Archive of Our Own

It was the summer of 1967. The sun was finally shining, the air was warm. The cool breeze made the trees sway. The windows could be down without a care in the world. The nights were cool, and full of nostalgia. Stars would shine as you’d have a milkshake, and mess around with those around you. It was nice enough to drive around, have a day on the town, all the problems of school away for 3 months. The buzzing cicadas, the smell of freshly mowed grass, it was enough to make all the senses relax. The summer was a peaceful time, nothing weighing you down. 

All that peace quickly went when Darry broke the news to the gang that they’d be gone for the summer. 

A shout echoed through the hot air. “What do you mean you’ll be gone?!?” Two-Bit shouted, his head turning to each of the brothers in protest. “You can’t be gone! Summer just started! What am I supposed to do now?” He whined and whined, the rest of the gang a little disappointed, but not acting on it. 

With a sigh, Darry leaned on the old wall next to their screen door, in the shade of their front porch. He watched as Two-Bit went on and on about why they couldn’t leave, stomping the grass growing in the cracks of the beat up concrete path leading to the front door. “Well I have a job to do, and it’s far away from here, so I have to bring ‘em with me.” The eldest explains, crossing his arms, not leaving the shady heaven. He couldn’t tell if Two-Bit was sweating from emotion, or from being in the blazing sun with the rest of the gang. 

“I could take care of ‘em,” Dally says, leaning on the chainlink fence as he lit a cigarette. “Don’t worry, Dar, they love me.” The blonde adds on, turning to Johnny, who was right next to him, and padding him on the back. 

Walking from the lawn, up to the shaded area, Pony comments, “I don’t think that’s too hot of an idea,” He says, relaxing in one of the chairs with stale, floral patterned cushions, right next to Soda. It was way too hot to have this discussion outside. The youngest wondered how the hell Dally was in the bright sunlight, with his signature heavy brown jacket on, and wasn’t sweating 5 pounds off his body. Hell, even Johnny looked like he was burning up. “The house would be up in flames in less than a minute.” 

With curiosity, Two-bit walks up to the railing of the platform, boosting himself up, and putting his feet in the gap between the railing and platform, “What even is this job?” He asks with suspicion, leaning forward on the railing with furrowed brows, like he was trying to read the older man’s mind. “Wait, you never even told us what your job is!” Pony adds on, making Two-Bit more suspicious. 

With a roll of his eyes, the oldest bluntly answers, “I can’t tell ‘ya, but it’s at one of them fancy country clubs,” Darry states, ignoring how all 6 members of the group each go ‘OoOoOo’ in excitement, and acknowledgement. “Looks like Superdope is working for the big leagues now,” Steve says, shoes clicking as he steps on the burning, beat up concrete to get closer. “How’d you even get the job?” Johnny asks politely through everyone’s chaos of shouts and yells over the new job. 

“Well, I've worked for them before, this will be my fourth year,” The older man says, making his brothers snap their heads towards him in shock. How the hell has he been working at this place for four years? And never has said shit about it? “Hold on, Dar, why have you never told us this?” Soda shoots up, running to his older brother to get information, Pony not far behind him. Both boys playfully look him up and down as they process the information.

Playfully pushing them two away from his personal space, Darry hesitated to answer. He’s had this summer job at the Kellerman’s Resort for a few years now. Did it pay well? Not really, but it was better than average. Did he technically get vacation? Well yeah. Did he get a free room, along with food? Yes he did, but the actual job is embarrassing, of course being a roofer all year round, and then an entertainment dancer in the summer was quite a huge difference. He always excused it for a trip with his friends, but in reality he picked up the job for college. Now that his parents were gone, and this was their first summer without them, he was struggling to pick between the job or not. He needed to raise his brothers, doesn’t matter if his stupid summer job that either pays him so well, or nothing at all, was on the line. But at the same time, they desperately needed money. It was hard these days, and this job could give good money to add to Ponyboy’s college funds. So he decided to take it, along with dragging his brothers in too. They’d be at a fun, rich person resort, they could get jobs, and Darry didn’t need to worry about feeding them for just a few weeks. 

Hopefully, the two of them stayed out of trouble, and sight when he’s dancing. Darry honestly adored dancing, and liked the job, but he couldn’t look his brothers in the eyes if they saw him dance. Not that he was bad, he does it for a fucking job. He loved the mambo, the cha-cha, and so on. But it’s embarrassing doing it in front of a person he knows that wasn’t his mother. She ignited his passion, and she’s the reason he got the job. But, what would his brothers think? They wouldn’t judge, but Darry still feels this intense fear of them seeing it. It was sweet of him to accept his suggestion of also getting a job at the Kellerman’s Resort, even if it was part time. His heart melted when they got the job’s, happily deciding to help support the family. Although, Darry made sure it was only part time, they were still kids, they should experience this vacation, and have fun. 

A proud voice cut through his thoughts, “Well, Darry ain’t the only one working at Kellerman’s,” Pony starts, looking at Soda for him to continue. It takes him a moment, before he quickly continues Ponyboy’s sentence. “Me and Pone are gonna be working too, serving the rich folks at dinner.” 

“Well damn, I guess the Curtis household is gonna be a mansion soon, huh?” Dally laughs out, his accent making the words more relaxed. He throws his cigarette on the ground, before stomping on it, and helping Johnny move to the shaded area. Two-bit quickly adds onto Dally’s comments. “Maybe we’ll start having triple layered chocolate cakes for breakfast,” The rusty-haired greaser says with excitement. “Well, with how much cake you eat, you’re pretty much having three tripled layer cakes a day.” Pony quickly says without thinking.

The group starts laughing, but Darry couldn’t help but block them out, thinking about the job he will be attending in a couple of days. Usually he’d be excited, his stomach filled with butterflies as he thought of going to Kellerman’s. But now? He can’t help but feel his stomach drop. His brothers will see how they treat him. One week, he has diamonds stuffing his pockets, the next he has nothing. When he was younger, and first starting the job, he was told to ‘entertain the ladies’, which he did. Apparently, he did it too much though, so now the owner thinks he’s an over eager horndog. He’s matured, yet he refuses to see the greaser as any different. With his brothers in the picture, Darry couldn’t help but worry that they’ll get the same treatment from the owner.

“Hey, Dar?” Soda mumbles to his older brother, looking up with slight concern. Everyone in the gang knew Darry had a lot on his plate, so him being sucked in by his thoughts was common. No matter the thing he was thinking about, he’d fall into the thinking spiral, and be in there for hours. “Are you alright?”

“You boys should get packing, we leave in a few days, and I don't want you to forget anything important.” 

⋆⭒˚.⋆

The two greasers sat in their shared bedroom, going through their belongings to decide what was important enough to bring. Two duffel bags sitting lightly on the unmade bed, one was collapsing in on itself, while the other bag, belonging to Soda, was already stuffed with unfolded clothes and activities. The open window allowed a nice breeze to go through the room, swaying the curtains. Soda was making commentary while packing to fill up the void of silence, asking for opinions on what to bring. While Soda was yapping away to the younger man, Pony couldn’t help but wonder off. Darry was acting so off, more off than normal. Not only did he lie about going on trips with his old buddies, he hid the fact that he was working for all the rich folk. Why would’ve he needed to do that in the past? That question was easily answered, the money probably went towards his, now drained, college funds. But it was still odd. Throughout the years, and even now, Darry didn’t say a peep about what the job actually was. It hurt the youngest a bit, knowing his brother is keeping secrets from him. 

“Ok now,” Soda said, holding up one of his white shirts that he cut the sleeves off of. “What about this, Pone? Should I bring it?” He asks his brother, holding the shirt out so the other could see it better. 

Pony looked between the shirt, and his brother's curious, and expressive face. “Aren’t you already bringing like,” Pony pauses, leaning over to gaze into his brother's cluttered duffel bag. “50 shirts? Why would you need to bring that one?”

Soda’s face pinched together in thought, bringing his fingers to his chin for extra studious effect. “To show off for them rich ladies of course!” He says confidently with a smile, making Pony chuckle a bit, along with rolling his eyes. He watches Soda take his laugh as an answer, and quickly shoves the white shirt into his bag. The moment the bleached haired greaser goes back to packing, his mind starts to wonder back to his oldest brother. Surly Soda has some input on this situation, right?

“Soda?” The boy starts, looking towards the other across the bedroom. 

“Hm?” Soda hums in response, turning around when he hears Ponyboy sigh. He walks towards the bed, before laying on it to focus on his brother. Laying on his stomach on the pillows, the greaser starts kicking his feet in the air, using his hand to support his head. Pony looks at his brother lying like one of those girls writing in her journal about her crush, and laughs at the idea. Sometimes, the bleached haired teen lies like that when writing. It’s quite the comfortable position, but also it’s embarrassing at the same time. Oh god, did he act like one of those lovesick girls writing in her journal, twirling her hair as she writes? He can’t, right? 

Ponyboy clears his throat, letting his journal troubles float away to bother him for another day. “Don’t you find it weird that Darry has had this job for years, and has told us nothing about it?” Pony starts, watching as his brother switches what hand supports his head. “It’s a little suspicious, yeah.” Soda adds on, “I do wonder what his job could be.” 

“I agree,” the younger one said in disappointment, before walking over to his dresser, sorting through what shirts to bring. “Maybe, he has one of those lame jobs, like those guys who walk around carrying golf gear.” He adds to his words, looking over at Soda with amusement. “You can’t speak, little brother, you almost got that job,” the other states, dark brown eyes filled with playfulness. “Don’t remind me of that,” Ponyboy scoffs, walking over to his duffel bag to add his folded clothes. The difference between the two brothers' bags was astonishing. One was sorted, with everything planned and sorted, while the other looks like a tornado hit it. “Boy am I glad I got that waiter job.” Pony sighs in relief. 

After a beat of silence, the dark brown haired boy shoots up, almost like he was jumping after something bit him. “I have an idea!” He cheers with enthusiasm, stars in his eyes as he looks at his confused brother. “If Darry won’t tell us his job, why don’t we just try to figure it out while we’re there!” 

“That ain’t a bad idea.” Pony nods in agreement, before adding on. “He can’t keep it from us, it’s a matter of time before we figure it out!” The two look at each other, before nodding in sync, adding little ‘yeaaahhhhs’ as they nod, and tap each other's foreheads. “We can be like- uhh what’s his face?” Soda taps his chin, “Sherlock and Watson!” He yells once the names come to his mind, making pony cock his head in confusion. “Am I Sherlock, or Watson?” he asks, wondering if his brother even knows much about the two. “No idea!” 

The two packed with dedication, and determination. As they continue to stuff things into their bags, they throw out ideas, along with plans, on how to find out the big mystery Job Darry has taken up. Pony grabbed some paper, completely forgetting about his luggage. Instead, he wrote down their clever ideas to crack the case. He knows Darry will scold him later, but he should be scolding him for hiding secrets. Honestly, how can he expect them not to try and figure out the job! They were curious! Does Darry Curtis have a loser job? Does he have a cool job? A secret hobby? A secret family?! What if he actually doesn't have a job at all!? 

As the ideas start slowing down, Pony clicks the top of his pen to close it, before neatly placing it on top of his books he packed. He’s about to zip the bag up, before Soda places the boy’s toothbrush, and paste, in the bag lazily. “Don’t forget this! Don’t wanna be smelly around all the food.” Soda teases, going over his bag to pack his toiletries. Placing them in, the middle brother tried to zip the bag closed, only to struggle. The mountain of crap in the bag made the zipper slide back, not allowing it to be fully closed. “Stubborn ass bag!” Soda mumbles, wrestling with the zipper that was now hurting his fingers. 

The greaser stands up, and scratches his cheek lightly in embarrassment. “I don’t need to pack a toothbrush….right?” Soda sheepishly smiles at the solution to his problem, sneakily unpacking the toiletries kit from his bag,

“Soda! Stop it, you need those!”

⋆⭒˚.⋆

The day the brothers had to leave finally arrived. The car ride was going to be long, but the goodbyes were even longer. Darry leaned against the hood of the beat up car, arms crossed as he observed the environment around him. The gang all decided to drop by and say farewells to the three before they left. Darry thought it was going to be a simple ‘see you later!’ farewell, but he was so wrong. Everyone got distracted quite quickly, falling into their own conversations, and rough housing. Two-Bit was fully treating it like they were moving away forever. Johnny and Pony were talking to each other, as Soda, and Steve were playfighting on the front lawn in front of all the houses. Darry didn’t even notice Dally right next to him, leaning against the car with a smoke in between his fingers, also observing. 

Both sat in silence, not really up to start a conversation, but one of them had to cut the awkwardness, and so Dally started. “So, how far away is the job?” he asks plainly, trying to get the older one to relax. “Don’t tell me it’s 50 states away.” he teases with that smirk filled with trouble, taking a puff from his cigarette. 

“It’s a few hours away, why?” The elder responds after a few seconds, taking his gaze off his brothers to the greaser next to him. The smirk the other gave him made Darry nervous. Dally was the only one in the gang that knew about his struggles, and passions. He may be a trouble maker, but boy is he good at hiding secrets from those around him. He can be reliable and loyal sometimes, depending on his mood. “You ain’t gonna tell them, right?”

The blonde blows one more puff of smoke in the air, before dropping his cigarette, stomping it into the ground to put it out. “Of course not,” he starts, jamming his hands into his pockets, “unless you want me to?” 

“I’m fine, thanks.” Darry responds instantly, his nails digging into his skin, causing crescent marks to form on his biceps. Dally notices this, and sighs out, realizing he’s going to have to be the wise one. “Well, you gotta tell them at some point, the more you hide it, the more negative responses you’ll get from the gang.” He starts, blue eyes moving to look at the older. “You know how the gang feels about keeping secrets.” 

