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we-are-inevitable · 3 years

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OKAY BIG AU RANT BUT I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS (even though i posted all of this in the discord last night) AND UH:

modern au where most the newsies are straight and in a frat and jack is the frat president

very stereotypical frat bro, wears his letters everyday (whether it's a t-shirt of a cap or a pin on his bag), throws a whole bunch of parties and is really respected and stuff

he gets around, and has been with a bunch of girls throughout college- nothing really serious, but whatever.

everything is going great, until he meets David Jacobs at a party the frat is throwing.

and obviously jack has seen him around campus before (they're in their fourth year of college by now), and they had a few labs together back in like. freshman year, but they've never *talked*

and now, here's david, at a party with Katherine, and jack decides to talk to him.

they actually hit it off pretty well, but then jack mentions something about david taking Katherine home and David laughs and says, "Yeah, she's gonna help me weed out my grindr matches."

cue jack being like "???" because OH! jacobs is gay. huh. okay

and jack obviously makes a big show of it ("oh, sick! being gay is okay, bro, y'know, love is love and shit like that") and it's so obvious that he's out of his element but he doesn't wanna be like. homophobic or anything

and they kind of talk for a bit longer before jack drifts off to another group of people, and he doesn't think much of the interaction- at least, not until he runs into david at another party on campus the next weekend. this time, they're alone; jack is only there bc one of his buds in another frat told him to come, and david has lost Katherine in the crowd, so jack and david talk in the kitchen and get to know each other a bit more. again, everything is pretty New and they kind of friends now but they're talking and that's fine.

later on that night, jack sees david making out with some guy on the staircase, and to get his mind off of it, jack makes out with a girl in the kitchen.

over the next few weeks, david and jack run into each other a lot- enough times for them to exchange snapchats, and follow each other on Instagram. and they talk more on social media; jack invites david to some parties and david always comes, and they always end up talking- for longer and longer each time, like ACTUAL conversations about the past and their future goals and stuff

about three months after their initial meeting, though (after they've become good friends, who talk/snap everyday and hang out at least once a week), they're at a party, and jack gets pretty drunk, and he sees david making out with some guy on the couch. and jack doesn't know why, but he feels bad. angry. kind of upset. he approaches and tells david he needs to talk to him, and David says no ("uh, i'm kind of in the middle of something?")

and jack tries getting him to move and the other guy- the one David is making out with- starts getting in jack's face and calling him names, so jack... decks him.

he decks him, and he's immediately feeling guilty and bad and the commotion has stopped all around him and everyone is staring and david looks so confused and pissed off

and all jack can do is say "i'm so sorry" and run off

it's not until he's home that he realizes that, the reason he punched that guy in the face, was because he didn't like the idea of him having his hands on david.

because jack wants to be the one with his hands on david.

as soon as that realization hits him, though, jack basically has a meltdown. he's frustrated and crying and kind of throwing shit around but not really because, no. he can't be gay. right? he can't be. he literally has like 3 gay friends and he doesn't know anything about being gay and he's never been into a guy before but, fuck, he's into david.

naturally, though, jack avoids david for as long as he can. he avoids him like the plague

until one night, about six days later, when jack is drunk again (not from a party; more like self pity) and around two am one night, he walks to David's dorm room and knocks really loudly. and it takes a minute, but David answers, and as soon as the door opens, jack starts talking.

"Davey! Hi!"

"...Jack, what are you--"

"Listen, I'm very drunk. Very drunk. and I get it, ya probably don't wanna see me ever again, but I need to talk to ya, because- cause I ain't talked to ya in days, and I miss you, and I'm sorry."

"Jack, it's late, and--"

"Y'know, no one has been talkin' to me since the party. None'a my friends, no one from class... I fucked up, and I'm sorry, and I don't have an excuse, but I just... Do you know what's goin' on right now? 'Cause I sure as hell don't."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you been flirtin' with me?"

"I- I'm sorry, what--"

"'Cause I can't tell if you've been flirting with me or not, and I can't tell if i like it or not, but if you're flirtin' with me, then I've been likin' it, and thats fucking terrifying. Seein' you with that guy... I- I know we ain't a thing or anything, but it fuckin' sucked, and I don't even know why! Okay? Because I think I like you, but I've never been into a dude, and you're a dude and that's- that's fuckin' scary, man. But it'll be fine, and I'll deal with it, and I'm sorry. Night, davey."

and all david can do it watch jack stumble back down the hallway, and pray that jack remembers this in the morning.

and obviously jack remembers, because around noon the next day- a sunday- david gets a message from jack that says, 'we need to talk.'

so, david meets jack at one of the benches in front of the library, and jack looks so... broken, and defeated, and hungover as fuck.

"...You remember last night, huh?"

"Unfortunately, yeah. Look, Dave, I... I'm sorry. All of that was- was a lot, and you shouldn't have had to deal with my bullshit, and--"

"Did you mean it?"

"...Yeah. Yeah, I did."

and they're silent for a long time, until david rubs his arm and says

"For the record, I don't even know the name of the guy you punched."

"You two ain't--?"

