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Dally going out at night in Buck’s truck solely looking for Johnny. Finding him curled up in the lot and gently waking him and guiding him back to Buck’s T-Bird. Promising him it’s no trouble at all.

Dally sneaking Steve food in every way he can, making sure he’s eaten at least one full meal a day and nudging him in the ribs until he does.

Dally staying with Two-bit every time he’s at Buck’s. Making sure he doesn’t drink too much and has a safe place to go after. He’s already lost two family members to a car accident, he’s not about to lose another.

Dally waking up first in the Curtis house, making a pot of coffee “just because”, even though it’s clearly for Darry. Getting Pony up in the mornings and making things just a bit easier for him. (He also folds the laundry, but never tells anyone it’s him.)

Dally who tells Soda he’s cared about, who seems to only show up to tell Soda there’s a race going down at Buck’s just when Pony and Darry start going at it. Who tries not to fight in front of him, lord knows that kid has to deal with it enough.

Dally who has stayed up with Pony dozens of times. Holding the boy in his arms on the couch as Pony sobs, saying that he can’t handle it anymore. Dally just holds him, because god dammit he can’t lose another brother.

Dally who gives Johnny a bed at night.

Dally who sneaks apples and bags of chips into Steve’s lunchbox for work.

Dally who dumps out the bottles and pries Two-bit’s hands off of their glass necks.

Dally who tries his hardest to show Superman he’s not alone.

Dally who gives Soda a break from all the screaming to just have a good time for once.

Dally who hides the blades and Aspirin bottles when Pony gets bad again.

Dally who knows how to care about everyone but himself.

Just, Dally.

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Daily affirmations: blond dally is NOT real, book accurate Dallas Winston cannot hurt you

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yeah darrel’s hands may look old and torn up but ykw. they’re gentle as hell. they’re old and calloused and he hates how they look but they also spoonfeed pony when he’s too sick and depressed to feed himself, and they pet his hair when he wakes up from nightmares to soothe him, and they carry him around when he doesn’t feel like walking, and they correct his homework to make sure he gets his math right, and they patch up his cuts and lashes and cleans him up and ices him when he gets into stupid fights, and they hold his chin all gentle while they teach him to shave his face, and they make sure to keep the water out of his eyes and scrub gentle at his scalp when he’s laying across the kitchen counter washing his hair bc he’s scared to shower himself. darrel’s always so gentle with pony and he has no idea :(

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purly kiss kiss fall in love :3

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pony who was never much into girls. he just kinda. accepted that part of him. whatever. he just wasn't much made for romance. leave all the mushy heart stuff to soda that was plenty good by him. pony who goes years only takin a girl out once or twice to stave off any rumors or nothin. to keep his reputation. but he always goes home feelin guilty for leadin some girl on n empty where most people musta felt somethin. pony who's sixteen when curly gets outta reform. who bumps into him on random one day n looks up to catch dark curious eyes n a mouth full of teeth just as likely to spill laughter past cracked lips as to bite n thinks oh. so this is what they mean in all those stupid songs n movies n soda gigglin in bed late at night after a date. this is it.

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Ponyboy after Darry apologizes for yelling at him, but he already signed him up for Scientology and made him a Grindr account.

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Dallas Winston and Curly Shepard as two sides of the same coin in the book’s representation of the carceral system.

Dally is the overt one; one of the main characters who we get to know, who’s been in and out of jail since he was ten, whose story we follow up until he’s murdered by the police.

But the fact that Ponyboy has a friend who we never see because he’s in the reformatory throughout the entire book is significant. Dallas represents the visible effects of juveniles being thrown in jail, and Curly represents the invisible. Dally is the foreground and Curly is the background. Dally puts a face on the issue, Curly represents the faceless - a character we don’t even meet because he’s locked up.

Curly represents the erasure of the incarcerated. He’s defined by his absence due to his imprisonment, by key events like the rumble that he can’t attend. The incarcerated aren’t just excluded from society, they are defined by that exclusion, by their absence and invisibility, by all the important moments in their families and friends lives that they miss. They are a subset of the population designated to be removed from it, the system working as designed, a feature not a bug.

The fandom jokes about “Curly gets out of reformatory and hears about the craziest week Tulsa has ever had.” But that’s the point.

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“My dad could beat up your dad” except it’s Pony and Curly saying my brother could beat up your brother

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ugly purly sketch. curly came out better than pony

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Angels & Devils

was fooling around w/ some new brushes, I’m really liking these

& to the TWTTIN fans- if u wanna understand why im obsessed with them u 🫵 should read my Angela and Mark fic ;))

I can't promise it'll make this make sense exactly but I can promise it is entertaining as hell

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i really like these little memes if u cant tell im having a lot of fun

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i had a vision

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curly’s the type to prefer sitting in silence with no physical contact and pony understands

ponyboy is fluent in curly shepard

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yes this #freedom

Me when I remember that we don’t know much about Ponyboy and Curly’s friendship other than the fact they burn each other with cigarettes.

Me when I remember they don’t travel the world together with 2 cats and get married the second it’s legalized.

Me when I remember all the mischaracterization I push onto Curly.

ME WHEN I THINK ABOUT PAPERCUT💔🥀

me when i realize this means that u can literally do almost whatever u want w em bc theres nobody to yell in ur ear about what is mischaracterization and what isnt❤️❤️im not saying there arent ANY ways to mischaracterize curly, all we have is a ballpark of how he acts but we can allllll run around in it!!! some of us r in one corner and the others r in the middle, others r up in the stands, yada yada yada, we all have space!!!!!!!!!! SPREAD THOSE WINGS

plus!!! that small moment where we hear about curly being silly means a lot!!! if curlys tuff as nails and hes willing to hurt himself not once but TWICE around pony simply playing around ANDDDD he specifically told TIM that he was a good guy (CURLY said that???? went out of his WAY to say it???) that obviously means ponys special to curly in some way, even if we over play it than it rlly is in the book

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“Love will tear us apart”

But it’s Ponyboy writing poems about Curly’s hands, even after all the ribs they’ve bruised.

It’s Ponyboy crying like a child whenever Curly gets locked up again.

It’s Curly flinching whenever Ponyboy touches him because he’s never felt a touch so gentle.

It’s Curly wanting to burn everything down and take Pony with him.

Love will tear them apart eventually, and they would let it.

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TIMM!! (and curly ig…)