A/N: Now I have some bad news. I had said that updates will be coming less frequently because I have a ridiculous number of exams and assignments, but I'm afraid this might well be the last one for as long as a week or two. We got a call that said we had one week to find a new house and move: our landlords went broke and the bank took the house. It's a shame, but I'm not too worried. Feel more sorry for next door who moved in all of three weeks ago – the whole street's getting evicted! I'm looking on the bright side: now I can write the Curtis' feelings more realistically!

I have not had time to check my emails for quite a while and I probably will not have much time in the near future, but thank you so much to anyone who reviewed! It means so much! You guys are the best!

X X X X

Steve ran a hand across his forehead, taking a deep breath as he stood up from the open bonnet of the car. The weather sure was starting to warm up. It would definitely be a hot summer.

He had had to leave the hospital for work soon after he had gone for breakfast in the cafeteria with Two-Bit, which meant he had stayed out all night. It gave him a washed-out, exhausted look, according to his boss, who said he would scare off the customers. Idiot. It wasn't like he was a model or anything.

He had almost finished repairing Tim's car, which, in all honesty, surprised him with how little time it had taken. The damage had been quite extensive, and Steve was of the opinion that Tim perhaps should have invested in a new one. He supposed it was the sentimental value of the vehicle that had made him pay for it to get fixed.

Steve walked into the shop to use the phone. Charlie, the other guy who shared his shift, was leaning against the counter with a bored expression. Steve liked him well enough, but he struck him as being very false, almost like a Soc. They never got beyond a casual conversation.

Steve picked up the receiver and dialed Tim's number. When nobody picked up, he growled in annoyance and slammed it back down. Tim was never home.

To his surprise, Tim was standing in the garage right as Steve walked back in, looking over his car. "Is it done?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Steve. "I just tried to call you."

Tim nodded slowly and went back to examining his now good as new car. There was a reason the DX got more customers than just about any gas station in Tulsa. Steve said nothing; it was clear Tim had something on the tip of his tongue. "I heard Darry's house got destroyed," he said slowly.

Steve swallowed. It could have happened to anybody and he would not care, but not the Curtises. Hell, why couldn't they have burned down Tim's house? Steve had to admit that he deserved it after everything he had done in his life, though he would never say it out loud. At least Tim's family would not be ripped apart. "Yeah," he muttered. "The back part, yeah. They saved the living room and kitchen."

"Do you know why?" Tim asked quietly.

Steve sighed. "There was a Soc there," he said. "He'd gotten Soda out. He was the one whose house was blown up over their side. He said it was like a combination of revenge for that guy's house and a wish to destroy the one place a greaser could go when times got rough." Steve was slightly reluctant about revealing this information; he did not know how Tim would take it. He was not normally a pacifist, and he was loath to agree with Ponyboy, but he desperately hoped the violence would stop for a while. It was getting out of hand, and he knew it was simple luck that Randy had taken the time to follow the arsonists and had bothered to save a greaser. Steve wanted life for the Socs to be as difficult as possible. After what they had done to Soda, he wanted those responsible dead, but he knew now that anything the greasers did to retaliate might end in tragedy for them. "Tim, look, don't do anything. If one of our lot does anything more to their lot then their lot might do something even worse to us. You know they told the police that Pony was covered in blood from the rumble and Soda had that cracked rib from when he got jumped? Darry's under investigation for abusing them, on top of everything else."

Tim laughed humourlessly, bitterly. "This ain't like you at all, Randle," he said. "You used to want them all dead."

"I do still," said Steve. "I just realized that at this time it's safer for everyone to leave it. I just want them to stop suspecting Darry, then we can go back and start ruining their lives."

Tim took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit up. For once, Steve did not tell him to put it out: smoking at a gas station was a very bad idea, for he was more transfixed by the strange emotions going across Tim's face. The fact that there were any emotions at all was strange in itself; Tim, like Dally before him, was tough. "I guess I have to say that I've had my revenge," he said quietly. "You wanted to know how I wrecked my car. I drove it right into the side of a Soc house."

Steve remained silent as Tim continued. Soda had always gotten stuck into him for having a judgmental personality, for blaming people, but Steve could not help but watch silently as his mind slowly drew the conclusion that Soda was in hospital and Darry homeless and under investigation because of Tim Shepard. "I did it because they'd hurt one of us. I didn't know which Socs had done it, so I just picked a random house. It was filled with money, necklaces and earrings and all that – Soc idiots obviously don't know how to use a bank. I took all that, sold the jewels pretty damn quick."

Steve's eyes had narrowed to slits by now. Tim looked at him almost questioningly, and Steve's fist slammed into his face. "You're lucky that's all I'm willing to do at work," he said dangerously.

Tim swore but straightened up fast. "Listen, Steve," he said, his voice becoming hard once more. "I came here with this." He held up a bag Steve hadn't noticed until now that had been sitting on the floor by Tim's feet. "You know what's in it? Money. Take however much you want for the car repair job and thanks very much for that. Give the rest to Darry. He deserves it; he's housed the both of us and fed us, not to mention all the others. It may not be much when you look at what he needs, but it's a start."

Steve stared as Tim shoved the bag at him and shut the bonnet to his car, getting in the front and driving away. It was a shock to discover Tim almost had feelings, just like it had been when he discovered Dally had feelings, just like it had been a shock to discover a Soc had saved Soda's life.

The world was not as simple a place as he had been led to believe.

X X X X

A/N: I reckon if Tim had featured more in the book, he would have had feelings. That's a lot why I wrote this. I said before Tim did not care about Soda, but I reckon he would care about Darry after all he did for the community.

Please take the time to send a review! Take some time to do that and make me de-stress about moving when we don't know where yet! (Don't worry, if we don't find a place my dad's work is putting us up for however long is needed. We're fine.)