Ponyboy checked on his invalid brother an hour later to find him fast asleep in bed. He had spilled his soup all over the sheets and was laying in the contents. His hair, face, hands and clothes were covered with soup.
"Oh boy.." Pony sighed as he got a rag and started to clean up most of the chunks. One thing Pony noticed though, was the house was silent. So silent he could hear the sound of Soda's raspy breathing, a small whine escaping from his throat every time he breathed out.
The silence didn't last for very long though. Steve and Dally came running into the house. "Hey fellas! What's for dinner tonight?" they went to the kitchen.
"Soup." Johnny replied to them. He was making more.
"Oh..." Steve looked down into the pot, disappointed, "I was hopin' for something good, like country fried something"
"Sorry.." Johnny said quietly.
Ponyboy walked in, "Guys keep it down. They're sleepin'"
Dally looked over at Two-Bit, asleep with a plate as a pillow, "Nothin's gonna wake that one up." he laughed as he used his foot to nudge the sleeping boy's arm. Two-Bit didn't move, he just mumbled something inaudible and smacked a few times, then went back to being quiet.
Steve had a huge smirk on his face, "Lets draw on his face!" he picked up a marker.
"NO!" Ponyboy snatched the marker away from Steve. "He'll just get mad when he wakes up and he'll be up all night complaining."
"Awe, whatever" Steve grumbled as he sat down next to the body.
Darry walked in the front door and hugged Pony, "Hey little brother" he let him go and messed up his hair. "Supper's ready?"
"Yeah, go ahead." Ponyboy turned and went back to Soda's room and took off his shirt and pants so he could wash them for him. Steve laughed when he came back, "Look at you! You're just like a little old housewife! But you really should be wearing an apron" he threw an apron over his head, "There, so much better, darling" he pinched his cheek, "We don't want you to spot your clothes." he was talking in a British accent.
"Oh knock it off" Pony threw the apron back at Steve, "I have to change Soda's sheets..."
Darry carried Soda to the couch and put a blanket over him while Ponyboy made the bed back up. Hopefully the sheets will stay clean for a couple more days at least.
"Alright, it's clean now" Pony sighed as he sat down at the table to get something to eat. Johnny set a bowl of soup in front of him, "Thanks..."
"Pony, you look tired." Darry said with a mouthful of soup, "You should really sleep or you're gonna get sick too."
"But whose gonna take care of them?" he yawned.
"There's four of us here, we can figure something out. You need to rest" Darry ordered.
"Okay..." Pony didn't argue much. He was pretty tired.
Darry carried Soda back to his room and put Two-Bit in the bed with him. Might as well have them contaminating up the same place. "Pony you can take the couch" Darry got a pillow and blanket for him.
It was about 3 in the morning and everything was quiet. Steve, Dally and Johnny had just decided to crash at the Curtis' for the night. They were all on the floor sleeping contently when suddenly everyone was awakened by a scream. They all sat up and ran to the sick room and found Soda sitting up, trying to push Two-Bit out of the bed.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Darry ran up and stopped him, "Stop that. What are you doing?"
Soda was in tears, "What is he doing here?!" he whined, "He's mean to me!" he jumped to Darry and cried into his shirt.
"Oh, Soda" he sighed, "if you weren't so sick I'd be mad..." he just patted his back roughly.
Pony took his place, "you're hitting him too hard, Dar." he started stroking Soda's back, "Shhhh...Two-Bit's gotta sleep somewhere too, yanno. He's not hurting you" he said softly.
Two-Bit slowly sat up, "What's goin' on?" he yawned and stretched out, his foot hitting Soda's leg.
"You see that?! He's deliberately touching me! He wants me to be mad!"
Darry was sick of this, "Soda, shut up he's just stretching!"
Soda stared at his big brother and more tears came to his eyes, "Don't. Yell. At. Meeee" he managed to say between sobs.
"I didn't yell at you" Darry said, annoyed.
Steve piped in, "You kind of did yell, Darry."
"Oh shut up!"
Dally started to defend Darry and started yelling at Steve, who made Johnny get involved. Soon Everyone was yelling at each other and Soda and Two-Bit were back in a wrestling match.
