another abo fic? from me? it's more likely than you think. this is a canon divergence where johnny died, canonically.

he smells them before he sees them, familiar and welcoming even out here. he doesn't move from his spot at the door, fingers gripping a cup of coffee. there's no need to acknowledge them just yet, and he has a job to stick to. instead, he keeps an eye on the bar, still making sure that no one pulls a stray bill from the till; looking at the stage to make sure no one was climbing up to be rowdy; checking the exits to make sure they were clear; and back to the floor, as people danced, mingled, watching for any exchanges of drugs or money. he lets their scents mingle, and settle, until he finally hears his name: "darry!"

heads turn instinctively, and he's sure a few faces are blatantly interested, give who the voice belonged to. he turns last, and a smile spreads on his face at the sight that greets him. "hey, kiddo," darry opens up his arms and allows his brother to pull him into a gripping hug. he doesn't linger as much as usual; he's still working after all. pulling back, he takes a good look at his auburn hair. not greased, longer than usual, and there's an earring in his ear. he's a little taller than before in that way that most of them grew a little more after they hit eighteen, and the neon lights from the bar reflect in the lenses of his glasses. "i thought it'd be a couple more hours before you got here."

ponyboy wrinkles his nose behind his glasses, "nah, i let dally drive the last few miles." he looks around the rowdy bar, curious, "how long you got til closing? we can stick around here, ain't no skin off our nose."

"two more hours," darry says, ruffling his hair. he can see dally stride in, eyes nailed firmly to his brother, "you and dally can drink on my tab, no sense in charging you."

ponyboy grins, and darry decides to let dallas glare at the alphas who've so clearly scented him. even for this place, he looks rough enough, with hair almost past his shoulders, disdain obvious on his face, earrings in both of his ears, that wrist cuff ponyboy got him covering the scar still. he gives the other man a nod, saying, "how you doing dallas?"

dallas gives a friendly enough sneer, "never been better. not a bad dump."

darry chuckles, and lets them take their time to get oriented to the club. for its place, tucked into a corner of new mexico, it's not bad. the neon lights glitter, the booze is fine for what it was with only bits of exceptional tastes, the music good when it was live and sometimes even when it wasn't. dallas and ponyboy pick a table close to the bar, and sure enough, they both order beers on darry's tab.

the night's mostly easy from there. he breaks up two fights, fires one of the staff and the music continues to be good. he sees ponyboy sharing a cigarette with dallas at one point, dancing on the floor with each other enough that darry prefers to look away, and later, dallas trying to ease him into his lap, both of them enjoying themselves. he turns a blind eye when dallas kicks the knee out from an overzealous alpha sniffing around long enough to make sure that when the alpha passes him, darry can shove him right out the door with the rest of the last call.

then the bar lapses into a different kind of sound after that: guitars and equipment being put up, places being cleaned, mops being pulled out, the volume level from before now blissfully gone. ponyboy is reading something aloud, cigarette in hand, when darry sets down his chair, placing down his last cup of coffee on the scratched table. dallas seems to have gone back to the bar for another round, and darry takes the time to say, "how's my kid brother doing?"

pony hums, sets the book down, tapping out some of the ash. "not bad, dar. i thought about coming to see you at home, but i ain't ever get to see you working." he takes a pull from the last bit of beer, looking mischievous as he did at twelve as he does at twenty. "thought it'd be a little rowdier."

darry gives a huff of a laugh. "my job is to make it clean, make it a place people want to go to for fun, not die. i'm not doing a good job if it's rowdy, now." he takes a sip of his coffee, savoring the bitter taste, and continues as dallas comes back with his own drink. "how long you guys staying for?"

