Chapter Text
Tim sat at a stool in Bucks next to Dallas Winston. He was celebrating his 20th birthday, so the entire building was filled with Greasers from his side of town. He looked around and saw his younger brother sitting around a few other guys with a full bottle. He groaned, knowing that he would have to be the one dealing with his hangover.
Dallas grinned at him, “you have fun with that later.”
“Ah screw you.”
“It’s funny how different you and Darry are,” he commented absentmindedly.
“Oh, what do you mean?”
“Ha, Darry don’t even let his youngest brother out of the house after 10, let alone take a sip of a drink.”
“How old’s the kid?”
“Him and Curly are in some of the same classes I’m pretty sure.”
Tim looked thoughtful. If the kid was around the same age as Curly then Darry was unnecessarily strict. “Damn, that kid’s got it tough.”
“Tell me about it.” The two of them chatted a bit before there was a yell from behind them. Two guys that looked around the age of twenty looked at his brother in anger. Curly seemed unbothered, he had a grin on his face and was very clearly holding back laughter. He watched one of the guys pull him up from where he was sitting by his shirt. Curly’s eyes widened, as if he finally realized he was in trouble. He was unsteady on his feet due to how much he drank.
Tim finally stood up as one of the guys jammed their fist into his brother’s stomach. He was doubled over in pain. But, luckily for him all that he drank came back up onto the two older greasers’ shirts, which stopped further onslaught. Tim dropped back down as the two guys walked away from his brother.
Dallas was hunched over in laughter, “Ah, shut it man,” Tim slapped him on the back.
Dallas sat up a bit, “alright, but you gotta admit that was a little bit funny,” he said through laughter.
“Dally?” A small voice said, interrupting their conversation.
Dallas turned around, “Oh, hey Pone, Darry,” he acknowledged the man behind the younger boy.
“Hey, Darry,” Tim said. The two of them went to high school together. Darry was mostly friends with Socs, but still would hang out with Tim’s friends every now and then. After graduation, the two of them rarely spoke anymore.
“Tim,” he acknowledged, “Dally, Johnny’s looking for you, he wants to see you.”
“Oh, alright Darry. I’ll be out soon.”
“We’ll give you a ride. Just come out soon.” Tim watched the younger brother mummer something to Darry. “This isn’t a place for us, I don’t care if Curly’s here. You shouldn’t even be friends with him,” he heard Darry say lowly, so that only Ponyboy could hear him, but Tim managed to understand most of what he said.
Tim looked at him in disbelief. Darry had already turned around and walked towards the exit with Ponyboy in tow. He couldn’t believe what he just heard. Why would he think that Ponyboy shouldn't be friends with Curly, does he seriously think he’s that much better. Curly’s just a kid, a stupid one, that’s for sure, but he’s a kid. And Darry’s twenty. Tim couldn’t believe that he would talk down on a fourteen year old.
Early the next morning, Tim decided to head back home. He hadn’t drank much, so he still found himself able to drive. He saw Curly passed out on a couch. He sighed, and just left him there as he walked out to his car and drove home.
As he walked in he saw Angela on the couch with Sylvia. The two of them were watching TV together. She looked up as he entered, “Where’s Curly?”
“Still at Buck’s. He’ll probably be back later.”
“Luis is back,” Angela said suddenly, “He walked in with Ma while you were out.”
“Shit,” Tim said, Luis was Curly’s father. Him and Angela were both born during their mother’s first marriage. She had Curly a few years later, after the two of them had divorced.
Angela shrugged and went back to the TV. Tim sighed and walked into the kitchen for a glass of water. He knew there was no good reason for Luis to be back, but hey, it wasn’t his problem, so Tim quickly rid himself of all his worry.
______
Curly awoke a few hours later. He hissed as he moved on his neck, he must have slept on it wrong. His head pounded as he got up from his spot on a sofa. He dragged his feet off the side of the couch and stumbled toward the front door of Buck’s. He didn’t pay much attention to the area around him as he started his walk home. He walked around the back of his yard and pulled the back door open. He entered the kitchen and gasped at the sight, “Papa?” He said.
“Ah, Carlos! I was waiting for you to come home.” He got up from his seat at the table with their mother and walked over to Curly. He pulled him into a hug that Curly did not return.
“Why are you here?” Curly gasped.
Suddenly, Luis gained a serious look, “Listen, I’m sorry about leaving you and your mother. I regretted the decision every single day. I want to make it up to you now. I don’t expect you to forgive me right away, but I want to be a family again.”
Curly looked at his dad, he seemed sincere, “It’s okay,” he decided, “I’ll forgive you.” He looked at his mother who was still sitting down. She was smiling. It was the first time he had seen her smile for a while.
