Pillows

Dally's P.O.V.

It was my turn to watch the brats today and I was not happy about it. Normally, Darry and Soda would never let me watch their kid brother and the only one I usually watch is Johnny. But Two-Bit landed himself in the cooler after a botched swipe and everyone else was working, so it was up to me to keep the two in line. I don't mind watching Johnny; I knew he wouldn't get into any trouble, but I had never watched the youngest Curtis before and I wasn't sure if he would make me lose my temper. I remember when we were kids, before the squirts were born. Two-Bit would always tick me off and he'd end up with a broken nose or a black eye. I would get a scolding from the Curtis' and then they would send us off to play again. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I had hurt one of the kids like that and Soda and Darry sure as hell wouldn't if I hurt their kid brother.

"Dally, is something wrong?" I heard Pony ask. I whipped my head around to see the two little squirts on my lap and they both looked worried. "You wasn't answerin' us and we thought that you were sick or something," Pony said.

"Nothing is wrong with me kid," I said, putting both kids on the couch before I stood up. "Come on, I bet both of you are hungry and I don't want your brothers to think I'm starving you two,"

They followed me to the kitchen where I made them grilled cheese and carrot sticks. They didn't want the carrots, but I managed to get them to eat without hurtin' either one of them. I gave a small smile at that victory. Darry has to tell the kid that he wouldn't get any chocolate cake before he'll even touch his vegetables and I managed to get them to eat with just a look.

"Hey Dally," Pony said.

"If you want chocolate cake you aren't getting any," I growled out.

"Can we go to the park?" he asked.

"Please Dally," Johnny asked his voice soft. "We haven't been out all day,"

I smiled and nodded, causing the two youngsters to start squealing. "But we won't go if you don't stop that racket!" I said and they stopped. I never could understand why Darry wouldn't let the two into the backyard by themselves. It was fenced in and there wasn't anything dangerous back there. It would definitely mean fewer visits to the park and less run-ins with the Socs.

I rolled my eyes when I noticed Pony had put his shoes on the wrong feet. Once I switched them I made sure Johnny had his shoes on right. Kid managed to even tie them by himself. I looked back at Pony and he had one tied but was struggling to get the second one tied right. Without a word I tied them for him and we were gone once I made sure the doors were locked and I had the keys.

We were there for a few hours. Pony ran into some of his school friends and started playing with them while Johnny started playing with his own friends. There weren't really any problems except when Pony fell off the monkey bars and scraped his knee. Lucky for me, one of Pony's friend's mom had some ban-aids and cleaned him up for me.

When we got home all three of us were tired and hungry. I made chicken soup and sandwiches for the kids while they cleaned up.

Once they were feed we watched Mickey for a couple of hours. I looked up at the clock and saw it was nine o'clock, Pony's bedtime. I turned to tell him to get changed and into bed, but both of them were already asleep and using me as a pillow!

I couldn't believe it, two small kids using me, the terrifying Dallas Winston, as a human pillow! Darry wouldn't be home till midnight, working at his second job and Soda and Steve wouldn't be home till about ten thirty, maybe eleven o'clock. I was going to be stuck here for a while.

I don't remember when I fell asleep, I just knew one moment I was watching Mickey and the next I was fast asleep with two little greasers on my chest.

Nobody's P.O.V. (Third Person)

When Sodapop and Steve came home that night, both were struggling not to laugh at the greaser who was being cuddled by two children. Steve, knowing black mail when he saw it, went upstairs and grabbed an old camera that had belonged to Soda's father. The moment he snapped the picture, Dallas began to stir.

Soda hid the camera under the table before Dally woke up. The sleepy greaser blinked a few times before he finally recognized the two greasers standing a few feet away from him.

"You mention this to anyone and I will kill you," Dallas growled. That caused the chuckling to stop.

Soda went over to the couch to take Ponyboy upstairs so he could get him into his pajamas and into his own bed. But little Ponyboy had Dally's shirt clutched tightly in his fists and it took Soda ten minutes to pry the little boy away from his furious human pillow. "I won't say anything," Soda said, watching Dally grab Johnny to put him into the spare bed the Curtis' had. "Just be lucky that Two-Bit wasn't here to see it. The whole town would have known before too long had that loud mouth seen you,"

"I wouldn't be a human pillow if he would grow up and be responsible," Dally mumbled under his breath.

"Then he wouldn't be Two-Bit," Steve said, secretly grabbing the camera and returning it to Darry's room when Dally wasn't looking. Steve knew if Dallas saw that camera or the picture, he would be six feet under before the night ended.

The next morning…

"STEVE RANDALL, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"RUN STEVE! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!"

In the end, Dally returned and Steve wasn't seen for the rest of the day. As for the picture, Darry had hid it while the two greasers were gone and put it into a box of photo's he was going to use on Pony when he finally was old enough to actually like and date girls.