Chapter 3. Collapsing Foundation

Jace heaved a sigh of relief as the view of his house finally came into view.

Feeling slightly rejuvenated, his strides became longer and more powerful. The faster he could alleviate the weight on his back the better.

He bounced the unconscious figure on his back higher as he kicked open the door with the sole of his boot. Not minding that the frame of the door knocked against the adjacent wall loudly. He highly doubted that just a sound would rouse the unconscious figure. After all, he been carrying the dead weight of the kid for the past forty minutes without the slightest hint of stirring.

He crossed his living room, kicked some boxes out of his way mindlessly, and stood at the base of his sofa. Without further ado, he heaved the prone body off of him and tossed him in the general direction of the sofa while he himself had collapsed backward into a nearby recliner.

He heard a soft thunk and assumed that Ponyboy's head had made contact with the metal frame of the sofa.

The sofa was cheap, so he wasn't really surprised that the metal was not padded well with the usual soft 'cushioness' that the well-endowed sofas had. The sofa dipped under Pony's weight. It seemed to lack the usual sturdiness as well. But Jace didn't mind. It only colored his 'poor' character more.

"Shit." Jace blew out a sigh of relief as his limbs dangled limply across the arm of the recliner. His legs felt tingly. "Finally, a fucking breather."

After his cohort left him with a smarting cheek, he had scooped up Ponyboy and quickly - well, as quickly as his lethargic body allowed- ventured home with him on his back. He even went out of his way to take the more desolate routes to his home which, unfortunately, was also the longer route as well.

"Kid," Jace inclined his head toward Ponyboy who was still out cold. From his position, Jace could see a tinge of red hue on his usually tan sofa. "Wake up. I just saved your ass and carried you home, and that's how you repay me? By bleeding on my sofa?"

He drummed his fingers lightly across the armrest before deciding to get up and see how Pony was fairing. Grunting, Jace stood and shuffled his way toward Pony. He turned on a lamp that was settled next to the sofa before crouching down and accessing Pony's injuries.

He took Pony's chin in his hand and angled it in a different position.

"How the hell did you cut your neck?" Jace whispered, totally nonplussed.

As far as he knew, he didn't believe any of his cohorts pulled a blade on Pony. He would have a talk with them later. He didn't like it when they didn't listen to him. He ran his finger lightly against the cut before drawing his hand back- it came back bloody. The cut had yet to clog and cease.

Figuring that Pony was not only bleeding from the neck, seeing all the blood, he allowed his nimble fingers to travel the length of Pony's neck all the way up to his hairline and around his skull. Once again, his hands came back bloody.

"Shit," Jace pursed his lips before running his hands against his own hair in frustration. "Who knew a greaser like you could bleed so easily."

Jace sat there and stared at Pony. Bruises were starting to form along the edge of his hand and face. He didn't look, but Jace was quite confident that Pony's stomach probably didn't look any better than his busted lip.

"Damn. They sure did a number on you." Jace stood and tousled his own hair and looked at Ponyboy solemnly. Suddenly, he felt bad for the kid. "I guess...I guess I should clean you up or something."

He searched around in one of the boxes that his boss had delivered to his house a few days ago.

Jace aligned his equipment across the tabletop. Peroxide. Bandages. Sewing needle. Gauze. Water. Towels. Basin. More bandages.

Jace rubbed his hand nervously against his jeans.

"It's been awhile since I took care of anyone." Jace said more to himself than to the unconscious Ponyboy. "Just bear with me, kid."

He started off with Pony's neck and then moved onto his head.

The next forty minutes consisted of Jace wiping blood, pouring peroxide, ripping gauze with his teeth, placing bandages around areas that needed it, and running to the bathroom to empty and refill the basin.

Jace popped the lid of his beer bottle with his teeth and spitted it out in the sink. It made a bing with the ceramic inners of the sink.

He sagged into his recliner and relished his beer as he eyed Ponyboy. He watched Ponyboy's chest rise and fall rhythmically. And without knowing it, his own breathing fell into accord of that of Pony's.

"You better not be dying on me."

Jace took another swig of his beer after he was met with another bout of silence. When he brought his beer down into his lap, something caught his eye.

His own reflection in the liquid of his glass beer bottle stared back at him. The liquid shimmered in his shaking hold, but his reflection was there. He frowned as he used his beer bottle as a mirror and brought his hand up to his forehead.

His forehead was crusted with dried blood.

It wasn't his blood. He was quite sure about that. He would have felt himself bleeding. And then it clicked.

He felt his hands curl into fist, portraying his anger.

"Dammit. I have a job to finish." He took another swig and tried to block out his whirling thoughts.

"I got a job to finish and no damn kid is going to stop me."

But, even with that said, the sight of Ponyboy's blood on him did not sit well with him.

And that unnerved him.

"Where's Pony?" Soda came from the kitchen and stood behind Johnny and Two-Bit who were sitting on the floor. He could hear Steve griping in the background about there being no food.

After coming home, and not seeing Pony in front of the TV with Two-Bit and Johnny, Soda assumed that he was in his room doing homework. But the room was empty and so was the kitchen.

"Library." Johnny answered quietly. "He's still writing his paper for History."

Soda looked at the clock. It was nearing six o'clock. "This late?"

Johnny nodded. "He said that it might take him awhile."

"Ah, Soda, you know Pony." Two-Bit said nonchalantly as he scratched his belly. "He don't want Darry to be hollerin' at him for bringing home a bad grade."

