Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

No POV:

Darry had been acting off the past two days, everyone saw it. He just seemed more tired and exhausted than normal, which was hard for Darry to be since he was almost always extra exhausted.

Sodapop had especially noticed his big brother's state. Sodapop would notice how Darry would get random bursts of vertigo, the way he would lean over and clutch something next to him so he wouldn’t fall down. Sometimes Sodapop would instinctively reach out to try and steady Darry, but Darry would always wave him off before he could actually touch him.

Sodapop had even noticed how Darry skipped a meal one day. It wasn’t the first time he’s seen Darry skip a meal; there was always an occasional time where Darry would if money was tight.

Safe to say Sodapop was starting to get worried about his big brother. But he never acted on it yet, not wanting Darry to get defensive and then hide the fact he was probably sick.

It was nearing three days after Darry had started acting off, and two days after Sodapop noticed he was acting off, when Ponyboy finally noticed Darry was acting weird. It happened when Ponyboy caught Darry leaning over the kitchen counter and breathing heavily.

“Darry? Are you alright?” Ponyboy asked. Darry looked over at Ponyboy and nodded his head after a bit of hesitance, despite his breathing and posture saying otherwise.

“Yeah, yeah I’m good..” Darry replied. Ponyboy looked at Darry in suspicion, believing that Darry was lying to him.

“Are you sure?” Ponyboy asked as he squinted his eyes at Darry, trying to find some sort of hint that Darry was lying to him besides the obvious ones. Darry nods his head and stands back up.

“Totally, just go get your breakfast and get to school.” Darry responded. Ponyboy nods his head and heads to the dining table where Sodapop is already sitting, looking at Darry in worry.

Ponyboy sits down next to Sodapop, “Have you noticed Darry acting weird lately?” Sodapop nods his head and turns away from Darry with a sigh.

“Yeah.. I think he might be sick, but he wont let me check him.” Sodapop says in a concerned voice.

Ponyboy furrows his eyebrows, “Hmm.. Maybe we can check while he’s sleeping tonight?” Sodapop thinks over Ponyboy’s words for a moment, thinking about the cons and pros of doing that.

“As long as we’re careful, sure.” Sodapop replies.

Chapter Text

No POV again:

That night, after Darry goes to bed, Sodapop and Ponyboy both sneak into his room. They were surprised that there were tissues all over the floor, and an almost empty tissue box. Their brother never lets their room turn this messy if one of them was sick, but he was usually the one to clean it up, and since no one was helping him…

Sodapop holds the thermometer in his hand, “Okay, you start cleaning the tissues and I’ll get his temperature, deal?” Ponyboy nods his head. He hated cleaning, but he’d do it for his brother. He starts cleaning the tissues up while Sodapop carefully walks over to Darry’s sleeping form. His room had a lot of creaks in the floorboards for some reason, so they needed to be careful with how they stepped.

Sodapop reaches Darry’s bed but stops. He doesn’t know how he’ll take Darry’s temperature and keep him asleep at the same time.. He’d never really done any other way of taking someone’s temperature than putting the thermometer in their mouth. He takes a deep breath and gently opens Darry’s mouth, slowly putting the thermometer under his tongue and then closing it. He just had to pray Darry wouldn’t wake up.

After what felt like an eternity later, the thermometer finally beeps to let Sodapop know it’s done. Sodapop almost swears at how loud the beep was. But Darry stays asleep, even as Sodapop slides the thermometer out of his mouth. His sickness must be making him a heavier sleeper than normal.

Sodapop sighs softly at what the thermometer says. Darry’s temperature was 101F°… That wasn’t good at all. A few degrees higher and Darry was at risk of brain damage.. He definitely wasn’t going to work for a few days, despite what Darry says tomorrow morning.

“What does it say?” Ponyboy asks quietly, as he had finished cleaning the tissues and had even grabbed a new box for Darry.

“101F°..” Sodapop replies as he sets the thermometer onto the bedside table.

Ponyboy winces, “That’s like, bad, right?” Sodapop nods his head to Ponyboy’s words. Ponyboy looks down at his brother with a slight frown of worry.

“You go to bed, I’ll get him a glass of water. You think you’ll be okay taking care of him tomorrow since you have no school?” Sodapop says, rubbing Ponyboy’s back.

Ponyboy nods his head, “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I just have to make sure he takes his medicine and rests.” The two of them carefully walk out of Darry’s room, Ponyboy walks back to their room and Sodapop goes to the kitchen to grab Darry some water. He joins Ponyboy in bed once he’s done grabbing Darry water, and the two of them sleep.

Sodapop wakes up first the next morning. Usually Darry was up first, but his sickness was making him more tired and he needed more sleep. Sodapop made pancakes for breakfast, and even called Darry’s work to tell them Darry was sick. Before he left, he woke Ponyboy up and told him there was breakfast on the counter for him and Darry.

Ponyboy lays in bed for a few minutes after Sodapop leaves, obviously not wanting to get up. He always loved sleeping in on the weekends. But today he needed to get up before Darry so he can make sure Darry gets taken care of.

It was only two hours after Darry was meant to be awake when he came downstairs. He looked slightly panicked as he didn't even grab a piece of toast before he started putting on his shoes. “Woah, woah woah. You’re not going to work today, Dar.” Ponyboy says as he sets a hand onto Darry’s shoulder.

“What do you mean, I have work today. And I'm late!” Darry replies, continuing to put on his shoes though a bit slower since he and Ponyboy were talking.

Ponyboy sighs, “You’re sick. Sodapop called your boss, you’re having a sick day.” Darry looks at Ponyboy in shock from his words. He had wondered who cleaned his room and gave him water, he had just assumed he forgot since his brain was foggy from how sick he was. He didn’t even know how Sodapop and Ponyboy found out he was sick.

“How’d you know?” Darry asks as he stops putting on his shoes. There was no point in putting them on if what Ponyboy was saying was true. It’s not like he doesn’t want a day off per say, he just knows he needs to work as much as he possibly could without killing himself.

“We checked your temperature while you were sleeping.” Ponyboy answers bluntly. Darry sighs softly, frowning at the fact his brothers found out he was sick. He didn’t like showing weakness in front of them. “I cleaned your room while Soda took your temp.” Ponyboy says, patting Darry on the shoulder.

“Thanks, Pony. That’s real nice of you.” Darry responds with a grateful smile.

“It’s no problem. Either way, my job is to make sure you rest and eat and drink lots of fluids. Now, breakfast!” Ponyboy starts dragging his brother to the dining room. He grabs a plate for him and gives him a few stacks of pancakes. There was already butter and syrup on the table from when Sodapop and Ponyboy ate their pancakes too.

