My Friend, My Hero
A tribute to Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston
"Hey Kid, what are ya doin' 'round here?" The smaller boy looked from the starry sky to the gruff looking boy with the New Yorker accent.
"J-Just sitting here…" He mumbled quietly, making the other boy growl.
"What's your problem? I'm not tat scary lookin' am I?" The boy shook his head and looked at the ground of the lot. "Who are ya?" The tough looking boy asked the other, shy one.
"Johnny Cade."
"Johnny Cade, huh? Like I said, I never seen you 'round these parts before. Ya can't be a Soc by the way you're dressed, so whatcha doin' here?"
"I just found the lot earlier. I came here to get away from my parents."
"Why would ya wanna do tat?" Johnny stared even harder at the ground and didn't even notice the new boy getting annoyed. "Well?"
"My father's drunk and my mothers in a mood again." He answered simply before staring at the sky again. Dallas frowned. That boy should be lucky he even has parents that get drunk to be angry at. He knew kids back in New York that were all on their own and loosing the fight.
"Do they hit ya or somethin'?"
"Why should I even be answerin' you?" The young boy asked harshly.
"I'll take that as a yes." The new boy muttered to himself before sitting down next to Johnny.
"You never told me your name," Johnny stated.
"Dallas Winston." Johnny looked at Dallas with a mixture of confusion and fear. This boy was the Dallas Winston? The Dallas Winston who was sent to the cooler at the age of ten? That Dallas Winston? "Surprised?" Johnny didn't move for a minute until the boy raised his eyebrow.
"Kinda," he admitted. "I figured you'd be bigger." Dallas made a meh sound before laying down on the cool grass of the lot. Johnny hesitantly laid down on the grass as well and soon, he was drifting in and out of sleep. Dallas could give this kid one thing… He has something about him, he couldn't help but be drawn in by.
"Hey, Johnnycakes," he heard the ex-convict mutter. "Don't fall asleep if you're going to go home tonight." Johnny just shifted.
"I'm not going anywhere tonight, but asleep." He heard the other boy scoff, but ignored it and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
&&
"Yo Dally! Dallas!" His eyes shot open and he shot up in surprise. "Did you sleep out here last night? Are you mad!?" He looked over and seen the blond member of his new passé –Or group of friends as he'd admit someday- before glancing beside him. "You said you were coming over last night. Pony and I were scared you got jumped or something come about 2 or 3! Why did you come out here! And who is that kid?"
"What time is it?" Dallas asked, ignoring the blabbering blonds questions. He sighed and shrugged the sleeve of his jacket up his arm to see his watch.
"5:35 sharp," he answered, before looking back at the smaller boy beside them. "Who's the kid? He looks younger then Ponyboy," by this time, Johnny was starting to wake up. Whoever this new voice was, certainly wasn't the silent type.
"Johnny Cade," he murmured again to the new voice.
"He a friend of yours, Dally?"
"You could say that." Dallas said before standing up and stretching his stiff muscles. "Johnnycakes, this is Sodapop." Sodapop nodded his head and stood up himself.
"Soda, did you find him?" Johnny looked over his two new… friends to see a boy with dark hair and a large teenage boy running toward them, he was going to shy away, but Dallas and this Sodapop weren't doing much of anything, so they couldn't be bad news.
"He's right here Ponyboy. I told you he probably would be here."
"You gave us 50 places, Sodapop." The bigger teen said coolly, but with slight humor. His tone reminded Johnny of how Dallas' had been last night. Sodapop grinned and everyone else at least cracked a smirk.
"Aw… Look at all the slimy little greasers in one spot…" They all turned to the voice. There, on the side walk was a group of maybe 6 boys… older boys at that.
"Wha'da ya want you low down dirty little sons of a–"
"Shut up, Dallas." Darry said, standing in front of the younger boys. Dallas glared at him, but otherwise shut his mouth. He hated to do it, but he listened to the eldest Curtis boy. "What are you doing around here, Richard?" The redhead shrugged, and slightly coward under the glares of Darry and the apparent leader of the gang.
"You guys should really try watchin' your back, Greasers." They all turned around, just in time to see someone nail Johnny, square in the face. Darry managed to grab Sodapop, as he lunged for the Soc that had hit the poor boy out of no where, but he missed his second target.
Dallas Winston.
He ignored the calls from his friends as he continued to beat his fists into the face of the higher class boy again and again. He had to be physically removed by Darry and Soda before he'd even so much as breathe. Despite how cool they'd been, the boys grabbed their bloodied up friend, turned west, and fled with their tails between their legs.
"What the heck do you think you were doing! You just attacked that kid when we were out numbered!" Darry growled.
It was obvious to Johnny at this point that if he stuck around with these people, it would never be a dull moment. Darry and Dallas jumping down each others' throats and Sodapop cracking jokes and laughing at Darry and Dallas fighting… It would certainly be interesting…
"Why don't we all go back home and we'll get mum to bake us a chocolate cake!" Ponyboy said, breaking up the racket. It was, after all, only about 6 in the morning. Dallas and Darry, looked at Ponyboy before nodding, then continuing to glare at each other. Sodapop jumped for joy, before declaring a race to their house and darting off in the right direction, leaving Dallas and Johnny alone on the lot once more.
"Are you commin' kid?" Dallas asked, just as he was about to run off. Johnny nodded and walked over to him.
"Dallas?" He said quietly as he stood in front of the Curtis household. "Thanks,"
I was tired of all the sad JohnnyDallas friendship fics, so, this is before they met. Still... not hyperly happy, but better then talking about them dying! R+R