Luis smiled, “Thanks kid. I’m really gonna try to make it up to you,” he wrapped one arm around his shoulder.
His mom got up and pecked him on the cheek. She grabbed both sides of his face, “I’m so happy you're giving him a chance, hijo”
His throat started to dry up and his eyes gained a sting. No one in his family has acted like this in a very long time. Not that Curly would ever admit this, but having a family that was together and happy was all he ever wanted. He envied Ponyboy because of this. He had two loving parents and two brothers who would go to the ends of the Earth for him.
Curly walked out of the kitchen and came face to face with Tim, who apparently heard everything that was said in the kitchen. He pulled him into a different room. “You’re not really buying his bullshit, are you?”
Curly tried to push past him, “He’s not lying.”
“So you actually believe him? You know he’s not gonna stay for long,” Tim insisted.
“Stop saying that! You don’t even know him.”
“As if you do! He’s gonna end up using you,” Tim protested.
“No he’s not, and anyways he’s my dad. he’s not even related to you, so what he does shouldn’t matter to you!”
Tim was starting to get angry. He knew that Luis would leave Curly hurt and angry. “Alright whatever, but don’t come crying to me when he leaves your ass again.” Immediately, Tim felt regret wash over him, “Curly-.”
“Fuck you!” Curly yelled at him. He pushed past him and Tim heard the front door slam.
______
The next day Luis walked up to Tim. He was sitting by Angela and Curly. “You kids want to go out and grab something to eat?”
“Sure,” Curly immediately answered.
“You guys up for it?” He gestured to Tim and Angela.
“Um, why not, I guess,” Angela responded.
Luis looked at Tim expectedly, who just started right back.”You coming?” He finally asked. Tim shrugged in response.
“Great! Your mom is going to be ready soon.”
The five of them squeezed into Luis’ tiny car half an hour later. He drove them all to a small diner nearby.
Tim watched how Curly practically latched onto Luis. He listened to everything he said and stayed close to him the entire time. Tim could tell how Luis also noticed this, and that he seemed very content with how comfortable Curly became around him.
Tim looked at his little brother as he shoved a few fries into his mouth. He looked genuinely happy for the first time in ages. Same with his mother, she used to lay in bed all day, miserable. Luis seemed to change her, and Tim knew this couldn’t be all good.
As they returned home Tim pulled Luis into another room, “What’s going on hijo?”
Tim stilled at the name. There’s no way he would allow Luis to suddenly just become a father to him. “I dunno what you’re trying to do, but leave Curly alone. He’s a sensitive kid, even though he’d never admit it.”
“What do you mean, Tim? I’m just trying to step up and be a father for Curly before it’s too late for him,” Luis responded calmly.
“Before it’s too late for him,” Tim mocked, “I was more of a father to him when I was thirteen, than you ever were or will be. He’s gonna be fourteen soon. You can’t just jump back into his life like this.”
“I don’t understand why you're so upset Tim, y’know you can always talk to me too.”
“The fuck. No, just stay away from me and from the kids.” Tim walked out of the room.
______
A week later, Curly woke up to the sound of yelling, something that was pretty common in his house. He groaned and got out of bed. He looked over and noticed that Tim’s side was empty, which explained the shouting. Curly and Tim had to share a room since both Angela and their mom demanded their own space. It wasn’t the best situation, especially for Curly since he would get scared of Tim everytime he was in a foul mood.
He walked toward the one bathroom all of his siblings shared and shut the door behind him. He started brushing his teeth as he heard his older brother call out, “Curly, you better be out of bed by now!” Curly groaned again. For the past week, Tim had been forcing him to go to school. He hated going. Everyone there made him feel stupid, which wasn’t the best feeling.
He threw on a plain black shirt and some jeans. A few minutes later he splashed some water on his face and headed out.
Curly threw himself onto a kitchen chair and poured himself a bowl of cereal. Angela and Tim were both sitting in chairs around him. “You got your bag?” Tim asked him
“Yeah, I got it,”
“Alright, you two gotta get out of here in the next five minutes, one of the Curtis guys is gonna pick you up, alright?”
Angela opened her mouth to complain, which Curly tuned out quickly. Before he knew it, he was sitting in the middle seat of a car next to Ponyboy Curtis and his sister. He blushed as he sat down next to Ponboy. He had a few classes with him, since he was put a grade ahead.
When they arrived, Angela rushed over to her group of friends. He followed Ponyboy to their first class of the day, English. He hated having English in the morning. They were reading some novel that he couldn’t remember the name of. Whenever he opened it he felt like the letters were moving around on the page and he couldn’t focus hard enough to finish the chapter. He tried multiple times to get through it, but he just ended up going to Ponyboy’s house after school and helping him sound out the words.
