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It was a hot summer day in Tulsa, the type of day where you go swimming with friends and enjoy life. The sky was clear, and the faint sound of cars passing by could be heard from the Curtis's kitchen.
Their household was suspiciously quiet today, and that was a rare occurrence. Usually, Two-Bit and Steve would be watching some wrestling match at an obnoxiously loud volume, Soda would be scrolling on his phone and occasionally show Steve some stupid video. Dally would either be napping on the couch or playing a card game with Johnny or two-bit, sometimes both.
But that wasn’t the case today.
Dally was out working at a popular Italian place, Two-Bit and Steve were out on some stupid hike they had been talking about all week; and somehow managed to get Johnny to go with them.
So the house only has the three brothers in there at the moment right now.
“Soda, are you sure we have to do this? It seems stupid and like a waste of ingredients…” Darry says cautiously as he takes out two metal bowls out from their cabinet and places them on the counter.
“Yeah! I’ve seen it everywhere online Dare-bear, It’ll be fun!” Soda said as he placed six eggs on the counter with a bottle of vegetable oil and measuring cups.
Darry sighed while going into the pantry to look for the two boxes of cake mix.
When Darry came back out of the pantry, Pony was already there setting down a black bandana, a roll of duct tape, and his pair of noise canceling headphones that Soda and Darry gifted for his birthday last year.
“Okay, let’s decide who’s gonna be who. Who wants to be mute?” Soda said cheerfully as he grabbed the duct tape with a smile.
Pony sheepishly raised his hand.
“I guess I will.” Pony said with a shrug as Soda walked up to him while ripping off a piece of duct tape and handing it to Ponyboy.
Pony looked at the piece of tape in his hand and set it gently on the counter as he grabbed one of the boxes of cake mix and started looking at the instructions.
“Okie dokie, that leaves two choices left. Darry you’re going to be the blind one because I don’t want to.” Soda says while quickly grabbing the headphones and connecting them to his phone.
“Soda please be careful with those.” Pony said wearily looking up from the cake mix with gentle eyes.
“You got it, Ponybug!” Soda said cheerfully while giving Pony a pat on the shoulder.
Darry grabbed the bandana and started tying it around his face, which cued Pony in to put the piece of tape over his mouth. Before Soda put the headphones over his ears he asked Darry, “Hey dude, can you see how many fingers I’m holdin’ up?”
“Uhh… three?” Darry says.
“No trick question, I’m flipping you off.” Soda said cheekily. He quickly jumped away when Darry tried swatting him away with his hand.
“Love ya too! Okay, I’m putting the headphones on,” Soda pulled the headphones over his ears and pressed play on his playlist.
“The challenge begins now!”
Pony was the first one to move over to the counter and grabbed the cake mix to read the instructions. Two cups of water, got it. Pony thought to himself.
“WHAT’S THE MIX CALL FOR PONES?!” Soda yelled, unclear of how loud he was being.
“Soda stop yelling so loud.” Darry said while facing the other direction.
“Huh did you say something Superman?” Soda said, retaining the same great volume as before.
Pony maneuvered his way around Soda and grabbed Darry’s shoulders and guided him to turn around, where he would actually be facing them.
“Ugh nevermind. Pony, hand Soda the cake mix and tell him to read the first instruction.”
Pony nods silently as he taps Soda’s shoulder.
Soda whips around, nearly hitting Pony in the face with his shoulder.
“WHATCHA NEED PONY?!”
Pony pointed his finger toward the first instruction on one of the boxes while gesturing to the measuring cups and sink.
“Ohhhh got it,” Soda said while nodding his head.
“DARRY!”
Darry jumped at the sudden yelling of his name and dropped the egg he somehow picked up while feeling around for the small bowl that was going to be used for the wet ingredients.
“Jesus, what Soda?” His tone was laced with annoyance as he realized the egg was now cracked open and made a mess over the counter top.
“We need two cups of water.” Soda finally managed to say with a semi-reasonable volume.
Pony mumbled something but it was unclear to Darry what he was trying to say; and for Soda, it was a lost cause to try to get his attention.
“Pony I would get the water but I can’t see shit, so you get it.” Darry said while feeling around for the paper towels to get the brewing case of salmonella off of his hands.
Pony let out a muffled sound and took one of the measuring cups off of the counter and filled it up with water, then poured it into the mixing bowl dedicated to wet ingredients.
Pony repeated the step until there were two cups of water in the mixing bowl.
Whilst Pony was doing that, Soda and Darry were attempting to pour the two bags of cake mix into the other mixing bowl.
Soda is happily humming along to whatever song he’s listening to as he pours one of the bags of cake mix in the bowl.
“YOUR TURN DARRY!”
“Soda I can’t see shit, how the hell do you expect me to pour in the cake mix?” Darry said as he put his hands on his hips.
Soda thought for a moment about a solution, “I’ll just guide you to make sure you don’t miss.” He said with a tiny smile.
