Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Curly Shepard has come to the conclusion that his older brother Tim was born an asshole.

Most people usually aren’t born assholes, but develop that asshole personality over time. Not Tim. Tim’s special . He entered the world and immediately was a fucking asshole. 

Curly kicks a rock that lays on the path as he walks. He stormed out of his house about an hour ago and he sure has hell isn’t planning on going back anytime soon. 

He’ll give you one guess why he stormed out.

That’s right. 

His older brother is a major fucking asshole dickhead who won’t get off Curly’s back.

Tim likes to think he’s Curly’s old man. Curly likes to think Tim is a prick. 

The funny thing is, he’s not even on his back about school or staying out of trouble or normal shit like that, no he’s bitching about Curly not putting his head down and joining his fucking gang. 

Yes, gang .

His brother is that Tim. 

Listen, here’s the deal - Curly doesn’t want to join his brother's gang because it’s too much commitment. Curly likes his life right now - doing what he wants without the reputation of a gang member to uphold. He already has a pretty big reputation without the help of Tim or his oh so precious gang. So fuck you Tim!

Not that he can tell his brother that - he’ll sound like a pussy - so he may or may not have told Tim he was already in a gang. A real tuff one at that. Which is a major fucking lie. Tim hollered at him like a mad man which led Curly to storm out. So now he’s wandering around, desperately trying to come up with a plan to get him out of the hole he’s dug.

He’s not worried though, he’s Curly Shepard for fucks sake! He’s made plenty of friends in the reformatory who are in gangs, who will no doubt welcome him with open arms!

For a while at least because he really doesn’t want to join a gang. 

Well when he thinks about it more, if he joins a real tough gang and then tries to leave he’ll probably get shot so there's a few holes in that plan. So his friends from the reformatory are a no. 

Fuck.

He walks through town, passing the record store and towards the movie house still contemplating what to do. He needs an easy gang, not real dangerous like Tim’s but not a bunch of pansies either. Tim’s expecting the real thing and Curly ain’t about to lose his goddamn pride over this…

Then an angel appears.

Curly’s not shitting you. A green-eyed angel walks out of the movie house, answering every single one of Curly’s prayers.

"Hey, Baby Curtis!"

Ponyboy Curtis turns around and meets Curly’s eyes. He’s pissed off about something - Curly can tell from the crease in between his eyebrows - and he stops walking and waits, hands shoved in his pockets and slouching the way he always does. 

Curly grins at him when he reaches him. "I ought to have known you’d be here Curtis."

The bad mood that had taken over Curly is fading rapidly and he’s not too sure why. It’s probably just because he has an idea about how to get out of this mess. Yeah, that’s it.

Ponyboy raises his eyebrows. "You looking for me or something?"

"Hardly," Curly scoffs, "Though, it is always a real pleasure to see you kid - especially right now."

Ponyboy’s cheeks flush slightly. Curly’s not too sure what made him blush - it could have been a few different things in that sentence - but he feels a strange sense of pride at making Ponyboy blush. 

Ponyboy starts walking again, Curly falling into step beside him. 

"So," says Curly cause he can’t bear a second of silence, "You see a good movie?"

“A Marlon Brando one,” says Ponyboy, "It was tuff, I guess."

He falls silent after that again.

Curly can now conclude that Ponyboy is definitely in a bad mood. The thing about Ponyboy Curtis is he’s always been pretty quiet - especially since his folks died - but, for whatever reason, he ain’t never been quiet around Curly. They’ve always been good buddies. In Curly’s eyes at least.

He really hopes Ponyboy feels the same because god, Curly desperately needs his help right now. 

Curly pulls out a smoke. He needs to be careful how he goes about this, Ponyboy has a temper on him and he really needs this to work out. 

He puffs on the smoke and offers it to Ponyboy, who immediately takes it. 

"Your older brother being a prick again?"

The crease between Ponyboy’s eyebrows deepens. 

Jackpot.

"When is he not bein’ a prick?" Ponyboy scoffs, passing the smoke back to Curly.

Curly snorts. "You ought to come over to mind for dinner and see Tim in action. Glory, you’d be begging Darrel to let you back in after an hour.

"Least Tim gives you a bit of freedom," Ponyboy mutters bitterly.

Curly opens his mouth to reply but is cut off by Ponyboy again. 

"I know I sound like a real brat right now but I just - ugh -  he pisses me off so much sometimes! I know I ain’t never gonna please him, not matter how hard I try and I try so fuckin’ hard man! You know, half the time I want to piss him off! As mean as it sounds, I want him to be mad at me I just - I wanna fuckin’ win for once !"

Ponyboy’s breathing heavily, looking as though he just took a huge weight off his shoulders. Curly can feel the smirk that has spread across his own face.

God he loves when Ponyboy rants like that. He finds it hilarious to see Ponyboy Curtis, who reads books for fun and listens to Bob Dylan and looks like fucking bambi come to life, get majorly pissed off. It’s a shame people don’t ever see that side of him. Ponyboy Curtis can cuss real good when he wants to. 

Again, Curly feels that strange feeling, almost like pride, when he thinks about the fact he’s one of the only people who really knows Ponyboy in this town.

He ignores it. He has bigger things to focus on. Glory, Darrel Curtis couldn’t have picked a better time to piss his kid brother off.

"What if you could."

"What?"

"Win," says Curly enthusiastically, "What if you could really piss your brother off and win?"

Ponyboy stares at him, his green eyes wide. 

"That would be tuff, I guess."

"Then let’s do it."

"What ?"

Curly throws his arms into the air, and shouts, 

"Let’s piss Darrel Curtis off!"

Ponyboy blinks at him. "Forget it Curly, your askin’ for a death wish."

He starts walking again, faster this time around. Curly has to jog to catch up to him.

"You said it yourself kid! You wanna piss him off, you wanna win! So let’s do it!"

Ponyboy scoffs. "Curly I was just pissed off, I ain’t about to make my whole life a lot worse by doing somethin’ to my brother - just cause your bored and wanna cause trouble!"

Curly throws his arms up again, frustrated this time. "You’re not understanding!"

Ponyboy frowns looking confused. "What is there to understand?"

Curly then slaps his forehead, realising he hasn’t done much of a job to explain what’s going on. He forgets that sometimes people can’t understand what he’s thinking sometimes.

"Listen, you clearly wanna piss your older brother off and it just so happens I wanna piss Tim off too."

Ponyboy stops walking again. He looks intrigued now. 

Curly continues on. "So what I’m thinkin’ is, I’ll help you piss Darrel off if you help me in return."

"What kind of help do you need?" Ponyboy asks slowly.

Curly grins. "I need to join your gang."

Ponyboy laughs. "Fuck off!"

"I’m serious!"

Ponyboys still laughing, his eyes are bright and his laugh makes a weird warm feeling spread through Curly. 

"C’mon Baby Curtis, I ain’t gonna join forever just a few weeks…"

He tells Ponyboy the whole story. Starting with Tim wanting him to join his gang, Curly’s lie and now Curly’s bright idea.

"Listen Curly," says Ponyboy, his eyes still bright from his laughter, "I wanna help you and - I can’t believe I’m sayin’ this - but your plan actually makes sense for once but it ain’t up to me, and I really doubt the boys will let you into our gang. You’ve pretty much pissed them all off at once."

Curly’s not giving up. The Curtis gang is his only hope. Their gang has enough respect to be considered serious but also are not anywhere near as dangerous as any other gang in this town.

So he gets an idea. A crazy idea, but an idea nonetheless. 

"Date me," Curly blurts out.

"Fuckin’ what."

"You heard me."

Ponyboy opens his mouth to retort but Curly cuts him off. 

"Don’t say some smart comment for a second and just listen okay ? I need to join your gang to piss my brother off and you wanna piss your brother off, so you bring me home as your boyfriend and Darrel with hit the roof, he even hates us being friends can you imagine if he thinks were fucking ? So you have pissed him off and now , as your boyfriend, I can join your gang without any real arguments."

Ponyboy stares at him. And stares.

Curly figures he going to laugh and tell him he’s crazy and walk away and then Curly will be fucked - 

"Okay."

"What ?"

“You heard me.”

Curly genuinely can’t believe his luck.

"You’re agreeing to this?"

Ponyboy shrugs. "I guess it actually has a chance of succeeding, unlike your other plans."

"Hey, my plans are the fucking shit!" Curly shouts. 

Ponyboy snorts. "Remember when you broke your arm?"

Curly grimaces. "Oh yeah…"

Ponyboy laughs and that warm feeling returns. Curly pushes it down. 

Ponyboy reaches his hand out. "Let’s shake on it."

Curly grasps Ponyboy’s hand with his own. The feeling returns again. 

"You’re gonna help me piss Darry off?"

Curly nods enthusiastically. 

"And you’ll get me into your gang to piss Tim off?"

Ponyboy nods as well.

And they shake on it.

"Well, no backing out now Pony."

"I think we might actually pull this one off."

Curly grins. Ponyboy’s right, this might actually work. A Curly Shepard plan may actually be a success? Things are looking up!

"Well, I suppose I ought to walk my date home."

Curly throws his arm around Ponyboy’s shoulder and pulls him close. He only does it to keep the act up. 

Ponyboy shoves Curly off him, laughing good naturedly. "You call that a date? No wonder every broad you’ve ever gone with can’t stand you no more!"

Curly laughs as well. "I can’t even deny that one, I’m pretty sure that Carla chick tried to get her brother to fuckin’ jump me after I took her out!"

  Ponyboy laughs even more at that. A real genuine smile has spread across his face, lighting up every one of his features. Curly suddenly understands why every girl and guy in this town is in love with Ponyboy Curtis - even though Ponyboy is completely oblivious to it.

"Listen,” says Ponyboy once their laughter dies down, “We ought to sort out the details for our … thing ."

Curly shakes his head rapidly. "No can do Baby Curtis, my plans work best without zero planning and just comin’ up with it as I go along."

"That hasn’t brought you much luck in the past, Curly."

"I have a good feelin’ this time around."

Ponyboy just blankly stares at him again. Curly grins back. The corner of Ponyboy’s lip twitches. 

"Okay, but I was thinkin’ you ought to come around tomorrow so we can, you know, drop the bomb."

"Course, I need to get into your gang as early as possible."

Ponyboy nods. "Well you can come around tomorrow and just, you know - act like my boyfriend."

Curly grins for the hundredth time. "That ain’t gonna be no problem."

Ponyboy’s face flushes slightly again. Curly’s smile widens.

"So , how does it feel being my boyfriend Baby Curtis?"

Ponyboy lips tug up slightly. "It ain’t real Curly."

Curly salutes him. "Of course! Just try not fall in love with me, Ponybaby."

"I’d hate to complicate things," Ponyboy grins.

Curly grins back but holy shit this is fucking weird.

Ponyboy looks up at the sky, where the sun is beginning to set. “Well, I ought to get home and before you start no you don’t gotta walk me home.”

Curly snorts. "You're a cheap date Curtis."

Ponyboy gives him the finger and begins to walk away from him. Curly stays there for a moment, watching Ponyboy’s retreating back.

Ponyboy suddenly stops walking and turns around to meet Curly’s gaze once again. 

"Hey Curly!"

"Yeah?"

"Wear that jacket tomorrow"

Curly grins and gives him a thumbs up. Ponyboy smiles and then continues walking home.

Curly thinks about the situation for a moment. He really doesn’t know where the idea of pretend dating came from, he just sort of … blurted it without thinking. He does that sometimes, Angela always says he has no filter on his mouth. 

Huh. So Curly Shepard is sort of dating Ponyboy Curtis.

Curly doesn’t think he minds?

Chapter Text

Curly steps into the Shepard house with absolutely no intention of speaking with Tim - he’s honestly afraid he’ll spill the beans about the Ponyboy situation and fuck up the whole plan - he needs to get into the Curtis gang officially before Tim finds out. Also, Tim is a huge fucking asshole and Curly doesn’t want to waste his precious seconds speaking to him.

