yadigokbaby

[yadigokbaby]

wishing on dying stars ~ chapter 1

tags: general content warning 18+, alternate universe canon divergence, time skips, post canon, canon typical violence & behavior, gang violence, angst, slow burn

summary: what if johnny cade didn't kill bob sheldon? years after the incident at the park, the tulsa gang scene is reaching it's boiling point.

"Next!"

“Tulsa, Oklahoma—“

“One way,” 

The man withheld a scoff as the ticket was punched. While trading paper, his eyes met yours, revealing pity on your behalf. 

"There you are, miss, terminal three–“

“Next!"

Your daze was broken, his words abruptly signalling your legs to terminal three. With the woven paper between your fingertips, your actions somehow seemed more permanent than they did moments ago— a fresh start. 

The dreams of being a free spirit would fade at the sound of train gears screeching to a halt. A line of businessmen and children accompanied by mothers formed in front of you, leaving a daunting pit in your stomach of what could have been. But defeat would linger in your footsteps, a new reality settling in with a blaring departure horn. 

A summer wind blew steady over the Great Plains, and you went with it, heading south. Despite your uncertainty, the sun would come up and around you two times. During this, you would bide your time, smoking cigarettes in the back seat while trying to hide your sorrow from onlookers. 

It was a rather long ride of solitude, your nerves clashing with your confidence and chewing a hole through you. The vast prairies were hypnotizing, turning into an abyss of yellow, green, and blue as the train chugged along. 

As the one-horse towns and signs of civilization contorted, somehow you knew your ride was nearing its end. 

Not too far down the tracks lived a humble railway station, with morning gleams embracing its vibrant brick walls. Perhaps it held more optimism than its blue collar inhabitants, merely being a place where lost souls drifted to, a last ditch attempt to search for a deeper meaning Tulsa refused to give. 

Against the station pillar stood Johnny Cade,  contemplation etched into the creases of his ticket. The rumbling in the distance had his blood pumping, a mighty beast of a train shot towards him like a bullet. 

Johnny’s calloused fingertips tightened on the paper as a sea of people emerged and disappeared from its door. He would not be one of them, losing the never ending battle to doubt. While Johnny was a lot of things, a coward wasn’t one of them— but whenever his hand touched the sleek metal of the guardrail, it was as if he were hexed. 

Defeat loomed around him like an aura as he slunk away,  fists jammed into his worn denim. The world moved fast around him, not daring to stop for anyone. What was keeping him here?

The gang all had their own lives now, nothing was the same. No Mickey at the Curtis’, no Dingo, no Nightly Double, no hunting action— they were now a memory, an ode to adolescence. His time with the gang had turned into a rare spur of the moment, but like the stars on a clear night, they too would fade away.  

— “Hey!”

Deep in his thoughts, Johnny had bumped into you upon turning the corner, causing your belongings to scatter onto the station pavement. 

Johnny took a brash step back, an instinctual attitude coursed through his veins, ready to give you a hard time if you were one of Sheldon’s girls, or anyone who resembled one, in fact. 

As his fight or flight settled, so did his better scenes. You weren’t no soc, nor a sleazy Shepard hang-around, just some townie, he reckoned. 

“I’m real sorry, miss,”

Johnny mustered up the most respectable tone he could, frantically collecting your stray items. The last thing he wanted was for you to call the fuzz. 

“didn’t mean none no harm,” 

He reassured genuinely, a slight sneer tugging at his lips. A horizontal scar outlining a part of his jawline flexed in response, emphasizing his mischief.  

But you didn’t buy it. Your gaze shot daggers through him, it wasn’t your first time around the block when it came to pick-pocketers. Hadn’t he seen you?

Despite his cool outward demeanor, glints of shock peppered the dark wells that hid behind his well-greased bangs. Whether he was sizing you up, making sure you weren’t hurt, or checking you out wasn’t clear. It all happened too fast. 

“It’s fine,”

You begrudgingly muttered, preoccupied with smoothing out the fabric of your jacket and recounting your belongings. This wasn’t exactly the welcome you were expecting. 

With a spin on his heel, Johnny swiftly departed into the crowd. A small wave of embarrassment creeped up his neck from the absolute fool he made of himself.  

