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Ponyboy had been sick for a week now, and both Darry and Sodapop couldn’t take time off work anymore. They usually would ask Two-Bit to take care of Ponyboy for the week, but Two-Bit had to stay home with his sister since his mom was out of town.
So this left both Johnny and Dally to take care of Ponyboy. Johnny, of course, had school to go to during the day. Well, he could skip, but his teacher told him he needed to be in classes for the next few weeks so she didn’t have to hold him back. So that means Dally had to take care of Ponyboy on his own.
Now Dally wasn’t clueless on how to take care of a sick person, but that didn’t mean he was all that good at it. Dally usually didn’t even do anything if he himself was sick. Dally was the sort of person to just suffer through it and act as normal as he could, only sometimes actually doing something if he got too bad people noticed. So you could say he isn’t very experienced at all.
He knew the gist of course. Give medicine, stay in bed and rest, keep fever down, and drink lots of fluids. So he figures he won't need any help at all. It’s only one sick kid anyway, what could possibly go wrong?
It turns out, a lot could go wrong.
Currently Ponyboy was having some issue with taking medicine for no reason. Dally is annoyed and confused about why the kid would not want something that would make him feel better. “Pone, you need to take the medicine or else Darry will have my skin.” Dally says with a sigh.
“Well at least that’s one less person trying to make me take medicine.” Ponyboy retorts. Ponyboy’s voice isn’t that rough or raspy yet, but it definitely wasn’t normal anymore. That was probably because they actually caught him sick on the first day, so it didn’t have time to fester. Dally looks at Ponyboy blanky before sighing in annoyance.
“Take the meds. It’s not even the liquid kind, why are you hating on it?” Dally sighs again, taking out two pills and setting them in Ponyboy’s hands. Did he check how many Ponyboy should take? No. Does he think it will matter at this point? Also no. Ponyboy looks down at the pills in Dally’s hands, and then up at Dally.
“You do know I can only take one every four hours, right?” Ponyboy asks with a raised eyebrow he definitely learned from Two-Bit.
Dally rolls his eyes with a slight groan and puts back one of the pills, “Okay, will you take it now?” Ponyboy nods his head and takes the pill from Dally’s hand. Dally was about to offer Ponyboy some water when Ponyboy downed the pill dry with only a slight wince. Dally, still with a cup of water in his hands, looks at Ponyboy with equal amounts of confusion and annoyance. “Why would you take it without water, you dumbass?” Dally asks, though not expecting an answer. Ponyboy only shrugs in response.
Dally rolls his eyes when Ponyboy lays back down, “You have to drink some water before you go back to sleep.” Ponyboy doesn’t respond, only turning around and facing his back to Dally instead of the opposite. “Ponyboy.” Dally says in a warning tone. Ponyboy groans and turns back, glaring at the water in Dally’s hand before taking it in his own. Dally has to help Ponyboy sit up so he can drink.
Ponyboy stares down at the drink as if contemplating something, not even looking like he was about to take a sip. Dally and Ponyboy sit in silence for a few seconds that feel like minutes to Dally, who then sighs. “It’s water, not poison, now drink it ya idiot.” Dally says. Ponyboy rolls his eyes but starts taking a few sips. Ponyboy finishes half of the cup before setting it down on the table next to him and laying back down.
Dally points a finger at Ponyboy before he falls asleep, “You stay right there, I don’t wanna see you get out of bed for anything but using the bathroom, got it?” Ponyboy grumbles but nods his head anyway. Dally nods his head and stands up, “Good. Holler if ya need somethin’.” Dally then walks out of the room and leaves Ponyboy alone to rest.
Dally stays in the living room watching TV. Johnny walks into the house quietly, making sure to gently close the door behind him. Dally didn’t even notice him walk in, only seeing he was there when Johnny sat down next to him. “Hey Johnny.” Dally says.
“Hey.” Johnny replies. Johnny then turns to Dally, “How is Pony doing?”
“He’s alright, been resting a few hours by now.” Dally shrugs, then looks at the time and realizes it’s time to give Ponyboy more medicine. Dally gets up and walks over to Ponyboy’s bedroom, walking in without even caring to knock on the door. He found Ponyboy still in bed sleeping.
Ponyboy wakes up as he hears someone walk up to his bed, squinting his eyes up at Dally. “Medicine time.” Dally says with a grin as he holds up the bottle of pills. Ponyboy groans and flops back down on his bed. “Don’t even try to not take it, you brat.” Dally says in response to Ponyboy’s reaction.
Ponyboy grabs the water, quickly takes a pill out of the bottle, and then takes it fastly to just get it over with. Dally’s eyebrows raised in surprise at Ponyboy’s actions, “Or you can do that…” Ponyboy grunts in response and sets the water back down on the side table, going back to his earlier position and going back to sleep. Dally was very surprised how cooperative Ponyboy was being this time around.
Dally ruffles Ponyboy’s hair with a smile, then gets up and walks back out to the living room where Sodapop and Steve were with Johnny. “Hey guys, when did ya get here?” Dally asks.
“A few minutes ago. How is Pony doing?” Sodapop asks with a worried tone. Steve gives Dally a wave instead of verbally responding.
“The kid’s fine, Soda, just restin’.” Dally replies. Sodapop smiles and nods his head in response.
“And how are you? Had to take care of him all day and become a softy?” Steve said with a grin, lighting nudging Dally with an elbow a few times. Dally glares at Steve and then elbows him hard in the side in reply to what he was doing earlier. Steve grunts and holds his side, still grinning.
Dally was sure he could handle taking care of the kid a few more times if needed, he wasn’t half bad while sick anyway.