Their shitty door creaks like crazy as Curly flings it open. Both Angela and Tim are home, but neither look up at his entrance. Which is fine by him - he can easily head for his room without speaking to that fucking asshole - 

“Don’t slam that door.”

Tim’s cold voice breaks the silence that filled the room. Curly smirks, as much as he doesn’t want to associate with Tim right now he really can’t resist what he does next. It’s Tim’s fault really - Angela seems to agree too.

“Oh Tim why would you say that -”

The rest of her sentence is drowned out by Curly slamming their front door as hard as he possibly can. 

“CARLOS!”

Tim’s on his feet in a second, his blue eyes - which both Curly and Angela share - wild with fury.

“WHAT THE FUCK DID I SAY!”

Curly scowls deeply. He’s brain is going ninety right now. The smart and logical part of his brain ( yes he actually listens to what it has to say… sometimes .) is telling him that Tim wanted this. As much as Curly hates it he and Tim are one the same - both always looking for a fight and being very fucking petty in order to win - and no doubt Tim knew Curly would do the exact opposite of what was told of him and would lead to a fight. So , the right and logical thing to do would be to ignore him.

The other part of his brain - the one Curly usually listens too - is saying ‘Fuck that’

Curly listens to the part that has helped him in that past. 

“Fuck off, you clearly wanted me to do it!”

Angela, who previously had been seated on the couch flicking through some girly magazine and not paying either of them attention, puts her magazine down and watches at them both with interest, a perfectly plucked eyebrow raised. 

“You girls still fightin?” She drawls. 

“Stay out of this you bitch -”

“Don’t fuckin’ curse at her you little fuckin’ shit!” Tim shouts at him.

Typical, Curly thinks to himself. Tim only cares about his attitude towards Angela when he wants an excuse to yell at Curly. 

Angela smirks knowingly, unfazed by his anger at her but smug to the fact Tim is on her side, she flips her long raven curls over her shoulder. “Yeah, Carlos.”

Curly’s jaw clenches at the second use of his real name in the space of a few minutes. Tim’s scarred face is still coated with fury. 

“Listen boy, I’ve just bout had enough of your fuckin’ mouthiness and I fuckin’ swear Curly I ain’t dealin’ with it no more. I’ve had enough of your bullshit.”

He speaks quietly this time, which would scare anyone else in this town bar Curly who is very much used to Tim and his threats. 

“You ain’t my old man Tim.”

It’s a low blow, even for Curly. Considering Tim basically raised him and Angel he kind of is their father - or at least the closest thing they’ve known to one.

Tim raises his head, his eyes narrow and jaw clenched and Curly vaguely wonders how many times this was the last thing someone saw before meeting their end. Stories have gone around town about his brother and his gang that even made him shiver.

“Don’t forget what coulda happened to you if it weren’t for me, you oughta be thankin’ me,” Tim says with a hint of complacency. 

Curly Shepard has never been good with words, so he tells Tim exactly how he feels about him with sign language and, for good measure, tells Angela too. 

He storms into his room after that, making as much noise as he possibly can. 

He lays down on his bed and stares at the ceiling, thinking about all the events that have transpired today. 

     1,Got into a fight with Tim and made up a huge lie which could easily backfire on him and then stormed out to add a dramatic flare

     2.Wandered around town trying to come up with a plan and was blessed by the appearance of Ponyboy Curtis

     3.Came up with a plan to get himself out of the hole he dug but is now kind of dating Ponyboy

     4.Came home and fought with Tim again, but with more drama this time

Well, at least it wasn’t boring.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*  

Curly wakes with the sun the following morning with actual excitement fluttering in his stomach about today’s events. It’s been a long time since he’s felt like this. He could hardly sleep with the excitement - it felt like fucking Christmas eve. 

The plan is going into the motion today and god Curly can’t wait to see Tim’s face.

His feet are cold against the wooden floor and chills shoot up Curly’s spine. He can’t remember the last time he was up this early, Curly fucking hates waking up early - of course he has good reason this time around.

He pulls on his usual attire - blue jeans and a white shirt - and goes ahead with his morning routine of dealing with the huge mess that sits atop of his head. Curly takes extra time on his hair today, using more grease than usual to really pull off the rough look he wants. He wants Darrel to take one look at him and get the message of ‘I am going to corrupt your kid  brother’.

Curly is of course putting a lot of thought into pissing Darrel Curtis off as well as Tim - he made a deal with Ponyboy and he plans on sticking to his end of it.

He pulls on his trusty leather jacket that he was wearing yesterday, which Ponyboy requested he wear today. He can see why Ponyboy asked this of him, it really does pull the outfit together and make Curly look like one of those teenage hoodlums from the pictures.

Not West Side Story though. Curly does not want to look like those pansies. 

He can hear Tim and Angela in the kitchen, the sound of breakfast being made and various spoken words in either Spanish or English drifting towards Curly’s room. He’s glad, he can really make a dramatic exit now.

He steps out of his room, the floorboards creaking as he walks towards the kitchen. He hears Tim before he sees him, his brother is laughing at whatever Angela is saying. Curly smirks, Tim is definitely not going to be in a good mood for much longer. Curly’s always ruining happy moments, it’s what he does best.

Angela sees him first, her eyebrows raise in surprise at Curly’s appearance in the kitchen doorway.

“Shit Curly! You’re actually awake before noon ?”

Curly waves her off. “Yeah yeah, get your jollies.”

Curly can feel Tim eyes on him, but he chooses to ignore his brother’s piercing gaze. It will definitely piss him off.

Curly grabs a piece of toast from the table and shoves it down his throat. He isn’t planning on staying for a proper breakfast, too much to do. Too many brother’s he’s gotta piss off. 

Curly’s ruffles Angela’s perfect, glossy hair that he knows she spends hours on perfecting as a goodbye and heads for the door. He doesn’t so much as glance at Tim but he knows his brother will say something before he leaves Curly knows Tim like an open book it’s - 

“Headin’ somewhere hermano ?”

See?

Curly meets Tim’s eyes for the first time and, with a mouthful of toast, says, “Yeah, gotta get somewhere - it’s real important.”

Angela wrinkles her nose in disgust at him, “God swallow your food you pig .”

Curly opens his mouth, showing his food oh so childishly and makes her shriek with disgust.

Tim ignores the both of them, his cool blue eyes still trained on Curly. “ Important ? Where are you going?”

Curly swallows and grins. “Sorry Timmy I can’t tell you, it’s top secret gang business.”

Tim’s eyes widen and his mouth falls open slightly, a surprised look that Curly has never seen on his brother’s face. The look is gone as quickly as it came and Tim gains his composure, with a clenched jaw and eyes flashing he roars -

 “CURLY -”

Curly turns on his heel and goes out the door. He sprints through their garden and down the street so Tim can’t chase him - which has happened many times - and heads for the Curtis house. 

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*  

He stops running once he’s two blocks away but keeps an ear out for Tim’s car engine coming towards him - yes, Tim has chased Curly in his car as well. It was quite funny actually, basically  Tim pulled up to him on the street demanding he get in the car which led to Curly shouting “Who is this man!” and then people on the street started to come over to help Curly and yell at Tim for being a creep. Tim didn’t talk to him for two weeks after that. Angela found it funny though. 

His mind wanders from his own relationship with his brother to Ponyboy’s relationship with Darrel. He doesn’t know Darrel Curtis very well - he’s big, handsome, likes to play football and hates Curly’s guts. Curly knows that . He can’t stand Ponyboy hanging around Curly and doesn’t even have the decency to hide it. Prick. Curly just wants to hang out with his buddy without Darrel Curtis shooting daggers at him!

But he doesn’t know the extent of Ponyboy’s relationship with him. What he does know is, since their folks died, something’s changed between the two. Curly remembers Darrel before their folks died, how he looked out for Ponyboy and used to teach him football and was the epitome of cool . Ponyboy always looked up to him and Curly wonders what Darrel did to change that.

He contemplates it for the whole walk, though he often gets distracted by kicking rocks and scaring birds that land too close to him. The Curtis house eventually comes into view and he picks up his pace a bit, ready to fuck up the Curtis gang lives with his sudden appearance. 

“Hey, Curly!”

A figure pops into view on the Curtis porch. Curly stops walking and Ponyboy Curtis runs towards him.

“Hey,” Ponyboy says again as he reaches Curly. He’s breathless with slightly flushed cheeks, which Curly finds weird due to the fact Ponyboy is a track star. He must be out of shape.

“Hey,” Curly repeats, grinning. 

A silence falls between them. Neither of them quite know what to say in a situation like this. 

Curly breaks it. Of course. 

“ So, were you waitin’ on the porch for me Curtis? I’m honoured.”

Ponyboy snorts and shoves Curly. “Shut up, I wanted to catch you before you burst in our door and caused shit to break loose.”

“Yeah, that sounds like somethin’ I’d do.”

They’re standing a good bit away from the Curtis house, but close enough so that if one of the gang  steps onto the porch they’ll be seen.

Ponyboy glances back towards the house and then back at Curly. “Listen, Darry ain’t actually home right now -”

“Wait,” Curly cuts him off, “He ain’t home ! How the fuck am I going to get into your gang now ?”

Ponyboy frowns at him. “Same as before, Darry don’t need to be there.”

“Ain’t he the leader..?”

Ponyboy looks oddly offended by that. “He don’t just make all the decisions, it’s a democracy!”

Curly stares at him. “A what ?”

“Like, you know, a vote!”

“Oh, right. Well, let's head on in there.”

Curly begins to walk again but Ponyboy grabs him by the arm. Curly frowns at the strange feeling he gets from Ponyboy's touch. Almost … electric?

“No hold on, you gotta be on the same page as me when we’re in there Curly.”

Curly pulls his arm away from Ponyboy’s grip and frowns even more at that. “I thought we agreed on makin’ it up as we go along.”

Ponyboy shakes his head. “I changed my mind - that’s a real dumb idea.”

“Fuck you!” Curly cries outraged, “It’s a damn good idea!”

Ponyboy rolls his eyes. “Stop being stubborn and just listen !”

“No, it was my idea so we’re goin’ with my plan!”

Ponyboy throws his arms into the air in frustration. “Fuckin’ hell Curly you’re such a -”

Ponyboy doesn’t get to finish his sentence. Curly bolts in the middle of it and begins to sprint towards the Curtis house. 

“FUCK!”

Curly roars with laughter at Ponyboy’s shout, he can hear the padding of Ponyboy’s feet chasing after him. Curly curses and pushes his legs faster, Ponyboy’s real fast and Curly has to get inside before him. He reaches the house and practically flings himself over the fence that surrounds it, he stumbles a bit but thanks to all the running from the cops he’s done in his life, he stays upright and heads for the door. He has that giddy feeling in his stomach he always gets when he’s doing something he shouldn’t and he’s going to win and go with his plan, he’s so close to the door now the handle is just within in arms reach - 

“SHIT!”

Curly stumbles backwards from the door when a weight is flung on top of him. It takes him a second to figure out what the hell is going on, but soon realises that Ponyboy has fucking flung himself onto Curly’s back and is now clinging like a fucking koala.

“GET OFF -”

Ponyboy’s practically on Curly’s shoulders now, his arms legs wrapped around Curly’s waist, desperately holding on as Curly attempts to fling him off.

“LISTEN TO MY PLAN YOU SHITHEAD!”

Ponyboy’s hair is flopping over Curly’s face now, and despite the situation Curly can’t help but notice how nice it smells… like strawberries. The momentary distraction - albeit a very nice distraction -  causes Curly to miss one of the wooden steps on the Curtis porch and stumble to the hard ground. Both boys shriek loudly as they tumble through the air, Ponyboy still clinging to Curly. 

