When I'm at this stage in fics, I always think, "Getting to know you, getting to know every thiiiiing about yooooou" and feel the need to frolic. This is the time spent getting to know each other, etc etc. I'll be cute, in depth and brief, hopefully.

Disclaimers:

Same as before, only more manly affection.

"Hey Pony. What's going on buddy?" Two Bit asked.

"Nothing." Pony sat next to him on the couch and smiled, opening his book.

"You sure have been smiling a lot lately. And I never hear you and Steve at it anymore, or you and Darry. Something you all wanna tell me? You all start drinking when I wasn't looking?" Two Bit asked.

"Naw, Steve isn't so bad. And Darry's starting to act his age."

"That's good." Two Bit said. Pony grinned.

"And how is Miss Kathy?"

"Finer than ever."

(la la la)

"Hey Ponyboy." Steve said. Whenever they saw each other, and no one else, Steve's cheeks would get a little bud of red. They were in the lot, Soda had to work at the DX because the manager got food poisoning, and Two Bit was out romancing Kathy. Pony didn't know where Darry was, but that didn't matter.

They actually talked. Pony was beginning to think he knew more about Steve, the actual Steve, not just the tall, tuff guy that held off four Socs with a busted Coke bottle. And he liked it. Every time Steve laughed, even at some kinda gross things, (if Two Bit was involved, you don't wanna know, Pony had learned) Pony smiled. Something was infectious about him. He tended to grow on people, even the ones who didn't want him at first.

In short, Pony was coming around.

"Where do you want to go?" Steve asked.

Steve glanced around the lot and came closer, taking Pony's hands in his and swinging them. It was odd to see Steve when he wasn't angry or revved up for a fight or a poker game or a girl. He seemed oddly content. Although, he was permanently grounded to their couch, at least until he got his own place, now that his dad kicked him out for good. And Pony guessed that having a love interest a door down in the same house would make anyone content. Or crazy. He saw some crazy sometimes too. How energized Steve got. He'd taken to jumping on the couch too, even after Darry pushed him off mid bounce, saying "you break it, you buy it". Still had the bruise from landing on the coffee table.

"I dunno."

"Well, let's get something to eat and go for a drive." Steve said.

"Yeah, sounds good." Pony said. If he let Steve decide where to go, he usually picked something good. Pony guessed he spent a lot of time thinking about it.

Steve took him to the drive up place and they talked while they waited for the waitress. Pony never thought Steve was much deeper than car stuff, girl stuff and fists. He was wrong.

"I never really loved Evie I guess. She was always going around behind my back, and you can't love someone you can't trust." Steve said. He rubbed the back of his neck. "You really know how to get me to talk. I'm a regular chatterbox with you. Must get it from Soda, huh?"

"Yeah." Mentioning Soda always stilled things. "Steve, if we ever, do stuff, what are we gonna tell Soda?"

"I don't know. I wasn't thinking about telling him." Steve said.

"He'd figure it out." Pony said.

"Do we have to talk about this now?" Steve asked. He put his hand on Pony's knee and met his eyes. Pony stared into his honey brown eyes and sighed.

"We should."

"All right. So, Darry or Soda, or maybe even Two Bit, walks in on us necking-" Steve began.

"We haven't necked that much and we would never do it in the house-"

"Pony, I sleep on the couch, sometime it'll probably happen." Steve said.

Pony flushed. Their order came and Steve paid, putting a fry in Pony's mouth before he continued.

"So, what would we do?"

"Well, was it obvious we weren't just, wrestling?" Pony asked. He took a bite of the cheeseburger he'd ordered and ketchup spat out on his jeans.

"You'd wrestle on the couch with me?" Steve asked, eyebrows and grin wagging. He ran a napkin over the ketchup but his hand lingered.

"I'd lose." Pony muttered.

"I think we'd both win." Steve said.

"Steve-"

"All right, all right. Let's take the hardest one first. Let's say they know we weren't wrestling. They know we were doing something romantical."

