#acidjam

[hintons-a]

To me you're the mutual I trust implicitly with my ultimate fav pb. You understand him and like him for the same specific reasons, and the care you put into portraying him makes me completely feral. You've also morphed into the nostalgic music mutual, which started as me associating the midnights with you but has now spread to all funky music with similar 80s inspo or a glitchy sound. ily!!!!

🥹🩷 iluuu tooo!!! PB MUTUAL CIRCLE!!

[hintons-a]

29. Confetti :)

confetti ✨photgrapher!pony + mafia!dal (kingdom of thieves au)

the hall is just as big as everything else here in the family's places. ponyboy is starting to feel a little less surprised at it all, and he runs his hand over his camera as he walks inside. he should be taking pictures, he should be documenting this for antonio and yet he's entranced by the display of wealth. that the boy he had grown up with was owed all of this, that his father -- who he was never shy about hating -- was a king in this proverbial kingdom of thieves.

which made a dallas a prince, all in all. one who wasn't as adored as he probably should be and yet, ponyboy can see as people start to fill in for the new year's event, he's still liked. people have his name on their lips, set down presents or gossip in snatches. he can't figure out every word, and yet he knows they don't regard him the same as austin. they don't have the same unease or sometimes, wary need to please.

no, when they talk about dallas, they mean what they say. they seem warmer about him, and he can't really blame them when dallas shows up close to eleven flanked by ace on one end and austin on the other. austin still seems a step behind, halfway lost while ace is confident in his stride, with dallas in the center, moving easily.

ponyboy can feel his eyes drawn to him, can feel his hands move and his camera lifts up and he gets dallas in as many shots as he can. gets the people parting for him, gets him shaking hands or joking with others.

it's only when dallas seems to notice him that he puts the camera down.

(briefly, ponyboy wonders about johnny. if he knew about all this. if this was part of why they had broken up days ago. he could only hear one side of the conversation outside of the phone booth, and it sounded painful.)

dallas smirks at him, and leaves ace by the punch bowl. music is playing and ponyboy feels deeply underdressed in the blue shirt dallas had gotten for him, in the denim jeans that he had put on, unable to get anything fancier at such short notice.

"you staying till midnight?" dallas says, and ponyboy doesn't know what to feel at that sharptoothed smirk, at the way dallas' voice seems lighter than it has been through talks of war. "you thinking about kissing someone?" he teases, and it's a little mean to say given ponyboy doesn't have anyone around here he would do that for.

but then he's a bit mean back when he says, "i dunno, you got someone?"

they both know dallas doesn't. or at least... ponyboy thought so. he realizes otherwise when dallas looks him over in a way that he's seen him look at other girls before johnny ever entered the picture, and his ears grow red.

(it wouldn't be right, he thinks. it's been days and he doesn't think a kiss is just a kiss to him. and yet, he thinks about what it would be like for a split second, confetti falling, bottles popping and dallas leaning close enough to kiss.)

[hintons-a]

15 + 19 for end of the year asks :)

15. something you learned this year

i learned that if you keep writing in lowercase, it teaches google docs to ignore all spelling rules. so i have to be careful about that -- i might be writing everything in proper case from here on out orrrr transforming it to lower case in the future 😩

i also learned a lot about how ao3 works wrt posting and also how to use the report button bc ppl treat ao3 like social media for some goddamn reason???

therapy helped with this one: sometimes it's fine to be a part pantser, part plotter. i used to really get upset with myself if i couldn't keep to my outlines but after a couple of good outcomes? that's fine if i don't totally stick to it.

19. any new fics to start next year

just updated fire in the sky since i plan to be in bed on new years. that thing keeps trucking -- i have at least five chapters locked and loaded.

i do have some fics i'm working on that are new, the main ones being from trampsverse: dallas meeting austin for the first time; the fall out of and so eden sank to grief; the winston extended family universe. i also have the beginnings of the follow up to a little less conversation (a little more action) out there.

i have this snippet from the dallas and austin fic:

Dallas takes a drag of his cigarette and leans back. "So that's it," he repeats. "You just beat up a bookie and stole money from a guy with a shit temper who hates being stolen from and who put a hit out on you. That's it. Real breezy." The sarcasm is thick, switching to angry. "Listen, I don't know what shit you've heard but you can't just breeze in and get away with any of that shit around here. You don't touch a hair on a bookies head like that unless you own that bookie—"

"He owed me my share!" Austin raises his voice. "That bookie was just trying to try and stiff me, and I wasn't going to just let him!"

Usually, people might argue back before falling back. They know Austin's right.

That's how the script is supposed to go.

That doesn't happen here.

[hintons-a]

19 - vanilla

vanilla / the otherside

there's only one place in union to get food: the general store. dallas doesn't like coming here, but he hates sending ponyboy into town himself to get it. they're both wanted, he knows that. it still feels stupid to just have ponyboy go alone and worse still, is coming with him, dallas thinks.

he always prefers to let ponyboy lead at the store for the things they need. for a kid who probably did very minimal cooking before he ran off with dallas, he knows his way around it well enough. dallas watches as he pulls down various things, hunting for things for christmas. not that dallas cares about that either; it's just a holiday, of no real consequence most of the time.

most.

he likes what ponyboy decides to cook (minus the cookies), he likes the fact that they don't need any farm hands, he likes that it's generally quiet. he doesn't give a rats ass about the rest of it, from the candy canes to the lights to the little brats running around the store excited.