Darry honestly did not want to eat. He just had no appetite, not even for Sodapop’s blue pancakes. He felt nauseous just at the thought of eating anything. He was worried he’d throw the food up later, and that made him not want to eat more.

The two stay in silence for a while as Darry just looks down at his food. He doesn’t even bother picking up the fork Ponyboy gave him. “Are you going to eat?” Ponyboy finally asks, his tone worried.

“I ain’t hungry.” Darry replies. He tried his best not to sound like he just wasn’t eating because he was nauseous. Ponyboy would probably tell him to eat anyway if that was the case.

Ponyboy sighs, “Fine; but you’re eating lunch. You let me know when you get hungry, okay?” Darry nods his head at his brother’s words. He was honestly just glad Ponyboy didn’t try making him eat it since he knows he for sure would throw it up later. Realistically, Darry knows he’s older than Ponyboy and therefore doesn’t need to do what he says, but Ponyboy is also very good at insisting things.

“Since you’re not eating, back to bed you go. And take some medicine for god’s sake.” Ponyboy says with a stern look on his face, he knew Darry had a tendency to just not take care of himself. Darry sighs softly and looks at his brother for a few moments. On one hand, he’s been sick for a while and resting actually sounded really good, on another hand, he wants to be productive.

“Fine, fine. But you need to wake me up to cook dinner, deal?” Darry offers.

Ponyboy raises an eyebrow and nods his head, “Deal.” Of course, Ponyboy wasn’t going to follow through with his offer. Sodapop and him were going to cook dinner for Darry, since they honestly didn’t want to catch his germs or have him up and about when he’s meant to be resting.

Darry smiles at Ponyboy and actually goes to his room by himself. Ponyboy isn’t sure if he’s taken his medicine, but he believes he did since his brother wasn’t that type of person. He may not take care of himself with no help, but he’ll slurp down whatever medicine you give him if he really feels like shit. And he does look like shit, so he probably feels like shit.

The only other time Ponyboy checks up on Darry is when it’s time for lunch. Ponyboy may not be the best cook in the world, but he can heat up some soup. He had heated up chicken noodle soup, which he knows helps with sickness. (Unless that’s a lie everyone’s been told about)

Darry does actually finish half of his soup! Ponyboy was hoping for more, but beggars can’t be choosers…

It doesn’t help that Ponyboy heard him throwing it all up only around forty minutes later. He had sat by Darry’s side and grabbed him some crackers and a glass of water to help. He’d give him something with electrolytes, but they didn’t have anything with that in the house. At least, not to Ponyboy’s knowledge.

Darry decided to save the crackers for when he wasn’t feeling so bad. Ponyboy was just barely able to convince Darry it’d be better for him to lay in bed than lay on the bathroom floor, as Darry had no intentions of getting up any time soon. Ponyboy made sure he was kept at a recline since he remembered being told by his school nurse that it helped to not lay down fully, as he’d thrown up many times at school throughout his years.

Now all Ponyboy had to do was wait for Sodapop to get home.

Chapter Text

No POV still:

Ponyboy looks away from the TV when the front door opens, smiling when he sees Sodapop walk in. Steve isn’t trailing behind him today for some reason. “Hey, Soda. Where’s Steve?” Ponyboy asks. He didn’t really want Steve there anyway, but he’s a curious person.

“Asked him not to come over since Darry is sick and I wanna focus on him.” Sodapop answers as he sets down a single grocery bag. He must’ve gone to the store to get some things for Darry.

“Did you get electrolytes? And some meds?” Ponyboy resists the urge to peek into the bag while Sodapop is pulling some things out of it. He pulls out a few drinks, two bottles of meds, and some aspirin. Ponyboy looks at the drinks and smiles when he sees that they do indeed have electrolytes in them. “Just what he needs, thanks Soda.” Ponyboy says.

Sodapop smiles and nods his head, “No problem. How is he, anyway?” Ponyboy grimaces and Sodapop frowns softly. “That bad?” Sodapop asks with a concerned look on his face.

Ponyboy fidgets with his shirt a bit as the conversation continues. “He threw up two times, and the fever is a bit worse..” Ponyboy replies to Sodapop’s question. Sodapop winces at Ponyboy’s words, knowing that Darry would have to stay home for a few days to not get anyone else sick and to keep himself safe. Sodapop wouldn’t let him go out on the construction site like this. Never.

“Can you run the drinks and meds up to Darry for me, honey?” Sodapop asks with a smile on his face. Ponyboy nods his head and grabs the things, walking over to the hallway and disappearing from Sodapop’s view. Sodapop sighs and puts the few other things he got away. He was worried about his brother, as Darry almost never got sick. And if he did, he was never sick enough for someone to notice. He was also concerned about how Darry got sick. Sodapop shakes his head and to clear his mind from those thoughts, knowing he was just being a worry wart.

Ponyboy soon comes back with two of the drinks left in his hands. Sodapop looks at him questioningly, “Darry didn’t want that one?”

“Well, I already gave him one, I figured it’d be alright to keep these two in the fridge to keep it cool for him when he needs the next one.” Ponyboy responds as he puts the drinks into the fridge.

Sodapop smiles at his brother proudly, “That’s very thoughtful and smart of you.” Ponyboy nods his head and leans against the counter. The two of them stay in silence for a bit, Ponyboy stuck in his head, Sodapop arranging a few things for dinner that will hopefully be finished in about an hour.

Ponyboy eventually breaks the silence, “So.. What’s for dinner?”

“I’m gonna make some spaghetti.” Sodapop replies while pouring water into the pot he brought out. Ponyboy hums as a response and just continues thinking about random things.

Sodapop turns on the radio while he starts to make dinner. He salts the water and waits until it hits a boil, then he puts the uncooked pasta into the pot. Ponyboy cringes at the sound of pasta snapping. He knows Sodapop always snapped the uncooked spaghetti pasta when he cooked, but it still made Ponyboy cringe at the horror of doing that to the poor pasta.

Sodapop sighs with his hands on his hips. This was always the boring part of cooking pasta, needing to wait for it to actually cook. Sodapop eyes the locked cabinet and then looks over to Ponyboy. Ponyboy was obviously stuck in the cloud and probably dissociating, so he had a pretty good chance of opening the cabinet without Ponyboy noticing.

Usually the cabinet was locked, just so Sodapop wouldn’t always color food while he was cooking. But Sodapop knew the lock had broke just recently and Darry had yet to get a replacement. Sodapop wasn’t even meant to hear that conversation either, so Darry didn’t rush on it since he thought Sodapop still thought the lock was still there. (Why does that last sentence kinda sound like a tongue twister-?)

