Request by DemonAngel23.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders. I also do not have experience with physical disabilities or therapy. I am only basing it off of the disabilities and inclusion class that I took before. I'm sorry if I get anything wrong.

o-o-o

It was almost safe to assume that Ponyboy learned how to ice skate before he could walk. His parents had taken him to the ice skating rink almost every weekend when they found out how much he enjoyed it. That soon led to lessons and joining a team. At first, it was just a hobby. He had no plans to go further than that because, after all, he wasn't the greatest skater around. He was clumsy and fell down after every trick that he tried to perform. But then he improved, and it started to become more competitive.

It happened out of nowhere, but, suddenly, he started to become recognized. His ice skating improved drastically since he was a small child. He won competitions, earning medals and trophies which were proudly displayed in the rink that he had practically grown up in. He was no Olympic skater, but he became famous enough to be interviewed by different news stations. He had fans… loads of them! But, through that entire process, Ponyboy had somehow kept this fact from the gang. Even his brothers, who had ice skated with him before, didn't know about his fame. They just knew that he loved to ice skate and was on a general team. Nothing more. It wasn't like he didn't want to tell the gang. It just never popped up in a conversation.

Ponyboy's ice skating career briefly halted when his parents passed away in an auto wreck. He thought about giving up the sport, being in too much emotional pain to continue. Months had passed by with him not taking a step on a rink. His ice skates gathered dust in the corner of his closet. Headlines popped up about him disappearing. Pony had to sneakily remove those articles from the newspapers that Darry read.

But one day, Ponyboy decided to get back on his feet… or ice skates in his matter. He couldn't quit. His parents loved his choreographed performances in the small-time competitions. He had to continue skating for them and hoped that they were smiling down at him from Heaven.

The day that he returned to the rink was also the day that the gang found out about his fame.

Ponyboy was standing in the center of the empty rink. The chilling air nipped at his nose and his toes had grown numb, but he was used to the feeling. The owner allowed him to practice skating before the rink opened. They were friends—Ponyboy practically being raised there and all. From his spot in the middle of the rink, he could see the owner. He gave him a small wave, telling him to start the music. When it did, Ponyboy started to figure skate.

It was a new choreography to start again with something fresh. And with a fresh routine came new moves. Ponyboy decided that day that he was going to put in a quadruple axel. He didn't know what urged him to do it, seeing how he had never once been able to do it before. He had a difficult time with a triple axel, by itself, and he hadn't figure skated for so long.

He jumped, spinning in the air before his blades landed on the ice.

One spin.

Easy.

Two spins.

Again.

Three.

He was too close to the ice.

Four.

He spun in the air, trying to land. But his knees buckled, sending him crashing against the ice. Pain shot through his body, causing his face to scrunch up like a prune. For a long, silent moment, Ponyboy stared at the ceiling.

Another failure.

How many was that now? Too many to count, that was for sure. But that wasn't going to stop him. Ponyboy stood up, trying the song again from the beginning. He was probably covered in future bruises at that point. He continued to skate until the rink opened.

People slowly started to enter the establishment and Ponyboy took that as an indicator to take a break. He sat down on one of the benches that outlined the ice rink, trying to catch his breath. He watched as people skated around with careless faces and Ponyboy felt a sense of nostalgia looking at them. He used to feel so careless and liberated when skating. He still did, don't get him wrong. But there had been a lot of pressure on his shoulders since he started competing.

"Ponyboy!" someone suddenly bellowed behind him, clamping their hands down onto his shoulders. Pony nearly jumped out of his skin but spun around to face them to hide his shock. It was the gang, all holding their own rented ice skates.

"I didn't know that you were here," Soda said, blinking heavily. "It's been a while since you were here last."

"We were going to ask you to come with us, but we couldn't find you," Johnny added although he knew that Ponyboy would have said no anyway. He liked to skate alone by his lonesome. Not even Johnny had skated with him before.

"I figured that I had to get back on the ice at some point," Ponyboy answered, shrugging. "For Mom and Dad. They loved it when I figure skated."

Everyone's eyes softened at his words. Darry was about to say something when a little girl, around the age of six, made her way over to him, holding her own pair of ice skates in one of her hands and a cane in the other.

"You're Ponyboy Curtis!" she shrieked with stars practically glimmering in her eyes.

"Yes, I am," Ponyboy replied, gently smiling.

"I love you! Mommy took me to see you skate a bunch of times!"

Two-Bit whistled, "Ponyboy has an admirer?"

