"It means you are purposefully not listening to what I am telling you to, and you're continuously being a brat! I swear to god you are nothing but a little shit! You pony are a very, very bad boy!" I shook him the tiniest. Heck, I was extremely angry. His lip dropped and the tears started pouring out and he ran away from me, pushing me down to the floor when I tried to grab his hand to say sorry.

"Ponyboy! I didn't mean it!" Two-Bit and even Dally just gave me this disgusted look. "Oh man, why the fuck do you have to say something like that to Ponyboy?" Dally growled out. "You're an asshole."

"Ponyboy!" I called, running down the hallway after him.

"Pone!" I caught him before he got to open it. "Ponyboy, I didn't mean little buddy!" I tried to hold him- to calm him down as the sobs wracked through his tiny body.

"No! You don't wove me! I hate you Dawwy! I hate you!" He screamed, kicking me as I tried to hold him in my arms.

"Pony you know I love you, buddy! I love you so much, I just got so angry and I should not have yelled at you like that. Do you forgive me?" I whispered into his ear.

"No! I want my mommy and daddy!" He banged his little fists on my chest.

"Oh buddy, I want them too, I love them too! You must've forgotten that they were my mama and daddy too." With one last struggle from him I let go – he slammed his door shut in my face. His cries were loud and echoed right throughout the house.

"Darry!" Two-Bit said in anger, this was unusual for him, he was never angry. "You need to let up on him, he is a little boy, but you don't need to yell at him. You know what he told me? He told me that he thinks you hate him!" My mouth flew open as I looked down ashamed.

"I-" I was cut off by a loud smashing noise, coming from Ponyboy's room. "Pony!" The smashing sound kept echoing through the house. "Pone?" Me, Two-Bit and even Dally ran to his room, only to see him smashing and throwing whatever he could. When he saw me he screamed. "I hate you!" that drove me wild- the fact that he said he hated me and the fact he chucked everything around the room making a mess, glass shattered on the floor.

"Ponyboy, stop it, right now!" But he didn't. If anything it made him worse, little screams coming out of his mouth.

I walked right up to Ponyboy, grabbed him into my arms and left the disaster of a room, trying to calm myself down so I would be able to talk rationally.

"Ponyboy, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, you shit head!" My mouth dropped in sheer surprise.

"Where did you learn that from?" I looked behind me, glaring at both Dally and Two-Bit who were with me in my room.

"You did, you big jerk!" I deserved that, but he still did do that to his room. When I came closer to him, he hit me with his tiny fist.

"Okay that's it. Pony, I've had enough with you and your nonsense!" I grabbed him across the waist as gently as I could and put him on my lap as he struggled I looked at Two-Bit and Dally. "Get out, close the door." When they did, I pulled down Ponyboy's jeans and underwear.

"N-oh! I hate you, Dawwy!"

"That's a shame because I damn well love you, Pony" Then I swatted him, his cried now hard and his sobs wracking through his body. It was just 1 tiny swat. But 9 more followed, hard and slow, you could hear the swats echoing throughout the room. His body was rigid and stiff except for the sobs and cries still happening.

"Ponyboy" I whispered, sitting him upright in my lap. "Listen to me now honey, it's okay to be angry and upset but you do not do that! You don't hit me and you certainly don't chuck things and have a big tantrum like that, do you understand me?"

He nodded, refusing to look me in the eyes- he looked so far off and scared; he wasn't scared of me was he?

"Ponyboy? Baby, look at me..." I put my fingers under his chin, forcing him to into my eyes. "I'm sorry that I said what I had before, I shouldn't have said it to you, and it was really mean, but you do not do that, you don't chuck things around and be a bad boy, you're 5 years old, you know better than to chuck a tantrum."

"Dawwy?" He practically sobbed out. "Why do you hate me and don't love me?" I swear I could've died right at that point. I was too shocked to say anything so I just listened to his sobs ringing throughout the room.

"Wh- why would you say that, baby; don't you know I love you?" When he didn't reply I just held him tighter. "I love you, more than you know. If I didn't love you honey, do you think I'd stay here and watch you? If I didn't love you, don't you think I'd- I'd-" I started crying, because I had failed him. I failed both him and Soda.