The walk to Ponyboy's house has been absolute torture to the redhead so far. Curly insisted on walking close, an arm slung tightly around his shoulder. They were attached at the hip and Curly talked loudly, eyes scanning around continuously like he was watching out for something, waiting for something to happen.

It wasn't that the younger male wasn't used to something like this. Soda, Two-Bit, or even Dallas had exhibited this kind of behavior. Everyone was protective of the baby of their group, which to the youngest redhead, was annoying. He couldn't go out and do anything without someone insisting that he needed company. The redhead could handle himself just fine and he knew it. He was good in a fight.

But now knowing that the protection had spread between one gang to the next, was frustrating. Did Darry tell Tim that his boys needed to keep an eye on him? Or was it just Curly acting like a protector of sorts?

"So anyway," Curly starts, sighing loudly, his grip still tight around his shoulder. "I absolutely destroyed these rich bastards who came picking a fight last week. You should have seen them.  Wasn't a fair fight at all, five to one. I beat the hell out of every single one of them. They know better than to mess with a Shepard, especially me."

Ponyboy rolls his eyes, continuing to walk toward his house. It was only about a block away so this was usually the only walking freedom that he could receive. Curly was like having Two-Bit as company, always running his mouth to fill the silence. It was comforting in its own kind of way.

"You don't believe me baby Curtis?"

Curly tilts his head down to make eye contact with the redhead, his usual wicked grin still on his face. The ravenette had been known to exaggerate from time to time, especially when it came to recalling a fight. Suddenly the other party went from one broken rib to five. He loved to brag.

"Well, I don't know, Curls. How should I know?"

The ravenette huffs.

"I literally got suspended for a whole week for it. How did you not hear that? I kicked ass in the cafeteria."

Ponyboy couldn't help but laugh at that. Although he knew from the beginning what Curly was talking about. When a fight happens, word circulates quickly. He'd known within 10 minutes after the fact that Curly Shepard had fought five kids during passing time. And from what he had heard, Curly won. But not without a few injuries of his own, one being a bloody nose and bruises along his torso. Curly never showed his pain though. He still strode along like nothing had happened, never wavering for anything.

"Maybe you should keep fighting off of school grounds, you'll get expelled before you can even graduate. I can already see Tim digging your grave himself."

Curly barks out a laugh.

"Well aren't you smart," the ravenette teases, the hand around his shoulder moving to ruffle the younger male's hair. That caused the redhead to whine, trying to tug away from Curly's strong embrace. "Guess you got a point though. I don't need to be dying before school is even out."

Tim graduated by the skin of his teeth. He'd needed to get a job to look after Curly and Angela, pay for any stupid shit they've done and pay the bills. Curly was shaping up to be just like Tim. They already looked alike in appearance, but now their futures were seemingly doomed to be the same. Although Tim was calmer than Curly. Tim was like Darry, tall and strong, but didn't want to get into a fight if he didn't need to. Curly was always looking for a fight. It didn't matter who it was.

Ponyboy huffs, moving a hand to fix his hair. He hated having it messed with. The redhead always had it styled a certain way and it seems that everyone had an urge to fuck it up.

It wasn't much longer before they made it to the house. They walk through the gate and up the steps, Ponyboy opening the door for him. That's when Curly finally pulled away to head inside, not even bothering to take his shoes off. The redhead closes the door behind them, sliding off his own shoes and kicking them out of the way.

"Want anything to drink before we study?"

"Got any beer?"

"Not for you. Darry'll get mad if he catches you drinking in here."

Curly pouts, looking at the younger redhead.

"No fair."

Ponyboy rolls his eyes.

"So, are we studying in your bedroom?" Curly purrs.

"No, we're studying at the table. I think it'll be easier to have everything laid out."

"I could lay you out on the table if you know what I mean."

The redhead's cheeks burn bright red and he smacks Curly's arm in embarrassment. Curly was always making jokes like this but every one of them seemed to get under his skin. It was frustrating. He was terrible at hiding how he was feeling.

"Damn it, Curly!" He huffs. "Quit saying shit like that!"

Curly couldn't help but laugh, tugging Ponyboy closer to his side anyway, arm around his waist this time. He makes playful kissing noises, tugging the younger male to the dining table, tossing his folder down.

"You know you love it, baby," the ravenette teases, pulling away to sit down in the spot he's deemed his. "It's just so funny seeing how red you get from it."

"Talk like that around my brothers and they'll skin you alive and leave you outside on the curb."

"How romantic of them."

Ponyboy groans and sits next to Curly, sitting his bag beside him before getting into it and pulling out his homework folder. He found it easier to be organized than just have everything spread around his backpack. Although if he was in a real hurry, he just shoved everything in and would deal with it later (which happens sometimes).

"What do you have?" The redhead asks. "Get your work out. I can't help if I can't see it."

Curly huffs and he opens his tattered folder, pulling out everything and sitting it on the table. He's done absolutely nothing within the first month of school. The ravenette had no drive for learning. He knew that he wasn't going to need it. It was pointless. He'd just end up running Tim's gang with him once he was out of school. He already ran it if Tim was out of town on important business.

"You've done nothing?" Ponyboy asks.

