Can i ask why you ship pony and randy? Especially cause one of them is 14 and the other is 18?
hi anon! so, here's the thing, you seem to have an issue with randy/pony because of their age difference. which is totally fine, like, you're not wrong for that. you're welcome to block the tag or block me if the ship makes you so uncomfortable.
but the thing is, i don't think you're actually asking me why i ship randy/pony, you just want me to say i find their predatory age difference sexy and that i think we should all be getting into similar relationships in real life and that's why i ship it. which like, i don't. it should go without saying but i'll say it anyway, but i don't think the randy/pony age difference is like, admirable or whatever.
but like. relationships aren't math equations, they don't have to be perfectly equal to still work out.
and, yeah, in real life a relationship like that is usually unhealthy at best and predatory at worst. i think we've all heard horror stories about loser seniors dating vulnerable freshmen. it happens and it sucks.
but like... this is a story. and when it comes to shipping, we're often drawn to the characters and dynamics we see on the page (or screen or whatever) and want to dig into that, regardless of whatever might be taboo or unhealthy or "problematic" about it. and the beauty of fiction is that we can explore those dynamics in a safe place and we don't need to, like, get into an actual abusive relationship in order to do it. what's that post that's like "love (this trait) when it's a character, hate when it's my mom"? same thing applies to ships.
as for randy and pony, personally, i like their emotional honesty and oppenness with each other, and how randy is trying really hard to show he cares about ponyboy by the end of the book. i think it builds on the themes from the book about forgiveness and being willing to learn from each other. that's what interests me about them. their age difference is kind of secondary. for what it's worth, randy doesn't even have a canon age - he's around 17 but that's all we know. hell, he could be 16! but again, that's less important to me than their actual on-page dynamic. hell, their age difference is way less important than the fact randy helped try to drown ponyboy, which i don't see you mentioning anywhere.
now, i do think their ages impact their relationship, especially when they're young. i don't ignore that when i'm interpretting them, but for me it's not "they would never ever date because of their ages and that's it" its "well, how would their ages impact their relationship?" it's more of a hurdle to get over rather than a brick wall. and there are multiple ways you can answer that second question.
and for the record, i would love to read (or write) a story that digs into the less healthy angles of their relationship! including their age difference, class difference, their history... they absolutely have the potential to be unhealthy. randy is absolutely that loser senior who dates a first semester freshman and dumps all his feelings onto him.
but... also. this isn't real life and that doesn't have to be the one and only interpretation of them.
and hey, if their age difference matters that much to you, just don't read my randyboy fics. or read ones where they're adults. or whatever.
but what do i know, i'm just some gal who spends way too much time on tumblr.
