#ryo paul

[asexual-juliet]

happy one year anniversary to when ryo paul took over my brain. glad ur booked and busy but we miss you at the jacobs king!

[brokenlovesong]

EVERMORE A STRANGER

japanese!paul x darry rating: teen word count: 7k work in progress

Paul didn’t understand why his mother was so insistent on him only speaking English when he was five. It was only when he got older that he understood her reasoning, when the other kids would pull back their eyes at him and bow, calling him mean names. They just wanted to make him feel smaller. He didn't think he'd ever call Tulsa a home, not when he felt like a stranger walking the street of a place he's lived for the last ten years. It's not until he met Darrel Curtis, of all people, that he finally felt like he belongs.

[short excerpt]

“I want nothing to do any of y’all. I hate Tulsa and I hate the people in it.”

“Look, we’re not all like that. Even Tim isn’t normally-…” Paul scoffed. “Okay, he has his moments. But he’s just a kid. An angry, misled kid. He’s only fifteen.” Great . Paul was so glad he knew he got successfully jumped by a couple of rough and tough kids his age and not some big, scary adults who found pleasure in whipping teenagers. That made him feel so much better. “You gonna go to the feds ‘bout this?”

“I may be West Side. But that don’t mean they care for me much, either. He ain’t worth the trouble tattlin’ to the cops may bring. They’d probably try and figure out if I went lookin’ for a beatin’ for attention or somethin’.”

Darrel hummed. “Tim’s better about fair fights when it comes to hood. But sometimes, those kids just got so much anger and all they see is red. I was hopin’ in’ my brothers won’t ever get mixed up with them. But Pony’s started to become friendly with one of ‘em Shepards. I don’t like it all that much.”

Ponyboy was Darrel’s youngest brother. Paul had heard the name mentioned a couple of times. People were always saying he’d be another one of the Greasers to keep an eye on because he’s destined to make it out of Tulsa. Really bright brain and strong in the literature classes. Paul wondered if he ever felt the weight of the pressure that came from being related to Darrel. Did it compare to the expectations placed on himself for his race?

“They saw red ‘cause I’m the enemy-” A sharp pain surged through his body and he winced, caving in on himself. Darrel seemed to get the message and helped him to the ground in a position barely more comfortable than standing. “Not just being a West Side kid. But ‘cause I’m Japanese.”

[full fic on ao3]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[brokenlovesong]

Paul Holden WIP because I think the first chapter is gonna be done soon :)

(yeah its turning out to be multiple chapters... what have I done)

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Once his little group of Socs entered their teenage years, the football team became an option and they all practiced with each other to make sure they were at the top of their game. So much so that Paul was only a freshman when he made it onto the high school team, something unheard of. His coach said it was because he knew Paul was a hard worker, that he had a lot of expectations, and that he had to live up to them. He couldn’t just be mediocre or even above average. He had to be the best of the best or else why was he taking a risk on a freshman.

Coming onto the team as a freshman was big news that spread throughout the high school. Paul knew people now, and people knew of him. The high school football team was held to pretty high regards around town. With a team that won as many games as their team traditionally did, it guaranteed the top schools were falling over each other to nab the players for their undergrad classes.

But Paul was still a stranger. He wasn’t blind to the cautious looks parents gave him that weren’t given to his white teammates. He had to work twice as hard to be given half the amount of credit because if he wasn’t the best of the best, he was dragging the team down and his position should’ve been given to someone more deserving, someone considered less of a “risk”... and not in terms of just being a freshman.

No one understood what it was like. Paul would spend every moment of free time working out to strengthen all his muscles or perfecting his passes. Bob put in some effort. He knew he was a sho-in to make the team once he entered high school. But didn’t understand why Paul put in beyond that.

Everything changed the following year when Darrel Curtis joined the team. An East side Greaser kid who no one expected to make it on. Hood didn’t even usually attend tryouts. Football was a sport that required lots of money, from the uniforms and gear to the overly expensive varsity jackets everyone sported. It wasn’t a sport for families who weren’t so well off.

Paul knew of Darrel. The west side didn’t tend to mingle with the east side, especially in school. But Darrel had managed to surpass his class status and become a golden boy. He got good grades, better than one might expect from a Greaser. Some of the best in the grade, actually. And he had a charm to him that not even the most popular girls could resist. He was someone everyone said would make it out of Tulsa.

Paul had to admit, he was a bit envious. He may not have gotten the same level of scrutiny Darrel did, but he still felt like he didn’t belong and he was yet to be treated as if he did by the team. He was always the last to know when the team wants to run plays outside of practice or if someone’s parents are gone for the weekend and they’re throwing a massive party. But here Darrel came, strutting in and was “one of the guys.” He wasn’t even from their world (though neither was Paul.)

THE FIC IS NOW UP! CHECK OUT “EVERMORE A STRANGER”

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[brokenlovesong]

RYO PAUL RAMBLING

Something I find so fascinating about Ryo Paul is how Ryo playing him changes the dynamic of Paul with everyone else. Ryo’s Paul feels much less intimidating than say Dan Paul or even Victor Paul. He’s tall, but physically smaller in stature and more soft spoken, even when he’s angry. He feels like a scared kid with more anger than he knows what to do with.

Bob is a much more imposing character compared to him. He’s loud, abrasive, and will say whatever he feels. He doesn’t care who he offends. He’s a very in charge type of person.

It makes sense that Paul would follow him. He’s this big tough all American boy and especially during the period and where they lived, that’s the type of person Paul wanted to be. It’s probably what his parents raised him wanting as well. For Asian families in America in the 60s where they may be some of the only Asian families in the neighborhood, assimilation was often a huge priority. The idea of fitting in and having that “perfect American life”. The model minority myth played into this idea greatly. East Asians especially were seen as the “whitest” people of color, if that makes sense.

Bob let him into their group, full of guys who are what Paul aspired to be (ie white). So he followed Bob and it gave him a pretty nice life. The town respected him because of the company he kept in comparison to the greasers. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t white was when he was surrounded by his friends. That made him seem like one of the “good ones”. Living on the west side and having the appearance of having money helped this as well because it meant his future was bright. He would have opportunities.

When Bob died, that’s the first time you really see him in a leadership position. I don’t think under any other circumstances the socs would’ve followed him like that. But he used their anger and gave them a target and because of that he was able to rally the socs together for the common enemy