id love to hear your thoughts on randyboy and dally/johnny/pony!
EEEEEEEEEE OKAY LETS START WITH RANDYBOY!!!!!
They are just so similar in my mind. First off, they both go along with their friends due to wanting to fit in, and they go along with their friends despite not comprehending their actions or the reasons behind them. We see Ponyboy wanting to fit in when he's talking about how the gang says real nasty things to girls they don't see often and how he does the same, but we also see his lack of understanding why when he says that he doesn't know why, that's just how it is. From the little we see of Randy, I could also see him having this mindset of wanting to run with Bob and his crew even if he has the sense he's doing something wrong, and at the same time not quite understanding the reasons behind these actions, just that if he doesn't follow along, he'll get left behind. They also strike me as very avoidant. Ponyboy shies away from people and truths that are too 'real,' like how he didn't really like Dally, and how he tends to put people in boxes to understand them better. Randy had to have gained some avoidant tendencies, because he just doesn't seem like the kind of person who could face the realities of what him and Bob were doing and still think he's in the right. Not to mention that there's a lot of better ways Randy could've redeemed himself, like publicly owning up to his mistakes and sharing his realizations about the world like Pony did with his theme, or speaking out about equality and non-violence, but instead he chose to go the hippie route.
And of course, their relationships with Bob and Dally. Narratively, Dally and Bob are literally just each other just with different reasons for being the way they are. I believe the same thing goes for Randy and Pony, both are shown/hinted to have done some shitty things - on different levels - in order to fit in, or simply because they didn't know any better in the moment, and by the end of the book they end up with very similar perspectives, and an understanding of each other. This means that Randy and Bob's relationship parallels Dally and Ponyboy's, and while there are many differences, the core idea is the same: they're close in their own way, they'd never abandon each other, they see sides of each other that few others see, and one follows the actions of the other in an attempt to fit in or gain their approval.
I think that these similarities could either create a very healthy or very toxic relationship, where on one hand they could understand each other and share their similar experiences and collaborate to create a more well-rounded point of view and grow as people, or they could end up just parroting the other's ideas back at them and have very little growth due to how similar they are. This along with the few differences they have, like money, friends, and behavior, could either create a healthy relationship where they see their similarities and differences and grow, or they fight and disagree on their differences while staying firm on the things they do agree on with no change or polishing of their ideals.
Now DalOhNy (I love this name because it sounds like baloney >w<).
One of the main reasons I like this ship is because of how each character fulfills something the others lack. I've touched on in a previous post how Pony is the representation of the hopes and dreams of the greasers. He is the version of themselves they all want to be, where he sees the realities of the world, but has people who care enough to soften the blow, and he also has the ability to make it out of Tulsa. Johnny and Dally lack the hopes, dreams, and ability for more, that Ponyboy has. Johnny is more optimistic and open than Dally is, but we still see that he has very little hope for the future up until his death. What Pony brings to the relationship is a certain lightness; a sense of 'things are not hopeless and we will be okay.'
Johnny brings a balanced view-point to the table. Pony runs from things and people who are too 'real' so he can make sense of things and protect himself, while Dally runs from the idea of pureness and goodness in the world and that's how he protects himself. Johnny is a perfect balance of these things, being able to accept the harsh realities of the world and toughen himself to survive them - unlike Ponyboy - while also being able to see the things that are good and pure in the world - unlike Dally. Johnny, narratively, is the 'perfect person,' being moral but not black-and-white in his viewpoint, realistic but not pessimistic, hardened but not cold. He balances out the extremes of Pony and Dally.
And finally, Dally. What he brings to the table is the selfishness and willingness to do hard, immoral things, that the others lack. Where Johnny killed Bob and sees it as something necessary but also regrettable and haunting, Dally only sees it as necessary. He knows that Johnny had no choice, and he knows that people like Bob don't grow, just escalate. Logically, Johnny shouldn't have to hold any blame and Dally knows that, whereas Johnny simply can't shrug off the guilt. Dally saw the burning church and thought of him and his, whereas Ponyboy saw the church and immediately thought that it was his fault and his problem to fix - an idea that was never resolved in the book. While it was morally right to go and save those children, Ponyboy has a clear problem with putting others first, whereas Dally only ever puts him and his first if he thinks they're in danger. He adds logic and necessary selfishness, where the two younger boys lack it.
All this to say that these three characters sit on wildly different ends of the spectrum, and because of that, their relationship has countless possibilities! Maybe one of them influences the other two to be more like him. Maybe post-canon if they all survive, Johnny teaches Dally how to see the good in the world but Dally's words to Pony after the rumble affect him, and they have to handle a Pony that's more like how Dally used to be. Maybe their differences spark a lot of conflict and misunderstanding and anger, or maybe it sparks learning and growth and healing for all of them! Not to mention that I just like the little we get to see of these three's dynamic.
But yeah! I could round this out with a nice conclusion but I just spent 30 minutes to an hour typing this up and I have another ask I wanna answer, so I won't XD thank you so much for asking me about my thoughts, I had the best time writing this!!!!
