Dedication: My banana phones, Curtis and Derrick. I luffle you guys!
Author's Notes: GAH! I can't update every week! I tried! I have severe script phobia (fear of writing in public) and oh, its horrible. My brother has a friend sleeping over too! But to make up for the delay, I made this chapter a page longer than what I usually do. Whoo!
One more chapter to go!
Sodapop Curtis could be described in three words - spontaneous mood changer. Although he didn't go from happy to depressed - oh no. More like he went from happy to positively bubbly. He was never not happy - just in lesser forms of it.
Lately, Sodapop had been so giddy it was almost unbearable to be around him. Ever since Ponyboy had come back home, Sodapop wouldn't stop laughing or grinning. It was almost like three years ago, only there wasn't any Mr or Mrs Curtis. And there was a noticeably awkward air in the room whenever Ponyboy was in it. Everyone knew it, but they just had different ways of reacting. Darry would stiffen and try to play the best big brother there ever was. Two-Bit would try to lighten the mood. Johnny would just sit there, staring with wide-eyes. Dally and Steve would…well, glare. Which was to be expected, really.
Although Sodapop had dropped out of high school, he was a smart kid. Just… selective in what he chose to learn. An idiot savant, some might say. Not many people knew this, and it was a fact that was easy to forget. But it was also an easy fact to realize. Look at him - he was a mechanic, almost as good as those who went to college to learn to be one. Keyword almost.
But since Sodapop was smart, he noticed the awkwardness around everyone. He noticed whenever Randy came over things became so tense Soda was pretty sure he could float around in it.
Now, Sodapop didn't really like having all this tension in the air. And if it had to be around, he might as well know why it was around, right? So one day, as they were laying in the bed they shared when they were little, Soda whispered softly, "Where have you been, Pon'?"
He kept his eyes open, watching as his younger brother's back muscles tightened. It didn't seem like he was going to answer, but then the redhead spoke.
"Around."
"Around? C'mon, Pon'. I'm tryin' to be serious here!" Soda muttered, lifting an arm lazily and gently shoving his brother. Ponyboy rolled around so he was facing Soda, his pale green eyes glittering in the moonlight. They stared at each other for a long moment, and then Ponyboy rolled onto his back, raising a hand to cover his eyes.
"What's with all the questions, Soda?" he asked quietly, and Soda snorted.
"Well in case you FORGOT ya were kinda gone for three years!" Soda said loudly. Darry's bed creaked in the other room as the eldest brother moved around, trying to get some sleep but being interrupted because of Soda's not-so-quiet outburst.
Ponyboy sighed, lifting his fingers so Soda could see one of his eyes.
"You want to know what happened? Fine. I'll tell you. Save questions for later though, got it?" Pony asked, and Soda nodded. Ponyboy sighed again, chewing on the insides of his cheeks thoughtfully.
"Well…for a while I stayed with Tim Sheperd and Curly…" Ponyboy said fondly, a small smile gracing his face. "That was fun. Well. Tim was a little strict, yanno? And all his gang members kept stopping by…bringin' their guns and everything. But being with Curly…that was swell.
"And then I met Randy, and he invited me to stay with him. He's pretty cool for a Soc, ya dig? His parents were real nice. Randy and me, we shared a bedroom. He's like a broth…er…we're really close now…
"Randy was in track before me, and he convinced me to try out. So I did, and…ya. We do relays together, yanno?" Ponyboy paused, and Soda simply shrugged. He personally did not know what a relay was, nor did he particularly care. But he wasn't going to tell Ponyboy that!
"A relay is when you have a baton, yanno? And you run a set distance - one hundred meters, two hundred, four hundred…depending on what kind of runner you are."
"And what kind of runner are you?" Soda murmured. Ponyboy laughed, letting his hand drop from his face to the pillow beneath his head.
"Short distance. Two hundred is as far as I can go without getting out of breath. Randy can run farther, but he likes doing relays with me. And he's not all that fast, so it evens out. Ya dig?"
Sodapop stared at his younger brother, shivering a bit and drawing the blankets closer around himself, taking them from Ponyboy, who didn't realize and thus didn't complain. Or did realize, and chose not to say anything.
