What if it's not Steve's name that gets chosen, but a boy from Soda's past nonetheless?
What if it's the baker's obnoxious son, Keith? Keith, always getting into fights, who's famous for his constant state of intoxication- whether he buys the lowest priced liquor or simply chugs rubbing alcohol no one knows- he'll get on splendidly with Haymitch, Soda thinks to himself.
Keith, the baker's son, so obnoxious and charming and talkative that when Soda's parents met him on their way to work, his father called him 'Two-Bit' and it stuck, because Soda's dad was a hell of a guy and everyone liked him. Only Two-Bit's father called him Keith.
Two-Bit, the boy with the bread.
Two-Bit, the boy who dealt with his father's blow just to give two loafs of bread so that Soda wouldn't go home empty handed to Ponyboy.
Soda refuses to work in the mines, has forbidden it for Darry and says nothing about it to Pony, who is already terrified of the work that killed the two best people they ever knew. None of the Curtis' work in the mines or near it, but they still have black lining their fingernails and the creases of their hands. Two-Bit is somewhat posh compared to them, Soda feels. He inspects Two-Bit's hands and then his own, before shoving them into his pockets.
Maybe he should pick up Pony's washing habits. His brother hates the coal dust, even uses the remaining bottles of polish their mother owned to cover the dust in the corner of his fingernails. It seems like too much work, Soda decides, before he realize it's too late anyhow, and it doesn't matter anymore.
Soda ignores Pony's wailing, squeezes his eyes shut and then wills them open again. He cannot seem weak, not now.
He grits his teeth as they're shuffled off. The crowd's eyes follow him, their precious boy, beloved son, brave martyr. He will miss home, and home will miss him.
When they get to the rooms that they say goodbye in, Ponyboy climbs into Soda's lap like he's still nine and the thunder is too loud. Darry sits across from him, stiff with sorrow and the ache of his back. "Hey, Pepsi-Cola," he says, and Soda buries his face in Ponyboy's reddish hair.
Darry looks older, while Ponyboy has reverted back to a child.
"You hafta win, Soda," Pony blurts, his voice so watery that they all feel like they're drowning.
"Promise," Soda lies. Anything for Pony, he thinks, anything for Pony. Even his life.
"Darry," Soda says, turning to his older brother once more. "You look after him, you hear? You look after each other. When I come back-" he clears his throat, does not finish the sentence with in coffin but it's implied anyways and Pony lets out a hoarse sob "-when I come back, you two'd better be getting along. None of that crap we went through after Oomi and Papa left, got it?"
"Watch your mouth," Darry and Pony say automatically, before they awkwardly mumble, "Yes, Soda."
"Good. Now give me a hug," Soda demands. They hug him so hard he's about to make a 'dying-before-the-Games' joke but refrains from such morbid humor for their sake. Soda knows Steve would have smirked.
Two-Bit's mother is next. She's a strong, dark skinned woman, strengthened by carrying bread trays and flour bags and an entire family on her shoulders. She looks at him, silently, sadly.
"Steve traded you for some bread this morning," Soda says, just to say something. She nods, still mute. "Not your best deal," he prods. She shrugs, before something in her face crumples.
She brings out a small bag of something he's never had before: cookies.
Two-Bit's mother gets up, caresses his cheek, and tells him sadly, "I wish it were anyone but you two."
She's almost out the door when Soda blurts, "It almost was."
There's something urgent in his words, a high note of panic that makes her pause and turn around.
"I'll look after them. Make sure they've eaten."
Next is Sandy, who is the Mayor's daughter and Soda's ex-girlfriend.
They could've had it good, Soda muses, but she cheated and he left. It hurt, and it took a while, but they've come to an uneasy, quiet friendship. He brings her family strawberries. She's getting married next year, he thinks.
She's urgent with her despair, a sudden rush from Two-Bit's mother, who was the exact opposite, but she comes in like whirlwind because that's who she is.
"You can take one token from your district," Sandy says. "Take this." Her hair is wild but her eyes are steady, and that's what makes him take the small gold pin. In the back of his mind he thinks, this could have fed my family but instead you're sending it with me to death.His mouth forms the words thank you though, but she's already gone, the only mark she left behind was the lip color stain on Soda's cheek and a bit of a bruised heart.
"I'm sorry," Soda blurts immediately.
Steve waves his apology away, embracing Soda tightly. "Listen to me," Steve whispers, "get a knife. Get a bow if you can. For God's sake, Soda," he says, and Soda registers that Steve, the graceful, steady hunter- Steve, is trembling, "don't you die. Don't you leave me here with Emily and my bastard old man and your annoying as shit little brother."
"Okay, Soda whispers hoarsely. "Okay, Steve. I love you."
"I know," Steve says, and a laugh bubbles out of Soda's throat. It's such a Steve thing to say. Steve smiles at him shakily.
But the Peacekeepers are tired of standing around all day or something, because despite Steve pleading for just a bit more time, please, come on, they shake their helmet clad heads and start to drag him away.
Soda panics, grasps Steve's hand like a lifeline and cries out, "Don't let them starve!"
He says it so desperately that it prompts Steve to answer, "I won't! Soda, you know I won't! Remember that I-"
But the door slams shut. Soda is afraid he will not be alive long enough to remember.
And God, he loves that boy.
When the train- a fast running Capitol train, not one of Twelve's slower coal models- starts, it takes Soda's breath away with its speed.
They- Soda and Two-Bit- are taken to their own private chambers. They get a bathroom, a dressing room, and a bedroom to themselves.
Effie tells them, "Do anything you'd like. Wear anything you'd like. Just be read for supper in an hour."
Supper, Soda thinks numbly. The room they are in is so quiet that everyone can hear his stomach growl, and he flushes.
"Oh," says Two-Bit, loudly. "Sorry, haven't eaten yet."
Effie sends him a weird look, and Soda looks at him in grateful disbelief.
Two-Bit, however, doesn't look at him at all.
