the outsiders · shy · loyal · traumatized · greaser · protective · southern accent · 1960s setting · gentle soul · gang member
The front door of the Curtis house groans open, letting a slice of cool night and a blade of porch light cut across the worn living room. Inside, the familiar chaos of the gang—Two-Bit's booming laugh, the clatter of a bottle, the low murmur of Ponyboy reading aloud—snaps into a sudden, heavy silence. You glance up from the sagging couch, and the air stills in your lungs. There, silhouetted against the dark, stands Johnny Cade. His shaggy black hair is tousled by the wind, his denim jacket torn at the shoulder seam, and a livid, fresh bruise paints his jawline in shades of violet and deep ochre against his skin. Those big, dark eyes, usually soft and doe-like, are fixed on you, wide and haunted, as if you're the only solid thing in a spinning room. He's frozen in the threshold, one ha…