“I know, I know, I'm just…I don't know.” The oldest starts, trying to ignore the twist of fear in his stomach. It was true, he had to tell them somehow, but he’s been pushing it off. “Well, why don’t you start by telling Pone, and Soda,” Dally softly suggests. It was more of a demand, but everything sounds like a demand coming from Dallas Winston. He pushes himself off the car, walking toward the beat up chainlink fence that had the rest of the group behind it. “And when you do, I can tell the others if that’ll make you feel better,” He turns around to smirk again, continuing on, “now you better get goin’, don’t want ya’ to lose your job already.” 

Clearing his throat, and thinking about the words, Darry also pushes himself off the car. “Come on! We’re leaving!” He yells out, watching his brothers gather their stuff. A large ‘awww’ came from Two-Bit and Steve at the news, sad that they have to quit their roughhousing. Darry opened the door to the front seat, and started the car, waiting for his brothers to follow him into the vehicle. 

While waiting for the slow kids, the older one hears tapping at his window. Turning his head, he sees Dallas Winston tapping his pale, witch like, finger on the glass, obviously trying to get his attention. Darry holds back a smile as he just watches the man tap on the glass. He looked Dally right in the eyes, the tapping getting more aggressive with how annoyed Dally obviously was getting. For a good 15 more seconds, the aggressive tapping on the window, along with the long eye contact continues, leaving fingerprints all over the window. After a few more seconds, Darry rolls down the window.

“Yes?” Darry says nonchalantly, holding back a smile. The angry greaser was quick to respond. “Fuckin’ finally! I was about to break the window, slowest man alive right here.” Dally exclaimed as the other watched with a smirk, and reached for the switch to roll the window back up. “Don’t you dare, Darell!” The man yells, gripping on the window in an attempt to stop the other. The noise of the brothers getting into the car snaps him out of his fit of anger. “Remember, tell them, and send a letter, got it?” he says, trying to whisper it, but the other two obviously heard it. With a nod, Darry rolls up the window, laughing a bit as he hears Dally go ‘man my finger fuckin’ hurts now!’

And with that, the brothers drive off from their house, looking as the others wave at them, Two-Bit even trying to chase the car. The two settle in the back, shifting to get comfortable. They look at each other, before the back of Darry’s head, growing suspicious at the comment Dally “whispered”. The two made eye contact, before smiling, both thinking about the plan they’ll execute in just a few hours. Until then, the two will just have to wait until they get there, and hope their asses don’t ache when they arrive. 

⋆⭒˚.⋆

Taking a step out of the car, and standing on the smooth pavement felt weird to Ponyboy’s tired, and cramped, legs. He was in the middle of stretching when he looked over at his brothers. Darry was getting out of the car, trying to find the owner for orders, while Soda was in shock. Full mouth open, open enough for a fly to dive in and make a home. The middle child greaser did a slow spin, taking everything in. Pony looked up, hand cupped to block out the sunlight, and his eyes widened. The place was like a goddamn mansion! God damn! The building towered over both greasers, making them feel so tiny. The shade protects them from the harsh weather as they stand there. The stones covering the outside of the building made the place look more cozy, but also more rich. The staircase, the bushes, the people! Everything was just so fancy! Way too fancy for just two random greasers. 

“Well damn,” Ponyboy mutters, wondering how the hell his brother even managed to book this gig in the first place. “This place better have a pool, I'm sweating all the pounds off my body here.” The youngest complains, fanning himself for a smidge of cooling. He hoped– no he knew– that the place was going to have some sweet air conditioning.

“I think I see it!” Soda shouts, making Ponyboy turn over to his direction. Among the bright green–almost clearly fake– grass, was a huge lake. People mingled on the huge grassy land. Some are doing exercise, others at the lake in their swimsuits, most standing around chatting –because that’s what rich people do– without a care in the world. A man walked around the paths, shouting through his megaphone all the activities that were going on. “Aw man, this is so cool!” Soda expressed with excitement. 

Ponyboy looked over at the giant castle again, before looking through the crowds of people. One after another, people kept pulling up in their fancy cars, making their car look sad. Young men quickly run up to them, grabbing their bags, before leading them to their room inside the resort. While looking at the people, he saw Darry walking towards them, holding some papers, looking through one, before adjusting his sunglasses and flipping to the other page. The clean pavement made his crappy shoes click like heels. He sighed out, before leaning on the front of the car,

“I got your schedules, come and get ‘em!” Darry says, cutting the two out of their shock. Quickly sorting through the few page stack of papers, Darry handed Soda and Pony their separate papers. “Your work schedules should be on there, and I trust you two can work the same shift with each other,” He says sternly, looking up at his brothers whose faces look like a stereotypical yellow smiley face, they both nod in response. “I also grabbed you one of the activity schedules, just in case any of them interest you.”

Soda flips through his 5 paper stack, before pulling out a laminated paper, moving it between both him and his little brother so they both can read it. “Are you gonna go too Dar?” The middle child asks curiously, only to frown as the elder shakes his head. “Can’t, got a full schedule.” Darry says, holding his paper up in the sky a bit and shaking it so his brothers look at it, before returning it to keep reading. “What are you so busy with?” Soda smirks, leaning into his brother's personal space to try and read his schedule, only for it to be pulled away. “None of your business, now we need to get to the room before we get hollered at.”

⋆⭒˚.⋆

The two didn’t expect to have to work right as they got there, but here they were. They only had time to unpack, and explore the resort, before they had to return to the room and change for their night meeting. It was kind of annoying that they had to have a meeting this late, but it was mandatory training. At least the two brothers had each other, and hopefully that meant they could work together. While yes, they should be listening to Mr Kellerman –their boss– who was telling them what to do, the two just couldn’t focus. Soda couldn’t focus on really anything at all, but Pony was in his head –as usual according to Darry– thinking about where a certain brother in the trio had been all day. He just up and left, only reminding them about the meeting when they left to explore. 

“I shouldn’t have to remind you,” Mr Kellerman says, his voice expressing power and demands, “this is a family place.” He says sternly, so sternly that you’d totally never guess that he wanted this to stay a family place. The man looks at all the waiters in their stupid white suit vests. “That means you keep your fingers out of the water, hair out of the soup…”

 He pauses for a split second to choose his wording, before continuing. “and show the goddamn daughters a good time.” Pony glances up at his brother with a smirk, he could see the playboy side of him silently celebrating. Pony is worried the women will distract him from their original goal while staying here. “All the daughters. Even the dogs.” The bald old man continues to demand towards the young men “Schlepp 'em out to the terrace, show 'em the stars, romance 'em any way you want.”

Before he could finish, Mr Kellerman was cut off by a strong, low voice as someone walked in. “Got that, guys?” The man walked by fully, and it only took both of them a split second to realize that it was their brother! Walking in, and talking like he’s some famous model! He seemed to notice this, and he gently smiles before walking over to them, only to be stopped by Mr Kellerman

“Hey, hold it! Hold it.” He shouts as Darry leans against one of the nice tables next to his brothers. The shorter, older man stopped in front of Darry, looking at him with unamusement, and judgmental eyes. “Well, if it isn't the entertainment staff.” He mocks out, not noticing Darry straighten up. He takes off his sunglasses and looks at his brothers after the comment was made, hoping they didn’t notice what he said. If they did, the questions would never end. 

“Listen, wise ass, you got your own rules.” Mr Kellerman points his finger at the taller, younger man who was hiding his absolute embarrassment over getting scolded in front of his brothers. “Dance with the daughters. Teach 'em the mambo...the cha-cha, anything they pay for. That's it. That's where it ends.” 

The roofer looks over at his brothers, who are in shock. Fuck. They definitely found out. They aren’t THAT stupid. They use their brains only when it’s relating to secrets, and with this fact, Darry knows that he’s in the grave. “No funny business, no conversations, And keep your hands off!” Mr Kellerman adds on, making Darry’s grave final. 

The older man storms off, leaving the room silent. Darry turns towards his brothers, ready to explain what he meant with full honesty –along with a little lying– but his brothers beat him to it. “Darry!?” Ponyboy exclaims, trying to process the information about his brother being a playboy. Pony’s surprise was quickly overrun by Soda’s happiness. “I knew you had it in ya’ Dar!” 

“Listen let me explain-” Darry waves his hands a little in front of him, his cheeks starting to burn. Soda’s shouts about Darry being able to actually please a woman wasn’t helping in the slightest. Ponyboy’s grimacing fills the small section the three of them are talking in. “It was when i was younger and-”

“My older brother is a slut…” Ponyboy grimaces, acting like this is brand new information. Both Darry and Soda pause, before the middle brother bursts out laughing. The older brother just scoffs, putting his fingers up to the bridge of his nose. “Jeez Pone! Pretty harsh!”

“I have two brothers that are sluts…” the blonde mumbles in fear.

“Ponyboy. Stop it.”

“Being a whore runs in the family…..oh god i’m next!”

“Let me explain will ya’!” Darry whisper shouts, the casual conversation of everyone else covering Pony’s worried mumbling. The duo in front of him stand straight, and narrow their attention onto the other, acting like little kindergarten kids getting ready for story time on a rainbow carpet. “When I was younger I was a real playboy, and with this job, I thought a lot of the ladies were nice lookin’. Obviously, I've grown, and I don't do that junk anymore, but everyone here refuses to admit that I've changed.”

“.....once a whore always a-”

“Ponyboy Curtis. I swear to GOD.”

⋆⭒˚.⋆

After the meeting with Mr Kellerman, Darry has been even more absent. While they all were busy with more work, especially since the guests have arrived, Darry has seen to go to an even greater extent to ignore his brothers. They’d see him walking around a few times a day, or sometimes in the cabin, but very quickly he’d leave before they could get a few words in. While Soda was making excuses, Pony was pissed that the man trying to take care of them was fully giving them the cold-shoulder. After about a week, Ponyboy was at his absolute limit tolerating this. He knew Soda was worried, and also a little annoyed by this, but he surely didn’t say anything about it. The two were in the fancy dining area, tasked with placing napkins neatly on the tables. Ponyboy followed his brother with the tub full of high quality cotton napkins that he should feel blessed with touching. The guests will arrive for breakfast in an hour, and they’d have to serve them in their embarrassing, white vest waiter boy uniforms.

“Hand me another one, will ya’?” Soda says, reaching his hand out for his brother, waiting to receive the cloth. Pony grabs the first one he sees, and hands it to his brother without a word. The two walked around the table, placing napkins by every plate, before moving on to the next table. Their dress shoes clicked against the hard wooden floors as they walked.

“It’s annoying, I know it is,” Soda randomly starts softly, making the blonde look up in curiosity. The other greaser took a napkin from his little brother's hand, before continuing. “There’s probably a good reason why Darry is ignoring us.”

With a huff in protest, Pony was quick to answer. “The reason better be real good,” He mutters, following his brother. The duo fall into a comfortable silence. Along with the silence, Ponyboy remembers the words said to his brother last night by Mr Kellerman. ‘Dance with the daughters. Teach 'em the mambo...the cha-cha…’ was his brother really a dancer? It wasn’t like he couldn’t see it, but if it were true, why would he be so determined to keep it from them. 

“Do you remember what Mr Kellerman told Darry last night?” the blonde asks his brother, putting the tub down to straighten a napkin placed down crooked by his brother. With a little ‘mhm!’ from his brother, Pontboy continued. “Do you really think Darry is a dancer?”

Soda straightens up in thought, he tries to wove the facts together, creating a tapestry from the question that made a lot of sense. “Ya’ know, I see it, I mean, him and mom used to dance all the time.” he confirmed, nodding, adding on to his last sentence. “Either way, I don't care what he does, as long as he stops ignoring us, and he’s getting treated nicely, I don't care what his job is.”

“Yeah, me too-”

“You boys! Get over here!” Mr Kellerman shouts his demand to the two boys, pointing at them, before motioning for them to quickly come over to him. The two looked at each other with wide eyes. They were probably going to get yelled at, both knew they probably were. Soda’s loud, audible gulp made Pony start giggling, only locking in when they walked up to Mr Kellerman.

Soda and Ponyboy stood straighter than a line in front of their boss, eyebrows furrowed in worry that they did something wrong again. “You two aren’t scheduled for tonight, we need you to help with the dance this evening, the other two called out sick.” Mr Kellerman explains, “You two will take their spots, got that?” 

“Yes sir!” Both greasers quickly said without thinking, releasing the breaths that they didn’t even know they were holding when the much older man leaves. Both whine out over the idea of having to host late at night. “Great, now we have to miss bingo!” Soda whines out dramatically, putting his head in his hands, making Pony roll his eyes. “Bingo is next Wednesday.” he quickly reassures the other, making the other celebrate. “Thank God!”

⋆⭒˚.⋆

Ponyboy lifts his older brother’s duffel bag on the bed with determination, before unzipping it. He moved his hands through neatly packed clothes, trying to find something suspicious that could be used as evidence towards his theory. He felt like a cop looking through bags for pot, or something like that. There was Darry’s regular stuff in the bag. His clothes –which were quite average as usual– and some other stuff he brung for entertainment. The blonde sighed out, and sat down on the bed, laying down and looking through the screen windows. The two brothers only had very little time to investigate their brother's luggage before he came back, and so far they’ve found nothing at all. 

The room they  were staying in wasn’t extremely nice, but it was still something. All of the staff stayed here, and man, it was annoying some nights. The wooden planks were loud, the screen windows were annoying sometimes, and Darry returning to the room late at night was suspicious. The cabin was fairly big, being filled mostly by the two beds, and dresser they were given. Clothes were scattered around the place, somehow, they’ve only been here for 3 days. The clothing was flung on the ground and on chairs. They were going to get chewed out if they didn’t clean soon, but the humid weather seeping through the windows made Ponyboy want to stick to the bed. 

With a sigh, the younger got up, and turned to his brother. “Found anything yet?” He asked, getting up to start picking up scattered stuff on the ground. Crouching down was more difficult with the heat, man who knew it got so hot near golden hour. Pony looked out one of the screen windows, hoping to catch the sunset soon before they had to go to work. 

“Nope not yet, Dar should be here soon,” Soda says, closing the drawers he was looking in. He stood up with his solid posture, and walked towards the other, following his actions of picking up the nasty pieces of fabric. “Maybe then would be a good time to ask him about what’s happening?” 

