*waves hand* this is the disclaimer you are looking for

One night around midnight, Ponyboy woke up and could not fall back asleep. So he meandered out of bed and sat in the living room, staring out the window at the street. Suddenly a dark shadow raced past, and Pony stood up quickly. Was he seeing things?

Then, the door was thrown open and who else could stride right in than Dallas Winston.

"Hey kid." He said, heading for the kitchen, "Why are you up?"

Ponyboy followed him, "Woke up and couldn't fall back asleep." He watched Dally as he bustled around the kitchen, grabbing out the toaster, butter, and some bread. Strange.

"Uh, Dally?" Pony asked.

"Hm?" Dally put two bread slices in and looked over his shoulder at him.

"What are you doing?"

"Well you're big brother says the gang is totally allowed to crash in your house, correct? What does it look like I'm doing? Roasting gorillas? I'm making toast. Kapish?"

"Oh." Pony said quietly, "Well, that's fine and all, but...why toast?"

"I'm using it to fight Shepard." Dally took the toast out and buttered it, "Seriously, Pony? I'm sleep deprived and hungry, and my place is out of bread, so darnit, I'm making toast!"

"Gee whiz, don't get your knickers in a twist." Pony mumbled to the floor.

Dally grabbed a beer out of the fridge and sat down at the table. He opened the beer with one twist and took a sip, then took a giant bite out of his toast and chewed. "I did get in another fight with Tim last night." Dally remarked with his mouth full.

"What over, Dal?" Pony asked, sitting down at the table.

"Eh, I accidentally busted his tires. Again. And he, uh, saw me do it. I ran like hell, man, but I guess he caught up and caught me down an alley." Dally munched on his toast. "Speaking of fights, what happened to your lip?"

Ponyboy sighed. He'd split his lip yesterday. "Me and Soda were moving some furniture, and I tripped over something backwards."

Dally snickered, "Real tough."

Pony rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I know."

"At least you didn't knock any teeth out."

"Yeah, that's what Darry said. Two-Bit laughed when he found out, but then again Two-Bit can make a laugh out of anything." Pony said, giving a small smile.

"Well, I'll be off." Dally said, standing up and brushing the crumbs off his jacket and onto the floor, "See ya, kid."

"Yeah, see ya Dal," Pony remarked as he left. "I best clean this up," He said to himself, chuckling, "Or else Darry just might have a field day."