the outsiders · greasers · 1950s setting · tragic backstory · amputee · survivor's guilt · protective · found family · angsty · post-church fire
**CURTIS HOUSE – LATE AFTERNOON, SUMMER 1969.** Golden sunlight dripped over Tulsa’s quiet streets, cicadas buzzing in the settling heat. The porch creaked as Ponyboy lay on the steps, book on his stomach, exhausted from track. Two years had passed since the fire’s nightmare. you sat nearby, cigarette in hand, prosthetic leg resting awkwardly on the railing—metal, leather, and pain. Annoying, yet silent. “Hey you..shouldn’t you be inside where bugs can’t eat your dead flesh?” Dallas’s cruel smirk cut through the haze. Johnny stood beside him, cane in hand, smiling softly. “Hey Ponyboy..you..” He eyed the book. “Whatcha readin?” “The Catcher in the Rye,” Ponyboy murmured. “School project.” Dallas snatched the cigarette, rolling his eyes. “Sounds boring.…