Work Text:
Today was a calm day, as the day before the weekly bonfires usually was./p>
It was just a regular bonfire; Tim wasn't planning to go, Curly and Angela might go, and Dallas wasn't sure if Ponyboy was going yet.
Dallas was on his way to go track down the little Soc right now. He'd been spotted crossing the train tracks but hadn't been spotted entering the Shepard territory despite having said he was coming over.
Dallas had gotten sick of Curly's whining about Ponyboy being late to celebrate his freedom from grounding, so he decided to go find him.
Dallas is still thinking about the bonfire when he rounds the corner. He expects Ponyboy to have gotten distracted. There was a box of free puppies someone had dropped off, and he was the type of person to have to sit and pet all of them.
The puppy box lies on its side, clearly having been kicked, no puppies in sight. No Ponyboy in sight for that matter either, which did not bode well in Dallas's mind.
Now it wasn't softhearted Ponyboy getting caught up petting puppies; now it was Dallas's kid brother missing.
The building the box had been set in front of was a shitty magazine store; the register man nearly pissed himself when Dallas walked in. Dallas had robbed this guy before, he's fairly certain.
It doesn't take much to get the man to describe three hoods who got Ponyboy to walk away with them; he describes it as not quite forced but heavily implied violence if he didn't cooperate.
Dallas wishes he for once would pay attention to what anyone actually looked like because he doesn't recognize the descriptions in the slightest, or maybe he can blame the shopkeeper for not catching their names.
Dallas is following a trail of shopkeepers or loiterers who direct him closer and closer to the Brumbly Boys territory, so he is fairly certain they're the ones who took him. He's about to just go track down Jester when a nervous little hippie kid waves to him.
The Hippie describes seeing three men bring his friend into the building behind him, which is right on the border between Brumbly Boys and common space. The hippie gives Dallas a fresh pack of m&m's to "give to the horse, man," before wandering off.
Entering the building, which turns out to be an abandoned restaurant, gives him nothing, but a loud bang echoes from the kitchen area, followed by Ponyboy's loud voice describing the process a dead body goes through to decompose. Which has Dallas's face scrunching up in disgust because he did not need to be hearing this.
Dallas enters the room, and everything freezes for a moment, except Ponyboy, who has his face towards the ceiling and his eyes closed while he keeps up his mantra about types of maggots that eat corpses. Ponyboy is bleeding from his nose, which doesn't look broken, while sitting in a chair with his hands tied together.
Jester and Little Dog stand frozen, staring at Dallas. They have one of their new thugs with them, still too new to the scene to know who is protected by whom, which is probably why they had helped grab Ponyboy.
Dallas zones out of whatever Ponyboy is saying at the rise of anger at seeing his kid brother bleed, but he says something that has the Thug actually gagging, which seems to restart time. Jester had turned to stare at Ponyboy with a horrified look while Little Dog tried to square up with Dallas.
The fight really can barely be called a fight; Dallas doesn't even gain a bruise. Little Dog was too used to throwing his weight around to get what he wanted; he didn't actually know how to fight. The Thug dipped as soon as he realized Dallas had come for Ponyboy. Jester just shoved Ponyboy at Dallas when he'd turned to face him after Little Dog ran to help his brother.
Ponyboy beams at Dallas and cheers, "Dally! I'm glad ta see ya!" His eyes are slightly out of focus, and he's swaying in place; apparently, he had a concussion.
"Come on, kid. Let's get you back ta the Shepards."
Dallas steals a car and puts Ponyboy in the passenger seat.
"I didn't tell em nothin Dal. Ya gotta believe me." Ponyboy's eyes are watery, wide, and still not quite looking at Dallas.
"I believe ya, little Grease. I weren't worried about that." Dallas laughs, setting his free hand on the kid's head.
"What are ya worried about?" His head tilts, making Dallas's hand fall off his head.
"You. Ya really don't need more brain damage, kid. Sides if ya are brain dead ya can't come ta the bonfire tonight, then I gotta be bored alone."
"I can come ta tha bonfire?" Ponyboy sounds super excited, and Dallas wonders who dared to tell his kid brother he wasn't allowed at the bonfire for a moment before wondering if anyone had told him he was allowed without getting dragged along.
"Course kid, though I'd rather you come when you're healthy and with me or the Shepards ta back ya up."
Tim actually openly mother-hens Ponyboy as soon as he gets there, which amuses Dallas immensely. Tim usually is more conservative with showing how much he cares.
Ponyboy is rambling: "I swear I didn't tell them nothin cause why would I? They're just like these randoms, and yah like my brother, so I was telling them about what I was learning in school-"
Tim had frozen and was staring at Ponyboy with wide eyes, little tremors shaking his hands. His eyes flick up to meet Dallas, and they're filled with happiness that has Dallas smugly smirking. He'd told Tim that Ponyboy thought of him as a brother a week ago. They were both just too weird to just say it out loud.