Chapter 6: Living Adjustments
Coach had transitioned from always taking Steve's mom on dates outside of the house to sometimes coming over and having dinner with them.
It was awkward, to say in the least.
Steve felt like he was both intruding on their date and that Coach was intruding into his home. Coach's presence was like some kind of violation of the unspoken rules between teachers and students, like a teacher shouldn't be inside of a student's house, even if they were dating that student's parent.
What was even more bizarre was seeing how un-teacher like Coach acted at these dinners. It was like he was watching a nature documentary of the previously undiscovered lives of teachers.
Steve generally kept quiet during these dinners as Coach and his mom talked and -rather shamelessly- flirted with each other. But, as much as he tried to avoid it, sometimes the conversation would turn to him and he'd be forced to participate as they asked questions in a way that felt too much like they were imitating a TV family. People were supposed to act interested in their families lives, he knew that, but this was too unfamiliar.
His father certainly never put any effort into talking to him beyond telling him what was what and berating him for how he did in school. If he was lucky there would be few small praises for his athletic aptitude thrown in, usually only after winning something tangible, and Steve came to crave those fleeting praises with an all encompassing intensity. Things with his mom had always been awkward, both from the rift his father drove between them with how heavily Steve idolized him -particularly over his mother- and from the intense authority she tried to enact over Steve in reaction to said idolization.
But now without the ever present rift of his father, his mom was making more of an effort to connect with him, and she was determined to take Coach along for that ride as well.
Coach was trying to get to know him, to be a part of the family, and it wasn't a terrible thing in retrospect, no, but now didn't feel like the right time for all this to happen. He was still trying to figure himself out, work on being better with Toby. Focusing on both things happening in his life was difficult.
Coach's visits also came with an additional breach between Steve's home-school life, in the same manner that parents would talk to each other about their kids, Coach would talk to his mom about what he'd seen at school. He knew that something was going on with Steve and Toby just as well as the rest of the school knew, luckily like everyone else, he didn't bring it up with Steve, but that didn't mean he didn't bring it up with Steve's mom. Either due to timing or forgetfulness, she had yet to mention anything with Steve, and he counted his lucky stars that he'd be able to keep avoiding the topic with his mom.
That luck finally ran out the night of parent teacher conferences.
Normally, parent teacher conferences were a night to make panic crawl through him, every teacher would talk about how terrible he was in class and how his grades struggled to stay decent even with all the stolen homework they didn't know about barely keeping him afloat. He couldn't find that panic now. Without his heart, he had been less disruptive in class and some teachers seemed to be nicer to him just from that aspect. More so, with Jim & Toby's help, his grades had even improved slightly, he was now a mediocre, low C student, and honestly that was a good thing.
The gym was filled with tables for each teacher, a line of students and their parents coming from each of one that would fluctuate and shift around the room as parents had brief chats with each teacher before scurrying off to the next one. Steve led his mom around the room to each of his teachers, keeping an idle eye out for friends.
There was no site of Toby or his Nana around luckily, Steve would rather not have his mom meeting them here and now, it didn't feel like the right time for her to meet either of them. And he was certain Toby's Nana and his mom would talk.
About what, he wasn't certain, Toby's Nana promised not to bring up anything with hearth smithing to his mom, and he was certain she would keep her word. But she also seemed like the kind of person to stand in the middle of a supermarket and talk to someone endlessly about anything and everything in an effort to catch up, or in this case, get to know someone. Steve didn't need that here or now.
They reached the end of the night without much of a hitch, Steve only ran into Seamus and gave him a little fist bump as he and his foreboding father passed by. Seamus' father never approved much of Steve, and he clearly thought Steve was still the same clown as he always was with how the man glowered at him as they passed.
Most of the conversations with Steve's teachers were spent spacing out, they noted how he improved in class, how his homework wasn't as good as it had been in the past, but his test taking and school projects have improved enough to even out his grades and make him a decent student. His mom beamed at the news of his improvement, and Steve found himself reveling in her pride for him over something that wasn't just his athletic prowess.
