do you care? - dallas winston
summary: for the first time ever, dallas winston cares about a girl. so much so that he asks the adultest adult he knows for advice, even if it will get him teased a little. wc: 1.9k+ cw: hurt/comfort, happy ending, i may have fluffified dally a little
The slam of the Curtis’s front door is so loud that everybody straightens up, immediately expecting a yell from Darry for treating the house so poorly. Everyone is surprised when that doesn’t happen. More so, everyone is surprised when they turn to find Dallas looking morbidly stressed, his face void of any of its natural colour.
“What do I do when my girl is angry and I need to make her… not angry?”
The boys all cackle loudly at Dallas’s dilemma, and Ponyboy, who would usually refrain from making any comments at Dally’s expense, feels brave enough to question “You mean you haven’t dumped her for being mad at you?”
“Wow, you must like this girl.” Teases Steve, grinning widely. Dallas doesn’t find any of this funny, his face unchanging from its current state of stress. He’s not going to acknowledge Steve’s jab, because yes, he does like you, and indeed, you are the only girl he hasn’t dumped for disagreeing with him. However, Dallas does have to admit, he doesn’t understand why are you’re mad at him. Not at all.
“Where’s Darry?” He asks, huffing when three hands immediately point down the hall in the direction of the three rooms. From his spot in the living room, Dally can see that the bathroom door is cracked open, which only means one thing: Darry is in his bedroom. He hesitates; there’s no way he can just stroll up and knock on Darry’s door to ask advice about a girl. One he’s only been with for a couple of months at that (which is longer than he can say for his past relationships).
“What’s wrong, Dally boy?” Starts Two-Bit, more engaged in the conversation than his television show for once. “Too scared to knock on big ol’ Darrel’s door?” Dallas huffs, walking past the boys in the room and in the direction of Darry’s room. He pauses in the hallway when the older boy’s door cracks open on its own and Darry comes out, a white towel slung over his shoulder. When his eyes lift up from the floor and land on Dally, they go wide in surprise, not expecting him there at all, let alone looking so vulnerable.
“Darry, Dally wants girl advice from you!” Calls Sodapop from the living room, and Dally feels too called out to retort anything back to him, the tips of his ears going bright red. The corner of Darry’s lip quirks up, but he shakes his head to wipe the smile off his face, nodding towards the dining table, where he walks past Dally to take a seat. Dally hesitantly takes a seat, throwing a glare to the five boys in the living room before sitting down in front of Darry.
When Dally doesn’t begin the conversation, Darry raises his eyebrows up, causing the man in front of him — very much resembling a boy in his sheepishness at the moment — to mumble “She’s mad at me.”
“I figured. What did you do?” Muffled chuckles behind Dally have him crossing his arms over his chest. He deliberates asking Darry to tell them to leave, but no, he needs to keep his reputation. “I don’t know what I did wrong!” Dally exclaims, but all Darry does is cross is arms over his chest and lean back into his chair. Dallas sighs. “Her words were: I’m not gonna sit around waiting for you when you’re just a man. I have other things I could be doing.”
“Were you late again, Dally?” Johnny asks from where he’s sat in the living room, and Dally furrows his eyebrows, twisting around in his chair to look at the younger boy. He finds everyone looking back at him expectantly. “What do you mean ‘late again’?”
“As in, were you late to a date just like you’re late to everything else in life?” Clarifies Steve.
“I’m not late to everything!” Complains Dally defensively, squaring his shoulders when everyone’s faces morph into deadpanned expressions. He turns around to Darry, expecting the man to defend him to the other boys. What he’s met with is the same unimpressed expression.
“Dallas, you’re always late.” He says, not offensively, but truthfully.
“Man, it sounds like she’s doing you a favour by not breaking up with you. If a lady says she has lots of other things she could be doing, she’s talking about men.” Dally hears shuffling before Two-Bit pulls out a chair and sits next to him at the table.
“Two-Bit is right, Dallas. She’s giving you a chance to treat her the way she deserves before she leaves you for someone else who will treat her better than you. The reason she hasn’t left you yet is because she likes you.”
Dallas furrows his brows, his arms loosening over his chest. “All that over being late a couple of times?”
Darry sighs, placing his towel on the back of the chair beside him. “Dally, every time you’re late, you show her that you care less and less. You don’t value her time, so you don’t value her. Do you care about her Dally?”
Darry’s question surprises Dally, who swallows thickly, intimidated by the clearly watchful eyes around him. But after a long moment, he nods, voice quiet as he admits “Yeah, I care about her a lot.” Darry nods, appreciative of the boy’s honesty. He replies in a soft voice. “Okay, good. Now you have to show her you care. And that starts by showing up on time. But you can’t just do the minimum for a girl if you want her to know you like her. You’ve got to go out of your way to do things for her.”