"So, what could we say?"

"For Two Bit, let's just say you're my Kathy." Steve said.

"Why aren't you my Kathy?" Pony asked.

"We can't lie to the good ole boy. Besides, he'll take it the best, I think. He'll just be confused, right?" Steve asked. He slipped a few onion rings into his burger and took a bite.

"I think it'll make sense to him. He doesn't understand why we don't fight anymore."

"But do you think he'd care about us being guys?" Steve asked, mouth full of meat and onion rings.

"I think as long as he's convinced you mean well and aren't taking advantage of me, he wouldn't care. That's assuming Darry wasn't gonna whup up on him."

"Oh boy. Let's talk about Darry. I think we both know what he'd say."

"I'm too young."

"Pony's too young." Steve echoed as Pony spoke. "And I'm too old. And I'm taking advantage of you."

"And you're on the rebound." Pony added. Steve started.

"What?"

"From Evie." Pony said.

"I know what it means, I'm surprised you do." Steve said. Damn, the kid was learning fast.

"He'd also think about what Soda would feel. Soda, I dunno. He's your best friend." Pony said.

"And he's your brother." Steve said. They both slumped back against their seats. They'd avoided the topic because, as was evident by their disinterest in deep fried goodness, it was a bit of a downer.

"Well, he'd be happy, wouldn't he?" Pony offered. Neither believed it.

"I don't know. I do know that once I got out of the hospital, I'd be out of a couch to sleep on." Steve said. Ponyboy laughed.

"Well, I guess we both know how Darry would react." Pony said.

"Listen, Pony, we've got time to think about what to say, when or if it ever comes up. Just know that as long as you want me around, I'll find a way to be there. Superman or no." Steve patted his knee.

"Really?" Pony asked.

"Yeah. Besides, we can handle this. We're just two macho Greasers grubbing down and going for a drive, cruising for trouble." Steve said.

"Then let's find some." Pony said.

After they finished eating, they headed out to some place Steve said was real nice at night time. The sun was setting and Steve stopped to get some cold Cokes and chocolate bars. He figured he was getting damn romantic in his old age.

Steve drove on up into a foot hill area and pulled off onto a poorly marked dirt road. It lead to what was affectionately called a "scenic overview". Most kids would call it a make out spot. Steve hopped out and opened Pony's door.

"Come on, sit up on the hood." Steve said.

"Steve, even I know why you'd take me here-"

"Really? Good. Look." Steve said, motioning for him to look out at the horizon. Pony looked and saw the faded amber sky, blue faded to a deep violet as the orange streaks began to fade to darkness, all framed by the trees surrounding the car.

"It's beautiful." Pony murmured, a few moments later.

"Yeah. It's got a lot of, colors." Steve muttered. He shuffled awkwardly before slipping onto the hood of the car with a bottle of Coke.

"Everythin' okay Steve?" Pony asked. He sat next to him and slipped close, resting his hand on Steve's knee.

"Yeah. Sometimes I can't believe I'm with you. Wherever we are. I don't know how I ended up here, but I'm real glad." Steve said.

Steve hung his arm around Pony in a brotherly way and Pony smiled as he felt Steve's warm embrace. Steve pulled him into a kiss and Pony put an arm around his neck. Steve was about to let his tongue slip into their embrace when Pony jumped. He'd found the hood ornament apparently. Steve laughed.

"That thing is sharp." Pony muttered.

"It's cold out here anyway, let's get back in the car." Steve said.

"All right. It's getting too dark to see the sunset anyway."

They sat in the front seat, nothing but space between them, Steve resting his hand on the steering wheel.

"Soda would understand." Steve said, voicing what was keeping that space between them.

"I dunno-"

"He'd understand because he felt the same way about Sandie, and he wouldn't want us to feel like he did." Steve said. Pony looked across at him and blinked.

"You're right."

"Yeah. I am."