"bout two days," dallas answers, taking the cigarette from pony. he takes a drag, brows furrowed together as he does it, puffing out smoke as he speaks, "i got some shit to do, and pony's got an exam next week that i ain't keeping him from. i'm not aching to let you take a swing at me if he graduates late." ponyboy rolls his eyes, but dallas isn't wrong in this. dallas takes a seat again, and darry has several questions he knows that he won't ever get the answers to.

instead of seeking answers, he takes a swig of coffee again, then sets it down. "i'll go have a talk with the boss of this, pick up my check, and you can follow me to where i'm staying." dallas gives a nod in reply, and darry makes his way up the steps.

in no time, he's got the check he needs, and walks them both out of the door. ponyboy tucks the book back in his pocket, dallas draping an arm around him as they follow him out into the cold night air. darry still catches a bit of that mischievous look on ponyboy's face, and wonders what he's up to.

he won't find out for awhile, climbing into the car, turning it on and heading out. dallas follows in that loud car of his, driving barely any better at twenty-three than he had at seventeen. it's probably just because there's almost no one out at this hour, and he has to tell himself not to worry about ponyboy in the passenger seat as he drives them out to the place he's staying. it's not bad; just an old farm house, and when he parks besides it, dallas isn't far behind.

they all get inside, ponyboy pushing his glasses up his face as they go. "you want anything to eat? i was just gonna fry me up something quick before bed."

"got any bacon?" dallas looks around, ponyboy already toeing off his shoes. "scrambled eggs too, if you got 'em."

"pony?"

"just chocolate cake for me, dar," ponyboy pads into the living room, peeking in the other rooms. just as darry expects, the instant he sees the bookshelf on the wall, he wanders into the living room completely, leaving dallas and darry walking to the kitchen.

it's not uncomfortable; dallas looks around just enough to assess things, and when darry opens the fridge, he throws himself at the kitchen table, shrugging off the jacket he wears. "how much you renting this place for, or does it come with the job?"

darry pulls out the skillet, "about $450. i've been doing repairs on it, so they might knock off some money if they like it enough." dallas grunts in response, still clearly impressed enough by the place. "least i can do when i get bored during the day or can't sleep." the stove turns on quick and easy, and darry puts the pan on. "you and pony doing alright?"

"sure, man," there's the sound of a match being struck behind him, "we're always fine. just don't expect him to be awake enough to eat that cake. kid's been exhausted — i had to make him get in the fucking car for this trip before he drove me nuts." there's a note of irritation that's unique to dallas and makes darry snort as he cracks eggs into the skillet. "he'll probably talk your ear off in the morning about that omega you're bringing here."

now that gets darry's attention, turning with surprise to look at dallas' smug face, cigarette clamped firmly in his mouth. "how— she ain't been here in a few days." there's nothing, logically, to be embarrassed about. it's just the fact that darry hasn't dated in years, and it was something he at least wanted to approach carefully. "did you—"

"you know me, darry," his tone is mocking, tapping his nose, "i scent better than you."

turning back to the skillet, darry has to bite his tongue on that one and get to the eggs. "she might come over, might not. she's got her own business to take care of." a kid, he means. she's got a kid she was serious about, and having him hang out around dallas probably wasn't something she'd like. "what's ponyboy got to worry about, just midterms?" he scrapes the spoon against the skillet, not wanting to have dallas linger on the topic of her too long.

chair scraping the kitchen floor, dallas huffs. "midterms, a couple of papers. he's getting a lot of shit on his plate right now. should be fine enough by the time it all winds down but you know me, clark kent. that ain't my kind of thing." his fingers thrum the table. "he'll tell you about it later. all i do is make sure he's got a house to do it all in, and doesn't have to worry about losing his damn glasses around the house."

there's a shared laugh there, and in no time, darry puts bread in the toaster. he slides it down, and goes to find ponyboy. like dallas predicted, ponyboy is in the living room, asleep on the couch. his glasses are halfway down his face, a book on his stomach. carefully, he closes the book, puts a duvet on him and goes back to the kitchen where dallas has popped open a beer.

there's always a prickling feeling that darry still gets about dallas. if he had to pick someone from the gang to be with ponyboy, it would have never been in a million years have been dallas. even if they don't say it, darry can tell that whatever business he has, it's dangerous enough that if ponyboy knew, they'd both be in trouble. he knows men who share the same life as dallas, who are dangerous, who are cutthroat. he knows that maybe if ponyboy wasn't with him, he'd be in a jail cell or somewhere worse. he still doesn't quite understand their relationship at all, but he knows that ponyboy is good with dallas, safe, even. they love each other in a way that darry wasn't ever going to get in the way of.

a pile of warm toast goes on a plate, and he sets it and the butter between them. "so," dallas pulls a slice towards him, going for the butter, "you still never explained why you took up this job. all that damn money in construction, and you became a bouncer?"