They land harshly, Curly groans in pain at the impact. Curly, in his dazed state, can only think of how strangely soft the ground is… until it groans in pain. Curly’s eyes shoot open and he realises his head is buried in Ponyboy Curtis’ neck. Holy shit his skin is soft. They’re sprawled out on the Curtis driveway with Curly laying on top of Ponyboy.

“Curly … your heavy man…” Ponyboy groans from under Curly. 

Curly opens his mouth to retort about how they wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for Ponyboy fucking flinging himself onto him like a mad man but doesn’t get the chance due to the front door of the Curtis house flinging open. 

“Fuckin’ hell kid what’s all the racket we - what the fuck?”

Curly whips his head around and finds Two-Bit Matthews standing on the porch, a beer in his hand and a very confused look on his face. The rest of the Curtis gang are tumbling out after him. Sodapop Curtis bursts through first, concern written all over his face. 

“Ponyboy, are you okay - Shepard ?”

Curly grins through his pain. “Howdy.”

“What are you doin’ here,” Sodapop says in a very accusatory way, as though the only reason Curly would be here is to cause trouble. “Where’s Ponyboy?”

Curly blinks. He knows he sure as hell is no Einstein but fucking hell how is Sodapop Curtis not seeing his brother sprawled out under Curly?

Steve Randle must be thinking along the same lines as he nudges Sodapop and nods towards Ponyboy’s direction. Which is also Curly’s direction.

Ponyboy’s head lifts and he peeks over Curly’s shoulder. Sodapop’s eyes widen at this. 

“What the fuck! Shepard what the hell are you doin’?!”

Curly ponders for a moment. That’s a good question, what the hell are they doing? He looks at Ponyboy, who looks as stuck as he is. So, Curly improvises. 

“Baby, I thought we had some time alone .”

“ Motherfucker ,” Ponyboy hisses into Curly’s ear, making Curly smirk. 

It dawns on each member of the gang slowly and differently. Surprisingly, Two-Bit Matthew puts it together first and looks shocked for a moment but a shit-eating grin takes its place very soon. Dallas Winston looks as unbothered as always, but his lips tug up slightly. Johnny Cade’s big brown eyes are flickering between the both of them, looking both shocked and amused. Randle raises his eyebrows, a soft look of surprise crossing his face, but immediately looks towards his best friend, perhaps ready to stop Sodapop from jumping Curly.  Sodapop Curtis is frozen, his mouth open and stance rigid. He looks pretty dumb in Curly’s opinion. He struggles to hide his laughter, so he turns his head back around and buries into Ponyboy’s neck once more, snorting with laughter. This seems to snap Sodapop out of his daze.

“You!” Sodapop spits. Curly can’t see him, but can hear the venom dripping from his voice. Curly doesn’t bother to lift his head from where he has it buried in Ponyboy’s neck. It’s very comfortable. Curly wouldn’t mind staying in this position…

“Me?” he replies lazily.

Sodapop begins making incoherent noises, sounding like some sort of angry bird. Ponyboy sighs and shoves Curly off him with one push. Curly groans as his back hits the ground, feeling a lot colder than he was before. 

“Soda-” Ponyboy tries while sitting up, rubbing the back of his neck with a pained expression. 

“He’s joking right? Tell me he’s joking, Pony!”

Ponyboy sighs and turns to look down at Curly, who winks at him. Ponyboy’s lips tug up slightly and he looks at Sodapop once more.

“No he ain’t, me and Curly are goin’ together.”

A huge smile breaks out on Curly’s face at that sentence. 

“No I - Ponyboy you can’t - not him ,” Sodapop sputters. 

The smile falls from Curly’s face. He shoots up into a sitting position so fast that Ponyboy jumps slightly. He throws his arm around Ponyboy's shoulders, glaring at Sodapop. 

“Yeah your brother and him are goin’ together so you can deal with it! You ain’t stoppin’ our love !” Curly declares as dramatically as he can. If they’re going to fake date they may as well have fun with it!

Two-Bit Mathews begins to clap at Curly’s short speech but stops at a glare from Steve Randle. He shrugs and takes a sip from the beer can in his hand.

“Ponyboy?” Sodapop says, looking at his brother as though Curly is holding a gun to his head and forcing him to go along with it. 

Ponyboy swallows and jerks his thumb towards Curly. “What he said.”

A silence falls between them all. Curly glances at Ponyboy and gestures towards the gang. Ponyboy’s eyebrows crease with confusion, making Curly gesture towards the gang with more aggression. Ponyboy blinks and then, after a moment, realistion spreads across his features. 

“Oh yeah! And Curly’s joinin’ the gang.”

Dallas coughs and splutters on the cigarette he had been smoking and Sodapop just about passes out. 

“No Ponyboy. No fuckin’ way!” It’s Steve who speaks this time.

Curly had a feeling this was going to happen, but when he glances at Ponyboy his confidence is boosted once again. Ponyboy lips are turning upwards and his eyes are bright and all Curly can think is - he has a plan.

“ Oh ? Well Steve , there weren't any problems at all when Evie started hangin’ around with us and they’re still ain’t! I guess since Curly ain’t a girl you have a problem with it…” Ponyboy trails off, smirking slightly.

“Nice!” exclaims Curly happily and he high fives Ponyboy. 

Steve’s mouth opens and closes. He then raises his hand and points at Ponyboy. “You’re putin’ words into my mouth you little shit!”

Ponyboy points to himself and innocently says “Me?”

Curly could have fucking kissed him. Wait, he actually could have without any suspicion since their ‘dating’... 

Interesting.

The thought is shoved to the back of his brain when Ponyboy stands up, brushing his legs off. “Well we ought to vote on it!”

Sodapop shakes his head. “Can’t do - Darry ain’t here.” He sneers at Curly after that. Curly sneers right back. 

“Don’t need him, majority rules.” Ponyboy says brightly, speaking with a confidence right that Curly rarely sees. Not that Ponyboy’s a pussy or anything - well, he is a bit more soft hearted than your average greaser, but that doesn’t mean he can’t hold his own - but the way he’s talking and holding himself just reeks of confidence . Curly likes it, it suits him. 

Sodapop scoffs at that. “Actually, since Dar ain’t here kiddo I’m leader -”

This causes outrage amongst the rest of the gang. 

“Bullshit!”

“Since when!”

“Absolutely not !”

“I am!” Sodapop cries defensively to Dallas, Steve and Two-Bit.

They all protest again, drowning each other out with their shouts. Curly’s watches with enjoyment, the Curtis gang sure are entertaining to watch. Johnny is watching with as amusement as Curly.

“It doesn’t matter!” Ponyboy shouts, getting their attention back on him. “What matters is the vote we’re bout to do to let Curly into the gang fairly,” he shoots Sodapop a look at the end. Sodapop rolls his eyes.

“Alright,” Steve says, scowling at Ponyboy, most likely still pissed from Ponyboy outwitting him earlier. 

“Great,” Ponyboy beams. “All those in favour of Curly Shepard joining our gang?”

Ponyboy’s arm shoots into the air, along with Curly’s. Ponyboy nudges him and says, “You can’t vote Curly.” Curly scowls but puts his arm down.

“Pony c’mon this really ain’t right without Darry,” Sodapop tries again, desperate for any reason to stop Curly from joining the gang.

“Who else?” Ponyboy says, ignoring his older brother. 

It’s silent for a moment, before Johnny’s arm slowly rises into the air. Ponyboy beams at his best friend and Johnny smiles back.

“Johnny!” Sodapop cries, looking outraged. “What are you doin’ I -”

“Don’t you start in on him Curtis,” Dallas cuts him off, his eyes narrow and threatening. 

Sodapop stares at them both, his eyes wide. “Can’t the both of you see what’s goin’ on, he’s - TWO-BIT!”

Two-Bit Mathews’ arm has now risen in the air, much to Sodapop’s horror. Ponyboy cheers and Curly whoops.

“What the fuck are you doin’!”

Two-Bit shrugs at Sodapop and then gestures towards Curly, “Kid’s insane man, it’ll be fun to have someone else to piss off the fuzz with.”

Curly whoops again. “Damn straight!”

Sodapop glares at him. “Either way Shepard, there’s seven people in this gang and three traitors have voted on your behalf, which ain’t enough so get lost you - DALLAS NO!”

Dallas smirks at Soda as he raises his arm into the air slowly and teasingly.

“You fucker, you absolute traitor !” Sodapop exclaims dramatically. 

Dallas just shrugs and says very nonchalantly, “Might be interestin’.” 

Ponyboy laughs and beams at Curly. “You’re in Curly!”

Curly throws his arms around Ponyboy and hugs him tightly - because he has to keep an act up of course - and over Ponyboy's shoulder, he makes eye contact with Sodapop who looks ready to stab Curly. Ponyboy leans into Curly even more and whispers in Curly's ear. 

“It’s gonna be hell when Darry gets home.”

His breath is against his skin and Curly has to try his hardest not to shiver. They pull apart and Curly feels an urge to pull Ponyboy back into his arms. Curly is holding onto Ponyboy’s wrists, almost holding hands. A moment passes between them and neither of them try to let go.

“Ponyboy,” Sodapop interrupts, “I need to talk to you, inside .”

Ponyboy nods and steps away from Curly, who is suddenly aware that every member of the gang is watching them. He personally doesn’t really care but judging from the flushed cheeks on Ponyboy and how he won’t meet anyone’s eye, Curly can guess he does. So Curly cares too.

Ponyboy arms fall free from Curly’s grasp but before he can follow Sodapop inside the house, Curly grabs his forearm gently.

“Hey,” he says, softer than he intended, “Thanks.”

Ponyboy smiles, but a different kind of smile than Curly’s ever seen before. It’s real soft and almost shy, all green eyes and hair falling into his eyes and it makes Curly smile too. He feels privileged to have been smiled at by Ponyboy Curtis in that way. 

Sodapop does not smile at Curly and instead turns on his heel and storms into the house. Ponyboy follows but the rest of the gang stay out on the porch. Curly watches the door, where Ponyboy stood moments ago for a second, and then turns to what is now his gang. “ So, what’s the plan for today fellas?”

Chapter Text

Curly Shepard has come to the conclusion that Darrel and Sodapop Curtis would do anything for their kid brother.

It’s something he’s always known but kind of figured it was more of a family thing. You know that whole 'family takes up for one another’ that he and his siblings live by - especially Tim with Angela - he’s got a real soft spot for her. But fucking hell Darrel and Sodapop need to fucking chill with their kid brother.

Darrel came home from work about half an hour ago, and the second he stepped into his house he noticed Curly. And he stared at him. And then stared some more. And then he frowned. Curly waved at him - you know to be polite and all - but Ponyboy stiffened at that making Curly give him a weird look, like what the fuck could be wrong with waving.

Sodapop, surprisingly, came to the rescue by leading Darrel into the kitchen to ‘talk’. It wasn’t really talking, more angry whispers from Sodapop that turned into angry yelling from Darrel and then a nervous Ponyboy being called in, which then a few minutes later led to a very angry Ponyboy storming out of the kitchen followed by an equally angry Sodapop. Darrel stayed in the kitchen for a long time after. Curly could hear him talking to someone on the phone, and he figured it was the fuzz he was talking too. Probably trying to get him arrested. Like Curly is afraid of the law, Ha! He eventually came into the living room, and took a seat on the chair looking just as angry as both his brothers.

Curly’s not sure he’s going to make it out of this house alive.

Now, the whole Curtis gang (which now includes him. Fuck this is weird) are sitting around the living room. Dallas is shuffling a deck of cards in preparation for a game of poker, while the other boys are digging around their pockets for smokes or change to bet. Darrel (wait can he call him Darry now he’s in the gang??) is sitting on an armchair watching the TV, though he seems to be thinking deeply about something, a crease embedded deep between his eyebrows. Curly’s sitting on the couch with Ponyboy who, just like his oldest brother, is deep in thought with a crease between his brows - the one that always appears when he’s thinking too hard about something, which is a lot. Curly glances between the two and for the first time, can see a resemblance.

