BLISS || THE OUTSIDERS IMAGINES

darry curtis | family

"alright. let me know if you see him. thanks, tim." your fiancé, darrel, said as he hung up the phone. you sat on the couch opposite his chair, soda beside you fast asleep.

ponyboy was missing. he hadn't come home at his normal eleven o'clock curfew, something that was rare for the boy. it was nearly two in the morning now and no one had heard of him.

you were certain that he was just hanging out with johnny or two around the north side, staying out of trouble; but at this time of night and at fourteen years old, the world can be a cruel place. the socs were getting worse by the day, their hatred for greasers only progressing and becoming more violent. you hoped he was alright.

your fiancé was losing his mind. he had his nose stuck in the newspaper, and when he didn't, he was either staring at the door, out the window, or placing a phone call to some of his buddies. from his grim expression, you could tell none of them saw his kid brother.

you felt like comforting him; but you figured it was best to leave him to his business while you waited for the return of pony.

the whole house was concerned; the three of you waited in the front room, darry the most frantic out of all of you. sodapop didn't seem too worried; he knew that ponyboy was a good kid and didn't get himself into a lot of trouble. darry, on the other hand, didn't know what to expect from him.

darry had taken up so many responsibilities after the loss of their parents, including raising his little siblings. he loved them, very much; but the stress got to him quite often. he juggled a tiring job and a single-parent role; but you helped as best you could. you thought the world of him and his brothers, you'd do anything for them.

you were startled upon hearing the door open quietly. you turned your head to see ponyboy, looking as though he were a lost puppy. he was tired and looked as though he were expecting the worst.

"hey, pony," you greeted him with a small smile, but your smile faded as darry threw his newspaper to the floor and jumped out of his chair.

"where the hell have you been? do you know what time it is? it's two o'clock in the morning, kiddo," darry exclaimed angrily. his emotions seemed to spill out on the poor boy; pony looked alright, but now extremely uncomfortable.

"hey, pony, where've you been?" sodapop asked from beside you with a small smile to his little brother.

"i fell asleep in the lot," pony admitted, heading straight for the bathroom.

"you what?" darry roared in question, following pony as though he were a cop in a chase. you and sodapop exchanged worrisome glances and headed after the two.

darry and ponyboy had a love-hate relationship; he was the only kid brother who gave darry a hard time.

"i was talking to johnny and i fell asleep in the lot. i didn't mean to!" pony defended himself and swung the bathroom door behind him. just as it was about to shut, though, darry punched it back open.

darry was angrier than you'd ever seen him at this moment in time. "yeah? hey, and i can't even call the cops because you two would be thrown in a boy's home so fast it would make your head spin."

you hated seeing darrel angry. he had a certain determination and sternness about him that made it easy for him to become cold; no matter the situation.