Ok- I am going to say this now. This is my very first attempt at a slash fic. I was asked by my friend Kim to write her a Dal/Pony fic for her birthday. I just hope this story comes off as believable and is written tastefully. This story does not follow the book, the characters and their home situations are the same, but Johnny will not stab Bob, so nothing after that will happen. So please, if anyone is willing to give me pointers or even ideas, send me a message. As always, read and review. And to my reviewers on my story Phoenix, I have not and will not abandon it. It will be updated regularly, as will this. I am sure this story will be very OOC, there will be points where this story differs from the book and movie, and I will skip over some characters at points until later to write them. I do not do this to make them seem inferior or unimportant, I simply do this because I am going to come back to them at another point and give them more 'character'. This is an AU story, so as I said, it will not follow the book and movie to the letter. Now, I do not own The Outsiders, though I only wish I did. Thank you for listening to my rant. This is for you, Kimmie, Happy Birthday!

Chapter One-Feelings Realized

Dally walked down the sidewalk towards the Curtis house, deep in thought. Lately, he had been having feelings and dreams that were, while not unusual for him, the person they were directed at were. In days past, when he would feel like this, it was usually over some random girl, or even Sylvia. But now…well, having these thoughts about the youngest of the gang and his second best friend, after Johnny, was unsettling to say the least.

Ponyboy Curtis was a sweet kid and always trying to help. If Johnny were hurt, Pony would fix him up, if one of the gang, Dallas especially, was down then Pony would try to cheer them up. Pony was also, like his brother Soda, quite stunning. His dark red hair was always greased to perfection, his grey-green eyes sparkled with an inner fire, his skin flawless, and his lips soft and inviting looking.

To Dallas, tough, hard-assed Dallas, these feelings made him feel awkward and ill at ease. He didn't even know how to handle this situation. It would be different if it were a girl, it would be easily fixed, just get the girl into bed and forget about her later on. Ponyboy was different simply because Dally would never hurt Pony, no matter how much he would deny such thoughts in public. Pony and Johnny were his only weaknesses; Johnny was his little brother, and Pony…well he once would have said he was his little brother too, but now…Dally really didn't know what to call Pony now. His love is the only thing he could think of, because he realized he did love Ponyboy, always had but lately that love had changed into what it was now, an ever-present ache that never left. This is what bugged Dally the most; he was supposed to be cold and not able to love. To make it worse he was in love with a male.

Looking up, he realized he had reached the Curtis house. With a sigh, he opened the door and walked in, yelling a hello as he did so.

Taking a quick look around he saw that Two Bit was passed out on the couch, Steve was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, Darry was reading the daily paper in his chair, and listening close he could hear the shower running and banging in the kitchen. Figuring it was Pony in the kitchen, he walked that way, and there he was, hair already greased and dressed in a pair of jeans and a tight black t-shirt.

"Hey Dal, you're around early."

"Yeah, kid, I was feeling bored and decided I'd come around and see what you and Johnnycake were doing today. Figured we could try to get into some trouble today or something."

'Well, I don't know 'bout Johnny, but I'd like to. It's been boring 'round here with nothing really to do. Missed ya the last few days, Dally. It's boring 'round here without ya."

Dally's breath caught, maybe Pony wouldn't be so unwilling if he was to make a move on him. Now he'd just have to get Pony alone, which was easier said than done.

-Ok, now in response to a review, I just wanted to make this clear. I am not ignoring characters, I am simply passing over until I can come to their POV and make them seem interesting. I have my ways of writing, and I simply wish to employ them and I will make the characters come to life, so to speak, and be more complex than what it seems right now. I think Darry is a very smart character, as are the others, and you will see that within this story. Now, as I said earlier, this story will not be EXACTLY the same as Hinton's, some of it will be my own. Next chapter you will see why I have Darry 'sitting in his chair reading the newspaper' and being overlooked. Thank you palpravda for your review and I appreciate your candor. Trust me, this is NOT going to be a one dimensional 'let's just get to the smut and ignore everything else' type story. I hope you enjoy the next chapter better. Thanks!