His mom had never been proud of him for his academics, and certainly never his father. Steve didn't know how to explain it, but this felt like something only his mom should have, it wasn't for his father, only the two of them.
They climbed into the car together once everything was done at the school, ready to head off and grab a bite to eat, but his mom didn't turn the car on right away once they were belted in. Steve looked at her out of the side of his eye, watching and waiting as she drummed her hands on the steering wheel, hyping herself up to talk.
"It seems like you're doing a lot better in school," She spoke softly, there's an air of hope in her words.
"I am," He nodded, turning more to face her.
"I'm really happy to hear it," She turned to face him more, "I'm really proud of you."
He straightened at the direct praise, his lips pulled up a bit and a rush of pride and cheer surged through him.
"I'm... thanks."
For a brief moment, he was glad Toby found his heart, that he was allowed to feel these good feelings.
"And I was curious, about... The friend all your teachers mentioned."
The good feelings washed away just as quickly as they came, he tapped his fingers against his thigh.
"He's just a friend from school," Steve said quickly, looking away and trying to brush the topic off.
"Wilson mentioned it to me a couple times too," His mother continued, she tried to keep an encouraging smile on her face so he'd be more inclined to share, "Someone named Toby, that you've been hanging out with a bunch. I... I wanted to bring it up with you, but kept forgetting, I've never heard you mention him before."
"He's... A new friend, from school," Steve mumbled, did she somehow know his past with Toby? Or the chaotic weeks of them stalking and avoiding each other? Steve found himself wishing he paid closer attention to her conversations with his teachers instead of spacing out.
"Everyone seems certain that he's the reason you've been doing better in your classes, and they mentioned that you two have been hanging out a lot," She reached over and gently touched his arm, he glanced at her, "He's the one who's house you've been going to after school, isn't he? Not Seamus or Logan?"
"I hang out with them on the weekends," Only recently again, "But um...Yeah."
"You've never brought him up before," She repeated, keeping her voice soft so it didn't seem accusatory.
"I um..." Steve mumbled, he looked away, "I dunno, I didn't think you were that interested in my friends."
She shied away from that, a barely there string of guilt went through Steve.
"I... I know we haven't been... the closest in recent years, kiddo," She said, staring out the front window, her eyebrows knit together, "But I do want to be involved in your life more, like when you were little."
"I'm sorry," Steve mumbled.
"It's not your fault sweetie," She reached and put her hand over his again.
"Some things were," He responded. Wishing he'd written a letter for his mother, but not knowing where to begin with that endless list, and... inevitably speaking, he was scared that she'd catch on that something was up with him. He didn't want her to know about any of the heart smithing.
"We... we can be affected by those around us," His mother said with a sigh, Steve finally found the ability to look up at her again, "Neither of us were our best selves... back then."
He nodded, unable to say anything in either of their defense.
"But... I like to think that we're doing better," She gave him a sympathetic smile.
"You're a good mom," He blurted out, some bizarre notion in his head saying that he needed to say something to comfort her back.
Her eyes shone and she squeezed his hand.
"Not the best," He mumbled, "But a good mom."
She laughed at that, "I'll take it."
"A-and my friend Toby," He started, figuring he should say something to her about him, even if he left out every detail as to why they're friends, "He's been... helping me with things. He's helped me a lot in the past few months."
"Beyond just school?" She asked.
"...A bit."
She gave his hand another squeeze, "I'd like to meet him, if that's okay."
"Are you sure?" Steve asked, looking at her through the corner of his eye, unable to face her fully, "He's... he's not like my other friends. He isn't from the team."
"Finally broadening your horizons, huh kiddo?" She grinned, bumping his shoulder with her own, "Of course! I've met your friends before, I'm a cool mom, I promise."
He chuckled at the way she posed in her seat.