Curly nudges Ponyboy in his ribs, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Curly leans close to him and whispers. “Do you reckon I should take off? You know, now we’re after ‘dropping the bomb’ or whatever it was you said.”

Ponyboy glances around at the gang, who are all occupied doing their own thing.

“You can go if you want, or you can stay the night,” Ponyboy whispers back.

“Stay the night? Who’d thought Ponyboy Curtis was that easy? Curly teases his fake boyfriend.

Ponyboy pinches Curly’s arm, but laughs at his comment. “No you idiot, you’re a part of the gang now so you have to act it. Usually they come and go here whenever they want, or they don’t leave at all - Darry won’t say nothin’ either way.”

Curly glances at Ponyboy’s oldest brother, who could honestly snap his neck without putting much effort into it at all. He looks at Ponyboy again.

“So, he won’t say nothin’ if I stay the night?”

“Oh he definitely will, but ain’t that the plan - piss him off as much as we can?”

Curly beams at the younger boy. “You’re coming along nicely Baby Curtis.”

Ponyboy smiles sheepishly. Curly has a sudden realisation of how little space is between him and Ponyboy. He’s not sure if they’ve been this close the whole time or they’ve slowly been getting closer to one another. Either way they’re practically cuddling - and wait actually is he allowed to do that with Ponyboy??

Like they’re kinda sorta boyfriends and isn’t that what boyfriends do?

Curly, in all honesty, has never really wanted to cuddle with anyone. He never has with anyone he went with before. It’s just not something he could ever see himself doing, but now…

“We’re playin’ cards now.”

Sodapop stands over them. Curly blinks, surprised by where the fuck he came from. Ponyboy looks taken back too and he moves away from Curly, looking uncomfortable under his brother’s gaze.

“...Okay?”

Sodapop rolls his eyes like he’s some big annoyance. Prick.

“And you two are playin’.”

Darry has now snapped out of his deep thoughts and is watching them both. Ponyboy and Curly glance at each other. Curly has now officially gotten into the Curtis gang - with Ponyboy’s help of course, that boy really is brilliant - so it’s only fair he holds up his end of the deal.

He tosses his arm around Ponyboy’s shoulder and says casually, “Nah we’re good. We’ll just head on over to mine, I got a free house.”

Sodapop immediately goes on a tangent, full of curse words and threats about why they will not be doing that. Curly doesn’t pay him any attention, instead watches Darry’s reaction. Darry’s blue eyes narrow slightly and then, to Curly’s disbelief, leans over to the table next to the armchair and starts to mess with the radio, flickering between the stations.

“What the fuck?” Ponyboy hisses under his breath.

“- you dig?”

Both he and Ponyboy look up at Sodapop, who had just finished his long rant about safe sex or whatever. Like come on, does he really think either of them are still pure? Two sixteen year old boys (almost 17 in Curly’s case - he’ll officially be a man) in this neighbourhood?

Ponyboy chews on his lip, glances at Darry and says loudly, “Yeah me and Curly are gonna head out - do somethin’ around town before goin’ back to his.”

Darry picks up a newspaper and begins to flick through it.

“I’ll probably teach him how to hotwire a car,” Curly adds. He knows that Ponyboy can hotwire a car that damn well - even far better than him - but he’s positive his brothers aren’t aware of that fact.

Darry doesn’t look up from his newspaper.

Meanwhile, Sodapop has just about gone into cardiac arrest. Ponyboy never mentioned how dramatic his brother was.

Ponyboy is still staring at Darry, his green eyes narrowed. He then flickers his gaze to Sodapop.

“Soda just start the game without us, I need to talk to Curly for a sec.”

He grabs Curly’s hand and drags out to the porch before Sodapop can protest. Once they’re on the porch, Ponyboy begins letting out a stream of frustrated curses.

“What the fucking fuck! Why isn’t he fucking giving a fucking reaction, goddamnit -”

“I forgot you have a real dirty mouth Ponyboy.”

“Why isn’t he fuckin’ reacting?”

“Maybe he’s gone into shock, give him a day or two,” Curly suggests.

Ponyboy huffs and pushes his hair out of his face. Curly’s noticed that Ponyboy doesn’t grease his everyday like he used to. A lot of people have stopped greasing nowadays, instead growing it out long. Ponyboy has his hair grown out a bit and Curly thinks the long hippie hairstyle would suit him. Or any hairstyle really, Ponyboy has a very striking face.

“...What are you lookin’ at?”

“Have you ever considered growin’ your hair out?”

Ponyboy’s hand immediately goes to his hair, playing with the strands. “Not really, I don’t think it would suit me.”

“Anything suits you, your face is too pretty for it not too,” Curly says truthfully. He thinks Ponyboy is very pretty and he wants to tell him that.

Ponyboy smiles at him. “You don’t have to keep up the act of my boyfriend when no one’s around Curly.”

“This has nothin’ to do with that. I’ve always thought you were pretty.”

Ponyboy immediately breaks eye contact with him and looks at the floor.

“How do you always do that?” he says softly.

“Do what?”

Ponyboy looks at him again. “Distract me when I’m annoyed.”

Curly shrugs. “It’s what I’m good for.”

“You’re good for a lot of things, Curls.”

Curly bites his lip and tries not to smile at the nickname.

Curls? That’s new…

“Yeah, like what?”

“Being a fake boyfriend for starters.”

Curly snorts. “Shit, I actually am. Maybe I can get a career out of this.”

“I’ll give you a good recommendation.”

Ponyboy leans against the wall of his house, looking at the sky. It’s dark now but there’s not really any stars out, which is probably disappointing Ponyboy. He really likes those kinds of things.

“Hey, I better split. I got an angry gang leader brother waitin’ at home for me,” Curly says.

“Oh, okay,” Ponyboy says, looking very disappointed now. Curly doesn’t really get it, they're just stars. They’ll be back tomorrow night.

Curly shoves his hand in his pockets and grins at Ponyboy. “Same time tomorrow?”

Ponyboy grins back. “It’s a Sunday so Dar’s off, come around and do your worst.”

Curly salutes him just like he did when they first came up with the plan. “See you then.”

He smiles at Ponyboy again and turns around, starting the walk back to his house. He occupies himself on the walk by thinking of ways to get under Darry and Sodapop’s skin.

Sure, Sodapop wasn’t included in the original who to piss off agreement but Curly’s just going to add him on in there. Just for a bit of fun.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Curly steps into his house, just as he did the previous day and prepares himself for part three of his ongoing fight with Tim. He’s kind of looking forward to it now.

Tim comes out of his room and towards the front door just as Curly walks in. He’s wearing his good leather jacket and his hair greased perfectly - he’s definitely going out on gang business.

Tim looks at him for a moment and then walks into the kitchen without so much of a greeting. Bastard.

Curly immediately follows him into the kitchen. Tim’s digging through their drawer, his back turned. Curly bounces on his heels and sighs obnoxiously. Tim doesn’t turn around. Curly sighs even louder. Tim stops digging through the door but doesn’t turn around. Curly grins - he knows exactly what methods of annoyance to use on his brother.

“Man am I beat,” Curly takes a seat at their table, resting his chin on his hand. “Being in a gang sure is tiring.”

Tim spins around to face him. Curly bites his lip to hide his grin. He already knows what's going to happen, Tim’s going to open his mouth and roar , “CARLOS!” and then Curly will say something real smart and witty back and -

“Did you take my good switch?”

...what the fuck?

“Uh no, I mean I have my own blade for the gang I’m in - you know since I joined one -”

“Fuck, I needed that for tonight.” Tim hisses, “I needed that for tonight. Curly I swear if go look in that pig sty you call a room and I find it I’ll fuckin use it on you -”

“I didn’t!”

Tim’s blue eyes, which Curly and Angela share, study him for a few moments. He makes some grunt like noise and rips open the next drawer and starts tearing it apart.

“Angel mighta taken it,” Curly chimes in.

Tim waves him off immediately. “She wouldn’t, she knows that’s my good knife.”

“Then why the fuck did you accuse me off takin’ it right away,” Curly exclaims, feeling very offended right now.

“Cause she’s smarter than you,” Tim teases, smirking at Curly over his shoulder.

Curly gives him the finger. It’s weird how just this morning, Tim was roaring the house down and almost chasing him down the street but now he’s teasing him like they’re best buddies.

Having siblings is fucking weird.

“What do you need it for anyway?”

“Can’t tell you, top secret gang business,” Tim quips, throwing Curly’s words right back at him.

Curly frowns slightly. So he remembers their fight from this morning, but doesn’t care anymore? Curly can’t have that, the whole reason he joined the Curtis' gang was to piss Tim off - and this fucker is making jokes about it?

He must have taken something to cool off. Fuck, Curly will have to break into his own stash after this.

“Oh yeah, me and my gang had some shit that needed to be done today,” Curly tries again.

Tim hums. “Then you’d understand why I need this blade.”

Tim suddenly begins laughing loudly and pulls out what he’s been looking for from their drawer. He flips the blade open, his eyes gleaming and Curly thinks of how terrifying it would be to see a pissed off Tim do that. His brother definitely makes a good gang leader.

Tim shoves the switchblade in his pocket, Curly spots a gun tucked into his waistband. That’s the fine line between his brother’s gang and the Curtis gang - he can’t imagine any of them carrying a gun with them when they hang out, but it’s usual business to Tim and his friends.

He looks at Curly. “I won’t be back till late, there’s pizza in the freezer if you get hungry. Angel’s gone out but if she ain’t back by curfew go find her and bring her home.”

Curly stares at his brother, who is calm and collected and isn’t acting like Tim. This can’t be the same Tim Shepard who once washed his mouth with soap when he was eight for teaching Angela curse words? Right now Tim should be threatening Curly with everything under the sun for joining a gang that isn’t the Shepard one.

“Why aren’t you tryin’ to kill me right now?”

Tim shrugs. “You do something worth me killin’ you over?”

“You never usually need a reason.”

“Guess I’m in a good mood tonight,” Tim smiles at him. Curly’s eyes widen a bit. Something is wrong. Something is very, very wrong.

Tim saunters past Curly, “See you later kid.”

Curly waits until he hears the door slam to express his emotions.

“FUCK!”

Tim is planning something, he’s always one fucking step ahead of Curly and he hates it. He’s fucked, he is utterly and completely fucked. Forget Darrel and Sodapop, Tim is gonna fucking kill him and then the Curtis boys will dance on his grave.

Curly’s head suddenly snaps up.

Wait.

Wait a minute.

Wait a fucking minute.

It dawns on him immediately. He shoots up out his chair so fast that it clatters back against the floor. He sprints to the phone that sits on a table beside their couch. He dials the number of who he wants to talk to as fast as he can.

“Pick up, pick up, please fuckin’ pick up -”

“Curtis house, Sodapop speaking!”

“It’s Curly, put your brother on.”

“Oh. You.”

“Would you just get your fuckin ‘ brother?”

“Not with that attitude you little -”

Curly hears Ponyboy’s voice in the background, asking his brother who he’s talking to. He perks up at this.

“Oi Ponyboy! I wanna talk to you!”

“Is that Curly? Soda gimme the phone.”

“Ponyboy my love, the light of my life -”

“Oh gross,” Sodapop groans. Muffled sounds fill Curly’s ear and he can vaguely hear Sodapop and Ponyboy bickering.

“Soda go!”

“He just left, why the fuck is callin’ again!”

“That’s rich comin’ from you - you talk on the phone with your dates right after you’ve dropped them home!”

“I’m still here you know,” Curly chimes in.

He figures Ponyboy puts his hand over the receiver because it goes silent for a minute or two. Eventually Ponyboy’s voice speaks again.

“Hey! Sorry about that he’s just you know he uh -”

“Hates me? Wants me six feet under?”