"wasn't really my money, was it?" darry replies, fork breaking up his bacon, folding it into his eggs. "they like my labor, ain't like paying me fair. my body and my wallet can take this job better than i could ever take construction." he pulls a piece of toast from the stack, buttering it up as dallas tears into his food. "it got me outta tulsa, too. i can't be too upset about that."

a grunt leaves dallas as he pulls at his toast, fingers wrapping around the cup of water he got for himself. darry can't tell what he's thinking from here, his eyes dark beneath the kitchen light, his hair falling over his eyes in that way that darry thinks of him as dangerous. he wasn't ever afraid for himself with dallas, but that look, he knew what it could do to others, and how ponyboy didn't seem to see it. he might have another opinion on what he's said; whatever he decides, though, darry doesn't know. "and you leave, once you're done cleaning up here?"

darry knows a trap when he sees it. his fork scrapes his plate in response, and dallas smirks in reply.

once they're done, darry directs him to the spare room — the one without her scent. he lingers for a moment, watching dallas do what he used to do: shaking pony's shoulder, telling him he'd be moving him, seeing ponyboy curl up close to dallas. except it's wholly different here, the intimacy of dallas crooning to ponyboy in the living room, the kiss he presses to his forehead when he lifts him up. darry goes into his room, shuts his door before he can see more. that's not meant for him; as much as he doesn't quite understand them, their intimacy is for them, and them alone.

he takes off his shoes, and only turns the light off after he hears dallas shut the door to the guest room and the bed groan with their combined weight. he thinks about soda, his other brother, and once he gets his jeans and shirt off, puts on the pajama pants he still needed to replace soon, he rolls into bed, and gets to bed.

"hey, don't—"

the door bangs open and darry is bewildered when a small hand is shaking his shoulder. he grunts, rolls over and looking down at him, with one eye patched up, is nathan. he blinks, gives a half sleepy smile, and reaches out, "hey, little man. i didn't know you were coming over."

the kid grins at him, his one good eye bright. "momma said it was a surprise!" darry wonders what on earth that really meant; nate tended to have a bit of a different viewpoint than his mother at six years old. he still pulls nate to him as he sits up, careful as he does it. he ruffles his hair, and in comes molly, looking about as red as her hair in embarrassment. the rest of her looks good though: a yellow patterned dress, hair half pulled up, and as he takes her in, he realizes that it's the first time he's actually seen her in a dress and not oil stained jeans. "well, morning to you, molly."

"it's noon, actually," molly says, still embarrassed. "i— i didn't know you had company over, and i— we were going to surprise you?" the note hangs awkwardly in the air, and darry can't help the warmth he feels at that.

darry pushes the covers off of him, grateful he'd put on pants last night. "we still can, i promise. my brother came over with his mate last night." it's so much earlier than he wanted to have any of this happening, and darry can feel himself fluster a bit. molly seems to flounder too for a moment — she'd had plans too. both of them hit that weird moment they've had on and off, where they flounder on new territory, not sure how or what to do next. proceeding with a woman who he hadn't known long, with her son he was starting to get to know, in a town he didn't plan on staying in…

"think, that, uhm," molly glances at nathan, "they'd be okay with lunch out in the meadow?"

"we could ask, 'em," darry hefts nathan up, standing up fully. he feels he almost stands up too quickly, not wanting to scare molly. he's well aware he's bigger than her, wider than her, and that flustering, off kilter feeling spreads as he looks down at her. to compensate, he keeps his voice soft, "i don't think they'd be mad at it."

molly looks at him, and then she smiles at him in that sweet way that made darry want to approach her all those weeks ago, the way it dimples her cheeks, the warmth there that had made him fumble and start. "okay, sure. i can take him," she reaches out for nathan, "you can wake them up. meet us in about… twenty minutes?"

