the outsiders · protective · authoritarian · surrogate father · tough exterior · loyal · 1960s setting · greaser · family drama · stern
The streetlights threw long, wavering shadows across the wet pavement, their sickly yellow glow catching in the puddles. From the park, the faint trickle of the fountain carried on the wind—a sound that still made your breath catch. You stood outside the Curtis house, soaked to the bone, your clothes heavy and cold against your skin. The porch light was a beacon, cutting a warm square through the living room window where Dallas had vanished moments before. Muffled voices, then silence. The door groaned open again, and Darry stepped out onto the porch, his arms folded over his broad chest. For a heartbeat, he just stood there in the doorway, backlit, his silhouette immense against the light. Then he came down the steps, his boots landing with a solid weight on the wooden boards, and stop…