By now, the disgust from other folks was expected, a second nature engraved into his bones from the class he resided in. But embarrassing himself in front of girls he would never get used to, especially the non affiliated pretty ones 

Kicking a stray rock down the road, Johnny reached his thumb out to passing cars, mumbling curses as each one steered clear. Like most things, hitchhiking never came easy to Johnny, he didn’t play a good part. 

Now that he thinks of it, he wouldn’t pick up a fella who looked like himself, either. Dressed in old hand-me-downs Sodapop left behind, the bottom of his jeans tattered from dragging under his shoes before hitting that growth spurt— later than the gang, of course. Not that he could complain, he held an ounce of pride being nearly the same height as Dallas—

But alas, Johnny didn’t have Two-Bits wit, nor Soda’s charisma, and he especially couldn’t afford to keep his denim blue and his leather shiny, like the Tigers. 

Despite this, his luck would sometimes turn, an old farmer let him catch a ride to town in the bed of his truck every so often. The smell was always thick with manure, a mangy herding dog sunbathing next to him, happier than a pig in shit— Johnny wishes he could relate.  

Just thinking about it made him cringe in despair, maybe he’d rather just walk. 

[yadigokbaby]

I am back after a social media break / get my shit together break!

gator | 18+ | sideblog | ao3

[yadigokbaby]

me when ao3 is down so I'm forced to go to bed early and have a good 8 hours of sleep before going back to work tomorrow instead of burning my retina on my screen phone reading about the same guys falling in love over and over until 3 am

[yadigokbaby]

He was tougher than the rest of us -- tougher, colder, meaner. The shade of difference that separates a greaser from a hood wasn't present in Dally. He was as wild as the boys in the downtown outfits, like Tim Shepard's gang.

"You ought to see my record sometime, baby." He grinned slyly. "Guess what I've been in for?"

[yadigokbaby]

“You couldn't shut up that guy; he always had to get his two-bits worth in. Hence his name. Even his teachers forgot his real name was Keith, and we hardly remembered he had one. Life was one big joke to Two-Bit.”

“He liked fights, blondes, and for some unfathomable reason, school. He was still a junior at eighteen and a half and he never learned anything. He just went for kicks. I liked him real well because he kept us laughing at ourselves as well as at other things.”

[yadigokbaby]

starters from the 1967 book, THE OUTSIDERS by s.e. hinton

“quit shaking me, i’m okay.”

“they didn’t hurt you too bad, did they?”

“you’re bleedin’ like a stuck pig.”

“did they pull a blade on you?”

“they ain’t gonna hurt you no more.”

“you’re crazy, ( name ), out of your mind.”

“what were you doin’, walkin’ by your lonesome?”

“you don’t ever think.”

“it’s just because you’re the baby — i mean, he loves you a lot.”

“how come you dropped out?”

“what’s it like?”

“take your feet off my chair and shut your trap.”

“oh, my, my, you’ve got me scared to death.”

“guess what i’ve been in for?”

“you don’t look the type.”

“what’s your name?”

“what’s a nice, smart kid like you running around with trash like that for?”

“glory, what time is it?”

“you what?!”

“oh no! no, not my hair!”

“i’m still tired.”

“things have been happening so fast … “

“i killed a kid last night.”

“there sure is a lot of blood in people.”

“i’ll stop crying in a minute … i can’t help it.”

“nothing gold can stay.”

“i always remembered it because i never quite got what he meant by it.”

“i look lousy, but don’t rub it in.”

“i’ll get them, don’t worry!”

“and don’t but me about it.”

“you shouldn’t be smoking.”

“he didn’t get much sleep this week. he hardly slept at all.”

“he’s getting might big to be carried.”

“i can’t feel anything below the middle of my back … ”

“you’ll be okay.”

“i don’t want to die now. it ain’t enough.”

“it’s not fair.”

“i don’t want to see her.”

“i am a menace to society. man, do i have fun!”

“stay gold, ( name ), stay gold.”

[yadigokbaby]

I wondered what other girls were like. The girls who were bright-eyed and had their dresses a decent length and acted as if they’d like to spit on us if given a chance. Some were afraid of us, and remembering Dallas Winston, I didn’t blame them. But most looked at us like we were dirt.