"twenty sounds real good," darry smiles back, and then molly is walking nathan out, her cheek nuzzling his head. darry looks after her, her scent still just right, and then he has to fight himself to figure out how he's going to do this.

he goes to the guest bedroom, knocking cautiously. there's a grunt, then ponyboy opens the door, scrubbing at his eyes. he reeks of dallas in a normal way, and darry thanks his stars for that. he reaches over to rub ponyboy's hair, grinning when ponyboy swats at his hand in that annoyed, little brother way. "hey, kid. you sleep okay?"

"mmph," ponyboy grunts in response, "somethin' goin' on, dar?"

"yeah, i got, uh, company who wants to know if we want to do lunch with her," he says the words carefully, the tips of his ears feeling a little pink as he says it. ponyboy seems to take a moment to parse it, which darry uses to his advantage, "she and her son want to go have a little picnic with us."

ponyboy blinks, and then his face lights up. darry hasn't seen him light up like this in some time, and ponyboy hisses out, "i knew it! i knew it— yeah, darry! i'll wake up dallas — soda and i knew it —" a muffled sound comes from dallas on the bed, and ponyboy pulls darry into a hug.

it's too soon, really. darry knows that. it still feels good to hug ponyboy like this, to see his excitement that after all this time, darry is with someone, he wants to be with someone. maybe it's not permanent but it's a change. a good one, maybe. he drops his cheek onto ponyboy's hair, squeezing him back.

then he let's go, "ten minutes, we need to get dressed. no fooling around, you get me?" he raises his voice, directing it towards dallas who's sitting up with a pissed off look on his face, which just means it's an ordinary day. "none."

"i get you, go," ponyboy pushes him out, shuts the door and darry heads over to his room. he takes a quick shower, spending a scant few minutes on his hair longer than normal. he knows that molly doesn't mind it; she's always said as much, and yet he still needs to pay attention to it. he picks the simplest shirt from his stack of clothes, changes into a pair of jeans he'd ironed days ago, and he's putting on his belt when he hears ponyboy throw open the door to his room and go down the hallway.

"anyone seen my shoes?" he calls out, of course.

at the same time, he and dallas say, "in the living room!" there's the sound of ponyboy entering it, and once darry finishes with his belt, he checks himself one more time in the mirror. he looks like himself: twenty-six, with a tan, face hopeful for whatever this picnic is going to bring. he takes a breath, tells himself that the nervousness he feels can be worked through.

then he puts his feet in his boots, opens the door, and falls behind dallas. he's barely gotten his hair into something decent looking, his leather jacket thrown over his shoulders.

"hey, dal," his hand lands on his shoulder, and the greaser glances over to him. darry doesn't like saying this — airing out molly's business isn't his thing to do, but it's the right thing for this unexpected moment. "she's — molly ain't had that good of an experience with alphas before me." he keeps his voice quiet, and he hopes it doesn't sound pleading, just sensible. "let pony introduce you first."

it's not the first time that a meeting of two different people has been helped by a willing, comfortable omega, and not the last. "yeah, sure," dallas shrugs, and darry relaxes.

that settled, they walk into the living room and darry pretends not to notice dallas slapping ponyboy's ass as he goes to the front door. he picks up his keys, and beckons them out, "it ain't far from here, we can walk."

locking the door behind him, he takes one more breath and then leads them down the road. this place is pretty: rolling, green hills, flowers here and there, with some of the stock from other farms grazing casually. he points out a few places as they walk, dallas looking with some interest, ponyboy already with his nose in a book as they talk. he or dallas yank ponyboy in the right direction a time or two, until they finally find the meadow.

it's as gorgeous in noon as it was when darry had first come: it's wide, with flowers surrounding it on one side, a bit of trees on the down slope to the river. in the center is molly with nathan, who's sitting solemnly with her, his eye focused on molly as she tells him something, a picnic basket beside them, half open. the wind picks up a little, lifting both of their hair, her red and his brown. it carries their scents, and she glances up.

darry smiles at her, awkward and a little lopsided, but with a good feeling. ponyboy nudges him a little at his side, and darry thumps his back. they go down the hill, with ponyboy reaching molly and nathan first.