"No, we aren't together. I... I've sort of had my eye on someone else."

and then david slowly takes jack's hand, and he san feel how tense and how shaky jack is, and he can see how scared he is, but then jack squeezes david's hand, and things start looking up. obviously they still have to deal with the fallout (and david is still very ,, Not Happy about jack punching that guy), but for the most part, they take things slow and figure it out as they go.

when jack comes out to the rest of the guys, he's really nervous and he does it in one of their weekly frat meetings, and of course there are a few of the guys who try to start shit, but the majority of the frat (other newsies included) are fine with it and are proud of jack.

i imagine all if this happening around,, December, so then once second semester hits, jack is less focused on partying and more focused on developing his relationship with david and working on accepting himself for who he is.

also HUGE shout out to the discord server for dealing with me spamming the chat with these paragraphs last night, namely @tarantulas4davey , @starz-in-our-eyes , and @santagae !!!!!

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5-jorjas-in-the-fence · 3 years

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Fearless (Taylor’s Version) as Newsies

Fearless: Romeo. Yes I know you think he’d be love story but he’s such a hopeless romantic I can guarantee he lives for the whole ‘take my hand and drag me head first fearless’. Plus he’s a pretty timid guy, so him being fearless is just *chefs kiss*

Fifteen: Davey. I feel like he’s made some bad choices which is why he’s so careful. He definitely lives by ‘I found time can heal most anything’

Love Story: Race, the dramatic little f*cker, lives for Love Story. Don’t act like he won’t speed down a freeway screaming at the top of his lungs while whoever is in the passenger seat (usually Albert) looks at him with great concern.

Hey Stephen: Les. He probably has written poetry for some girl in his class. Plus it’s such a wholesome song, I’m just imagining his little voice in the back seat of the car singing ‘I CANT HELP IT IF YA LOOK LIKE AN ANGEL, CANT HELP IT IF I WANNA KISS YA IN THE RAIN SO COME FEEL THIS MAGIC IVE BEEN FEELING SINCE I MET YOU’ and then Davey (who’s driving, he doesn’t trust anyone else to give Les lifts unless it’s Jack or Sarah) Just turns it up so he doesn’t have to hear Les’s screeching

White Horse: oh boy time to ✨cry✨ and you know who relates to this song? Albert. Not sure why, he has a lot of feelings so for him a song about pure hurt is up his ally. He loves all the lyrics and ‘I’m gonna find someone some day who might ACTUALLY TREAT ME WELL’ he screams a little too passionately and then race is there like ‘am I a joke to you 👁👄👁’

You Belong With Me: Crutchie lives for this song. It’s so fun and he loves humming it and he just- he loves a good classic. He definitely has a Junior Jewels shirt that he got all the newsies to sign. It’s his favourite pyjama shirt.

Breathe: Elmer. Probably cause he has nine siblings and he had to leave them, he was hella close to them so now he’s alone... I’m fine

Tell Me Why: Henry. ‘CAUSE YOURE THE ONLY THING ON MYYYYY MIND’ he does that and points his finger dramatically. I have this weird head canon that he takes SO LONG in the bathroom so he sings into his shampoo bottle and looks in the mirror... yeah it’s a lot.

You’re Not Sorry: Specs. It slaps. So does Specs. In conclusion: yes.

The Way I Loved You: Jack. Now The Way I Loved You is about two people. The one they’re currently with, and the ex. So for him I feel like he’s not really sure what his feelings are doing, so he misses his ex while he’s with his current partner... yikes. Someone get the boy some therapy he needs it.

Forever and Always: Spot. He’s angry. He’s going feral. ‘OhhhHHHHH AND IT RAINS IN YOUR BEDROOM EVERYTHING IS WRONG, IT RAINS WHEN YOURE HERE AND IT RAINS WHEN YOURE GONE’ yeah he’s really into it... like he’s popping off. Specifically that part where Taylor is full on P I S S E D and that high note comes up.

The Best Day: *don’t touch me I’m crying* Katherine (pt 1, yeah she has two songs stfu like you didn’t see that coming) k so she loves the best day cause she ✨lost her mother✨ when she was 14 so uhhh, she just likes it cause it reminds her of her... which is sad... oh fearless OG came out when her mum was around as well, so when she lost her she probably played The Best Day to cope.

Change: oh all of them I mean have you HEARD it??? ‘It was the night things changed, I can feel it now, all the walls that they put up to hold us back will fall down itS A REVOLUTIONNNNNNNN SO THROW YOUR HANDS UP CAUSE WE NEVER GAVEEEEE INNNNNNNnnnNn *inhales* AND WELL SING HALLELU-‘ yeah it slaps.

