youllneverseeonascreen

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by the way darry is actually sorry. darry doesn’t know how to verbalize his emotions. he always struggled with that. he feels one way and it comes out another. fear as anger. he sees his little brother being jumped by his ex best friend and company, and he’s angry. he’s angry at the socs for going after a fourteen year old boy. but those socs aren’t in front of him. and internalizing that anger causes it to leak through sometimes. he never means it. his head is screaming at him to stop. to rationalize what he’s doing. it’s not pony’s fault! it’s the damn socs faults for feeling so bad about themselves that they need to take it out on some kid from the east side.

darry is sorry. he thinks about it day in and day out. it consumes him from the inside like a parasite on a rat. it eats him alive and leaves the bare bones of a scared twenty year old kid who was prematurely thrust into adulthood by the cruelty of life. he wants to hold his brothers close like their mama used to; to apologize for being so harsh on them and so angry, but he doesn’t know how.

darry is sorry. he just doesn’t know how to say it.

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i like the idea of all the curtises improving post book.

darry learns how to be more emotionally open. he wasn’t always cold and hard. once upon a time he was a lively, spirited eighteen year old kid who may have struggled with feeling sad, but when he was happy, everyone knew it. that part of him didn’t die. it was hurt just as badly as the rest of him was when that police officer broke the news of his parents to him. but soda and pony are nursing it back to health. darry learns to be more open and communicate with his brothers about how when they do something, it makes him feel a certain way. he gains the emotional confidence he never thought he’d be able to get back, and while he sometimes reverts to old habits of lashing out, he always corrects himself and gets back on track.

similarly, sodapop gains confidence in his own well being. he’s not the middle man anymore. he’s not playing mediator. he’s not worried about coming home from work to darry pacing in the living room and pony seething upstairs. he doesn’t have to worry about his brothers forcing him in the middle anymore because whenever pony is about to make a snide comment, or darry is about to scold pony for something minor, sodapop and his emotions come to their minds first. sodapop visibly gets less stressed and becomes that happy, sunshine boy his brothers had known all their lives instead of a stressed mess that was overlooked because he was either the therapist, or the mediator.

ponyboy’s physical health improved much more. darry and soda take note of ponyboy’s aspirin addiction, and they immediately swoop into action. they distribute medicine now, hide any medicines to where they know pony isn’t gonna find it, and they start hun with a little streak thing, where every day he goes without sneaking medicine, a day is added to his streak, and every week he’s y they do something special, like go out to dinner or they take him to the movies. similarly to his smoking habits. post fire, pony’s addiction is worse than ever and it’s eating him from the inside. so darry works with him to slowly wean off of cigarettes and onto something like nicotine gum. after a few months, pony stops having as many stomach/digestive issues and isn’t coughing like an old man anymore. his mental state is another story, but even then his brothers and friends are working to help him get better.

the curtis brothers do improve post book. they do it for each other.

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So I saw something on Sky's story saying how he has dyslexia- I don't know if this was common knowledge but I didn't know so nowwww I'm thinking about Johnny being dyslexic.

I think Johnny has always liked reading and such but it has always been just so difficult for him- he doesn't understand what's wrong with him, Ponyboy doesn't have this issue, although Sodapop does. I think the two would bond on that, and the fact they've never been able to read well. Although at least Johnny liked it moderately. Ponyboy has always read to him- he knows he could technically read it with him, but it was nice to just listen to Ponyboy read anyhow. Darry has pretty much always helped him with homework to make sure he understood- he did this with everyone, but Johnny especially. Two-Bit also offers, but it isn't really helpful...he's generally more confused than Johnny is.

It makes him frustrated when people point out his spelling not being...well. Good. He's trying! He swears he knows how to spell it...but they never came out right. Johnny does so much better with numbers than letters but he doesn't really like math like he does English. He likes stories and thinking about what they mean- but he can hardly read them. He wishes he could write his own stories, a fantasy, escapism from his own life that is a nightmare to live in- but it never comes out right. So he'll listen to other stories- preferably from Ponyboy.

Nothing is right when it comes to him, his eyes, his brain. Reading and spelling and speaking correctly shouldn't be so difficult. Is he really dumb like they say? He doesn't think he is. But...maybe?

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on wishing nothing had to change

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i can’t help but be bothered that there are many who downplay darry slapping pony. i.e referring to the slap as bitchslap

i think it’s this attitude that’s lead to some awful opinions, particularly about how pony’s a bad sibling to have been yelling back, or worse, he was "overdramatic". not only is that cruel to say about a 14 year old, one affected by the sudden loss of his parents and the stability they provided, but it’s also wrong. in both book and movie canon, pony had only wanted to cool off by walking in the park then later come home.

though even if he did plan to run away, who am i to say it's an overreaction? to pony, the slap "confirmed" darry's lack of patience, understanding, and respect for him. his eldest brother and legal guardian.

just what is it that makes people forget how severe this moment is? (especially in the movie, considering darry and pony’s difference in both size and strength)

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Wishing everyone a day of comfort and peace and finding joy in the little moments.