He walks over to the cabinet and gently opens it, glancing at Ponyboy from over his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t going to get caught. Realistically he knows he can beat his brother in any fight to get the food dye, but Ponyboy’s mean when he needs to be. The only way Ponyboy can take care of his brothers is with his words most of the time and god he’s so mean.

The dye Sodapop decides to use today is purple, just because. Sodapop closes the cabinet as quietly as he could and makes his way back over to the food. The pasta still wasn’t done cooking, so he had some time to kill before he could add the food dye.

“Are you gonna dye our food again?” Ponyboy asks as he suddenly appears behind Sodapop. Sodapop jumps away and looks at his little brother in shock. He didn’t even hear him coming at all. It was probably because Ponyboy had socks on, but usually there was still at least some sound when someone walked in socks on tile.

“I thought it might make Darry feel better.” Sodapop replies to Ponyboy’s question, even though he knows it wasn’t really much of a question.

Ponyboy hums and looks at the food dye. It had been a while since they’d eaten anything purple, and since they were using alfredo sauce it will turn out just fine. And Sodapop was probably right about it cheering Darry up at least a little but while he’s sick. Ponyboy sighs, “Alright, you can dye it.” Sodapop smiles and ruffles his brother’s hair, who swats his hand away with a disgruntled noise. (Am I the only one who really likes spaghetti noodles and alfredo sauce? Is that weird??)

Ponyboy gathers up three plates and forks, placing the forks onto the dining table and the plates on the counter to be filled with pasta once it is done. Sodapop finished up draining the pasta and mixing in the sauce and purple food dye. And Ponyboy went over to Darry’s room to help him over to the dining room. He knows Darry is meant to be resting, but it still is good for him to move around a bit and might help him with a change of environment to heal up. Plus, he could just bring the pasta to him if he wasn’t feeling up to it.

Ponyboy shakes Darry’s shoulder, “Hey, Dar, dinner’s ready.”

Darry opens his eyes and cringes at the light, rubbing them. He sits up and then leans against the bed frame. “Wasn’t I supposed to make dinner tonight?” Darry asks with furrowed eyebrows. He specifically remembers asking Ponyboy to wake him up so he could make everyone dinner. And that clearly didn’t happen since Ponyboy was right here telling him dinner was already made?

“Yeah, but Soda decided to make it so you could rest more.” Ponyboy replies with a smile. Darry tears up a bit at how thoughtful his brothers were. Usually he would just smile and thank them, but being sick made him more emotional. (Don’t ask me, I don’t know emotions-)

Ponyboy helps Darry stand up and walk to the kitchen, making sure to grab a tissue box for him just in case he needs it. Sodapop was done plating all the food by the time the two of them arrived and sat down at the dining table. Darry lets out a breathless chuckle at the sight of lavender spaghetti sitting in all three of their plates.

“You let him go into the food dye drawer?” Darry asks Ponyboy. His voice sounded terrible and he had to cough a bit after to clear it. Ponyboy and Sodapop both grimace at the way he sounded and the way the coughs rattled his whole body.

Ponyboy replies once Darry is done coughing, “He snuck in while I wasn’t looking.” A smile sneaks its way onto Darry’s face as he sits down at his seat. He still wasn’t that hungry at all, but he’d eat as much as he could because he knew it was good for him after barely eating all day.

The three of them all ate together. It wasn’t silent, as Ponyboy and Sodapop were still talking while Darry listened. That’s how it usually was anyway if none of the gang were there with them. It was mostly Sodapop talking since he actually left the house that day for more than a smoke break or to take out the trash.

Darry is able to finish a little more than half of his plate by the time dinner was over. Neither of his brothers minded that much, just glad he at least ate something. Ponyboy cleaned up the plates and did the dishes while Sodapop helped Darry back to his room and get him all nice and cozy in bed.

Sodapop and Ponyboy went to bed soon after because both of them were tired either from work or taking care of their older brother.

Sodapop wakes up in the middle of the night from some shifting coming from Ponyboy. He opens his eyes and is met with his kid brother crying in his sleep and letting out little whimpers that break Sodapop’s heart into a million pieces. Sodapop hugs his brother tighter and gently shushes him until the whimpers and shifting stop.

And while it was in the middle of the night, he decides he should check up on his other brother since he was already awake and he knows sickness doesn’t just go away because it’s night time.

He walks into Darry’s room and panics at the sight of him not being in the bed. Sodapop quickly looks around the room frantically until he sees the bathroom light was on. The door was shut for some reason, but Sodapop decides he’ll dwell on why Darry decided to shut it later. (Because it’s in his own room if you don’t get it. Sodapop doesn’t understand why Darry would close it if it was already in his room and he already had a door at the entrance.)

Sodapop opens the door that was thankfully unlocked and gasps at the sight of his older brother slumped over the bathtub with the clear stench of vomit filling the air. Sodapop rushes over to his brother and checks him over, making sure he isn’t any bumps or new bruises or, god forbid, blood, anywhere. Once Sodapop is happy enough with checking him over, he helps his brother onto his feet and practically drags him back to his bed. Darry was fully unconscious and deadweight so he wasn’t any help at all.

Sodapop changes his brother into a new shirt that wasn’t soaked in vomit or sweat, and then lays him onto his bed. He also grabs the wet towel on the ground that must’ve fallen off of Darry’s forehead and re-wets it for him.

Now all he has to do is clean up Darry’s bathroom and go back to sleep. Great.

So that’s what Sodapop does for the better part of thirty minutes. Unfortunately, Darry seemed to have vomited twice while he was here. Once on the floor and walls, and once in the actual toilet. And then he collapsed partially into the bathtub. That’s what Sodapop thinks at least.

He checks Darry’s temperature one more time before he leaves the room fully to go back to bed. Sodapop sighs at what it says. 102F°… That was worse than the last time he and Ponyboy checked. Then again, it might only be worse since he last checked, since he didn’t know if Ponyboy checked during the day or if it changed since. Sodapop places the thermometer onto the bedside table and leaves Darry’s room.

Ponyboy was exactly as he was when Sodapop left him earlier, which makes Sodapop smile as that meant Ponyboy didn’t have another nightmare in the time he was gone. That was probably the only good thing about tonight. Sodapop looks over at the clock and cringes at it reading 3:26am.

He is so screwed for work tomorrow.