He sighed as the teacher handed back a worksheet from a few days prior. A large D was marked on it with red ink. He made it through a few classes before he couldn’t stand the feeling of sitting still anymore, he asked to be excused to the bathroom. He pushed open the heavy door and pulled out the pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He put one between his lips before he lit it.
A few moments later he heard some footsteps coming towards the door. He put the cigarette out on the counter and waited for the door to open. Two Socs from the grade above him walked in, “Oh, look. What’re you doing here alone, Grease?” One of them asked in a condescending tone, “We ought to teach him some rules, so that next time he knows not to go anywhere alone.”
The both walked towards him, prepared to fight, the one on the right threw the first punch, which Curly expectedly dodged. He was a Shepard, if there was one thing he was good at, it was fighting. Curly hit one of the guys in the jaw before he felt the impact of another fist on himself. Before he knew it, one of the guys fell over. That was when the Socs decided the fight wasn’t worth it anymore. They quickly got up and scrambled to the door.
Curly sighed and looked at his reflection in the mirror. His lip was busted and a few bruises were starting to form, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. He washed his face once again and then headed towards the door. He decided to take the long way back to class.
_____________________
Tim sighed in relief as the door slammed behind his siblings. He remembered when he ‘graduated.’ He didn’t even attend the ceremony. He was close to dropping out multiple times, but his teacher, Mr. Johnson insisted that he had some talent that could be put to good use if he just applied himself. He received his diploma in the mail a week later. He cherished the item, but that was not something the leader of a gang would ever show off.
He could have gone to college, he could have gotten out of this town, but he was young and naive when he told his school counselor that he wasn’t going to apply to any schools, even though she insisted he could get in.
Words could not explain how much he regretted the decision, so here he was, two years later, forcing his sibling to atleast get a high school diploma. Angela was fine with it, most of the time at least. Curly on the other hand was a completely different story. He wasn’t one to be able to sit still all day listening to something he wasn’t interested in.
Tim got up and grabbed his coat. Before he could leave the landline went off. Tim sighed and picked it up. “Hello?” He said into the receiver.
“Hello, this is Tulsa High School,” a high pitched voice said, “Is this the Shepard residence?”
Tim sighed, “Yes, it is. What did Curly do this time?”
The lady on the other end laughed, “He’s not in trouble. Are you one of Curly’s guardians?” She asked.
Tim hesitated before saying yes. His mother wasn’t home and he definitely did not want Luis getting involved with his schooling too.
“Alright, perfect!” The woman said brightly. “I would like to schedule a meeting with you later this week if that is possible.”
Tim furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Why would the school want to talk to him if Curly wasn’t in trouble, “Oh, um I’m not really free this week, but I can send my oldest son. He’s twenty.”
“Oh, I guess that would be okay, but it would really be preferred if you or your wife could come instead?”
“No, I’m sorry. We just are a bit busy this week.”
_______
After school that day, Curly walked home with Ponyboy. He kicked a rock as the two silently walked down the side of the road.
As the two boys entered the house, Ponyboy led them into the kitchen. They passed the living room in the process where most of their gang was sitting in front of the TV. Curly tried to ignore the dirty look Ponyboy’s oldest brother gave him. He was not happy that Curly had started coming over after school, and this was made very clear.
Ponyboy dropped his backpack on top of the kitchen table and then turned towards the fridge. He pulled out a few snacks and then plopped into the seat next to Curly, “So what do you wanna do first?”
“Um, math,” Curly answered. During this two week torture in which he was forced to go to school by Tim, he found out that he was actually pretty good at math.
Ponyboy sighed, “You can do that on your own. English is gonna take longer anyways,” he said, pulling out the novel they were reading in class.
“Why bother asking then,” Curly murmured under his breath.
The two of them worked on the worksheet their teacher gave them to fill out as they read a few chapters in the book they were assigned. Curly opened up the book to where he placed his bookmark and tried to focus on the words. He felt as if the words kept moving around on the page, which made it hard for him to understand. He groaned and put his face in his hands. “Hey, it’s okay, Curly,” He put a hand on his shoulder. How about I read it outloud to you?” Ponyboy suggested.
Curly nodded. The two of them slowly completed their novel reflections. And as they were completing their math homework, Curly helped Ponyboy out. He may be a genius when it came to writing, but math was not strong suit.
A few hours passed, and suddenly it was time for the Curtises to eat dinner. Curly excused himself. As he got up he noticed how the chairs the two of them were sitting in were much closer to each other than they used to be.