Stay Gold || 'The Outsiders' One Shots

You're not alone

"How come you picked up an extra shift?" Two-Bit asked.

"Didn't have anything else ta do." Steve muttered with a shrug. "Plus, takes my mind off stuff."

The two were walking down the street together, both heading for the Curtis household after a long day of work on Steve's part and a long day of sitting around on Two-Bits part.

It had only been three weeks since Johnny and Dally had both passed, and none of them could really process what had happened, but it had hit them all hard, and they didn't know quite what to do with themselves anymore, life felt empty and no one liked it.

"Was Soda working today?" Two-Bit asked.

Steve shook his head. "Not today," He murmured. "He was in yesterday, didn't say a word the whole day."

Two-Bit sighed a little, they didn't really know how Soda was dealing with the death of their friends, he hadn't really said much about any of it - or anything for that matter.

It was like a repeat of his parents death, he had been so quiet and had completely shut down, shut himself off from his friends.

His brothers saw the tears and the breakdowns, his friends saw the quiet, reserved Soda who was physically broken with no way of fixing him.

He came out of it eventually of course, almost having a realisation that life moves on and he now needed to step up and look after Ponyboy.

He took on even more of a big brother role not even a month after their deaths, and even dropped out of school to get a job and help Darry with the bills, which no 16 year old should have to do, but Soda seemed more than happy.

Every time he was asked how he was after this his answer would always be "I'm fine, it's Darry I've gotta worry about, he's got a lot on his shoulders." Or "I just hope Pony's alright, he's so young."

But the trouble is he was young too, only 16, but that didn't seem to matter to him.

"He ain't really said much all week." Two-Bit sighed. "He's takin' it hard."

Steve nodded. "I ain't gotta clue what to do." He admitted. "It's like when his parents passed all over again, but this time it's two deaths and a broken heart."

"Do you even know what happened with Sandy?" Two-Bit asked.

"All I know is she got pregnant and moved away." Steve muttered with a small shrug.

"Something don't add up with that story." Two-Bit said thoughtfully, a small frown on his face. "It's making no sense to me."

Steve had to agree, the more he thought about it the more confused he got - Sandy loved Soda and Soda loved Sandy, so what had gone wrong besides her parents? Soda wasn't usually one to listen to snooty, ignorant adults (Sandy's parents weren't the nicest of people and turned their noses down at Soda and his family and friends) and even though he respected them because they were the parents of the love of his life, he never liked them.

"You ain't the only one." Steve breathed, searching through his pockets suddenly.

"Lost something?" Two asked.

Steve nodded. "Think I've left my keys at the lot." He grumbled.

"The lot?"

Steve shrugged. "Yeah, stopped by there 'fore work earlier." He said quietly.

Two-Bit didn't question it, if anything he understood it, and the two silently made the decision to stop by there on their way to the Curtis'.

However someone else was already there, someone neither of them expected to see there at all.