BACK AND FORTH (𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘺)

thirteen

"You don't think you could have been a little easier on him?" Soda asked, once Pony and Two bit left. "Pony walked out looking like he was crushed."

"I don't care." Steve said plainly, not pausing on the car he was attempting to fix. "Do you know what he did to me? I really thought that someone had taken him, or that he was in trouble. But nope, he just didn't feel like riding home with me, which he's done every other single day. He didn't even tell me Soda. Didn't think to give me a heads up. No, he deserves to know just a taste of what I felt." He muttered.

Soda sighed, and handed him a wrench that he could tell Steve was looking for. "I guess I understand where you're coming from. But he still looked so upset."

He felt a pang of sadness wash over him at the mention of Ponyboy being upset, but he didn't say anything. He just continued to work on the same damn car that he'd been working on all day.

-

  "Quittin' time buddy." Soda yelled to the garage as he closed up shop.

  "Okay.." Steve called back, but continued to work on the fixing the intake and compression strokes on the vehicle. He was so close, and he knew that as soon as he left the DX he'd just be caught up in thinking about Ponyboy.

  Soda walked back and leaned against the wall. He watched for a few minutes before clearing his throat. "You can't avoid leaving work for forever." He said.

  "I can try."

  "Come on Steve. It's not like he's even mad at you. You're the one who's mad."

  "I don't wanna be mad. I just am. Can we please quit talking about this?" He snapped.

  Soda crossed his arms and watched him work for another three minutes before speaking again. "Why are y'all so close all the sudden anyhow? A few months ago you would've been glad he didn't show up at your car."

  Steve stopped and looked up. "Wha..?"

  "I ain't that dumb. I'm smarter than people give me credit for sometimes. I know y'all hated each other. He would've been happy you weren't speaking to him, and you would've been happy he avoided you. Hell, he used to go out of his way to avoid you, Steve. Did y'all really think I was clueless? I know the world ain't all sunshine and rainbows."

He stood staring at soda, his mouth hanging open. "It ain't like that.." he chose his words carefully. "Okay..maybe it was like that, but I always did care about him Soda. I never just outright hated him. Honest."

"So what's with the sudden change?"

"We grew up I guess.." he swallowed. "That stupid rivalry we had was childish. And we started hanging out and actually enjoy time together. He needed someone after Johnny died. They were best friends." And more.. he thought numbly.

Soda bit his lip. "Can y'all just make up or something? Please? I don't like seeing Ponyboy upset."

Steve sighed and wiped off his hands. "Yeah, I'll go talk to him."

"Thank you."

-

"So tell me something no one else knows about you." Steve said, trying to change the subject. He hadn't meant to make Pony upset, and the long, awkward conversation they shared was not pleasant, but at least they were friends again.

"There's a lot that people don't know about me." Pony said, almost sound bored.

"I just wanna know one."

He looked over at Steve for a second before looking back down. A small smile appeared on his lips, that he tried to hide. "I wanna go on a date with a boy. A real date. Like out somewhere. I've wanted to for forever. I wanna do something that you read about in books. Or see in movies. But like..I wanna do that stuff with a guy."

"What about a trip to the bookstore?" Steve asked. "We did that."

"That wasn't a date though. Maybe for you, but I didn't even know you liked me, and I didn't even know you liked boys until the end of that day. It doesn't count."

"Okay.." he thought some more. "Well what's something you're talking about?"

Pony bit his lip and sighed. "I don't know. Really girly stuff I guess."

"Tell me." Steve insisted, wanting to cheer him up. "And who says you're girly? You're tuff."

"Dally used to tell me all the time that I was. Because I liked reading and sunsets and stuff. He even once told me that I had a girly body. He said that I was too skinny to be tough." His cheeks became a light pink color.

Steve frowned. "I think you've got a nice body. And you just got more feelings. That don't mean you're any less of a man than I am. You're just smart, that's all. Anyways," he said trying to avoid going on about how amazing he thought Ponyboy truly was. "what kinda dates are you talking about?"

"Well.." he thought for a while before shrugging. "Oh, I don't know. It's a stupid thought."

"Quit putting yourself down." Steve slung an arm around his shoulder. "I'll take you on a date. Tonight. You can finally have one with a boy. I'll think of something, okay? Something fun, too."

Pony have him a small smile. "Really? You'd do that?"

"Course." He said, and then smiled. "We'll leave at two am. Let's go to Waffle House. Just you and me. On a date. A real one. Just steve and Ponyboy. Together—"

"You're rambling." Pony laughed. "Okay steve, it's a date." He leaned up and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

And Steve was left with a racing heart.

Gotta love Waffle House for giving me this idea. This is the fastest I've written a chapter for this story.