Well, here it is, finally! In Spite Of The Fact: Chapter 2! ;D

Me and MissSnarkling both hope that you enjoy this chapter. ^^ We've been working really hard on writing future chapters up for you guys, so be prepared for lots more, soon-to-come!

Well, that's pretty much all I have to say. Enjoy the read! :)

Oh, and yeah. I still don't own The Outsiders. Unfortunately.


Pony had gotten home from school not long ago. For once, Dallas wasn't there waiting for him when he walked through the door, which was different. But Pony didn't mind. He saw that Johnny was there instead. And Soda was, too. Though Soda wasn't there for long; in fact, as soon as Pony walked through the door, Soda was walking out. Just a simple, "Hey Pony, how was school?" and he was gone, without even waiting for an answer. Pony smiled at his brother.

"Hey Johnnycake," Pony greeted, sitting next to his friend on the couch. His denim jacket was back on his figure, as the auburn-haired greaser had felt guilty and begged his brothers to let him go return it early that morning.

Meanwhile, Dallas hurried up the front steps, hoping Ponyboy was in the mood to see a movie. He paused for a moment, staring blankly at the door.

Is Pony ever not in the mood to see a movie?

After contemplating this for a moment longer, he shook the thought away and opened the door, stepping through to reveal his two favorite people.

"Hey, there's a new Paul Newman movie in. 'Harper' is what it's called, I think; you two wanna go see it?", he offered. He had decided that maybe the best way to apologize to Ponyboy would be to take him out to a movie. Because, well, it was Ponyboy, after all. Plus, this way, it would be like a date. Johnny wouldn't be bothersome. Not at all. He could even be beneficial, to further illustrate to any curious onlookers that they were all perfectly heterosexual.

Heterosexual. Is that the right word?

Dallas was about to ask Pony, but he decided against it.

"Sure Dally, sounds good," Pony replied, and Johnny agreed with a shrug and nod. Pony supposed it would be nice to spend time with Dally. Even if it was spent at the theatre, with other people all around him. It was better then nothing. And Pony would also get to enjoy the movie, which was an added bonus.

Johnny and Pony both got up and followed Dallas out the door, making their way toward the theatre.

~.~.~.~.~.~

Dallas was glad that they had agreed to see the movie. He knew it must have been a bit shocking, considering he preferred to wait to go to the drive in, but he wanted this to be special. Dally had borrowed some money from Buck last night to pay for the movie, among other things. If his plan didn't work, he might tear his hair out.

But it would. It was simple.

Have a nice day with the guys, and give Ponyboy his gift.

Pony walked silently beside Dallas, leaning on him only slightly.

It was needless to say that he and Dallas couldn't be very... Couple-like, in anyplace public. He didn't mind.

Well… Not much, anyway. It was what they had to do.

The walk was fairly quiet, beside the occasional question about the movie or something of the sort. When they arrived at the theatre, Pony pulled money out of his pocket immediately, though was surprised to find that Dallas had payed for him. He was about to hand his money to Johnny, but Dallas handed them both tickets before proceeding into the theatre.

The two youngest exchanged glances once more. It wasn't normal Dally, though both boys had a feeling that his actions had something to do with what had happened the night before. His uncharacteristic kindness made Pony smile, and he nudged Dally in thanks.

"Thanks Dal," he murmured, and Johnny echoed his words. The blonde nodded curtly at their thanks and they all found seats away from the rest of the movie goers.

Dallas could feel his nerves acting up, and he hoped he wouldn't flip out during the movie. Indoor movies were different from drive in movies. Talking wasn't tolerated, for one thing. Neither was smoking.

The older greaser tapped his foot anxiously as he waited for the movie to start. Relax, he ordered himself. He leaned back into his seat, and quickly afterwards grabbed Pony's hand, causing the shadow of a smile to grace the younger teen's lips. His hands were warm, they always were, and Pony squeezed it once before using his thumb to rub circles in Dally's palm.

Dally looked around, cautiously. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary, which was reassuring.

