DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Outsiders. -le sigh-

He still couldn't believe he was doing this. Steve was never the type to turn down adventure, but this was one of the riskier of his and Soda's endeavors. Grand Theft Auto was fun in theory, but getting fired from the first job he'd had that he'd actually enjoyed in the slightest was not something he was interested in.

"Soda, just how do you think we're going to manage to get that car out of the station, in broad daylight, without anyone noticing?" he asked as they began their walk to the DX.

Soda put an arm around Steve's neck. "Well first off, Stevie, it's not broad daylight. The sun's been going down for a while. Second, it's Friday. It's always slow on Fridays because everyone's taking their girls out on the town. Third, no one's going to be in the garage tonight; and Forth, I know where John keeps the keys!" His voice rose into a bit of frustrated excitement at the end of his explanation.

Steve sighed. It was his job to play the skeptic. "How are we supposed to get in and out with the keys without John seeing us? And someone's gonna be manning the pumps—they'll see us pull out."

"If someone asks we can just … tell them we're taking it back to the owner because they don't have time to pick it up."

Steve shrugged Soda's arm off of him. "And we're doing this on our day off because …?"

"Because you're John's own personal suck-up and you're hoping one day to trick him into promoting you to Supreme Ruler of the Garage before you buy the place out from under him."

Steve pushed Soda so he lost his footing for a moment and ending up narrowly avoiding getting hit by a speeding car. "You know I got no problem killin' you, Sodapop. I would be smart enough to do that, though. Minus the sucking up."

"Yeah all right, Mr. 'Oh, I'll stay after my shift and help ya clean up around here, John'," Soda replied, brushing invisible dust from his shirt.

Steve watched another car come rushing past. "You wanna get pushed into on-coming traffic again, Soda?"

Soda put his arm around Steve's neck again. "You kill me, who's gonna tell you when you're actin' like an idiot in front of Evie?"

Steve pushed Soda again, and again he very nearly missed getting hit by a '49 Ford truck.

XXX

As they neared the DX station, Steve felt relieved when he saw no customers were around, and no one was bothering to stand at the pumps, though the relief was soon followed by the thought: Lazy bastards.

"How perfect is this, Steve? The universe likes us, man," Soda told him as they walked to the garage.

Steve opened the door part-way to check that his Bel-Air most certainly was there, and there most certainly was not anyone lurking about. "Yeah, this is real perfect. So where are the keys and how're we getting 'em?"

"John keeps them in his office—

Steve snorted. "Good luck getting them, then."

—and my master key works on that door. We can get in and outta there quicker than you can say 'Happy Birthday'."

Steve looked at Soda hard, deciding whether or not this was worth it. "You really think we can get away with this?"

Soda smiled widely. "Of course we can. You're the one who's amazingly stealth-like in the art of car jacking."

Really, it was hubcaps that Steve was amazingly stealth-like at stealing—the closest he'd come to stealing a whole car was when he borrowed his dad's without permission, or when he helped Dally move Shepard's in act of revenge—but he felt no need to point that out. "That's true," he said. "What do I need to do?"

"Create a diversion," Soda told him. "When I go in there, distract whoever's working, especially John, and I'll slip in, unnoticed, and grab the keys. Easy as pie."

Steve sighed and shook his friend's hand in act of agreement. "Let's get this over with."

XXX

The two walked in doing their best to look incredibly innocent, though in reality they looked rather suspicious. Soda more than Steve; he didn't have as much experience in the world of theft.

Soda walked to the back in an effort to seem like he wanted something from the vending machine, and Steve went to greet Sully at the register.

"Hey, Sully," Steve said, removing his comb from his back pocket to fix his already perfect hair. "Slow day, huh?"

Sully grunted. He didn't look like much of a talker.

Steve tried not to look intimidated by Sully's lumberjack stature and slicked back his non-existent fly-away hairs. "Where's John at?"

Sully grunted again, but this time spoke. "He went to Muskogee to pick up some parts. They weren't gonna get here in time."