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i like to think that pony and curly cannot make out in the living room bc theres pics of ponys parents all around it and they both would just feel like theyre watching them do it, theres ONE picture of them in ponys room and he always just,,,,turns it down for some privacy

if u listen closely u can hear curly mumble “srry about that” to their spirits

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here is a friendly reminder that ppl can have different opinions and headcanons and interpretations than u and u can still be mutuals and friends with them

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do you have any favorite sodapop headcanons?

I’ve waited my entire life for this ask 🥹🫶

Whenever he drives past a field or pasture, Soda tries to spot Mickey Mouse. Sometimes when Darry is driving, he’ll notice Soda go quiet when they pass a stable. Instead of asking about it, he just drives slower so Soda can look, until Soda eventually breaks the tension with a forced joke. They never talk about it. But Darry knows.

Soda has freckles.

He doesn’t drink (canon), but the few times he was coerced into getting drunk, he fluctuated between sobbing uncontrollably, hugging anyone he could get his hands on, or both at the same time.

This became a problem when he tried hugging Dally and was almost gutted on the spot.

He loves cards. Any kind of card. Birthday cards. Get well soon cards. Thank you cards. He especially loves the ones with stupid pictures/jokes, and has been known to cry over birthday notes. (He keeps all of his cards and letters in a shoebox under the bed, and rereads them faithfully.)

Insane pain tolerance. This kid could break a bone and simply walk it off, smiling.

On the flip side, one time a bird flew into their living room window and died, and he cried for an hour.

Fandom claims Darry would be the dad-joke guy, but they’re wrong. It’s Soda. Stupid puns are his life. He learns them in batches so he can drop them on his friends at inappropriate moments and annoy the life out of them.

Apart from being a first class horse girl, he loves animals of all kind—but his favorite are the ugliest, most feral abominations known to mankind.

“Look Darry, I found a puppy!”

“SODAPOP CURTIS YOU PUT THAT RABID POSSUM BACK WHERE YOU FOUND IT, OR SO HELP ME—”

Soda has panic attacks, but nobody knows because he’s a pro at hiding them.

When he cuddles, he’s usually the big spoon—a habit that started with Ponyboy and continues with his friends, mainly because he’s the one who always initiates physical affection. But he secretly craves being the little spoon.

That’s why he loves hugging Darry, because Darry is one of the few people who can make him feel small and safe.

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u ever think about how johnnys body was actively in failure for hours or days, however long it must’ve been, but asked the nurse to write him out a letter to ponyboy AND physically he knew he had to see ponyboy one last time to properly say goodbye to him, both for his and ponyboy’s sake, and as soon as he did his body finally let itself give out. bccccc yeah me too actually

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The Outsiders + Book Quotes

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No wait actually I kind of love the cake for Darry being because they found out he was “going to Oklahoma to play football”. Like wdym the celebration for him getting out of greaserhood ends up being the very thing that sticks him there forever before he can start his escape attempt. The inescapable system is inescapable systeming

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Been seeing a lot of Christmas themed headcanons and not nearly enough Hanukkah headcanons, so...

Headcanons for what menorah each member of the gang would have

Darry’s is football themed because of course it is (just had the most fantastic fic idea about this... let's see if I can finish it for Hanukkah). I have one myself with a bunch of different sport players with the ball of their sport in front of them and that's where you put the candle, so this is basically the same only with just football players. They're all from the same team and have their number behind them.

When Soda got his it was just a bit after losing Mickey Mouse so it was horse-themed. This one was home-made bc they couldn't find one with horses on it. It has nine horses with a nut on their head for the candle (and also some holes in their heads bc there's no way a nut can hold a candle atop a play horse's head)

Ponyboy's was a bit harder to think of because he didn't have such a clear-cut obsession with anything. He got it for his bar mitzvah when he was sort of getting more into religion because the Curitses aren't all that religious, but were fine when he wanted to be more religious, so he got one that looks sort of like this:

Only the swirly things spelled out "khai" or however it's romanised in English that means "life" in Hebrew (in the original letters ofc).

He likes it because it makes him feel grown up despite being the baby of the family

Now I don't personally hc the rest of the gang as Jewish but you better believe they're getting a menorah anyway

Steve. Steve my beloved. He made his own menorah to match Soda's when Mr and Mrs Curtis gave it to him, only instead of horses he used cars. He had enough toy cars (that he didn’t play with anymore at the grown age of thirteen, of course) so he found a piece of wood somewhere and glued them to it and then asked Mr and Mrs Curtis for some nuts to use as candle holders.

The shema was either a toy truck or like three cars piled up on each other

Johnny doesn’t have his own because he didn’t really want one, he felt kinda uncomfortable, like he was intruding on something, so he just lights Ponyboy’s with him (they grab the shema together and touch hands hehe)

So for Two-Bit I looked up weirdest menorahs and found one that is absolutely perfect

But I don't think it would be neither cheap nor easy to steal, so HEAR ME OUT Jewish Marcia who has this bc her parents let her buy her own and Two-Bit absolutely falls in love with her it when he sees it when he came over for Hanukkah this is canon trust me guys I'm friends with his sister

As for Two-Bit's own menorah, I think it'd just be a random simple menorah he swiped from the first place he saw that was selling them.