It was a dark movie theater, people could seriously just fuck off.

I should be allowed to hold Pony's hand if I want to, he reasoned.

~.~.~.~.~.~

When the movie finally ended, Dallas couldn't be happier to stand up and stretch his legs. He also felt like he needed a cigarette, and badly. Seeing a movie was a great idea when your boyfriend likes them; not such a good idea when you can't sit still while around strange people. Dallas didn't immediately register that he still had Ponyboy's hand in his own; perhaps because when you hold hands with someone throughout an entire movie, you just get used to the feeling of their hand being there. When he did, however, he retracted it instantly and looked around regretfully.

Luckily, it appeared as though no one had seen.

… But he couldn't be sure.

"Where to, Dal?" Johnny asked, cautiously, as they got onto the streets.

Dally glanced over at Johnny, and then at Ponyboy before answering.

"We could head over to the Dingo if you guys want too." he said, shrugging.

Ponyboy resisted the urge to make a face, as he lit up a cigarette. He didn't favor that place, not in the least. It was always really obnoxiously loud, and fights tended to break out constantly; not to mention that it could be dangerous at times. So he tended to avoid it.

But Pony figured that he'd go anyway. Dallas enjoyed it; and hell, he had sat through a movie for him, right? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

"Sure, let's go," Pony responded, cig between his lips, and Johnny shrugged in agreement. Johnny had a tendency to follow Dally there on occasion anyway, so it was no problem for him.

Dallas smirked as Ponyboy agreed and he continued leading them to the place in question. Becoming bored with the seemingly endless silence, Dally tried to start up a conversation.

"Socs pull anything at school?" he asked, casually, as they neared their destination. Dallas reached inside his pocket, counting up his money to see how much he had left. He had just enough to pay for the three of them. No big deal.

"They're Socs, they always pull stuff at school," Pony replied, shrugging his shoulders as Johnny nodded silently. It was true. It seemed like there was drama at school every day. Sometimes he wished he could just skip like Two-Bit 'n Johnny did, but having a big brother like Darry kind of shot that possibility in the face.

When Pony saw that Dallas was counting his money again, he nudged him gently with an elbow.

"You got the movie tickets. I'll pay for me 'n Johnny, okay?", he said, tossing his cigarette butt to the ground and pulling his own money out of his pocket before he got an answer.

No, Dallas thought idly, Not okay. Because, you see, that isn't actually part of the plan.

"I got it," Dally interjected, as they reached the Dingo, allowing no room for argument. Pony quirked a brow, but otherwise didn't argue with the older greaser as him and Johnny entered the establishment. Just as Pony had suspected: loud and obnoxious.

"They didn't give you any trouble, did they?" Dallas inquired, deciding to pry further into the Soc conversation.

"Not too much. Just the usual, I'm fine," Pony answered, having to speak slightly louder in order to be heard due to the background noise. He didn't want Dally getting worried over nothing. It wasn't like the Socs were ever going to quit targeting him, or any other greaser. Why bother putting up a fight?

Typical Ponyboy to brush that sort of thing off. It was at times like this when the blond wished more than ever that he could pull his boyfriend into a bruising, minute-long kiss. Just to show everyone who they were really messing with. But he knew that he couldn't do that, and the fact angered him at times.

As they slid into a booth, Dally waited impatiently for service.

"What about you Johnnycakes?" Dallas asked for the sake of conversation. The dark-haired boy hadn't hardly spoke. Not that it was abnormal for Johnny to keep his mouth shut… But still.

"Huh? Oh, I didn't go to school today, but... No, not really," Johnny replied, shrugging. Because he was always with one of the guys when he walked, he wasn't usually faced with any trouble. None that Two-Bit or Dally or one of the other guys couldn't handle, anyway.

Pony on the other hand just loned it; and practically put himself on a platter for some Soc to devour.

Er, devour? That didn't seem like the right word. Cut up, let's go with that.

As often as he could, though, Dallas walked with Pony. Which was some kind of improvement.

