STOP omg these are amazing, there could not be a more perfect Angela

they have beautiful princess disorder

A Thought

The main difference between Darry Curtis and Tim Shepard is that Darry was meant for bigger and better things than Tulsa, while Tim is meant for bigger things but not necessarily better ones.

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Tim Shepard, Buck Merril, Curly Shepard, Angela Shepard Additional Tags: Fluff, Babysitting, Drugs, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, poc!Shepards, Period-Typical Racism, the shepards are mixed, so is buck, Cowboy Buck Merril Series: Part 6 of The life of Angela Shepard Summary:

Buck Merril never knew what to expect from those Shepard kids.

Perhaps it was because he was used to the Shepard kids’ strangeness by now that he wasn’t all that surprised when Tim Shepard came to sell him blow with a baby propped on his hip.

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I got a generally positive response to the idea of a Buck Merril pov fic so here we go. I’m so excited about this one, it’s short but it might be my favourite one I’ve written for the fandom so far. A million thanks to @hellonearthtoday for beta reading and offering all the best feedback.

Please if you choose option 3, lmk who you'd want him to interact with :)

Life size puppets. On a whole ass pulley system. Shit was wild

the only way i wanna see curly become a better person is through him watching those skaters and bikers doing tricks in the school gymnasium promoting the end of bullying

The reptile thing genuinely changed my life Ive been a reptile ever since

the only way i wanna see curly become a better person is through him watching those skaters and bikers doing tricks in the school gymnasium promoting the end of bullying

idk about y'all but I'm from a rural area so the theme of all my schools was We Cant Do What The Big Schools Are Doing So Heres Your Walmart Brand Ripoff Version Of Their Assembly

the only way i wanna see curly become a better person is through him watching those skaters and bikers doing tricks in the school gymnasium promoting the end of bullying

my elementary school didn't have skaters or bikers instead we had two mid forties dudes come in and do yoyo tricks for an hour to #endbullying and I think thats an even funnier alternative to this amazing concept

the only way i wanna see curly become a better person is through him watching those skaters and bikers doing tricks in the school gymnasium promoting the end of bullying

In defence of Steve Randle

Listen guys, Steve Randle gets a lot of hate in this fandom and as much as it pains me, it's valid. Everyone has their own interpretation of the source material, and fandom is supposed to be fun, so it is absolutely valid and ok to hate or love any character you want. You can hate Steve for many reasons or for no reason at all! This is fandom! That's ok! The story is for you interpret and love and play with and hate on to your hearts content. HOWEVER, to say that Steve Randle isn't an important character to the novel is simply not true, and to say that he hates Ponyboy requires ignoring or downplaying some pretty key moments of the book. This is especially true for those of you who love Dally but hate Steve, because Steve gets a lot of hate for being kind of a dickhead (which lbr, a lot of seventeen years old are, especially to their friend's little siblings) while Dally gets less for doing a lot worse (harassing Cherry, jumping kids, etc). This isn't to say that either character is better- they're both great, nuanced characters who have done bad things, but the fandoms attitudes towards them when they share a lot of characteristics is really telling. Even Ponyboy's narration about them is pretty similar- Pony doesn't particularly like Steve, and he was canonically scared of Dally, but they're both members of his gang and he doesn't hate either of them. You don't have to like Steve as a character, just like you don't have to like Dally or Darry or Tim Shepard or even Ponyboy, but he is important- and he doesn't hate Ponyboy, nor does Ponyboy hate him.

A really important moment in the book is when Ponyboy and Johnny defend Dally after he harasses Cherry and Marcia.

"Dally's okay," Johnny said defensively, and I nodded. You take up for your buddies, no matter what they do. When you're a gang, you stick up for the members. If you don't stickup for them, stick together, make like brothers, it isn't a gang any more. It's a pack. A snarling, distrustful, bickering pack like the Socs in their social clubs or the street gangs in New York or the wolves in the timber."

This line here is super important. Pony and Johnny were willing to defend Dally after he sexually harrassed Cherry and Marcia- soc girls who they clearly liked and were intimidated by- in the name of being a good friend, because that is what's important to them and their gang. If they're willing to do it in this context for Dally, you'd best believe they'd do the same for Steve, and him for them. Steve can and will rag on Ponyboy within the gang, but he'd never dream of bad mouthing him to anyone else. Dependability is important to the gang, and Steve would never publicly shit talk Pony, and vice verca. Regardless of their squabbles within the gang, at the end of the day they've got each others backs. They're buddies. We see evidence of this at the end of the book, when Pony grabs the bottle and threatens the socs with it.

"You really would have used that bottle, wouldn't you?" Two-Bit had been watching from the storedoorway. "Steve and me were backing you, but I guess we didn't need to. You'd have really cut them up, huh?"

The important thing here is that along with Two-bit, Steve was backing Ponyboy, no questions asked. Sure most of it boils down to Pony being a member of the gang and that deep rooted loyalty to one another, but the context for this scene is that Ponyboy was sitting on Steve's car waiting for Steve and Two to stop flirting with some girls. The three of them were hanging out- without Darry, without Sodapop. It's their school lunch break. We know Ponyboy has middle class friend's at school, or that he could've spent time in the school library. It was a deliberate choice to hang out with Two and Steve. He wasn't forced into it. Canonically, Steve and Ponyboy hang out. Never alone, but they're decent enough friends to hang out together in a group. Doesn't everyone have friends like that? I do. This isn't the only textual instance either where they hang out without the entire gang being present. Early on, Pony offhandedly mentions that sometimes Steve and Soda will buy him pop and teach him about cars if he hangs around the DX.