"hey," molly smiles at him, offering her hand, "i'm molly! are you sodapop?"

that's an instant way to win over ponyboy, grin coming up bashful, shaking his head. "no, i'm ponyboy," he shakes her hand, just as polite as ever, "nice to meet you, molly." nathan perks up beside him, and darry doesn't exactly want to say he used ponyboy as an example to nathan before in their little talks. "who's this little guy?"

"i'm nathan," he says his name just as seriously as the first time he met darry, and dallas brings up the rear, slow. he hangs back the way darry asked, hand going in his pockets. nathan offers his own hand, still scarred, to ponyboy, and he grins toothily when pony gives him a shake.

molly's eyes flicker over to dallas, and then back to ponyboy. she has that nervous tick of her hands fluttering in her lap, and darry wonders for a moment if it's too much. she makes eye contact with him, and then back to ponyboy, voice stronger, "is that your mate, dallas?" darry feels a spark of pride for her in that moment, ponyboy cottoning on thankfully.

"yeah, he is," ponyboy glances back to dallas, and back to molly, "did darry tell you about us at all?" darry takes a seat next to nathan, who looks interestedly at dallas too. "we're the ones that got mated early."

nathan looks like he's about to burst from excitement with the story he'd been told — romanticized by darry — and darry nods in encouragement. molly relaxes a little more, beckoning dallas over. he takes a few steps forward, taking a seat at the edge of the blanket. molly offers her hand to him too, and dallas takes it, giving a wink to nathan. "you win the fight with the thing that took that out, kid?"

it's not what darry would have chosen. it does, however, work for nathan, who gives his own grin to dallas. it helps molly relax too, and he's grateful that when dallas puts his mind to it, he can be downright good with kids.

not that he'd say so.

things are fine after that. molly doesn't exactly want to be buddy buddy with dallas, but it's an achievement in and of itself that she is fine with dallas there, and that nathan yammers dallas' ear off when he can. the sandwiches are plenty — and maybe it was a good thing that pony and dallas were here, because there was no way they could've eaten all of this between the three of them. they're mostly cheese sandwiches, with a peanut butter and jelly one for nathan that he diligently eats while he and ponyboy somehow talk their way through a surprising conversation about the merits of dogs.

dallas lingers between them, and darry allows himself to be comfortable, to like the moment as he and molly sit close to each other. allows himself to allow the brush of her arm against his, to talk with with her about the food, comparing notes with each other as they watch their families blend together in this small, unexpected moment.

before this, he had thought about it as something far off, maybe not plausible, not serious. but as she begins to open up, asking ponyboy about his schoolwork, as he and nathan decide to share a piece of cake with each other after giving dallas the cherry neither of them wanted, darry begins to believe that maybe far off wasn't so distant anymore. maybe it didn't have to be.

nathan's halfway dozing as two o'clock rolls around, and it's a beautiful afternoon. molly strokes nathan's hair, the lull in conversation giving darry a good view of the way the dress fit her, of the way her hair picked up in the wind, the freckles on her face that stood out. he wants to reach over, kiss her the way he's wanted to since he saw her that morning. that trepidation no longer is there; it would surely come back soon at another nervous moment between them that always cropped up, that seemed they would always come to at some point. but as the sun streaks her hair a little brighter, as she looks at him with a questioning expression, it's replaced by want, courage.

he glances up just once, able to catch ponyboy with the book out again, dallas leaning on his shoulder. dallas catches his eyes, and something unspoken passes between them. darry gives a slight nod, and dallas turns his head, mouth curving into a half smile. he whispers something in ponyboy's ear that darry is very glad he can't hear given how ponyboy's ears immediately flood red. he glances at darry like he's really a kid again, about to be caught doing something he shouldn't, and dallas shakes his head, says something else, leaning over close enough against pony's ear that darry catches a flash of teeth.

then they're both standing up. dallas takes ponyboy's book, tucks it in his own pocket, and says, "was nice meeting ya'll! we'll see you tonight, dar!"

