#dalpony ship

[puermiles03]

"I wonder if Mrs. Mathews' roof is leaking worse than ours," Darry muttered. At sixteen, he was already nearly as big as their dad, helping haul a bucket over toward the hallway. "That porch of theirs was already sagging last week."

"Oh, I bet Eileen is having a fit," Mom said, a little worriedly. "She hates the thunder. Keith is probably running around trying to catch the rain in his mouth or something silly."

"Two-Bit? Heck, Two-Bit's probably trying to swim down the street," Soda laughed.

Before anyone could answer, the front door rattled violently. Pony didn't jump. He just watched as the door swung open, letting in a fierce gust of wet wind that made the candle flames dance and gasp.

Standing in the doorway, looking like two half-drowned rats, were Dallas Winston and Johnny Cade.

Dally’s white-blonde hair was plastered flat against his forehead, dripping water right into his eyes. Johnny looked even smaller than usual, shivering violently in a soaked denim jacket. He drifted automatically toward the window, looking completely worn out, and sank down onto the floor right next to Ponyboy. Pony nudged his shoulder against Johnny's wet one, a quiet welcome.

But Pony’s eyes didn't stay on Johnny. They went right back to Dally.

Dallas stayed standing in the center of the living room, water pooling rapidly around his heavy boots. His icy blue eyes scanned the room, taking in Darry, Soda, and their parents, until they finally landed on Ponyboy and lingered.

Are you Lonely? I get Lonely too. - @hintonchallenge summerfest "thunderstorm"

[puermiles03]

I did a thing and Idk how to feel about it yet.

Ponyboy wakes up in a cold sweat, the bed empty of Sodapop. He was probably up late talking to Darry about bills they were trying to hide from Ponyboy. He rolls over to try and go back to sleep, but his heart is pounding in his ears like he'd just run a mile sprint. So instead he decides to get a drink of water. When he steps into the living room, the house feels darker and quieter than it has ever been; there are dark droplets on the walls and a metallic smell in the air.

Dally is hunched in the middle of the room, breathing heavy, deep breaths. He stands up slowly, uncurling to reveal he was taller than he normally seemed, taller even, by nearly a foot, than Darry. His dark hair now glowing a platinum blonde in the minimal moonlight coming through the broken door that hangs off the frame. He turns to look at Ponyboy like an owl, ice-blue eyes piercing through the darkness as his head twists around first, followed by his body that unravels until it faces Ponyboy.

Chills race up Ponyboy's arms, and his heart skips a beat at the unnaturally wide smile that splits Dally's face in half. He tilts his head and leans forward to observe Ponyboy with a distinctly satisfied hum.

"Dal?" Ponyboy whispers, dread creeping up from his stomach.

"Pony, did I wake you?" The voice is perfectly normal, a slightly New York-accented drawl coming from Dally, not at all what Ponyboy would've expected coming from this- this thing.

"What- what's goin'on?" Ponyboy's voice is barely audible to his own ears as adrenaline floods his senses. Dally's grin gets impossibly wider, his strangely pointed canines alongside even more canines where there should be molars, Ponyboy notes dreadfully.

"You are no longer grounded. We can be friends again." Dally's voice is tinged with laughter, like he was entertained much more than he'd ever sounded before.

"What'd you do?" Ponyboy can't keep his hands still as his gaze trails over the dark spots again, then down to the pool on the floor, then down to Dally's feet, next to the couch, where an arm was lying just visible around the corner. Bile rises in the back of Ponyboy's throat when he recognizes the friendship bracelet he'd given Sodapop years ago, the one he never took off-

"I made it so we can be friends again." Dally sounds so pleased, like a cat that's left a dead bird on his owner's doorstep, and Ponyboy is sick at the comparison.

"Ain't you happy? I did good."

Think I'm Getting Butterflies, but it's Really Something Telling me to run Away. - Uncanny valley? Au snippet, I have no idea wtf Dallas is supposed to be anymore.

[puermiles03]

Dallas was so busy watching the bright look of amusement that danced in Ponyboy's green-gray eyes that he missed Johnny's growing discomfort- until he snapped, that is- "Leave her alone Dal." 