“Um, yeah.”

“He’s not as charming as all the broads say he is, you know.”

Ponyboy snorts. “He just holds a grudge against you from when you gave me a concussion in Grade School.”

“I was seven.”

“Exactly, you’ve been a sociopath since birth Shepard.”

Curly scoffs. “You deserved it Pone, you were bein’ a little brat.”

“Lies.”

“Fuck you I remember very well man, you wouldn’t give me the firetruck toy.”

“I can’t even defend myself since I don’t fuckin’ remember. I woke up in the hospital and thought I was dying.”

“I didn’t even throw the toy that hard…”

Ponyboy laughs again. Curly smiles.

Once his laughter dies down, Ponyboy speaks again. “So, what are you callin’ me for. Everything okay?”

“Not really, we kind of have a major problem. You alone.”

“Uh yeah, yeah I’m in my room - shit what’s wrong?”

“I’m like 99% sure Tim has called our bullshit.”

“How’d you figure.”

“He was nice to me.”

“Aw shit.”

“Yeah.”

A silence falls between the two. Curly breaks it. “I think Darrel knows as well.”

“... Fuck I think he does. I knew somethin’ was up when he wasn’t reacting to you.”

“Those fuckers are conspiring against us conspiring against them!”

Curly curses Tim to the moon and back for always being ahead of him.

“I guess we’re just gonna have to up our game, right?”

Curly pauses, digesting Ponyboy’s words and then smiles, very widely.

“Shit Baby Curtis I could kiss you right now.”

Ponyboy doesn’t reply. Curly can picture the blush that has spread across his face right now. He hopes he’s blushing at least - that was his goal.

“Um, thanks?”

Curly snorts this time. “Thanks? Shit Ponyboy you’re hopeless.”

“Shut up!”

“You know it’s a shame you’re a boy, cause if you were a broad I could just knock you up to piss your brother off.”

Ponyboy laughs loudly at this, he has a real nice laugh and he kind of wheezes in between and it makes Curly laugh loudly too.

It’s weird to Curly how he called Ponyboy in a panic, feeling like shit because of Tim but now he couldn’t care less. He always found that when he’s with Ponyboy he forgets about all the bad things in life. It’s been like this ever since they were kids.

He decides they can deal with the older brother situation tomorrow, he just wants to talk to Ponyboy right now.

“Hey, do you remember when I climbed that telephone poll?”

Chapter Text

Curly gets to school bright and early the next morning. Which is a first for him, he usually makes an appearance around lunch. Or not at all. Today he wants to catch Ponyboy before they head in, to discuss some ideas and their game plan.

He’s sitting on a bench just outside the school smoking a cigarette when Ponyboy arrives. He hears Two-Bit Mathews' shoddy truck before he sees it. Chuck Berry’s voice fills the parking lot as a rusted truck swerves into a parking space, with the tires screeching loudly. Curly winces at the sight. It’s a miracle that Mathews hasn’t died in a fiery car wreck yet.

Curly immediately saunters over to the car and flings the passenger seat door open with a beaming smile. "Good morning gang!"

Steve Randle’s sullen face greets him. Randle always kind of looks pissed off but seeing Curly has just made that bitch face a hundred times worse. Curly doesn't exactly know why he’s hated by Steve Randle but he has a working theory that Sodapop is behind it all.

Especially after what happened yesterday. 

His eyes, just like always, immediately drift to Ponyboy. The younger boy is sitting in the back with Johnny, and he smiles tentatively at Curly’s appearance. Curly beams back.

"Ponybaby! Let me get the door for you!" Curly exclaims dramatically, smiling even wider when he sees Ponyboy sink into his seat with embarrassment. He slams the passenger door shut and half sprints to Ponyboy’s side of the car, throwing the door open. Steve curses Curly out the second  he reappears for slamming the door in his face and Mathews, for whatever reason, is clutching his ribs with laughter.

In between his snorts, Two-Bit turns to face Ponyboy with a shit-eating grin on his face. " Ponybaby huh?"

Ponyboy glares at him. "I’ll fight you Two I swear to god."

Two-Bit’s Cheshire cat grin just gets wider. "I really don’t think anyone with the nickname Ponybaby would ever win a fight."

Johnny stifles a laugh behind his hand as Ponyboy glare deepens. He knows that Ponyboy is tough and all and that he can take care of himself real well in a fight, but Curly can’t help but think that he looks real cute when he’s angry. Like a mildly dangerous cat.

He reaches out and takes Ponyboy’s hand, tugging him out of the car. "C’mon baby I gotta talk to you about Sod - I mean about our relationship, yeah about our love and everything ."

Ponyboy shoots one last glare at Two-Bit (how cute) and then follows Curly outside. Two-Bit starts making kissing noises just before Curly slams the door. What a child.

They walk in silence for a moment or two, waiting to put a bit of distance between them and the car before talking.

"So," Curly breaks the silence between them, "I guess you’re never livin’ that nickname down."

Ponyboy sighs. "Another to add to the list."

Curly grins playfully. "There’s a list of nicknames? I gotta hear ‘em."

Ponyboy gives him a dry look. Curly snorts but changes the subject.

"How did things go yesterday, after I hadta evacuate?" Curly asks. They walk into the school together, the halls are still quiet enough, which is like a whole new world to Curly - who has never ever ever been this fucking early. This will probably hurt his reputation.

Ponyboy grimaces which Curly takes as a bad sign. It’s not like he meant to do what he did, it was a mistake!

Okay, so basically , Curly went around to Curtis house yesterday to hang out with Ponyboy and piss off his brothers. Sodapop was really not in the mood for Curly, so naturally, Curly kept being very - uh - loving with Ponyboy. He kept trying to make Sodapop snap all day with no avail, and eventually forgot about it and just hung out with Ponyboy like they usually do. But then , he had one of his brilliant ideas and decided that it would be really funny to write a very dirty note to Ponyboy and slip it into his jacket pocket before he left. It was meant to be a real laugh, like imagine Ponyboy pulling on his jacket to head out and finding the note. Can you imagine how red he’d turn? It would be hilarious !

So he slipped the note into Ponyboy’s jacket a while before he left.

At least what he thought was Ponyboy’s jacket…

Instead Curly kinda sorta maybe slipped the note into Sodapop’s jacket, who found the note before Curly left and completely lost his shit. Curly had to fucking flee from the house - and for once he wasn’t even trying to piss Sodapop off, it was an accident! 

"Well, apart from World War 3 almost breakin’ out, I’d say it was all cool," Ponyboy replies.

"Shit, that bad huh?" Curly snorts. Ponyboy shoots him a look.

"Don’t laugh Curly, I had to tackle Soda to stop him from chasin’ you," Ponyboy says very seriously. 

"I didn’t mean for that to happen…" Curly pauses for a moment, before continuing on with an amused tone, "It was kinda funny it did though."

Ponyboy snorts despite what he said a few moments earlier. He looks at Curly with bright eyes. "His face when he read the note oh my god ."

They both fall into heaps of laughter at the memory of Sodapop’s face going from confusion to disgust to horror and to fury in the matter of seconds.

"Man if he thought I was a bad influence before ..." Curly trails off, shaking his head at the thought of what Sodapop must think of him now.

"I mean, Darry was real pissed off as well so it did some good for the plan," Ponyboy tells him.

"Yeah? Maybe it was worth almost bein’ shot by your brother then, I’m glad Darry didn’t come after me - that would be fuckin’ terrifying," Curly says, shuddering at the thought of having to outrun Darrel Curtis.

"Well, if you end up goin’ missin’ at least we’ve got a good idea of who’s behind it," Ponyboy grins, letting go of Curly’ hand and opening his locker as they reach it.

Curly opens his mouth to reply and then freezes, looking at his hand. Holy shit, he and Ponyboy had been holding hands that whole time oh my god -

"You good?"

Curly snaps out of his daze at Ponyboy’s words. Green eyes are looking into his blue ones with amusement.

Curly nods enthusiastically. "I’m brilliant, never been better."

Ponyboy studies him, with a smile tugging at his lips. "Sure? You seemed a bit out of it there, and you were quiet for like 30 seconds which just ain’t like you…"

"Why didn’t you let go of my hand?" Curly cuts in. He kind of blurts it out, the way he tends to do when something takes over his mind. He just really wants to know.

Ponyboy freezes slightly. "Oh I - uh - I just thought I wouldn’t let go so people would know we’re uh … ‘dating’ now, shit I’m sorry I shoulda let go if you weren’t comfortable with it."

Curly eyes widen and he exclaims loudly. "I was comfortable! I was very comfortable, I just thought you wouldn’t be."

Ponyboy looks a bit taken back by his sudden shouting but nods his head. "I was comfortable too."

"Cool," Curly says breathlessly. He coughs a bit afterwards, trying to show how unbothered and cool he is with this whole thing even though his brain is currently going ‘oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god’ 

Why haven’t they done this before? Like it feels so natural and just so right and he always wants to hold Ponyboy’s hand all the time and - shit.

Fuck. He can’t feel this way. Because none of this is real. They’re only holding hands as an act. It’s all an act. Ponyboy doesn’t feel this way so Curly can’t, not at all. Fuck. Stop it.

He pulls out his comb and runs it through his hair and tries to act casual. Ponyboy busies himself with a book that he has in his hand.

Curly keeps combing his hair and says as offhandedly as he can manage right now. "By the way, I can stop givin’ you nicknames if you don’t like em. You know like Ponybaby or whatever.

If it were anyone else but Ponyboy, Curly would not give one fuck about what they liked or not. But Ponyboy is different. Curly doesn’t want him to be uncomfortable.

Ponyboy looks away, suddenly finding the inside of his locker very interesting. "I never said I didn’t like it…" he says shyly.

...oh?

Curly’s mouth goes dry and his heart starts beating faster. Is he fucking getting flustered ? Glory, is his face red? What the hell is Ponyboy doing to him? 

He opens his mouth to say something back, hopefully something that isn’t just gibberish and stuttering when a voice calls out to Ponyboy.

"Ponyboy, hey!"

A boy that Curly doesn’t recognize appears in front of them. Curly studies him, he’s about their age, maybe a bit older and all dark hair and eyes and with nice clothes - but not too nice, he definitely ain’t a Soc. But the main thing that Curly notices is that his attention is completely diverted to Ponyboy. This makes him frown.

Ponyboy’s eyes widen a bit when he sees the boy. "Russell, hi!"

Russell smiles at Ponyboy like he’s the only thing in the room - despite the fact Curly is standing right fucking there!

"Sorry for catching you off guard. I just saw you and thought I would… uh how are you?"

Is Curly fucking invisible or something? Does this guy not see that he and Ponyboy are in the middle of a conversation?

"I’m good!" Ponyboy says with an painfully awkward smile, his eyes dart over to Curly who has his gaze firmly trained on Russell.

"That’s good, I haven’t actually seen you since … you know…"

Ponyboy’s cheeks immediately flush, the way they do when Curly makes him laugh or compliments him.

What the fuck?!

Ponyboy laughs very awkwardly and bounces on his heels. "Yeah it’s been a while…"

A horrible silence falls between the three of them. Curly fucking hates silence - especially when this fucker is still looking at Ponyboy. 

"Who are you?" Curly cuts in sharply.

Russell looks taken back by Curly’s question. As though he’s not the one interrupting them and being an absolute fucking third wheel.

Ponyboy quickly steps in. "Uh Curly this is Russell, he’s a … friend of mine."

Russell looks at him for a moment and then turns his attention back to Ponyboy. 

 "Hey uh, maybe we could like hang out, you know just to uh… catch up!"

WHAT THE FUCK!?

"Man are you fuckin’ dense or somethin’," Curly steps forward towards Russell angrily.

Russell raises his hand in defence. "Jesus man I’m not trying to start anything here, I’m just catching up with an old friend that’s all."