Chapter Text

Do I even need to say no POV again? This is the last time in this fic, I swear:

Sodapop wakes up with a groan, the alarm blaring loudly in his ear. His brother is covering his ears with his hands and keeping his eyes closed tightly. Seems like he doesn’t want to get up just yet. Sodapop sighs and sits up, turning off the alarm. He smiles a bit as he sees his brother relax now that the noise is gone. He probably could’ve gotten up and turned it off himself if he wanted to though.

Getting up with a groan, Sodapop walks over to the closet and grabs his work uniform. He wanted to take a shower first, but was too lazy to travel back to his room after, so he’ll just set it down somewhere for once he was done. He grabs a towel on the way to the bathroom. It was some random pink towel, though he had no idea why they had a hot pink towel. It was, like, very vibrant. It would probably hurt your eyes if you shined a light on it. (I, no joke, have a towel like this.)

Ponyboy does get up eventually. He brushes his teeth while his brother is taking his shower, though he made sure the curtains were pulled to cover Sodapop up before he felt comfortable enough on entering the room. He was not about to see his brother’s junk out in the open, gross. Though, Sodapop does fancy walking around naked for some reason. Everyone hates him for it.

Luckily, Sodapop decides to put on some clothes before going out of the bathroom this time. He’s the person to make breakfast for the three of them today. He didn’t technically wake up first, that was Ponyboy, but he was the first one to get up fully. So he was the one making breakfast. Curse Ponyboy and the ways he bends rules, Sodapop thinks as he cooks. He actually didn’t mind cooking, he was just tired as hell.

Sodapop starts to whip up some eggs and bacon. They were in two separate pans, which meant more dishes to clean by the end of the day, but that was fine because Sodapop would be the one cleaning them anyway. He doesn’t try to dye any of the bacon because he knows bacon doesn’t hold color that well. However, he does dye the eggs green. He calls it his Christmas breakfast. Christmas is the only time he’s usually allowed with the dye, so he uses it to his liking to have red and green breakfast. But Ponyboy let him slide this time. Despite it being March…

Sodapop ends up plating Darry’s food first so Ponyboy can quickly go to his room and deliver it. No one wants a cold breakfast; and a cold breakfast is what Darry will get if they wait to plate it until after they eat. Eggs get cold really fast even if they’re still in the pan they cooked in. Bacon usually cools down quickly too, and or gets soggy. (I want science on why these cool down so fast, and why other breakfast items usually don’t.)

He lets Ponyboy choose how much food he wants on his own plate, and then the two of them sit down for breakfast. The older brothers usually chose how much food Ponyboy needed to eat in the morning because of past issues of him not eating enough, but Sodapop trusts him to eat today. He smiles as he sees a good amount of food on his brother’s plate. He was doing better. At least, from what Sodapop can tell anyway.

The two of them finish breakfast and part their ways. Sodapop driving to work, and Ponyboy walking to school. Monday’s are the worst, Sodapop thinks as he pulls into the parking lot, it’s even worse because of how little sleep I got. He sighs and pulls out his keys to unlock the door. Someone beats him to it however, opening it for him. It was his boss, Harvey. He wonders why he’s there so early.

“Morning, Sodapop!” Harvey says cheerfully. Sodapop feels like he’s in a fever dream, he doesn’t like how cheerful his boss is for no reason. Then again, how would he know if it really was for no reason.

“Good morning, Mr. Harvey.. You’re in a good mood?” Sodapop replies with a curious and worried gaze. He was convinced he was either hallucinating, or his boss was doing drugs of some kind and was hallucinating himself. Both are reasonable things with how little he slept.

Harvey grins, “Why, of course I am. We won the game last night!”

“Ah..” That made more sense now. Sodapop knows his boss was a crazy baseball fan, he just didn’t think it’d make him this happy. It must’ve been an important game or something. Or maybe it was just a really good game. Not like he would know anything about baseball. He didn’t even know they were playing last night. Sodapop smiles, “Well, I am glad they did.” He’s actually just glad his boss is in a good mood. Maybe he wouldn’t have to clean the toilets today.

The first half of the day is quite slow, and that meant Sodapop could lounge around for most of it. It only started to get busy when Steve came from school. Sodapop called him bad luck because of this, which made Harvey laugh because he was walking past when Sodapop called him that. Steve looked very concerned at the laugh. And his face made Sodapop laugh, and then Steve joined the laughing with some nervous and confused chuckles. Steve and Sodapop stop laughing as the next customer walks in. Harvey doesn’t care though and continues laughing until he’s back in his office.

The phone starts ringing as the customer looks around at the magazines and cigarettes. Sodapop looks at Steve, “I’ll get the phone, you get the in store customer.” Steve nods his head in agreement with a soft grunt. He then walks over to the customer. Sodapop jogs over to the phone and picks it up, making sure his voice is cheerful. “Hello! This is Sodapop speaking from the DX, what can I do for ya?” He says.

“Hey, Soda?” A familiar voice says. Sodapop recognizes it as Darry’s boss, David.

His tone is now surprised and confused as he replies, “David? Why ya callin’?”

There's a sigh on the other end of the line, and it makes Sodapop worry. Why would Darry’s boss be calling him today? Darry was at home and sick. “Did you know Darry came into work today? He’s still sicker than a dog.” David says, a hint of worry in his disappointed tone. It kinda reminded Sodapop of his dad when he was disobedient.

“He what?! He’s meant to be resting in bed. I swear, I leave him alone for one day-” Sodapop rubs his temple with a groan. A deep chuckle comes from the other side.

David responds once he’s done laughing at Sodapop’s reaction, “I was calling to see if you could pick him up, or if you needed one of us to drop him off at his house.” Sodapop thinks on his words for a moment. He’d need to ask his boss if he could leave to pick up his sick brother. Harvey wasn’t very strict when it came to family matters, as he had a few brothers of his own and a wife and kid.

“Yeah, I should be able to get him. I’ll call you back if I can’t.” Sodapop replies.

“Thanks kid.” David says before he hangs up the phone.

Sodapop runs a hand over his face with a soft sigh and walks over to his boss’ office. He knocks on the door and waits a few moments before walking in. Harvey smiles up at him from his seat and gestures for him to sit down across from him. Sodapop decides to stay standing. But Harvey doesn’t mind.

“I would like to leave early so I can pick up my sick brother and bring him home.” Sodapop requests, his hands fidgeting behind his back nervously.

Harvey’s eyes and smile soften slightly, “Course you can, kid. You can take tomorrow off if you need to take care of him too.” Sodapop smiles and nods his head, leaving Harveys’ office. He waves goodbye to Steve since he’s dealing with a customer and doesn’t want to distract him too much. Harvey will help him out if he needs it, he’ll be okay.

