Chapter Text
Sodapop Curtis would never describe himself as a careful person.
Quite the opposite, actually. He liked to think he was reckless. Brave. Funny, most of the time. A good fighter. Impulsive and tough. He was a greaser through and through.
(Deep down, he would also describe himself as a very optimistic person.His Mama used to say he was a ray of sunshine and bubbly just like a sugary soda)
God, he missed her.
But careful? not really.
But things had started to change after the accident.
He’d started to notice things. Just little things.
Especially when it came to his kid brother .
Ponyboy was Soda’s baby. He’d been Sodas all along.
“What do you think we should name the baby, Sweetheart?” His Father’s voice rang sweet beside him. They were in the park, a nice spring day in May. His mama was beside him. Soda loved putting his face right near his Mother’s belly, trying to feel the baby kicking. He was kicking now, and it was making Soda laugh non stop.
“ Hmm… Something to do with horses of course! Maybe Colt? that sounds like a cool name!” The nine year old said, smiling brightly.
He could talk about horses for hours if he could find someone who would listen.
He’d happily never go to school again if he could work at the rodeo, or maybe enroll in a school that only taught classes about horses, did that exist? he’d have to ask Darry. He knew about everything…
“ Well I like that a lot! I'll think about that…” His father replied, and that same night at the dinner table, Darrel Curtis senior had proudly declared the new baby was to be named Ponyboy.
Soda had a warm, happy feeling in his chest that would last forever. Hey, I helped name my baby brother!
It started on a Monday morning, a few weeks after their parents had passed.
It was Soda’s turn to make breakfast that day, and he was happily scrambling eggs and stirring chocolate milk simultaneously while trying not to burn the toast.
He could hear his brother’s footsteps running around. It sure sounded a lot like Darry was… chasing Pony around?.
“Ponyboy, I swear, just get the damn socks on your feet, you’re gonna be late!”
“NO! they don’t feel right!”
“ What the heck is that supposed to mean? just put them on, I ain’t about to let you go to school barefoot!”
Their screaming match ended with a very teary eyed Pony( with socks AND shoes on, props to Darry for a battle well fought) sitting at the breakfast table, picking at his breakfast.
Pony had been slowly getting better at eating more. The first week after the accident had been awful. Pony wouldn’t sleep, and he wouldn’t eat anything that didn’t have loads of sugar in it. Claimed he just wasn’t hungry.
(It drove Darry mad. They tried everything, from giving him disgusting vegetable shakes to hand feeding him. Soda had even tried the whole “ here comes the airplane” trick once. Pony had promptly smacked the spoon away, muttering about how he wasn’t a baby anymore.
You still need help tying your shoelaces, kid
Soda wanted to say , but he stayed silent. He started sleeping right beside Pony after the first nightmare, more out of necessity than anything else.
Thinking about how the three of them all had their own separate rooms now left a pang in his chest.
Before,Soda was content to share with Pony, and Darry had his own room.
( never mind that Pony usually crawled into their parent's bed every night). But he´d been ecstatic when they suggested he moved into Darry´s room after he went away for College, claiming “ A big boy needs more privacy” ( it had been pretty much the only good thing about Darry leaving them, if you asked Soda. Oh how he missed his big brother every day).
But obviously, that didn't last very long. Darry had moved back into his room, Soda and Pony were back to sharing, and their parents room was left vacant, unopened, untouched.
Soda had refused to go back to school, picking up a full time position at the DX.
It didn´t give him the relief he´d always thought it would, leaving school.
And Pony? he´d really been getting better. With the eating and sleeping, at least.
They’d made a deal with Darry that he would at least try to clear half of his plate and he would get a treat at the end of each week. He´d been talking a little more, slowly returning to the happy kid they used to know.
Except for that day. Pony was glaring at his scrambled eggs like they had personally offended him in some way.
“What’s wrong, honey?” Soda tried.
“I’m not hungry today” Pony frowned, like something was bothering him but he couldn’t figure out what.
“ That’s okay, Pone. Just try a little bit of the toast, yeah?”
All kinds of alarm bells started ringing in Soda’s head after that.
Later, after putting the kid to bed, Soda walked into the bathroom while Darry was shaving.
“Did you notice something off about Pony today?”
“Huh? no, not really. Why?”
“He only ate a couple bites at breakfast and no dinner.I- what if he gets bad again?”
Darry sighed at his reflection in the mirror. Soda thought he looked tired. He always looked tired these days.
“ He was probably just upset because I forced him to wear socks. Nothing to worry about, pepsi-cola. Go to bed”
And Soda did, right beside his little brother, holding him close and unable to let go of the uneasy feeling brewing in his stomach.
It happened again that next day, a few hours after Darry had brought their kid brother from school.
Soda had arrived from the DX, head to toe covered in grease, exhausted, with Steve trailing behind him.
Soda usually had heaps of restless energy and no place to let it all out, but his mind had been stuck on Pony all day.
Not even his usual bickering with his best buddy or all the pretty girls that usually hung around his work, flashing him smiles and switching their skirts, had succeeded in distracting him.
And then, he found the strangest sight waiting for him at home.