Pony would’ve smiled seeing his brothers getting along, but alas, he couldn’t, due to the tape over his mouth. He looked back over to the instructions and grabbed the vegetable oil.
”Hey Pones, do ya think you could finish the wet ingredients a bit faster?” Darry said while hesitantly pouring in his bag of cake mix in the bowl; spilling some in the process.
Pony let out a muffled sound, and quickly poured in the cup of vegetable oil.
And then, an idea dawned on him. He could mess with his brothers. Darry, who usually had good reflexes, was now unable to see, and Sodapop was always aware of his surroundings— but not anymore.
He quickly grabbed 5 eggs while Soda wasn’t looking and put them over by his mixing bowl. He gently picked up the eggs, and set them down on a small plate. Pony swiftly reached over the counter and grabbed three lemons, and four limes and put them in the bowl to replace the eggs.
”PONY!! HAND ME THE WHISK!”
“Dammit Soda you don’t have to yell.” Darry said while he was wiping his hands on his jeans after successfully getting most of the cake mix in. Key word, most.
Pony grabbed the ramekin full of lemons and lime and handed Sodapop the whisk while hiding the dish and setting it over by Darry.
Sure, this was a harmless prank— maybe not even a prank at all, but it did make Pony giggle. Well, if he could.
“Hey Soda, grab the eggs and put them in the bowl please?” Darry said as he almost bumped into Pony as he turned around in the almost correct direction of the other two brothers.
“HUH?! DID YA SAY SOMETHING SUPERMAN!?” Soda yelled as he whipped around towards them.
Darry let out an audible sigh, then proceeded to shout, “GET THE DAMN EGGS IN THE BOWL SODA!”
“HUH? You want me to get the eggs?” Soda said while cocking an eyebrow.
Darry held out a thumbs up and then went back to trying to get back to where he was before.
Soda turned around and started looking for where the eggs would be, which would be where Pony was working earlier.
With this chance, Pony maneuvered his way around Darry without being caught and picked up the dish holding the citruses. He then tapped Darry on the shoulder and handed him the small bowl.
“Thanks, Pones. HEY KNUCKLEHEAD! I got the eggs!” Darry shouted, which seemed to get Soda’s attention.
“Are you fucking kidding me Darry?” Soda said while placing his hands on his hips.
“What did I do, exactly to deserve such harsh words from you?” Darry said with confusion mixed in his voice.
Soda grumbled something while rubbing his eyes. “Ponyboy Curtis, please tell Darry where you put the eggs.”
A muffled sound came from Pony’s direction.
“Soda what the hell are you talking about?” Darry said with enough volume for Soda to maybe hear him.
“This guy thought it was funny to replace the eggs with lemons and limes. Pony where in the ever-loving shit did you put the damn eggs?” Sodapop said while taking the bowl out of Darry’s hands and setting down.
This was going to take a while.
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
Two hours later, the kitchen was a complete disaster. There are two broken egg shells on the counter, a small pool of water dripping down the counter and onto the floor, multiple utensils scattered all over the countertop, cake mix all over the counter (some of it dry, some of it wet), a shit ton of sprinkles all over the counter, frosting coated the three brothers shirts and arms, and an insane amount of dishes piled up in the sink.
By now, they all have taken off the thing that restricted one of their senses and were just staring at the huge mess before them.
And to showcase their disabilities in their great creation, the cake they were baking had turned out lopsided, plus multiple spots where the frosting wasn’t covering.
“Well shit, looks like a leprechaun got drunk and decided to go to culinary school.” Ponyboy said, breaking the silence between the three of them.
Darry grabbed a towel off of the oven and started wiping off all of the frosting that coated his forearms.
“Peopelwhoarecleanigupthemesssaywhat-” Soda said quickly.
“What?” Darry and Ponyboy said simultaneously while turning their heads over to Sodapop.
Soda was just about to say something before the door slammed open and in came Two-Bit, Steve, and Johnny.
“Holy shit who let the marshmallow men get baking licenses. Looks like someone tried to get put on Nailed It with that crooked ass cake.” Two-Bit said cackling while waltzing over to the kitchen.
“Gee thanks Two-Bit.” Darry said, rolling his eyes.
“Hi Pony!” Johnny called out enthusiastically while trotting over to Ponyboy and planting a small kiss on his cheek.
From the corner of Pony’s eyes he could see Steve fake gagging.
“No but seriously what the hell were you guys up to while we were gone?” Steve said while poking his finger at the cake.
“I saw this baking challenge a few days ago and thought it would be fun to try.” Soda said while leaning against the counter.
“Oh isn’t it that one where one person is blind, one deaf, and the other mute?” Johnny added on.
Pony nodded as he wrapped his frosting covered hands around Johnny’s arm.
“It was against my best judgement, but I will say that it was a bit fun.” Darry said with a small smile creeping up on his face.
“Alright everybody, we are all gonna help clean up this mess.” Darry exclaimed.
A collective groan filled the room from the gang, as they all went over to help Darry in the kitchen.