He starts to drive to Darry’s work. He only knows where he would be working today because one of Darry’s work buddies stopped by the DX the other day and started talking about the new house they were working on and how weird it was. Sodapop isn’t one to judge on houses. But as he pulls up to the site, he can’t help but agree. Darry and his boss are waiting for him on the sidewalk. Sodapop chuckles a bit as he sees his older brother looking embarrassed, as if he got scolded by his co-workers. (He did.)

Sodapop parks at the edge of the sidewalk and gets out of the car, walking towards the two. David smiles at him and looks at Darry, “Your ride is here, bub.” Darry sighs and nods his head. He goes over to the car and sits in the passenger seat while the other two talk for a moment.

“Thanks for calling me, David.” Sodapop says.

“No problem. I can’t have him working when he’s like this, he could get hurt.” David replies, a hint of worry showing on his face. Sodapop smiles as he sees Darry’s boss concerned for him. He was happy people other than him were actually looking after his brother. Lord knows he doesn't look after himself.

David pats Sodapop on the shoulder and walks back into the site, ordering two people around to cover for Darry not working anymore. Sodapop goes back to the car and sits in the driver's seat, giving Darry a disappointed look.

Sodapop sighs and starts driving, “What were you even thinking?” Darry looks guilty.

Chapter Text

Still no POV:

Sodapop sighs and starts driving, “What were you even thinking?” Darry looks at his brother with a guilty look plastered on his face. He didn’t think going to work was wrong of him to do because he has bills to pay, but he also knows he promised his younger brothers that he wouldn’t go until he wasn’t sick anymore. “You’re sick, Dar. You could’ve gotten really hurt today handling all the heavy duty tools and being on a roof while on the verge of passing out. How do you think me and Ponyboy would feel if we heard you got hurt because we trusted you to stay home alone?” Sodapop says, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.

Darry stays silent as he knows he’s in the wrong here. His gaze goes to Sodapop’s whitening hands, and he starts to feel even more guilty about how stressed he made his brother. He was the one who was meant to take on all the pressure, not Sodapop. Not his little brother.

“I’m sorry.” Darry replies after a few more moments of silence.

Sodapop sighs again at Darry’s apology, “It’s fine, I’m just… I’m just worried about you, y’know?” Darry looks back up at Sodapop’s face. He nods his head and then looks at the road. The rest of the car ride home is silent except for a few sniffles from Darry because his nose is running again.

The two of them arrive home shortly after the conversation. Sodapop makes Darry go lay down on the couch while he goes to start doing some chores since he has time before dinner. He does a load of laundry, cleans up Darry’s room again, and cleans most of the kitchen by the time Ponyboy comes home from school.

Ponyboy walks into the house and closes the front door behind himself. He isn’t surprised to see Darry napping on the couch, but he is surprised to see Sodapop in the kitchen cleaning. He wasn’t meant to be off from work for another two hours. Ponyboy walks towards the kitchen, “Hey Soda, why’re you home so early?” Ponyboy sets his bag down onto the dining table and grabs his homework out of it. He sits down as he waits for Sodapop to reply to his question.

“Darry decided to try going to work today despite being sick, so I had to pick him up. My boss gave me the rest of the day off, and tomorrow if I need it.” Sodapop responds. Ponyboy hums, looking to where his eldest brother is resting on the couch. He would’ve watched Darry again, but Darry had sworn that school was more important and that he would take it easy while he was alone.

Ponyboy decides not to think too hard about it because he knew it wasn’t his fault. He focuses on his homework while Sodapop continues to do chores and Darry sleeps. It’s almost dinner time by the time Ponyboy’s finally finishes his school work for the day. It doesn’t usually take him this long to do, but he had an English assignment that he just couldn’t get perfect yet.

Sodapop starts to prepare the things he’ll need to make dinner. He grabs three plates, and the food he will be cooking with. And a secret ingredient that he’ll need to make the dish extra special. “Hey, Pony?” He asks, trying to get Ponyboy’s attention as he starts cooking. Ponyboy looks over. Sodapop smiles at his younger brother, “Can you go wake up Darry? He’ll need some time to wake up fully, and this shouldn’t take long to finish.” Ponyboy nods his head and walks over to Darry.

He shakes Darry’s shoulder, “Ey, wake up, dinner is almost ready.” Darry groans softly and opens his eyes. Ponyboy only felt a little guilty about waking him up because of how tired Darry looked. But he needed to eat, and he can sleep more after. “Darry, c’mon, food.” Ponyboy says, poking Darry’s shoulder again. Darry groans again as he sits up. He rubs his eyes and yawns.

Ponyboy walks back to the dining table and starts to clean up the space he used to do his homework, leaving Darry to wake up by himself. He may not be trusted to not go to work, but he can be trusted to not fall back asleep before dinner.

The trust luckily does work out this time, because Darry walks over to the dining table and sits down next to Ponyboy. The younger one smiles at his older brother. Darry smiles back the best he can, but Ponyboy can tell Darry is still feeling really tired because it doesn’t really reach his eyes. Ponyboy frowns a bit but decides to leave it alone for now because he knows Darry will be sleeping after dinner again.

Sodapop walks over to the table and sets down the plates of food. Ponyboy rolls his eyes as he sees that his brother used food dye, turning the food into a vibrant pink. Darry just smiles again. Sodapop snickers as he sees the reactions both of his brothers have. He was glad he was in charge of food right now because Darry is out of commission. He was able to spice it up, which he knew usually lightened up the mood even though Darry and Ponyboy stop him from touching food dye normally.

Darry eats his food quietly as Sodapop and Ponyboy chat about their day and plans for tomorrow. He didn’t know why, but he both hated and loved the fact that his brothers were taking care of him right now. He didn’t like leaving everything to Sodapop and Ponyboy, they didn’t deserve that kind of stress. With Sodapop having to pick him up because he can’t even just hold up a promise, and Ponyboy having to take care of him when he should be hanging out with friends or doing something he wants to. He just felt guilty about it, even though he knows that it isn’t his fault that he got sick.

But he also liked being taken care of. He liked knowing that his brothers care this much about him.

He liked knowing he was loved.

Chapter Text

Still no POV:

Ponyboy knocks onto Darry’s door and then walks in. He doesn’t expect Darry to be awake, so he doesn’t really wait for Darry to let him in. It’s not like he’ll really be doing anything at this time. Just as Ponyboy expected, Darry is asleep in his bed. He walks up to his eldest brother’s bed and gently shakes his shoulder to wake him up. When that doesn’t work, Ponyboy shakes his shoulder harder and says, “C’mon, wake up, Dar.”