A snippet from my most recent one-shot which can be read here
DalOhNy (Dallas/Johnny/Pony and yes I will make this name happen) AU
TW: SH, Suicide, implied SA
Description:
They always meet. They always meet in Tulsa. They always lose each other. That’s the only three constants.
or
Ponyboy Curtis, Johnny Cade, and Dallas Winston meet each other and leave each other in every lifetime.
Over and Over (I Fuck Myself Over)
They always meet. They always meet in Tulsa. They always lose each other. That’s the only three constants.
Pony Curtis adores Jennie Cade. She feels like she’s known the older girl longer than she’s been alive. Jennie just understands her, always knows what to say, and has felt familiar to Pony since the day they met. Like Pony was meeting a part of her soul she hadn’t realized was gone. Pony knows Jennie feels the same way for her. They just know each other.
When Pony Curtis met the third and final part of her soul, she was less welcoming to the older girl. Dal Winston evokes a lot of weird feelings in Pony. She’s familiar, and treats Pony and Jennie with a surprising amount of warmth, and part of Pony sings to her the way it sings to Jennie. But…she just can’t shake the feeling that Dal Winston has the ability to hurt her. It’s illogical, really - Pony knows Dal would never hurt a member of the gang, but anytime she tries to convince herself of that, she gets these odd images. Flashes, really. Of blurry colors and discomforting feelings. Maybe it’s silly, but Pony tries her best not to get too attached to Dal. Besides, what kinda name is Dal anyways? It’s as if her parents couldn’t even be bothered to give her the other half of her name.
Pony Curtis doesn’t know if she regrets not getting closer to Dal, when she wakes up one morning and hears that a group of boys assaulted and killed Dal in the night. Pony Curtis does know that she regrets not immediately going to check in on Jennie, who Pony found a few hours later, bleeding out in the lot with cuts on her wrist.
Was reading a DalOhNy (Dally/Johnny/Pony) fic of mine and realized that I had kinda created a little post-canon universe for them, so here's my headcanons for my post-canon!everyone-lives!DalOhNy AU (said hc's may not hold up in any past or future fics for this AU because I'm forgetful)
They get a two-bedroom one-bathroom apartment together once Pony turns 18. They would've gotten a one-bedroom until they realized that if they have a guest bedroom, they can have it and the couch always available, like how the Curtis parents always let anyone stay at the house.
Pony doesn't work so he never has to worry about being the first to the bathroom every morning. Dally and Johnny try their best to kill each other each morning for hot water privileges while also not waking Pony.
Before my fic I've been searching for someone like you my whole life, Pony was used to waking up alone since he wakes up closer to noon while they're out of the door by 8:30, but after that fic Johnny and Dally buy two big ass stuffed animals. During the night when Johnny and Dally are there, the stuffies are set at the end of the bed, but whenever Johnny and Dally get up and leave for work they slip the stuffies into the bed so Pony wakes up with something there.
Johnny hasn't gotten too much bolder, but he has more of a quiet confidence now, and he will fold Dally onto his ass if necessary. One time Dally tried making a joke about Ponyboy's nightmares in order to lighten the mood and Pony burst into tears and yelled at him for thirty minutes. Then Johnny yelled at him for another 30 and made him sleep on the couch.
Pony is writing a book not dissimilar to The Outsiders. In my universe, canon didn't really happen - or at the very least i've been ignoring it - so Pony took inspo from the world around him and the way he grew up and wrote a fictional story the same way S.E Hinton did for The Outsiders.
They're a no-shoe household. Dally and Johnny couldn't care less, but Pony grew up in a clean household thank you very much and gets upset when they forget to take off their shoes. They try not to forget, since it's such a simple ask.
As shown in When I Tasted Strawberry Mentos, Johnny and Dally work a few more hours than necessary. Buck has done a lot of things, but he's not gonna underpay Johnny and Dally, so they get paid pretty well considering the risk that comes with working there, which means they could easily cut back on hours. They don't because Ponyboy adores getting gifts, and they know it's easier for Pony to remember they love him if he has physical reminders around. This is also why they have so many photos of each other around the house.
Pony doesn't know this, but sometimes Dally says he's working 9AM-11Pm when he's not so he can do an odd job for Tim Shepard that'll pay a bit more than his shift. Johnny is reluctant but covers for him every time. Dally doesn't do anything super illegal or difficult though, since he doesn't wanna risk his boyfriends getting on the police's radar by association.
Touched on in You're my best friends (i love you forever), but none of the boys went through that 'internalized homophobia' moment. Pony silently wondered what God and his parents would think, Johnny kinda worried about his parents, and Dally considered pulling away because of Pony and Johnny's really bad jumping, but they never panicked about being gay and Dally never pulled away.
It's you that I lie with (as the tornado locks in) is one possible ending for my AU, and it's the first ending as well so I'm inclined to say that this is canon and any other possible endings I write are AU's of my AU. We'll see if I write another fic that shows the ending of DalOhNy's lives that I like better.
