Chapter Text
“Dar?”
“Yeah?”
Silence.
“Dar?”
“What’s up, Pepsi?”
“Is Pony gonna be here soon? Is he coming home?”
“Yep, I called him yesterday, he needed to pack some things and get on the road. Luckily he doesn’t have that far to drive, ’s one plus of them putting you in this hospital ”
“Oh okay.” Soda slumped back into the hospital bed. His head had finally hurt a little less, making it a little easier to lift off the pillow. The bandages itched since they were fairly tight against his head. Even though his hair was short, the wrappings still pulled on his hair line. “Dar?”
Darry was sitting in that same spot he’d stationed himself at the first day his brother was finally brought back home to the U.S, with one hand on the arm rest and the other settled lightly on the edge of the bed. “Yeah?”
“Do I get my bandages off soon?”
Darry sighed, the eye bags that had finally vanished when Pony went off to college were back once more, creating a more tired look to his appearance. “Hopefully, it’s been a good couple weeks since they fixed you up initially.”
“Okay. Hey Darry?”
“Yeah, little buddy?”
“Pony going to be here soon?”
Darry looked into his brother’s eyes for a moment. Ever since he’d stopped going in and out of consciousness, Soda had finally been able to have full conversations and was finally recognizing him. He’d also gotten the news that now his brother was fully aware, he should be able to go home soon. Since he’d spent so much initial time in the medical center overseas, there wasn’t much need for him to stay at the hospital much longer. Sure, he’d still have a few remaining issues, but he’d be home.
“Waaaiiitt- so what’re we doin’ out by the water?” Soda trailed behind Darry, dragging his bare feet through the sand.
“I’m gonna teach you how to skip a rock,” Darry answered, looking around the shore for a smooth stone.
“Really? What’s your best?”
“Huh?”
“Like- how many times have you gotten the rock to skip?”
“Uhhhh- 7- I think.”
Woah, Darry!! That’s like-” Soda started to count on his fingers, concentration causing a furrow in his eyebrows. “This many!” he exclaimed, holding up both hands.
“Yep” he said, popping the “p”.
The actual reason Soda and Darry had been shooed away from the Curtis’s campsite was so their mom could set Ponyboy up for a nap. Soda had been loud and ecstatic the entire day, so she didn’t want to risk him waking Pony up. It was hard getting the kid to sleep to begin with. So Darry had taken the opportunity to teach his brother a rather important life skill, at the time.
“Okay, Pepsi. Start by looking for a smooth rock, one that doesn’t have a lot of bumps and crevices.”
“Got it!” Soda smiled, then began to wander around the beach with his head tilted towards the ground.
After a few beats, the middle Curtis called his brother over as he delicately held the stone in his hand. The rock looked smooth, with marbled greys, golds, and browns. It was still shiny from being in the water, making the colors brighter and prettier than they actually were. “This one work, Dar?”
“Yeah, that’ll work just fine.”
“Okay! Soooo- do I just throw it?”
“Nope. There’s a certain way you gotta do it. Let me grab a rock and I’ll show you.”
After searching the sand for a short amount of time. He picked up a rock and twisted it in his hand, making sure it was smooth enough to skip across the surface of the water.
“Okay so, what you're going to do is turn like this.” Darry swiveled his feet so they were perpendicular to the shore line. “And then you draw your arm back like this and tilt your wrist out.” He flicked the hand with the rock back, and then sprung it forward, releasing the stone from his grasp. It skipped across the water three times before finally plopping into the water, making a splishing sound as it sunk.
“Woah, Dar! That went far!”
“Sure did. Now it’s your turn.”
The boy attempted to copy his brother's steps to the best of his ability. He turned his feet like Darry had, and brought his wrist back, only for the rock to end up plopping into the water. “Oh, well that didn’t work.”
“It’s okay, I couldn’t do it my first time either. Dad sat with me for a long while before I was finally able to do it. Here, let’s try again.”
Throughout the next hour or so, Darry patiently taught Soda how to throw the rock. With every miss-throw or Darry almost getting hit in the face, there was always triumph.”
“Alright, we should probably head back now.” Darry started, turning himself towards the path they’d come on.
“But Darry,” Soda whined, “my best is only two skips.”
“That’s still really good, little buddy.”