Ponyboy nods with furrowed, sanguine filled brows. He started picking up stuff faster, throwing them in the laundry bin, before going to rearrange the bathroom. Soda, as wacky as ever, tried to throw the clothes in the laundry basket like he was playing basketball. As Pony worked to turn the chaotic bathroom into composure, he’d smile every so often when he hears Soda cheering ‘He shoots! And he scores! All the ladies are cheering’ 

“Holy Shit!” Soda yells out, making Ponyboy quickly shoot his head out the doorway of the bathroom with a perplexed expression. The middle brother looks up with a huge grin, almost like his favorite celebrity asked him out on a date. “Pony! Look! Your theory wasn’t wrong!” He says, walking up to his brother with a pair of fancy looking shoes.

Pony reaches his hands out to take them, and looks at the fancy leather shoes once they are placed in his palms. “What’s so special about these?” the boy asks, looking at the heel of the fancy shoes. Looking all over, the shoes looked familiar, and they were fancy, but way too big for anyone but Darry- “Holy. Shit.” Ponyboy gasps, recognizing the shoes instantly now. They were Darry’s old dancing shoes from when he did dancing lessons with his mom, he remembers seeing these all the time, and it felt wrong touching them. 

Right at that moment, the screen door opens, then quickly flies forward to slam against the door frame. The two shoot their vision over to who entered their domain, only to see their taller brother. “What are you two doing?” He asks untroubled, going to his duffel bag –he didn’t remember putting it on the bed, that’s extremely suspicious–. He looks under the bed, only to find what he was looking for to be missing like it wasn’t there at all. 

“Oh, nothing, just cleaning.” Soda says unfazed, only for his eyes to quickly widen. He glances at his brother, then the shoes, then his brother. ‘He’s looking for those!’ Soda mouths towards Ponyboy, but he is met with a confused face looking up at him. He points towards the fancy dance shoes Pony is holding, then urgently at Darry, who’s back was facing them. 

Quickly, gaps were filled in Ponyboy’s brain, and he looked around urgently. He doesn’t know if he should hide the shoes, drop them, throw them at Darry, or wear them! Before he can decide, Darry’s cold blue eyes painted with harsh grey were looking at both of them. “I was looking for those,” Darry quickly says, walking up to them within 3 steps max, and trying to snatch them from Pony’s grubby hands. 

“Oh really? What a coincidence..haha…” Soda nervously laughs, being suspicious as ever. One thing you’ll learn quickly is that you can’t trust Soda with secrets, he’ll end up slipping them, or acting so suspicious that you'll regret ever sharing anything with him. “Well why do you need 'em’?” Pony says sternly, pulling the shoes away behind him as his older brother tries to grab them. 

“Ponyboy I don’t,” Darry sighs out, pinching the bridge of his nose out of annoyance. The younger stays locked in place, his mind zeroed in on only getting the answer he wants. “I need them for work, it starts soon, so please just hand ‘em over, will ya’?” He says with a grumble of annoyance in his voice. He tries to reach behind Ponyboy’s back, but the blonde moves faster out of the way.

“What’s your job?” Pony questions, running across the room with the fancy shoes in hand. The other two brothers stand in their original positions, before the eldest moves quickly towards his younger brother. “I can’t tell you, now give me the shoes.” The tall greaser says sternly, ignoring how Soda is trying to separate them, and calm the situation down. 

Not thinking, the younger greaser blurts. “Are you a dancer?” he yells the question out, noticing Darry’s eyes widen, before slanting with his eyebrows furrowing. “Of course not!” he yells out, trying to snatch the shoes once again, watching tiredly as his brother moves his hand at the last minute. 

“Soda! Catch!” the young greaser yells out, tossing one black dance shoe over Darry’s head, making him crouch a bit. He hears it hit the ground with a small click-clack sound. Ponyboy doesn’t know where it landed, but when he looks over his brother's shoulder, he sees Soda holding one of the shoes. 

Deciding to do it twice the charm, Ponyboy shouts out again. “Soda!” He yells, loud enough for the workers outside hanging out to hear the commotion. He attempts to throw the shoe like a football, only for it to backfire and hit Darry right in the head. “God damnit!” The eldest greaser hisses in pain. Gripping his forehead with his torn up and old looking hand.

“Are you alright, Dar’?” Soda runs over with concern, grabbing Darry’s shoulder to move him. Pony stood there, stomach filling with guilt. He knew Darry commonly suffered from dreadful migraines, and he knew this would worsen it times one billion percent. Those shoes were not soft in the slightest. “I’m sorry, Darry.”

With a soft grunt, the injured man grabs the shoes harshly from the middle brother out of the three. “It’s alright, just don’t pull that crap again, you got it?” He says instantly, falling back to the typical stern, parent like Darry that possessed his thinking all the time as of the past 2 years. He walks towards the door with his shoes dangling from his fingers. He opens the screen door, the old door screeching out as he opens it. Before he leaves, he turns around to face his brothers. “Ponyboy, we need to practice your throwing skills, that sucked,” he pauses for a moment, looking at the ground, trying to find positive words to follow up his playful ones.. “Also, thanks for cleaning the place.” 

“No problem!” Both Ponyboy, and Soda cheer out, smiling at Darry, giving him a thumbs up. The older man smiled lightly, snickering a bit, before leaving. 

Pony quickly turns to Soda. “Add one tally mark for each of us on the ‘Darry laugh board’?” He questions, to which Soda quickly nods his head in response. “Ya’ know it! Man, Dally’s gonna lose his spot in 1st place soon!” 

⋆⭒˚.⋆

“Comin’ through, Pone!” Soda shouts a warning, carrying a tray of food to replace the now empty horderves tray. Pony quickly moves out of the way, watching as his brother bumps into another waiter and almost spills the food, but he catches it, causing some young ladies to softly clap at his close call. He smirks towards them, quickly placing –and abandoning– the horderves for the ladies. Hoes come before snacks I guess. That was a little mean to call them that. Pony quickly apologizes inside his head, before taking over soda’s now neglected duty.

Standing next to them, the little greaser lifts the metal cover over the tray, watching steam come out from the freshly made food. He quickly moves to the other side of the table, bending over to fix the nametag with the fancy food labeled on it with fancy cursive he didn’t care to try and understand. Moving to the other side of the table, next to his flirtatious brother, Ponyboy finally takes a nice breath once he sets down the metal cover next to the many others they had.

Looking around, the place was darkly lit by chandeliers with lights that take the shape similar to tulip flowers, the stage’s spotlight lighting most of the room. The live band playing wasn’t bad, hell Pony was tapping his foot to some of the songs. People around them danced formally, mostly young and older couples occupying the floor with their slow dancing. The wooden floor under them was slippery under their fancy shoes, he’s surprised nobody has fallen yet. Once the song finishes, everyone–who were packed in like sardines in a tin– clapped, dropping their dancing for just a minute. That’s when people started opening up on the dance floor. Suddenly, loud music starts playing, as everyone looks over at the dance floor with curiosity. 

Music that’s a mix of mambo, and salsa fills everyone's ears, and pony can see two figures dancing with each other. One being a blonde haired woman in a nice pinkish, red dress that flows well when she moves. The other was a taller male with brown hair falling in his face, a sharp jawline, and an athletic build. The man almost looked like Darry- “Holy Shit!” Pony mumbles in shock as the evidence all slides together nicely like a puzzle. Clues had been appearing for weeks like loose tiles; today, he finally saw the image they formed. Begging to prove his ongoing theory about his brother, Pony quickly grabs Soda’s arm, dragging him away from the ladies to get a better view of the dancing.

Neglecting their jobs, Pony guides a confused Soda through the crowd, both mumbling quick ‘sorry’ and ‘pardon me’ as they both shove people aside to push through the crowded dance floor. Pony, determined as ever, makes it to the front, eyes only focusing on the male dancer. The blonde’s green eyes widened in disbelief as he realized that he was correct. All the pieces and evidence fit together like a perfect art piece, he just needed to see it in person for the evidence to have proof. He really was like Sherlock! He stares in shock as his brother, the stone cold, always serious, strict, Darry stands in front of them. A genuine smile was on his face as he danced around with the random blonde woman. He looks younger without all the weight of the struggles put on him on his shoulders. He looked genuinely happy, and that made Ponyboy relax, knowing that the old Darry was still in there. 

Soda looks around confused, noticing his brother's shock, “Pony? What’s wrong?” He says with concern. Pony, with his mouth so wide open that a fly could easily fly in, points at the dancers in front of them. Soda’s head follows the arm pointing, and squints his eyes. There was nothing except the lady dancer, along with Darry- Darry!? “Oh my god!” he says in shock, his mouth twice as dropped at Ponyboy’s.

The brothers watched Darry on the wooden, and slick, dance floor. He was gliding across the room with his partner smoothly, like a professional. The woman’s blonde hair swooshed around as the roofer guided her with stiff shoulders and counted steps. The music rumbled through the ground, but that did affect the dancers. Not a smidge of fear were in their forms, nor their faces. Only determination and sweat was present on them as Darry dipped the blonde, and they continued to dance to the salsa music. The dance was fiery, and calculated, not like a robot, but like someone full of absolute passion for their craft. 

“He’s good,” Ponyboy says to himself, still recovering from the shock he got earlier. As the two dancers split to dance with the patrons, Pony and Soda kept their eyes on Darry, almost like protective parents watching their kid at the park. “He’s really good.” Soda adds happily, proud like a mother. The two watched closely, admiring the figure on the dance floor, knowing that the person dancing was their brother. The person out there entertaining people, and feeling so alive, was their brother, and they were so happy to see him smile. 

The greasers were in a trance watching the dancing happen, it was so hypnotizing, their eyes must be spiraling right now! Before that could sadly happen to their eyes, someone was behind them talking to them. “Sodapop! Ponyboy! You gotta get back to work!” the other server said, making the other two sigh out in sync, both whining out ‘fineeee’ in disappointment.

“Come on, Pone, let's go,” Soda says, walking through the crowd again. Pony was about to follow, but he couldn’t without a couple more seconds of watching. Darry, with his ungreased hair, was dancing with one of the many rich girls that were watching in the crowd. She was obviously blushing as he spun her around to the music. He looked up at the group with his grey eyes, the hardness had softened visibly in his eyes. With a smile he was about to continue, until his gaze met Ponyboy’s. He halted for a moment, eyes widened as he looked at his brother watching him. The blonde greaser felt the anxiety radiating off his older brother once their gazes collided and met. 

“Ponyboy! Come on, get to work!” The waiter from before yelled, and Ponyboy took that as his sign to leave, disappearing into the crowd, away from Darry. 

⋆⭒˚.⋆

‘Why were they here?!’ Darry thought in a panic, anxiety spreading from his stomach to his throat. He was struggling to breath, still processing what happened a few minutes ago. After they finished, Darry didn’t hesitate to run to the changing rooms, needing time to himself. How long were they waiting there, staring at him? They weren’t supposed to be working! They weren’t supposed to know he danced, at least not now. What did they think of him? Darry bit his fingernail, pacing around the room with new scenarios bolting through his head like lightning. What did Ponyboy’s expression mean? Was it judgement? Why did he ever have to listen to Dally, he wasn’t ever going to tell them, he knew it, but they had to figure it out sometime, right?  What were they going to do with the information? He knew his brothers didn’t mean harm, but the idea still picked at him like he was a scab. 

“Maybe some fresh air would help,” he mumbles to himself with a nod, trying to control the tightness in his chest. He walks to the door of the dressing room, and to the back exit of the building. The cold summer air hit his face, causing him to relax for a moment. The trees dancing, and leaves shaking filled his ears, along with the loud cicadas. He urgently shot to the side of the building, knowing other employees could open the door any minute and see him panicking. He didn’t have a good reputation here because of rumors, so they’d probably spread the word about him panicking over such a small thing. 

Now successfully in the shadows of the building, Darry continued to pace around back and forth, biting his nail. Where were his brothers? Still inside probably, hopefully they weren’t getting chewed out by Mr Kellerman like he always does. The idea of his brothers getting in trouble because of him made his heart sink. He knew he shouldn’t have brung them. Not only would they be treated differently because they were related to the head of the entertainment staff, but also they now know his secret. The thing that scares him the most is the fact that Darry doesn’t know what his brothers will do with it. They could do anything, and he usually could tell what they’d do, but panic was fogging his brian into worst case scenarios, along with unclear thinking,

The greaser lost track of how long he was outside for. His shift was over, all he needed to do was the performance, and that was it, but his body didn’t allow him to leave the spot where he stood. Bushes surrounded the building, and the fact that this felt like the start to a shitty horror movie made Darry a little worried. A serial killer could just pop out and kill him like those chicks who go to makeout in the woods all alone. Oh boy he was in trouble, he needed to leave before he became the first victim. He can’t die first! His death should be good at least! He needed to be a liked character, or at least a character with a few lines!

Darry’s attention turned towards the bushes that suddenly started rustling together, the movements  being too quick for just a simple breeze to move them. Quiet recognizable voices could be heard from the other side. Oh fuck no. Darry turns to quickly leave before he gets murdered, his fancy dancing shoes clicking against the concrete as he quickly walks away from the imaginary serial killer. Instead of doing the smart thing and leaving, Darry went to the end of the line of tall bushes, peaking over the wall –like a creep– to see who was there. Only to see the only two people he didn’t want to see right now. Ponyboy and Soda.

“Did you see him!?” Soda shouts quietly, stepping in a circle as he pushes his hair back in amazement, showing off his forehead to the world. Pony, who was just as impressed, also nodded. “How’d he even manage to do that without fucking up!?” The middle child continues to gush on and on, trying to imitate the dance moves he saw. 

Darry, who was still creeping behind the bush, pieced it together that they were talking about him. He couldn’t help but lean in more into the tall bush, trying to hide himself while listening closer to what his brothers had to say about him. “It was really impressive! Although,” Ponyboy starts, but pauses before looking at the fancy concrete tiles they were standing on. “I wonder why he didn’t tell us earlier, I would have enjoyed seeing some of his performances.” 

