The Outsiders x male reader

Chapter 5 (2/2)

P.O.V. Ponyboy

The next four or five days were the longest days I've ever spent in my life. We killed time by reading Gone with the Wind and playing poker. Johnny sure did like that book, although he didn't know anything about the Civil War and even less about plantations, and I had to explain a lot of it to him. (M/n) on the other hand didn't like the book that much. To much gore for him to like. It amazed me though how Johnny could get more meaning out of some of the stuff in there than I could — I was supposed to be the deep one. Johnny had failed a year in school and never made good grades — he couldn't grasp anything that was shoved at him too fast, and I guess his teachers thoughts he was just plain dumb. But he wasn't. He was just a little slow to get things, and he liked to explore things once he did get them. He was especially stuck on the Southern gentleman — impressed with their manners and charm.

"I bet they were cool ol' guys," he said, his eyes glowing, after I had read the part about them riding into sure death because they were gallant. "They remind me of Dally."

"I agree." (M/n) said.

"Dally?" I said, startled. "Shoot, he ain't got any more manners than I do. And you saw how he treated those girls the other night. Soda's more like them Southern boys."

"Yeah . . . in the manners bit, and the charm, too, I guess," Johnny said slowly, "but one night I Dally gettin' picked up by the fuzz, and he kept real cool and calm the whole time. They was getting' him for breakin' out the windows in school building."

(M/n) cut Johnny off to continue the story. "It was Two-Bit who did that. And Dally knew it. But he just took the sentence without battin' an eye or even denyin' it."

"That's gallant." Johnny blurted.

That was the first time I realized the extent of Johnny's hero-worship for Dally Winston. Of all of us, Dally was the one I liked least. He didn't have Soda's understanding or dash, or Two-But's humor, or even Darry's superman qualities. But I realized that these three appealed to me because they were like the heroes in the novels I read. Dally was so real he scared me.

All three of us never went to the front of the church. You could see the front from the road, and sometimes farm kids rode their horses by on their way to the store. So we stayed in the very back, usually sitting on the steps and looking across the valley, or watching (M/n) try to befriend a bunny. We could see for miles; see the ribbon of highway and the small dots that were houses and cars. We couldn't watch the sunset, since the back faced east, but I loved to look at the colors of the fields and the soft shadings of the horizon.

Slept huddled together for warmth — Dally had been right when he said it would get cold where we were going. Being careful not to wake Johnny or (M/n) up, I went to sit on the steps and smoke a cigarette. The dawn was coming then. All the lower valley was covered with mist, and sometimes little pieces of it broke off and floated away in small clouds. The sky was lighter in the east, and the horizon was a thin golden line. The clouds changed from gray to pink, and the mist was touched with gold. There was a silent moment when everything held its breath, and then the sun rose. It was beautiful.

"Golly" — Johnny's voice beside me made me jump — "that sure was pretty."

"Yeah." I sighed, wishing I had some paint to do a picture with while the sight was still fresh in my mind.

"The most was what was pretty." (M/n) said coming and siting next to me.

"All gold and silver." Johnny stated, continuing to look out into the horizon.