At this point, Ponyboy was starting to get worried. Sure his brother was sick and likely wasn’t as light of a sleeper as he usually was, but this felt off for some reason. Ponyboy grabs the thermometer and checks Darry’s temperature. His eyes widen as he sees just how high Darry’s temperature is now. He is at a dangerous 103F°. Ponyboy doesn’t remember much from health class, but he does know that 103F° and over is possible for brain damage. He’s conflicted on whether to ask Sodapop what to do, or to call 911 immediately. He decides against the latter for now and goes for the first option.

Ponyboy runs out of Darry’s room and into the kitchen where Sodapop was making breakfast. “Soda-!” Ponyboy starts to say, but then slips on the kitchen floor because he was wearing socks. He lands hard onto his side but he doesn’t care at this moment. Before Sodapop can ask if he’s okay, Ponyboy continues talking. “Darry’s temperature is at 103F°!” Ponyboy shouts. Sodapop looks down at his brother in shock and then rushes over to Darry’s room. He doesn’t feel particularly good about leaving his younger brother on the floor, but he knows Darry is the priority with having that high of a fever.

Sodapop sets a hand onto Darry’s forehead and frowns at how hot it is. He knows he needs to find a way to lower it fast. One more degree and Sodapop would be taking Darry to the hospital right now, but he knows how expensive hospital bills are, and he just can’t do that to Darry just yet. He knows how much his brother would beat himself up for needing to go to the hospital. Especially because he probably only got worse because he tried going to work tomorrow, and actually walked there. At least he knew not to drive in his state. But the walking definitely would’ve made it worse.

Knowing he can’t pick Darry up by himself, Sodapop walks out of the room and calls out to wherever Ponyboy is, “Pony, can you help me pick Darry up!?” He goes back inside of the bedroom and stares at Darry as he waits for Ponyboy to come back. He wishes Darry overworked himself as much as he does, because this is the outcome of that. He probably got sick in the first place from working too much.

Ponyboy runs into the room and stands next to his older brothers. He seemed slightly out of breath as he asked, “Where we takin’ him?”

“We’re gonna give him a cold bath to see if that’ll help bring him temperature down.” Sodapop replies. Ponyboy nods his head and then positions himself to grab Darry’s legs. Sodapop wraps his arms around Darry’s torso, and then the two of them lift him off of the bed and quickly walk towards his bathroom, setting him into the tub. He luckily was already stripped down to his boxers since they didn’t want him getting overheated at night. All they have to do now is turn on the water and wait for Darry to wake up.

Turning on the water, Sodapop sits down next to the bath. Ponyboy walks out of the room to go finish breakfast. He didn’t have much time before he had to leave before school, and he actually did feel like eating that morning, and he knew his brothers would appreciate it, so he might as well finish what Sodapop started. Unfortunately, he can’t unmake the eggs from green. Sodapop always mixed in the dye when he starts mixing them together to make the eggs actually scramble. At least all Ponyboy had to do was cook them. He didn’t have to guess how many Soda or Darry would want, or worry about using one egg too many and costing them breakfast on a different day.

Ponyboy fixes Sodapop and Darry a plate of food and goes back to where the two of them are. Darry still looks like he hasn’t woken up yet, and Sodapop was clearly worried. However, a smile appears on Sodapop’s face as he realizes that his younger brother finished making breakfast for everyone and even made him a plate and brought it here. “Thanks, honey.” Sodapop says as he takes the plate away from Ponyboy’s hands. He isn’t surprised to see silverware in Ponyboy’s hands as well.

“No problem, Soda! I’m heading to school once I finish eating, so I’ll see you after, okay?” Ponyboy says in response. He leaves the room once he sees his older brother nod his head as a reply to Ponyboy’s words. He knew it wasn’t much of an actual question, but it also wasn’t much of a statement either.

Sodapop focuses his attention back onto his older brother as he starts eating. He doesn’t need to focus much mind power to eat, so he just thinks about his plans for the day and how he can keep a closer eye on Darry to make sure his fever doesn’t spike again. He didn’t have many more chores to do around the house because he did a few of them yesterday and they all don’t have much to do anyway because they usually keep the house pretty clean from their daily system. He really didn’t have much to do while practically home alone. It wasn’t like Darry could hang out with him, so he was basically home alone with almost nothing to do. He would call Steve if he wasn’t busy with school and work. Two-Bit was the same way because he also went to school. Ponyboy and Johnny obviously also went to school. Sodapop knew Dally didn’t go to school, but he was probably busy with some other stuff. So Sodapop had no one to hang out with for the day until school was over. He probably shouldn’t call anyone over anyway because Darry is sick.

Darry’s groaning softly pulls Sodapop away from his thoughts. He quickly sets down his almost done plate of eggs and sets a hand onto his brother’s arm, “Darry? Are you waking up?” Sodapop smiles as Darry opens his eyes and looks up at him in confusion.

“Why am I in the bathtub…?” Darry questions. Sodapop chuckles at the clear confusion and concern in his older brother’s tone. He obviously didn’t like the circumstances that made his brother so confused, but he couldn’t help but find Darry’s tone of voice slightly funny. Funny enough to laugh a bit, at least. It wasn’t as if he was making fun of his sick older brother though. He’s sure Darry wouldn’t think he was either way.

“Your fever got to 103F°, so I made you take a cold bath. You also weren’t waking up, so me and Pony had to carry you here. Ponyboy already left for school, and you also have a plate of some green scrambled eggs if you want them.” Sodapop replies. Darry rubs at his temples as he processes Sodapop’s words, nodding his head slightly. That would answer his question about why he felt shittier than yesterday.

Sodapop makes Darry stay in the cold water for another twenty minutes. He helps him eat a few bites of the green scrambled eggs, but he doesn’t finish the whole plate. Sodapop isn’t surprised. He was honestly just glad Darry ate something despite how he felt. Once Sodapop deems him alright to leave the bathtub, he helps his brother stand up and then leads him back to his bedroom. Darry takes off his boxers and lets Sodapop dry him off with an old towel. Then he puts on a fresh pair of boxers. (I don’t know shit about men's underwear in the 60s, please don’t kill me if he wouldn’t actually wear boxers-).

Taking Darry over to his bed, Sodapop helps him lay down and then covers him with the thinnest sheet they own. It was more comfortable than having nothing, but it wouldn’t overheat Darry. And Darry was lucid enough to throw the sheet off if he needed to. Or Sodapop can when he checks up on him later for lunch. “You just rest, okay? You holler out if you need me.” Sodapop says, and then he leaves the room once he sees the subtle nod from his older brother.