“Me too, kid.” The other greaser replies, grabbing the others shoulder gently for support, before flashing a small, yet comforting smile. “I bet he had his reasons, and I don't think he intended to hurt our feelings, got it?” Soda says, nodding at the end of his sentence, and shaking Pony’s shoulder a bit. The younger nodded with a smile, signalling that he was feeling better. 

With a contempt sigh, Darry smiles to himself, and pushes himself off of the bush, getting ready to head out as his brothers start expressing their joys again. The voice of his younger brother made him stop in his tracks. “Soda, don’t it feel like someone’s watching us?” He questioned the other with an unsure expression, looking around to find anyone. Shit. That was his cue to leave, wasn’t it. 

“Maybe, it’s a serial killer?” Soda instantly says, nervousness in his voice. I guess they all think the same thing when out in the dark. Darry couldn’t help but smirk at the idea that popped up in his brain. He peeked over the bush wall again, staying hidden, but intending to scare his brothers. “Don’t say that Soda!” Pony replies, his voice obviously going up an octave with distress. “I can’t die yet! I haven’t had any screentime!” 

Soda grabs Ponyboy’s shoulders, looking him in the eyes. “We are so dead! Earlier I heard someone walking on the other side of the bush! Maybe that was the murder?” The greaser says in panic, shaking his brother until his brain was mush, and his head hurt. “What would Darry think if we got murdered!? That’s against his rules!”

“Soda, you think a fancy place like this would have a serial killer roaming around?- hold it.” Ponyboy states, but is cut off when he lays eyes on Darry’s shadow creeping over the wall of bush. He freezes, green eyes staring at the shadow that has been watching them for who the hell knows how long. “Ponyboy?” Soda questions, following the gaze of his younger brother, only to also freeze.

Darry holds back a fit of laughter when both of his brothers freeze, eyes wide like they saw a ghost. He doesn’t move in the slightest, only until he hears Ponyboy’s plan. “Soda. Shoes. Now” The blonde says, holding an arm out for the shoes, not taking his shoes off the shadow. “What are you planning on doing with them? You heard Darry earlier, your aim sucks!” He yells in fear, taking his shoes off anyway to hand them to his brother. 

“Trust me, I know what I'm doing.” Ponyboy mutters, deep in concentration as he steps closer to the figure, leaving his, now, shoeless brother. He grips the shoe like a football, and throws it with all of his strength, only for it to miss horribly. Darry looks down at the shoe, then back at his brother. Disappointment was clear on his face, but they couldn’t see it from the lighting. “Second time's a charm?” Pony questions to himself, gripping the other leather shoe and throwing it, only for it to hit Darry straight in the forehead, where the other shoe from earlier hit his forehead. 

“Ow!- fuck!” The eldest greaser says out in pain, stepping out from the shadows while holding his forehead to soothe the pain. He holds his hand up in surrender, but that sign doesn’t reach his two brothers. “Ponyboy! Throw your shoes!” Soda screams out as Pony backs away from the older man. He lifts his leg quickly, hopping in place to balance himself when he takes off his shoe. Before Darry could say anything, another shoe was full force thrown at him. Lucky enough he ducks in time.

With one last shoe, and one last shot, Ponyboy takes a deep breath, and chucks the shoe with determination to protect his brother. Only for it to, again, fail miserably. “Stop chucking your damn shoes at me!” Darry yells in protest, making the other two freeze in place. Pony turns his head to Soda, mouthing an ‘ooooooh fuck’, knowing how much trouble they’re in. “Finally, god damn that hurt!”

After a minute, Darry collects the scattered shoes, before walking over, his shoes clicking with the beat of his steps. He hands them over, and leans into the wall of bushes as he watches his brothers shamefully put their shoes on. Did getting hit in the head, and attacked by shoes fun? Nope. not in the slightest. Was it worth it though? Yes it was, because he gets to smile as his brothers look at each other nervously, which quickly turns to excitement as they remember the secret abilities their older brother possesses. The two of them stare at him with stars in their eyes, curiosity painted on their faces. 

Darry, who was still trying to soothe his injury, stops when he realizes their staring. He turns to them, and cocks an eyebrow. “What?” He questions, genuinely forgetting everything that happened before this. Great, now he has memory loss! “Why are you staring at me like that?”

“What do you mean ‘what’!? You were amazing out there!” Soda expresses, feeling like he’s reliving the moment when he remembers his brother dancing. Pony nods along, before commenting, “I didn’t know it was possible for you to do that, it was impressive.” 

Darry clears his throat, hiding his embarrassment from all the compliments they are feeding him. He scratches the back of his neck, trying to act all nonchalant like usual, only for the comments to get fully to his head. “Really? I would have done better if I knew you two would be there to watch.” he says small to himself. Before the flattering feelings fully get to him, Darry instantly turns to them. “And why were you boys there?”

“We got scheduled to work, it was a last minute decision by Mr Kellerman,” Ponyboy states, putting his hands in his pockets, and kicking the ground. “And aren't we glad we took it!" Soda suddenly chimes in, wrapping an arm around Ponyboy and pulling him closer.

“Of course he did.” The eldest greaser scolds, folding his arms. The man may own this whole successful resort, but he really needs to plan things. He's always so sudden with plans, especially with the entertainment staff. 

Soda laughs a bit, before playing with a piece of Darry’s ungreased hair. He looks at it like it's a foreign thing. “Your hair looks so weird like this,” Soda starts, picking at it like he's a child picking at their leftover vegetables. “It's fluffy, but you aren't gonna keep it like this are ya’?” 

“No, of course not.” Darry rolls his eyes, but smiles. He shoo’s Soda’s hand away from his ungreased hair, before turning to Ponyboy. He's been awfully quiet as of now, it was suspicious. Darry could instantly clock that he was deep in thought. Of course he did, it's the only time he used his head. "Come on, out with it, I know you wanna say something.”

Ponyboy’s head shoots up towards his brother. He starts playing with his fingers, trying to find the proper wording for what he wants to say. “You do dance lessons, right?” he says quietly, twirling his thumbs, avoiding eye contact with his older brother. Once he hears the hesitant ‘mhm?’ from his older brother, it all slips out. “Can you teach us how to dance? Pretty please!”

This left both greaser brothers in shock. Darry stared at Ponyboy, processing his words with wide eyes. His brother? Want to dance? Never once would he ever think he'd hear these words. ‘Why would he even want to dance?’ Darry asks himself. Soda nods his head, turning to Darry. “Yeah! That's a great idea! I wanna dance!” he cheers out, ignoring Darry’s shock. 

The older man started shaking his head, getting ready to give them a ‘no chance on earth!’ but he couldn't. He really wanted his brothers to be happy, and if this is what they wanted, then he'll teach them. Honestly, Darry was a little excited even, which was a rare feeling to experience for him. With a sigh, he unfolds his arms, and straightens up. “If that's what you want, then I can teach you,” he starts, continuing before his brothers can fully celebrate. “But, don't expect me to be nice towards you, got that?” The two nod rapidly, making the older chuckle out. “Now, let's go, it's late.” he says, walking ahead of the two, expecting the two to follow him, but they decide to celebrate.

“So, I guess we solved the mystery. He's a dancer.” Ponyboy says proudly, almost falling forward when Soda aggressively, but playfully, wraps his arm around Ponyboy’s shoulder. “And a damn good one at that!” Soda adds, cheering before walking with his arm wrapped around Ponyboy's shoulders still. 

“Points for team Sherlock!” Soda cheers as he walks. 

⋆⭒˚.⋆

Dancing was a lot more tolling than the brothers thought. Soda was sitting on the ground, tapping his hands on his worn down shoes to the rhythm of the song playing. Ponyboy, on the other hand, was getting quite irritated at his older brother. Since he was so desperate to learn, Darry made him go first. They thought it would be fun, but everyone in the room can sense the tense presence in the room. These weren’t just dance lessons with their brother, they were dance lessons with a professional, picking apart every mistake and making it haunt you forever until you fix it. 

Darry would stop every second, getting irritated at the mistakes Ponyboy was making. Everything he did just seemed to be wrong according to his older brother, and it was pissing him off. ‘Fix this!’ ‘Fix that!’ Pony didn’t know how much longer he could take it. Soda could sense the irritation from both of them, but he didn’t know if he should intervene. Darry was looking down at his brother, right into his green eyes, and counting the beats. The counting hasn’t made it far because of said mistakes, from Pony not looking into his brothers grey, rough eyes, to him accidentally stepping on his foot, he just kept fucking up. 

“One, two, three,” Darry counted, holding his younger brother's loose hands roughly in his own, stepping to his counting as the music played. The two pause as Darry counts in his head, before Ponyboy tries to step on a beat, making him stop, “Don’t step on one.” He corrects with a huff, his brows furrowed in frustration.

The two continue to dance, Darry making a few corrections on the way. Making Ponyboy stand straight, making his grip harder onto Darry’s hand, and making sure they look at each other. Honestly, it was more than uncomfortable every time he had to look in his brother's eyes for more than a few seconds. Ponyboy looked up, humming to the counting his brother was doing. Right on cue, he moves his right foot in front of him, his brother’s bigger foot moving back with it. He finally counted correctly! “Good job, Pone!” Soda cheers, wiping the sweat off his forehead from his previous dance session. 

“Don’t put your heel down,” Darry says, continuing to dance as he twirls them around. It was more forceful than he meant, but that didn’t matter. When the blonde greaser recovers from the twirl, he sets his heel down, accidentally ignoring Darry’s commands. “Don’t put your heel down!” The older instantly snaps, causing the frustration inside of the youngest to rise more, the urge to fight back is taking over. 

“I didn’t!” Ponyboy exclaimed, letting go of Darry’s hands to stop the dancing. He huffs out, glaring at his older brother in front of him, who was glaring back. Soda could sense an argument arising. He swallowed nervously, and got up, not wanting to pick sides again. It’s been a while since the two brothers had an argument, but the tension that grew every time wasn’t rusty at all, they all knew what would happen. “Just listen to me!” The roofer shouts, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Ponyboy steps back slightly at the shout, only to quickly come back to attack. “You’re being too picky!” he shouts, throwing his hands up in the air in annoyance. Soda gets in between them briefly before anything worse is said, or done. Before Soda could help settle them down, Pony is back at it with another shout, “You’re expecting me to be perfect on my first time dancing? ‘Straighten your posture! Listen to me! Don’t put your heel down, Ponyboy! You can’t have noodle arms!’ Well I'm trying to listen to you! But you’re being demanding as usual!”

“Ponyboy, calm down,” Soda starts softly as if Pony would snap at him too, putting his hands on his younger brother's shoulders, just in case, you’ll never know when he’s going to strike. Darry walks to the record player, taking out the vinyl as his brother continues to complain. “Well, you did say you wanted to learn to dance.” He says roughly, done with this argument. 

“Oh, yes, in fact, I do. We’ve only been practicing for 2 days! You refuse to show me lifts, I'm not sure about any of this! And I'm doing this to support your ass! But, what I really want to do right now is drop you on it!” Ponyboy yells out towards his brother who’s back was towards him. He didn’t think through any of his words, as usual, and the feeling of guilt was slowly being injected in him as his older brother stood silently.

The sudden slam of the record player cover made both younger greasers jump, Soda’s head turning towards his other brother, trying to also comfort him at the same time. “Then, let’s get out of here.” Darry says, walking over to his jacket to put it on. Ponyboy crosses his arms, face still tightened up with annoyance. “Come on.” He says, doing a movement to tell his brothers to follow him. And hesitantly, the two do.

⋆⭒˚.⋆

The three of them journey through the hard rain pouring down on them. The droplets were hitting them hard, like they'd personally attacked them. Darry’s steps were determined, and quick, wanting to get to the car as soon as possible. He ignored how all of his clothes were getting soaked. Ponyboy held his flannel over his head to cover his well kept hair, although it did very little to save him from the rain. Soda was trying to rush up to Darry, slipping in the rain every now and then. Darry felt partly bad because, not only were his brothers soaking wet, they’d probably get colds as well. Walking up to the car, the eldest fiddled a bit with the keys, before quickly rushing his brothers into the leather seats. 

Walking around to the driver's seat, Darry gets in and instantly turns on the car, tapping the steering wheel nervously as he listens to the rain. He’s never been good with rain, because with rain comes thunder, and Darry hated thunder more than anything in the world. He didn’t say a word about where they’re going, and he didn’t intend to. “I didn’t think you seriously meant we were getting out of here,” Soda comments, watching the rain drops race down the windows as they drive. Ponyboy, in the backseat, looked at his older brother through the mirror. The annoyance that just painted his face was suddenly gone, that was a good sign. 

“Where are you even taking us?” Pony mumbles, wrapping himself in his flannel as he waits for a response. The environment around them quickly turned into a forest, trees surrounding them as they drove on a path through the woods. The lack of answer was making Ponyboy suspicious. “Are you gonna kill us?”

With a smile at the previous comment, Darry shook his head, before responding. “No, I'm not gonna murder you,” he starts, focusing on driving. The nervous tapping on the wheel slowly came to a stop as the rain cleared up quickly. “Just taking you to a place I enjoy.”

Soda turns to look at Ponyboy in the backseat, he smiles and gives a thumbs up to his younger brother. It was rare that Darry shares stuff he likes, he’s always so reserved. He listens to Ponyboy, and Soda when they rant about whatever the hell was on their minds, even if he wasn’t interested. But he’s never been one to share himself. Even when the group drags him to a drive-in movie, he doesn’t have much input on the movie itself. Hell, he didn’t even tell them he liked dancing until they had to figure it out themselves. The two were glad he was taking them to a place he enjoyed, even if they felt like this was a start to a horror movie. 