“Like flowers.” Dally sighs in annoyance. A slap on the back of his head has him pushing his chair back to fight whoever it was, but a stern call of Dally’s name from the one person he fears has him slumping back in his chair. He soon discovers the hit had come from Sodapop, who takes a seat at the head of the table and tells Dally “Man, you don’t know the things I’d do if I still had Sandy. Flowers are nothing.”
Flowers are nothing.
Dallas replays that sentence in his mind over and over for the rest of the day, even when he lays on his bed back at Buck’s, asking himself about the things you love. How would he show you that he cares?
He’s never asked a girl to be his girlfriend before. He’d go on a couple of dates then go unresponsive, or acknowledge them just enough that he could have company on boring nights. But he’d taken you out more times in a single week than he’d had a total number of dates with any other girl in the entirety of their relationship. Dallas doesn't just want your company, he craves it. He likes taking you home from dates and kissing you softly, and likes having an arm around you no matter where you are. He used to hate when girls draped themselves over him on their dates, but with you? He needs everyone to know that you’re his.
So he buys the flowers, he buys some chocolate, and he buys something infinitely lasting. Something meaningful. Well, it’s not meaningful to him, but he knows from the stack on your bed that you’ll keep the teddy bear forever. And of course, he climbs the pipe to your bedroom window instead of having to face either of your parents at the front door. It’s a little bit of a struggle with all the things he’s carrying, but he manages.
Dally becomes sad while he looks through the window. You’re sat on the floor, cassette player next to you as you massage a thin cream onto your smooth face. He can’t believe you’ve ever been sat somewhere waiting for him, thinking he didn’t care about you. How did you manage to look at him afterwards?
Finally, Dally brings a hand up to knock on your window. Your head snaps towards the window, and Dally sees you squint at the glass before your expression turns to one of realisation. Dally smiles to himself when you push yourself off the floor, rushing to open the window. He sees the conflict across your features when you come face to face with him, and gulps thickly when you take a step back for him to enter your room. He drops his little gifts onto the floor before hoisting himself into your room. A little huff leaves him when he drops onto the floor, turning around to shut the window behind him. He scrambles to pick up the bouquet and teddy bear, leaving the chocolates on the floor so he can turn to you with a feeling he can only describe as vulnerable.
“Um, I do care.” Dally says, clearing his throat. You put your hands on your hips, a small frown making its way onto your features, but you let Dally continue. “And I didn’t realise that being late meant that I was showing you I don’t care. But I understand that now. I get that I need to make more of an- an effort with you so you don’t leave me for some other man.” Dallas blinks quickly, moving his gaze to the floor. He feels like throwing up. He is going to throw up. He inhales shakily, feeling a lump form in his throat. God, he is about to spread the most vile story about you if you turn him away now.
Except you don’t.
“Look at me Dally.” Dally refuses to glance up at you. You bring a hand up below his chin, pushing his face up so he can meet your gaze. You're not frowning anymore, but you still don't seem exactly happy. You hate that he looks adorable like this. Yes, you’re still mad at him, and no, you don’t understand how he didn’t see your point from the beginning, but ultimately, he has never stripped himself from his tough exterior in front of you, and it is just so charming.
“Hey. I can forgive you this time.” You tease, only half joking. He knows. Dally nods, hesitantly beginning to wrap his arms around you. You step forward into his chest, leaning into his body so he can hug you, and you bring your arms up to hold him in your arms too. “Can I… Can I get a kiss?” Dally mumbles against your hair, and you pull back slightly to look at him. You tilt your face up, a hand snaking up his chest to rest on the side of his neck.
Dally smiles softly at you before leaning in, his lips melding with yours. You can feel the way his entire body relaxes against yours, and it makes you breathe out in amusement. You pull away from the kiss, and Dally’s body jerks forward to follow you, but you put both hands on his shoulders to stop him. He looks betrayed for a moment, but you take the bouquet and cute bear from his hands, gently placing them on your bed before throwing yourself onto him. He stumbles back a step as you wrap your arms over his shoulders, lip slamming onto his, and he can’t help but smile into the kiss, his arms tightening around you to hold you close to him as he kisses you with all the passion he can muster.
When you pull away, it’s because you’re out of breath. Dally is panting too, but it seems he would have kept going if you hadn’t broken the kiss. He puffs his chest up, suddenly arrogant again, and you roll your eyes, pushing away from him to sit on your bed. You pick up the teddy bear, smiling down at it, and turn it around to face Dally.
“So what do you want to name him?”
Dally feels honoured to have even been given that opportunity.
Ugh, I miss you Dally