He doesn’t check on his sick older brother until it’s 12:30pm and time for lunch. He doesn’t bother to knock on the door and he walks up to Darry’s sleeping form. He sets the bowl of chicken noodle soup he made onto Darry’s bedside table, and then he gently shakes Darry’s shoulders.

Darry groans and looks up at his younger brother. He doesn’t question what he needs, already seeing the orange colored soup next to him on the bedside table. Sodapop smiles down at Darry and helps him sit up. “It’s time for lunch. Do you think you can keep down some soup?” Sodapop says, grabbing a pillow and setting it onto Darry’s lap so the soup won't burn him when he can’t hold it for the whole time. Darry nods his head and waits for Sodapop to give him the soup. Knowing what his brother wants, Sodapop hands Darry the soup and waits for him to eat it.

Luckily, Darry finishes about half the bowl before telling Sodapop he was finished. But before Sodapop could even ask Darry how it was, he notices how nauseous his brother looked. Neither of them need to say anything for Sodapop to grab Darry’s arm and put it over his shoulder. He then walks as fast as he can to the bathroom with Darry helping as much as he could, setting him down in front of the toilet. Sodapop rubs Darry’s back and winces in sympathy as his older brother starts vomiting everything he ate.

He pukes four consecutive times before he finally feels a bit better. Darry gives Sodapop a look that tells him that it was the last one, but all Sodapop can notice is how Darry popped a blood vessel in his eye because of the violent puking he just did. Darry frowns in confusion as he sees the worried look on Sodapop’s face intensify to something more once Sodapop looks at him for more than one second.

Sodapop swallows nervously, “You’re eye is bleeding..” He doesn’t know that you can break blood vessels, so he’s extra confused and concerned about what just happened.

Darry blinks for a few moments and sets a hand under his eye just to confirm none of the blood was actually coming out. Darry sighs, “I just broke a blood vessel, I'll be fine..” His voice is hoarse and low from just puking his guts out. Sodapop was glad it was just a blood vessel and he actually had nothing to worry about in the eye area.

But all he could think about after is how long Darry has been sick, and how he was just not getting better. It made him wonder how long he was going to be sick. And it worried him more, because the longer Darry was sick, the more likely something was actually wrong, and he knows Darry is mentally feeling bad because of all the guilt he has for even getting sick.

Sodapop just wishes this was over already.

Chapter Text

No POV:

The Curtis brothers were all having breakfast in the dining room. Purple sunny-side eggs with a side of normal, red bacon. Sodapop still hasn’t mastered turning bacon into different colors yet. They were having a conversation about whether Ponyboy or Sodapop should stay home and take care of their sick brother. Well, Sodapop and Ponyboy were having the conversation. Darry wasn’t allowed to voice his opinions because the two of them know it will just be him saying he can stay home alone again. And we all know what happened last time.

“Soda, you should go to work so we can get more money, I’m sure I can miss a few more days of school without falling too far behind. And I can get Johnny or Two-Bit to get me my schoolwork.” Ponyboy says, biting into a purple egg. He has a slight frown on his face. He knows how his brothers try to hide their financial situation from him, but anyone can see how they didn’t have days to waste of no paycheck. It was worse that Darry couldn’t work, without Sodapop they would be in an even worse situation. Ponyboy missing a few days of school is better than him missing years of school because they don’t have enough money to pay for it.

Sodapop sighs, knowing his brother is right. “Okay, fine. You can stay home from school until Darry is no longer sick. But you still have to do your schoolwork.” Sodapop replies, breaking a bit off of his bacon with his fingers and eating it. Ponyboy smiles triumphantly. It wasn’t every day he won an argument with one of his brothers. Especially when it came to school.

After the three of them finish breakfast, Sodapop leaves for work and Ponyboy helps Darry to his room before going back to the kitchen and doing the dishes. Luckily, there weren't too many of them since Sodapop did the dishes last night. All the dishes were from breakfast this morning. Ponyboy has a feeling he’ll probably be doing the dishes later tonight too. Sodapop would likely want to take care of Darry during bedtime, so that left Ponyboy to clean everything up. He found himself not minding.

He goes to his room once he’s done with the dishes, pulling out a book off of his shelf and then going out to the living room and reading on the couch.

Ponyboy reads two books throughout the day, and even finishes a drawing of his parents that he replicated using one of their family photos on the wall. He does make Darry lunch, a grilled cheese with tomato soup. He figured Darry would like something other than chicken noodle soup. And he was right because Darry actually seemed really excited for what Ponyboy gave him. Which made Ponyboy happy. He also checked Darry’s temperature while he was there and was glad to see that it lowered to 101F°.

“Your fever dropped.” Ponyboy says as Darry eats. His brother just nods his head and continues eating. Ponyboy doesn’t really mind that his older brother doesn’t reply, just happy he’s eating and looking better; which means he probably feels better too. He cleans up Darry’s room as he eats because he wants to take the bowl and plate once he’s done to not clutter up his room. Once Darry lets him know he’s done, Ponyboy walks over and takes the dishes. He’s surprised to see that Darry finished the whole bowl of soup and all of his grilled cheese. “Did you like it?” Ponyboy questions with a smile on his face.

Darry nods his head and pats Ponyboy on the back in appreciation, “Thanks for taking care of me, honey.”

“It’s no problem, really.” Ponyboy replies. He then walks out of Darry’s room and puts the dishes into the sink. He decides that he’ll just do them later after dinner. There really was no point in doing the dishes three or more times in one day unless the sink was filled to the brim. After that, he goes back to the couch and starts to watch a movie that was on.

Sodapop walks in late at night, around 9pm. He’s surprised as he smells food as soon as he walks into the house. He finds Ponyboy eating some baked chicken and brown white rice in the dining room with Darry next to him. Ponyboy smiles as he walks in, “Hey, Soda! I made dinner, and figured we’d eat later so we could eat with you.” Sodapop’s eyes start to water as he looks at his little brother. Ponyboy’s eyes widen as he sees the tears in Sodapop’s eyes. “Why’re you crying?!” Ponyboy asks, slightly panicked. Darry just smiles at Sodapop, knowing that he just felt happy because Ponyboy thought about him.