It wasn´t Darry making dinner with a frown on his face or even their friend Two-bit lazing around on their couch, playing cards with Dallas Winston.
It wasn´t Johnnycakes and Ace laying on the floor in front of the TV, laughing softly amongst themselves.
It was Ponyboy, fast asleep right at the dinner table, drooling all over his third grade english textbook.
That just don´t look right. Soda thought. That´s Ponys favorite subject!
Soda quickly mumbled a greeting to his friends and went straight to the dining room to rouse his little brother.
“ Up and at them Pony! you wanna finish your homework or?..”
The kid barely stirred, blinking slowly.
“ Five more minutes please?” Pony muttered, clearly out of it. That made the rest of the gang start cracking up.
Leave it for all of them to be here on a day like this. Soda thought, then inmediately erased the thought from his head. That sounded like something Darry would say. Was he turning into his big brother? no way.
“ Okay Honey, that's it, let's get you to bed” Soda concluded, scooping his baby brother into his arms. Ponyboy wrapped his arms around his older brother's neck and yawned.
His forehead felt warm against Soda´s chest.
“You feeling okay, buddy?”
“ Hmm.. better if you let me sleep” Pony mumbled, and promptly started coughing his lungs out. Dry, rough coughs that sank Soda´s stomach even more.
It had been a little more than a month since the accident that completely upturned their whole lives, and Pony hadn´t gotten sick once.
But during all his eight years of life, when Ponyboy got sick, he got really sick.
Dear god, how did we miss this? How will we make it through without them?
Soda made quick work of tucking Pony into bed, a million things going through his head. How come no one noticed? Were they supposed to give him a bath if he had a fever? He would hate that. Where was the damn thermomether?
Turns out, Pony definitely had a fever( it was a miracle he´d let Soda take his temperature without much fuss- He was really cranky when he got sick.)
Soda stormed into the kitchen when Darry had just finished dinner, cheeks flushed and thermomether in hand.
“ Hey Pepsi, you feeling like chicken or I think we have leftovers from yester-”
“Pony´s sick. I told you something was wrong with him! he was coughing and he was all sleepy and now he has a fever-“
He saw Darry's face fall. His older brother switched off the stove and took a deep breath.
“It’s gonna be fine, Soda. He probably just has a cold. We’ll take care of him, savvy?"
“Savy.” Soda muttered, but he wasn’t as certain.
Later, Soda took it upon himself to place a damp towel right on Pony’s forehead to lower the fever ( just like his mama would do for them) and fed him some canned chicken soup. Just a couple bites, but it would have to be enough.
Satisfied with himself, he finally joined the others for dinner.
“How’s the kid?” Dally asked as soon as he saw Soda walk in.
For all his tough demeanor and all the time he’d spent in and out of the cooler, everyone knew Dallas Winston had a soft spot for the youngest Curtis. Everyone did, really. Ace and Johnny were the ones that babysat the most, but they all showed they cared when they could. Two- Bit would swipe Pony’s favorite candy bars from the store. Steve even begrudgingly drove him to school when they couldn’t.
“He’s okay, just a fever I think. I hope he’ll sleep it off and he’ll be fine and dandy tomorrow" Soda said.
“ The kid probably just picked up a bad case of the flu from school. My sister had it a few weeks back, i'll see if we have some medicine left”
Two bit piped in. Darry thanked two bit in a grateful manner, shooting a look at Soda that meant “ Two- bit will forget about the medicine in all but five minutes”
Sometimes Soda and Darry didn’t even need proper words to communicate. It was one of his favorite things.
“ If he’s not better tomorrow I can stay and watch over him if y’all need?” Johnny, always the angel, muttered. Soda went to ruffle his head.
What other kid would be as thoughtful as to be worried about Soda and Darry missing work?
“ Thanks Johnnycake. Let’s hope Pony really is all better by morning, hmm?”
After everyone but Johnny had trickled out ( they’d all but forced him to crash on the couch- it was too cold to stay out in the lot) Soda finally got time for himself. He took a long shower that did nothing to wash away the bad feeling in his chest.
Pony stirred as soon as Soda climbed into the bed, cough syrup in hand
“Hey you, Darry said I need to give this to you or I’m being exiled from our room.”
Pony laughed weakly and took the spoonful of medicine without complaint, trying to conceal the bad taste. Eight years old and already trying to look tough.
After getting him to drink some water too, Soda finally relaxed, putting an arm around his brother and nearly dozing off on the spot.
“Thank you so much from saving me from exile” Soda muttered.
“ you’re silly”
“ No, you’re silly. our silly little colt”
“Shut up!”
“ You can’t tell me to shut up! i’m way older than you!”
“ Oh? So when I'm sixteen and you’re like thirty I'm allowed to tell you to shut up?”
Soda replied by tickling his brother until he was laughing so hard he went straight into a coughing fit.
Gosh, this kid cracked him up. Soda wasn’t sure he could love someone more. He didn’t know how all that love could fit inside his chest.
“You okay there, honey?”
“Yeah, yeah. Good night now Soda. I love you”
“ I love you too Colt. So much”
Soda kissed the top of pony's head and fell asleep, hoping and praying with all his might to all the gods out there that his little brother would be just fine.