"A little young, isn't she?" Steve chuckled. "Careful."

Ponyboy rolled his eyes.

"I watched you and wanted to ice skate as pretty as you. I tried really hard to learn how to walk again. Mommy and Daddy hired someone to help me get stronger. They're letting me learn how to ice skate now, but I'm not good at it," the girl said, pouting, leaning heavily on her cane. Oh, man, did that make Ponyboy proud. Although famous, not many people came up to him to tell their stories. This girl went through a lot for him and that made his heart swell.

"Do you want to know a secret?" Ponyboy asked, leaning in closer. The girl eagerly nodded. "I used to be terrible at figure skating."

"You did?"

Ponyboy nodded. "But I practiced a whole lot. I picked myself up to my feet whenever I fell. So, don't ever give up, savvy?"

The girl beamed, nodding, before a question popped up in her head. "Why did you stop skating? Mommy and Daddy said that I wouldn't see you perform anymore. They said that the news told them so."

"The news?" Darry repeated with a questioning tone. Why would Ponyboy be on the news?

"Stuff happened," Ponyboy answered, smile wavering. "It made me not want to skate anymore."

"Can you skate with me?" the girl asked. Before he could answer, she plopped down next to him and started to put on her ice skates.

"Well, I…" Ponyboy looked at the gang.

"Don't leave the young lady hanging for us," Two-Bit said, ushering him forward.

Ponyboy turned back to the girl, giving her his brightest smile. "I'll love to."

Cheering, the girl stood up, leaving the cane leaning against the bench. Her knees were angled a bit awkwardly, but she held herself up strongly.

"Do you want me to hold your hand to hold you up?" Ponyboy asked worriedly.

"I can do it! I'm strong!" the girl replied, hitting her chest with her tiny fist.

"What about your cane?"

"I'm not tired or hurting yet. I don't need it."

With that, the girl dragged him to the ice rink. Just like she said, she wasn't a very good ice skater. Ponyboy wondered how long it had been since she started to learn. It couldn't have been very long ago. Her legs shook as she awkwardly slid across the ice with her arms spread out like an airplane. A chuckle left the figure skater's mouth. She was truly a strong person especially in the cold.

A short yelp left her mouth as she fell. From the corner of Ponyboy's eyes, he could see a woman, probably her mother, stand up in worry.

"Are you okay?" Ponyboy asked, reaching his hand out to help her up. However, the girl didn't take it. Her face scrunched up in discomfort as she shakily pulled herself back up.

"I'm okay," she reassured, smiling with slightly watery eyes. Ponyboy didn't blame her for wanting to cry. Falling hurt. He remembered crying a lot when he was her age.

"Well, do you want to see a fun trick?"

"A trick?"

"Yeah, a trick! I can spin real fast."

She clapped, giggling. "Show me! Show me!"

Ponyboy slid away from her, making sure he wouldn't bump into anybody. When he had enough room, he moved forward to gain momentum, extending one of his legs behind him. His body spun around like a top, the motion slow at first. When Ponyboy felt himself lose speed, he curled himself up into a ball to make it even faster—dizzyingly so. He could see the gang watching him, although he couldn't see their expressions.

"More! More!" the girl urged when he stopped spinning.

"More?" Ponyboy grinned.

"Do the jumpy spinning thing."

"Hey, is that Ponyboy Curtis?" a voice in the ice rink asked another person. The rink was crowded. It was a popular place, and there was probably a deal or an event going on.

"The professional figure skater?" the person replied. "I thought he quit skating."

"I guess not."

The spinning must have caught a lot of people's attention because soon all eyes were on him, whispering amongst themselves. Ponyboy shivered.

Meanwhile, the gang was listening to the people around them with confusion blown across their faces. Did everybody know Ponyboy? Sure, he ice skated a lot in that rink, but they couldn't have been that familiar with him. It was almost like he was famous or something, which was ridiculous. They would have known if he was famous… wouldn't they?

"Why does everyone know him?" Steve asked loudly, putting their thoughts to words. The question caused the people that were next to them to snap their heads over to them, looking almost insulted. They wondered why.

"You mean you don't know him?"

"We know him," Darry confirmed. "He's our kid brother. But why is everyone talking about him?"

"He's famous. Why else? He's why this rink is so popular. To be skating in such a place… it's a dream come true."

"Famous?" Dally snorted. "Yeah, right."

"He is! He's a famous figure skater. He disappeared for a while, it even said so on the news."