"Friend ," Curly spits with venom. He glares at Russell and spins around shooting a glare at Ponyboy too. "Oh, your friend !" He mimics, throwing his hands in the air dramatically.

People around them are starting to notice the dispute now, listening in as subtly as they can.

"Curly, stop ," Ponyboy hisses, with his face bright red with embarrassment.

Curly ignores Ponyboy and continues talking. "Well listen here you fucking Beatles clone, I don’t appreciate you asking out my boyfriend right in front of me. If anyone is going to be ‘catching up’ with Ponyboy it will be me!"

He steps forward and harshly jabs Russell in the middle of the chest. Curly thanks the higher powers that he has at least 3 feet on this guy and leans down into his face.

"Now, go ahead and fuck off ."

Russell opens his mouth, holds his gaze with Curly’s dark blue eyes for a moment. Curly supposes he recalls hearing the stories of the Shepherds eyes, and what has happened to people who looked into them for too long, promptly closes his mouth and speed walks down the hall.

Curly shoots a glare at the surrounding crowds, who are now watching in shock at witnessing a Shepard showdown and the reveal that the youngest Curtis and Shepherd are now romantically involved.

Curly turns to look at Ponyboy, who in his previous silence, meets his gaze with stony eyes.

"What the fuck is your problem Curly!" He hisses. "You can’t just -"

"Who was that?"

Ponyboy frowns at being interrupted but answers Curly's question. 

"... My friend."

Curly bites his tongue at Ponyboy’s use of the word. Friend .

"Since when? I ain’t never seen that guy in my life before now. Not to mention he was not trying to catch up as much as he was fucking you with his eyes there." 

Ponyboy closes his locker and begins to walk away, towards his English class. Curly follows him. 

"We hung out over Summer," Ponyboy says, avoiding looking Curly in the eye. 

Curly falters slightly. He knows exactly what that means.

"Oh you hung out? "  Curly replies with a mocking tone. 

"Yeah we did," Ponyboy snaps back, his voice rising.

"I see. So what exactly did y’all do when ‘hanging out’ ? "

Ponyboy lets a frustrated sigh and stops walking. "Why do you care?"

Curly immediately leans back against the lockers behind and shrugs. "I don’t."

"So what’s with the game of 20 questions then?"

"Just interested in why you spent a Summer with that dickhead."

"You were pretty fucking rude to him earlier on."

Curly scoffs, leaning in closer to Ponyboy. "You’re supposed to be dating me, Ponyboy. How the fuck do you think it makes me look if you’re flirting with some guy in the halls while people find out about us?"

"I wasn’t flirting with him," Ponyboy hisses, he frowns before continuing on. "And you don’t even know him, Curly!"

"Don’t have to, I can tell he’s a dickhead just from lookin’ at him. And I can tell that there ain’t any personality behind those dead fuckin’ eyes."

Probably a bit harsh but hey, Curly’s trying to be more truthful in his everyday life. 

Ponyboy scowls at him. "You're a real asshole, Curly."

He turns on his heel and starts walking down the hall towards his English class once again. 

"I ain’t followin’ you!" Curly yells at his retreating back.

Ponyboy picks up his speed without turning around. Curly lets out a frustrated sigh and tries again. 

"And just so you know, I am so askin’ Carla out on a date!"

Ponyboy gives him the finger from over his shoulder and disappears around the corner. 

He smirks at Ponyboy’s reaction - he’s riled up now, Curly sure as hell won that one.

In case you were wondering - Curly Shepherd did not in fact ask Carla out on a date. Or anyone for that matter.

 He would love to tell you after his argument with Ponyboy that he went outside, all cool like, maybe hopping on a motorbike that he’s planning to get for a while (if Tim would allow him) and how he bumped into Sophia Loren or maybe Tony from West Side Story (bit of a pansy but glory those eyes of his) and then they rode off into the sunset together for a passion filled night. 

None of that happened.

Instead he stormed around after Ponyboy left for his class, he kicked the lockers a bit - leaving an impressive dent if he does say so himself. After he got bored of that, and his foot got sore, he began roaming around the entirety of the school.

He thought about the whole situation. In hindsight, Curly can admit that maybe he overreacted a bit. Just a bit. But it’s not like it was all his fault. Ponyboy should have told him about this guy, considering their whole relationship was so recent! Does he have any idea what it would do for Curly’s reputation if people thought he was second to some middle class snob ? How could Ponyboy be so selfish!

Stupid Ponyboy Curtis and his green eyes. Curly’s not sure if he ever wants to look at him again. Curly is sick of his stupid little soft smiles. And the way he scrunches up his nose whenever he takes a sip of beer. Not to mention the leanness of his legs from track that he always seems to show off in Summer. God , and how he drums his fingers against the table when waiting for his food, like you have elegant hands that play the piano beautifully - Curly gets it.

Curly huffs angrily and continues pacing down the halls. He’s surprised a teacher hasn’t tried to send him off the class yet. Sometimes they try it on him, but most of the time they don’t - even the teachers are scared of the Shepard family. 

Curly pauses for a moment. Why on earth is he even still here ? He should have gone home hours ago! He shakes his head at his own stupidity. Spending the last hour storming around the school making himself get angrier just by being here. Curly is going home .

Curly continues walking down the corridor and turns to the right where a fire exit is when a small figure leaps out at him from under the stairwell and promptly begins to attack him.

Curly exclaims in shock and goes to hit the person with a good old Shepard punch, when he realizes he can’t see much due to a mass of dark curls spiraling around as he gets slapped repeatedly. 

Aw shit, Angela.

"Curly Shepard you idiot"  Angela berates Curly in between each punch she can land.

The two siblings stumble across the hallway as Curly grabs Angela's wrists  in an attempt to stop her attack of him, all the while trying to put her in a headlock at the same time.

"Glory Angela, would you stop!" Curly wheezes as he holds back his sister.

Angela curses at him and kicks him directly in the shin. Curly whimpers (in a manly way) and hunches over. She glares at him. "Oh you’ve really done it now, Curly."

Curly looks up at her, rubbing at his definitely soon to be bruised shin. "What did I do now!? Why are you attacking me like a psychopath !?" Curly shouts in confusion

Angela continues on. "Oh you know what you did. I never thought even my idiot and shithead of a brother would ever - Curly!"

Angela shrieks his name as Curly reaches over and yanks her hair harshly. Like did she really think he would let her call him an idiot and a shithead with no consequences? He should be calling her an idiot. She’s the one who attacked him .

Angela’s hair has fallen out of the ribbon she had gracefully tied it back with. She spins around to face him with her eyes blazing. "You asshole !"

Curly shrugs nonchalantly. "You deserved it."

Angela keeps glaring at him. "Tim said you’re not allowed to do shit like that to me no more."

"Why? You too much of a pussy to handle - FUCK!"

Angela punches him right in the stomach, really fucking hard. Tears immediately spring to his eyes and he doubles over, cursing in between his gasping breaths. He’d forgotten how much Angela’s punches hurt - Tim taught her all of his tricks. 

"You were sayin’...?"

Curly heaves himself upright, cursing quietly and then shrugs nonchalantly . "Didn’t even hurt."

"You liar- "

Her hand curls up into a fist at her side causing Curly to take a step back out of fear she will punch him again.

"Are you done!" Curly shouts. His sister just stares at him looking furious. 

"You embarrassed me today, Curly," She hisses at him, her book clutched tightly in her hand.

Curly steps away from, eyeing the book warily. Anything is a weapon during a Curly vs Angela spat. "I didn’t do nothin’ Angela I swear."

Angela points a finger at him. " You are dating Ponyboy Curtis!"

Curly frowns at Angela's accusatory tone. "Yeah, and what? What does that have to do with me embarrassing you?"

Angela stares at Curly in silence and then shakes her head in disbelief. Curly's throws his hands up in the air in exasperation. 

"Do you know how embarrassed I was when Inez came up to me and asked me about it, and I didn’t know what she was talkin’ about?" Angela whispers shamefully, as though Curly is meant to understand how embarrassing that is.

Curly shrugs. "It just didn’t come up in conversation yet."

" Didn’t come up !" Angela mocks with anger, "Curly my reputation could have been ruined , ain’t that important to you!"

Angela hits him with her textbook. Curly yells in protest, raising his hands in defense. 

"Jesus Ang you’re insane!"

Curly knows that his sister is a gossip but he didn't think she valued her reputation so much. I mean who takes up gossiping as a serious hobby.

Curly sighs. "It didn't cross my mind Angela, honest. I shoulda told ya."

Angela huffs at him but firmly nods her head. The worst is over now. Curly hopes he won't get another punch to the stomach today.

Angela leans back against the wall. "So how did you and Curtis end up going together in the first place?"

"It just happened," Curly replied nonchalantly. "Me and Pony's relationship just kind of fell into place you know."

Angela hums as response. "I like Ponyboy, he's a good kid." She leans over and playfully nudges him in the ribs. "He might do you some good."  

Curly swats at her hand. He's honestly not sure if Ponyboy and him are still 'dating' after today. Ponyboy was as pissed as Curly had ever seen him after everything with Russell. Fucking Russell. Curly scowls at the thought of him. He perks up suddenly. Angela knows everything about everyone in this town, she’s his best bet for information on this guy.

Curly glances around quickly to make sure no one is around and then whispers to Angela. "Hey, what do you know bout that guy Russell?"

Angela frowns in confusion. "Russell who?"

" Russell ! He’s a junior and middle class I think , not very goodlookin’-"

Angela’s eyes light up. "Oh! That cute guy who was hangin’ around with Ponyboy this Summer?"

"He ain’t cute -"

Angela ignores him and continues talking. "Yeah him and Ponyboy were inseparable this Summer. Russell hung out with Ponyboy’s friend group like everyday and then Missy told me that at the end of Summer Ponyboy ended things with him but she reckons Russell still likes him."

Curly clenches his jaw. "So they went together?"

"Yeah but Missy said it was just a Summer thing, that’s why Ponyboy ended things," Angela says casually while examining her nails.

Curly leans against the wall, various ideas running through his head. Maybe he could slash Russell’s tires? Or egg his house? Or just beat him up? Technically have an official reason but he really really wants to do that so that can be his reason. It’s a good one.

Curly chews on his lip and looks at Angela again. "Listen, did Missy say how Ponyboy was with him? Like was it … serious."

He almost says love and he really wants to find out if it was . But he doesn’t want to look soft. He’s not soft.

Angela rolls her eyes irritably and sighs. "Curly are you even listenin’ it was a Summer fling! Ponyboy dumped the guy like a week before school started."

"Still, he obviously liked the guy well enough to spend a Summer with him…" Curly mutters bitterly.

The thought of Ponyboy with someone else stirs a horrible feeling within, he can’t even bear to think it.

Angela raises an eyebrow. "Why is this bothering you so much? Like, you know Russell ain’t the first person Ponyboy’s gone with and you ain’t never been so stuck up before."

"Well I wasn’t dating him before," Curly snaps back. 

"Yeah but you’ve been in love with him since you were kids," Angela says casually, as though it’s not a big deal.

Curly pushes himself off the wall and throws his arms in the air dramatically. "What the fuck! No I haven’t I - what the fuck!"

Angela laughs incredulously at his outburst. "Curly calm down! He’s your boyfriend, it’s okay to admit you actually love him."

"I - he is! But I ain’t, you know like in love with him or anythin’, we’re just uh - hangin’ out!" Curly stutters pathetically.

Angela studies him, Curly tries his hardest not to squirm under her gaze.

"You’re not actin’ right," She says slowly, her blue eyes suspicious.

Curly stares back at her, his features shifting into the famous Shepard poker face. He can’t reveal himself through his emotions - it’s not the Shepherd way.

" You gotta keep your emotions in check," Tim had said. "Never let ‘em know what you’re thinking. It’s the only way to survive."

"Curly," Angela says slowly. "What’s wrong with you?"