"Did you ever think about us?" Sodapop asked, his voice so quiet that had Ponyboy not been lying right next to him, the younger boy probably wouldn't have been able to have heard it. But Ponyboy did hear.
"No."
The sleepiness that was slowly taking over Sodapop retreated right then, at that one word. No. And the tone of voice Ponyboy used…it wasn't sad, nor was it arrogant, or smug, or anything like that. It was just that - no. No emotion behind it.
"What…?" It was times like these when Sodapop let the world know that he was indeed an idiot savant. Oh yes. Believe it.
"No, I didn't think about you guys," Pony said softly, "I didn't have to. You guys were always in my head. In my dreams, in my head…sometimes I thought I could hear your voices…" a small smile. "But…you know when you try to avoid thinking of something, you can't help but think about it? It always comes back to you, in five minutes, ten minutes, thirty, an hour…you know? So its impossible to avoid thinking of something…"
Soda sat there, processing this information. So Ponyboy had been thinking of them? Good. It was even better than Ponyboy apparently couldn't get his brothers out of his minds, Sodapop thought.
He said it aloud as he wrapped an arm around Ponyboy and drew his younger brother to his muscular chest. He held on tightly to Ponyboy, barely giving him enough room to breathe. Ponyboy gave an experimental squirm, hoping that he could get out of the hold, but Soda only tightened his grip, and, sitting up, moved his arm over to Pony's side…
Ponyboy squirmed more, biting his lip to keep from laughing. Soda grinned, moving his fingers some more, making an odd finger dance on Ponyboy's sides. Said boy began to thrash, desperately trying to get away from those awful fingers. A small giggle escaped Ponyboy's lips, and that giggle soon became uncontained laughter. Soda's own laughter, rich and silky, joined his younger brother's, and together their laughter woke up Darry. They were too wrapped up in each other, Soda focused on tickling his brother, and Ponyboy focused on trying to get away…or try to stay focused, to notice that their bedroom door had been opened and Darry stood in the doorway…
They did notice, however, when the bed suddenly dipped and Ponyboy was tugged away from Sodapop. Darry held Ponyboy against his firm chest, arms wrapped around his younger brother's arms. Ponyboy's legs were tucked to the sides, akimbo. Surprised at being trapped once again, Ponyboy turned to blink at Darry.
"Wha- Oh glory, Soda! Stop it!" Ponyboy whined, squirming and thrashing as Soda attacked him once again. With both of his hands free, Soda was able to reach more of Ponyboy's weak spots (as well as find some new ones…although Ponyboy was ticklish pretty much anywhere). "C-c-come on, guys! Dar-Darry! Please!"
Darry laughed, shifting so he could hold Pony to his chest with one arm. Ponyboy, realizing what was happening, moved to scamper away. And he almost succeeded too, scrambling over Soda's legs, his flannel PJ bottoms covering his feet. But then a hand grabbed his ankle, and he was hauled right back over to Darry. This time Darry made sure to keep a firm grip on Pony as he switched arms, and now Pony was firmly pressed between his arm and side.
"For that," Darry said dramatically. "We shall have to use three arms."
Soda laughed delightedly, and Ponyboy paled.
"Darry, please don't! C'mon!" Ponyboy wailed.
Soda simply laughed more and stuck his tongue out at Pony. "That's what you get for not telling us where you were!"
And with that said, Soda tackled Pony, his fingers dancing over Ponyboy's flesh, the muscles tightening under his fingertips. Darry joined Soda, tickling the youngest brother in places Soda couldn't reach or get to. They continued this for a while, until Ponyboy was laughing so hard he could barely breathe. Finally Darry let Ponyboy go, and he fell to the bed, panting, face flushed and sweat trickling down his forehead.
"I hate you," Ponyboy panted, glaring at the two.
"Hey, love you too, babe," Soda grinned cheekily, flopping down next to Pony on the bed. Ponyboy scowled, moving to wiggle away from Soda, only to collide into a chest. And once again, an arm wrapped around his thin frame. Only this time, no tickle attacks came.
"Since you guys woke me up, you won't mind if I stay in here then, will you?" Darry smirked, although Pony couldn't see. All he could see was a wall of black.
Ponyboy softly muttered something that sounded like, "Gunna get you in th' morning, jerks…"
And they fell asleep then, the tension finally gone.
End notes: Whoo. X3