~Cicada~ Johnny Cade x male reader

50 Bucks and a Gun

POTENTIAL TW: EMETOPHOBES BEWARE, PONYBOY GETS SICK AND I DON'T PLAN ON WORDING IT AS NICELY AS THE ACTUAL BOOK DID!

"Urghhh..."

          My head is killing me. Everything in sight is... dark. Pitch black. Still, I slowly regain my senses. First, I develop my sense of feeling. The back of my head feels sticky and gross. Next, my sense of smell. I pick up on a metallic odor. It almost has an iron-like scent to it. And water, I smell unclean water. With that, my hearing comes back to me. I can now hear the water, but it isn't a stream or anything like that. This water is more still, with light trickles that sound like they come from above. Hidden in between trickles, I can hear light sobs. Taste follows suit, and the sensation of metallic liquid overwhelms my mouth. It matches the irony smell I experienced moments ago. Finally, clouding back together in dark whisps, I regain my sight. I'm on the ground...in the park.

          My memory now catching up with me, I jolt up into a sitting position, only to regret that decision when I'm met with severe pain circuiting through my body. The sobs behind me falter. Then, I hear coughs adjacent to me. I turn my head slowly, trying not to aggravate my pounding migraine any more than necessary. When I finally look towards the fountain, I see Johnny, paler than I've ever seen him, and Ponyboy, who was shockingly still alive after the brutal attack I'd watched him endure before I was knocked out. "I...." Johnny began hesitantly, "I killed 'im. I...I killed that boy." His dark, terrified eyes trail up to a spot at the fountain beside him. I'm too scared to look. I don't want to believe that a sweet, harmless Cicada could kill somebody.

          But he was a greaser, and no greaser is sweet and harmless. Slowly, I turn my head to where he's looking and gag silently. That one boy, the one who tried to drown Pony, laid lifeless in a crumple next to the fountain. Ponyboy, who'd finished coughing, turned a mute shade of green. "Johnny, I think I'm gonna be sick..." Johnny looked down at the blade in his hand, stained red with the blood of the drunken teenager that lay in front of me. "Go ahead man, I...I ain't gonna look at you," he shivered, then followed up in a repeated whisper, "I ain't gonna look at you." Ponyboy went behind the merry-go-round and wretched into the grass for a moment. Sighing and sitting on the merry-go-round, Ponyboy looked at Johnny and muttered, "You really did kill him, huh Johnny...?"

         Johnny looks up at him defensively and replies frantically, "I didn't know what to do, they was gonna drown you, Pony!" He paused and bit back a sob, before continuing, "They were gonna beat me up. They beat (Y/N) up pretty good too. I didn't....I didn't have a choice." Ponyboy looks over at me, as I've been uncharacteristically quiet during their back-and-forth. Then, his eyes widened. "(Y/N)...your head, man.... it's bleeding real bad..." Johnny looks over and shakily asks, "Are...are you okay?" I contemplate on the fact for a moment. I mean, I'm alive, so that's one thing. I didn't almost drown, that's another. I don't have to live with knowing I killed somebody, there's a third. Slowly, looking down in thought, I nod.

          Ponyboy suggested we see Dallas, said he could help us since he'd probably been through this type of thing before in New York. We all knew where he'd be on a night like this: Buck's place. He's always throwing parties and drunken get-togethers. The lanky man almost refused to get Dallas for us, but Johnny persisted. "Just tell him it's Pony, Johnny, and (Y/N), man, he'll come!" I'd never heard him speak in that tone before. Then again, I'd never seen him stab a kid before. Tonight is full of surprises. Eventually, a shirtless and disheveled Dallas comes waltzing up to the screen door. Ponyboy's face goes red. I chuckle at that, knowing what he must be thinking, but Dallas shoots that down with a smirk when he notices the kid's expression.

         Johnny explains the situation and Dallas seems proud that he stood up for himself. He ushers us inside and chides Ponyboy for wearing his goofy DIY muscle shirt and being soaking wet. We go upstairs and Dallas gets us set. He gives Johnny a gun and fifty bucks, tosses Ponyboy a dry shirt and a jacket, and takes a look at the damage on me. "Damn it, kid," he tsks, "That's one of the nastiest gashes I've seen in a hot minute." Pulling out a hidden first aid kit from under the bed, he wraps bandages around my head to protect the gash after disinfecting it. He glares at me afterwards. "Now there better not be any internal bleeding or I'll kill you, got it?" I nod and grin, and he follows suit. Then, he goes all serious as he addresses all of us.

          "You're gonna hop on the midnight train to Windrixville. Once you get there, you'll jump off of the train and head to Jay Mountain. On top of it, there's an abandoned church. Tomorrow morning, get food and supplies. Then," he paused to take a drag on his cigarette, "don't so much as stick your noses out the door." We nod and thank him as he leads us out the door, assuring us he'll be up there as soon as he thinks it's safe.

          So let's check the agenda: sneak onto a train, colonize an abandoned church, and live the rest of our lives as fugitives with the financial aid of a 17 year old...what could go wrong?