"Alright," Steve mumbled, "I'll invite him over some time."
"I can't wait," She finally started up the car and pulled out of the parking lot as Steve rolled over the thought in his mind.
Toby wasn't sure what to expect of Steve's house, he never imagined he'd be standing right before it in any reason or scenario before their becoming friends, and he'd taken to not thinking about it as of late because of how nervous the idea made him.
Steve's house was as ordinary as an Arcadia Oaks house got, with maybe the addition of unlit christmas lights still bordering the edge of the roof. Steve put his vespa away in his garage and told Toby where he could set up his bike.
"My mom will be home from work in an hour or so," Steve said as he opened the door leading from the garage to his house.
"Cool," Toby nodded, trying to sound as normal as possible. It was only one person he had to meet, not a giant family, he could do this.
They'd stopped by his house beforehand to deposit the hearts in the resting box, figuring it would help Steve seem more put together and the two of them look less suspicious.
They entered Steve's house through the garage door, greeted by one of those cheesy inspiring word art wall decorations hanging across from them. Toby almost laughed at the sight of it. He knew that someone had to be buying those signs for them to be available in so many stores, but actually seeing them in someone's house without an ounce of irony was something else.
They rounded the corner to a room with a TV in it, and then to the kitchen, where more of the kitschy signs were intermittently hung along with pictures of Steve when he was young. Most of the pictures were frames with one side being a picture of Steve in a sports uniform or a group picture of whatever team he was on, and the other side being an explanation for the sports team and what year it was. A few even with medals in their frames.
Steve stopped in the kitchen and turned to face Toby.
"Now it's my turn to be like your Nana," He said, pretending to adjust invisible glasses on his face like her. Toby snorted, "Would you like any water, dear?"
"Gee Nana, are you okay? You sound different," Toby played along.
"It's the cold, dearie," Steve waved him off, "Answer the question."
"I'm fine thank you, Nana."
They giggled for a moment before turning and making their way away from the kitchen.
Toby caught a glance into the living room by the front door as they slipped into a hallway, its decoration was also rather simple, with little items sunglasses and candles cluttering up the coffee table and shelf so it didn't seem empty. It was very modern though, without the wallpaper and old patterns that filled his own house, something clearly not decorated by an 80-something year old woman.
The hallway displayed more pictures and signs on its walls. Most were pictures of Steve, some were of him and a woman in rather gaudy clothes and jewelry, her blond hair done up in a bump, likely Steve's mother Toby was about to meet.
He caught one photo in the light of an open door across the hall from where they were turning into Steve's bedroom, a very young Steve was held by his mother in a flashy gown. What was off about the image was how much the two were clearly off-center in the image's framing, a green shoulder peeking out from the right side. The image had been changed at some point, tampered with as he also caught the discoloration of the wall around the image, a bigger picture had once hung there. He hazard a guess that someone was removed from the photo, remembering a similar one that hung in Jim's house for sometime when they were younger before it disappeared altogether and was replaced with an image of his grandfather. Toby wondered briefly if any of the wordy signs replaced other photos as they entered the bedroom.
Plain white furniture greeted him, rather unremarkable, even more so with the handful of elaborate trophies scattered over his dresser and desk, all seemingly forgotten and having gathered dust with time. The room was simple, a little messy as Steve quickly grabbed a couple of clothes that laid haphazardly on the floor and tossed them into a hamper in the corner with a little basketball hoop posed over it and tried to subtly straighten the comforter on his bed in an effort to clean up last minute. The walls were painted light blue, reflecting the light from the window to brighten the room, and decorated in little pennants for what Toby could only guess was for various sports teams, as he recognized none of them. A cork board with medals and pictures of Steve and his team hung over a plain white desk strewn with school work.
Steve led them to sit on the little round, navy blue carpet in front of his bed, they leaned their backs on his bed frame and faced the open door of the hallway, intent on working on their project to fill the time until Steve's mom came home.
