A/N: Sorry this is a little shorter than my other stuff

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Sleepwalking runs in the Curtis family. Although the last time it happened to any of them was well over seven to ten years ago, all of them had been caught by either their parents or brothers anywhere other than their bed and in their own worlds. But soon enough, all of them grew out of it with age. At least, that's what they thought, until one night.

Darry had been watching tv in the living room, winding down after a long day of working both of his jobs. He had just gotten home from his evening factory shift, which lasted from five pm to ten pm, although he got home a little after eleven. The TV was flicked on to the eleven o'clock news, showing some random story, while Darry was sitting on the couch folding clothes into piles on the coffee table from the clean clothes hamper. You'd think he'd dread this part of the day, as it was such a menial task that needed to get done after such a hardworking and tiring day. Soda was never really able to get around to doing it because he had a full time job, plus the fact he was always going places with Steve and the gang afterwards. And Darry didn't have the heart to stop him just over some laundry, he still wanted him to have a slice or normalcy in his teenage years. And Ponyboy was always busy with school, not to mention the fact that it's now more than halfway through the school year and teachers are no longer holding back on giving him piles of homework and tests each day. But it doesn't really matter, as this part of the day was almost therapeutic to Darry. He could eat the leftovers of whatever Sodapop and Pony had cooked for dinner that night, and he was actually able to hear his own thoughts and catch up on the news that happened during the day as, most of the time, his brothers were out cold sleeping in their room.

Most of the time. But if anything, when they weren't asleep after Darry came home late at night, one, sometimes both, of them would be laying on the couch watching some show, eyes droopy and lethargic. But tonight, the house was still and their door was shut tightly. Until it creaked open.

Darry didn't really take notice of it, realizing someone was leaving the room but figuring they were just going to the bathroom or something, until he noticed a figure out of the corner of his eye walk into the kitchen.

"Hey," He called out, letting whichever brother it was that he was home and in the living room. He expected a reply, but the only thing that came was a loud slam of the kitchen cabinet. This caught Darry's attention, his head snapping up at the noise as he put the shirt he was folding down onto the cushion next to him. He walked to the kitchen to see who it was. He walked in and spotted the back of a light brown head of hair.

"Could you be any louder, Pony?" Darry asked, sighing. When Ponyboy didn't answer and just continued rummaging through the cabinets, Darry continued. "Whaddya' need, kid?"

"Huh?" Pony mumbled, without looking back to face his older brother.

Darry rolled his eyes. "What are you doing?" He asked, walking up behind him and putting his hands on his shoulders.

"What? I'm looking." Ponyboy answered him, sounding overly annoyed as he side-eyed him over his shoulder, before he went back on his quest of looking for God knows what.

This took Darry off guard a bit. Woah, okay. Where did this attitude come from?

"Uh, excuse me? I'm sure this can wait 'til morning, go back to bed." Darry told him, voice firm.

Pony simply huffed, not stopping from delving into the cabinet. He closed the cabinet suddenly, and was about to look in the next one, before Darry grabbed his wrist and swiftly pulled him around to face him. He was about to go off on his little brother, because he just got off a twelve hour shift and Pony had no reason to have an attitude with him at nearly midnight, until he actually met his eyes.

Clearly he was not all there. His eyes were glazed, as if he had a fever, but Darry could tell he didn't have one by the way he was gripping his wrist. His hazel eyes stared into Darry's blue ones, but it was like he was seeing without actually looking.

"Pony... are you-" Darry began, but was cut off.

"Stop, Darry, I'm looking for dog food!" Pony said, a little too loudly for Darry's liking as he pulled his wrist out of his brother's grip. He hoped all of this commotion wouldn't wake Soda up. But as Ponyboy continued to rummage through the cabinet, he stopped slowly, lowering his arms to his side. He turned to Darry.

"Do we have any more?" He said, suddenly sounding dejected. Darry would have laughed at his change in demeanor if he wasn't so confused.

"No, kiddo." Darry played along.

"But I need to feed the dog."

"We don't have a dog, Pony."

"Cat?"

"No."

"Raccoon?"

"Let's just go back to sleep, okay, honey?"

Ponyboy made some sort of humming noise, letting Darry guide him back to bed. He eased the door open, hoping Sodapop wasn't awakened, but he was just beginning to sit up as Darry opened the door.

"What happened?" Soda asked, voice hoarse from sleep.

"He was looking for dog food. I think he was sleepwalking." Darry chuckled, while Pony had no reaction. He simply crawled into bed and fell asleep in a second.

"What?" Soda laughed out. The last thing he expected after hearing all those cabinets opening and closing was it to be his brother looking for a pet they didn't have.

"Yeah. Hold on to him tight tonight. Don't want him to flood the tub for his pet fish next." Darry cracked, tucking Ponyboy in as he did so.

"Think he'll remember tomorrow morning?"

"Oh, I'll make sure he does."