Jump Then Fall: SARAH JACOBS!!! It’s so soft and I can BET she kinda sits there quietly watching her SO and then is like ‘holy shit- fuck their laugh- oh my god’ and has moments where she’s like ‘my gosh I love them’ and she’s so comforting and warm. So the whole line ‘I’ll hold you through the night until you smile...’ cause she knows that she wants to fall in love so bad but she’s also like ‘please don’t be afraid to fall please just love me holy shit I love you’

Come In With The Rain: gosh idk they all scream the chorus at the top of their lungs (there are so many tracks on this album I’m just going to have to skip songs where I can’t think of anyone 🧍‍♀️

There’s also probably gonna be a few repeats

Superstar: Pulitzer thinking about Teddy Roosevelt 😏

Today Was A Fairytale: Albert, he deserves a happy song. After a happy date he dances around the room singing it, until someone knocks on the door and he’s like ‘shit they heard me’

Mr Perfectly Fine: ohhhhhhhHHHH KATHERINE MY QUEEN. She’s p i s s e d. She’s m a d. She’s p a s s i o n a t e. She’s also still with Jack at the time so he’s like ‘wtf’ scared for his life- then he uhhhh breaks up with her... cause of valid reasons and is ok but still broken and that takes her love for the song to a whole new level cause she always got it but never got it. Not she’s on the verge of smashing a vase as she screams it.

We Were Happy: ✨newsbians✨ just for the line ‘talking bout your daddys farm we were gonna buy some day’. Idk if I ever like- posted about it but Chandler @tarantulas4davey and I had a wholeeee thing for cottage core Kath and Sarah so yk

Don’t You: Jack. He’s a mess. Wbk.

Bye Bye Baby: Race. he just wants to live that main character life cause he’s dramatic so... ‘it wasn’t just like a movie, the rain didn’t soak through my clothes, down to my skin’ honestly same. What a mood.

Love story Remix: THEYRE ALL VIBING

Anyway, in conclusion: yeehaw.

Stream Fearless Taylors Version. Please send in asks asking to elaboration or something if you want to :)

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awesome-theater-nerd · 3 years

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Pancakes for dinner

Hey! Yeah, it’s me writing some Javid angst again! I wrote this a while ago, and my sister said that I should post it :)

Warnings: Sad Davey (bc I wrote most of this when I was heartbroken) plane crash?

word count: 1.258

ps: listen to Pancakes for Dinner by Lizzy McAlpine :)

Hope you like it!

////////////////////////////////

(omg Ben’s face--)

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Davey Jacobs have a constant routine of going to the public library every day, and today was no different. Upon entering, he noticed the same smell of old books and chamomile tea that the environment constantly had, and saw the same old people reading at some tables. He went to a farther shelf and began looking for a good book to spend the afternoon reading.

That bookcase was Davey's favorite, as he always found books he liked and because it was silent. It was like a private space where he could be himself, a way for him to break free from the stressful studies and accumulated subjects of college.

But that particular day he noticed someone else on the other side of the bookcase. Who could it be? Currently, almost no one went to that corner!

The young man tried to be as discreet as possible and pulled out a book to see through the crack who was on the other side. Only to find a pair of blue eyes staring at him. Almost immediately the boy put the book back, still scared and with a red blush creeping up his cheeks, he leaned against the shelf and sighed, hearing a light chuckle from the person on the other side. Davey felt something different at that moment, a warm feeling in his stomach, something new.

--Looking for something to read?-- the person asked, and Davey gasped.

--Y-yes. --Shakily he replied.

--Well, if you want a recommendation, have you read Hamlet? --The person spoke again, and there was something in her tone that soothed him. It was sweet as honey, smooth as the finest silk, and charming as if the angels were talking to him.

- Who hasn't read it? It's a classic. -- And after that, followed a long, whispering conversation around the shelf.

After a while, Davey decided to ask who the mystery boy was.

--What's your, hum, name?

--Kelly. Jack Kelly, what’s yours?

- I'm David, David Jacobs.

- Nice to meet you, Davey. Now, do you want to get out of here and go somewhere different? We can go get ice cream or something?

- I... I'd love to.

And that was the beginning of a friendship.

Don't wanna be forward

don't wanna cross a line

A few months later, Davey knew that what he felt for Jack was something else, but he was so afraid to tell him... What if he never wanted to see him again? He had never trusted a person so much, neither his parents nor his younger brother Les could make him feel as much at home as Jack could.

But if I were to crash in this plane tonight

I'd want you to know this

don't wanna say too much

Intrude on your space

But if I were to crash and I never made it home

I'd want you to know this

One of the days he most likes to remember is the day they went to the beach with a few more friends.

They were sitting on the sand, when the most mischievous of the group, Racetrack Higgins decided to try to quell the boredom.

--Hey everybody, how about we play a game?--He said with a smirk that Davey didn't like at all.

--OK.-- Everyone agreed, and then Race took a bottle and explained the rules of the game.

-- The game works like this if the bottle falls on you and someone else, you Kiss.

-- That's easy! -- Another boy screamed, Davey thinks his name is Albert.

-- Now, let’s see who’s first...

The bottle spun several times, and each time the boy prayed it wouldn't fall into it, and that's exactly what happened. He reluctantly looked at whoever had fallen: Jack. Davey's face immediately turned red and Jack didn't look too worried.

- KISS! KISS! KISS!—Everyone was yelling, and Davey's heart was almost stopping. Jack was the one who decided to get it over with and put his face to Davey's, which melted on his lips. But everything too good is short-lived, they parted ways.