From the new angle Toby could see the wall behind Steve's door, there was a discolored spot on the wall, it looked like someone had filled in drywall hole and painted over it, but didn't quite have the same paint color as before, the spot being a little lighter than the wall around it. There was a similar spot behind Jim's bedroom door, where the knob had slammed into the drywall when they accidentally swung the door open too harshly; they had patched up the wall in a similar way. But this spot wasn't in line with Steve's doorknob, it was closer to the hinge of the door, harder to spot unless you were directly in the room, and was about as high on the wall as Toby was tall.
He'd seen the more explosive side of Steve's anger, how he smacked things around and punched whatever inanimate object was closest to intimidate those around him, this must have been the result of such an explosion.
Toby pulled out his folder and his phone, the hole and the patch job were clearly old.
They spent their time in Steve's room switching between doing their project, and taking breaks to sit back and chat about aimless things when they felt too exhausted from looking at their paperwork.
Toby was doing well, here in the unfamiliar place, he almost felt at home in Steve's bedroom. That feeling was gone the moment he heard the front door of the house unlock.
She was here.
There was no more avoiding Steve's mom, Toby was finally going to meet her face to face.
Steve called to her from where they sat on the ground.
"Hey honey!" She called back from the living room.
"Toby's here!" Steve added before standing up.
"Wonderful!"
They stood up and shuffled to the door, Steve stopped just before they entered the hallway and glanced back at Toby.
"She's nice," He tried to reassure, but his eyes betrayed him, obvious tension hidden behind them.
They headed down the hall and turned into the living room to see Steve's mom in a work uniform, doing what little she could in the moment to spruce herself up. She glanced up when she heard them and of course, that's when Toby really saw it.
The slight way her eyes widened, the tight way she held her lips as she gave a quick look over Toby before focusing too intently on his eyes to avoid looking over all of him again and letting him know that she thought there was something off about how he looked. She was better at schooling her features than other people Toby had dealt with -Steve included- but he knew this judgment all too well.
Toby knew how he looked, how he dressed, he knew that people just saw some fat little nerd when they saw him. He'd gotten better at letting the judgment of strangers roll off his back, they were strangers, who cared what they thought? But this was different.
This was different because he was Steve's friend now. He cared what Steve's mom thought of him. The judgment wouldn't just roll off his back anymore like she was a perfect stranger.
As much as he hated to admit it, her lack of immediate approval was killing him inside.
Fuck, why did he do this to himself again?
"Mom," Steve's voice cut through Toby's internal devastation, "This is Toby, my friend."
He said it with that same emphasis Toby did when first introducing Steve to his Nana, that they'd talked about him before. Of course they had, she had heard about Toby, Steve said she asked to meet him specifically, of course they talked about him.
"Hi!" Steve's mom quickly cleared her throat as her greeting came out much too high, her cheerful expression strained, "Hello, I'm Diana, Steve's mom."
"I-it's nice to meet you, ma'am," Toby wobbled out, his voice nearly cracking from nerves. He kept his hands clasped behind his back, struggling to look her in the eye as she desperately tried to school her face.
"It's nice to meet you too," She responded, voice level and expression turning more and more neutral, "I've heard a lot about you."
Another pang of panic went through him, he knew she wasn't going to bring that up, but there was still so much else she could bring up with him being there in Steve's house now.
"All good things?" Toby asked as a nervous joke, internally smacking himself the moment it left his mouth.
At this Steve's mom paused, her eyebrows raising just a tic as she considered his words and smoothly glanced at Steve, who only offered her his own nervous smile.
Her eyes drifted to the spot between them in thought, before her shoulders relaxed where she stood, "Yes," She said, her voice finally holding some warmth and a more natural smile graced her face, "Good things."
The change in tone helped Toby finally relax, she didn't despise him completely, he could deal with that.
"Cool," Steve's voice cut in, "Um, we've got a project we're working on, so," Steve gestured back to his room behind them, "We're gonna go work on that."