"I told you I was already failing all of my classes. What did you expect from me?"

"I dunno, maybe a couple of sloppy assignments turned in."

Curly shakes his head, leaning back in his chair, looking at the redhead. He was still red and frustrated looking from his joke. It made him grin wider, his own cheeks starting to hurt from it. The ravenette loved teasing Ponyboy. He was his favorite teasing target.

"Nah, you've got too much faith in me."

Ponyboy rolls his eyes.

"My bad for thinking you could accomplish something. I'll set my standards even lower, just for you."

"Perfect."

Ponyboy sighs and grabs Curly's stack of work, flipping through everything. It was mostly syllabus stuff to go over with your guardian that was due within the first week, and a few assignments, most of them being review packets to see where everyone stacked up in terms of progress. Since it was early, the assignments were much easier. Curly hadn't even put his name on any of these.

"Most of these you just need Tim to sign," the redhead says. "Or a parent. Although I'm not too sure if anyone is even taking these..."

"Well my mama sure as hell ain't gonna sign anything. And my stepdad wouldn't either. And if they don't take it, no skin off my back. At least I managed to turn it in."

Ponyboy sighs gently, chewing at his lower lip.

"Then get Tim to. He'll do it."

Curly huffs in response.

"I'll just forge his signature. I've seen him do it a million times. It'll be a piece of cake."

"Whatever gets these turned in, I guess."

It wasn't like Ponyboy's scolding would do much of anything. Curly did as Curly pleased. He separated the review packets from the syllabi, pushing those toward Curly with a pen from his bag.

Curly made quick work of putting his name on them, forging Tim's signature and writing the date where it needed to be. The ravenette's handwriting was awful. It was messy and hard to read, smudging whenever his hand went over the fresh ink. The only pristine thing on the paper was Tim's forged signature.

Once those were taken care of, Curly shoves them back into his folder. Now came the actual schoolwork that he'd been dreading since he asked for Ponyboy's help in their shared English class.

Ponyboy reaches over and grabs one of the review packets Curly had, skimming through its pages. The redhead had already done this and turned it in, but he was usually quick to forget most assignments as soon as they were out of his hands. This one consisted of a lot of things ranging in various degrees of difficulty. Sentence structure, words that sound the name that are spelled differently, how to tell what kind of writing someone is going for. It wasn't that hard. But for Curly, he wasn't sure. The older male was street smart. He just couldn't tell if he was book smart or if he just liked acting dumb so others didn't have high expectations of him.

He was knocked out of his thoughts when he felt hot breath by his ear. The redhead jolts a little, side eyeing the culprit. Curly was in his personal space again, reading the packet from over his shoulder. The younger male didn't know when Curly moved his chair closer, but their elbows were touching. His face goes red hot. Curly actually seemed to be reading, his eyes scanning over the page he was on, lips moving silently with whatever problem he was wrong.

Although at Ponyboy's little jolt, he smirks, turning to face the redhead better.

"Scare you?" Curly teases, voice quiet as he was talking right into his ear.

Ponyboy's stomach twists at hearing his friend's voice so close to his ear. He coughs, shaking his head. The younger male knew that Curly could see his flushed face. It was hard to hide when he was pale. But the older male chose not to say anything at all. Even if he usually was a teasing machine.

"Really?" The ravenette purrs. "Way you jumped, you definitely gotta be spooked."

"Could never be scared by you, Charles," Ponyboy huffs, turning to face the older male with his own grin. Their faces were so close once again and the redhead didn't have the nerve to pull away. Or maybe he just didn't want to. "You're one of the least scary people I know."

Curly pulls away, his mouth parted as Ponyboy said his actual name, a playful gasp escaping his lips. Everyone would think he was lame if anyone heard him being addressed by Charles of all things. Everyone just called him Curly and knew him as such. But Ponyboy had known him since he was a kid, so obviously his real name was uttered more than once. He was a trouble maker, even as a child, so hearing his full name screamed was nothing new.

"You play dirty, Curtis," the ravenette huffs. "I wouldn't be scared by a name that lame either."

Ponyboy giggles, causing the corners of Curly's lips to twitch up into a barely there smile. He takes the packet from the redhead's hands, huffing as he sat it down on the table in front of him. The ravenette writes his name on the front before staring at the first question.

The older male was never a fan of school. He wasn't good at it. He didn't need any of it anyway. He'd run the gang with Tim and that hardly needed anything that was good with words or numbers. At least in his mind it didn't.

Ponyboy watches as Curly tries to work on the packet, pulling his own homework from the folder. He did a chunk of it during lunch som he didn't have a lot left to do. The redhead holds a pencil in his hand, finding himself watching Curly more than doing his own work. He thought that he'd let Curly do his own thing until he got stuck and asked him for something. But it turns out that Curly Shepard looked completely different when focusing. There was no big smirk, cocky facial expression, anything. His earring or hair wasn't bobbing around with any rapid movements that Curly usually did, even just raising his arms and flailing them around.

Curly's eyebrows were furrowed as he mouthed the words his packet read, his face looking much more relaxed than it usually did.

He was suddenly wishing that he had his sketchbook in his hands. The redhead would try and draw Curly in all of his glory.

Maybe another time.