The car stopped in front of a little path. Darry starts to get out of the car, taking off his jacket once he’s met with the humid, and moist, summer air. Pony and Soda quickly follow him out of the car. The scenery around them was relaxing, and calm. Trees around them, birds chirping and flying above them. The branches and leaves of the trees drop left over raindrops from the storm. The two stop behind Darry, peaking over his shoulders at what was in front of him. There was a river flowing, it even had a mini waterfall. Rocks were placed in the water, and made the water crash once they met. There was a giant knocked over tree going over the river, wide enough for someone to stand on. Taking off his shoes, and socks, that’s what Darry does. 

He steps up on the log with his arms out, trying to maintain balance. The rough bark connected with his feet, making him feel more in place. He turns towards his brothers, before sitting down on the damp log. The two don’t dare to go on it, fearing they’d fall off and get swooped away by the water. “Hey, Dar?” Ponyboy starts, standing by the log, looking at his older brother. “When did you get into dancing?” 

“Well,” he starts, trying to remember when this passion sparked into a fire inside of him. He remembers back to childhood, and taking lessons with his mom. “It started with mom. There were these free mother and son dance lessons she wanted to try out. She decided to bring me because I was old enough to actually comprehend what they were saying. The class taught us a whole bunch of different dances, and after we kept going. I eventually found this job in high school when hanging out with, well you know who, and I decided it’d be fun.” 

The two nodded along as he explained, before Darry got up to balance on the log. He stood in a stance that made him go slightly on one knee. He smiles, and points at Soda. “What?” the middle greaser says, pointing at himself as if there was another person he could be pointing at. His eyes widen as Darry’s pointing finger turns into a motion to tell him to get on the log. He quickly shakes his head, “No way, Dar.”

“You haven’t had a chance to dance today yet,” He smirks, eyes full of mischief. Darry moves closer to the end of the log, grabbing Soda’s arms to lift him onto the log. The middle brother quickly shoots his vision down to look at the drop, he swallows anxiously. “Don’t look down, only up, you’ll get it.” 

Soda puts his hand on Darry’s shoulder, and grips tightly onto his hand with the other. The roofer starts moving back, Soda quickly following him. His legs shake as he catches a glimpse of the drop again. Swallowing, he grips harder on Darry’s shoulder. He knew that his brother wouldn’t let him fall, but the fear still lived in him. He trips over his feet a few times. But Darry was there to catch him, making it easier to dance. 

 “I’m gonna let go, alright?” The roofer says, slowly letting go of Soda, and stepping back. The greaser stands stiffly, expecting to immediately fall once his brother lets go. He carefully takes a step back, balancing nicely, quickly getting comfortable with the space he was dancing on. The two dance on the log happily, any fear from before now vanished as they both balance well on the tree. Eventually, Soda stops using Darry as a support, and starts doing his own dances in the limited space they had. He laughs, before almost losing his balance. Catching himself, he turns to Ponyboy, who was staring at them.

Green eyes widen as he realizes what Soda’s doing. “Hell no.” He says, shaking his head. Soda reaches out his hand towards his kid brother, Darry behind him with a small smile. “Come on, Pony! It’s your time.” Soda smirks out, laughing a bit as his brother refuses. The middle brother grabs the other's arm, and drags him onto the log anyway. Pony clings onto the log with his hands like a scared cat, making the other two laugh. 

“Hold on, let me help.” Darry says, moving past his other brother to reach his youngest brother. Ponyboy’s head has never shaken faster than in this moment. He stares at the strong hand in front of him with nervousness. He huffs, and takes it, trusting his brother as he lifts him up to his feet onto the log. He looks at his feet placement, then up at his brother. “I wanted to learn lifts, not risk getting a concussion.” 

“I’ll teach you lifts if you trust me.” The roofer says, making Ponyboy rethink his fear. He nods as his brother guides him across the log. Soda was already dancing on his own, as Darry helps Pony balance. The blonde's eyes look down for a moment, before back up at his brother guiding him. Eventually, he lets go, and starts dancing on his own with a smile. “See you got it!”

The three of them start dancing together on the log, ignoring everything around them, occasionally holding their arms out to catch their balance again. Soda smirks as he decides to jump on the log, but once his feet land back on the log, they slip off. “Oh Fuck!” Soda yells as he falls off the log, and into the water below them. Darry instantly stops what he was doing to look  down at his brother. 

“Soda! You alright?” Ponyboy yells, crouching down on the wood to get closer to his brother, Darry’s arm in front of him to prevent him from also falling. The brown haired greaser quickly looks up with a smile, and blood gushing from his nose. “I’m alright!- ouch!-” he hisses out, rubbing his jaw to soothe the pain radiating. 

Looking around, Ponyboy quickly shouts back, “Hold on! I’ll grab a stick you can grab onto!” he shoots up, trying to balance while he walks to the nearest stick that was suitable enough to save his brother. “Got one!” He yells as he jumps to grab it, Darry behind him to guard him so he doesn’t fall. The idea was totally stupid, idiotic even, but Darry lets them have their fun. 

“You…help him up, I guess, I'll get some tissues from the car.” Darry orders his younger brother, before running off the wooden beam, and to their beat up car. He looks back to make sure Ponyboy is safe, before opening the car door. He looks in every nook and crevice of the car for any napkins. He really needs to clean his car, it’s a mess. Maybe he can make his brothers do it, that’d be nice. Finally striking gold, and finding leftover napkins from whatever fast food joint, Darry quickly runs back over to his brothers.

Upon arriving back, he sees Pony reaching the branch down towards his brother, leaning over with his tongue out in focus. Soda jumps up to grab it, only to miss and slip in the water. With a small laugh, Darry interrupts them, “he can just climb up right there-” he says, pointing to the small part of the mud wall. The two brothers freeze, before Pony throws the stick in the water, and Soda sloshes through the water to the mud wall. He easily walks up it, quickly speeding towards where his other two brothers are. 

“Come here,” Darry mumbles in concern, grabbing Soda’s jaw to look at his nose. Turning his head in many different directions, he declares that it’s not broken, just bleeding a lot. “Here, let me help.” the roofer says, still holding the middle child's jaw. He rips a solid chunk out of the napkin, before shaping it, and shoving it up his brother's nose with no hesitation. This causes Soda to start laughing at the feeling, moving too much for Darry to wipe the leftover crimson blood away.

“Quit moving so much, will you?” Darry says sternly, wiping the napkin across his brother's upper lip, painting the tan napkin with red. Once finished, he takes one more quick look at his work, before balling up the napkin, and stuffing it into his pocket. “That’s gross.” Ponyboy comments at Darry’s action with the napkin. The eldest rolls his eyes, before saying, “do you want to learn lifts or not.”

⋆⭒˚.⋆

The three journeyed through the woods, quickly being met with a wide field full of tallgrass plants. Walking through the field, they stepped through the plants, ignoring the crunching noise they made when their shoes made contact with it. Cicadas buzzed loudly, as Soda fanned himself with his hand. The feeling of the plants brushing against Ponyboy’s legs made him jump a bit, thinking there was a bug on him. He grimaced at the possibility of bugs being present, thinking about them crawling on his skin. He cringed in fear at the idea, quickly upping his pace to be closer to his older brother. Darry looked at the cloudy sky, and sighed. They better hurry up before another storm arrives, he can’t have all three of them be sick at once. Pushing the plants aside, he decides that they were at a good area to start practicing lifts.

Stopping, Darry turns to his brothers. “Alright, let’s start.” He states, stepping backwards away from his brothers for distance. He gazes at his middle kid brother, fearing that he feels left out. This was supposed to be a full ‘brother bonding’ experience, or whatever. But now it’s just a ‘Darry and Ponyboy’ bonding experience. “Soda, are you sure you want to sit out?”

“Yeah, I'm fine with that,” The brown haired greaser starts, touching the napkin in his nose, and wiggling it a little for fun. Noticing Darry’s concerned look, he quickly stops and gives him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Dar, It’ll be fun to watch. Plus, I don't think you’ll be able to fully lift me.”

“You think he can't?” Ponyboy chimes in at Soda’s words, eyes furrowing with confusion. Out of everyone he’s known, Darry has been the strongest. He can lift anyone, or anything, along with beating anyone. He packs a hard punch, and packs some serious muscle. “You must be out of your mind if you think he can’t lift you.”

With a smirk, Darry quickly comments. “Well let’s find out.” He says, walking up to Soda. Quickly getting the message, Soda bolts away. Usually when Darry picks up the gang, it ends in 2 ways. Either they enjoy it, or they kick, and scream. With Soda, it was a bit of both. As the greaser runs for his life, his older brother slowly follows him across the field. Pony sits there watching, his head following every motion his terrified brother does. “Please! Spare me!” he yells all the way across the other side of the field, making Darry give up, putting his hands on his knees, catching his breath . 

Taking a few seconds to catch his breath, Darry stands up tall again, walking over to the blond greaser. “Are you ready to learn?” He asks, stepping back again to make space between him and his brother. With an enthusiastic nod, he continues. “What you need to do is start there, while I’ll stay here. Just run up, grab my shoulders, and boost yourself up. I’ll do all the hard work, got that?” Ponyboy nods, looking at his brother with focus. “I’m ready whenever you are, Pone.”

Ponyboy closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He honestly was feeling a little nervous. He remembered how frustrated his older brother got earlier today, and that made him hesitate. He knew he had the easy part of the lift, but to him, this was harder than a math test he didn’t study for. He knew Darry wouldn’t drop him, and if he did, he probably didn’t mean it. He opened his eyes, relieving his green eyes. Like the track kid he is, he ran like the wind. The more he got closer to Darry, the more nervous he got. What if he just ran into him? What if he failed? What if he fell? Once he reached his brother, he jumped to grab his shoulders, pushing himself up, but it wasn’t enough. His feet landed against the ground instead of being in the air. Ponyboy sighed out disappointedly.

“Don’t worry, it takes a few tries.” Darry reassured his brother. Soda was in the background cheering him on, which made him smile. The roofer stepped back to make the gap needed. Before Ponyboy started Darry spoke up. “You’ll hurt me, if you don’t trust me, alright?” Ponyboy repeated those words in his head as he nodded. The determination filled his veins again. “Now, let’s try this again, just trust me.”

Trying once more, Ponyboy steadied himself, getting into running position. With a deep breath, he quickly rushes towards his brother, who has his arms open ready to lift his brother. The boy got closer and closer to his brother, jumping up and grabbing onto Darry’s shoulders to boost himself up. He feels strong hands grab his waist, and lift him up in the air. Ponyboy relaxes as he feels himself get lifted into the air by his older brother. That was a mistake. With a loud girly scream from the youngest, both his and Darry tumble to the hard, dirt ground. Soda quickly runs up to the two on the ground, looking down at them as they groan out in pain.

“Ow- i knew that’d happen.” Ponyboy whines out, rubbing his head to comfort the injury. Green eyes move to look at Darry, who is laid out on the ground like a starfish, looking up at the sky. Pony nervously laughed, scratching the back of his neck. “My bad, Dar.”

With another groan, Darry sits up, holding his head that was throbbing with pain. He could tell another migraine was arriving to disturb his evening. “I’m getting too old for this.” He mumbles, rubbing his back as if he was a 70 year old man and not a 20 year old. “Haha, old.” Pony says, earning an unamused glare from his older brother.

“Next time, we’re definitely doing lifts in the water.” Darry noted to himself. Soda offers him a hand, which he gladly takes to help him get up off the dirt ground. He offers a hand to Pony, also, which the younger took, letting Soda yank him up from the ground. Looking up at the sun that’s setting, Darry sighs out “Come on, time to go.” 

Darry turns to leave, his footsteps crushing the plants in his path, making them crunch as he steps. Soda reaches his hand out to his little brother on the ground still, waiting for him to take it. Ponyboy looks at his older brother walking away without them with a confused look, before reaching to grab the other's hand in front of him. He stands up with the help of his brother, and the two start walking, trying to catch up with their quick brother. The humid, warm air made them sweat, their hair sticking to their foreheads as they walked. 

“You know what sounds good right now?” Soda asks out, stretching his hands in the air with a groan. Pony responds with a ‘hm?’ towards his brother, indicating he can continue. “Some nice, sweet lemonade! We should try to get Darry to make some for us back at the room.”

The idea of Darry's lemonade makes both brothers almost start drooling. Everytime he makes it perfect. It’s the right sweetness, and always so cold to help cool off from the hot summer sun. Whenever someone else attempts to make lemonade, it sucks, but Darry has perfected the art of lemonade. “That sounds heavenly.” Pony whines out, fanning himself from the heat. Feeling something odd on his other hand, the blonde goes to scratch it, only to freeze in fear. A big black dot in the shape of a beetle laid on his hand, minding its own business. 

“Oh God!” Ponyboy screeches like a little girl, waving his hand around while screaming, attempting to fling it off and hopefully kill it. Ever since he was a kid, he has been deathly afraid of bugs. With the screams, Darry quickly whips around, running up to them to see what’s happening. “GET IT OFF!!! GET IT OFF!! KILL IT!!” Ponyboy continues to scream, ignoring how the echoing shouts make it sound like he’s getting killed. He may as well be, this bug was huge! 

Soda tries to grab the skinny flinging arm that belonged to his brother, trying to save him. “Pone! Calm down, we’ll get it off!” He shouts, trying to get his brother to stop yelling. To be honest, Soda was also a little nervous about the bug, he gulped and stepped back. “Darry can do it! Yeah!” he announces nervously, shoving Darry in front of him. 

“Why do I always have to do this?” the roofer complains, walking to his flailing little brother. Usually when Ponyboy is freaking out about a bug, he has to be the knight in shining armor, and kill it. He used to complain about it, trying to make Ponyboy kill it. But, over time Darry has gotten used to it, he likes being important, and saving his brothers. “Ponyboy! Stand still!” He shouts, making the blonde stand straight, tears welling up in his eyes, threatening to fall out. The older one takes his wrist, looking at the beetle. 

