Work Text:
Sodapop wasn't sure what was worse; knowing that Ponyboy had been jumped while walking home from school with Curly, or knowing that he'd been drugged during the jumping. How Ponyboy was drugged, Sodapop wasn't sure. Darry hadn't exactly been keen on sharing details with Sodapop after he'd accidentally shattered a glass upon learning both pieces of information.
Sodapop had focused in on Ponyboy's well being after they'd gotten to the hospital; he'd barely paid attention to the fact that Darry and Tim were both talking with the doctors, he didn't know how the boys had been found and while he was initially curious. He didn't care at this point in time.
Sodapop was curled up on a hospital chair, knees up to his chest as he half faced Ponyboy. His arms were wrapped around his knees and he was staring at the unconscious form of his kid brother. His eyes were slowly growing heavy and his chest had fallen on top of his knees a while ago.
"Soda-" Darry had come back into the room. "Oh, Pepsi." Sodapop lifted his head, blinking sleepily as he looked over at the older of the trio. Darry looked tired, which Sodapop felt in his bones. Today was supposed to be fine. Nothing was supposed to have gone wrong.
And now their youngest was in the hospital with an unknown drug in his system, a fever from something and beaten bloody.
"Come on, let's get you home. I'm gonna call Steve, and you're going home for the night." Sodapop made a noise of disagreement, but when he tried to push himself up from the chair, his back ached. He wasn't quick enough to hide the grimace of pain.
"No-"
"No arguments, Sodapop. I'm calling Steve. You have work tomorrow." Darry cut Sodapop off. Sodapop made a noise of irritation, stretching some before getting out of the chair. He absolutely ignored how his legs felt a little like jelly as he tried to follow Darry out of the hospital room when his brother made a move to leave the room.
"You have work tomorrow too!" Sodapop sounded annoyed, he knows he did. He didn't care.
Darry ignored him as he made it to a phone that was near the lobby of the hospital. Sodapop made another noise of annoyance before turning and making his way back towards Ponyboy's room. If Darry was so insistent on Sodapop going home for the night, he was staying by Ponyboy's side as much as he could.
"Alright, come on Pepsi-Cola," Sodapop blinked his eyes open, confusion running through him. He looked around with a small sigh before they landed on Steve who was crouching down in front of him. He frowned, closing his eyes once more and settled back in. He was going to be as difficult as possible unless it was a nurse and it was the end of visiting hours.
Steve sighed and the next thing Sodapop knew, he was being lifted up into his friend's arms. Sodapop yelped, eyes snapping open as he twisted in his friends grasp.
"Nope, no. Come on. We have to go now. Darry says so." Sodapop huffed, shoving Steve's shoulder knowing that it wasn't going to do what he wanted. He was stuck watching Ponyboy over Steve's shoulder as they left the hospital room.
Sodapop, despite knowing there was nothing he could have done, felt like he'd failed as an older brother. He wasn't sure there was a feeling worse than feeling like he'd failed his kid brother.
Steve had spent three hours making sure that Sodapop had eaten, drunk something, and had somehow managed to get him into bed. Was the other sleeping? Steve was pretty sure that answer was a no. However Sodapop was at least laying down in his bed.
He was now on 'Sodapop Watch Duty', assigned to him by himself. Darry had said that he was staying at the hospital overnight, but Steve had also seen the stormy expression that matched on both Darry's and Shepards faces. The two of them had something planned and they were most definitely not staying at the hospital.
Dally meeting up with them in the lobby of the hospital as Steve was carrying Sodapop out had definitely been suspicious enough that Steve was taking it as confirmation.
"Steve?" Steve glanced towards the hallway, where Sodapop was standing with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. "I…" Sodapop hesitated, glancing away with a bite of his lip.
"Soda?"
"I can't sleep." Steve was confused for all of two seconds before he remembered that Ponyboy and Sodapop shared a room, they slept next to each other every night. It had been like that for at least the last year.
"Alright, let's go." Steve offered a brief smile that he was sure must have looked like a grimace as he got up from the couch. Sodapop looked relieved, his shoulders dropping briefly before he was standing back up and the two of them walked back towards Sodapop and Ponyboy's room.
Sodapop was climbing back into bed as Steve pulled his shirt off. Sodapop was a furnace during the day, and Steve knew from one experience when they were younger that that was even more true at night.
"There's sweatpants in the third drawer from the bottom." Steve stared at the only dresser in the room.
"Soda, that's the second from the top." Sodapop giggled slightly as Steve mentally wondered why the other was like this. He found the sweatpants prettily easily, and it was only from knowing that Sodapop used the top two drawers in the dresser that didn't leave Steve wondering if he was grabbing Ponyboy's clothes.
Steve changed quickly before turning and climbing in beside Sodapop. Steve huffed as the other immediately turned and clung onto him, all octopus like that practically pinned Steve to the bed.
