I’m projecting heavily with this
Steve with arfid (and sensory issues) who is near tears at trying any sort of new food (be it chips, fruit, anything) and everyone thinks he’s being dramatic until he’s having a panic attack and/or is scream-crying, yelling about arfid and how he feels when people tell him “it’s just food” or to “stop being dramatic”
eventually they get him to calm down and they talk a bit more. Now typically when trying something new he may get up and walk around and hum to himself as a distraction or something
That's definitely happened to him more than a few times in his life. Mostly when he was a kid and his mom was still around and trying to get him to eat stuff. His dad would get hella mad at him for causing a scene over some food.
I don't imagine it happening too much with the Curtis's? Darry doesn't force anyone to eat anything unless he thinks they're starving/just not eating enough (cough Dally cough)
When he hears that Steve only eats the same things every day, I could imagine him trying to step in. He's stubborn as hell, so he definitely finds out the hard way just how painful food can be for Steve.
Not a single person in the gang knows what arfid is. Cue Ponboy know-it-all Curtis being the Google dictionary for them.
It really breaks their hearts, Soda's especially, to see Steve in literal tears. He's not an emotional guy, so for him to break down screaming and crying like this? It makes them feel terrible.
Darry gets better at being understanding after that.
If Steve needs to walk around and flap his hands or stand in the corner and recite every type of car he knows? That's fine.
As long as he eats, Darry couldn't care less what he does.