"I had walked down to the DX station to get a bottle of pop and to see Steve and Soda, because they'll always buy me a couple of bottles and let me help work on the cars."

He could've just said Soda's name here but he didn't. Steve buys Pony pepsi and teaches him about cars, even though he gets annoyed with him when Soda invites him to hang around with them too often. And honestly, who wouldn't? I'd be annoyed if my best friend always invited her little brother along with us, even if I liked the kid. Wouldn't you?

Now, we do need to address the elephant in the room. I'm talking of course, about this quote;

"I'd never tell Soda, because he really likes Steve a lot, but sometimes I can't stand Steve Randle. I mean it. Sometimes I hate him."

I feel like very often people forget the context this quote comes from, and so it's magnitude is blown way out of proportion. Ponyboy has just been jumped and then immediately scolded by his brother who constantly makes him feel foolish and unwanted. He's already scared, embarassed, and defensive and then Steve goes and makes him feel even more unwanted. Of course he wants to lash out. Of COURSE he feels like he hates Steve in that moment. I did even reading it. But Ponyboy doesn't truly hate Steve. This moment is PEAK fourteen year old having a rough night energy, it's not truly representative of Steve as a character or of Ponyboy's feelings towards him. In truth, Steve actually kind of likes Ponyboy and is at very least protective over him. This is evidence by the previous quotes, but also when Ponyboy comes back from Windrixville, and is worried about the state placing him in foster care;

"'No, [Ponyboy said] 'they ain't goin' to put us in a boys' home.' 'Don't worry about it,' Steve said, cocksure that he and Sodapop could handle anything that came up. 'They don't do things like that to heroes.'"

It's subtle, and not immediately obvious to the traumatized fourteen year old who is used to Steve's cocky nature, but this is both a reassurance and a very bold claim. Not only is Steve trying to look out for Ponyboy the way the rest of the gang models- by treating him like a kid, letting the 'adults' worry about grown up issues in a misguided attempt to protect Pony- he is also throwing in his lot to make sure nothing does happen. Based on this quote and the rest of Steve's characterization throughout the book its not hard to infer that Steve would fight tooth and nail to make sure Ponyboy stays safe with his family. Sure, part of it is gang loyalty, part of it is his devotion to soda, but part of it is because he and Ponyboy are buddies in their own right, no matter how much they fight. They are friends- and Steve is an incredibly important character for many reasons, but particularly to add depth to Pony's character, to the bond between the Curtis gang, and to highlight how the Curtis gang differs from the other gangs in Tulsa. Steve is just as much an outsider as the rest of the gang, and it's disingenuous to say otherwise no matter how much you may hate him as a character.

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ponyboy Curtis/Curly Shepard Characters: Angela Shepard, Curly Shepard, Ponyboy Curtis, Steve Randle, Two-Bit Mathews, Tim Shepard Additional Tags: Protective Siblings, Dysfunctional Family, purly, Fluff, Family Feels, Smoking, Arguments Series: Part 5 of The life of Angela Shepard Summary:

The one thing that has always made Curly flat fucking stupid, no matter where he is or how old he gets is Ponyboy Curtis.

Those two were like baking soda and vinegar, always had been- fine by themselves but explosive and messy as shit when they were together. Curly’s an attention seeker at the best of times, a perfect culmination of both mommy and daddy issues, but around Ponyboy he turns it into an art form. It’s not surprising really, now that Angela thinks about it, that Curly is practically in love with the guy.

Is anyone good at beta reading fics? Ive got one written but I want to make sure what I'm trying to imply isn't TOO vague that it doesn't make sense

I was going through my health textbook and someone wrote "fuck that" under the lines about ending friendships because dating is more important and if that is not the most aromantic/aroace thing ever, I don't know what is.

Guys, you don't understand, it is SO important to learn to be ok with being alone. You have to learn to love your own company and how to love yourself before you attempt a relationship, before you pour every piece of yourself into your friendships, before you lean too heavily on other people. Support systems are great and healthy and important but there will be times in your life when you truly have to stand on your own two feet, when you have no one to spend time with, and learning to love your own company and doing things completely yourself will save you. It is so much easier to accept others for who they are and to form healthy connections if you aren't pouring every piece of yourself into other people so that you never have to spend a moment alone. There is joy in silence, and there is warmth in empty rooms, and there is intrigue in corners of the world you traverse completely by yourself and being able to love your own comapny is such a gift.

Curtis fluff cause all for bros being bros < 3 Also yes I'm back in the fandom for a time so if any of you got Outsiders requests you can send them to meeee < 3

(also im a big fan of hurt/comfort can't u tell)

Was tagged by @battleslippers and @lewisandclark465 thanks lovelies!

tagging: @fictionalcharactergraveyard and anyone else who wants to participate!

tagged by @nightfuryqueen to this picrew yay <3

i tag uhhh whover wants to do it tbh

My older brother once kicked my little brother’s tooth out when they were practicing crane kicks in their too small shared bedroom (they watched karate kid and thought it was a stellar idea) and if that isn’t a Curly and Ponyboy interaction idk what is. The funny thing is, said older brother kicked MY tooth out the following week once again practicing crane kicks in a confined area, which speaks to his lack of learning from past mistakes and his then nonexistent critical thinking skills, and if you don’t think that’s a Curly and Angela coded interaction idk what to tell you, you’re wrong

i was told that as a baby while my mom was in the shower, my sister had to watch me and my sister looked away from me for one second and i literally just fell off the bed and i think thats so curly and tim