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Ponyboy had never expected to spend a night before Christmas Eve in the Shepards' house ever.
Yet, here he was, curled up in Curly Shepard’s bed, head on the older boy’s chest as he read a book he had recently picked up while listening to the radio that was blasting Christmas music.
Curly had somehow managed to swipe the thing from a shop near the Curtis residence a couple of weeks ago. He may have gotten banned, but it was well worth it in Ponyboy’s opinion.
A small groan came from above him, and he looked up to see a mildly annoyed, yet comfortable, look on Curly’s face. He quirked a brow, “What's up now?”
“Pony, can we, like, do somethin'?” Curly grumbled, hand suddenly going to Pony’s hair to play with it, “We've been here for way too long, I'm getting fucking sick.”
“It's been only 35 minutes, Curls.” Pony remarked, eyes already trailing back to his book, “You can survive for another 30.”
Curly frowned, “But I'm bored! Can't we, like, at least get something to drink? I'm sure there would be something you’d like.” He said, “Like, I don't know why, but I’ve been cravin for hot chocolate for a while now.”
Pony paused mid-page flip to consider that. Yeah, it would be nice to make hot chocolate right now. The weather called for it, and neither Angela nor Tim would show up for a while, so they could probably make it and clean it up before they came back.
“Do you have supplies for hot chocolate?” Pony asked, sitting up to turn to look at Curly.
He shrugged, “Probably, we might need to get chilli powder, though.”
Pony blinked, “Why would you need chilli powder in hot chocolate?”
“Do white people not make hot chocolate with chilli in it?” Curly replied, a playful smile on his face, when Pony’s face soured. “Don't worry, it's not even that much, like an ⅛ of a teaspoon, so I'm sure we can go without it.”
Pony felt his eyes widen a bit. “Wait, you can make hot chocolate?”
“Yeah, somethin’ wrong with that?” He asked, voice suddenly defensive.
Pony smirked a bit, shaking his head, giggling a bit, “Nah, I was just surprised it's all, you don't seem the type to like to cook without burnin’ a building down.”
Curly blinked, then grinned again as he snaked an arm around Pony’s waist, “Well, Curtis, on the contrary, I happen to be an awesome fucking chef!” He declared, “And if you want, I could teach you how to make some Mexican hot chocolate to prove it.”
Ponyboy smiled a bit, leaning in closer to Curly’s face and glanced down out of his mouth before backing up at him, “Yeah, promise?” he asked, eyes suddenly half-lidded.
Curly looked down in awe, mouth parting slightly, “Yeah, course…” He replied, then he leaned down, expecting the taste of smoke to meet his lips, until Ponyboy moved back to yank Curly up in surprise.
“Cool, because I wanna take you up on that offer,” Ponyboy said, pulling him by his hand as they made out of Curly’s room, “I wanna know what the difference between Mexican and normal hot chocolate is.”
Curly groaned again behind him as the two of them descended the stairs, “Stop teasing me like that, Curtis!”
“Your own fault that you’re a horny dog.”
“Is it too late to go back and just make out?”
Ponyboy flushed, “Wha- quit it, will ya?!”
Ponyboy and Curly weren’t going steady. They really weren't, at least not officially.
The two had been friends long before…whatever they were now, but had lost contact once Curly kept regularly getting sent to juvi.
But ever since Johnny and Dally died, and Curly got out of juvi, the two started hanging out more. It started as just a casual hangout, nothing crazy, but at some point, the two had started to hold hands, cuddle, share kisses, and Curly got to make Ponyboy scream his name ina different context other than scolding him for doing something dumb.
It was crazy how they weren't dating, neither of them had made it official, yet here he was, armsa round Pony’s waist, chin resting on the other’s head as he mixed the swirling pot of hot chocolate. The smell was nostalgic, reminding Curly of simpler times, before the shitshow that was his life now.
He subtly took a sniff of Pony’s hair, getting a whiff of the near constant smokiness and a hint of cinnamon. It was nice.
“Okay, so it's all combined, now what?” Ponyboy asked.
“Oh, uhm we got mugs.” Curly said, then pulled away to grab the mugs and a huge bag of large marshmallows.
He placed the stuff next to the pan and turned to see Ponyboy’s eyes, wide. “Dude those are like- Kinda expensive, did you steal that?” He asked, pointing to the marshmallow bag.
Curly snorted, taking the pot and pouring it into the mugs and plopping the marshmallows in the drink. “Obviously stolen, I don’t have that kind of money.”
He then pulled out two cinnamon sticks, plopping it into the drink, then grabbed a bar of chocolate. “You want some shavings?”
Ponyboy's eyes just about sparkled, Curly felt his ears warm a bit, and then he nodded. Curly chuckled, then grated the chocolate and then handed the other mug to him.
Curly watched Ponyboy first as he took a sip, wanting to see his reaction, and saw his eyes widen. He had a small hot chocolate mustache, a small smile came onto his face and Curly felt his chest tighten.
“Curls! This is so fucking good!” He exclaimed, taking a huge gulp.
Curly chuckled, taking a sip of his own drink, then sighed in relief, “Right? Fuck! This always hits the spot.”
“I might just make this instead of the instant shit we usually get.” Pony muttered, leaning into Curly’s side, smiling.
Curly looked down, a thought coming faster than he could process it.
“I like you.”
Ponyboy stiffened in his arms, and Curly wanted to punch himself in the face. He turned to look up at him, face red.
“Do-don’t, fuckin’ mess with me like that, Curls.” He said, voice tight, “You know we-we can’t we already shouldn’t be doin’ this.”
Curly tightened his hold on Ponyboy’s shoulder, “I-I know. It’s fuckin’ dangerous to be queer, I don’t wanna admit that but- Pony what we are doin’ now, I don’t think I could go back…Fuck, Pony were literally sharing some hot chocolate I taught you how to make while Christmas music is playin upstairs.” He said, looking away, “I don’t think, I’m- It feels too real now, I don’t want this to end. I just wanna know, like, are we steady? Are we exclusive?”
It was silent, a heavy one that made Curly wanna curl up into a ball and or punch a wall. Until he felt a warm hand touch his cheek, pulling to the side and a soft kiss to his lips. Curly closed his eyes, letting it sink in.
It tasted sweet, the chocolate and cinnamon taste evident. He leaned in, wanting to deepen it, then as quickly as it came it disappeared.
Curly opened his eyes, and saw Pony’s green eyes looking back at his brown ones. A small, shy smile on his face.
“Yeah, I like you too.” He replied, “I’d like to go steady.”
Curly grinned, putting his mug down he pulled the younger boy closer. Ponyboy gasped, putting his mug down quickly he laughed, cupping Curly’s face they shared another kiss.
Alone on a cold night, music played in the distance, the relationship defined.
It was perfect.