Soda looked around after stepping inside, staying close against Steve with his arm around him. He felt tired suddenly. Thinking about "him" always tends to make him tired. Soda looked at Steve when he took his arm away and stared at him, wondering what he must think about him, about the whole situation.

Steve stared back at Soda. He felt nervous about the look on his face. His knitted eyebrows made him believe that he was deep in thought about something and when Soda get's deep into thought he get's upset. He didn't like where this was going.

"Soda…" Steve said quietly. "What's wrong? You don't look too good…" And he didn't look good. Not at all. There were dark circles under his eyes, his skin way too pale. The pink scars displayed obviously all over the white skin. He looked scared. Scared and sick. "Soda..?"

Soda felt his eyes water. He felt a lump in his throat start to form. That familiar choking feeling started to come back. His bottom lip quivered as he bit down onto it, feeling small and helpless. "Steve…"

Steve was worried now. He knew that something was wrong. He gently grabbed his wrist when he saw him start to shake and squeezed it lightly. "Soda-" But his name was the only word that managed to escape from his mouth before Soda had wrapped his thin arms around him, burying his face deeply into his shoulder and sobbing nearly uncontrollably, crying out "I should have listened to you! I should have listened!"

Steve had nearly stumbled backwards from the force of Soda's sudden desperate hug. His tears had already begun to soak his shirt, turning his blue shirt into a darker shade. His bony hands clung to him, his nails cutting into him as he not only held onto his shirt but onto the skin on his back to. "S-Soda..!"

"I should have! I should have listened! I should have listened! I-…" Soda stopped suddenly when he felt the scream resonating from inside of him, when he felt that unbearable emotion building up inside again even more, never having a way out. He stepped away from Steve, balling his shaking hands into fists and trying to hide his face with his hair. He bit down onto his trembling lip hard enough to draw blood in an attempt to hold in his scream, his emotions. He couldn't take this anymore. He couldn't live after what happened. After what "he" did. "My perfect little Pepsi Cola." It took a few moments for Soda to realize that he was screaming now and that Steve's strong arms were around him in a hug.

Later

He was about to sit up when he heard the front door open, knowing that Darry was home from work but he stayed laying down next to Soda when his small hand grabbed onto his shirt, gripping it desperately as he inched closer to him. Steve stared at the dried tear stains on his face sadly before gently trying to wipe them away with his thumb. He didn't care how pathetic this looked. He didn't care about how the guys would react if they saw them in this position. He only cared about Soda. He only cared about his best friend.

"I'm sorry," Soda said in a whisper. He had already said this numerous times before hand, he even cried it to him after Steve had managed to get him to stop screaming but he still continued to say it. This was starting to bother Steve. He needed Soda to realize that there was nothing for him to be sorry about, nothing for him to be ashamed about. Especially after what he had went through…

"Stop saying that," he nearly whispered back to him.

"Soda?"

Steve craned his neck to the side to look for Darry and sat up once he saw him walking over towards the room despite Soda's whiny protest. The eldest Curtis brother stared at Steve once seeing him, most likely wondering what the hell he is doing in bed with his brother.

Soda was still whining. He was even reaching up to Steve with his hand, indicating that he wanted him to lay back down. He wanted him close to him. He was desperate for comfort.

"Soda," Darry said gently after taking his suspicious gaze off of Steve. "Soda are you okay? How are you doing buddy..?" He took a couple of steps towards his younger brother and stared when he saw him grab onto Steve's shirt, tugging downwards on it as he tried to get him to lay back down.

"Steve please. I-… I need you. I need you."

It's been a long time since I updated this… I'd like to thank Steph36, Forever Alexis, and pixie4sparks for their reviews! Please review this and tell me what you think!