|| child's play
warnings : dally being cute, fluff !!, most likely profanity—it IS dally after all.
authors note : jst needed smth cute y'know? ( not proof read we die like dallas winston )
pairing : dallas winston & random child he found on the streets [ the outsiders 1967/1983 ]
word count : 1.2k
summary : the one time dallas finds himself caring to someone in need.
links : quotev link ; ao3 link ; wattpad link
" children learn more from what you are than what you teach .
it was late. too late to be outside walking around, but far too early to head back to buck's after a fight. more petty fighting, just what fueled dallas' entire life. hands shoved into his jacket's pockets as he stepped out of the convivence store—wasn't that convenient—, he fiddled with the edge of the stolen cigarette box. sometimes it was too easy; he was the only one in the store that late at night too. it was a teenager working though. he supposes that might be the reason.
head tilting down to the street below him, he watched the painted white lines under him, mindlessly following their path. he got lost in his head, and after god's guess of how long it'd been, he lifted his gaze back up, gaze drifting around to see where he had walked off to. it was a random field, the green grass dull against the midnight sky.
thankfully, he knew where he was—he wouldn't necessarily care if he didn't—and he continued on, anger masked by an expression of indifference. jesus, sometimes he just hated buck. and tim. and everyone else that fell into that category. he kicked childishly at the grass he was stomping through, letting out a sharp huff as his brows furrowed.
he skidded to an immediate stop when he saw movement prick the edge of his eyesight. turning to it, he squinted, taking note that it was just some stupid kid. looked young, was probably older than what dally was guessing. with an eye roll and a sigh, he muttered something about it not being his problem under his breath before walking away.
walking a few feet further and hearing footsteps behind him, he paused, hearing the footsteps pause as well, before taking another few steps. the smaller footsteps followed behind him. dallas sighed, tearing a hand through his hair. he turned around, and there it was. the kid from earlier, following his every move. dropping his gaze down to meet expectant brown eyes, widened and all puppy-like, dally squinted at the kid, like he was trying to figure out if it was a threat or not.
who knows—by this age he was already smoking. could never tell who anyone was nowadays. and if the puppy eyes were supposed to work, news flash, they didn't. not on dallas winston. tough greaser, intimidating hoodlum, and complex criminal. he had a reputation to uphold, no way he's letting some kid break it with some big brown doll eyes.
"stop following me, kid," dally spoke, voice laced with annoyance, his words a complete threat. he wasn't gonna hurt the kid, just . . . scare it away. the kid smiled widely, brown eyes only sparkling with entertainment. dallas scowled, "get out of here," he spoke up again, waving his hand in a sort of shooing motion, waiting for the kid to start backing up.
when it didn't, he glared at the younger one. "did'ya hear me?" he was genuinely gonna pick this kid up and toss it aside. he's not letting some child follow him around like he's it's dad or somethin'. when the kid still made no effort to move, dallas rolled his eyes heavily, before scoffing and turning around on his heel to walk away. he was already pissed off and the kid was only making it worse.
jesus, what a crappy day, huh?
when he moved to take a step, he felt a tug on his shirt, and he turned around to see the kid trying to tug him back. "look man, i'm not lettin' you follow me," he snapped, eyes narrowing. turning around once again to try and walk away, dallas suddenly felt a weight on his leg when he attempted to lift it.
"fuck no, get the fuck off." the kid was currently hanging off of his leg, trying to keep dally with him, that, or trying to stay with dallas as he was going to walk away. "get lost!" he exclaimed, half losing control over his temper, and though the kid hung on like dally was the only thing keeping it alive, it flinched slightly at dally's yelled sentence.
gritting his teeth, the brunet sighed, "kid, where are—uh—your parents?" he questioned, merely getting a shrug in response as the kid grudgingly let go of his leg. “seriously?” dallas muttered to mostly himself, running a hand through his hair as he groaned. “look, can you talk, or speak, or anything?” he snapped.
the kid nodded weakly. “yeah,” it spoke quietly. it’s voice was meek and raspy, like a mix of being used too much and not at all.
“great, what’s your name?” dallas said in return, not really caring if he knew it or not–he just figured it might make the kid feel better. he bent down slightly, crouching down so he was eye level with the child.
“andrew,” it mumbled, glancing down at his feet. dally nodded halfheartedly, sighing as he reached out to ruffle the kid–andrew–hair, standing back up.
“well, i hope you can find them,” dally said, the moment of compassion gone with the wind. he smirked at the kid before shifting, moving away and managing to walk a few feet through the grass with no trouble. seems the kid was now leaving him alone, thankfully.
against his fucking will, dallas bothered to glance back, looking over his shoulder. andrew was merely staring down at the ground still, seemingly given up with bothering dally, or finding a place to stay tonight.
dallas almost laughed at the kid, but he shrugged it off, rolling back his shoulders and turning around to go and head off. it’s probably been long enough that he could head back to buck’s.
though before he could take another step, he felt a small splash of water on the top of his head. and a few minutes later, it was downright pouring. rain splashing everywhere, onto the concrete and bouncing back up for a moment. he looked back at the kid once again, and it stood there just like before. doing nothing, like it couldn't before.
“fucking hell,” dally muttered, gritting his teeth as he rubbed at—what looked to be nothing—on his chest. he whistled lowly, the random sound causing the kid to glance up. when dallas made a gesture for the kid to follow him, it’s face lit up, and andrew made an excited sound. something between a ‘yay!’ and a ‘YAY!!’.
“yeah, yeah, whatever,” dally muttered giving the kid a side eye when he noticed him shivering. when he glanced up at dally, the older shook his head. “no. no way kid,” he said, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets,
“it’s andrew,” the younger mumbled.
“sure kid.”
BONUS
dallas walked into buck’s bar, running a hand through his soaked hair, squeezing his eyes shut when some water ran down his face. letting out a sigh when andrew trailed in behind him, dally walked over to the counter, sitting down on a stool.
“hey buck,” he started when he noticed the building owner. “i stole a kid,” he said, jabbing a finger at andrew who was spinning in circles, taking in the room like he’d never been in a house before. maybe he hadn’t.
“sure dal,” buck said mindlessly, glancing up and squinting at andrew—who had made his way over and was currently climbing onto a stool. “‘s that your jacket?” he questioned, gesturing to the leather jacket on the kid’s shoulders and then to the missing jacket on dally.
dally glanced over to andrew like he didn’t know what buck was talking about, trying to get more time to figure out an answer. “ . . . no,” dallas spoke, turning back to buck.
buck gave him a look, and dally shrugged.
“it might be.”