Now the gang was even more confused, if not shocked. They had to be pulling their legs. There was no way that Ponyboy was famous. But, with all of the talk about him, they started to wonder. Darry closed his eye in thought, trying to see if he remembered a story about an ice skater. Nothing came to mind. But they had to be telling the truth if everyone there was saying the same thing.

"He's actually famous?" Steve gaped, eyes widening. Questions attacked their minds as they couldn't help but feel a bit betrayed. Why hadn't Ponyboy told them about this?

Music distracted them from thinking more into it. Their eyes traveled back to Ponyboy who was now alone on the rink. Apparently, Ponyboy was going to show a new routine that he had been working on. At least, that's what people were saying. They watched him get into position, closing his eyes in such a way that conveyed so much emotion. Although he appeared calm and collected on the outside, Ponyboy was freaking out on the inside.

He was going to fail. He shouldn't have agreed to do the routine.

He started the routine, trying his absolute best to move as gracefully as possible. He tried not to look at the audience, not wanting to mess up. Then the dreaded part came.

Utilizing the momentum of his ice skating, he spun in the air, feeling weightless. His blades clacked on the ice.

One spin.

He was doing fine.

Two spins.

Almost there. He was starting to fall back down towards the ice.

Three.

Ponyboy spun again, feeling so incredibly dizzy that he was about to spin out in the air. The people around him were blurry but he didn't know if it was from the dizziness or how fast he was twisting. But, regardless, he could see the little girl sitting on the barrier watching him. He couldn't fail. Even though the move felt like it was impossible, he couldn't fall down. Especially not when the girl was watching with stars in her eyes.

His blade clashed against the ice, causing all his weight to come crashing down on that one foot. He spread his arms and lifted a leg behind him, feeling his knees wobble; about to give up in holding him up. The pressure was intense as if the world was literally pressing down on that one leg.

Four.

He did it.

Cheers erupted around him as the audience went ballistic. They clapped their hands, stinging in the cold. Ponyboy was so proud of himself that he almost missed the rest of the choreography. He did, however, break character, grinning from ear to ear at his accomplishment. Eventually, the song ended, and he went into his final pose.

He breathed hard, stomach quickly rising and falling. His chest was fluttering like crazy in his chest, adrenaline pumping through his veins.

He did it. He really did it.

"A quadruple axel?" he heard someone exclaim in shock. "Four? No way!"

Ponyboy, still grinning like crazy, moved to get to the side of the rink. As soon as he reached the barrier where the little girl was, reporters and some cameramen rushed over to him. When did they get there?

"Ponyboy Curtis, I'm with the—" one of the reporters started, but Ponyboy ignored them, too exhausted to deal with the press. It probably wasn't the best thing to do, but he found that he couldn't care one bit.

"You were amazing!" the little girl complimented, eyes so bright. She was back in her regular shoes, leaning against her cane again. "You spun and spun."

"I couldn't do that move before," Ponyboy admitted to her. He could see from the corner of his eyes that the press was leaning in close to listen to him. "But you helped me."

The girl was matching his grin now. "I helped you?"

Nodding, Ponyboy patter her shoulder. "Always get back on your feet, you dig?"

"I will!"

He made his way over to the gang. By then, the ice rink had filled up again. They were staring at him incredulously. Their expressions were so funny that Ponyboy wished that he had a camera with him.

"That… That was amazing!" Soda gasped. "I didn't now you skated like that!"

"I didn't know you were famous," Steve said.

"Yeah, why didn't you tell us, man?" Dally asked, shifting his weight to lean on the barrier. "When did this happen?"

"Well… it just sort of happened," Ponyboy honestly answered. And it did. "I was considered a child prodigy and competed in a lot of competitions. One thing led to another and I started to compete nationally… I even competed with people from other countries if they came to the US. Coach said I will be going international soon."

"Why did you keep this from us?" Darry asked. "I thought you were just doing small shows with your team."

"None of you asked." Ponyboy shrugged.

"Is this why you never wanted to skate with us? Because you were famous?" Johnny questioned.

Ponyboy blushed, scratching his temple. "I just like to skate alone and get in my head."

"But you seriously weren't too shabby," Two-Bit complimented, wrapping one of his arms around his shoulder. It was awkward because of how Ponyboy had to maneuver himself to not fall. The gang all chirped in agreement. "We should go celebrate! You're skating again!"

"And we can talk about your career more," Darry uttered, causing Ponyboy to roll his eyes. There goes Darry again, worrying about his future. But he smiled, nevertheless.

"Let me get back into my shoes and we can go."