After a waitress finally made her way over, Dallas ordered a coke for himself and looked around to see if there were any greasers he was familiar with. There didn't appear to be, unfortunately, and he frowned slightly. When the waitress left with their orders (which Dally didn't pay much attention to) Dallas lit a cigarette, wondering how long it would take for management to get pissy.

~.~.~.~.~.~

The three of them weren't at the Dingo for too long. Probably due to the fact that Dallas had noticed Pony's discomfort and cut their time there short. Which Pony was very grateful for.

Once they had exited the greaser hangout, the three began to walk the street in a seemingly non-targeted, wandering sort of fashion. Pony wasn't sure where they were going next. It would be getting dark soon, so he assumed back to his house. Though, considering it was a Friday, he could conceivably stay out later without getting into too much trouble.

During their random walk through town, Dallas noticed that they were getting dangerously close to Shepard's territory. And while normally that wouldn't be an issue, he couldn't stand to have a run in with anyone and ruin his plan for the night. However, he didn't turn themselves off the path they were on, instead opting to walk quicker, as if they actually had a bigger purpose besides aimless wandering.

Luckily, when they finally started turning towards the lot, the only person that Dallas could see that appeared to be stumbling towards them — and otherwise acting like an idiot — was Two-Bit Matthews. Dallas smirked as the older greaser neared them, loudly greeting them as if he wanted the whole world to know of this chance meeting between good friends.

Pony let a grin come onto his face as Two-Bit came into view, and he laughed under his breath when the redhead shouted out their names. Good ol' Two-Bit. It was very possible that he was drunk, though he wouldn't be too surprised if he was sober. With Two-Bit it tended not to matter. He put up the same crazy antics no matter his state of sobriety.

"Hey, Two-Bit," Johnny greeted, as he came closer, and Pony echoed in a similar manner.

Pony was beginning to notice that they did that a lot. Him and Johnny. One boy would say something, and then other would echo it. Huh. Weird.

"Whatcha doin' out here?"

Dallas looked at the male with the rusty side burns and, after a period of odd silence, motioned for him to answer.

Two-Bit proceeded to make a big deal of pretending to think seriously about what he was doing. "I was at Buck's for a while, when I decided to head on over to your house," he said after a considerable amount of time, pointing at Ponyboy. "What about y'all?"

The youngest greaser shrugged. "Just wandering," he replied, before adding on, "We went to a movie, and to the Dingo,".

"We could probably go with you to my house," he suggested. They had gone pretty much everywhere there was to go that night.

Following Pony's suggestion, Dallas spoke up quickly.

"Actually I was hoping we could go see the sunset in the lot…?"

He looked at his boyfriend with genuine nervousness, asking permission from the teen.

Ponyboy blinked. If he were drinking something, he might have choked on it. Dally's expression was just as unusual as his words had been. Sincere and slightly nervous.

"Yeah, sounds nice," Pony finally replied, with a bright smile, once he had convinced himself that he wasn't merely hearing things. He nudged Dally with his shoulder and leaned on him slightly; something he tended to do often.

Johnny grinned.

Dallas was smarter then he got credit for.

It all made sense now; screw up Pony's sunset, take him to watch a new one. Plus a movie and food, which, even on their own would've been more than enough of an apology for Pony. For whatever reason, Johnny was glad - very glad - that Dallas was going to do this with Pony. He wasn't too sure why. Maybe because he knew that his friend deserved quality time with his boyfriend…

Or maybe because he was happy that Dally was getting to see one himself.

"Well… I guess I'll go with Two-Bit, then."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

After Two-Bit and Johnny had left, Dallas started sauntering over to the lot, enjoying the fact that they were now alone and the day had passed without incident. When reaching the lot and finding a comfortable position to sit in, Dally stretched out, ready to see what the fuss was about with the sunset. Honestly, he didn't expect much.

But afterwards, Ponyboy would receive the gift that Dallas had been saving all afternoon.

Ponyboy just couldn't knock the smile off of his face. It was one of his, "I-can't-believe-this-is-happening" grins.

