. I looked around the room and took in the rest of the gang. Johnny and Ponyboy were watching TV. Nothing special. I looked over at Soda, who was watching Darry, and when Darry turned around to look at him he just looked away. There was definitely some sort of tension between them, most likely related to last night. Although we had put it aside, I was still curious about what happened. It must have been something bad, because Two-Bit and Steve weren't here. 

I started going through scenarios in my head when I heard a loud clatter and a grunt from the kitchen. I looked over and saw Darry clutching his hand, which was bright red.

I immediately got up and ran over to help him. I turned on the sink and grabbed his wrist, careful not to touch the burn. I then pulled Darry over and stuck his hand under the stream of cold water. He let out a sigh and relaxed, Then turned to look at me. 

"Thanks, Dal." He smiled at me.

"No problem, man." I smiled back, and I was probably as flushed as I felt. We stood there awkwardly until Darry remembered something. 

"The cake!" He started to run over to the oven, but I stopped him. 

"I'll get it." I ran over and took the cake out of the oven. I looked over my shoulder and saw Darry smiling at me, but when we made eye contact he looked away. I smiled, because that was the cutest thing in the world. 

The door flew open and hit the wall. I looked up and saw Steve waltz right into the house without bothering to take his shoes off or shut the door. 

That was really irritating to me. "Good morning to you too, asshole!" Steve stopped in his tracks and spun around and looked at me. He exhaled angrily.

"What the hell are you doing here, huh?" He smirked, then pointed disdainfully at Darry. "With him?"

I scowled at him. "You mean my friend?". What was he talking about? Steve was probably the least respectful of Darry. But this was unacceptable. 

He looked at Darry, then at me. Then back to Darry. Then back to me. He did this for a short while until something clicked in his head. He grinned, and looked at Darry, who shifted nervously from foot to foot. 

"He doesn't know, does he?" Darry looked up in alarm, and started panicking and making slitting motions across his throat.

Soda sat up in concern. "Steve, don't you think that-"

"Can it, buddy." Soda sat back down shamefully. Steve walked over to the couch, grabbed his DX shirt, and looked at me. "I've got to get to school, but I'll be at the DX in case you get tired of hanging out with this gay faggot."

I let that sink in. I looked at Darry, who had a fearful expression on his face. Darry was gay. One of my closest friends. I couldn't help but feel excited. But then I remembered what being gay meant to everyone else. Why everyone else mattered, I have no idea. It just did.

I looked at Steve, who was helping himself to the cake. He was my good friend. He was tuff, and we got along. He was relatively popular around town and he introduced me to a lot of my friends here. Taking his side was surely the safer choice.

I looked at Darry. We were close, and I was pretty sure I liked him a little. We didn't have as much in common, but we understood each other. However, sticking with him would get me a bad reputation if the word got out. A really, really, bad reputation. People have gotten harassed and arrested over being "queer".

Without any further thought, I took action. 

I grabbed Steve by the shirt collar and pinned him up against the wall.