-Absolutely 100% has undiagnosed anxiety (it’s the 60s so no mental health awareness but I know it when I see it)
-Is actually as strict with Soda as he is with Pony, Pony just doesn’t see it
-Has crazy nightmares like Ponyboy, just wakes up in a cold sweat instead of yelling
-Has a high pitched scream and has been RELENTLESSLY teased about it by the gang
-Of everyone in the gang he clashes with two-bit the most, because two is almost the same age as him and refuses to ever take responsibility for anything
-Hates driving to work with Sodapop because Soda is a reckless driver, even after what happened to their parents
-Loves fried chicken
-Worked overtime for three weekends to save up to get Ponyboy a really nice birthday gift when he turned fifteen and didn’t say a word about it.
-Before his parents died he actually got into a lot of fights, usually defending his little brothers, but sometimes just for fun. Obviously, that ended as soon as he became Pony and Soda’s guardian (except when someone hurts his brothers- then he’ll flatten them)
-Knows Ponyboy is tough but forgets sometimes because Ponyboy is SO much smaller than him, and always has been, and it was already Darry’s job to protect him before their parents passed and before Ponyboy started growing up. To Darry, Ponyboy will forever the wide eyed kid who used to look at him like he was a superhero
-Him and Soda got a lot closer after their parents died and he clings to that fact, because it’s the only sort of good thing that came out of losing them
-Never goes to the hospital, even when he’s literally dying, but if Soda or Pony get anything worse than a sniffle he forced them to go
-Sometimes when he tells the gang he’s going to the gym he just drives around for a while so he can get a few minutes of peace and quiet to himself (bonus: sometimes he finds somewhere to park and just cries for a while because no one can see him and he’s TWENTY and this is too much)
-His first girlfriend told him he smelled nice once and it stuck with him. He likes fancy(ish) colognes and Soda and Pony pool their spending money to get him a new one every holiday
-Actually loves helping Ponyboy with his math homework
-Was the original Curtis heartthrob. Girls used to chase him a ton in school, and he was proud of Soda when girls started liking him too
-On the topic of relationships, Ponyboy went to him instead of Soda the first time he had a crush and Darry was secretly really pleased (until he found out WHO Ponyboy was interested in and then he was HORRIFIED)
-On an unrelated note, he once had to physically restrain Soda from straight up murdering Curly Shepard (but he let Soda get a few good hits in first)
-Loves baking, but rarely has the energy when he gets home from work and Pony and Soda only ever want cake so that’s usually all he makes
-Eats chocolate chips out of the bag
-Checks on Soda and Ponyboy at least three times a night because anxiety is a bitch and he’s TERRIFIED of something happening to them so he needs to make sure they’re ok
-Has tried everything under the sun to try and get Pony to quit smoking and never succeeded
-Visits his parents graves once a month, and just talks to the headstones as if they can hear them because he misses them so much but feels like he has to be strong for his brothers
-Has a scar on his palm from burning himself pulling a pan out of the oven
my the outsiders printing hcs and a little blurb about all of them 😌
ponyboy: pretentious af, absolutely tiny printing, mocks everyone else’s (except curlys), writes cringey love letters to curly in the most elaborate cursive ever even though he can’t read it, soda also can’t read it
soda: abhorrent printing, can barely read his own writing (or any writing), no one else can read it either, dyslexic af, failed kindergarten
darry: thinks the uppercase makes his printing look grown up, gets mocked by his brothers who say he doesn’t know lowercase, writes his whole name every. single. time.
steve: thinks the way he writes his ‘e’ is special, constantly asked by soda why there is a three in his writing (it’s the e), soda can barely read it
two-bit: doesn’t really care about his printing, can be really messy but only when he’s writing fast, letters really close together, soda can barely read it
johnny: somewhat neat printing, but super flat, fast writer, loves writing with pens and hates pencils, soda struggles to read it due to the flatness
dally: cannot read anything except for names of people he knows and words that are familiar to him, can write his own name and barely anything else, fucking stupid, pony tried to teach him how to read and nearly got murdered
curly: only writes in lowercase cause he hates tim and wanted to be different from him (he writes in all uppercase) hates writing cause his hands cramp, pony loves his printing
tim: hates how similar his printing is to darry’s so he changes it up sometimes, very squished letters (used to be different [less squished] but it was too similar to darry’s)
Can't get this idea out of my head: Ponyboy paying Curly a visit at the reformatory.
At first, Curly would want to look tough maybe flirt a little, trying to seem like a total bad boy but Ponyboy, though trying to keep things light and responding, he would be different to how he was before (not only because of the bleached hair). Eventually, he'd be like 'my best friend and Dallas Winston are gone 😐,' but wouldn't delve into the full story, which like he's only just begun to really process, recently.
