Curly entered the Curtis house. It was summer and that meant Darrel and Sodapop were at work while he and Pony had a lot of free time. He walked to Ponyboy's room and found the boy reading comfortably on his bed.

Curly rolled his eyes. This boy.

Curly watched him for a moment. The sunlight hit nicely against Ponyboy's body and caused his blonde hair to have a halo. Ponyboy was a cute blonde. He had dyed it on a dare made by Two-Bit some time ago. Curly remembered silently thanking Two-Bit the moment he saw Pony's new look. The younger boy didn't have his hair greased back, which told Curly he had no plans to leave the house. Curly was slightly sad that his hair wasn't greased back though. With the blonde hair greased back, Ponyboy went from cute to sexy.

Ponyboy still didn't see him leaning against his door. His nose was too far in that damn book.

"Hey, babe!"

Ponyboy jumped. "Jesus, Curly! You scared me!"

"It's your own fault for having your nose in that silly book. It's a dangerous town, Pony. You need to be more aware of your surrounds. All the time."

"It's a good book." Ponyboy closed the book and placed it down on his nightstand.

Curly sat down on the bed as Ponyboy sat up.

"Wanna hang?"

The blonde boy smiled. "Sure."

"Let's play a game."

Ponyboy eyed him suspiciously. "What game?"

"Truth or Dare."

"Curly" Ponyboy frowned.

"Ponyboy," Curly grabbed his hand in his. "There ain't anything to do in town and a little game of Truth or Dare can get us talking."

Ponyboy eyed him for a moment before agreeing.

"Great! Let's sit on the floor."

They moved to the floor, leaving enough space between them for an imaginary board game.

"I'll go first." Said Curly. "Truth or Dare."

"Truth"

"What do you like about that book you were reading so much?"

Ponyboy smiled shyly. That was a rather innocent question Maybe this wasn't going to be as bad as he thought?

"I like the characters." He answered. "Books are movies, if it has great characters that tell you who they are and their lives, I love it."

Curly nodded. "A nice, full answer. I like. Your turn."

"Truth or Dare"

"Dare." Curly smirked.

Ponyboy smirked back. "I dare you to go to the kitchen and grab me a soda and a snack."

Curly looked at his babe, confused. "That's a really dumb dare, Pon."

"I'm thirsty and hungry, Curly, and don't want to make the journey."

So, Curly made the journey. Grabbing 2 soda bottles and a bog of chips; he hurried back to Ponyboy.

"Thanks." The blonde said, taking a bottle and chips.

"Truth or Dare" Curly asked while opening his soda and sitting down.

"Dare"

"I dare you to kiss me."

Ponyboy smiled as he took a sip from his bottle of soda and placed it down.

"That's a dumb dare."

"Not to me."

Ponyboy crawled over to Curly and pushed his soft lips against Curly's. It was meant to be only 2 seconds long, but then Curly grabbed the back of his head and pulled him into a deeper and passionate kiss. Ponyboy moved closer to Curly for comfort and Curly placed a hand on Ponyboy's side. They continued to make-out until Curly shoved his tongue into Ponyboy's mouth, exploring. Ponyboy sucked on Curly's tongue, which caused the older boy to shiver.

Ponyboy pulled out of the hold, grinning. "You lose a turn."

"What?" Curly asked a bit dazed.

"You dared me to kiss you, not make-out. You lose a turn."

Curly stared, mouth dropped and confused and a little bit irritated. "Oh, like you were complaining!"

His companion chuckled.

"Fine! Go!"

"Truth or Dare"

Curly wanted to say Truth.

"Dare, motherfucker!"

Ponyboy dropped his head back, thinking of a good dare, and unknowingly giving Curly an open to his neck. It took Curly all his will power not to crawl over there and kiss and suck it. It looked so inviting.

Ponyboy pulled his head back, looking at Curly with a gleam in his eyes that made the 17-year-old instincts heighten.

"I dare you to tell me something about yourself that no one else knows."

"Pony," Curly voice softly whined. He looked down at his feet. "There are things about me that who know which others don't."

"You know what I mean, Curly."

He could say he didn't and cast this question off, but that would make all this pointless and possibly split Ponyboy and himself apart. He felt trapped, sick and open. He felt weak. He loathed that feeling. He had to do this.

"There was this one time when I was 14 and I was walking through a field. The sun was going down and just for no reason I looked up and I saw….I don't know what to call it really. Hope, I guess."

Ponyboy was staring at Curly with his full attention; his face painted with much lovely emotions.

Curly continued. "The colors of the clouds and sky were something I didn't know could happen. The clouds were of burnt orange and there were these long, thick lines of colors of pink and blue between them. And it stretched far wide like one of those huge paints." Curly used his arms and fingers to show visual image. "I stood there as the colors got thinner and thinner just trapped in so much awe. That image has been permanently burned into my memory. It used to be the prettiest thing I've ever seen."

"Use to be? What is it now-" Ponyboy stopped short, staring into Curly's eyes and he gazed at him. "I aint pretty." He looked away.

"Alright. Damn pretty."

Ponyboy chuckled and kicked playfully at Curly's foot. "That must have been really hard for you to share."

"But I did anyway." Curly smirked, feeling proud of himself.

A/N: This chapter was slow. Next chapter will have goodies!