Johnny really was like a puppy if you took the time to think about it.

He had those big, sad, pleading, brown eyes that could probably earn him pity from just about anyone. He had that timid demeanor that made it look like he’d just been scolded, though was a sweet, caring, and playful person around those he was close with. He had a helpless, jumpy look to him, with the way he walked being quick and lacking confidence.

Johnny was like a puppy, the whole gang knew it, Ponyboy even described him as the gang’s “pet”, a fitting term considering how protective of Johnny everyone was, including you.

You and Johnny had always been close, sticking together all the time, from the day you first met all the way up into high school. Naturally, considering how often you two were together, rumors began to spread, with people assuming that you two were dating.

While it wasn’t true that you were dating, Johnny wished that it was. He’d had a crush on you the moment you two met, and he’d been smitten ever since. While originally you didn’t reciprocate his feelings, you began to develop some feelings for him about a year or so back, though you never really acted upon them.

That sweet puppy of a boy was all over you, he loved everything about you and he wouldn’t have changed a damn thing. He loved the sound of your voice and the way you talked, the way your face stayed as gorgeous as ever no matter what expression you had on, the way you dressed, the way your hair looked, the way your eyes had a firey determination in them no matter what you did, and every other detail about you.

Though Johnny, as innocent as he was, had one other similarity to a puppy that nobody really knew of; he absolutely yearned for any and all praise, hell, he practically lived for it. He had a pretty big praise k!nk, and he kept it pretty well hidden, not getting much use from it. Though luckily for him, the one person who gave it to him the most, and regularly, was you.

Each time you gave him a compliment or any sort of praise at all, he felt a rush of emotions rush through his head, and a rush of blood southward.