Dallas's gaze snaps to the meeker teen, startled. Apparently Ponyboy had also missed it, as when Dallas glanced back over at him, he wore a look of open confusion. Eyebrows pushed together and face scrunched as he looked at the dark teen.

"What'd you just say to me?" Dallas doesn't fight to keep the anger out of his tone, leaning forwards to leer down at Johnny challengingly.

He may not have been around for a while, but surely he hadn't been gone for so long that people had forgotten who he was?

Dallas follows the bob of Ponyboy's Adam's apple in his peripheral vision as Johnny takes a shaky breath.

"Just, leave her alone. We wanna watch tha show." Johnny's voice dies down the longer he talks, but to his credit, he does hold eye contact when he's done talking.

Dallas's hands twitch as he fights back the immediate urge that tells him to belt whoever dared to tell him what to do, anger flaring harshly. He lets it leach into his sneer as he leans further into Johnny's face until the younger is ducking away to avoid looking at him. "Ya tellin' me what ta do, Johnnycakes?" 

Johnny doesn't answer, gulping and flinching away minutely.

Dallas wipes his arm against his face as he glances around them, red-hot anger blurring his vision a bit. Ponyboy is still staring at Johnny, all signs of amusement missing from his tense form. He clearly expected Dallas to go after Johnny.

Fuck.

Dallas growls as he leaps to his feet, slamming the seat backwards a few feet and getting the few remaining folk in the crowd's attention. The flamboyantly dressed man and his dapper showgirls have fallen silent now. The two Townie girls and Johnny flinch back at the sound but don't actually look up from their feet.

Ponyboy's eyes snap up to Dallas, head tilting slightly as they make eye contact before Dallas huffs and turns on his heel and stomps off, feeling oddly exposed. His stolen peacemaker burns in its holster on his hip, his fingers twitching again as if to squeeze the trigger as he stalks back towards Gunner, towards the saloon, or even the sheriff's, more than ready to hunt another kind of action.

Come With me, I'll Show you how to Live for Free, Nobody got a Thing on me. - Wild West/RDR2 au snippet

Snippet Saturday!

[puermiles03]

"I wonder if Mrs. Mathews' roof is leaking worse than ours," Darry muttered. At sixteen, he was already nearly as big as their dad, helping haul a bucket over toward the hallway. "That porch of theirs was already sagging last week."

"Oh, I bet Eileen is having a fit," Mom said, a little worriedly. "She hates the thunder. Keith is probably running around trying to catch the rain in his mouth or something silly."

"Two-Bit? Heck, Two-Bit's probably trying to swim down the street," Soda laughed.

Before anyone could answer, the front door rattled violently. Pony didn't jump. He just watched as the door swung open, letting in a fierce gust of wet wind that made the candle flames dance and gasp.

Standing in the doorway, looking like two half-drowned rats, were Dallas Winston and Johnny Cade.

Dally’s white-blonde hair was plastered flat against his forehead, dripping water right into his eyes. Johnny looked even smaller than usual, shivering violently in a soaked denim jacket. He drifted automatically toward the window, looking completely worn out, and sank down onto the floor right next to Ponyboy. Pony nudged his shoulder against Johnny's wet one, a quiet welcome.

But Pony’s eyes didn't stay on Johnny. They went right back to Dally.

Dallas stayed standing in the center of the living room, water pooling rapidly around his heavy boots. His icy blue eyes scanned the room, taking in Darry, Soda, and their parents, until they finally landed on Ponyboy and lingered.

Are you Lonely? I get Lonely too. - summerfest

[puermiles03]

Okay but listen;

Skinwalker ranch/uncanny valley outsiders au

Could do it a few different ways:

•The Curtis's having a ranch with cow/horse mutilations and an odd sense of being watched/hunted that gets worse and worse until it stops being animals that are targeted.

•Ponyboy saw X just that morning, they were totally normal. So why do they now ellicit such a strong sense of wrong? Despite acting and sounding perfectly normal?