“I want to be as great as you though. You’re so good at so many things, like football, or reading, or cooking.”
“Aww, Sodes, you're good at a lot of things too, ya know, stuff I don’t think I could ever do.”
“Like what?”
Darry breathed in the fresh air, looking out at the afternoon sun sparkling on the water. “You always know how to talk to Pony, you’re good at helping Mom in the garden, you’re good with Steve, and you know a ton about horses! I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever met another person who can name as many horse breeds as you.”
A bright, toothy smile bloomed on his little brother’s face. “Thanks Darry.” He huffed, coming back to the conclusion of leaving their lake spot. “Could I at least have one more go at it?”
“Ya know what, sure, it ain’t too late, anyway.”
Darry watched as Soda lined up his shot, going through the motions he’d taught him to take. He brought his arm behind him and swiftly flicked his wrist forward, sending the rock across the water.
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Plop
“Darry! D’ya see that? Did you? I did it! And it didn’t sink!” Soda looked up at his brother, big brown eyes lighting up with excitement and childhood whimsy.
Now those same eyes were dull and lonely in a hospital bed, longing to get back to a normal life. Lost and longingly searching for sameness and similarity.
The door swung open, just being caught by a hand. The pair of brown eyes lit up as they were met with a familiar pair of green.
“Hey Sodapop, how’re ya feeling?”
“Ponyboy? Oh Pones, I haven’t seen you in forever.”
“Yeah it’s been a while.” Pony slid into the seat next to Darry, setting his messenger bag down beside the chair leg.
“Pony?”
“Yeah?”
“You look older.”
Pony paused for a sec, “ya think so?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, well no- not like, old old, you look a lot more like Dad than you used to. Makes you look mature and wise.”
“Thanks, Soda.”
Sodapop lifted himself up from the bed a little, resting himself backwards on his elbows and smiling as he looked at his little brother. “I mean- you’ve always been brainy though, that ain’t much of a surprise to me.” He spoke, a lopsided grin causing his eyes to squint a little.
Pony smiled back as Darry reached over and ruffled his hair.
“No grease, Colt?”
Ponyboy laughed before self-consciously fixing his hair. “Nope, haven’t put anything in it in a while.”
“Aw, but I thought you said it’d be better if you looked like a hood?” Darry said, teasingly referencing an old conversation.
“Yeah, I thought Ponyboy Curtis was a greaser, through and through.” Soda piped up from his spot before fully sitting up. It took a second as the movement made him visibly dizzy, but he soon reached the point where he could fully turn and look at both his brothers.
“Aw c’mon, do you have to bring that up? I was-” he paused for a moment, realizing he’d originally said that to Dally, “I was 13.”
“I mean, me and Darry can’t be talking, we were hoods too.”
“Speak for yourself, little buddy. I only put a sufficient amount of grease in my hair, while you used a palm full.” Darry added as Soda looked between him and Pony.
Pony took it all in. The fact that Soda was alive, the fact that he was breathing and showing that same grin he grew up with. “Gee Sodes,” his eyes started to water, “I really thought we lost ya, I really did. I’m just-” he took a deep breath, trying to stop himself from crying, “could I hug you? Or- or are you hurtin’ too much?”
“You can hug me, little brother, my head’s the only thing that hurts.”
Even so, Ponyboy carefully leaned down to wrap his arms around Soda, pulling him into an embrace.
Pony was taller, he’d evened out a little more, making him less lanky, and his voice was deeper and less pitchy than it used to be. He grew up right under Soda’s nose.
“How’s the big city been?”
“It’s been good. Real busy. I’m excited for break, I can’t wait to get away from the traffic. Plus, I get to spend Thanksgiving with both of my brothers now.”
Soda looked off for a second, his eyes losing focus and drifting off.
There was a long pause before Pony decided to make an attempt at starting back up their conversation. “Soda?”
“Oh Ponyboy! Oh my goodness- it’s been way too long. How’ve you been? I think you’ve gotten taller since the last time I saw you.
“Hi… Soda. We were just talking about college?”
“College? Oh right, college. You look a lot like dad now, ya know.”
“Yeah, you uh- you already told me that.”
“I did?”
“Mhm.”
“Oh, sorry, Colt.”