Curlys face wont work on Angela - she is a Shepard too. She knows all the same tricks he does. Possibly more.

Curly takes a deep breath. He’s going against every rule in his book to do this but if anyone is going to get his trust about this, it’s his sister.

"Angel," Curly whispers. "I gotta tell you somethin’."

Angela’s blue eyes light up in interest. "What is it?"

Curly glances over his shoulder, to make sure no one’s hanging around the hallway. He gestures to Angela to come closer to him, just to be safe, and quietly tells her the truth of Ponyboy and his relationship.

"Oh my god!"

"Angela you can’t tell no one - especially not Tim!"

"Oh my god !"

"Oh glory, why did I tell you . I’ve fucked it all up

The first moment of weakness in his life. This will never happen again.

Angela smacks Curly in the arm. "I ain’t no rat Curly, you ought to know that."

"You’re the biggest gossip in Tulsa!" Curly hisses back.

"Not when it comes to my own family !" Angela retorts angrily.

Curly exhales. Angela looks at him with exasperation. They’re silent for a few moments.

"Okay fine , but don’t make me regret telling you this," Curly warns.

Angela nods her head enthusiastically. "You won’t. Gosh Curly, you and Curtis really get yourselves into some mad situations."

Curly groans and drags a hand down his face. "Don’t I know it."

The blue of Angela's eyes that all three Shepard siblings share study Curly. "Have you seen Ponyboy today?"

Curly shifts uncomfortably. "Yeah I did. We got into a bit into a fight."

"You seen him since?"

"Nah I ain't."

Angela smiles slightly. "Then you oughta go find him Romeo."

Curly scowls at her but doesn't reply. He hates to admit it but he's got some apologizing to do.

After his leaving Angela, Curly decides not to leave school after all. He figures he'd hang around and try catch Ponyboy at some point during the day. He doesn't see Ponyboy anywhere. He heads down to the DX at lunch where he finds a rowdy Two-Bit, Steve and Sodapop - but no Ponyboy.

It feels like Ponyboy is avoiding him which really pisses Curly off. Then his thoughts trail to the idea of Ponyboy hanging out with Russell right now which makes want to commit unspeakable acts.

Curly eventually finds Ponyboy at the end of the day sitting on the bleachers, lacing up his runners for track. Curly knew he would show up there eventually so he spent the last 2 hours hanging around waiting for him.

He approaches him as quietly as he can, hoping to catch Pony off guard and maybe scare him - you know, to lighten the mood. His plan is foiled when Ponyboy speaks without looking up from his shoes. "I don’t want to see you."

Curly sighs and takes a seat next to him, shoving his hands into his pockets. "You got a sixth sense for when I’m around or somethin’?"

"I got one for assholes," Ponyboy says without hesitation.

Curly whistles under his breath. “Shit, you had that one saved up."

Ponyboy doesn't reply, lacing his runners all the more aggressively. Curly takes a seat next to him on the bleachers. Ponyboy's teammates are beginning to gather around the track for warm ups. Curly studies them, they all look mostly middle class leaving Ponyboy as the only greaser. The boys all seem to like Ponyboy though, Curly sees them hanging out in the corridors sometimes. Seeing them all laugh together makes the whole class feud seem futile.

Ponyboy has finished lacing up his shoes but has not yet spoken. He is determinately not looking up at Curly as he fixes his socks.

Curly chews on his lip. He’s never done this before, he doesn’t apologies. Sorry is just not in Curly Shepard’s vocabulary.

But on the other hand, Ponyboy clearly doesn't want to speak to him and that seems like the only thing worse than losing his pride.

Curly takes a deep breath. "Listen, I was uh - bein’ a dick today and I’m - I’m sorry alright? "Ponyboy looks up at him with surprise. He blinks a few times before speaking. "I ain't never heard you say sorry in your life."

Curly shrugs nonchalantly. "Yeah well I'm trying to turn over a new leaf. The Reformatory did a good job reforming this time."

Ponyboy immediately turns the other way and Curly is willingly to bet everything he owns that Pony is trying to hide his smile.

Curly grins and nudges him in the arm. "Come on baby Curtis don’t be mad at me."

Ponyboy laughs but doesn't reply causing Curly to start tickling him. 

"C'monnnnn Curtis I know damn well you can't handle being tickled."

Ponyboy shrieks with laughter as Curly pokes his ribs repeatedly. "Curly stop! Uncle, Uncle!!"

Curly pulls away, laughing at Ponyboy's giggles as the tickling resides. Ponyboy's eyes are full of mirth as he shoves Curly playfully. 

"Asshole, you know I hate that shit."

Curly smirks. "I know."

He turns to look at Ponyboy, holding out his hand for a shake. "So we good?"

Ponyboy reaches out and shakes Curly's hand. "Yeah, we're good."

A beat of silence falls between the two of them. Ponyboy runs his hands through his ungreased hair. He frowns slightly and turns to Curly.

"Why did you get so mad?"

Ponyboy is looking into his eyes now and Curly’s brain is turning to mush. It’s a good question - why was he so mad? A part of him wants to tell Ponyboy how he really feels, just be honest so they can stop all the bullshit - he’s always been the type of person who just says what’s on his mind. Angela’s words float around his brain 'you’ve been in love with him since you were kids..'

But instead, he just shrugs. "I was just worried that you might still wanna be that … guy and we’d have to stop our plan, that’s all."

He looks away from Ponyboy, staring at his scuffed up shoes and desperately trying to think of anything but Ponyboy and his eyes, and the way he smiles and how he wrinkles his nose when he’s confused…

"Oh right, yeah that makes sense, yeah," Ponyboy mutters from beside him.

"I just really need to stay in your gang, that’s why I was so annoyed," Curly continues on. 

Ponyboy nods, his lips pulled in a tight smile that Curly has never seen before. It doesn’t suit him at all- it just looks wrong on his face.

Ponyboy nods towards the group of boys on the running track. "I gotta go, practice is starting."

"Course, knock 'em dead," Curly grins, messing up Ponyboy’s hair. 

Ponyboy laughs softly but it doesn’t seem very genuine and then stands up. He goes to leave, but hesitates and then turns to look at Curly once more. 

"Do you wanna stay?" He says very quickly, the words seemingly tumbling out of his mouth. 

Curly tilts his head at Ponyboy. "You want me too?"

Ponyboy bounces on his heels and says very softly. "I do, yeah."

Curly grins. That’s all he needs to know right now. He smiles at Ponyboy. "Then I will, we can do somethin’ once you’re done then."

Ponyboy smiles, a smile that Curly swears could light up a room and he turns around once again and jogs towards his team. Curly watches him the whole way, though his brain keeps repeating one sentence over and over again.

It’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real.

Curly can’t help and think that when Ponyboy smiles at him it feels everything but fake.

Chapter Text

Twelve year old Curly Shepard watched from the passenger seat of Tim’s car as droplets of rain slid down the window, blurring the events unfurling mere metres away from him. 

Curly reckons he has been begging for Tim to allow him to accompany his gang for one of their runs since he was eight years old and his frenzy filled brain acknowledged that is where the real action happened. Finally, four years later, his demands have been met. From the inside of a locked car. Parked a few feet away. Overlooking the action. 

Hey, Curly has always considered himself a half glass full kind of guy. 

Besides, Curly’s not completely out of the game yet. He glances down at the crowbar between his feet. Sure, Tim had left it there with specific instructions but Curly considers his older brother's words to be foreshadowing more than anything else.

"Listen to me Carlos,” Tim had said, holding out the crowbar to him. "I'm giving you this just in case those boys try anything on you. They won’t, but you should have a weapon on you anyway," T im paused for a moment before continuing. "I’ll have them shot dead before they even make it to the car but still. They’ll be here soon. Don’t get out of the car or so help me god Curly, I’ll use that crowbar on you myself, you dig?"

Curly thinks he said something smart back that made Tim slam the car door right in his face but he can’t remember exactly, he’s just too excited to see all the action go down to focus on anything else. Getting to see the main Shepard boys in action is something worth bragging about, glory waits until Curly tells that smug Billy Robbins what he got up to over the weekend!

Curly watches in anticipation for the other gang to arrive. Tim’s out there, smoking and looking as tough as ever. His older brother turns to his right hand man, Manny and offers him a smoke. Manny’s real tough, tougher than anyone else Curly knows outside of his family. Tim doesn’t offer a cigarette to the other boy with them, Sonny. Curly watches as Sonny keeps his gaze stuck to the ground, unmoving and unreadable. Curly’s always felt that way about Sonny, who appears at every council that takes place in the Shepard household, but Curly has never heard a word. He asked Tim about it once. 

"Sonny just don't got lot to say," Tim shrugged. He paused for a moment and then smirked slightly. "Glory that kid can shoot though."

Headlights approach them, lighting up the dark alley they have resided in. Curly's heart quickens at the arrival of the men. He studies Tim and his gang, noting each one of their reactions as the car pulls up. Tim remains the same as before, Manny crosses his arms and seems to grow three sizes bigger while Sonny's head snaps up and immediately tenses up. Three large men step out of the car, one of them stepping froward to shake Tim's hand. The other two remain behind their leader taking similar positions to Manny and Sonny, who shadow Tim. 

Curly watches carefully as Tim converses with the leader, his hands slowly going down to grip the crowbar. Tim had already told him that the guys they were dealing with  were regular customers, who tend to work independently so there won't be any trouble. Still, Curly's hands trembled as the  wrapped around the cool metal of the crowbar, waiting, craving for some action to break out. Tim's arm reaches over to Manny, who dutifully hands him a brown paper bag while the other leader is handed a bag from one of his own men. The exchange is seamless, Curly watches as both leaders check inside their respective bags and nod at each other. His grip on the crowbar loosens. It's over now, he understands this. The goods have been exchanged. Curly lets the crowbar slip from his grasp and sighs in disappointment. He didn't want like anyone to die of course, but he hears the stories that Tim and his bloodied boys tell around the table in the Shepard house. He just wanted to be apart of that for once. 

Curly relaxes back into his chair as Tim exchanges his final words and turns around, making his way back towards Curly. The men begin walking towards their own car. Manny follows behind Tim, while Sonny remains frozen in position. Curly sits forward and frowns at Sonny's lack of movement. Sonny stares at the retreating backs of the men and Curly watches as his hand reaches for his waistband. Curly feels dread pool in his stomach and his hands frantically grasp for the handle to the car door. Curly forcefully tears at the handle but is unable to unlock the door. Tim freezes at the horrified look  on Curly's face as he reaches view of the car window. He whips his body around, his own hand immediately grasping for the gun tucked into his own waistband but it's too late. Sonny stands with his gun in the air and shoots the leader of the rival gang in the back of the head. Both men reach for their own guns but Sonny is too fast, and shoots them both in the chest. He turns around to face Manny and Tim, who both stand with their guns aimed at him. Curly hands tremble as he reaches for the crowbar, preparing to smash the glass of the window in order to help Tim. Sonny's face remains unmoving as he keeps eye contact with Tim and turns the gun on himself, and shoots.

The crowbar plummets to the floor of the car while Curly watches horrified as Sonny's body hits the ground. Tim and Manny, who stand with their backs facing towards him, make no move to catch the body. Curly falls back into his chair, his eyes shut and gasping for air. He remains like that for a few moments, he's not quite too sure how long before he hears the car doors open and feels Manny climb in the back and Tim next to him. Both boys are silent.

"That wasn't supposta happen," Tim speaks gruffly after a few moments of silence. "You weren’t supposta see that."

Tim reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pack of Kool's. Curly watches as his hands tremble ever so slightly as he fishes out a cigarette from the pack. He tosses Curly a lighter and a cigarette, before placing his own in between his teeth. 

"Light me up there kid."

Curly does so, it takes him a few moments too long as he tries to get his shaking hands under control but Tim doesn't comment on it. Once lit, Tim leans back into his chair and takes a deep drag, with his eyes closed. He remains like that for a few beats before leaning forward and starting the ignition. 

