A/N: S. E. Hinton owns all rights to the characters in The Outsiders and her other stories, I only own my imagination. Here's my attempt at a Steve fic, I hope you like it. There may be more in the future.
"Why'd you have to bring your kid brother along, Soda?" I complained, irritated at the thought of having to be a glorified babysitter again.
"I asked if he wanted to go, Steve. I thought it might be kinda fun for him." he shrugged, looking back at Pony, who was lost in thought, as always.
"Look, I appreciate that you wanna spend time with me, but I hate having to constantly watch the kid too. I want to do stuff with you, but he takes most of your attention away from our relationship."
"Huh? Sorry, Steve, I didn't catch that." Soda's shoulders trembled with silent laughter.
"Y'know, I don't think I'm in the mood to go see a movie after all. Catch y'all tomorrow." I walked off, trying desperately to control the seething rage that was threatening to boil over. I kicked a beer can down a darkened alleyway, softly cussing my luck. "Why am I even friends with you, if all you wanna do is hang around your stupid brother all the time? It's not fair! I like you, but he's a tagalong kid, and we can't take him just anywhere. Why can't you understand that I wanna just spend time with you, Soda?" He and Pony had gone without me, so I thought my complaints went unheard.
"Steve?" a soft sleepy voice wondered. I looked over to see Johnny sitting up on a park bench, running his hands over his face.
"Hey. Sorry to wake you up, Johnnycake. I guess I wasn't as quiet as I thought." I sat down beside him, looking down at the concrete.
"It's okay. Thought y'all were gonna see a film, so you just surprised me." He curled his fingers into his hair, finally starting to wake up. There was a shadowy purple bruise on his cheek.
"Nah, Soda brought Pony along again, and I got kinda hot under the collar. I don't understand why he feels that he needs his kid brother to tag along everywhere. It gets frustrating, you know?"
"Mmm. Have you tried tellin' Soda that? He'd understand."
"I tried tonight, but he made it into a joke. I honestly don't get what's so great about that kid. He's almost as quiet as you, and he's constantly in his own world. He ain't even old enough to dig chicks yet." I dug a small hole in the gravel with my shoe.
"Maybe Soda sees somethin' in him that you don't."
"Maybe. I just wish we wouldn't have to go on dates to get rid of him. I'm sick of dividing my attention between Soda, Evie, Sandy, and the kid. It's exhausting."
"Try tellin' Soda one-on-one. With Pony there, he might've felt the need to crack a joke to keep it light. The last thing you wanna do is hurt his feelings." Johnny yawned, buttoning his jacket. I'd loaned mine to Evie, so I was freezing.
"I guess I could give that a try, it wouldn't hurt, would it? Thanks, Johnnycake." He didn't reply, having fallen back to sleep. Poor kid, he was probably dealing with a lot of shit already without listening to my problems too. I combed his hair away from his face, uncovering more cuts and bruises. "It just ain't fair, is it, Johnnycake? Nothing's fair when you're a greaser."
I wandered the park for a while, finally sitting by the fountain, thinking about things. I'd cooled off in the mean time and stared at my wavy reflection in the water. What Johnny had said made sense in its own way; he's the best listener out of all of us, despite his own losing hand. I should give that kid another chance; maybe he's secretly amazing, who knows? Maybe Soda really does see something that I can't. I still wish he wouldn't tag along all the time, though.