♡ You're the only one allowed to call him "Stevie" ever. EVER. He'd punch another fella for saying it and glare at a gal too. It doesn't sound right coming out of anyone's lips but yours and, while he never admits that, he makes it clear enough bu only allowing you to say it.

♡ Steve dates other girls in an effort to ignore his feelings for you...but that changes soon enough. Things didn't really change until you started dating, a little late to the game but, well, you're pretty and sweet and your big brother Darry couldn't scare off every boy that came around. And suddenly Steve realizes that if he doesn't make a move, someone else will and you'll be their girl and the thought alone is nearly enough to kill him.

Still, he doesn't make a move yet.

Steve is too scared that your brothers (especially Soda) won't approve and of being rejected, still frozen in place.

♡ But what really forces him to make a move is when you leave for a little bit. You go off for a few weeks to visit a friend/family member and he misses you so bad it hurts. Like, laying awake in bed in near tears while thinking of you levels of hurt.

♡ he misses when you'd visit him and Soda at work and tease them, sipping on a soda while watching him work on cars. He misses coming into the Curtis house in the evening and seeing you working on homework at the kitchen table, the way you'd smile up at him when he walked through the door. Steve especially misses waking up early on the nights he slept over at your place and talking with you quietly as you made breakfast together, the way you fixed his coffee just right (and he doesn't really like coffee either, he only ever drinks it when you make it for him).

♡ It almost kills him. But it's what he needs to realize that he cannot imagine a life without you by his side and, more then that, he needs to tell you how he feels. So when it's finally time for you to come home and your brothers are working, Steve offers to pick you up from the bus station right away, almost shouting it comes out of his mouth with such force.

Which is fine. He's driven you around before, even picks you up from school some days (he loves those days. Taking the long way home, listening to music and laughing together). Darry's cool with it, so the others are cool with it too.

♡ No one else notices the look Soda gives him and Steve pretends not to notice it either.

♡ He showers, wears his best shirt and clean jeans, puts on cologne and spends forever on those complicated swirls he loves so much. Steve wants to look good for you. And he's waiting for you at the train station, nervous as hell before you throw your arms around him...and he holds you longer then he should. Tighter then he should. But you're not letting go, smiling up at him with those pretty, pretty eyes.

"I missed you."

"Missed you too, Y/N."

Steve takes you to his car and opens the door for you (he always opens doors for you, his mother told him that was something a gentleman ought to do and he held onto that thought), the feeling of your touch lingering as he gets into the car.

"You mind taking the scenic route?"

♡ There's music playing on the radio. His hands are shaking. The windows down and the wind is sweet, just driving and trying to work up the nerve to say something, anything. Steve finally pulls away somewhere quiet to tell you something.

"Tell me what, Stevie?"

"Something I should have said a long time ago."

♡ And he knows what he WANTED to say, Steve had it all planned out in his head, even practiced it in the shower a few times too, but, oh, if it isn't hard to say out loud. He's tripping over himself and shaking even more...at least he is until you take his hand and kiss him, silencing him with a kiss.

And he knows the answer.

He loves you and you love him too and it's the best damn feeling in the whole world.

♡ kissing you is way better than saying whatever he wanted to say, so he keeps doing that instead. You'll end up coming home with flushed cheeks and swollen lips, the both of you smiling, hearts beating wildly. But no one seems to notice it (besides Sodapop, he notices and quickly puts two and two together), keeping everything to yourselves.

♡ For a long time after, your relationship remains a secret. It's a little exciting, sneaking around with you and stealing kisses and secret looks. You're worried your brothers would be unhappy, they don't like you to date, and Steve's worried about Darry using his head as a bowling ball. But eventually, they do find out.

♡ Soda finds out first. But of course, he's known that you and Steve were in love for years. It wasn't a question of "if" it was a question of "when" and he's just happy that it finally happened. He catches you kissing behind the DX one day and just laughs, telling you both that he already knew and it's fine by him.

"My best friend is the only man I'd trust with my baby sister...besides, it's not me that you need to worry about. It's Darry."

♡ Ponyboy finds out second. And he's so annoyed, like...Steve? Steve Randle??? You're so pretty and smart and wonderful and you could have any guy you want, hell, even Soc's have eyes on you and that's saying something! But you choose Steve??? Whatever. He won't tell Darry (but you should). And when he realizes how much Steve loves you and how well he treats you, Ponyboy's a little bit happier about it.

"I though you hated Steve."

"I don't hate him, not really. I think we're just too different, I guess, and don't understand each other. We don't dig anything except for you."

♡ Darry finds out last. You and Steve take your brother's advice and tell him before he finds out some other way. So he comes home one night and you're making dinner, dressed up real nice, Darry smiling at you when he comes in.

"What are you up to?"

"I just thought we could have dinner. Ponyboy's out with Johnny and Two-bit. Soda's working late. But Steve's coming over."

And he's looking at you carefully, the same careful look he gives Steve when he comes through the door. He looks nice, all cleaned up, and the way Steve smiles at you...Darry sees it for the first time and he knows. He just knows. Your dad used to smile at your mom like that. He's...fine with it. Fine. Darry doesn't like the idea of you dating at all but, hell, it's gonna happened whether he likes it or not and at least it's someone he trusts. But he does make one thing clear:

"You treat her with respect. You love her the way she deserves. Because if you hurt her, if you make her cry, if you do anything to cause her pain, they won't find your body. Get it?"

"Got it."

"Good."

♡ After that, the rest of the gang finds out because, well, what's the point of keeping it a secret now?

♡ Will somebody answer the phone because Two-bit fucking called it! The second he saw the way Steve looked at your first little boyfriend (jaw clenched, fists tight, eyes blazing as he looked at the poor kid), Two-bit knew that he was in love with you.

♡ Dally suspected but didn't really care. But he's just happy it ain't a Soc because, Pony's right, you're so pretty that even those rich bastards wanted you and it would have killed Dally if one of them had gotten a greaser girl. You and Steve are good together, though, even he sees that.

♡ Johnny knew but only because Pony told him about it the SECOND the found out. He's happy because, well, he knows that Steve has a rough time. His mom walked when he was a kid, his old man's got a temper, it hurts him. But you make him real happy and Johnny likes seeing his friends happy together.

♡ Steve mostly takes you on a long drive as a date. He likes his car, he likes his girl, best of both worlds! He likes driving around with you, talking and laughing. Parking somewhere quiet and starry, just to kiss you in private.

Sometimes he thinks about the day that he drives away with you and keeps driving.

Somewhere new. Somewhere better.

♡ But when you go "out" out, it's either a movie or dancing. Sometimes to the bowling alley so he can show off for you as well, when he's in a more playful mood.

♡ He lives you a heart necklace with his initials on it once you're official.

♡ Steve isn't just having fun with you. He's serious about the relationship, something that he makes clear as soon as you kissed him that day in the car.

♡ A happily ever after: you and him move. Still in Tulsa but in a little bit of a better place. Steve's been working so hard and saving for so long and works enough to eventually buy either a gas station, a mechanic shop, or a scrapyard. He's proud of himself for making something of his life, the way his dad always said that he couldn't.

Maybe it's not much.

Maybe he has to work hard to make it though.