A/N: well hello there dear reader! And welcome back to the book I keep semi-forgetting I have, anyways if you looked at my message board you'll know why I'm writing this chapter!!! Anyway, I've been obsessed with The Outsiders since my junior year of high school and then I saw it has a musical, I was very iffy on that since it's such a great book and the movie is a hidden gem but I totally fell in love with it and here we are. Yes, I'm writing for the musical and whatnot but I most definitely think you'll enjoy it!! Yes, I know technically Pony being sick is not Cannon in the show but it is in the book so I'm also going off of that, this is going to be a slight Cannon divergence ( Johnny and Dally are still alive but not mentioned since it's mainly focusing on the brothers!) it hurts me that I'm not putting the gang in here but I'm writing it and I feel like writing some hurt/ comfort angst/fluff lmao, So without further ado the chapter! ******************************************
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Being Ponyboy's older brothers, soda and Darry knew that meant that they knew when he was down, stressed, mad, or even sick. He has the little tell as people call them, he becomes more reserved and quiet. He doesn't even talk to Johnny who was his best friend as he is only a couple years older than Pony, as Pony was the youngest member of the gang. Normally the Curtis household was bustling with the noise of Darry yelling at Pony and Soda to get up and eat and get ready but was eerily quiet.
Sodapop woke up reaching towards Pony's side of the bed to wake him only to be met with an empty and cold space where his brother usually slept, walking into the kitchen he saw Ponyboy knocked out asleep on the couch and Darry making breakfast ( which was their famous chocolate cake) " morning Pepsi mind getting pony up for me?" Darry asked not taking his eyes off of setting the table. "Pony come on you need to get up, open those green/grey eyes for me. That's it" Soda coxed Pony running his hand through Pony's auburn hair, noticing the unnatural heat coming off of him. "You okay pone? you're kinda hot" he asked as he saw his baby brother slightly shiver which was also weird because it wasn't cold in the least, which was worrying.
"Hey Darry can you come here, I think Pony has a fever but I'm not sure-" Soda started getting cut off by Ponyboy, " Soda I'm fine lemme up!" He argued not having the energy to push soda off which was a red flag too. " pony stay still, we're trying to help bud." Soda coaxed as Pony started squirming more as Darry got closer finally breaking free from Soda and trying to bolt outta the house, only to trip and fall flat on the floor. " Ponyboy why is it always a fight with you? We're trying to help but it seems like you don't want it." Darry finally snapped sending the whole room into silence. Then Pony did something un pony-like, he burst out into tears. He felt awful but didn't want to be a burden when Soda and Darry did everything to provide for him, soda could tell the gears in Ponyboy's head were turning and he was thinking he was a burden with Darry saying "Honey, he didn't mean it. We love you and just want what's best for you so just please tell us what's going on?" He practically begged not liking how this was going, Darry had walked out all but slamming their front door.
Holding Pony close he could still feel the unnatural heat coming off of him, moving to the couch once again breakfast forgotten. "It all came on so fast soda, I didn't mean anything by it honestly. And if I'm being honest everything just kinda hurts, I didn't mean to upset Darry he just can't stand me. It's all homework and keep your grades up and all we do is fight!" Pony rambled getting cut off by a coughing fit, it was one of those rare days when Soda and Darry were both off of work. As the day grew on so did Pony's fever, they had finally talked Pony into telling them what hurt what didn't, and what was going on in his head. Darry had calmed down enough to coax Pony into taking some meds and trying to eat some ( even tho he wasn't hungry in the slightest) and sleeping. it was well into the night when Pony started having one of his all too familiar nightmares, he'd been getting them since their parents died in a car crash. "hey come on wake up pony, it's okay it's not real. you're safe me and Darry won't let anything happen to you, pony!" soda panicked shaking his baby brother who wouldn't wake up and was feeling hotter than normal. finally, pony opened his eyes and was lucid enough "Soda'm gonna be sick." pony got out panicking. so Darry picked him up and raced to the bathroom where he sat Pony down. " that's it just focus on breathing it'll all be over soon, we need to get some more medicine in you cause you're still burning up honey." normally Darry didn't use pet names but when it was serious like this and pony was scared he would use a calm tactic to try and get pony calmed down.
the rest of the night consisted of the same thing but Soda and Darry took turns making sure Pony was getting to sleep, drinking enough water, and taking meds when the bottle said was okay, Darry and Soda made a deal that if Pony stayed like this and his fever wasn't going down any that they would take another day off and take Pony to the doctors and see what was going on.
his nightmares were also getting much worse to where he was waking up covered in sweat and thinking he was still in the dream, when that would happen soda would freak out and call Darry in to help him get their baby brother comfy again. the next day they did end up taking Pony to the doctor even tho he was much more lucid than he was during the night which is when everything would go down with the fevers which led to Pony working himself up so much that he would end up throwing up afterward. it took a few days ( darry had moved in with his two brothers in their room at night to help keep an eye on Ponyboy)
the fourth and final day pony finally got his appetite back and wolfed down breakfast " Hey darry, thank you, and soda for taking care of me. I know I'm not the greatest person to deal with while sick with all the nightmares probably keeping you two up." pony rambled on which the two oldest just stared back at him. " pony there is no one else we would want to take care of than you! We were scared we would've had to take you to the ER but you pulled through like the fighter you are!" Soda exclaimed running to give pony a hug! ******************************************* ITS DONE GUYS!!!! It's a bit more Curtis centric but that's okay right? It took me three whole days to write this and I'm pretty happy with how it came out! maggiesfluffworld I would love to hear your excellent feedback and words on this one! I love all the feedback you give me! Anyways till the next one guys! Don't forget about me while I'm gone!!! -Nico