Now all that's left is Dally.

Once, Mrs Curtis mentioned that her family has like... heirloom menorahs. But since she has issues with her family, she never got them, they went to her sibling. She described it a bit and he went "huh" and then showed up a couple weeks later having stolen one that matched her description almost perfectly. She accepted the gift (begrudgingly) but it was still the menorah Dally lit every Hanukkah so in a way it was his

(The five remaining members of the gang lit his menorah together the Hanukkah right after canon. If Ponyboy closed his eyes he could imagine it was Johnny, lighting the menorah with him like he'd been doing for years.)

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I love that the outsiders musical gives us an insight into all of the brothers struggles. Because in the book we really don’t see that much of it. We see the moment with Darry in the hospital and we see a quick glimpse into Soda’s breakdown, but that’s really it. I love that the musical shows us Darry’s self doubt and fear that maybe he’s never going to be doing enough for his brothers. Then we see Soda’s desperation to keep what’s left of his family together and his fear that his baby brother is slipping away. I love that we see more.

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Thinking about Soda’s letter. Thinking about how it’s sung mostly by Soda until the last line is Darrel. Thinking about how this a voicing of writing. Thinking about how Pony is reading the letter and it’s all in Soda’s messy handwriting. Then it isn’t. The last line isn’t. It’s in a fancier scrawl that Pony recognizes. He recognizes it because it’s the handwriting he saw on his elementary and middle school math homework that showed him how to solve things. It’s the handwriting that signs his permission slips. It’s the handwriting on their family calendar in the kitchen. It’s not Soda’s lovingly messy writing. It’s Darrel’s fancy handwriting that he worked to perfect. It’s the handwriting of his oldest brother that has Pony hesitating and having to stop tears from falling. It’s one sentence. One sentence begging him to come home that’s so clearly written by his oldest brother. It’s Darrel’s plea for Pony to come back to them.

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any hcs abt soda/darry and how they feel abt PaperCut/Curly ?

YKNOW WHAT I COULD TALK ABOUT THIS FOR A GOOD LONG WHILE IM TOTALLY EXPLAINING THIS ONE I HAVE A LOT TO SAY☝🏽

sodas thoughts on em

i said it before and ill say it again, soda doesnt HATE curly, i truly don’t think he does, it takes a lot to make a guy like soda hate someone, however i don’t think he likes curly either, and that truly ONLY comes from the fact that curlys hanging out w pony. to say soda woukd hate curly feels like a huge mischaracterization that i see in fics and DONT GET ME WRONG its interesting, but it gets to a point where it gets a lillllll boring???? cause ikkk if curly was just some regular greaser who wasn’t close to them, i don’t think he would rlly care much for what he was doing. u gotta remember that he lets pony hang out w DALLAS here and there, and i’m willing to bet that it’s bc he knows pony doesn’t look up to him. but w curly, it’s obvious pony LIKES being around him and look it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that them being around each other is a literal danger, he’s protective of pony as is, to have some HOODLUM!! around pony scares him even more so bc they’re around the same age and pony technically doesn’t have anyone who’s his age so he knows pony’s naturally seeking that out. there’s only so much the gang can rlly do for pony!!

and i will die on the hill that as much as he “slightly doesnt like” curly, he still does care for him!! theres a cap on how little he doesnt bc he knows that at the end of the day, curlys also a troubled kid looking for connections. if things were different, i dont think soda would rlly mind them being together cause he knows they make each other happy, and thats all he could rlly want.

darrys thoughts on em

dare i say,,,i dont think darry would gaf AS MUCH as ppl say

i dont think darry is HOVERING over them wondering what theyre doing 24/7, i say this bc again, they let pony hang w dally sometimes, but then even without dally being there, if he didnt exist, they STILL wouldnt care bc EVERYONE around town acts the way curly does. they dont have the biggest moral high ground bc theyre pretty desensitized to what crimes ppl commit. add on the fact that darry got bills to pay and yea i cant see him putting all his energy into helicopter parenting pony like that.

only time he ever would b like that is around the time he knows the social worker is gonna visit, where darrys more stressed and wants everything to go smoothly, so pony is t taken away from him, i dont think u can rlly blame him for that😭

AND YKNOW WHAT??? i think darry cares more for papercut/curly than soda does partially bc he sees himself in curly (and pony) when he was younger!! carefree, just doing anything they wanted, and yes times have changed, that doesnt mean he wants to keep pony on a tight leash. its usually darry who has to pull soda back and just b like “let it go”, soda cant fathom it and no amount of explaining could rly make him understand, over the years hes just gonna have to see it for himself

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Fellas is it really Darrel Shayne Curtis Jr. core of me to try to continue working your 10 hour overtime shifts with a cold only to get sent home by your boss bc you look like death