It was extremely early in the morning.
After Two-Bit and Soda had left that evening, they had made their way over to Steve's house to drop his things off since he left before Soda could hand them over to him.
Unfortunately, what neither of them had expected was to learn that Steve and Evie had once again gotten into it. They showed up to the house to find Steve sitting on the porch by himself, his father gone and Evie nowhere to be seen since she invited Steve over to her house, not the other way around.
Soda and Two-Bit both stayed with Steve for a while, until Soda noticed the time and had to race off, leaving Steve by himself again because Soda was Two's only ride for the night.
Steve, not knowing what to do with himself and the flowers and gifts he'd just recieved, decided to walk endlessly into the night whilst his friends went off and did their own. He didn't want to join in anyways, he needed his time to himself.
He found himself waking up at the DX. No clue how he got there, hands and knuckles sticky with blood, face covered in tears and snot and what felt like slobber from trying to vomit. He must've gotten drunk at some point.
Soda had just pulled into the parking lot, ready for opening. He was terrified to find Steve there by himself, rested against the wall of the shop, looking half dead with his eyes sunken and his skin sickly pale from lack of proper sleep.
“Christ, Steve. What the hell happened?” Soda mumbled as he picked Steve up from the ground, brushing his hair off of his forehead, placing a hand on top. “You're freezing...”
Steve opened his eyes again to see Soda staring at him with big, worried eyes. He let out a broken sob. Harsh and high pitched, feeling like a crybaby who wanted their mother. He probably did want his mom. But for now, there was Soda.
Soda shushed him and hurried him to the truck, grabbing a blanket from the back and wrapping it around Steve. “Don't– don't worry about it. Are you okay?”
“Fuck– no. What does it look like, Curtis?” Steve was crying hard, covering his face with the blanket. He was so embarrassed.
“'M sorry.” Soda hugged Steve tight through the blanket, mumbling soft reassurances to him, stuff that Steve wasn't able to hear through his loud cries. God, did he wish he did though.
“Jesus, I think she might hate me or somethin', Soda.” Steve hated the way he sounded in this moment, his voice was shaky and desperate as he clinged onto Soda through the blanket and shivered violently. He was freezing fucking cold.
Soda combed his fingers slowly through Steve's curly hair, doing whatever he could just to let Steve know he was safe and warm. “She doesn't hate you, Steve. She couldn't handle something like that.” He sighs, soft and light compared to Steve's ragged gasps for air between sobs. “And even if she ever does, s-so what?”
“So what? Soda, she's my girlfriend. She means the fucking world to me.” Steve's eyebrows knit together as he grew upset. His sobs becoming more of sniffles as he calmed down from Soda's reassurance.
“That–” Soda bit back a rude remark. “That's not what I meant, I mean you shouldn't be stressin' out over her right now. Look at you, Stevie...” Soda frowned, fixing up the blanket around Steve's shoulders. “You're exhausted. You've been beatin' yourself up all night.”
Steve scoffed, looking down at his bruised knuckles. “Yeah, n' for good fucking reason.” He shook his head shamefully. “She'd want me to be a mess right now.”
“So you're doin' that for her...?” Soda tilted his head so Steve could look at him proper. Steve avoided eye contact.
Soda paused, still staring hard at Steve as he crouched down ever so slightly. Steve may had been tall, but not as much as Soda. There was still about an 2 inch difference. “So, what is it then?”
Steve huffed out a sigh, angry from the interrogation for some reason. It felt like accusations were being thrown at him under Soda's concerned questions. He hated it. “I don't fucking know, Soda.”
Soda knew he was lying, but he didn't say anything. He just nodded. “...Well,” He smiles soft and easy, fixing up a curl in front of Steve's face. “That's okay, I guess. We'll figure it out later, okay?”
Steve's eyes fixated on Soda for just a second as he fixed his hair, before immediately looking away. He hummed a reply.
“...You should probably sleep in here for a bit, get yourself some stamina before school. You still have that today, right?”
Steve laughed dryly as he opened up the back door to the truck. “Yeah, in like... 40 minutes.” He flopped down and shimmied his way into the seats, getting himself comfortable and making himself a pillow with a shirt found on the floor of the vehicle.
Soda giggles, fixing the blanket once more at Steve's legs and arms to tuck him in proper. “I can call in for you. Give you about an excused... 3 hours?”
Steve groaned as he stretched out. “Three hours works for me...” He pulled his legs up to his chest and blinked slow as he relaxed.
“You're too damn nice to me, y'know that?”
Soda grinned. “Nah. I'm just bein' a good friend, 's all.” He shrugged and closed the door carefully. “Sleep well, okay?” He sounded muffled through the window, but Steve still nodded and pulled the covers over his head to avoid the light coming in.
The day's finally started. Steve's asleep, and Soda's finally opened up shop. To his surprise, he sees a little green fella right behind the counter waiting for him...
Guess that rats did keep their end of the bargain.