Pony led Dallas to the same spot Johnny and him had been in the last night; it had the best view. Once Dallas had gotten comfortable, he sat himself down beside him.

He looked up at the sky, taking in its orange-ish hues. It was still far from the horizon, but was slowly transitioning downward, causing the dusky blue sky to melt and morph into a golden-yellow.

Pony moved his gaze over to Dally, and — deciding that there were no people within eyeshot — leaned on him further, kissing him softly for a moment. He was happy to have the opportunity to do so, too. The movie theatre and the Dingo weren't safe places to steal a kiss, even a quick one. No public place was really a safe place.

But here, his lips could linger.

It calmed Dallas, too, as it was hard to go all day without a kiss from Pony. For whatever reason, his kisses tended to pacify him.

Dally looked up into the sky, his lips still tingling, and he attempted to focus on the colors that mixed in the sky.

Dally grabbed Ponyboy's hand, turning away from the pink sky long enough to look into the emerald orbs that could hypnotize the hood in his weaker moments. They were glistening and vibrant, as he gazed at the setting sun.

Facing the orange and purple hues again, he ran his thumb up and down Pony's hand, giving it a small squeeze as he wondered what he should say, if anything. Pony let out a breath. Watching the sun set was so relaxing to him; having Dally there just made it that much nicer. He was wearing no jacket; though this time around... He couldn't say that he was cold.

"This is the best part..." Pony murmured, in a barely audible tone, his dream-like gaze still locked on the colors in the sky. The sun was almost completely down, the bottom of it was hovering just slightly above the horizon. Dally watched the sky intently, not quite sure what to expect. This was definitely a new experience for him, and honestly it wasn't so bad, thus far.

The pinks and purples blended together with the burnt orange color in the sky and danced around the horizon. The colors repeated the process several times, blending and separating before completely dissolving in a golden, mist-like hue, leaving the sky inky and black.

Dallas hummed softly, finding that the end result left a bit to be desired in his mind.

Pony sighed, and his eyes lingered on the darkened sky for a few moments after the color had been stolen away. That was probably the most beautiful sunset he'd ever seen; possibly just due to the fact that Dallas was there, holding his hand throughout every moment.

The emerald-eyed greaser played with Dally's shirt cloth for a moment, tugging on it, before pressing his lips to Dallas' once more, this time for longer then the last occasion. Pony felt so... Good. He felt full of an emotion he could only label as love.

"Thank you," he murmured, against the older greaser's lips after pulling away.

Dallas looked down, avoiding Pony's eyes.

"I have something for you," he whispered.

Pony couldn't help the slight look of confusion that spread across his face at Dallas' words. He followed Dally's hands closely with his gaze as he reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a... Necklace? No, it was his ring. His famous, signature ring, that had been passed around and thrown back at him countless times. He had put it on a chain.

Pony smiled instantly, as Dallas proceeded to drape the chain around his neck, clasping it up and kissing him gently afterwards.

"It's beautiful... I love it. Thank you, Dally," Pony responded, touching the ring — or, pendant, in this case — with his fingers, examining it. He smiled, pressing a short kiss to Dallas' lips again.

Dally smiled crookedly, looking at the dying grass instead of at his boyfriend. The emotion was too... Emotional, for him. He didn't really know how to handle it the right way.

"... Ready to go home?" he asked after a moment of silence passed, standing up. not letting go of Ponyboy's hand yet. He figured he wouldn't need to until they exited the lot.

"Yeah, let's head back," he murmured.

The night had been wonderful. Perfect, even. Well, besides the Dingo, maybe, but that didn't matter at this point. A perfect ending to a day full of school and bothersome Socs.

The two of them walked silently back towards the Curtis residence, images of the sunset still burned into the back of their minds.


Well? What did you think? :)

Reviews are greatly appreciated!

So...

Write one! Pretty please? :D

Also... Don't get used to the happiness that somehow found it's way into this chapter.

It. Won't. Last.