woke up first thing i thought of was stevepop, fell asleep for another 3 hours, woke back up and the thought was still there
i feel like steve will call soda 'sweet boy' in moments when he needs him most. he adapted the nickname on accident from his mom, and he feels so stupid using it everytime, but—
when steve's drunk and needing to be hauled over to the bed, he'll laugh and hiccup and toss himself over to soda mumbling some "help m'out, sweet boy." and soda will do just that, leading him over to the couch or the bed and he'll slip off steve's work boots and get him comfortable enough to rest, and he'll ask him if he needs anything else n' steve will simply shake his head and pull soda onto the bed with him so he can sleep.
when steve's sick, hunched over the toilet and spewing out bile and feeling like death itself is weighing him down, soda will make his way to immediately grab steve what he needs. medicine and water set down on the counter, steve will smile at him and thank him with a "thank you, sweet boy," and soda will just laugh at him.
when steve is having a bad morning at the DX after a long night with dealing with his father, he'll wander over to soda and simply mumble "sweet boy," and soda will already get rhe memo to hold onto him. steve will slink his arms around his neck lazily and lean into him and just silently stand there, rocking on his heels so he can get the extra height in on his toes as soda rubs his back and mumbles little "are you okay?"s and "do you need anything else"s?
the rare moment when steve has a mental breakdown, soda is right there to see it. he doesn't hear a 'sweet boy', but he cant sense it's what steve needs. and god, is he immediately by his side in a heartbeat. grabbing his hands and whispering to him as steve shakes and sobs uncontrollably and huffs and growls as he tries to speak but can't. but his sweet boy is there for him, and it makes it easier for it all to pass.
say if, steve gets a letter from soda that he's off from tulsa, he doesn't know what to say. he doesn't know how to ask for his sweet boy in written words, that's not something he's used to. he doesn't know how to answer him. soda left him, n' he's stuck having to ground himself now. how the fuck is he supposed to do that?
or maybe steve's the one stuck out of tulsa, trapped in college with people he doesn't like doing school for a degree he don't want because his stupid father made him do everything his way. he feels so embarrassed that everytime he tries to write to soda, there's always some mention of "missin' my sweet boy." how corny is that?
steve could be stuck at home, getting belted and screamed at by his father, wailing on the floor in pain without tears—because he'll hit harder if he'll see yoy cry, dammit—and glass is biting into his palms and there's blood everywhere and his head is pounding and... and... fuck, why can't he be there?
soda's sent of to the war and all it does is piss steve off because they shouldn't not be together. they were supposed to stick together. and now look, his "sweet, loving boy" is off to go either kill men or get himself killed. isn't it ironic? how the most healing heart has to be the one sent off to get blood on his hands?
if they get to reunite, the first words that comes out of steve's trembling mouth are "my sweet boy," as he clutches onto that blonde hair that used to be so bright it could blind you on a sunny day. god, how it used to shine before all that light was taken away from them.
but anyways, he always thinks it feels quite silly, because you'd think a tuff greaser would pick a better nickname for his boyfriend like "babe" or something normal. "sweet boy" is a whole different realm of cringe.
but he loves him, him and his sweet boy
