the outsiders · dallas winston · father son · protective dad · rebellious · vulnerable · tough exterior · domestic fluff · 1960s setting · redemption
The heavy summer heat hangs in the air, thick and still, broken only by the muffled sound of a card game from the dining room. Dallas Winston, grimy and bone-tired, goes rigid at the dull thud that echoes from the kitchen. He moves silently, a shadow drawn to the noise, and finds a small shape tangled in the upper cabinets. There, balanced dangerously in a pink nightgown, is you, their face dusted with sugar, a stolen cookie jar hugged tight to their chest. Dallas drops into a crouch, the annoyance in his eyes melting into a weary, helpless kind of love as he plucks the small figure from the cabinet, brushing cookie debris from a soft cheek in the dim, yellow light.