「my boy」 | Johnnyboy

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"Uh, I dunno." He ran a hand through his hair, swiping the fallen strands of raven colored locks from his forehead.

"You gotta know." He paused. "Lemme rephrase it, then. What's your idea of fun?" The elder boy was silent in thought, unsure. The only fun he'd ever really had was—well, he couldn't remember. Most things he did were for attention from his peers, whilst the other things were purely out of hate for his parents.

"Smoke?" He bit his lower lip, running his index finger over the top. "Not just cigarettes, I mean... At parties and stuff." He shrugged. "It gets the mind off of things."

"Oh, Jesus." Ponyboy rolled his eyes. "You're so cool."

"I know."

"I was being sarcastic."

"Well, you're not very good at it."

"My brothers say differently."

"That's their job; boost your ego a bit, stroke your metaphorical dick, you know? Doesn't mean they're actually telling the truth, man."

"Why do you have to do that?"

"What?"

"Put down everything everyone else does or says. It's like nothing's good enough for your expectations."

"I don't have expectations."

"Everyone does."

"No. All that will do is set you up for disappointment, I just say how I see things. Like..." He paused, then broke into a soft smirk, leveling him with a smug expression. "Like, for instance, if you were to say you wanted to be in a motorcycle gang, I'd tell you you're gonna end up having your ass handed to you."

"Good thing I don't wanna be in one then," he mumbled, sighing. "You have to loosen up. Stop being so edgy. It doesn't make you any more likeable than your sass does."

"I don't have sass. Sass is for queers."

"Queer is for bigots."

"God."

"You rang?" Caroline piped up, sliding into the seat on the opposite side of Ponyboy, who snickered like a nerd at her joke. Johnny smirked wider than before, silently amused.

"Clever."

"What were you guys talking about?"

"Bigots." Ponyboy answered immediately, his eyes firmly planted on his pretend boyfriend. Caroline didn't notice.

"Oh... Is someone giving you guys trouble?" She looked between them, instantly causing Pony to look at her and flash a small smile. Johnny remained neutral.

"No, just in general. They're everywhere."

"True." She placed her hands in her lap, passing her phone back and forth between her fingers absentmindedly. "Are you guys nervous for that party?"

"Depends... Are we going?" The youngest of them inquired, arching his brows. Johnny refrained from making a salty remark and instead shrugged.

"If there's alcohol, I'm in." That was a lie; the mere scent of whiskey was enough to send him into a panic attack. All it brought was the memory of his dad, which was almost scary enough on its own to cause a freak out of sorts. "But it doesn't really matter either way. Whatever you guys wanna do."

Caroline bit her lip. "I kinda—well, I mean, I kinda really wanna go."

"Then let's do it." Ponyboy agreed, slapping his knee in finality.

"Cool."

"Let's get food." Ponyboy proposed suddenly, boredom taking a toll alas.

"Dairy Queen?"

"Can we make it Tastee Freeze?" The brunet looked between his tagalongs, then slowly explained, "Better shakes."

"...agree to disagree." Johnny spoke up, sliding out a cigar and placing it between his teeth as he dug for a lighter.

"I thought you smoked cigs." Ponyboy eyed him curiously.

"I was out." He stated simply, offering no further explanation before beginning to puff on the new object. It was grape flavored, though that didn't help the way the smoke clawed at Ponyboy's nostrils as he second handedly inhaled it. It even managed to burn his throat, that was how new the inhalation of smoke was to him.

At least it smelled better than his cigarettes.