"Yeah, Superman would skin him." Steve added as he came in with a slice of cake. Two-Bit tried to swipe some, but Steve was able to dodge the grubby hands. Steve smirked. Before Steve could take a bite though, Two-Bit leaned in and smashed the hand that was holding the cake forward. Steve spluttered as his face was now covered with cake. Two-Bit held his stomach and laughed.

"Why you! Two-Bit Mathews!" Steve pounced on the howling Two-Bit. Within moments, the Curtis household was now holding up a wrestling match arena.

Johnny watched on, amused.

Soda watched a few moments before turning to the door and grabbing his jacket.

"Soda!" Steve hollered as he rolled off Two-Bit who was still laughing. "Where you goin?"

"I'm going to get Pony. It's getting dark."

Johnny fidgeted on the floor. He was about to tell Soda that he wanted to come with but before he could say anything, Steve beat him to it.

"Come on, Soda. He's not a baby. He can come home on his own." Steve wrinkled his nose in annoyance.

"I know he's not a baby." Soda defended. "But what if he fell asleep in the library?"

"If he's not home when Darry gets home then Darry can get him in his truck."

That was right. Darry could always get him in his truck. The DX had been super busy today between fixing cars and flirting with girls, Soda was tired. Maybe Steve was right.

Soda slipped off his jacket and flung it down on the floor.

Seeing that his best friend wasn't leaving, Steve went back to wrestling with Two-Bit.

"I guess I'll start dinner." Soda stated absentmindedly. Before a thought mollified his worries about Pony.

"How about green spaghetti tonight!"

Darry loosened his belt with one hand while the other pushed open the door.

He had gotten home later than usual today. The boss had asked them to all stay an extra half an hour to finish the roofing of one of the houses. The news reporter had expressed that there was a chance of rain, and, after hearing that, the owner of the house had demanded them to finish his house in words that contained quite a few obscenities. Sometimes, Darry really hated his job.

"Pony?" Soda swung his head out into the hallway, looking hopeful. Seeing who it was, Soda became crestfallen. "Oh. Hi, Darry."

Darry frowned. "What's wrong?"

Soda shook his head before going back into the kitchen and stirring something in the pot. "Darry, can you get Pony?"

Darry nodded and headed toward the room Soda and Pony shared but Soda stopped him.

"No, I mean at the library."

"He's at the library?" Darry looked at the clock that read 6:40. "Still?"

"Johnny said he had to write some report."

"Hey, Superman." Steve walked in with his arms stretched above his head. His hair was slightly ruffled along with his wrinkled clothes. He rubbed his eyes to get rid of the traces of sleep from them. He yawned before looking around, seemingly confused. "The kid still not home yet?"

"Can I come with?" Johnny asked from the doorway. He had heard Darry come in, and the conversation between Soda and the older greaser. He was worried about his best friend. He knew that Pony was quite the perfect student, but, as far as Johnny knew, it never took Pony that long to write a history essay.

"I wanna come, too." Liking Johnny's idea, Soda quickly moved to get his stuff but Darry stopped him.

"Finish cooking."

"But-"

"I'll get him, Sodapop." Darry glanced at the boiling pot. "Just finish dinner. I don't want this house burning down. Golly, we wouldn't be able to afford another one if it did."

Darry sighed. Seriously, his kid brother never seems to use his head anymore. He wouldn't be surprised if Pony got his nose caught up in some book and forgot the time.

"Get in the car, Johnny." Darry swiped his car keys again and headed toward the library with the little black haired greaser.

Johnny lead the way to the secluded corner in the library, but there was no sign of Pony. Not even a backpack.

"Are you sure it was this table?" Darry asked as he looked around. There was barely anybody here which he wasn't too surprised about either. It was a Friday night. Who stayed late in a library on Fridays? His kid brother, apparently.

Johnny nodded mutely.

"Well, let's split."

Darry combed the east side of the library while Johnny prowled around the west. Each of them invading into people's personal place to get a better look of that said person's face only to be thoroughly embarrassed that the person they thought was Pony wasn't him.

Darry asked the front desk, but they didn't know anything. Figures.

Fifteen minutes of thorough examination and apologies later, there was still no sign of Pony.

"Darry, I can't find him anywhere." Johnny whispered as he started to bite on his nails - a bad habit that he picked up from Pony. "I checked all the bathroom stalls, too."

"Let's check the lot." Darry turned to the exit and Johnny swiftly followed.

As Johnny got himself situated into the car, Darry quickly took off. Johnny barely had time to grab his belt before Darry was already speeding down the lane.

"We're going to find Pony, right?"

"We'll find him, Johnnycake. Don't worry." Darry answered as the car turned right sharply. Another driver screamed something foul, but Darry ignored it.

The words were comforting and it settled Johnny's nerves somewhat. But then Johnny saw how tight Darry's jaw was and how he was clenching the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles turned white.

And seeing that wasn't too comforting.

A/N: Sorry for not updating so long, my lovelies! I'm starting to have writer's block for this story. But since it's a holiday, I tried to sit down and give you guys something.

I got to say, I'm not too pleased with this chapter. It just seemed bad. I was debating on whether or not I should post this or not.

Do you guys want me to rewrite this chapter? If you do, I'll try.

So, I tried something a bit different and tried to get some of Jace's feeling in here, but I'm not too sure how well that turned out (Pretty bad, if you ask me.)

What do you guys think? Love it? Hate it? Made you want to vomit?

I would like to thank those who reviewed/followed/ and favorite! Those little actions are greatly appreciated it!

Happy Memorial Day! Thank you to those who served our country!

Anyway, please R&R. Reviews inspire me and make me happy. No flames please.

Reviews before this posted chapter: 32

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5/26/2014