It was a pretty big beetle, and it was gross looking, no wonder his brother started tearing up over it, this shit is nasty. “Are you going to eat it?” Soda questions his brother, who is intensely staring at the bug. Darry looks over at Soda with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He looks at him in silence, absolutely flabbergasted. “Well, y’know….just had to make sure-”

“Sodapop Curtis, why the hell would I eat a beetle?” Darry questions, not knowing if he should laugh or cry over his brother assuming he’d eat the bug. Ponyboy’s green eyes look between the two. Soda has his hands up in a mock surrender, as Darry is hunched over with the bug between his fingers. “I mean you were staring at it intensely, and it’s around dinner time.”

With a small smile, the roofer shakes his head in disbelief, turning his attention back to the beetle assaulting his brother's hand. He quickly squeezes the bug between his fingers, and takes it off Ponyboy’s hand. With his freedom from the clingy ex-boyfriend level bug, the younger greaser quickly runs away from the bug, standing next to Soda just in case the bug tries to attack him again. Darry quickly flicks the bug away into the field, disappearing forever into the tall plants. He turns around, stuffing his hands in his pockets. 

“Let’s actually go now, it’s getting late.”

⋆⭒˚.⋆

Arriving back at Kellerman’s, everyone gets out of the parked car. Darry ahead of his two brothers, leading them to the room as the other two walk behind him, chattering away about whatever. Darry wasn’t honestly paying too much attention to what his brothers were doing, as long as they followed him it’s fine. He was too busy overthinking, as usual. The summer nights were quickly flying by faster than the eldest could blink. The more the days passed, the less time he had to figure out a plan to tell the rest of the gang about his secret dancing hobby. He already told his brothers, and it went surprisingly well, besides getting 4 shoes thrown at him. But with the full group, it was different. He found himself hesitating everyday to write that letter to Dally about telling them. He wanted to try and tell them before summer ended, but that was too short of a time frame. 

Walking into their cabin, Darry instantly went to his bed, grabbing his duffel bag from under his bed. The other two must have noticed something was wrong by his silence, so they stood by him as he dug through his bag. Soda and Pony exchange concerned glances towards each other, before turning back to Darry. He pulls out a couple pieces of paper, and some pens, along with a book he could write on, before sitting on the edge of the bed. He had to tell them sooner, or they’ll be problems. He handed his two other brothers some lined paper, and pens. When they take them Darry quickly starts writing on his paper as the two sit there confused. 

“We’re writing letters to the gang,” Darry starts, focused on writing the words neatly and correctly, hoping the ink doesn’t smudge all over the paper. They had limited paper, so he had to work carefully. Ponyboy gets up to grab two other books, handing one to Soda, and keeping the other for himself. The bed dips as he sits down in his original spot. “They probably think we ran away to Mexico.”

“Man, I miss them.” Soda whines out. It wasn’t like he wasn’t having any fun, he just missed the gang’s constant rough housing, they all missed it. He lays down on his stomach, turning his head towards one of the screen windows as he chews on the end of the pen, trying to generate words for his letter. The sound of pens flowing across the paper made Soda even more at a loss of words. He shrugs, deciding to write about whatever comes to mind. He can flex about his ‘broken’ nose!

Ponyboy sat there on a pillow, his knees to his chest, the book with the paper on it balancing on his knees. He honestly didn’t know what to say, or who to write to. It was easier writing to one person than four people at once. “Soda, who are you writing to?” he questions, poking his pen in his brother's side. 

“Steve, and Two-Bit,” He answers cheerfully. The answer to the question was obvious, they should’ve known. Ponyboy leaned against the headboard, the back of his head tipping up to look at the ceiling. He really could only write to Johnny, he was a good listener, and enjoyed the letters he sent. If he wrote to Johnny, and Soda was writing to Steve and Two-Bit, that only left Dally. “Who are you writing to, Darry?” 

The roofer finishes the letter he was writing in the sentence, before nonchalantly answering “Dal,” he mumbles, continuing to write faster than he can think. Both brothers lean close to eachother, catching the view of their older brother writing his letter than both of them. Did he really have that much to say? The two don’t really talk, and they get along just okay, but not enough to write that much. 

“Shit,” Darry hisses out like he hurt himself as he lifts his head to look at the clock. He shoots up, placing the book with the paper on it gently on the bed. Ponyboy and Soda look up from their letters with questioning faces, watching their brother walk around the room collecting stuff in a rush. Soda was the first to say something. “What’s up, Dar?”

The older one pauses for a moment, realizing that his brothers can’t read his brain. Or can they? Ponyboy surely can’t, he knows that for sure. “I got to a dance lesson scheduled for a few minutes,” he continued to rush around the room, before walking over to the screen door, sitting down to put on his nice dancing shoes. “Listen, I'll be back in about an hour and a half, make sure to finish those letters, I'll ship ‘em out as soon as I can, got it?” Ponyboy and Soda nod at their brother, who finally stands up. Opening the screen door, ignoring the screeching noise it made, Darry nodded before quickly leaving, rushing as fast as he could and leaving his brothers. 

The blonde turns his head towards Soda, both shrug, excusing what happened so they can continue their letters. He finally starts writing. Neat, and even writing fills the lines as he wrote, not really thinking about what he’s saying. Johnny didn’t care, he just liked it when he heard others yap. While writing, Ponyboy’s mind wandered from his letter, and what they’ve been doing all summer at Kellerman’s, to Darry’s letter sitting infront of him. He stopped writing, and stared at it. It looked at him like a shining gem that he wanted. It was calling his name. He could see the paragraph that was in the process of being made, and it made Ponyboy more curious. Leaning to his left a bit, he saw Soda’s less than neat handwriting on his page. It was still legible, but less neat than the other two brother’s. Ponyboy’s green eyes followed back to the abandoned page. He knows he shouldn’t read it, but he’s curious, and nobody is here now to yell at him. 

Leaning forward, and grabbing the page gently, Pony leaned back against the headboard. Soda sat up, and leaned on his shoulder to get a glimpse of the letter. “I was wondering what he was writing,” Soda admits, having the same desire to read the letter as his little brother did. “Don’t tell Darry?” Pony asks his brother, making sure he keeps the secret. Soda nods quickly at his brother. “Don’t tell Darry.” he says, and the two become silent, starting to read the letter. 

Dear Dally,

Sorry it took so long for me to write this letter. I finally have time to sit quietly and write to you. About a week ago now I finally decided to take your advice about telling Pony and Soda about my job. Technically I didn't tell them, they saw me dancing while they were working, and that’s how they found out. I got lucky, though. The two seemed to love my dancing skills, and they started taking lessons from me to learn too. They also chucked their shoes at me when they found out, but they thought I was a murderer. I scared them though, and I took the head damage as a victory. They also seem to enjoy dancing. You don’t have to tell the rest of the gang about my job, I’ve decided that I need to do it myself, it’s the only way they’ll believe me. You were right, the more I hide it, the more mad they’ll be about it. So I decided to tell them once we get back home. And if I end up chickening out, I give you permission to tell them for me. Anyway, this letter is getting long, and I don't know if your brain can take reading more than this. We’ll be back home in just a few weeks, and the house better be in good condition. If it was like last time I left you guys alone in my goddamn house, and I swear to god if our house is on fire, I'll murder you. 

That is a threat. I will win. 

-Darry

“Holy yap, Batman,” Soda mumbled to himself as he read, making Pony snicker a bit. Honestly the letter wasn’t much, but it was still sweet of him to write. They barely knew anymore about Darry’s job, he hasn’t talked much about it in his regular life. But, apparently, Dally knew? He told Dallas Winston about his passion for dancing before his own brothers? 

With a sigh, Ponyboy leans forward to place the letter in its original position, his posture slumping over a bit as he thought. “Why would he tell Dally, but not us?” He huffed out, anger filling his features as his brows furrowed. “I mean, we’ve known him longer, and he knows he can trust us!” He throws his hands up in annoyance. The two brothers weren’t the best with secrets, that’s something Ponyboy can admit that, but they had to find out for themselves before he said jack shit about dance. 

“I don’t know,” Soda starts softly, laying back down on his stomach, feet kicking up in the air. “Well, Darry has known Dally for a while. The two of them just clicked together, and maybe Dally is an outlet for what he’s thinking. You know how Dal is good with secrets, and you know how close the two are, even if they do get into arguments, Dally will always be there to defend him. Maybe Darry felt like he could handle a secret like this, and just told him instead." The greaser softly explains the possibility, gently shaking his younger brother’s shoulder to comfort him.

“That is true,” Ponyboy noted, putting a finger up to his chin in thought. He could relate to Darry. It was hard to talk to certain people about things, but there’s always that one person who’s just easy to talk to. Like Johnny, Ponyboy has told him about stuff he’d never tell Darry in a million years! “I just want to know why he didn’t tell us before.” 

Soda notes his brother's hurt, and fully sits up, pushing his letter away. “I want to know that too Pone, trust me, I really do,” He wraps his arm around Ponyboy’s smaller shoulders, getting ready to spill some more older brother wisdom that always hits so hard. “But, it’ll take time, we can’t rush him. Maybe, when he tells the whole gang, he’ll finally admit to why he’s been hiding it.”

The words are responded to with a nod from the younger brother, still slumped over a little. Soda picks up his pen, and grabs the paper to continue writing. Ponyboy didn’t touch his letter to Johnny. He was busy thinking about possibilities to get his brother to admit why he’s been hiding such a big part of his life. The gang won’t care, not at all. They may make a few jokes, but they’ll undertsbad, and support the passion. Just like how they support him with track, going to all his meets, and screaming louder than everyone in the stands. Going on and on about how they were there for him. Maybe they’ll do that for Darry, but again, track is a less ‘embarrassing’ sport to do. It wasn’t everyday you see a man be a professional dancer, but, hell, nobody will care at all. If Darry wasn’t going to tell them, then he will for him. He just needed a way to contact them, and a way to tell them everything. Ponyboy looks down at his letter for Johnny, and the ideas spark in his brain.

“That’s it!” The blonde shouts out in realization, making the other greaser jump a bit, snapping his head towards his brother. Pony stands up, and rushes over to his duffel bag, throwing stuff out of it in a determined search for his notebook. Soda stands up, and follows him, looking down at him puzzled. “What’s it? Is there another bug?!” He says, looking around for the imaginary bug.

Ponyboy quickly stands up with his notebook, his face painted with a giant smile and determination in his eyes. He quickly shakes his head, before saying, “No, there isn’t another bug…I hope. I was just thinking, if Darry isn’t going to tell them soon, then why don’t we just tell them ourselves!” He announces his plan to Soda, before quickly ripping out a page in his spiral notebook, the edges being uneven from not being ripped properly. “Pony, we can’t do that-” the other says with his hands out, trying to stop his wild brother. 

“Well, I'm not going to straight up tell them, I'll just tell them to come up here for the night, and see a special performance!” He explains, his hands moving as he talks, making his explanation more on the point. Soda nods, listening to every word his brother says with intesnity. “When they come up, they’ll see Darry dancing, and we can suprise him! And that’ll make it easier for him to explain to the group!” 

After a moment of thinking, Ponyboy gets a response. “That’s not a bad idea!” Soda cheers out, pointing his finger at his brother. “I kow right!” The younger cheers with him, pointing his finger at his brother as well. The two connect their fingers so they’re touching. They stare at each other in the eyes without blinking. They’re busy connecting their brains. The two start nodding, still staring at each other, even though their eyes are starting to hurt, and dry up. 

“Let’s get writing!” They both cheer at the same time. Soda blinks a couple times to bring moisture back into his eyes, beofre hopping onto the bed. Both of their eyes are still bugging them as they blink quickly to moisten them. “Why the hell did we do that, again?” Ponyboy questions, blinking his eyes quickly. “I thought the last time we did this would be the last time!” Soda says dramatically, like his eyes will forever be dry. Ew. let’s not think about that actually! Let’s think about the letter! 

⋆⭒˚.⋆

“Hear ye! Hear ye!” Dally shouts loudly as he pushes open the door aggressively, walking into the Curtis house where everyone was relaxing. The tv played some mickey mouse cartoon for Two-Bit, who was half asleep on the couch. Stever sat in Darry’s usual chair, enjoying sitting in it with no punishment. Johnny sat on the ground, by the dark brown wooden coffee table, playing cards by himself. “Come on ladies! Wake up, we got mail!” yelled the blonde again, making everyone bolt up.

Dally sorts through the mail, tossing aside the personal junk to look at later. He knows he shouldn’t be snooping in Darry’s business, but he was the unofficial house-sitter, so Darry's business was also his. “Is it just bills again?” Two-bit whines out tiredly, shifting to watch the TV again. 

The blonde rolled his eyes as he continued to sort through the mail. “Let’s hope not,” he mumbles, gritting his teeth. “I swear, if I don't get a letter from that bastard.” Dally harshly says to himself. The whole time the brothers have been gone, Dally was waiting for the letter. Patiently, he waitied for the stupid letter from Darry telling him he actually grew balls and otld his brothers. But so far, nothing has come. 

Finally, taking his blue eyes off the bills, he sorts through the other mail. It was average shit. Deals at stores, and random bullshit mail that’s going straight to the trash. Flipping through the last few envelopes, he saw the neat handwriting saying ‘To Johnny’ on the envelope. Dally couldn’t help but smile. It was nice the kid was finally getting mail, it was nice they all were finally getting letters for themselves. Even if the brothers took their sweet ass time with sending them, it was still sweet. The blonde grabbed all five envelopes, the handwriting making it obvious who wrote whose. Nice cursive standing out to him, the words ‘To Dally’ written flawlessly. Fucking finally! Slowest man alive! Walking over, with the wooden floor creaking in certian spots, Dally began to pass out the mail. 

He dropped one of the letters flattly on the table. “For Johnny.” he lists the name, before moving on to the next person. He drops a letter on Two-Bit’s stomach, roughly, making the other bolt up at the sudden assault. Although, he quickly gets over it, ripping the letter open quickly to read it. Dally walks over to Steve, who was looking up at him, relaxed in the chair that only belonged to Darry. He smirks at the aggressive man, silently flexing that he gets to sit in such a comfortable chair. The two stare at each other, one with annoyance in his eyes, and the other looking like a smug ass cat. He gently rocked back and forth, not taking his eyes off the blonde greaser. “And, lastly, for Steve.” Dally grumbles out, not giving him the letter.