There was a crinkle in his mom's eyes as she smiled at that, "Of course, honey, thank you for letting me meet your friend," She looked over at Toby, still seeming a bit conflicted at his presence, "It was nice meeting you, are you going to stay for dinner?"
"Nope!" Toby rushed out a little too fast, he quickly tried to correct himself, "No, sorry, my... my Nana wants me home for dinner."
She just nodded as they awkwardly shuffled back towards the hall.
"It was nice meeting you too, ma'am," And they disappeared into the hall and slipped back into Steve's bedroom, this time Steve closed the door behind them.
"She might try and spy on us," Steve answered Toby's questioning look.
They sat back down at their spots on the ground and let out a shared sigh. He'd met Steve's mom and survived. It obviously could have been better, but it also could have been a lot worse, Toby did his best to count his luck.
They met at Steve's house more, switching between spending their time there and at Toby's house after school when they could. Each time, Steve's mom was a little warmer, and Toby seemed a little more comfortable in the new space, he even stayed and had dinner with Steve and his mom a couple of times when his Nana was out at her Bingo nights.
Between Toby and Coach -who by chance had yet to run into each other- coming by, the house was feeling more lively, but not in the stifling way that his father's presence brought. For all the weirdness of having Coach in his home, his was a nicer presence, and all the activity made things less... lonely.
Steve was even tempted to invite Seamus and Logan over to his house on the weekends, instead of him going to theirs all the time. He'd never done that before, never knowing when his father would be home, he wanted to save his friends from ever having to meet and possibly having to deal with the man. Well, that was part of it, more so Steve never wanted them to see how subdued he was around his father, how weak one person could easily make him.
He supposed he shouldn't have been as surprised as he was to find that one of the people that could do the very same to Toby was right in his own house.
Toby and Steve had been sitting in his room, playing a video game together while his mom made dinner, the occasional plate or pot could be heard clanging around over the sound of their game along with his mom's faint singing.
The front door opened as Coach came in, interrupting his mom's song as they greeted each other, and Steve caught how Toby froze at the sound.
He watched Toby, waiting for him to focus back on their game, but he didn't. Cautiously, Steve nudged him with his elbow.
"Who's here?" Toby asked, turning his head to Steve, but glancing over to the hallway.
It took Steve a moment to realize what Toby was asking, but before he could answer, a knock came from the open door.
"Oh hey Domzalski!" Coach said from where he appeared at the door in that overly-friendly tone he seemed to reserve for only outside of school, "Diane mentioned you were here too, I finally caught you, ha!"
"Hey Coach," Steve greeted, briefly distracted from Toby's panic.
"Hey champ," Coach greeted back, his hand on his hip, "Came by to let you two know that dinner'll be ready in a few minutes."
"Okay, we'll find a place to pause."
Coach gave him a nod and turned to leave. Toby jumped up and rushed to close the door the moment he was out of sight.
"Dude-?"
"What the fuck is Coach Lawrence doing in your house?!" Toby hissed as quietly as he could manage, pressing his back against the door to barricade it.
Steve gaped, not expecting the sudden intensity from Toby, "...He's, dating my mom."
"Since when?!"
"Since a few months ago, like, before we uh, we became friends," Steve explained, but he shook his head, confused, "Didn't I tell you this?"
"No! You never said anything about this!" Toby gripped the lip of the door frame so hard his knuckles blanched.
"Oh, I must have forgot," Steve mumbled, looking off to the side.
"Fuuuck."
"It's fine, dude, there's no need to freak out, it's just Coach." Steve explained, put off by Toby's intensity, "He comes over every once in a while for dinner and to hang out."
Toby laughed and shook his head.
""Just coach" to you is not the same as "just coach" to me."
"Wh-"
"-I have to go," Toby muttered, suddenly moving to grab his things
"Woah-woah-woah!" Steve jumped up to stop Toby, grabbing him by the shoulders, "Dude, it's fine."