“It’s nothing, Pony.” Sodapop says. Ponyboy looks like he wants to press for more details, but after Darry shakes his head he decides not to. He gestures to the plate next to him that obviously was meant for Sodapop, wanting him to sit down and eat. Sodapop nods his head and sits down, ruffling Ponyboy’s hair and snickering when Ponyboy gives him a glare and swats his hands away. He looks down at the food, impressed that Ponyboy made all of this. (I feel like I’m adding a lot of commas-)

After the three of them eat, Sodapop helps Darry back to his room and Ponyboy cleans up the table and does the dishes. He had already cleaned up the kitchen after he was done cooking, so he didn’t have too much to clean. He’s already done with the dishes by the time Sodapop comes back from Darry’s room. Sodapop gestures for Ponyboy to follow him and they both sit down on the couch. “So, how was today?” Sodapop asks, a smile on his face.

“It was good. Darry’s fever is breaking I think, and he ate all of the lunch I made him. He had a grilled cheese and some tomato soup.” Ponyboy responds. Sodapop’s smile brightens as he hears about the news of his older brother doing well. He was so proud of Ponyboy for taking care of him, though he felt a little guilty for making him do that. He probably should’ve just asked Two-Bit or Dally to take care of him. He knows they would’ve helped. But Ponyboy had mentioned how it was better they didn’t have too many people around, since they could get them sick, and it was bad enough that Sodapop was working. But that wasn’t as bad as actually taking care of Darry.

“Thanks for taking care of him.” Sodapop says.

“It’s really no problem.” Ponyboy replies.

Chapter Text

No POV:

Darry yawns as he slowly begins to wake up. He blinks his eyes open and looked at the window, surprised to see that the sun wasn’t fully up. That must mean he woke up around the time he usually does when he’s not sick. That was strange. He could barely wake up when his brothers tried waking him up, and that was about an hour and a half from now. Darry sits up and smiles as he doesn’t feel too lightheaded. He blows his nose, gets dressed, and is actually the first one in the kitchen. He starts to cook breakfast for the three of them. Deep down he felt like he was doing something he wasn't meant to, because his brothers have been very stern about resting, but he actually feels really good right now.

He hears rushed footsteps coming towards the kitchen. He’s not surprised when he sees his two younger brothers run into the kitchen, eyes wide, dark circles under their eyes. Darry frowns as he sees how exhausted his brothers got taking care of him. An overwhelming guilt begins to eat at Darry’s heart

“What are you doing out of bed?! Cooking for god’s sake!” Sodapop yells in shock, concern, and annoyance. He specifically remembers telling Darry he wasn’t allowed to cook until he got better, and yet here he is, cooking. They didn’t even get to check his morning temperature to let him cook. And by the looks of Darry’s clothes, he was going to try to go to work again.

Darry bakes away as Sodapop marches towards him and tries to take the spatula in his hand, “Wait, I feel better! I think I’m finally not sick anymore!” Sodapop stops for a moment and looks at his brother in suspicion. Yesterday his fever had broken, there was no way he was already better. But… There was always a chance that he could be.

“Let me take your temperature, and then I’ll let you continue talking. Ponyboy, can you continue cooking?” Sodapop says, turning to Ponyboy, who nods his head and grabs the spatula out of Darry’s hand and goes over to the stove and continues cooking the pancakes Darry had started. Sodapop grabs Darry’s wrist and takes him back to his room where the thermometer is. He picks it up and puts it into his older brother’s mouth. The two of them wait in silence for a few moments before it beeps and Sodapop pulls it out. “98F°…” Sodapop mutters. He looks his brother up and down again and sighs, “Fine, you can go to work.” Darry grins and ruffles Sodapop’s hair in appreciation. He knows he won't go to work without Sodapop’s permission next time, because of what happened last time.

The two of them walk back to the kitchen and Darry goes over to Ponyboy so he can continue cooking, not wanting his youngest brother who was exhausted to have to finish what he started. Ponyboy glances at Sodapop first, who nods his head. He just needed to check to make sure Darry was allowed to. He gives the spatula back to Darry and heads back to his room so he can actually begin to start the day correctly. Sodapop sighs and walks after him, knowing he needs to get ready for work.

Darry frowns as he watches his brothers walk away. The guilt in his chest was eating at him. He hasn’t gotten that sick in quite a while, and he hated how he made his brothers take care of him and all the responsibilities. Ponyboy had to miss school because they couldn’t afford for Sodapop to miss too much work, even with his nice boss. He’ll need to make up for it somehow.

The three of them eat breakfast together and leave all around the same time to go to work or school.

By the time Darry is home, Ponyboy is sleeping on the floor of the living room and Sodapop is sleeping on the couch. Darry winces as he sees the position Ponyboy is in, especially because he’s on the floor. Sodapop actually looks really comfortable because he has a blanket and a pillow, but Ponyboy has nothing but his clothes and the hard floor.

Darry crouches down next to his younger brother and sighs. He picks him up bridal style as carefully as he can and carries him to his room, setting him down onto his bed. Thankfully, Ponyboy had already taken off his shoes so Darry didn’t have to take them off before he set Ponyboy onto his bed. Both Sodapop and Ponyboy didn’t like shoes on the bed. Especially Ponyboy. Darry kisses Ponyboy’s forehead, frowning because he feels a little warm. Darry decides to ignore it for now because he’s not warm enough to indicate a fever yet. He pats Ponyboy’s arm and then leaves the room, closing the door behind him.

The oldest Curtis sibling goes over to the kitchen and begins to work on dinner. He decides to cook alfredo spaghetti with meatballs. They didn’t have any red sauce, so alfredo will have to work. It was Ponyboy’s favorite sauce anyway, so he’ll like it. Sodapop wakes up about halfway through the cooking time. He walks into the kitchen while rubbing his eyes and yawning, “Did you have a good day at work, Dar?”

Darry smiles and replies to his younger brother, “I did. How about you?”

Sodapop yawns again. He goes over to the dining room and sits down in a chair, laying his head on top of his folded arms. “Yeah.. Harvey helped me work, let me take an extra two breaks too..” Sodapop mumbles in response to his brother’s earlier question. Darry frowns as he thinks about why his younger brother needed those extra breaks and for it to be bad enough that Harvey decided to even work with him when he wasn’t meant to. Darry’s torn out of his thoughts as Ponyboy walks into the kitchen as well. He also seemed exhausted as he went to sit next to Sodapop and do the exact same thing. He lays his head on top of his folded arms.

All three of them stay in silence while Darry continues to cook the spaghetti. He plates the food for his younger brothers and sets it in front of them, along with a drink he thinks they would want. The two of them look at the food and smile, then look at their older brother in appreciation. Darry chuckles as he thinks about how in sync they are when they’re tired.

At least they can rest easy now that Darry is no longer sick.