SUMMER SOLDIER . for whatever hintonverse character you choose :)
"Thanks for the coffee, Mr. Tantalides," Darry says, the burdens on his face clearly looming large. his face ashen. There is a grief there that few people see so early in life, a grief there that's only going to grow in the next few days or hours. Make no mistake: Jennifer Curtis wouldn't live through her surgery, of that he was convinced.
It isn't something that Pelops wants to happen. It's something he knows, because he wouldn't be here if he wasn't absolutely sure she would die. The house would've respected her needs, but with her dying?
He and the house know what they have to do. It is up to him to bring his grandson back to them, and the only way to do what was to convince Darry to give up his pride, to turn his back on his own feelings of pack and family, to have him understand that the best thing he could do for Ponyboy was to give him back to Pelops. To have him back in Philly, with them—and Pelops knows this isn't a hard task to do. Not with his age, not with how young Darry is.
The trick is making Darry not feel as if he's giving up anything, to feel that the decision, in the end, isn't trick. Has to make him feel that he's living up his parent's wishes, even if it's truly not the case.
Pelops knows that he would have a hard time if he were older, sure of himself. But seated in front of him is a poor twenty year old with only a few choices to make. All Pelops has to do is steer him to it, not through force but by manipulating the board piece by piece.
All that mattered was that by the end of it, Ponyboy would be with the right family.