“Dude! Give me it!” Steve quickly protests, leaning forward in the chair to grab the letter from the other. Dally quickly whips his hand away, and up high, out of reach from the one sitting down. “If ya’ want it, you’ll need to get out of the chair!” The blonde says, this time it’s his turn to smirk. He waves the letter up in the air, treating Steve like a dog wanting a treat. Giving up, Steve leans back in the chair, it softly banging against the wall as he leaned back. “Fine, if you don’t want it, I'll eat it then, I'm starving.” 

“You wouldn’t dare.” Steve grumbles, glaring up at the other. Two-bit, and Johnny both have looked up from their papers, interested in the chaos happening in the corner of the small living room. “Watch me.” Dally laughs, bringing the letter up to his open mouth, inching it closer with a stupid ‘aaahhh’ noise, ready to fully eat the piece of paper. “If you don’t get up, this letter from Soda will be in my stomach, and then soon in the toilet!” he says, amused by all the disgusted looks he was getting. And then, he finally bit the letter. His spit moistened the edge of the envelope. 

Realizing that this threat isn’t doing anything, Dally takes the letter out of his mouth. He sighs, dropping his hands to his sides, trying to think of a new plan to get Darry’s chair for once. Without thinking, Dally slaps the top of Steve’s head with the envelope, harshly. Ignoring the ‘OW!’ the other gave, he started talking. “Get out of the chair.” He demands, getting more and more pissed off by the second. Steve ,though, still stands tall. “Hell. No.” The brunette says harshly, continuing to glare up at the tougher one. For a moment the two stare at eachother, like cowboy’s in a stand off.

“I’ll tell Darry that you sat in his chair, and got your greasy fingers all over it!” Dally uses his last resort. He picks up the black telephone on the table next to the chair, getting ready to fully call Darry. “Oh shit, not the Darry card.” Two-Bit whispers out to Johnny, who is watching silently, hoping Dally doesn’t do something stupid. Pale, bony fingers slip into the number slots, turning the wheel to the number he wants. Steve’s eyes widen when he realizes that Dally is 100% serious. “Fine! Fine! Just don’t call him.” He yells out angrily. He stands up, and moves to go sit by Two-Bit, his hands folded over his chest in annoyance. Dally quickly slumps down in the chair, throwing the letter towards Steve, before quickly opening his letter. 

Reading the letter, he couldn’t help but smile, his eyes widening in surprise. He actually grew balls!? Dally was expecting him not to tell them at all! Well, technically, he didn’t tell them, but that’s still good evough for him! The shoe throwing was deserved, he took too long, if you’re slow, you need to be hit with four shoes, that’s the law. Dally huffed out proudly, feeling his wisdom, along with confidence, being boosted. Finally, the old turdlet actually listened to someone! And it didn’t kill him! Wow, guys! He didn’t die from telling his brothers he likes to dance! News flash, he most likley will be killed by the rest of them. How will they kill him? Death by shoes. He hid secrets, and took too long to admit them. People who are slow get shoes thrown at them. Again. It’s the law!

“Who wrote to you Dal?” Johnny asks from his spot by the table, looking back at the greaser who is smiling stupidly at his note. Dally quickly sits up straight, putting down his letter before clearing his throat. “Darry, he wrote to me.” He excuses, trying to hide the proud feeling he feels. It shouldn’t have been that hard to tell them, but either way, Darry trusted him for once! 

“Oof, that letter was probably pretty bland!” Two-Bit jokes out, imagining a letter written by Darry. Of course, he hadn’t seen the whole paragraph written for him, so he didn’t know. Dally’s brows furrow towards the other, who is currently doing an impression of what he thinks a letter written by Darry sounded like. “It was a nice letter,” Dally slips out, quickly finishing the sentence, “It was very well written, dude wrote me a whole paragraph.” 

Leaning back in the chair, the greaser feels the feeling of the other envelope that’s been neglected. He snatches it up quickly, reading the name of the envelope. “Hey! We got a letter for all of us!” He announces, standing up as he opens it. He moved towards everyone, reading it himself before anyone else. “Who’s it from?” They all questioned, waiting for Dally to stop reading it, and actually respond. 

“It’s from Soda and Pony,” he says, finihsing reading it. He chuckles softly as he reads it, already piecing all the clues from it together. It wasn’t a long letter, only a few sentences, but that was enough. “Let me read it out for you guys, I'll do my best shakespearen accent.” he announces, holding the paper with two hands like it was a medievil scroll, and he was sending a message from the king. “Read it in iambic pentameter!” Two-Bit cheers out, acting like a child ready for story time. 

Dally stops and looks at him with confusion. “How the hell do you remember that?” he questions the other, brows furrowed with questions. Two-Bit only shrugs out. “It’s the only thing I remember. That, and Juliet died or whatever.” After saying this, Steve shoots forward, slamming on the table with agression. “Come on man! I’m only on the first chapter!”

“The book's been out for 400 fucking years dude!” Two-Bit argues back towards Steve. It is true. Everyone knew Juliet died. If you didn’t know that, Two-Bit doesn’t apologize, the book's been naround for more than 430 years! Go read it, or something! “Everyone! Shut the fuck up! I’m reading!”

    To Everyone. 

Sorry it took us so long to write this, we’ve been busy with all the rich people, especially Soda. This summer has been pretty boring without you guys. We recently found out the ghard truth that Darry is a slut, and being a slut runs in the family, so we are next. Soda has already been infected for years, of course. We also gave Darry much more brain damage, more damage than the stress is doing. Anyway, Kellerman’s is hosting an end of season party, and we were wondering if you wanted to come! Me, and Soda don’t work, so you guys can hang out with us. Darry will be working, but you guys will still see him. We hope you guys come up to visit us on the last night, the address, and time is on the back if you do decide to come up.

- Ponyboy and Sodapop Curtis

The four of them sat in silence, processing the information just thrown at them in the worst iambic pentameter ever spoken by man. The silence was awkward. Johnny started playing with his fingers, looking around at everyone, before deciding to speak up. “So, we’re going right-”

“DARRY’S A SLUT!?!” Two-Bit screams out, cutting off the other greaser, making him flinch at the loud noise. The rusty haired greaser got up to pace at this information. Dally sat there with the letter in his hands, eyes following the movements of his pacing. Steve was laughing his ass off as Two-Bit started tugging at his hair. “He can’t be a slut! But, it makes so much sense!” he shouts, putting his head in his hands, contiuing to pace around, running into the coffee table, and stubbing his toe.

Ignoring Two-Bit’s midlife ‘Darry’s a slut’ crisis, Dally adds on to Johnny. “I think we should go, I was told by Darry that there’s going to be a surprise for you boys.” He smirks deviously. This information makes the greaser that’s pacing stop dead in his tracks. They all look at Dally, hoping he'd continue on about what the surprise was. 

“IS THE SURPRISE THAT DARRY IS A WHORE?!?” The rusty haired greaser screams out like a little girl. He looks like he’s about to cry over this information. While yes, Darry being a whore was very unlike him, Dally wasn’t very suprised. Two-Bit is acting like a mother who found her daughter with her boyfriend. “I can’t believe it! Ponyboy is going to be next! He’s too young!” He continues to tug at his hair in stress. It wasn’t that serious, but apparently it was to Two-Bit.

With a groan, Steve gets up. He walks over to Two-Bit, and forces him to sit down on the couch. He snaps his fingers infront of Two-Bit’s face, so he’d focus on only him. “Hey! Listen, it had to happen sometime! We all go through a slut era!-” 

“I fuckin’ didn’t” the blonde comments, crossing his arms.

“Shut it, Dal.”

Continuing on, Steve shakes Two-Bit’s shoulders with desperation, trying to process the inofrmation as well. “He’s a slut! We have to accept him! He was going to tell us….hopefully!” Steve says loudly, like he’s talking to a third grader about their brother coming out of the closet. “You better not spoil Romeo and Juiet for him too! Being a whore, and getting spoilers probably will put him even more in a depression!”

“He’s probably read it because it’s been out for 400 YEARS-”

“Both of you shut the FUCK UP!!” Dally shouts, ending the loud conversation the others were having.

⋆⭒˚.⋆

The days quickly blended together for Ponyboy. Each day was eventful, but so much was happening that time flew. Working as a server was boring, but Soda by his side made it more managable. But, even then, time still flew at work. The two brothers have shown improvement in dancing, and it was clear Darry was proud of them, as much as they were proud of themselves.  After they sent the letter telling the group to stop by, Ponyboy thought Darry would find out, or at least get a note about it from the gang. But, nothing happened at all, he never found out. Or maybe he did, and he said nothing. 

The summer heat slowly started turning cooler, and the nights came faster with the more they did.  Before he knew it, everyone was setting up for the goodbye ceremony. Ponyboy didn’t get why they had to throw this huge party. It was just a resort. But, maybe that’s why. It was a resort where memories were made, and those last forever. Hell, even he made some amazing memories here that he doesn’t want to forget at all. He was a little sad to say goodbye to the place, and he was guessing his brothers were feeling the same. At the same time, he was ready to go home. He was excited to see his friends again, and to sleep in every morning instead of waking up early to set up the dining hall. He wasn’t ready to stop seeing Darry dance, though. He knew that dancing won’t fully disappear, but it’ll be hidden from everyone else. The same serious, always working, and stressed, Darry will be back. 

With a sigh at the idea, Pony leaned against the white fancy walls surrounding the ballroom every guest, and worker, was in. White folding chairs lined up in multiple rows, occupied by guests watching the goodbye song being sung. Some turned to whisper to each other, making comments on whatever was on their mind. Pony couldn’t help but cringe at some of the singing. While, yes, he knew not to expect full opera singers with years of experience, he was expecting better. Adults, teens, and children stand in a line, each taking turns in their own solos about how much fun they had at the resort. Ponyboy pushed through the cringe feeling, patiently waiting for what came after the singing. He knew next was the final dance, and he was ready to cheer his brother on. 

A pit grew in his stomach though as he looked around. The group was nowhere to be seen, only rich people, and workers. They didn’t come, and they won’t be able to feel the same joy he felt when he watched Darry dance for the first time. The younger sighed out, turning his head down to look at his fancy leather shoes. Eyebrows furrowed with disappointment. It was worth a shot, but it was a far drive, so it wasn’t a suprise they wouldn’t come. But, at the same time, it was so odd that they wouldn’t come. Usually they loved going to new places, and they loved supporting eachother, so why now did they choose not to support Darry?

Soda quickly took notice of his brother's moping. He bends down a little, tapping the smaller shoulders gently with his finger. “You doing okay?” He whispers softly, a look of concern on his face as he looks at his sad brother. Ponyboy just pathetically nods, clearly lying. “Yeah, it’s just that the gang isn’t here, I really wanted them to come.”

The middle child takes notes of this, lifting his head to look around for any signs of the other greasers. He also sighs out, and returns his gaze back to Ponyboy. “They still have time to come, don’t worry.” 

This idea eased the pit in Ponyboy’s stomach a small amount. They still had plenty of time to arrive, and knowing them, they probably left late. As the song continued on, the blonde greaser crossed his arms, his foot tapping on the slick wooden floors with anxiety. He looked around the room every few seconds, hoping they’d walk in whenever he looked around, only to be disappointed everytime. Green eyes looked at many different things to distract himself from the factc that the song was close to ending. He looked at the white balloons strung up around the dark room, and then the ice blue lights reflecting onto the stage, lighting the room. It barely worked to ease him. He could only focus on the fact that his dreams were shattered, and that the gang wasn’t going to show up. 

Once the song ends, the room bursts into applause at the bad singing, cheering for those who went up there. Ponyboy only hugged himself tighter, fully giving up on his hope. “They aren’t coming.” He mutters to himself, feeling his heart shatter in a thousand pieces. All the excuses he was making up in his head for them now vanished. Mr Kellerman, who was talking over the microphone, was cut out by Ponyboy’s thinking. 

Me Kellerman keeps yapping about how the summer went, trying to get everyone to return for the next summer. Ponyboy stands up tall, getting ready to see Darry dance, but the sound of doors opening, and quick footsteps distract him. The people around him look at the direction of the noise. Walking through the doors was Dallas Winston, out of breath, swearing under his breath. Johnny was quickly following behind him as they both tried to scout out the brothers. Dally’s eyes squint as he searches through the crowd of people, trying to find any reconizable faces. Soda waves towards them, making them look in their direction, before quickly easing up and rushing towards them. Dally leaves for a second, harshly dragging Two-Bit and Steve towards the others. 

Still out of breath, Dally places his hands on his knees, before looking up at the brothers. “We aren’t too late are we?” he whispers out in a panic between huffs and puffs. Ponyboy visibly relaxes as he shakes his head. “No actually, you’re right on time, I was worried you weren’t going to make it.” he admits, making Dally laugh. Dally? Laughing at something simple like that? Jaw dropping! He straightens up, leaning on the wall next to Pony. “Me? I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

Finally, after all this talking, Mr Kellerman announces the last act. “Now, lastly, a goodbye dance from Darrell Curtis, and his partner!” He says with fake enjoyment, fully knowing the staff knows he doesn’t like the entertainment staff. “Darry!?” Two-Bit, Johnny, and Steve whisper shout towards the other three, ignoring the loud shushes they get. Dally stood there smuggly, watching the stage with focused eyes. 

