mathews family headcanon lore dump aka i'm writing a short fic with two-bit and his mom and i wanted to flesh out some of his family details aka i'm procrastinating midterm studying
i used to think of keith as something only his family called him, but after reviewing the passage where his nickname is described and thinking some more, i have revised my vision to the below
he doesn't really talk about it (and is barely called that anyway) so most people have forgotten, but not the mathews family
his mom only calls him keith when she's unhappy with him
speaking of his dad, he left when two-bit was six
two-bit was a purposeful pregnancy. his sister was not. his dad didn't want to take care of another kid or the financial burden of it and walked a few months after she was born
he hadn't even wanted two-bit that badly, it was mainly mrs mathews who wanted a kid, but it helped that he was a "little man" instead of a girl
they met in their mid-late 20s and had been married for five-six years before two-bit was born
i haven't settled on a name for his mom but maybe alice
the reason they weren't expecting two-bit's sister (who we'll also call brenda) is because she was at an age where it's pretty unlikely to get pregnant, especially if you're not actively trying for it
she had two-bit a lot older than the curtises were when they had darry, and after two-bit befriended darry & soda she was a somewhat maternal presence to the curtises, although it was weird sometimes how they'd been parents for longer than she had
there would be occasional tension caused by the last thing, what with the duality of her being older than them but less experienced in child-raising, but neither curtis had a good relationship with their family and were more-or-less no-contact (+ mrs mathews is very easy to get along with) so they were still friends
they did nottt like the cades randles or winstons (besides the kids of course) and all wished they could take care of their children instead a little, but they a) know how things work in the neighbourhood and it's run of the mill to have shitty parents and b) could never be able to manage that financially or legally
she's pretty lighthearted with a good sense of humour like ponyboy describes her, but she does worry sometimes more than she lets on to others and especially outside of the house
as he grew up, two-bit became more aware of this and feels guilty sometimes over how little he helps her with the family, especially after seeing how darry & his brothers shape up post-crash
he tries not to bother her too much with his problems because of this, which is just fine because he also tries not to think about his problems
two-bit knows he's not a very good son and that's part of the reason why he hasn't given up on graduating yet, because he promised it to his mom and he'll be damned if he fails her in this too
mrs mathews does wish two-bit could be more of a help to her, but at the end of the day her main goal is that he is happy and loved (and doesn't turn out like Dally)
he very much dreads being in the same grade as brenda or being the last in the gang to graduate, but pretends like he's looking forward to bothering her in her classes
brenda used to look up to her cool older brother and they do still get along, but as she's grown up she's had a gradual rude awakening by how little he helps their mom and how much he drinks
two-bit is very much the "treat my sister bad and i shatter your kneecaps" person to anyone she starts seeing seriously once she gets older
she doesn't know for sure that she's the reason her dad left, but she's put the pieces together of how soon after her birthday he left
for this reason, she feels guilty about the state of their family and tries to minimize being a burden on her mom
she's vowed to herself to get a job to help out as soon as she's able because she thinks it's her fault they're in the situation they are, but she hasn't told mrs mathews about it because she knows she'd protest. this feeds into her slight resentment at two-bit's laziness
the curtis crash freaked everyone in their house out a lot, because other than the grief of losing your friends/friends' parents/friendly neighbourhood figures, it made them all reflect on whether or not two-bit would be able to do what darry did
mrs mathews thinks he could if he really pushed himself to it. two-bit and brenda do not think he could do it at all
they have not discussed this with each other though so it kind of festers in the back of their minds
