Him!? (Ace Merril x Reader x Dallas Winston) (Stand By Me + Outsiders AU)
Notes: I was about to just answer this with "badly" but that wouldn't be good writing, hopefully this is actually decent
You were labeled 'Miss' by most the kids in town, and that wasn't in your age range for a long shot, you were much too young to have all these proper titles you'd earnt but they had reason, you were a tutor after schools
You sold your lessons for real cheap and brought in great grades for all your kids, the tutor of the East side, a proper greaser who was pretty brainy, so Ace and Dallas ended up meeting you in basically the same way, Dallas showed up to the Curtis home while you tutored Ponyboy
Ace had shown up to see Eyeball and instead found you sat at the kitchen table with Chris who gave him such a nasty glare you almost paused, but you kept speaking just kinda composed, you felt kinda fancy with how cool headed you were
And both had tried the same pickup line, Dallas left because Johnny who was lingering looked like he was prepared to tell Dallas to buzz off so Ponyboy could focus and Ace dropped it because Chris looked like he was about to jump across the table and strangle him, and hey, Ace had to grab Eyeball anyway
It also means both started going into school more than once a week to try catch you alone to try 'charming' you, if you could even call it that- neither of them knew the other was doing it, you watched them find out
Dallas was trudging around to find you, going into the library because he knew you'd be there finding new material for these children you seemed to actually enjoy tutoring which was weird enough, but the worst part was when at the door he bumped into Ace Merril (headcanon is that Ace is Bucks cousin, Dallas obviously knows him and they hate each other)
"Since when could you read" Ace snaps at Dallas as they both get through the door, only to be promptly shushed by a random librarian who doesn't look pleased with the two random hoods coming into the library for no particular reason
"I ain't readin'" Dallas says simply- half whispering as he goes on his hunt for you, Ace following behind with furrowed brows before both stumbling upon you, it was kinda like watching Looney Tunes the way they both came over before looking at each other then you
"Him!? Why's he here to see you?" Ace squints at you and you shrug looking at you two "Both of you bother me, simple" ugh Dallas almost reaches out to strangle Ace for that, the second he goes for one of those sweeter softer girls another hood decides to be special and do the same
Ace tends to use intimidation and being a dickhead to get what he wants while Dallas just plays plain dirty with things, but it's different when the thing in hypothetical is Buck Merrils thunderbird which both wanna borrow vs when it's you, a living breathing human
You look up at them while Dallas huffs something about a "Oh great, this idiot, swoopin in on my girl" While Ace looks back over "She ain't your girl Dallas" You inject with "I'm not either of your 'girls'" you say with a hum and they both stare at you, and then
The two just stare at each other before huffing and plopping down either side of you, well shit, guess this was your life now, a hood on either arm until you got yourself a boyfriend or chose one of them, you just rolled your eyes and got back to work, you had better things to worry about