"dal?" ponyboy tugs him out of his thoughts, and dallas looks to him, at the way his hair is halfway shoved back from his forehead, the rolled up sleeves. the overalls are still a bit big on him, but as soon as he gets dallas' attention, he points. "can you grab the vanilla? i ain't tall enough."

"yeah," dallas moves, grasps the bottle from the shelf just out of ponyboy's reach and drops it in the basket. there's laughter from another aisle and he can't help but grouse, "you almost done?"

"yeah, just wanna grab a comic book," ponyboy looks to where they are and dallas heads on over himself. he can guess which ones ponyboy wants, grabbing the conan and spider-man ones easily. he throws them on the counter when ponyboy brings up the basket.

he thinks the store owner looks a little too close at ponyboy and dallas gives him a venomous look from above ponyboy's head. the man's eyes drop to ponyboy's neck -- still dark red from that morning -- and hastily rings them out.

he doesn't relax until the town is in the rearview mirror, feeling ponyboy squeeze his hand as they put miles between them.

they're only so safe, dallas thinks. they'll only be okay for so long, and the more cautious they are, the better.

[hintons-a]

25. The bus :)

the otherside / soc au

"you that kid?"

ponyboy blinks, pulls his nose out of the book. "huh?"

"that you on the bus?" the hood insists. he seems vaguely familiar, a scar on his face. ponyboy follows where he's pointing, and he feels the blood drain out of his face. the bus is across the street -- not the one he's waiting for. and emblazoned on it is an ad for that stupid television movie everyone's been buzzing about. the one that was based on him and dallas -- starring steve randle.

he looks like a bad funhouse mirror version of ponyboy, hair styled the way it had been in the photos his family had around. he's supposed to look wide eyed, young, and instead he just looks like he's forcing his eyes open and his mouth is in an unnatural set. he's between an actor clearly meant to be like johnny and another that's supposed to be dallas and it's galling to see it, to see someone try to be them in the worst way.

the hood drawls out, "ain't think it's that good a pick."

the actual bus he's looking for pulls out and mercifully there's no advertisement of the movie on the side. ponyboy still feels sick as he shuts his book, standing up stiffly to embark.

[hintons-a]

Dallas + attic!

What is the character afraid of?

dalls is pretty invincible as a person, except emotionally. fucking up his interpersonal relationships. all he's got is the gang, and he can't stand the idea of messing up his relationships with them particularly since he's well aware he's very much like his father, texas. he's also afraid of their environment messing them up -- primarily, at least in my fics, pony bc pony's youngest. but that's generally folded in.

How do they deal with bad memories?

dallas is really good at compartmentalization. he folds it up, stores it in the back of his brain and generally leaves it alone. however, that can fester really badly at times which can result in him being restless or temperamental. (i mean. more than usual.) he also tends to accept reality as is so it doesn't bother him the way it bothers others at times.

What is this character’s role in a horror movie?

he's the monster; he's the minotaur in the middle of the maze staring down theseus. i could also see him as the introduced as bad boy red herring character who lasts right until the final girl (or in this case final boy) has to be the last one to stand. could even be a mix here where he's a victim turned poltergeist, or he's been corrupted by the monster to turn against everyone else -- until it turns out he kept his head enough not to.

anything other than simply human.

How do they hide their secrets?

looks @ "and so eden sank to grief". well. carefully. this makes me think of a convo i had last night where all he had to do was ask and ponyboy stores his bail money in the family bible and how that would make mrs c angry.

in a more less literal level, he keeps them close to his chest -- emotionally at least, he's pretty open about his feelings so keeping something secret takes a little more care. other things, he generally keeps tucked deep in his brain (he has so many secrets he's not telling like his father's true name or that he has a brother) or out of sight (putting things in garbage bags and putting them beneath the sink; tucking things beneath the bed or a floorboard; keeping spare fake ids in the glove compartment). he also tends to trust ponyboy with his secrets whether it's asking him to hide things for him or telling him at night, when they're alone. (and really, there's a long running joke with @monstrology that dallas and ponyboy have a title ix relationship where if you disclose one thing to one of them, you're technically telling both of them bc they're gonna talk about it at the dinner table)

the secrets he can't tell ponyboy he keeps very closely in. he exercises some manner of separation between things he does for the mob -- he never tells pony details bc he knows cops will get him for that. there are things he'd like to say but knows better than to do so and he keeps other people's secrets pretty well -- unless there's a reason not to.

Which of the Seven Deadly Sins does the character relate to most?

lust and pride. the man is horny and if he sees what he wants, he'll shoot his shot ASAP. (which is why my outline for fire in the sky imploded lmfao) he also is someone perfectly comfortable in his body and his wants and if that's a sin, so be it. pride too bc dallas has nothing else in this world, really, except himself. why wouldn't he feel that sin to his very core?

[hintons-a]

15 and 8 :)

15. When was your first concert? 

literally my birthday weekend in 2013. i saw sigur ros for the first time and it was essentially a religious experience and i like, cried. which given the incredible setlist, it’s amazing i didn’t sob more. 

8. Favorite quote or song lyrics?  i have a lot of these but lately i’ve been hooked onto bastille and glory: And then you put your hand in mine / And pulled me back from things divine / Stop looking up for heaven, waiting to be buried

[white2tea]

Arbor white #whitetea #acidjam #white2tea