"We better split before the fuzz show up," he says calmly. 

Curly nods silently.

The first dead body you see always affects you the most. It ain't so bad after that. 

 Curly Shepard has come to the conclusion that Ponyboy Curtis has a strange taste in music. 

The Curtis household has a vast collection of records, Curly has spent the last twenty minutes flicking through the crates lined up against the Curtis' living room wall. The records in here date back to the late forties, undoubtably remaining from their parents collection. Ponyboy lounges on the armchair next to him, that Curly has come to acknowledge as Darrel's chair, flicking through some car magazine owned by Steve Randle.

Curly glances at Ponyboy, the creases between his eyebrows appearing as he thinks too hard about something in Randle's dumb magazine. Curly's gaze drops to record currently in his hand. Solomon Burke. He glances up at Ponyboy again.

"Who own's this one?" He questions, holding up the record. 

Ponyboy glances at him over the magazine. "They're communal but uh Darry I suppose, he's an awfully big fan of soul music."

Curly hums in response. Interesting. He places the record back in place and grabs the next one. The Beach Boys. 

"And this one?"

"Sodapop. He's the only one who really digs them."

"Shoulda guessed. Pansy." Curly mutters.

Ponyboy leans down and swats him with magazine. "They have some tuff songs."

Curly gapes at him. "Glory Tim would disown me if I brought this shit home with me."

Ponyboy rolls his eyes at him. "That's cause you lot only listen to Elvis and The Rolling Stones."

Curly raises his eyebrow at him. "Yeah cause they're tuff?"

Ponyboy grins at him. "Yeah, yeah they're tuff. Not as tuff as Bob Dylan though."

Curly shudders. "I'm just going to pretend I never heard that."

Ponyboy laughs and Curly smiles, as he continues to flick through the records. He has never seen such a diverse collection in his life. And one as messy too. Ponyboy said that it used to be in alphabetical order but he gave up trying because none of the boys listened to him. Curly doubts Two-Bit even knows his ABCs. Curly smiles triumphantly at the mess, which allows one win for the Shepard household against the Curtis's. Tim prides himself on keeping his music collection in good condition, so the Shepard's vast record collection (that includes more than just Elvis thank you very much Ponyboy) is in pristine order. 

Curly gasps as he pulls out a record with a unmistakable red cover. "Glory hallelujah who owns this?!"

Ponyboy bursts out laughing as Curly dangles the West Side Story soundtrack in front of him. 

"That's Two-Bit's, he stole it a while back. He likes to sing the Tonight quintet all by himself when he's plastered," Ponyboy says while shaking his head with laughter. 

Curly can't help but crack a smile at the thought of a drunk burly Six foot Two-Bit Matthews singing along to Maria's vocals. This Curtis gang is something else. Curly places the record back and turns to look at Ponyboy. "So where are all of your records?"

Ponyboy frowns and nods towards the crates. "They're communal"

"I didn't see no Bob Dylan in there. Or that other broad you like, the real whiny one-"

"Joan Baez ain't whiny-"

"Yeah her I didn't see any of her stuff."

Ponyboy frowns at him, probably debating whether to continue the debate about Joan Baez (they've been over this before, folk music just isn't Curly's thing) and then shifts a little bit as Curly stares at him intently. "I just don't keep 'em out here."

"Why?"

Ponyboy's brow furrows in that way he does when he's awfully annoyed about something, but not angry. "I caught Steve and Two-Bit playing Frisbee with my Bob Dylan album a while back. They broke it so I just keep 'em in my room now."

Curly feels anger bubble in his chest at Ponyboy's words. "Fuck that! They deserve a hiding for that shit!" He says angrily. "Did they apologize or anythin' for ruining your record? Which Dylan album was it?"

"Freewheelin', my favorite, and course they didn't," Ponyboy scoffs. An amused look overtakes his features as he regards Curly's words. "You're the last person who ought to be getting annoyed at something like that. Angela told me that you destroyed all her Sonny & Cher records!"

Curly's face scrunches up in frustration at Ponyboy's rebuttal. "That's different," He says defensively. "She was being an awful brat about it, listening to that shit at full volume every day. I doubt you were doing the same to those two bums." He pauses for a moment, looking at Ponyboy pointedly. "Now don't get me wrong, listening to Bob Dylan does make you a chicken but I find it awfully insulting that Two-Bit Matthews thinks he can sing 'I feel Pretty' at the top of his lungs and you can't even own a goddamn Bob Dylan record."

Ponyboy watched him the whole way through his rant, the smile growing on his face with each word Curly said. Curly frowns at the way Ponyboy looks at him. "What?"

Ponyboy just shakes his head softly, the smile still on his face. "You sure do understand things Curly. I never understood why you think you're dumb"

Curly stiffens a little bit as his words. "I am dumb, you sat next to me in Math you oughta know that better than anyone."

"Nah," Ponyboy says with that same annoying smile on his face. "You ain't."

Curly manages to muster up a smile at Ponyboy. He's not sure how him giving out about Two-Bit Matthews led to Ponyboy drawing the conclusion that Curly is smart, but he's not going to complain about it all to much. Ponyboy's always been awfully kind to him about his stupidity. Even in school Ponyboy never got angry with him for not understanding the work, or copying the answers off him. He always still wanted to hang around Curly at the end of the day despite all dumb stuff that came with him. It's why Ponyboy is his best friend. Despite this scheme they've got going on and the weird feeling in Curly's stomach whenever Ponyboy looks at him, Ponyboy is his best friend. He really is.

Curly breaks the silence between them. "Have you been talking to Darrel much?"

Ponyboy sighs, carelessly tossing Steve's magazine onto the ground. "Not anymore than usual. He ain't said anything about you if that's what you're wondering."

"I wasn't just wondering about that, I know how it gets to you when you two are fighting. I was just...checking in I guess."

Ponyboy blinks in surprise at that. "Oh - thanks Curly that's awfully nice of you. We ain't been fighting the past few days."

Curly smiles in response. A curly falls into his eyes and he blows at it in attempt to get rid of it, which he fails in doing so. Curly expects Ponyboy to laugh at his moment of failure, but he doesn't. Ponyboy reaches his arm out and with the most gentle touch Curly Shepard has ever felt in his sixteen years of living, brushes the curl out of his eyes. Ponyboy doesn't remove his hand immediately and Curly finds himself naturally leaning into his touch. Curly carefully rests his face onto Ponyboy's soft hand, feeling his thumb gently brush back and forth on his cheek. Curly's whole body relaxes but he keeps his eyes closed. He can't open them. He couldn't bare it. It's in his mind already, he knows that Ponyboy's soulful green eyes are gazing at him right now, he just can't dare to meet his them right now. Curly Shepard has grown up accustomed to violence and roughness, the most affection he has ever gotten from Tim is a pat on the back. He can't look at Ponyboy right now, god he'll probably start crying if he does. 

 The moment, (seconds, minutes, hours? Curly isn't sure) is broken by the loud slamming of the front door. Both boys leap away from each other, the spell being broken as the Curtis' door slams them back to reality. Curly's chest heaves heavily, from the intensity of the moment. He doesn't dare look at Ponyboy, instead focusing his gaze on the hulking figure of Darrel Curtis standing in the doorway. Darrel's eyes are wide as he stares at the two boys. Curly can't tell if he is about to start yelling at them or not. They weren't doing anything wrong, and Curly would have rather been walked in on during sex than what just transpired, but Darrel Curtis remains silent. Curly snaps back to reality and shoots up from his place on the floor. He gets up so fast that he stumbles over his own feet, grabbing on to the arm of the chair for support. Ponyboy's toned arms dart out to steady him, grasping onto his forearms. Curly still keeps his gaze away from those green eyes.

"Sorry I uh- better split, let y'all have your dinner and whatnot. Don't want to be a burden, Tim will be expecting me anyway," He rushes out, pacing toward the Curtis door for his escape. 

He reaches the door, still blocked by Darrel's body and in a moment of weakness, turns around to meet Ponyboy's gaze one last time before leaving. Ponyboy is standing up from his place on the armchair now, and he is is staring at Curly, only Curly. His eyes are glazed over and the hand that lay so tenderly on Curly's face just moments prior is balled up in a fist at his side. His lips part slightly as Curly finally meets his gaze, gazing at him with the pure, unhidden emotion of this tiny, but sincere event that just transpired between the two of them. Curly smiles at him, ever so slightly, hoping that it conveys the words he will probably never be able to find. 

With great effort, he tears his gaze away from Ponyboy and is forced to look at the icy blue eyes of Darrel Curtis. He straightens his posture because even though Darrel has caught him in a vulnerable moment, Curly Shepard will not be pushed around. When his dark blue eyes meet Darrel's light ones, a rush of shock rushes through his entire body. Darrel steps aside almost instantly without speaking a word, allowing Curly to half sprint into the cool evening air of the Curtis' neighborhood.

Curly reaches out and touches the his cheek, swearing it has been smeared gold from the touch of Ponyboy Curtis and allows his thoughts to be plagued by not the green eyed gaze of Ponyboy Curtis, but the one of his oldest brother. Darrel Curtis has looked upon Curly Shepard with anger, disappointment and frustration among the years he has been friends with Ponyboy. But he has never been looked at in this particular way before, and it shook Curly to his core. 

He never thought that Darrel Curtis would look at him with fear in his eyes. 

Curly arrives home a few hours later, a bit more composed than earlier. He needed to take some time to get his emotions in check. He wouldn't be able to conceal himself from Tim, it's not possible. 

Tim is in the kitchen upon his arrival, bent over the sink scrubbing his hands. Curly walks into the room, a plastic bag containing a purchase he made on the way home gripped in between his fingers. Tim turns around before Curly can make a sound, he can always sense when someone is behind him. As his body turns Curly can the stained red water rushing down the drain as Tim attempts to scrub the newest sin from his skin. 

"Hey Curly," He says. He nods towards the bag. "Whatcha buy?"

"A record," Curly replies."

Tim raises his eyebrow, turning around fully while grabbing a towel to dry off his hand. "And you actually bought it? Didn't steal it?"

Curly shrugs. "Felt like being honest for once."

Tim stares at him. Wrong answer. Curly has never not stolen something in his life. But he couldn't tell Tim the truth. He didn't want to tell Tim the truth.

"They had a security guard prowling on me, wasn't worth the chance," He lies. Then for good measure, he says. "And I really wanted this record."

"Who is it?"

"...Elvis"

Tim nods his head. "Tuff enough, make sure to put in the right order in the collection. Have you eaten?"

The worst of it is over now. Tim has deemed his lies believable. Curly is lucky that Tim is one who taught him how to lie. "Yeah I ate."

Tim hums in response and busies himself around the kitchen, putting away some clean dishes left to the side. Curly glances at the sink, still stained red from whoever’s blood Tim spilled tonight. "What happened?"

Tim keeps his back turned, waving off his question casually. "Don't worry about it, I just had a little chat with Dallas that's all."

Curly nods and leaves the kitchen, heading towards his bedroom. Tim and Dallas having a chat is nothing of concern, a weekly tradition if anything. He slips off his shoes once in his room and closes the door. Once he's alone, he opens up the plastic bag and slips out the record he bought. He traces his hand down the cover. 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'. He imagines how Ponyboy will smile once Curly gives it to him, how they can find a place to hide it from the other boys, he thinks about how maybe Ponyboy could even keep it in Curly's room and come around to listen to it so no one will bother him about it none. Curly won't bother him, Curly will just watch him, how he reacts to each song and then listen to him ramble about it afterwards. That will make him happy, it will make the both of them happy. 

Curly slips the record back into the bag and carefully places it under his bed. He falls back onto his bed and sighs, placing his hands over his head.

Curly Shepard is deeply in love with Ponyboy Curtis.

Curly Shepard is utterly fucked.