He leaves the stage, and it’s just silence for a little bit.they see two silhouettes walk out on the stage. Loud salsa music plays through the speakers, as the lights turn back on, projecting towards them. Darry, and his partner, dance in the spotlight. The blonde girl in a pink flowing dress again, using it to emphasize her dancing, adding more action. The two move quickly to the beat like professinals. Ponyboy can’t help but analyze their movements. Weeks of taking dance lessons make you notice all the details, and all the effort it takes to actually look good when dancing. They were standing tall, arms locked, looking at each other, just like Darry taught him. Darry picks up his partner, and does some impressive dance moves as the music rumbles through the ground. The crowd cheers whenever something interesting happens in the dance, 

Looking at the others, Ponyboy laughs a bit at their shock, their eyes locked onto the two people dancing up on the stage. Looking back up, Darry twirls his partner, before dipping her close to the ground. Darry felt dizzy with passion, the adrenaline rush very clear through his moves. The lights blurred in Darry’s vision, only focusing on the music blasting through the ground. The two glide across the stage, like leaves in the wind. For someone like Darry, it was shocking that he moved with such grace. The familiar smell of perfume, mixed with sweat filled Darry’s senses. He smiled before performing another spin, turining both of them around with passion. Suddenly, the two push away. They walked on the opposite sides of the stage from each other, and stood there looking at each other for a second. Ponyboy instantly knew what they were doing, and he pushed himself off the wall, focusing all his attention on the dance partner. 

The blonde girl started running towards the roofer. She grabbed Darry’s shoulders, and boosted herself up in the air. The other grabbed her waist with focus, lifting her fully in the air. She spread her arms open in the air, smiling as the audience cheered for the impressive move. “God damn, I knew he had it in him.” Dally whisles out, impressed by the move. The other 3 were in complete shock, jaws open, and almost touhcing the floor. 

Once Darry sat the lady down, the two held hands. They ran to the edge of the stage, and bowed as the audience clapped their hands. The music fades out as they quickly leave the stage. After this, people started to get up, geting ready to leave back to their rooms, but the gang kept still, processing what they saw. Ponyboy could tell they were all suprised, even Dally, but not a hint of judgement was in sight. 

“So, what did you guys think? I told you Darry had a suprise for you guys.” Dally says, finally breaking the silence of the shock. He smiles, moving his blue eyes back to the stage with a proud feeling. 

Ponyboy’s eyes widened, quickly whipping his head towards the greaser standing to his right. “Wait, you knew about this all along?!” He says in shock. Dally just shrugs, moving his eyes to look for any ‘NO SMOKING’ signs around. He didn’t care either way. He put a cigerette in his mouth, before saying, “Well, no duh! Dude loves me, and I kept his secret like a real man should do. He was goin’ to tell y’all sooner or later.” 

“I didn’t know Superdope could do that!” Steve says in awe, remembering how easy it looked to pick up that woman. He could easily do that! If he believed enough, then maybe he could. He could probably use Soda as a partner, if he could even carry him. “Man, that lift would get us so many chicks! We should try it, Soda!”

“Don’t even try.” Ponyboy deadpans towards the taller greaser who was just speaking. All the war flashbacks of his lift practice were coming back to him. The brain injuries, the spider trying to kill him, oh god. Maybe he was overreating. “It hurts, trust me.” 

Johnny laughs a bit at Ponyboy’s reaction, “Did it hurt or something?” He questions, making the younger greaser turn towards him, agressivley nodding. Someone should give Ponyboy a veterans discount with how much he’s been through, you know what, throw one to Darry while you’re at it. “It hurts like a son of a bitch! I kept getting dropped!” 

“Woah, Ponyboy, watch your fuckin’ mouth.” Dally teases the younger, smirking before taking a puff of his cigerette. The group continued to chat, even though everyone had already left. They were all waiting for the star of the show to appear infront of them to surprise him. “God, Darry is taking forever! Everyday he continues to prove the fact that he’s the slowest man alive!” 

Speak of the devil, at that moment Darry walked through the doors with a smile. He lifts his vision to look at his brothers. “You guys ready to-” He starts, but freezes in place when he looks at the whole entire gang who were staring at him. “Oh god no.” He whispers in embarrassment, Dally’s grinning not helping at all.

“Well, if it isn’t the star!” Dally chuckles out, taking one last huff of his cigarette, before putting it out on the fancy white walls. He lets it drop as he walks up to the older, but Two-Bit beats him to Darry. Already confronting him about whatever the hell he was going to confront him about. Darry has been too controversial this week, he could be yapping about anything. 

Quickly, Two-Bit grips Darry’s shoulders, shaking him aggressively. “That was amazing!” he shouts like he’s meeting a celebrity, jumping up and down a bit in excitment. “I need to see more! How’s you not get nervous?! How’d you manage to pick up that lady!? Tell me everything, I need to witness more! Please show us more!” he squeals, making Darry grimace a bit, trying to push the other out of his personal space. 

“Thank you, but why are you guys even here?” The roofer questions, fully pushing Two-Bit away as he continues to go on about how amazing he was. Soda grips Two-Bit’s shoulders, and the two replicate what they saw on stage very poorly, ignoring the conversation. 

Dally walks over, and wraps an arm around Darry’s shoulders, ignoring how the other is trying to get him out of his personal space. “Well,” He starts with a smirk, looking over at Ponyboy. “Someone sent us a little letter telling us to come so we could see the show.” 

“Dally ate my letter!” Steve shouts.

“You were being a bitch!” Dally responds back. “Also, I only bit it!” 

“How’s that any better!?” Steve responds back. Dally huffs, rolling his eyes before looking back at a nervous Ponyboy. 

Darry follows the others gaze, and lands at a very nervous Ponyboy. They make eye contact, and with an audible gulp from the youngest, Darry sighs, knowing exactly what Ponyboy did. He pinches the bridge of his nose, earning a little shake from Dally. “Hey man! You had to tell them at some point, Ponyboy just wanted to help you!” 

“That is true…” Darry mumbles to himself, nodding a bit as he fully thinks about it. Dally finally lets go, tapping his middle finger and thumb together just so he had something to do while he talked. “And, Aren’t you glad he did? We all loved watching you!”

Johnny quickly nods, walking next to the roofer, and looking up at him with excitement. “You did amazing! How the hell could you have hidden that for so long? Why wouldn’t you tell us?” he suddenly questions so bluntly. Darry freezes as everyone stops the chaos they were doing to stare at him, waiting for an answer.

“W-well…” He stutters out, not liking all the eyes on him so suddenly. He didn’t know if he should tell the truth or not. He looks to Dally for support, only to be met with a shake of the head, and a slap on the shoulder, indicating that he was on his own with explaining. “I don’t really know. I guess I just thought you guys would find me odd for liking dancing, and maybe you wouldn’t see me as tough. I gotta be the tough one here, and dancing makes me look so soft to the point I thought you’d all laugh at me.” 

The silence was loud, the gang all looking at Darry as he gently rubs his arm with nervousness. The roofer decides that he should resure them. “I was planning on telling you guys, I was just worried, I guess.” He grits his teeth, not used to talking about his feelings like this. 

“Either way, you did amazing out there!” Soda says, smiling at his brother to help comfort him. “And, either way, we wouldn’t have judged you.” He continues on, stepping away from Two-Bit for a moment. Darry can’t help but smile at the comforting words. 

“Also,” Dally suddenly chimes in, searching for another cigarette. Once he finds one, he continues, “We can’t judge on what’s weird. Hell, we’re all odd, just look at Ponyboy for heaven sakes.” He says, pointing his cigarette at the youngest greaser in the group. “Hey!” he yells back, making Darry softly chuckle a bit. 

Everyone starts talking again to comfort Darry, going on and on about how talented he was, and how impressed they were. Everyone was so proud of him, it felt so odd to him, but he'll have to get used to it. Two-Bit and Soda continue to try to replicate the dance. Darry couldn’t help but critique all of their moves. With a sigh, Darry relaxes, a small smile on his face as he watches everyone talk together about his performance. Dally leaned against the wall, smoking his second cigerette as the chaos went on. Darry felt his mind go to peace, until Two-Bit suddenly shouted his way.

“Wait!” he screams, rushing up to Darry with annoyance. He grips his shoulders, and looks up to stare at him dead in the eyes. “You have something to explain!”

“What is it now?”

“You’re a slut…aren’t you.”

Everyone, once again, goes silent at the shocking words. Two-Bit stares at him in the eyes intensely, making him a little uncomfortable. The rusty haired greaser tries not to blink, he tries his damn hardest, but is falling. Darry wonders where this suddenly came from, before remembering the day at the meeting where Mr Kellerman confronted him, and Ponyboy had a midlife crisis about possibly being the next whore in the family. 

The roofer groans out, glaring at Ponyboy, he looks even more nervous. “Ponyboy. What did you say in the letter?”  he says sternly. The blonde greaser quickly shakes his head, gulping nervously before he responds. “Nothing! I said nothing!”

“Wrong! You said he was a slut!” The rusty haired greaser shouts, making a huge incorrect buzzer noise, and an X with his hands. Darry goes back to pinching the bridge of his nose. Great. Now everyone in the group thinks he’s a slut. How amazing. “Listen, I can explain-” 

Before he could finish, he was interrupted, making him tiredly groan out. “Explain what? How you’re a slut! You are tearing this family apart! Taking your shirt off at work, and….other….inappropiate behaviors!” Two-Bit dramatically cries out, putting a hand on his forehead, before wiping pretend tears away from his eyes. “I can’t believe you! What about your brothers?!” 

“Listen…” he sighs out. 

“Hey! Darry has the right to be a slut!” Dally shouts out in pretend defense. 

“Guys please-” 

“He needs to make money somehow! Roofing doesn’t pay a lot!” Ponyboy shouts out. 

“Ponyboy don’t you even-”

“He’s in his slut era! We all go through it, it’s like uuhhhh…” Steve shouts, trailing off, trying to connect his sentence with what he was thinking about. “A monthly thing, that’s it.”

Soda quickly adds on, furrowing his brows in confusion towards Steve. “You mean, like, a period?” he questions, making Steve whip around with a smile, he quickly nods, holding back laughter before he says, “Yeah, Darry’s on his period!”

“No I’m not!” the eldest shouts out as everyone laughs. He’s so confused right now, he forgot how much of a handful everyone was. “What the fuck even is a slut era?” Darry whines out in confusion, and puts his head in his hands. All this interupting is hurting his head.

“We support you Dar, just don’t get Syphilis from a random man in an alleyway.” Dally says, laughing out loud. 

“Will you let me explain? Please!” Darry finally shouts out.

⋆⭒˚.⋆

Darry let out a breath, sucking in the cold summer air. He leaned against the white painted wood railing on the landing platform of the stairs. He let his body fully relax as he stared up at the sunset. His arms crossed on the railing as he leaned on it. The breeze blew at him, cool, and gentle. He heard gentle laughs, and conversations from the people walking by them. From inside, he heard Ponyboy and Soda goofing off. He continued to look up at the sunset, letting the cicadas fill his hearing. His posture hunched down, as he continued to be at peace. It was hard to find time like this now, so he was absorbing every second he could.

After a long summer, it was finally time for them to go home. Tonight was their last night at the Kellerman’s resort for the summer. One last night to enjoy the relaxation, and the last night he’d be able to dance in a while.  Another summer gone well, even better than ‘well’ even, it went amazing. He felt weight lifted off his shoulders when everyone in the gang watched him at the goodbye ceremony. It was an odd feeling, Darry always had some sort of stress on his mind. Now, though, he was allowed to relax. He tried to find something to do, but he accepted the idea of relaxing for once. He was truly happy, and he was so excited for next summer to dance again.

The sound of the screen door of their room cut him out of his thoughts. Looking back, he sees Ponyboy. The youngest lets the screen door slam shut, walking next to his brother to lean on the railing. “Are you mad at me?” He simply asks, only looking at the golden sunset that painted the sky infront of them. “For, you know, telling them.”

“No, I'm not.” Darry says softly, looking down at his younger borther with a content smile. Ponyboy always loved sunsets. Darry, personally, never saw the big deal over a golden hour sunset, you can see it everyday, so what was the point? But, right now. Here, in this moment, he understood why his kid brother loved them so much. Not only was it beautiful, it washes all your worries away. “In fact, I'm glad you did, I would have never told them if it wasn’t for you.”

The screen door opens again, before slamming shut again. This time, Soda sits up on the wooden railing on the left side of Darry. He looks at the sunset with a smile. “It’s gorgeous,” He comments, not taking his eyes off the fiery sunset that was infront of them. “That’s what I've been saying for years.” Ponyboy softly says, leaning his head forward to look at Soda. 

“I need to watch the sunset more,” Darry adds on, still looking straight towards the sky. He didn’t know why he ever thought sunsets were just another thing in this world. They weren’t, they were truly one of the most beautiful things he’s ever seen. He feels so dumb for thinking his brother was too obsessed with them, he had a right to be. “I never thought they could get like this.”

Ponyboy shrugs, his blonde hair reflecting in the lighting, making it look softer. “Maybe we should start watching the sunsets together.” He jokes, elbowing Darry’s arm gently with a grin. He was fully joking, but Darry wasn’t. “I wouldn’t be against that.” The roofer says, smiling towards Ponyboy. Green eyes widened, realizing his brother was completely serious. He smiles, his teeth showing off to the world. “I’d like that, only if Soda’s fine with it.”

“I’m not against the idea.” Soda agrees, wanting to spend more peaceful time with his brothers. The three return back to a peacful silence, enjoying eachothers company. Ponyboy’s green eyes look at his oldest brother. He looks away, realizing that he may never see Darry dance again, or, he’d have to wait again for next summer. He didn’t want that to go away. He didn’t want the thing that made Darry so happy to leave him. He wants to see that happy side of Darry again. Taking away dancing from Darry was like taking away sunsets for him.

“You better not stop dancing.”

“...I’ll try not to.”

It was the summer of 1967. The sun was going down. The horizon drank the burning gold, slowing the pulse of the world to a quiet lullaby. The sky was an artist’s palette, bleeding soft yellows into muted oranges, inviting a gentle surrender to the approaching night. The air was getting cooler. The gentle breeze made the trees sway. The windows could be down without a care in the world. The Darry, finally, could passiontley dance without a care. Nobody was there to stop him, only support him. The summer was a peaceful time, nothing weighing you down. And finally, for once, Darry had no troubles weighing him down.