When he came back to reality he heard his friends cheering for him and Jack, Who was with a weird face that Davey never saw before. It was awkward, but... he liked it.

Oh, and to tell you is too scary

So I'll just say something else

And I wish you could hear me

when I talk to myself

But this plane might not land safely

So, what the hell do I have to lose

If I just tell you?

Now we're back at Davey's apartment, he was thinking of a thousand different ways to tell Jack how he feels, eventually talking to himself.

- Jack, I need to tell you something... No! Jack, I've liked you for a while and... No! I can’t do this! – He whispered/screamed, and heard a knock on the door.

--Hey, um, how are you? I think I heard you talking to someone?—it was Jack.

- It's nothing, just me talking to myself, you know. Haha—Davey chuckled, it was now or never.—Jack, I need to tell you something...

-- I'm listening.

And suddenly all your confidence is gone.

--I... do you want to watch something and eat some popcorn?

-- Oh, I’m busy now, ya know, I got a date with my goil tonight. But maybe tomorrow?

--Never mind...--And as soon as Davey closed the door, he collapsed on the floor, crying silently. His girl? – He has a girlfriend, stupid! He would never like you!

I wanna eat pancakes for dinner

I wanna get stuck in your head

I wanna watch a TV show together

And when we're under the weather we can watch it in bed

I wanna go out on the weekends

I wanna dress up just to get undressed

I think that I should probably tell you this

In case there is an accident

And I never see you again

So please save all your questions for the end

And maybe I'll be brave enough by then

Katherine and Jack were a very happy couple, and they went to meetings with their friend frequently, including Davey, who put on a fake smile every time. He would never have the courage to talk to him...

Don't wanna say something wrong

don't wanna be weird

But if you're still in love with her

I think that I'll leave it there

And I won't ever tell you this

A year had passed since Jack started dating Katherine, and Davey was avoiding Jack. It was a way to move forward! He was even planning to move away from there.

Oh, 'cause to tell you is too scary

So I'll just say something else

Like how was fall semester?

And what was that song about?

I'll try to hide the way I feel

But I'll just wanna shout

What do I have to lose right now?

But it didn't matter how much he said he moved on, he still loved Jack.

Within days, Davey boarded his flight without telling anyone. Leaving everything, and maybe never seeing Jack again, or the library they were in, or the beach he loved to go to, or the first ice cream shop they went to...

--Well, maybe I won't ever say what's in my head

No, I won't have to say anything

You'll say it instead— And so Davey finished recording and sending his farewell video to Jack, as he closed his eyes waiting for his plane with a flaming turbine to crash into the ground.

#newsies #javid #angst #javid angst #i have a test tomorrow so #i decided to post this when i was bored #here ya go some gay newsies ship :)

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cherrypieships · 3 years

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the amusement park: chapter one

A/N: Hi all! This is my first fic posted here on my self ship blog! I’m really proud of this story, it’s gonna be a two-parter.

Ship: davey jacobs x pepper simmons (s/i), featuring my best friend V and my gf Khourey and their respective f/os, race higgins and jack kelly!

Summary: Some of the newsies head to Canobie lake's haunted house/amusement park. Pepper and Davey are the only non-couple.

The backseat of Race’s mom’s minivan was one of the last places Pepper wanted to be at 7 o’clock on a Friday morning. Yet here she was, awaiting their arrival to Canobie Lake Park’s annual Screemfest as she got crammed in next to Davey Jacobs.

Not that she disliked Davey. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Pepper liked Davey a whole lot. And that was exactly the problem. Here she was, in such close proximity to him that their knees knocked together every time Violet hit a pothole, harbouring a gigantic crush on her best friend. And everyone in the car knew beside him. And they were totally fifth- and sixth-wheeling on this trip.

It was fine.

Besides, Pepper was willing to endure a few hours pining quietly if it meant she could go on some sick roller coasters. So she sucked it up and tucked quietly into her seat.

Mickey turned around from the middle row and handed Pepper a piece of her chocolate croissant. “You cold back there?” She asked, wild red curls framing her face as she spoke.

After popping the pastry into her mouth, Pepper shrugged. “I’m fucking always cold.”

Jack tugged his hat up from where it rested over his eyes. “That is a fair point, she is always cold.” He said pointedly, and yelped when Pepper flicked the back of his head.

“I have poor circulation, dickhead.” She whined.

Race snickered from the passenger seat. “Good thing my dickhead doesn’t have poor circulation.” He quipped.

Though Pepper couldn’t see it, she could feel Violet rolling their eyes at their boyfriend. “I’m gonna file for divorce, Race.” They picked up their coffee and took a brief sip. “And I’m taking the kids.”

Beside her, Davey was digging around in the duffel bag he’d brought for the ride. He’d described it to Pepper as a ‘Minor Catastrophe Bag’, with a tiny first aid kit, nail clippers, some snacks, ibuprofen, pads, and a pair of tweezers. As much as she would have loved to gently bully him for being such a mother hen, she knew she’d be thanking him later through an inevitable headache. He straightened, finally, and emerged with a sweater. “Um, if you’re really cold,” He held it out to her. “You can wear this. It’s my backup but I’m pretty warm.” He said.

