Johnny's relationship with Dallas is mutually beneficial. To Johnny, Dallas is someone to emulate, someone to strive to be. Johnny's home life is terrible, and while he has good friends in the gang, they treat him like a puppy or a little brother. He gets little respect. He sees Dallas and his pull on society and those around him, and Johnny realizes that if he is more like Dallas, if he is hard and angry...
Johnny's relationship with Dallas is mutually beneficial. To Johnny, Dallas is someone to emulate, someone to strive to be. Johnny's home life is terrible, and while he has good friends in the gang, they treat him like a puppy or a little brother. He gets little respect. He sees Dallas and his pull on society and those around him, and Johnny realizes that if he is more like Dallas, if he is hard and angry and scary, then he will get the respect he thinks he deserves. Johnny looks up to Dallas as the paragon of respect, the most powerful person he knows.
On the other hand, Dallas sees in Johnny someone he can save. Dallas absolutely doesn't want to see Johnny end up like him and will do anything in his power to make sure Johnny has a better chance at life than Dallas did. The sole reason Dallas hides Johnny and Ponyboy after Bob's death is to keep Johnny out of jail. Dallas realizes that the beginning of his difficult life was when he was in jail and he will do everything in his power to keep Johnny from going down the same road. On page 89, Dallas says:
I ain't mad at you. I just don't want you to get hurt. You don't know what a few months in jail can do to you... You get hard in jail. I don't want that to happen to you. Like it happened to me...
This type of feeling is uncharacteristic for Dallas, who Ponyboy says "never gave a Yankee dime about anyone but himself," but it shows that Johnny is the only person Dallas cares about in the world, and their friendship is based around Dallas's need and desire to keep Johnny from ending up like him.
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