"I am not having dinner with Coach Lawrence, Steve," Toby hissed, glaring panicked daggers into Steve.
"Why not?" He asked, trying his best to remain level headed, their hearts were at Toby house in the resting box and he could feel the spike in Toby's heartbeat.
But Toby just clammed up, clenching his fists and scrunching into himself, desperately avoiding looking at Steve.
"What's up?" Steve asked gently as he could, giving Toby's shoulder a squeeze, "What's wrong?"
Toby tried to shrug out of Steve's grip without success, "Nothing, it's stupid-"
"Toby," He bent down to look Toby in the eye, who did his best to purposefully avoid the gaze.
After a pause, Steve let out a small breath he was holding.
"I'm not gonna make fun of you for it," He said softly.
"I know that," Toby shot out like it was obvious, though for Steve, it was a relief to hear.
"Then what's wrong?"
"It's stupid," Toby mumbled again, scrunching more into himself.
"...Please?"
Toby paused, glancing over at Steve from the corner of his eye and opening and closing his hands.
"Look, man, I don't do well in gym," Toby started with a soft sigh, his shoulders slumping, "It's... my worst class, and ya-know, I'm not exactly Coach's favorite student like you are. In fact, I'm pretty sure he hates me."
"He doesn't hate you, Toby," Steve tried to reassure, "He's harsh, yeah, but he's like that with everyone, he even gets on my case sometimes."
"I have a better grade than Eli," Toby blurted harshly.
"What?"
"I have a better grade in gym than Eli," Toby repeated, wiggling out of Steve's grip, "It's marginal, but it's still better than his, I'm still scraping by in that class. But-" he put a lot of emphasis on the word, arms raising in that expressive manner Toby always spoke in, "Coach still gets on my ass more than he does with Eli. Fuck, even Jim's only doing a bit better than me in gym and yet coach barely harps at him for how he's doing. I'll give you one guess as to what's glaringly different about us."
Toby angrily gestured at his body.
Steve faltered, looking to the side or something to say, some kind of defense, but what could he really say to Toby? He did kind of have a point. Steve couldn't really change the fact that coach was darting his mom though.
"Look, Steve-" Toby said, softer now.
"What if I helped you in class?"
"W... what?"
"You know with gym, it'smybest class, what if I helped you out in it?" Steve explained, "The other teachers have been nicer to me now that I'm doing betting in their classes thanks to your help. So if you're doing better in his class, Coach won't get on your case as much."
Toby shied away, "I'm not so sure about that, Steve."
"C'mon, I can even tell Coach to back off if he nags you too much."
"You don't have to… we don't…" Toby played with his fingers as he stumbled over his words, gaping as he tried to think of what to say before finally looking back at Steve, "Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Steve nodded, "You've been helping me a whole bunch, and I can finally help you out with something in return."
Steve was liking his spur of the moment idea more and more.
"You don't have to pay me back or anything," Toby said, "You're not… indebted to me, or whatever."
"In know, but… I, well, I wanna help you," He really did, "You're my friend, and if Coach is a problem for you, I wanna help make him, not a problem for you."
"Don't… don't go telling him off for my sake or anything."
"Okay, I won't," Steve shrugged, "But I can help you out with gym stuff."
Toby shifted from side to side, flexing his hands as he mulled over it.
"I… guess we can try."
"Great," Steve said, patting him on the shoulder.
Steve's mom called for them to come out for dinner. Toby sank back into himself.
"But do I really have to have dinner with Coach Lawrence?"
"It will be fine," Steve reassured, "You're not having a one on one dinner with him, my mom and I will be there."
"Ugh."
"Besides, my mom already made food for all four of us," Steve turned off their game and the TV.
"Fine, fine!" Toby threw his hands up and followed Steve into the hallway.