Pepper took the sweater in both hands with a gentle smile, trying to ignore the soft brush of his fingertips against hers. “You sure?” As much as she would love to immediately engulf herself in his clothes, it was Mid-October and she didn’t want to steal Davey’s source of warmth from him.

Like usual, he waved off her gentle concern. “I have my jacket and I’m wearing layers.” He explained, pushing the sweater towards her.

She took it in her hands, hoping and praying that the heat in her face wasn’t visible. “If you insist.” The teasing was playful, as it always had been. Their friendship had existed for years, the product of a few friend groups merging and discovering that they fit like puzzle pieces. Davey always gave up his cherry Starbursts to Pepper because they were her favorite. Pepper let Davey borrow her favorite poetry books. They spent summers at the pool together. Had napped, cried, laughed, celebrated together for what seemed like forever.

So why did wearing his clothes make her so much more flustered than anything before?

She slid the sweater on, enveloping herself in his scent- oh Christ she was dying- and did actually feel much better. Even though the dark blue didn’t exactly match her outfit.

Davey smiled at her. “When will you learn to dress for the weather?” He admonished gently.

“That’s why I keep you around.” Pepper said, rather than admitting that she was just forgetful and liked her outfit too much.

“Davey’s new occupation: Pepper’s coat rack.” Violet chimed in, handing their phone to Race to switch the song that was playing.

Davey sighed. “I’m really putting that college education to good use.”

The rest of the car ride went by relatively quickly, much to Pepper’s delight. They hopped out into the cool autumn air, cracked their cramped joints, and headed into the park. Davey thankfully left most of his supplies in the trunk of the minivan (save for the ibuprofen he’d managed to sneak into Pepper’s purse just in case), so they’d made it through security and into the place without much fuss as well.

Jack, ever the natural born leader of the bunch, snagged a map and immediately started planning their route for the day. He unfurled it in front of the group and, as Mickey curled into his side, eyed the pathways and rollercoasters thoughtfully. “So do you guys wanna start at the front and work our way back? Or the other way around?”

There was a beat of silence as everyone worked the thought over. “We should just head towards the back, I think everyone’s gotta start testing the rides first anyway.” Mickey piped up first.

Davey nodded. “Gives us more time.” He added.

They made the trek towards the back of the park, Mickey and Jack leading with the map.

Race sidled up beside Pepper and hip-checked her. “You been to these haunted houses before?” He asked, making reference to the night-time festivities. Once the sun set, the park released creepily-costumed actors to scare those who stayed, and previously blocked-off areas were transformed into small haunted houses. Truthfully, Pepper had never been to any haunted house, let alone ones set up at an amusement park.

So, she shook her head. “It’s my first haunted house, actually.” Something she’d confided in Mickey and Vi about.

Race feigned a gasp. “Well ain’t this a hell of a place to start!” He elbowed her, and she returned the gesture, their own weird little handshake.

“Are you serious?” Davey asked, his own elbow catching her shoulder, fucking ow, he’s bony.

Pepper nodded. “I was too scared when I was a kid, and then when I stopped being a baby, all that stuff with my mom happened, so I just never went.”

Davey hummed in acknowledgement, evidently eager to skip past the whole ‘my-mom-is-ill’ conversation. “Ah, well. If you need a buddy, I’m sure we’ll be left alone. Together.” He said, his head tilting to their friends, who had once again broken off into couples, leaving them to their own devices.

Shoving the impending smile down, she nodded. “I’m sure we will.”

“Well, we have a good, um,” He checked the watch on his wrist (the one with the brown leather strap that he wore with every outfit, even if Pepper told him it didn’t match, or that it was too clunky.) “Like, ten hours before we need to even think about that.”

She crumpled into a fit of giggles. “Perfect. I’m sure we’ll spend that time wisely.” She swatted his arm as he shoved his watch in front of her face.

---

They did not.

Six and a half hours later, the group stood in line at one of the concession stands, staring at the menu and nodding to the song playing in the background; some mid-2010s Kesha track that was making Vi go absolutely crazy.

Jack squinted at the chalkboard. “They don’t even have chicken tenders here?” He nudged Race. “They don’t even have chicken tenders here.”

Race nodded slowly, also squinting. Pepper wondered, briefly, if the pair needed glasses or if they were just trying to look contemplative. “Mickey’s gonna call it homophobic, you know.” He said.

“It is!” Mickey called dutifully from the table they had snagged for the gang to inevitably sit at. “I’ll take some cheese fries though!” To which Jack nodded and stepped up to the worker behind the plexiglass, beginning to list off the group’s orders.

Vi’s voice floated through Pepper’s ears. “Oh what a shame that you came here with someone,” they approached her, eyes closed and hands up by their shoulders as they got all the way into their performance. “My god, if they have candy apples at a stall somewhere, I’m gonna go buckwild.” They said suddenly, snapping out of their trance to stare at Pepper expectantly.