Maybe the universe really did like them. Steve played it cool, and replaced the comb in his pocket. "Oh … So, who else is working then?"

Sully looked thoroughly annoyed with Steve's attempt at small talk. "Frank. He's on break. Sam's shift ended a half hour ago and Earl ain't clocked in yet."

Steve watched Soda out of the corner of his eye as he made his way across the room and behind the counter. There was a small thud when he landed on the other side, Sully's side.

"Sully!" Steve said to stop him from turning around. "Do you, um, do you hang around Buck's? I feel like I've seen you around there before."

"No," he replied.

"Oh. That, uh, that must've been someone else then."

"Must've."

Steve laughed exaggeratedly as he watched Soda through the window unlocking John's office. He gave Steve the thumbs up and walked in.

"I'll hafta take you over there some time. It's real fun. Lot's of booze and dames, ya know?" He laughed again.

"I don't drink and I got a girlfriend."

Steve was a little taken aback. Sully looked more like the eternally single, raging alcoholic type.

"Do you? Talk about a lucky girl …" Soda emerged from John's office, triumphantly waving the keys at Steve. He locked the door and began his attempt at getting back to the outside of the counter without being noticed. "You should, uh, bring her by here some time. I'm sure we'd all like to meet her."

Sully said nothing, just stared. The way he was able to stare a person down, he could've been a cop instead of a cashier.

Soda climbed over the counter and landed, this time without a thud, on the other side. He walked to the back again, headed to the side of the store from which he'd entered, and left.

It was time to wrap it up. "Well, it was nice catching up with ya, Sully. We'll have to get together some time after work." He put Sully's hand into his own and shook it, nodding, before walking out after Soda.

XXX

Once Steve caught up with Soda back at the garage, he couldn't help but laugh. "Shit, that guy's got a screw loose or somethin'," he said between chuckles.

Soda laughed with him. "Yeah, no kiddin'. And he's gotta be right stupid not to of seen me."

"You can thank me for saving your ass after that giant crash-landing you had later." He opened the garage door all the way, and the pair walked in. "Gimme the keys."

"Yes, O King of all Things Automobilic." He gave Steve the keys and hopped into shot-gun.

"Automobilic?" Steve asked absentmindedly as he basked in the beauty of the car that he was about to experience firsthand.

"If you don't get in quick someone's gonna come and we'll get caught," Soda said, leaning one arm over the car door to look as tuff as possible. Though it was hard not to in that car.

Steve pulled himself from his stupor and climbed—very carefully—into the drivers' seat. He sighed. This car could kick the ass of any Mustang or T-Bird in the neighborhood all the way to Timbuktu. And it had the most comfortable leather seats Steve had ever sat in, not to mention.

"Steve?" Soda was snapping in his face. "You wanna turn the thing on? Maybe put it in drive? We're gonna be late!"

Again, Steve was forced to meet reality and he turned on the car. It had a nice sound. When they returned it after the date he'd go ahead and add a new exhaust to enhance it. He put the car in reverse and backed out of the garage as quietly as he could. He switched it to drive and pulled out of the station and onto the road. He put more pressure on the gas pedal and headed towards North Wheeling.

"Hey Steve?"

"Mmhmm?"

"Just, uh … Stay clear of 101st and Yale. That's about where Wayne Brooks lives. According to John's papers, this is his car."

"Yeah, 'cause I'd be goin' anywhere near there anyway."

"Just sayin'."

They continued driving until they were on East King, when a thought suddenly struck Steve. "Hey Soda?"

"Yeah?"

"Isn't Brooks on the baseball team?"

Soda turned to Steve, his eyes now widening. "Shit."

Steve sighed—this time not happily—and pulled onto Evie's street. "Happy birthday to me."

I think I updated in record time! For me, anyway. I hope you enjoyed this chapter; I'll make sure to update as quick as my chronic procrastination will let me. Comments/Concrit are appreciated!

Btw - I noticed the ending might be a tad confusing. They are taking Evie and Sandy to their high school baseball game. I mentioned that in an earlier chapter, but it was a small detail and easy to miss.