A/N: Request from aoifewtf! Hope you enjoy!
September 1959
Darry: 14
Sodapop: 10
Ponyboy: 8
Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. Thud.
Darry sighed as the football bounced off the wall at a wrong angle and tumbled to some unknown corner of his room. Getting up to retrieve it would be too much work, so he resolved to stare at the ceiling instead. It had been two days since he took a nasty hit at football practice, two days since his left leg had been broken. He was on bed rest for the rest of the week and off the field for the foreseeable future.
A knock on his bedroom door caused Darry to turn his head. His mother stood, purse in her hand, in his doorway.
"I'm going to run some errands, I'll be back in a couple of hours. Dad's work number is on the fridge if you need to reach him. You sure you'll be alright here with the boys by yourself?" Margaret asked.
"I'll be fine, Mom. Just put Mickey on the TV and they'll sit for hours," Darry replied.
"I told them they need to be on their best behavior and get you anything you need, okay?" Margaret said.
Darry nodded, lifting a hand to wave as his mother left. He decided he might as well take a nap, not like he had anything better to do. It was hard to move with the cast covering his leg, but Darry managed to lay down and get his favorite blanket over himself. He closed his eyes, hoping sleep would come and save him from his boredom. Sodapop came instead.
"Darry."Poke."Darry!"Poke."Wake up!"
"What do you want Soda?" Darry asked, not opening his eyes.
"Mom said we're in charge of taking care of ya, so we made you soup!" Sodapop exclaimed.
Darry opened his eyes to see Soda inches from his face, never having quite grasped the concept of a personal bubble. Ponyboy trailed not far behind, struggling to carry a tray with soup and orange juice. Darry fought the urge to roll his eyes. He had a broken leg, not a cold. He quickly motioned for Ponyboy to place the tray in his lap, knowing they were mere seconds from a gigantic mess being made.
"Uhh thanks guys, this looks great," Darry said.
Ponyboy beamed with pride and Soda smiled smugly.
"See? Told ya he'd like it," Sodapop said.
Darry took his first bite of what he assumed was chicken noodle soup, though it took everything in him not to spit it right back out into the bowl. It was extremely over-salted and yet had a sweet undertone that didn't really make sense, but he decided it was better not to question it. Darry quickly took a gulp of orange juice, hoping to get that horrible taste out of his mouth.
"Wow guys, your soup was so good I'm already full!" Darry exclaimed, trying to sound convincing.
His false enthusiasm seemed to do the trick as Soda reached up to high-five Ponyboy in celebration. Unfortunately, Soda's never been the most spatially aware, and this knocked the glass of orange juice and spilled it all over the floor.
Soda's eyes widened. "I'll get towels!" he declared.
Darry laughed as his brother sprinted out of the room before handing the tray with his soup on it to Ponyboy.
"Mind taking this back to the kitchen before we make a bigger mess?" Darry asked.
Ponyboy nodded, eager to be entrusted with such a mission by his big brother. He carefully carried the tray out of the room, taking note of where the orange juice had spilled and avoiding those areas. He didn't account for Sodapop, though, who had returned with the towels and was running in the room at full speed. Soon enough the tray was dropped and the soup had spilled all over the floor and Ponyboy.
"Sodapop!" Ponyboy exclaimed.
Soda stood frozen, eyes wide. "Oops."
Darry sighed. His brothers were supposed to be making his life easier, not harder.
"Soda, use the towels to clean up the mess. Ponyboy, take your shirt off. It's covered in soup."
Soda threw down the towels and began wiping the floors, though the towels were almost instantly sopping and the practice was soon rendered ineffective. Ponyboy had removed his shirt but was upset that the soup had gotten in his hair in the process. His lip began to quiver, and Darry knew they were only a few seconds from his tears.
"C'mere Pony, why don't you pick out a book to read and lay in bed with me?" Darry asked.
Ponyboy's eyes lit up at the offer. His brothers were usually pushing him out of their room, not inviting him to stay. He chose one of his favorite books to read to Darry and crawled under his covers, still shirtless with soup in his hair.
"Hey, don't forget about me!" shouted Sodapop.
Darry rolled his eyes. His brother had never shown interest in reading or sitting still in any form, but he was of course eager to abandon the soiled towels on the floor to hop into his bed. Soon enough all three Curtis brothers were attempting to fit into a twin bed while minding Darry's broken leg. When they were finally settled, albeit tangled and squished on top of each other, Ponyboy began to read aloud from his book.
Darry realized a few pages in that he had never gotten to take that nap he wanted. He tried to stay awake for Pony's sake, but soon enough the sound of his youngest brother's voice had lulled him to sleep.
— — — — — — — — — —
Margaret returned home from her errands, relieved to see the house hadn't been burned down. The kitchen did look like it had been hit by a hurricane, though. She had told the boys they could warm up some soup she had made, and yet they had managed to scatter various spices across the countertop and had somehow gotten soup on the ceiling. She sighed, knowing she shouldn't have expected any different.
"Sodapop, Ponyboy, get in here right now!" she shouted.
No response.
"You can't just leave the kitchen looking like this boys!" she called out again.
Again, silence.
Margaret made her way to Darry's room to check on him, hoping his brothers hadn't put him through too much. There she found all three of her boys crowded onto Darry's bed, asleep. She took note of the towels and mess on the floor, knowing it was likely Sodapop's doing. She also noticed that Ponyboy was shirtless with dried soup in his hair and on his face, a book lying face down on his chest. Darry looked more at peace than he had been in days, and despite the mess, she couldn't help but smile to herself.
She quickly moved to grab the family camera and snapped a photo of her boys. They typically saved the camera for special occasions, but this felt special enough to her. The mess took her hours to clean up, and she never did figure out how Sodapop managed to get soup on the ceiling. The photo was eventually developed, and despite Darry declaring it to be, "the most embarrassing thing in the world," it still sits atop the Curtis piano.