•Everyone's hackles bristled when they were around Dallas, breaths getting short and panicked when he'd get angry. Fight, Flight, or Freeze instincts kicking in when he'd look at them. Everybody seemed inn agreement that something wasn't right with him. But Ponyboy couldn't see it. If anything, Dally seemed more interesting than everyone else. He'd rather hang out with Dally any day of the week, so what if it meant nobody else wanted to be around?

•The face of a friend, a most trusted one, calling out in his own voice from the treeline, just barely visible through the trees, beckoning for Ponyboy to come closer, just a little, don't you trust me? But it feels wrong, a sense of unease in Ponyboy's gut making his limbs heavy with protest, why is it so hard to look away? What about this situation is making his heart pound in his ears, rapidly increasing pace until his knees are weak and hid hands shake and his mind is screaming for him to get away.

I have a few more ideas but I wanna flesh them out first.

[puermiles03]

Very curious as to your "found family-ing Rusty James as Dalpony's kid" 👀

I don't write much omegaverse and yet Ponyboy still manages to present Dallas with a child.

[puermiles03]

A faint, dry rustling sound from the brush made him glance sideways. A wild Sentret was standing several feet away, its long tail twitching as it peered at Ponyboy from just beside the low blackberry bushes.

Watching him.

Watching the open Tupperware.

Ponyboy stared back, Phantump shifting her weight cautiously against his neck as the ghost watched the newcomer. After a few moments of quiet silence, Pony reached down and popped the lid completely off the box. He tore off a small, soft piece of the flour tortilla and tossed it over the dirt.

The Sentret darted forward like a streak of brown light, snatched the food in its small paws, and instantly retreated back to the thick cover of the leaves.

A few minutes later, Ponyboy tossed another piece when the small Pokémon crept a little bit closer.

Then another, and another, measuring out the distance between them with crumbs.

The little Pokémon was sitting considerably closer to the edge of the tarp when Dallas finally wandered over, wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his forearm. The Sentret immediately bolted backward several feet into the brush, and Dallas dropped onto the worn canvas with all the grace of a collapsing brick building, an amused smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"You're bribing wild Pokémon again, kid."

Ponyboy rolled his eyes, having long since given up on arguing that he hadn’t bribed Phantump or Hoothoot when they first joined him—they had just chosen to stay because they liked his company. "He's hungry, Dal."

"He's hustlin' ya."

"He's hungry."

Dallas snorted, leaning back against his rucksack as he watched the Sentret cautiously accept another chunk of tortilla from a slightly safer distance.

"See?" Dallas pointed a long, calloused finger, snicker-laughing once the Sentret had retreated with the loot again. "Professional con artist. He knows an easy mark when he sees one."

Ponyboy rolled his eyes harder, fighting the small grin growing on his own face in response to Dallas's rare snicker. "He's a Sentret, Dallas. They don't have syndicates."

"Same thing on the street."

Ponyboy elbowed him hard in the ribs, and Dallas grinned like a true menace as his tired Pokémon slowly began to gather around the shade of the tree.

Finally Free From Chasing Your Love. - pokeverse, pokemon/hintonverse, fic for Summerfest "picnic"

[puermiles03]

Look, Dallas had planned to stay in Tulsa for a few years at the very least, it was a good little podunk town where nobody would think to look for him; he just had to wait until the tides turned one way or another back in New York and he could make another plan come what may.

All his plans got tossed out the window within the week when he came across the tough little greaser being chased through the park by some local richie-rich bastards; he wouldn't have cared too much, he'd seen enough gang violence by now to know this was a regular occurrence, if a bit ridiculously one-sided, but that tough little greaser happened to be real damn easy on the eyes and he was itching for a fight anyway, it hadn't seemed like a big deal in the moment. Jump in, beat up some Soccy fucks, impress the pretty boy, move on.

Or, it wouldn't have been a big deal if the fucks weren't drunk off their asses; drunk folk weren't fun to fight, making up for their sloppiness with unpredictability and disregard for pain. Now, Dallas could roll a drunk damn well, and he could fight one any day of the week, but five? With no backup? That was where things started getting messy.

Put me to the Test; I'll Prove That I am Strong. - dalpony, different first meeting, "runaways"