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dallas woke up early. he knew it was way too fuckin’ early becase the digital clock johnny insisted on getting read ‘2:34 am’. he almost laughed to himself when he remembered the way johnny had called them all ‘Stronzi idioti!’and said that none of them ever knew the time. he pulled himself out of his thoughts when he heard the door open. he didn’t know who he expected, the only person who didn’t legally live there was two-bit (i mean, only the curtis brothers lived there, but does that really matter?), and he practically slept over every night since he didn’t have to worry about johnny. darry practically forced him to live in the curtis household after the incident. he didn’t expect johnny to walk in holding two boxes of cereal and a bag of salt and pepper chips. ponyboy must’ve woken up too, because he looked over the bunk to johnny.
“man, what the fuck? ”
“what? i got hungry!”
dally started to get up, it was gonna get heated. when those two fight, they fight - and it doesn’t help that they’re grumpy from not sleeping enough and fucking delirious after just waking up.
“fatass..give me some of them
pony leaned down, falling off in the process. thank god dallas had quick reflexes, because he was able to get over there in record time before the little shit fell face-first onto the floor.
“thanks, dal! johnny i don’t give a flying fu- ”
“both of you just shut the fuck up before someone comes in and yells at our asses! johnny, go put that shit up wherever you found it and pony, just stop being obnoxious as hell!” dally started whisper-yelling at them. johnny slowly walked over to the door in a sad shuffle, going to put the food away. ponyboy stared at him, before sitting on johnny’s bed. he only looked up when the door opened, and when johnny sat next to him. the two shared a look when dallas sat down on his bed, the question he was about to ask cut off when the two tackled him. he was too tired to shove them off, and just let them curl up against him. the three had grown closer since windrixville, enough that physical touch had become common amongst the three. he got called soft for that alot, and while he had (eventually) accepted that, he would never admit it to anyone.
just as he was about to tell them to go to bed, that they could be like the damn koalas at the zoo he used to see when the curtis parents would invite him in the morning, he heard johnny’s soft voice, “we should go on a walk.”
“Why the hell would we go on a walk at 2 in the morning?”
“Why not”
“Fine by me”
“Fine”
The three got up to go get changed into pants, and get shoes and jackets on. Johnny threw a simple pair of pj pants and a matching crewneck, from when the curtis’ extended family dragged them all to tennesse, paid for and everything. He himself had opted for sweatpants and his brown zip-up. Ponyboy threw on some baggy jeans and an oversized hoodie, with some of his platform shoes. Maybe that was why they were called emo in middle school, it seemed kind of stupid, though. They dressed like everyone else did. Nowadays, people don't bat an eye when they pass, besides the occasional side-eye.
They started toward the door, when ponyboy grabbed them. “We can’t go that way, we’d wake them up,” he opened the window, the started to climb out, “here. We can leave it open a little, so we can get back in. also, don’t ask”
So the three of them climbed out the window, letting ponyboy shut it. They started their walk, as johnny turned on some music. Tv girl started playing from his phone at a quiet volume. They walked together quietly, until ponyboy broke the silence a block or two down.
“We should ding-dong-ditch someone”
“Yes! That’s the only good idea you’ve had all night, i’m surprised”
“Wow, fuck you too dal”
“Hey, isn’t that a little gay?”
“Johnny i will wring out your spine- ”
Johnny shut pony up real quick after tripping him. The two bickered for a bit, before dallas grabbed them and pointed to a house
“There! We get them”
“Hell yeah, no security!”
Dally ran up, quickly ringing the doorbell, before hiding with ponyboy and johnny. Some guy came out, probable 40 or so, and looked around with a flashlight. They messed with him a few times, before he gave up and said he just wanted to sleep. Ponyboy was laughing hard by then, wheezing out nonsense. He calmed down a few minutes later, as they were headed to the lot.
“That’s my math teacher from 7th grade! We made his life hell. He’s a fuckin’ pedo!”
“Imagine.” johnny said flatly, walking into the lot. It was mostly unused now, the old mattress and vanity johnny used years ago now abandoned. Johnny pulled them away from the bed. Pulling out the mattress and using his blade to cut it open. He pulled out a shit ton of cancer sticks, poker cards, and non-perishable food. They all sat on the old carseat from the 60’s, quickly lighting up some cigarettes and starting to play poker. The three sat in a comfortable silence for 30 minutes or so, until ponyboy spoke up.
“Do you guys think it looked different back then? Less bright?”
It was an odd statement to say the least, but it was true. They had always hated the lights in the area, johnny and pony complaining about not being able to see the stars and dally claiming it was because he could get caught doing illegal stuff easily, but that probably wasn’t all.
Maybe they all did want to live in the country with the rest of the gang, waking up to do chores around the barn and roughhousing in the grassy fields. But dally knew him and two-bit would get bored of no fights or action, and soda was made to be a city boy. Maybe johnny and ponyboy could go live out there, and they would visit during holidays and weekends.
“Nah, too many of those old mustang cars would roam around with the headlights on.”
It turned into 6 am soon enough, and they realized they were absolutely fucked. Either they get home and hear darry yell at them, or they wait for him to show up at the lot and drag them back himself.
They chose the latter.
Which, probably wasn’t the best choice, because now they were in the bed of his truck being driven around town. They were all tired as hell, johnny quite literally falling asleep on his shoulder. They were also on the lookout for cops, seeing as they were breaking the law. They finally got back after all of darry’s errands, and as soon as the door opened-
“So. y’all have fun on your little adventure?”
And that little piece of shit not being able to shut up, responded with
“Well better than bummin’ around all day!”
“Well now you’re just gonna do it anyway! You could’ve done this today and not at six in the morning!” Darry turned to dallas and johnny and added, “can you two please make sure he doesn’t burn the house down? If y’all have plans, i understand-”
“Darrel where the hell would we go? Our other gang??” Johnny quickly clapped back, he had gotten more outgoing and sassy after the fire. Darry and dally both stared in shock for a second, before darry said quietly, “yeah..that’s fair. I’ll be at work, soda’s with steve, and i think two-bit’s got some job interview? He’ll come lazing around if he doesn’t. bye” he walked out the front door, leaving. Ponyboy sat on the couch, pulling out his phone and starting to scroll through tiktok. Johnny sat next to him, causing pony to lay on his lap. Dallas left to go get breakfast, which was uncooked chocolate poptarts. He passed them to the two, then went back to their room to try and get some sleep. He didn’t realize how tired he was, until his eyes were closing and his body was relaxing into the mattress. He decided to let himself sleep, he trusted johnny and pony just this once..
And that was the wrong decision, because he was getting shaken awake at 1 pm by ponyboy asking how to use the stove, saying that johnny had just fallen asleep and he felt too bad waking him up. He got up to go make him some ramen, starting the boiling water. Ponyboy was dozing off watching him, so he just threw him over his shoulder and threw him onto johnny’s bed. He curled into the covers, passing out almost immediately. Dally sat on his own bed, scrolling through instagram for around 10 minutes or so while he waited. He got up to go check the water, looking at the living room. Sure enough, johnny was passed out on his side. He quickly poured the ramen and the flavor packet into the pot, mixing it up and pouring it into a container. He put it in the fridge, then put the songs he knew johnny liked on the tv. Walking into their shared room, he put some rain and thunder noises on the tv for him and ponyboy, then crawled into his bed and went back to sleep.