Toby barely talked at dinner, only answering in short one or two word responses when he was spoken to and avoiding as much eye contact as possible. He slumped into himself the whole time and jiggled his leg so furiously Steve was surprised his Mom and Coach didn't notice or say anything about it. Once they finished putting their dishes away and were finally, technically excused, Toby shot back to Steve's room. It took a couple of games from the privacy of Steve's room before Toby seemed to really calm down, his heat rate dropping back down to something less erratic that Steve wasn't feeling it as intensely.
"Sorry 'bout my freak out," Toby mumbled as he packed his things to head back home.
"It's alright," Steve shrugged, "I just… wasn't expecting it."
Toby wrung his hands together.
"And we can do some training on the days I don't have practice so you can get better in gym."
"Yeah, great," Toby gave a very apprehensive grin at the idea. Steve would have to figure out an actual plan helping out Toby that wouldn't make him quit right away.
They meandered to the front door so Toby could head off, Coach and his mom would usually watched TV in the other room whenever he came over in the evenings, so hopefully Toby wouldn't get skiddish again by his presence.
"See you tomorrow," Toby said as he slid his shoes on, Steve returned the sentiment, getting ready to open the door for him when Coach showed up.
"You heading out now Domzalski?"
Toby stiffened and Steve could feel his heart rate jump once again.
"Um, yeah," He turned to the door to try and leave faster.
"Well lemme give you a ride home," Coach reached for his coat on the wall peg.
"Wha? No-no, it's fine, I, I wouldn't want to bother you."
"It's no bother," Coach shrugged his coat on, "It's already dark out and I've gotta head home myself before it gets too late, I can drop you off on my way."
"I can go on my own," Toby tried to defend, "I do this all the time."
"Really I insist!" Coach grabbed the door and opened it.
"I-I took my bike!" Toby declared, throwing his hands up in exasperation.
"No problem, we can put it the back of my truck," Coach answered back cheerfully.
Toby looked to Steve in a panic, desperation in his eyes begged for some kind of help. But Steve could only shake his head and shrug, having no idea what he could possibly say to stop Toby from getting a ride home with Coach. Toby clicked his tongue and rubbed his hands together as he cautiously followed coach outside.
This must be some horrid punishment for some crime he unwittingly committed, because Toby could not think of any other reason he'd have to had dinner with and then subsequently end up alone in a car with Coach fucking Lawrence. He made sure to put himself as close to the passenger door as he possibly could, ready to hop out of the car the moment they pulled up to his house.
It was quiet aside from the occasional directions called from Coach Lawrence's phone and the rampant drumming of his fingers along the wheel of his truck. Toby tried to pretend he wasn't existing right there in that moment.
"Domzalski," Coach finally broke the silence between them, Toby scrunched into himself.
"Toby," He said, softer, that caught Toby's attention.
He turned to peek at Coach Lawrence from the side of his eye, seeing the way he knit his brows together.
"I, uh… I wanted to thank you."
"What?" Toby blurted, a thank you was the last thing he expected to come out of Coach Lawrence's mouth.
"I wanted to thank you," He repeated with more confidence. Toby just blinked owlishly at him, "I know Steve's been going through some tough times recently, and I know you've been helping him through a lot of it. And it really seems like you have helped him."
Coach licked his lips, almost as if he was aware of how utterly odd it was for such a thing to come out of his mouth, "I'm glad you two became friends, you've been a good influence on him."
Toby stared at him, utterly mystified at the way Coach Lawrence addressed him, the fact that he was being so nice, that he was so genuine, that he apparently thought of Toby as a "good influence" of all things.
"Um… Thanks," Toby mumbled, unsure of what else to say, but relieved that Coach thought well of him, at least in relation to Steve. He felt a little bad about saying Coach Lawrence had the emotional capacity of a flea.
For all of Toby's misgivings towards Coach Lawrence, all of his personal issues with him, Toby couldn't say that the man didn't care about Steve. That he wouldn't support Steve.
And Steve needed all the care and support he could get.