"see you! was nice to meet you too!" molly waves at them, and as soon as they're over the hill, she turns her head, raising her eyebrows. darry smiles back at her, and neither of them have to say what they were about to do, that was clear.

what was darry, going to do, though?

as molly opens her mouth, she seems to have a question, until his hand touches her own. her eyes glance down — he gives her the moment, waiting. she doesn't draw back; instead her fingers slot in with his, her skin so much paler, softer than his. she fits there, though, and when she looks back up at him, it turns out that molly has more courage than he does in that moment, closing that distance herself to kiss him.

it catches him entirely by surprise in a good way. there's no competition between them like there was with him and paul, no tension that could never be untangled. there's trust here, when she kisses him, and he kisses her in return. slow, steady, and even with little embarrassments, little moments of puzzles that they had to solve together in a way only they could figure out, even if there was a level of uncertainty…

darry wants to try. he wants to try for her, and more importantly, for himself. all those years of caring for his brothers, all those years of being everything they needed, of not allowing a piece of himself to have something, he is tired of it. he wants to love her for herself, and himself, and when they part, he thinks that he's really, truly ready for that, for her. to have something everyone else had found in their own way, that he could finally stop denying he wanted.

she sighs against his cheek when they part, her nose against his. her hand strokes his cheek, and he doesn't know how to find his voice here and now. he's not good with words like ponyboy could be, not charismatic like soda at all.

try. he should try. except the more he thinks about it, the more anxious he gets. no words feel precisely right in his head, yet he—

her fingers come up to touch his lips, and molly brushes his lips with her thumb. he remembers then, that she's not that great with words either. they had stumbled towards their first few conversations, after all.

so he compromises with, "can we do this again? just us?"

she kisses him again, softer this time, smiling. "just us, next time."

that's where they are, for now. they both gather up the picnic items, letting nathan nap. they brush shoulders, fingers, arms. they look at each other, smile, and darry feels that this is good. this is more than he ever thought he could have and he wants to try for more, for every inch.

he holds nathan as they walk back to molly's house up the road. it's not that far away, and for the first time, she lets him put nathan to bed by himself. it's not quite the same as a real bedtime, given the picnic and all, but it's significant when she stays downstairs with the basket, and he tucks him into the bed. it reminds him of doing it for soda, for pony, his hand running through nathan's short cropped hair.

he hopes to see nathan grow up, too.

he shuts the door quietly, and goes down the steps to see molly wiping her hands on a rag, teeth chewing at her lip. "you want to watch some tv, before you have to go?" neither of them are really into television unless it's twilight zone for her, and him the news. but both of them knows what the offer really means.

so darry settles himself on the couch with her, the volume low, and both of them still smelling like the meadow as the afternoon wears on.

the house thankfully doesn't reek as much as he thought it might when he walks back inside. he can hear ponyboy's voice talking lowly in the living room, and peeking inside he sees him, just in boxers, with dallas on his lap, both of their backs to him. dallas is blowing a smoke ring, not saying anything as ponyboy reads from a book.

gently, he knocks on the door to the living room, and dallas turns his head to him. darry keeps his eye on dallas' face, well aware he's not clothed. "hey, you two. you wanna come with me to the bar tonight? shouldn't be too rough."

ponyboy turns to him, face still a little flushed, "yeah, sure, dar. when do you wanna go?" he folds the book, pulls a pillow and throws it without looking at dallas.

darry decides that's fair, "about an hour. food's good enough there, if y'all are as hungry i as i think you might be." he lets that hang in the air, giving them a pointed look. "you can leave at any time you like." with that, he leaves them in the living room, still absolutely pleased with the way the day has gone so far. it's more than he could have ever hoped for so early.