"What's a nice, smart kid like you running around with trash like that for?"

[yadigokbaby]

Things about The Outsiders people forget too often:

- Darry doesn’t smoke

- Tim has a giant scar on his face that runs from temple to chin

- Dally had light blond hair

- Soda had honey blond hair

- Ponyboy and Johnny were actually good at fighting

- The rumble in the story was the first rumble with socs they’d ever had

- Two-Bit had sideburns

- Two-Bit’s last name only has one t (Mathews, not Matthews)

- Steve went to jail once

- Ponyboy and Darry used to be close

- The Curtis parents only died 8 months prior to the start of the story

Feel free to add more 💛

I understand that some of these are only in the book, and you can believe whatever you want to believe. These things are just (in my opinion) things that are important or stuck out to me that are often overlooked.

[yadigokbaby]

Kiefer Sutherland and River Phoenix at the ‘Stand by Me’ premiere in 1986

[yadigokbaby]

johnny was attacked by bob at least once before and terrorized by that experience and it's not lingered on enough for me

[yadigokbaby]

it said how johnny was never a coward and how he was good in a rumble and how he kept quiet around cops and stuck up for the gang w/e so im sure he wouldnt cry over something like stepping on a leaf

[yadigokbaby]

Suck my fat one, you cheap dime store hood.

Stand By Me • 1986 • dir. Rob Reiner 

[yadigokbaby]

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ — come on, johnny, don't die. come on, johnny, don't die on me now! please...

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ— don't shoot! he's just a kid!

[yadigokbaby]

The first one LMAO

Pros of being a Fandom Old: - never have to worry about my mom finding out about my porn fic - have seen it all before and give few if any fucks

Cons of being a Fandom Old: - forced to work at actual job instead of writing fic all day - have seen it all before and get regular “ugh not again” moments

[yadigokbaby]

Judd Nelson in “The Breakfast Club” (1985)

dir. John Hughes

[yadigokbaby]

tiny photo dump because I need these off my phone 🤠

[yadigokbaby]

Things to keep in mind about Darry: -He drinks black coffee instead of chocolate milk -He looks like his father, but is wise and firm like his mother -Him and his father would often get mistaken for brothers. -He loves chocolate cake, and Ponyboy prefers his chocolate cakes to Soda’s -He engages in tickle wars with Sodapop and Ponyboy (not so icy cold when he’s tickling his brother awake, is he?) -He owns a copy of the Carpetbaggers (so we can assume that he probably does enjoy reading at least sometimes, but just doesn’t have time for it like he used too). -He was Captain of the football team, popular in school, and voted Boy of the Year. -He is smart (an academic like Ponyboy) -He won an athletic scholarship but it still wasn’t enough to allow him to go to college (which he was still likely determined to do before the accident). -He lightly greases his hair, but keeps it short -The other guys call him ‘Muscles’ or ‘Superman’ every now and then -He’s the unofficial leader of their ‘gang’ -He keeps the front door unlocked because he looks out for all the boys; he looks out for his own kind. (Call it irresponsible all you want, but this is a good argument for the fact that he is both compassionate, and unashamed of who he is).  -He works two jobs at the age of 20; he’s forced to go from big brother to parent at the age of 20, though he has no experience in this role -BUT he CHOOSES to take care of his brothers instead of pursuing his own interests (because they are more important to him than anything else). -Ponyboy notes early on that his relationship with Darry suffered only after the accident when he slipped into his new role as guardian. (They used to get along well). -He doesn’t smoke -He works out at gyms -He doesn’t hesitate for a second to respond ‘yes’ when the judge asks him whether he was good friends with Dallas Winston -He didn’t cry at his parents funeral (because he felt he has to hold emotion in), but he cries when being reunited with Ponyboy.  -He almost shattered Steve’s jaw when he called him “All brawn and no brain” and never forgave him for the comment (he never could get over not being able to pursue his dream of going to college).  -Dally and Two-Bit try to defend him to Ponyboy, which shows they consider him a real buddy too. -He enjoys fights for the competition of it all -He’s never lost a fight. -Johnny and Ponyboy always get Darry on their team when the gang plays football together because he’s the best player