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"Get up. Let's go." Ponyboy flinched in surprise as Steve dropped a jacket onto his head. Ponyboy pushed the jacket off of his head, glaring up at the other who was staring down at him unimpressed.
"Why should I?" Ponyboy muttered, pushing the jacket onto the ground beside him as he glared almost petulantly at the other.
"Because I said so, twerp." Steve responded, crossing his arms with a glare on his face. Ponyboy made another face at him, pulling his knees to his chest just a little more. Steve rolled his eyes as he reached down and grabbed Ponyboy's arm, pulling him up and snagging the jacket off the ground in one quick motion.
"What the fuck?" Ponyboy's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Soda! I'm taking your brother out for a walk!" Ponyboy baulked at the other.
"I'm not a damn dog, Steve." Ponyboy huffed, but he let Steve shove his shoes at him, along with the jacket that Ponyboy had initially shoved away. He did listen to the silent command to put his shoes on, although he still refused to put on the damn jacket.
"Alright, you guys will be back soon right? Darry will be home soon, and I need Pony's help with dinner." Sodapop's head popped out from the kitchen. The smell of chocolate cake batter sticking to him when he stepped out.
"We can try, but you might want to start on that yourself, and he can help with whatever after we get back." Steve told him, crossing his arms as he leaned against the doorway.
Sodapop hummed as he pulled Ponyboy into a brief hug. The scent of Chocolate Cake batter was stronger on Sodapop, and Ponyboy let his brother hug him before pulling back. He still wasn't entirely comfortable with too much physical contact.
"It may be colorful," Sodapop smiled brightly. Ponyboy and Steve both rolled their eyes, both having their own forms of a smile on their faces. "Now get. Get, get, get." Sodapop shoved at Ponyboy's shoulder and patted Steve's shoulder when Steve pushed off the doorway.
Ponyboy made a face as Steve turned and pointed towards the door as Sodapop made his way back towards the kitchen. He was probably assuming, correctly, that Ponyboy would make a run for it should Steve go ahead of him.
Didn't mean that he wasn't going to complain the entire time.
Ponyboy grumbled as he walked out the door, still refusing to put on the jacket. Steve made his own sound of annoyance, though he didn't say anything.
"Why are we here." Ponyboy's voice was quiet when he spotted the entrance to the graveyard. He'd stopped in the middle of the half abandoned road that they had to walk down.
The graveyard was nothing special. Glory, it wasn't even officially recognized as a graveyard by the city. It was just something that the greasers used whenever one of their own fell and weren't cared about enough for an official gravestone.
Darry couldn't afford to attempt getting just one of them an official gravestone. So they made their own and held their own little funeral at the half abandoned clearing that most greaser's used for the fallen.
Ponyboy was always vividly aware that every single gravestone was for a kid.
"Keep walking." Steve told him. His voice was quieter, and there was some weird tone to it that Ponyboy hadn't heard before from Steve.
Ponyboy wasn't sure how, but he'd managed to get his legs to respond to his command again. Everything felt heavy as he walked. He wasn't even sure if he was truly seeing anything as he walked. His head was lowered and he knew they were filled with tears.
He knew where they were going. Steve wouldn't have them come here for any reason other than to visit them.
Ponyboy felt himself falter when he came to the well worn pathway. He hadn't been here since they were buried. Not really, at least.
He'd known exactly where they were buried, having chosen the spot they were buried specifically. He'd never officially managed to come visit them, though there had been a few attempts.
Ponyboy hadn't realized that he was just standing in front of both makeshift gravestones until Steve had put a hand on his shoulder.
"Sit down." Ponyboy's knees buckled, and he was slightly surprised when Steve caught him and gently lowered both of them. "Easy, Pony." Ponyboy sucked in a breath when he realized that he was beginning to hold it. A coping skill that he'd, unfortunately, picked up from Sodapop.
"Wh-" There was definitely a sob beginning to build up in his chest. He already couldn't see. Not that he was looking at anything but the ground. "Why are we here." Ponyboy tried to demand.
His voice was too weak.
"You need to let them go." Ponyboy jerked away from Steve. Or, he'd tried to. Steve was stronger than he was and Ponyboy felt like even lifting his head was too hard for him.
"The hell are you talking about Steve?" Ponyboy muttered, crossing his arms. Ponyboy liked not staring or having to look at the other. Especially for what he now knew was going to be an emotional conversation.
"I'm talking about the sleepless nights that are scaring the fuck outta Soda, and the scrapes and bruises you think you're hiding from Two-Bit and I at school. I'm talking about the countless drawings of Dallas and Johnny that are causing you to go through sketchbook after sketchbook and notebook after notebook." Steve responded.
Ponyboy crossed his arms, trying his best to ignore everything Steve was saying.
"You're overworking yourself too."
"That's a lie." Ponyboy felt annoyed enough to push off Steve, no matter how heavy everything felt. He turned and glared at Steve, feeling himself falter internally when he saw just how tired the other looked.
"Is it?" Steve asked. Ponyboy glared at him, but he knew that the facade wouldn't be held up for very long. He was tired. He wouldn't go as far as to say he was overworking himself, but…
Ponyboy looked away, a glare on his face pointed towards the ground.
"Come on, kid." Steve uttered quietly. "It's just the two of us out here." Ponyboy felt the tears welling up in his eyes, but he felt unwilling to break. Steve was asking for just a bit of trust… Was asking Ponyboy to trust him enough to be vulnerable.
At least, he had been unwilling to break before Steve pulled him back to lean against him. And then the dam broke.
Ponyboy hadn't known where the sob had come from, but it was nearly impossible to stop. He broke down into sobs, leaning against Steve who wrapped his arms a little tighter around Ponyboy.
"It's okay to miss them… It's okay to cry about it… Shout, yell, break something, I don't care. It's okay, right now." Steve uttered quietly. Ponyboy wasn't entirely sure he was hearing the other properly, but…
It was almost comforting, hearing the other just speak.
Ponyboy wasn't exactly sure how long they sat there in front of the graves of two of their friends. Dally and Johnny, both having gone out too soon and with too much action.
However, he knew at some point that Two-Bit had joined the two of them, just sitting with a bit of pressure against Ponyboy's side. The three of them where all leaning against each other.
It was probably the only time he'd ever seen the two greasers cry.
And when the three of them finally managed to pull themselves together, and made their way back home, Darry only took one look at them and put a little extra food on their plates before ushering them to