Ponyboy ends up there in the first place because Tim needed to give Curly some money and Pony inmediatly accepted to go there as a favor. and after their chat, Curly is like, 'Has he gotten prettier since the last time I saw him?' because, well, shipping, this IS purly after all. (And of course, throw in a 'prison wife' joke somewhere.)
yall underestimate how rude pony can be, ik in arguments pony says shit like “u know what, i hope the next time ur in ur car, it turns into a transformer with u in it” and curlys just strangles him like homer with bart from the simpsons cause theres rlly no way to retaliate that but w strangling the person
Curly Shepard and Ponyboy Curtis posting 🙂 Ignore how their designs and also my style change on a whim. I was indecisive for a little. leave me be. Curly looks a lot different with his hair still growing in, go easy on him...those monsters shaved it😕
Neither of them are annoyed or pissed off they literally just look like that. Resting bitch faces that could kill the elderly. Curly is probably thinking of the best excuse he can to not do his English homework and idk ponyboy is thinking about a weird tree he saw walking home
-Is a LOT tougher than the gang gives him credit for. A lot.
-To anyone who doesn’t know him well he looks incredibly intimidating
-Can make a fire out of nothing. It’s a skill he learned from spending a lot of nights in the lot when he doesn’t feel like bothering anyone, but tbh he’s honestly a bit of a pyro
-Is INCREDIBLY protective of Ponyboy, but knows Ponyboy hates feeling babied so he makes sure he never finds out.
-On multiple occasions he’s heard socs or some mouthier greasers talking shit about Ponyboy at school, and together with Steve and Two-bit beat them senseless without any of the Curtis boys ever finding out. There’s a mutual agreement between the three of them that Darry and Soda have enough to worry about without worrying about Pony getting jumped at school, and none of them wanna hurt Pony’s pride, not even Steve.
-Really appreciates that Pony is able to tell when he doesn’t wanna talk and answers for him. Pony never gets it wrong and sometimes talking feels like such an effort so Johnny is really glad to have such a good friend
-Was the last person in the gang to meet Dally, since he was nursing some pretty bad injuries when Dally first came to Tulsa, and was laying low
-Hates Curly Shepard with a burning passion. Partially because he can SEE how terrible of an influence Curly is on Ponyboy, but some of it is just straight up jealousy. In Johnny’s mind Ponyboy is HIS best friend and Curly better be ready to fight if he thinks he can just waltz out of the reformatory and try and take his place in Pony’s life. Their rivalry got so bad at one point that after the third fistfight Tim and Darry made a mutual agreement to try and keep Johnny and Curly away from each other (with limited success).
-He and Ponyboy encourage each other’s smoking habits because if one of them runs out of cigarettes the other usually has at least half a pack left
-One of the old cowboys at Buck’s bar taught him to line dance and he’s really good at it
-Is indifferent to country music but pretends to love it just because of how horrified and pissed off Ponyboy gets at the mere prospect
-Is the best in the gang at poker by a lot. It drives Soda and Dally crazy for different reasons. Soda is mostly incredulous, but Dally is wicked competitive and hates losing
-Was the first to notice Curly liked Ponyboy in a more than friendly way when he realised the way Curly was teasing Ponyboy was the exact same way Two-bit teased his many blondes- fond with an undercurrent of heat. As soon as he realised it he walked across the room and socked Curly in the jaw. Obviously they fought, and it took Ponyboy, Tim Shepard, and two others from the Shepard gang to pull them off each other. Pony ignored both of them for a week straight afterwards which is the only reason they established an uneasy truce.
-He and Pony mutter sarcastic shit to each other when the gang is all hanging out together and make up dumb reasons as to why they’re laughing if anyone notices
-He’s actually pretty good friend’s with Two-bit’s little sister since he crashes at Two’s house almost as much as he crashes with the Curtis’ or with Dally
-Cordially detests Angela Shepard. He thinks it’d be wrong to hit a girl but Angela is protective of Curly and doesn’t take kindly to the fact he and Curly can’t seem to stop fighting each other. He thinks she shouldn’t take Curly’s side- Tim certainly doesn’t. In any case, they trade glares and frosty remarks but never tussle any worse than that, though Angela swears she’ll stab him if he breaks Curly’s nose again.
-He and Ponyboy are banned from being on each others team for any board or card game requiring teams because they’re too good at reading each other’s minds (Soda and Steve are also banned from being on a team together for the same reason).
-Once helped Steve steal the hubcaps off a socs car in the lot
-Is convinced that Ponyboy is afraid of girls (no matter how much Pony protests) and thinks its the funniest shit ever