Before she could say anything, though, Davey stole the words from her mouth. “You are allergic to apples, V.” He chided, maybe more kindly than Pepper would have put it, but she was willing to overlook it for the sake of the way a small smile pulled at his mouth.

Violet dropped their hands. “Only a little bit.” They argued.

“A little bit allergic.” Davey repeated, and Pepper pressed her lips together firmly to fight off the grin at the exasperation in his voice.

“To apples, yes.” They nodded, and, evidently done with arguing, turned to keep Mickey company at the table.

Davey turned to Pepper, disbelief crossing his features. “Can you believe-”

“Yes.” She cut him off. “Yes I absolutely can believe it.” Pepper said, digging through her memory of the times V had pulled some similar shit; eating eleven mozzarella sticks despite their lactose intolerance, buying a Panic! At The Disco vinyl despite wanting Brendon Urie dead, and spending $40 on a Funko Pop figure of Spiderman Noir for no real reason other than some guy at a convention told them to.

Jack turned to his friends. “Okay I did the ordering, someone else has to do the collecting.” He announced, shoving the receipt with the order number on it towards Davey, who had inadvertently become Second In Command. Then, with a signature Jack Kelly Smug Smile, he stalked off to where V and Mickey were seated, Race following behind.

Great, Pepper thought, another conveniently timed moment alone with Davey. Briefly, she wondered if her friends had planned this ahead of time, and then she came to her senses and realized that yes, of course they had. Those conniving little weasels had been conspiring to get Davey to like her since senior prom.

She still remembered the way Mickey had shoved Davey at her when a slow song came on that night. Work Song by Hozier had drifted over the speakers, and V’s elbow caught her in the ribs as they growled a furious “Dance with him or I’ll fucking kill you.” and skipped off to sway with Racer. Pepper had stood on the dance floor, gaping as she watched Jack wink at Vi. Those two never got along about anything.

Davey’s hand had entered her field of vision, skin almost glowing under the light of the mirrorball. He’d smiled sheepishly, admitted that this was one of his favorite songs, and asked if she’d like to share a dance.

The strange thing was, she didn’t actually like Davey before that. At least she thought she didn’t. It wasn’t until she was cradled close to his chest, breathing in the smell of his soap and some soft, powdery cologne he frequented, that she found her heart pounding and her palms going clammy. And when he’d started humming against her hair, one hand in hers and the other around her waist, she knew she was absolutely fucked.

She’d started thinking about it and, yeah, it made sense to want to be with Davey. Handsome Davey, who sometimes made her laugh until soda came out her nose, and whose affinity for children’s cartoons made him the ideal conversation partner. Three years later, she was still in love with him.

And it was all her stupid, evil friends’ faults.

Back in the present, Davey tucked his hands in his pockets, his lips twisting as he lost himself in thought. “We’re gonna have so much shit to carry.” He murmured, exasperated at being the ones left behind.

“We sure are. At least you and Jack ordered drinks, so that’s more stuff to spill.” She twisted a long strand of hair around her finger.

Davey scoffed good-naturedly. “Yeah well you made me leave my water bottle in the car so I needed to be hydrated somehow.”

Pepper kicked at his shin with the toe of her sneaker. “And a caramel hot chocolate is the best way to stay hydrated?” She grinned up at him, watching him tuck the receipt into his back pocket and start moving for the pick-up window as the drink in question was called out.

He hummed in assent. “You bet it is.” He picked up the paper cup, taking a short sip and licking at his bottom lip. Pepper ignored the urge to run her thumb across it.

She must have been staring, because after a second, Davey held the cup out towards her. He didn’t say anything, didn’t need to. She loved chocolate and caramel, and always ran cold. He knew there was no way she’d have turned down a sip if he’d offered, so he must have decided to save his breath. She took the cup in her hands, the warmth emanating from it seeping pleasingly into her palms, and took a sip as well, subconsciously hoping to taste more than the drink. She licked her lips.

Davey watched her intently. He opened his mouth, ready to say something to her, when the order bell rang out. “Order sixty-nine!” The college girl behind the counter announced.

“Oh, fuck yes.” Race cackled from the table. V leaned into him, trying to hide their own laughter as Mickey gave him a high-five.

Pepper sighed, she should’ve known that would be their luck. The pair of them moved forward, Davey pushing in front of her to grab the tray before she could even reach for it. “I got it.” He mumbled, holding onto the plastic tray like a nervous Disney-Channel-Original-Movie teenager. “Grab the drinks, don’t worry about it.” And then he smiled up at her, a closed-lipped little smile that made her heart race as she picked up Jack’s orange soda.

Behind her, someone clicked their tongue. Pepper turned, making immediate eye contact with an older lady with greying black hair and soft folds in her skin, who gave her a knowing smile. “And they say chivalry is dead. You got yourself a sweet one, honey.” She said, then winked.

Pepper’s jaw went slack trying to think of a response. She turned back to Davey, whose eyebrows were so far up his face that they were basically in his hairline. “Oh God,” he said simply, “Um, thank you, ma’am.”

