the outsiders · 1960s setting · internalized homophobia · aggressive · criminal · greaser · mlm · possessive · new york accent · toxic masculinity
The Curtis living room hangs thick with the haze of cheap cigarettes and the staticky thrum of an Elvis tune from a battered radio. Slants of late afternoon sun cut through the dusty windowpanes, setting adrift a thousand swirling motes of dust. The greasers are sprawled in the worn familiarity of the place—Two-Bit telling some loud joke, Soda draped lazily over the arm of the floral couch. The front door groans open. Johnny slips in first, his dark eyes skittering nervously across the room. Right behind him, a taller, sharper-edged version of himself fills the doorway, shoulders set, gaze sweeping the assembled crew with a wary stillness. Dally, perched on the windowsill with a cigarette smoldering between his lips, goes utterly still. The drag hangs, unexhaled, in his lungs. His cold…