"Hey Superman!" Two-Bit called while walking into the Curtis' house with Steve, Dallas and Johnny in tow.
"Hey boys." Darry replied. He was preparing breakfast for his brothers who were just now getting up for the day… at eleven.
Everyone took their rightful place in the living room. Dallas and Johnny sat on the couch while Steve and Two-Bit occupied the floor. Darry would come in and sit in the armchair, Ponyboy would join Dal and Johnny on the couch and Sodapop would sit on the floor with his best friends, Steve and Two-Bit.
"Whatcha doin?" Two-Bit questioned Darry while grabbing a beer from the fridge instead of sitting down along with Steve.
"Beer for breakfast there Two-Bit?" Steve asked. Steve dug through the fridge and pulled out the beloved chocolate cake and began cutting a piece from himself and only himself.
"Pony! Soda! Come on!" Darry yelled. Just as Steve started digging into his cake, the two youngest Curtis' came strolling out of their room. Soda was jumping all over the place since his buddies were here while Pony sat at the dining table groggy with sleepiness.
"Darry… it's Saturday. Why can't we just sleep?" Pony whined.
Darry walked out to the table and set a plate of hard eggs, some ham and chocolate cake in front of his youngest brother. He walked into the kitchen and returned with two glasses of chocolate milk. One for Soda and one for Pony. "Because, I'm not gonna have you cooped up in that bedroom all weekend. They're calling for clear skies and sunny weather so we're all going to take advantage of that."
Ponyboy slouched in his chair as Soda sat down at the table where his eggs with grape jelly, ham and chocolate cake along with chocolate milk were waiting for him. "Thanks for the breakfast Dar."
"I would've made everybody breakfast but I didn't know y'all were coming over." Darry said while staring at everyone in the living room.
"It's fine Darry. I'm not really hungry." Johnny defended.
"And Steve crashed at my place so my mom made us eat a huge breakfast." Two-Bit put in while sipping on his beer here and there.
"I don't want anything." Dallas replied. Steve didn't need a response because Two-Bit had already said it for him.
"Good to hear." Darry said. He went back into the kitchen and cut Two-Bit a piece of chocolate cake since he never knew how to moderate. Sometimes his eyes were bigger than his mouth.
"Whhao mnnah ejaigh Daury?" Pony said with a mouthful of cake. Darry crossed his arms and tapped his foot at Pony. Ponyboy finished chewing his food and looked at his oldest brother. "Sorry. I said, why aren't you eating?"
Darry handed Two-Bit the cake to which he gratefully took it. "Because I already ate when you sleepyheads were snoring your brains out."
"Oh…" Was all Pony had to say in response. Soda and Ponyboy began making small talk at the table, which was what Johnny and Dally were doing themselves. Steve and Two-Bit threw themselves on the floor and ate their cake while Darry began cleaning up the kitchen.
About five minutes passed before the two youngest Curtis' brothers finished their breakfast and began washing the dishes. Two-Bit and Steve got off the floor and joined the brothers in the kitchen. "So! Any plans for today?" Two-Bit cried gleefully while handing Ponyboy his dirty plate to be washed.
Darry finished wiping down the counters. "Well, if you boys are up to it, maybe we could go play some football, take a walk in the park and head over to The Dingo for dinner on me. Only as long as you boys behave."
Two-Bit and Steve started dancing and cheering around the small house and Soda threw bubbles from the dish liquid at Pony who threw them right back. "Sounds like a plan!" Two-Bit screamed.
Everyone finally settled down and Pony and Sodapop finished up the dishes. Eventually, everyone gathered around in the living room, just like they were supposed to: Dally, Johnny and Ponyboy on the couch; Steve, Two-Bit and Sodapop on the floor and Darry in the big armchair.
"I think your plans are a great idea Darry." Johnny said. Everyone could tell he was trying to start a conversation.
"Thank you Johnny." Darry shot a smile at Johnny who turned a funny shade of red from partial embarrassment.
"Me too Superman!" Two-Bit said while drinking a new bottle of beer.
"Ya know, ya oughta try drinking something other than beer from time to time Two-Bit. You're gonna die of alcohol poisoning." Ponyboy said.
"And you're gonna die of cancer if you don't stop smoking those damned cigarettes." Darry shot back.
Two-Bit began laughing and erupted into fits of "Oooh!" and "Burn!" for a minute. Everyone cracked a smile at their loony friend.
"Yeah, listen to your brother Pone. Seems like he does have a brain after all." Steve said while getting up from the floor.
It was quiet for a moment. Darry slowly rised from his chair and followed Steve into the dining room. "What did you say?" Darry asked quietly.
Steve turned around. "I said, seems li-" Darry cut him off.
"I know what you said."
Steve chuckled. "Then why did you ask if you knew?"
Darry was beginning to get angry. Sure, he didn't go to college. But he did graduate high school and won a scholarship to college. He was taking care of six greasers not because he had to, but because he wanted to. And two of them happened to be his brothers. He could've stuck them in a boys home somewhere and worked his way through college after his parents died. But he didn't. He could've given the opportunity of going to college to Sodapop. But he dropped out to take care of their youngest brother. So Darry gave the college opportunity to Ponyboy. And he didn't have a choice. He wasn't going to miss out on something that Darry had a shot at. Ponyboy was going to go somewhere. He wasn't going to be a greaser his whole life. He was going to become something.
Darry took high offense to Steve's oddly placed comment for earlier. "What exactly did you mean by that?"
"It's just that you have more brawn than brains," Darry clenched his fists. "We should start calling you all brawn and no brains."
And that was all it took to make Darry snap. He flung his arm right at Steve's jaw and everyone heard a satisfying "CRACK" and Darry's fist impacted with Steve's jaw. He fell onto the floor as Darry was breathing hard and everyone else was watching in awe. Darry never hit anybody. He could always control his temper. But when something about his education comes up, Darry can't control it. He was sensitive about it.
Even Sodapop was mad at Steve. Everyone knew Darry didn't like to talk about stuff like that. And Soda was astonished that Steve would bring up this kind of subject when he knew Darry didn't like it. Darry nor Sodapop was gonna let this go that easy.
Steve laid on the floor, not moving. Everyone was sure Darry had knocked him out cold. But the truth was, Steve was scared that his jaw was shattered. He finally moved and picked himself up and off of the floor, only the stagger backwards and against the wall. His hands were occupied by his jaw and busted lip that was bleeding profusely. Darry stood where he was, arms by his side and chest swelled with pride; not regretting anything.
Blood was running down Steve's chin and neck and some fell onto his shirt. It was deathly quiet until Johnny bolted out the door followed along by Dally to see if Johnny was okay. Pony was staring at everything that was happening as if it was all in slow motion. Two-Bit stopped drinking his beer mid-sip and started choking. Soda was staring at Steve dead in the eye, thinking that Steve deserved what he got.
"Next time, think about what you're gonna say before you actually say it." Darry growled before walking off the his room and slamming the door.
Two-Bit crawled onto the couch after he was done choking with Ponyboy while, even though he was furious he was also concerned, Soda went to check if Steve was okay. Two-Bit leaned over to Pony's ear. "This is gonna be a long week."
Pony sighed. "You're telling me."
oOoOoOo
Hope you guys enjoyed this little one-shot. This is my first one-shot so let me know how I did! ^-^
~Stay Gold
staygold-fandom (Malory)