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He had gotten into another rumble. Walking down the sidewalk, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, with spiky hair sticking out from different directions.
This wasn’t his best look. But hey, it wasn’t the worst.
He was in no shape to walk, but Dallas Winston’s ego was too big to ask any of his buddies for a ride.
This fight had been between him and one of his “ buddies ” too, but he had never really liked Tim Shepard anyway.
Dally’s eyes snapped up from the pavement when he heard a car pulling up next to him. Socs? What did they want now?
“It’s fine. You ain’t dead yet. It was worse in New York.” He kept mumbling, as if he was trying to convince himself.
When his eyes adjusted, he realized that the car was a ford. And not just any ford. It was the same black ford the Curtis’ drove.
The window rolled down.
“Get in, kid.” A tired looking Darry Curtis grumbled.
Why him. Why now? Just.. why?
He got in anyway. For once, his ego could wait.
Darry stepped on the gas, and Dallas looked around the car. He had never actually been inside it, he’d just seen it sitting outside their house and saw how mangled it was when Sodapop tried driving it for the first time.
Well— he couldn’t actually bring himself to look around. He was too tired. And dirty. And sweaty. And sticky . Jesus, why was it so hot?
“Uuuhhg… can.. can you turn on the AC or somethin’? I might just die in here, man.” he groaned.
Darry didn’t respond, which led Dally to think he hadn’t heard him. But when he reached out to turn the AC on himself, Darry slapped his hand away and turned it off again.
“Whazzah… whattafuck, man? You want me to die in here? I survive that rumble but I don’t survive the blazing heat of this damned car. Thanks for the ride. Helped a lot, Darrel .” he grumbled.
That’s what made Darry finally look at him, which Dally realized was because they had arrived at the Curtis house.
“Get out.” Darry demanded.
“What? I thought you were going to sprinkle salt on me and feed me to your brothers as dinner? Was I wrong, Chef Darrel? I’m already cooked .” He snapped.
Darry glared at him with an unamused look, before walking to the other side of the car and forcefully dragging him out by his arm.
When they stepped in through the front door, the house was empty. An eerie type of empty. It was deathly silent, and the Curtis home was never silent. Sodapop and Steve were always fooling around somewhere, Two-bit was always watching the TV cranked up to the full volume, and Ponyboy and Darry were probably arguing in the kitchen on why Ponyboy spelled his name wrong on his test paper.
But no, it was just silent and empty. Almost sad. He looked at Darry, cocking an eyebrow.
“Ponyboy and Soda.. they went to the movies with Johnny. Steve and Two-bit are probably out drunk flirting with some random broads, so.. I’m all alone.”
”I was going to go grab some groceries. You’re lucky I saw you walking on the sidewalk all..” He gestured to his disheveled clothes and hair.
Oh, great. That made him feel much better.
“Okay, Superman . Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my cold, cold heart for taking me to your home. Now what? ” He asked, looking at Darry as if he had just kidnapped the other.
Darry cleared his throat. “Oh, right.”
Dally heard him rummaging through some drawers, until he finally found what he was looking for. A first-aid kit. The moment he saw it, his eyes widened.
“ Ohohoho no way. I ain’t a kid anymore, man. I can take care of myself. Let me be.” He hissed at him; hoping he’d just sigh, say “be careful” and let him go. But, he was not so lucky.
“Dallas… there’s still blood dripping from your mouth onto the carpet. And I can see how bloody your knuckles are. Jesus.. what happened this time?” Darry asked, sitting down on the couch, motioning Dally to sit down with him.
He stared at the couch, then looked at the door, considering his options. After looking back and forth, he finally plopped down next to him.
"Well…” he started, as Darry removed his jacket and put it aside. “So I’m just mindin’ my business, as always, right?”
He got a questionable look from Darry. “Uh huh..”
He talked about how Tim had accused him of scratching his car, and then threatened to call over his gang to jump him. He couldn’t care less, so he just told him to “go ahead, it’s not like you have enough balls to actually do it!”
“Let me guess, he did do it.” Darry interrupted, wrapping up his knuckles with gauze.
Dallas let out a chuckle, “Hey, how’d 'ya guess?”
Darry grinned one of his rare grins, “I’m a good guesser, kid. Now,” His expression turned into the usual stern one again, just great.
“ Where, were you planning on going? Because I know it wasn’t here. Or Buck’s.” He sighed, making direct eye contact with Dallas. “Where were you going to stay?”
God , as if he hadn’t asked himself that question millions of times.
Buck had kicked him out again a few days ago, which Dally didn’t know Darry was aware of.
It felt.. odd going to the Curtis’ house for shelter. It was a place where everybody fit in and got along, and Dallas never really fit in.
Finally, after a minute of silence, he murmured, “I didn’t… have anywhere to stay. I don’t know where I was going, man. Probably to some abandoned building to sleep in for the night. I ain’t one of your kid brothers— why do you care?”
“Because I care about you, Dallas. Because even though you’re a pain sometimes and you cuss more than you talk, I still care about you. And under that “dirty hood” persona of yours, you’re really just a kid. And all you really needed was a shoulder to cry on.”
It was like a dam broke.
But instead of a dam, it was the walls Dally had built to keep his emotions from escaping. And by broke, he meant a tear had rolled down his cheek. “Why are you doin’ this, man? You know I don’t deserve it.” he said with quivering breaths, “I don’t deserve your… this.”
“You deserve the world, Dallas.”
Fuck .
Normally, Dallas Winston’s plan for tonight was to sleep in the park, not on the couch of the Curtis home with a blanket draped over him. But hey, he wasn’t complaining. He was asleep. If he was awake, you wouldn’t hear the end of it.
end.