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soda’s heart pounded in his ears, his feet matching the rhythm. he sprinted across the local park, the cold wind whipping at the ends of his shirt. his two brothers yelled his name behind him, but he didn’t pay them any mind.
he just ran out the door after they got in yet another fight. he just couldn’t do it anymore—the constant fighting. he couldn’t just ‘pick’ a side. soda just wanted everyone to be happy.
the vast park wouldn’t end for a while, but soda knew that he would run out of stamina. he was a good runner, but nothing compared to his brothers—with one being on the football team and the other on track.
but what would soda say when they caught up to him? they would probably ask about all of this. he probably just created more drama just by making this all about himself. he probably just made it worse.
his breath is jagged by now. how long could he keep doing this?
he flew past trees as he wondered a way to get out of this. maybe his brothers would just give up and go home if he ran long enough.
but soda underestimated his brothers. when he was lost in his thoughts, pony and darry got scaringly closer—so close that soda could hear their footfalls behind him. darry yelled something through his teeth, with pony adding on every ten seconds or so.
soda just ran faster, some grunts coming out of him too.
this would’ve been fun, if it wasn’t about this topic. soda loved the thrill of the chase—the way your heart skipped beats and the way the laughter came out when you didn’t even want it to. it was the adrenaline rush he adored in many ways.
he saw a flash of legs to the far left of him. pony, curving in towards him to tackle him, probably. soda thought about juking him out and launching backwards, but darry was still behind him. he also thought about dashing to the right, but he knew he didn’t have the energy for that kind of move. he was as trapped as a mouse in a cat's paw.
pony swiftly moved in and wrapped his arms around his brother's waist, diving to the ground to pull soda with him. darry quickly followed and fell to the ground.
soda hit the short grass with a thud and a groan. he and his two other brothers hit the ground in a tangle of legs beside him.
darry launched up and pushed soda on his back—while soda was putting up a struggle—and straddled his brother to make sure he didn’t try his stunt again and run off.
soda tried to buck him off, but that didn't get him far. darry now stared him dead in the eyes.
“you wanna tell me what that little stunt of yours was?” darry spit. he was really mad. he probably thought that soda was pulling off what pony did only a little bit before.
soda sputtered, looking for words that didn’t exist. but what soda wasn’t expecting, was for tears to pool in his eyes.
this was enough of an explanation for darry. the older brother’s gaze softened—he hated to see his brothers cry.
sodas words finally stringed together. “i just–i hate when you guys fight. i hate picking sides. i know i sound so selfish right now and—” soda was cut off by darry cupping his face.
“this isn’t your fault, soda. and you’re not making it about yourself.” darry responded.
soda swallowed and tried to gather his thoughts. he wanted to get his point across before his tears got the better of him. “i just love you guys, and i hate seeing either one of you get hurt. pony, darry
is just trying to help you, he doesn’t hate you, even though it’s hard to believe sometimes.” soda wipes his eyes. “and darry, pony doesn’t have to do everything your way. he’s a crazy kid, just please loosen your grip on him.”
soda breathed in heavily and covered his face in his hands. darry and pony looked at him with a new found realization. darry was the first to speak after the long stretch of silence.
darry nodded his head. “sure. sure bud, we ain’t gonna fight no more.” the older brother combed sodas hair with his hand.
pony’s eyes started to water a little bit too before soda noticed.
“you really think we need another ball baby in this family, pony? come on.” soda said with a half hearted chuckle. pony scooted after to his brothers and wiped his wet eyes.
they stayed just like that for a moment. each of the brothers sniffled and offered small smiles to each other—until soda squeaked.
while darry was combing through soda’s hair, he grazed over his ear and a little bit of his neck. soda looked petrified, but was unable to keep that excited glint from his eye.
darry smirked without any words and turned to pony, checking if pony had the same idea he had. he did.
with darry still straddling the middle child and pony at his side, they attacked. four arms descended onto soda’s torso.
soda immediately burst into happy little giggles, his eyes and nose scrunching up. the two brothers targeted two spots at a time. right now, darry was on the hips and pony was on the ribs.
darry was doing slow gentle circles in the indents of soda’s hips, sending soda snorting and covering his face.
“awh, is soda ticklish?” darry cooed at his brother, forgetting about his tough personality.
soda just squeaked. “NOHOHOHOO, WHAHAHIHT, SNRK—PLEHEHASE!---SNRK!”
the two brothers looked down at soda, now grinning almost as big as he was. this kind of happiness wasn’t really that common. it was good to have this refresher.
pony lightly pinched soda’s ribs, making him giggle his head off.
soon enough, the boys got rather bored of these spots, so they switched. now, it was darry reaching behind him on the thighs and pony doing something evil. pony was leaning down to put his face right next to his brother's belly.
soda announced a string of ‘no’s and ‘wait’s before pony started nibbling on his midsection, all while making little ‘nom’ sounds. darry was just squeezing soda’s thighs up and down.
soda screamed. “AHAHAHA! POHOHONY!! HEHEHEH!” the middle brother pounded his feet on the ground to try to relieve the situation. that—of course—did not work. all his brain could focus on is how bad it tickled and how much he—-liked it?
this carried on for a while. and the longer it happened, the more melty soda’s brain got. he couldn’t think of anything. just the constant squeezing and nibbling and his laughter spilling out his mouth.
the two brothers on top of him looked toward each other again, and soda’s heart dropped. “nononohonono, pleheahase, i cahan’t, guhehuys!! noohot thehere plehase!”
his pleads fell on deaf ears.
the two brothers repositioned themself on his worst spots. his feet and his lower belly. darry on feet, pony now on the lower bit of the belly. all the while soda was freaking out in his head. was it nervousness he felt? excitement? both?
the greaser didn’t get to think much about that before the hands started. darry was quickly scratching soda’s soles, knowing that's what gets him the most. pony was stuffing his face into soda’s lower tummy and blowing raspberries.
soda was sure he was gonna laugh himself to death. he laid completely on his back, arms spread out as he laughed into the sky. he was pretty sure he was starting to see stars.
“OHOHO MY GOHOHSH HEHELP HAHAHAHAHAH” soda squealed before dissolving into more helpless laughter.
even if soda’s body was fizzing with nerves, soda loved this. he would never admit it of course, but he did truly enjoy this. the helpless laughter that poured through him, making his ribs ache his shoulders bounce, the connection with his brothers, everything. it was perfect.
soda’s laughter slowly turned silent. the brothers took this as a hint and slowed their hands to rub on soda’s tummy.
soda’s chest rose and fell for the next couple of seconds. all the brothers recovered from laughing so hard.
soda soon sat up after a while and wiped his now teary-from-laughing eyes and looked up at darry and pony.
“race ya back to the house. last one has to do the dishes.”