“It’s okay, Soda, just glad to have you back.” He said, trying to smile as he realized what Darry meant over the phone.
There was a slight knock at the door, then an older gentleman stuck his head through, looking around the room before making eye contact with Darry, and stepping into the room.
“Hello Sodapop,” he turned to Darry and nodded, “Mr. Curtis.”
“Hi, Darry, you can just call me Darry. Mr. Curtis was my father.”
“Alright, Darry. I’m Dr. Wolowitz, Sodapop’s primary doctor at this hospital unit. I assume you’re the older brother listed on his chart?”
“That’s right, sir.”
“And then who’s this?”
Darry shifted towards Pony, putting a hand on his shoulder. “This is our younger brother, Ponyboy. I had guardianship over both of them until they each turned 18.”
Dr. Wolowitz chuckled at the name as he jotted something down on his clip board.
“And I understand the three of you live under the same roof? Or will be? I don’t see any parental figures listed.” He said, tapping his pen on the piece of paper attached to the clip board.
Even though it’d been a good length of time, Darry still wasn’t used to questions about his Mom and Dad. It still sent a pang to his heart each time something related to them was mentioned. “Pony lives in a dorm on his college campus, and our parents passed away a few years ago, so it’ll just be me and Sodapop.”
“Oh, my apologies, I’m sorry to hear that. But the living situation sounds good. It most likely won’t be ideal for Sodapop to live on his own yet because of the head trauma he suffered in combat. Could you both step out for a moment so I can talk to Sodapop? I’ll meet you out in the hallway when I’m finished.”
“Sounds good.” Darry responded, standing up from his chair and opening the door for Pony and him to step into the hall.
There was a moment of silence before the youngest Curtis began, “so, that’s what you meant by he’s not the same? The uh- memory stuff?” He spoke, looking off at the wall opposite to the one he had his back to.
“Yeah, that’s part of it. He gets pretty spacy sometimes too.”
“But that’s it right? That’s all that’s wrong? I mean, don’t get me wrong, he was good at all he did before, but he’s always been easily distracted and forgetful. Of course, not to that degree, but it really ain’t that bad, Dar. He’s gonna be just fine.”
“Pone, he’s- it’s just a little more complicated than that.”
“Right.”
“I just-,” Darry took a deep breath before continuing. “You notice how he was smiling all lopsided, and his pupils were blown up?”
“Yeah, but that’s just-”
“They’ve got him on a bunch of medication right now, Little Colt. Since they’re planning on discharging him soon they’ve already started to take him off stuff, he’s already getting more spacy.”
Pony sat in silence, processing every word and taking it into account before he decided to speak again. “I’m scared for him too. A ton of people always talk about the war at school. It’s not like people haven’t been talking about it, just the fact it’s come to my attention more. There’s been protests on campus too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” His eyes slowly widened in realization of what it sounded like he meant. “I- I mean I don’t join em’ or anything. I’ve just seen them. My roommate keeps trying to get me to join, since I’ve talked about Soda a few times. I don’t do anything that could put me in trouble, I promise. Everything- it just makes me scared. There’s too much happening.”
“You don’t have to worry too much, Pony. You’ll make your hair gray by doing that.”
“I know, but what if something happens?”
“What if what happens?”
Pony broke eye contact with Darry and began to stare at his shoelaces.
“Talk to me, Pones, what’re you worried about?”
“What if Soda- I mean I know he’s gonna be a little different, people are always changing. But what if he’s completely different? What if he doesn’t love us anymore? What if he stops smiling, and we-” his breathing started to pick up as he raised his hands in front of himself, visibly shaking. “What if we lose Soda? He’s supposed to be a damn ray of sunshine, Darry. What if we’ve already lost him- and- and we don’t even know it yet? You said it yourself, he’s already spacy. What if it’s more than just that? What if we-”
“Then we’ll love him anyway.” Darry turned himself so he was facing his brother, putting both hands on his shoulders. “Nothing’s going to stop him from loving us and nothing’s going to stop us from loving him. It’s going to be different, sure, but we’ll make it through, Pones, don’t you worry. We always have. We’re going to be there for him and love him the same way we always have.”
“Yeah, yeah sure.” Ponyboy looked off at the wall again. “You’re right Darry,” he filled his lungs with air before breathing out, “we don’t have to worry.”