The woman laughed softly, leaned over and patted Pepper’s shoulder as if she knew something Pepper didn’t, and then disappeared into the line to order food.

There was a long, silent moment, where Pepper was racking her brain, searching every corner for something to say that would shift the air, move the mood from awkward to playful with a joke of some sort. She looked at him again, and he was staring at her, unblinking. There was a funny look on his face- regret maybe- his eyebrows low and his eyes a little soft. She wondered, distantly, if he was realizing that she was in love with him; if it was a look of pity-

“Hurry up with my goddamn cheese fries!” Mickey yelled, their hunger obviously taking control over their inhibition.

Without a second thought, Pepper turned on her heel and walked to where their friends were, leaving Davey and the unnerving encounter behind.

#pls drop a like/rb if you read! i'm really proud of this one!#davey #olive talks #my fic #the amusement park

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daveyjacobss · 3 years

Text

meant to be made into art

jack kelly x davey jacobs (freshman college roommates au)

summary: davey might like his new roommate more than he was expecting to.

a/n: hi @faded-dragon-flys !! i’m your secrect santa for @newsies-secret-santa !! this is being posted a little later than i wanted so i’m really sorry about that but i hope you like it!! i hope you’ve had a happy holidays and that you have a wonderful new years :)

masterlist

_________

College was....okay. It wasn't that Davey wasn't excited to have more freedom and to finally be able to pursue his interests, but the entire experience was incredibly nerve-wracking. Classes and coursework were enough stress on their own, but the addition of living away from home for the first time in a new place with a stranger for a roommate wasn't exactly ideal. Not that his roommate wasn't fine, he was —mostly. He had a horrible sleep schedule and he was a little messy and he sometimes listened to his music too loud, but Davey had many of the same flaws. So, yeah, Davey could mostly handle Jack.

It had been a bit of a shock the second week when he had been up at an ungodly hour writing for one of his classes and Jack, who he had assumed was sleeping somewhere else for the night, had returned from one of the school's art studios splattered with paint. From the look on Jack's face, it had been a bit of a shock for him, too. But after the initial surprise had passed Jack had laughed quietly and Davey's cheeks had flushed the lightest of pinks because, oh, Jack had a really nice laugh. Davey had laughed a little, too, once he got his faint blush under control, and they had stayed up a little longer to talk before going to sleep. There were plenty of late night encounters in the following weeks, but that first one lingered in Davey's mind — the way the paint on Jack's face had accentuated his jawline, the way his smile had spread across his face so easily. His laughter had been soft but, with the quiet of the room, the sound of it had wrapped itself around Davey so firmly that he had felt it in his chest.

That happened a lot — more than he would have liked to admit. Jack would laugh, or he would sing along with his music, or he would just talk, and Davey would feel it reverberating in his chest and quickening the pace of his heart. Though, to be fair, the sped up heart rate also happened whenever Jack changed his shirt in front of Davey or walked into the room after a shower in only a towel.

So, maybe he couldn't actually handle Jack that well. Or, rather, he couldn't handle the way his face warmed every time Jack looked at him and his heart jumped in his chest anytime Jack touched him. Every time he talked to Sarah on the phone she would ask about his cute roommate, and every time without fail Davey would make a little choking noise and, if Jack was there, a swift exit. She had seen him when she was helping Davey move into his dorm, and he spent every day grateful that she hadn't gotten the chance to actually talk to him.

Sarah was better at making friends than Davey was, she always had been. Where she blossomed in social situations and could easily command a room, Davey floundered for what to say and criticized every word that came out of his own mouth. He was awkward, and people tended to give him strange looks rather than friendly smiles. Jack was the same way as Sarah, from what Davey could gather. He had plenty of friends back home and he had had no trouble making friends at their university, never eating alone in the dining hall and always having someone in each of his classes to text about assignments. Davey could understand it, the way people seemed to fawn over Jack and melt at his smile — after all, he did the same things. Jack never really brought his friends back to their dorm, though, and it warmed Davey's heart to think it was out of consideration for him.

The only real friends Davey had made since arriving on campus were Jack and a girl in his english class named Katherine, who sometimes scared him but he still adored all the same. Katherine had caught onto his growing feelings for his roommate so fast Davey had briefly wondered if she was psychic. Jack had seen them sitting together while they ate dinner and came to say hi, and Katherine had clearly not missed the way Davey had simultaneously brightened out of excitement and shrunk down out of nervousness. Thankfully, she didn't say anything until Jack had left, but then a teasing smile had spread across her face and Davey knew he was a goner.

"Don't think I didn't see that," she had said, nonchalantly flipping her hair behind her shoulder. Her eyes were twinkling with mischief as she looked at him.

"See what?" He had asked, trying to appear as unbothered as she was. He failed miserably.

She hadn't responded, only going back to eating her salad, but she had been poking fun at him about it ever since. It didn't help that she insisted Jack had a crush on Davey, too. She would tell him about how Jack's smile was different for him and he rarely looked away from Davey when they were in the same room — but Davey just couldn't bring himself to believe it. Believing it would let in too much hope, and with too much hope came the inevitable bone crushing weight of heartbreak.