Steve rolled his eyes, but forced Sodapop to let him get comfortable. Sodapop huffed but allowed Steve that. When Steve settled, Sodapop latched right back on. Steve wanted to act annoyed, but he just couldn't do that to the other.
"Get some sleep." Steve muttered. Sodapop made some sort of noise, probably of acknowledgement, before everything fell quiet.
Dally huffed a small breath as he sat in Ponyboy's hospital room, a sense of boredom running through him in a way it hadn't in a long time. Johnny was with Two-Bit for the night, so he didn't have to worry about the other of the youngest too, but Ponyboy had been unconscious for nearly two days now and it was bothering Dally more than he thought it would.
Just last week, he had wished for nothing more than for the kid to shut his mouth for more than a few minutes or when he was sitting with Johnny and the other just needed some quiet. But now, he wouldn't even care if Ponyboy was spouting bullshit about sunsets or poems with, or at him.
He was bored out of his mind, but Darry had asked him to stay at the hospital while he and Tim… took care of some business. Dally didn't care to ask anything more. Dally was fine with both of them separately… but with both of them pissed off and looking for a fight? Dally was just a tad bit scared and more than perfectly fine staying right where he was.
He was tired though, with nothing to do other than sit there, because Dally was not picking up a damn book to read.
A groan had his eyes snapping open and over towards Ponyboy whose eyes were scrunched and his face was twisted up. Dally was pretty sure that Ponyboy's breathing sounded pained, but he couldn't be sure. It was wheezy, like his chest was constricting around his lungs and stopping him from breathing.
"Pony?" Dally leaned forward, eyes watching Ponyboy carefully. Ponyboy huffed, turning his head so that his face and it seemed like he was struggling to get his eyes open.
"Dal-?" Ponyboy coughed, and Dally winced at how rough the others voice sounded.
"Hey kid, yeah, it's me. I'm gonna go get one of the nurses or whatever, alright?" Dally wasn't exactly waiting for an answer from the younger, but he would like to at least know that Ponyboy knew what he'd said.
He didn't get much of an answer, just a small groan.
"You probably won't hear this… but I'm glad you're alive, kid." Dally sighed as he pushed himself from his chair, turning and moving towards the door. There was a whine from behind him, but Dally knew he couldn't look back.
Unfortunately for him, Ponyboy had managed to weasel his way into being on the list of people that Dally actually cared about, and no matter what Dally did to try get him off the list, it never worked.
If Dally looked back, he wouldn't be able to leave to get the nurse.
Darry had sighed in relief when he'd gotten back to the hospital in the early morning before work. Dally was still there and Ponyboy had woken up throughout the night, as brief as Darry had heard it had been.
"Thank you, for staying through the night," Darry had felt terrible asking Dally, but he'd also been terrified that Ponyboy wasn't going to get treated properly; neither him or Curly if Darry was being honest.
"'course, but now, if you'll excuse me. I'm bored out of my mind and tired." Darry chuckled a bit, nodding his thanks.
"Couch is always open. I think Two and Johnny are stopping by later today to see him, and then heading back." Darry told him, patting his shoulder as Dally grumbled something under his breath.
Darry watched to make sure that Dally wasn't stumbling from any sort of exhaustion before turning and making his way back towards Ponyboy's room. The nurses left him alone as he walked, and Doctors only gave him a brief look over before continuing on their way. Darry knew where he was going, and it was pretty obvious to anyone who looked at him.
He held his breath momentarily as he got to the doorway before shaking his head and opening the door. His eyes darted towards where Ponyboy was laying, still and pale, and then towards the only chair in the room. He paused in confusion, noting that Steve was slouched in the chair, his head nearly bowed.
"Steve?" Steve's head snapped up, and Darry winced at the crack that sounded and the briefly pained expression on his face. "Woah, hey little buddy, slow down." Darry raised his hands, eyes widening slightly.
"Sorry, I-uh," Steve stopped, swallowing as he glanced back towards Ponyboy before rubbing the back of his neck and standing up. That was when Darry noticed the school bag sitting at Steve's feet, or the bag that was sitting at his feet seeing as Steve was picking it up. "I had to see how he was."
"It's okay." Darry smiled briefly at him. "How is he?"
"Well, he definitely knows who's around him whenever he does briefly wake up." Steve huffed a breath of laughter. "Also, Soda's at work. Said that we'd have to drag him out of here tonight," Steve rolled his eyes and Darry grimaced.
Darry understood more than anything what Sodapop meant though. It was going to be hard pulling himself from Ponyboy's bedside to go to work, though he knew he had to.
"Well, get to school. He'll still be here afterwards, and you have work after too." Steve winced, sighing as he nodded. He looked tired, and Darry had to wonder how long he'd been there.
"Yeah, alright." Darry patted Steve's shoulder when he walked by, and Steve bowed his head a little bit to hide a smile. Darry felt comforted that everyone was worried about Ponyboy. They were all looking out for him.
He heaved a breath as he walked over towards the now vacated chair and sat down.
"Hey, Little Colt." Darry sighed, eyes locking onto his kid brother.