Steve Randle locked the door to the garage. He let out a long yawn. It had been a long day, and he was ready to go crash into bed. He had worked doubles the past few days as the other two garage mechanics caught the flu and were out. Steve was grateful for the extra money, but it was beginning to wear him down. As he began walking towards the DX store, Steve felt himself freeze up. It was horribly cold outside and there was some snow on the ground. Steve hated the winter.

Walking into the store, he rubbed his hands together to warm up. He turned the sign on the door around to 'CLOSED.'

"Hey Soda, I'm done out there."

"Okay, sorry I got busy, I still have a lot of stocking to do."

"That's fine," Steve said as he grabbed a box of candy bars.

"Do you want to stay over tonight and play some cards or something? Pony will be going to bed early for school, Darry for work. It'll be just us."

"Not tonight. I've been working a lot since I'm the only mechanic here."

"Yeah I know," Soda sighed, "Do you know when you get a day off?"

"Not for a few more days. Our boss was telling me he'll give me a day off and just tell people no mechanic work for that day. We'll do something this weekend, alright?"

"Sounds good," Soda smiled.

Steve sighed. He could hear the disappointment in his best friend's voice. He knows he had been neglecting him lately. He wasn't happy about it either. "Okay look, when I drive us home, let me crash at your house for a couple hours and we can play cards tonight, alright?"

Soda smiled big, "Okay!" He knew deep down Steve would probably fall asleep and not wake up until the next morning, but that was okay. He just wanted to try and spend a little time with him.

The boys continued stocking around the store. They were causing shenanigans while working, which perked Steve up a little bit.

"Okay, how many more?" Steve asked.

"Just these three. Let's get it done and get out of here," Soda said.

"You read my mind," Steve yawned as he walked towards the back of the store with bags of chips.

"Do you want me to drive us?" Soda asked, "You're pretty tired."

"No, I'll be fine."

Soda glanced outside to make sure no one was around before walking over to Steve, placing his arms around him. "You're not fine. You're exhausted."

"Soda," Steve waved his arms off, "What if someone sees?"

"No one's out there. It's fine," Soda softly smiled.

"We have to be careful. You know that."

"I know," Soda looked down, "It's hard to sometimes."

"Trust me, I suffer just as much as you do," Steve said pulling some more chips out of the box.

Soda glanced around the store, "We can go in the back? We haven't been alone like this yet."

Steve looked up at Soda. He liked that idea, and was desperate for alone time with Soda, but he was also so tired. "Just for a few minutes."

Soda smiled as he walked with Steve into the backroom. They wrapped in each other's arms and locked lips. Steve pulled Soda in tight, Soda wrapped his fingers in Steve's sweaty hair.

"I can't believe this has come out of one drunken mishap," Steve commented as they broke apart.

"Not a mishap," Soda said.

A couple months ago, Steve and Soda were at the Curtis house playing cards. Darry was pulling an all nighter at his second job, Pony and Johnny were out with some other greasers at the drive-in, Dally and Two-Bit were doing their own things. Steve was drinking, as he had been having a hard week with his dad and had a lot of anger bottled up. Soda had gotten upset hearing about the shit his dad was doing, and had gotten worked up enough to have some drinks of his own. A few hours passed and they were both getting tipsy and very sentimental in their conversations.

Steve got to the point where he was questioning why his dad didn't love him, why his mom left, why no one could just love him and want to take care of him. Soda was heartbroken and had to convince Steve how important he was to him. It was so hard to see his best friend like that. Before they knew it, Steve was going towards Soda and kissing him. At the time, it seemed natural. They kissed for a little bit and when they stopped, nothing seemed that wrong with it. If anything, Steve felt better from it.

The next morning, when Soda woke up in bed and Steve woke up on the Curtis couch, they realized what they happened. They barely looked at each other. It took them two days to finally talk about it, and they found out they both didn't want to just forget about it.

Before the two could continue, they heard the bell from above the store door.

"Did you not lock the door when you came in?" Soda asked.

Steve thought for a second, "Damn, I didn't."

"That's okay. I can see if he just wants to buy something real quick," Soda said. The boys fixed their hair quick and walked out.

"Hey," Soda smiled as he saw a man inside the store, "We're closed man, but do you just need something small we can help you with?"

"Nope," the man snarled, whipping a gun out of his pocket, "Both of you get on the ground now!"