getting ready for work, as it were, was different than construction. jeans and a shirt were essential, but so was a good pair of boots, and for this, a jacket just in case. no switchblades. the day had been more than restful — really, the day had been truly good, and it had mattered a lot. if the bar were still being cleaned up, even with pony at the age he was, he wouldn't have wanted him there. as is, and especially with dallas a man that darry didn't even want to tangle with unless he really had to, it was fine.

darry patiently waits for them at the door, dallas about shoving ponyboy out of the room, a smirk on his face. ponyboy for his part has pinkish ears, and whatever that is about, darry doesn't want to know. it occurs to him as he opens the door, that they all resemble themselves years ago, back when the rumble had happened, the night johnny had died: darry in a tight black shirt, dallas in a sleeveless one, ponyboy in a jacket. except things had changed a lot since then, and for the better.

as darry goes to the opposite side of the car, fumbling with the keys, he can hear dallas hiss out, "c'mon, we should just tell him."

that gets darry's attention, eyebrows furrowed, lifting his head up. "tell me what?" ponyboy looks like he's been caught with a copy of a book he shouldn't be reading again as soon as darry's eyes nail him. ponyboy runs his hand through his hair and for a moment, darry feels a very deep, aching fear. an old fear that he didn't think he'd have to look at in the face again, and when he opens his mouth to ask again, ponyboy swallows.

darry's fingers still, the key almost in the lock.

"uh, dal— dally proposed to me," the words tumble out of ponyboy's mouth faster than darry can parse for a moment, "about two weeks ago. i said— i said yeah."

this was not the shock darry thought he'd be feeling about now. it takes a moment from his eyes to swing from pony's stiff, pink faced self to dallas' smug one. "ain't—"

"yeah, we mated already," dallas breezes through as if this isn't an important announcement, but darry knows damn well dallas knows how important this is. ponyboy's the one who doesn't think with his head, and dallas does. "but, i thought it'd be good to get married."

"good?" darry echoes, now utterly in disbelief, unsure if he should be angry at them or pleased on their behalf. "how in the hell do you mean good? why couldn't you have told me that yesterday!?"

"kid fell asleep," dallas gleefully states, and ponyboy gives him a glare. "and we had our own little talk. we just want a party, is all since we've been mates for so long."

darry about wrenches open the door, and ponyboy launches out, "you just want a party. i want the whole thing." he refocuses on darry, and to his credit, darry softens immediately at the way ponyboy looks, hopeful and a little wry. "i know… i know we've been mated a long time. and dally didn't just propose cause it's romantic — i know i love him with or without a bite. i… i want the wedding, though. i wanna get married even if it ain't strictly romantic, and i want everyone there. including your girl."

ponyboy is the first person who's said it. your girl. darry feels that floundering again, the acknowledgement that he has someone, that he wants someone, and instead of pushing it off or denying it, or fumbling too hard, he does embrace it. that yes, he does. "kid brother, you really don't ever use your head when it counts." darry wants to sound exasperated, and all it comes out as is relieved, and hopeful. ponyboy gives him a small smile in return, and darry decides that to hell with it, he'll get over it. "get in the car, will you? we can talk on the way. dal, get in the back." he's firm with that one, needing to punish dallas just a little for knowing.

"more room for me," dallas throws himself in the back, and ponyboy slots into the passenger side. darry turns the car on, and as music floods the car, for a moment he leans back, putting it into reverse, before hitting the road. he glances at pony, who looks a little anxious until darry reaches over to mess with his hair. then he's back to his normal self, and darry laughs.

he leans back, sighs, "now, what in the hell do you mean good? not one of you have explained that."

as dallas smirks in the rearview mirror and ponyboy scrunches up his nose, he knows that whatever answer he's gonna get, it's going to be one he's not pleased with. for now, he'll have to simply sit with it, as the car rolls on through the night. darry has things to look forward to: a night of work, his brother's wedding, asking molly to go with him to it as a part of his family.

he has things, he has people to love, to care for, and as he thinks about it, it's the first time since his parent's death that it's without the burden of everyone and everything else on his shoulders. things have changed, will continue to change, and he feels that it's for the better.

thanks so much for reading! i love comments and feedback.