Steve closed the space between them and put his arm around Pony, trailing the other to his knee. Pony slipped a trembling arm around Steve's neck and Steve pulled him close, so their faces were no more than an inch apart, breath mingling as they shook. Steve kissed him, his hand slipping up to Pony's face. He ran his thumb over Pony's cheekbone and Pony shuddered into their kiss. He broke apart, almost gasping. Steve smiled and kissed his cheek, surprised when Pony kissed his lips.

Steve was only human, and any human would want to touch Pony. He ran a hand up and down Pony's thigh, embracing the roughness of the denim. He wanted to be closer to Pony, not sidled up to him like this. His hand trailed higher, resting low on the boy's stomach, and they kept kissing. Pony shifted under him, his hand curling to Steve's neck, his fingers grasping and loosing. Steve slipped a leg over him, straddling Pony and daring to deepen the kiss as he looked down at the boy. He rubbed his hips down against Pony's, relishing the strangled groan Pony uttered. Steve pressed a shaky kiss to his throat and slipped his hand to Pony's waistband.

Pony knew he felt good, but, it stopped being good when Steve got on top of him. He'd slipped an arm under Pony's, using the leverage to pull Pony close. Then he started moving his hips. Pony didn't even know guys could move their hips like that. He started to move, just because it wasn't feeling so good anymore, when he felt Steve's hands at his waist, fingers trailing lower.

"Steve." No response. He felt a kiss pressed to his throat. "Steve, Steve, Steve." Pony said. He put his hands to Steve, stilling them. Steve looked to him.

"What?"

"Let's, stop this." Pony murmured. Steve blinked at him.

"What? Why?" Steve asked. He looked confused, aroused and offended. A sad mixture.

"I'm, just, not digging this." Pony said.

"Really? Didn't sound like you weren't digging it." Steve said. Pony pushed him off, surprised Steve let him.

"Listen, I liked it, but you're going too fast for me." Pony said. Steve sighed from the other side of the seat, where he'd let Pony push him to.

"It's been two weeks Ponyboy."

"So? Most couples don't have sex til they're married, and I ain't got no ring on my finger." Pony snapped.

"Pony, we aren't most other couples. We aren't gonna get married, and we aren't-" Steve stopped, knowing Pony wasn't listening. He was starting to cry. "Shit, Pony, come on. Don't cry." Steve slipped close again, feeling like someone slugged him in the gut when Pony turned away, presenting his shoulder to Steve.

"I'm not a crybaby damn it. It's your fault. If you did that to a girl she'd slap you. And I know we ain't normal, I know it every time I see you, but I don't rub it in your face. And you know damn well that I will never forget that. Some people would consider that a good thing."

"Pony, I know it's a good thing." Steve slipped his arms around Pony, resting his head on Pony's shoulder, close to his ear. "If I was with some girl, like a normal relationship, I'd be miserable, more miserable than I was with Evie, more miserable than I was when I was living with my dad. Because I'd know that I wasn't happy, and I'd know what would make me happy, and never being able to get it would eat me alive."

Steve sighed.

"Never being able to get to you would eat me alive." Steve kissed his temple. "But I can wait."

Pony sniffled, taking a trembling breath.

"And I'm sorry I went too far. I'm not used to having to think and kiss at the same time. You're good at it for never having to do it before I came along."

"I'm just good at thinking." Pony murmured.

"And I'm good at kissing. Right?" Steve asked.

"I wouldn't know, I never had to do much of that before you came along."

I'll continue to update as fast as I can. Dunno if I'll put another one up tonight or not, so you guys will just have to check in every once and a while. Whoooof. Hard work. Saturday nights are for fanfics when you're pissed at all your friends.

Btw, I couldn't remember what color Steve's eyes were, and I couldn't find it in the book. I went with brown because it seemed sweet. Is it correct?

Enjoy! And thank yous to all reviewers, you guys are all attentive and helpful.

Til next chapter,

Shadows Run