Even just the little bit of hope that had crept into his chest after Katherine's constant reassurances of Jack liking him as well left him stealing glances at his roommate while perched on his own bed and making half-assed annotations in his textbook. Sometimes he felt creepy, always watching Jack when he wasn't looking (thought he probably spent an equal amount of time averting his eyes for his own sanity), but every once in a while Jack would catch him and he would just smile — so Davey never felt too bad about it.

He watched as Jack hunched over his sketchbook, his lip between his teeth and his brow furrowed. Jack always looked breathtaking when he was concentrating on his artwork. He ended up in strange positions that looked like there was no way they could ever be comfortable, but his body was as relaxed as it was tense. Sometimes his tongue would slip out between his teeth if he got really into it, and it always made Davey smile. Jack's control over his face in general seemed to disappear when he was working on his art, every emotion clearly written in his expressions as he cycled through them. Once, Jack had brought Davey to the art studio with him so he could have company while he painted. It had been one of the smaller rooms in the art building, and they were the only ones in there. The way Jack had loosened and opened up was incredible to watch, it was like as soon as he picked up his paintbrush his whole being clicked into place and was brought into focus. The painting was beautiful, as was every piece of Jack's, but it was the painter who Davey had watched come alive in vibrant colors.

"What are you working on?" He blurted out, startling even himself as Jack looked up from his sketchbook. His roommate's face relaxed a little as his eyes fell on Davey.

"Just some warmup sketches," he answered easily. Everything Jack did seemed to come easily.

"Any particular subject?" Davey pushed his textbook off his lap, his notes forgotten in lieu of a much more important subject (Jack, of course). For a split second, he swore he saw panic flash across his friend's face.

"Not really, I just like to make sure I draw a bit everyday." He smiled at Davey, closing his sketchbook. "What class are you working on?"

"Oh, this?" Davey gestured to the several colors of highlighters and pens scattered across his bed with his textbook. "It's just stuff for my intro to philosophy course. The professor gives us, like, never-ending readings. It's nowhere near as interesting as your art." He was blushing by the time he finished talking, not having expected himself to turn his answer into praise for Jack (...again). But Jack scoffed, bringing himself and his sketchbook over to Davey's bed. He plopped down next to him and their knees knocked into each other, Davey's heart missing a beat.

"Nah, if it's interesting to you than it's cool. You don't have to downplay it or justify it to me." Jack caught Davey's eyes while he was talking, locking in so that Davey couldn't have looked away even if he wanted to (he didn't). There was something so simultaneously comforting and exposing about Jack looking right at him, all of his attention focused on Davey. He was so caught up it in that it took a second for his words to register. But, when they did, he found his chest warming and the butterflies in his stomach fluttering their wings — not the harsh, violent flapping that happened when he got anxious, but a gentle soothing rhythm that could have lulled him to sleep. Not knowing how to respond to such a warm act of reassurance, he tried to redirect the conversation.

"Can I see what you were drawing?"

It was Jack who finally broke their staring contest, dragging his eyes down to look at his sketchbook resting in his lap. He glanced between it and Davey, biting his lip.

"Tell you what, I'll show you some of these sketches if you finally let me read one of those short stories of yours for your fiction writing class, deal?"

Davey's eyes widened, feeling himself shrinking back without actually moving. He was retreating from the warmth Jack was radiating and it left him cold and regretful, but he didn't know if he could do it. He didn't know if he could let Jack read one his stories, let him look that deeply in Davey's mind. Sure, his professor and his classmates would read his stories for workshops to help him revise it, but this felt different. They were reading it for the sake of constructive criticism and helping him improve it, Jack would be reading it just to read it. Jack would be reading it and in doing so he'd get the biggest peek into who Davey was that he would probably ever get. Even Sarah hadn't been allowed to read his stories yet. But —

But Jack was there. Jack was sitting there in front of him on Davey's bed, offering up a part of himself, too. Davey had watched Jack paint, but he had never had the privilege to look into Jack's sketchbook. Even when he asked he had been expecting a playful dismissal, a kind brush off. Jack's other friends, Davey knew, weren't allowed to look at his sketchbook. He had confided with Davey that even his foster brother back home had only been allowed to glimpse a few pages. And if Jack was willing to show that part of himself, to reveal that to Davey, how couldn't he offer up the same in return?

"Okay," he said, looking Jack right in the eye again and watching as his lips turned upward. "Deal."

Jack grinned fully before spitting on his hand and holding it out as if for a handshake. Davey scrunched his nose as he looked down at it. "That's disgusting."

Jack laughed, pulling hand back to wipe it on his pants. "Sorry, force of habit."

Davey's phone vibrated on the bed beside him as he was giving Jack a slightly bewildered stare. He picked it up without really looking, pulling up the text notification from Sarah. His face flushed at her message, quickly putting his phone face down on the bed to make sure Jack couldn't see it. It was Jack's turn to give Davey a bewildered stare.

"You alright there?"

Davey laughed nervously. "Yeah, uh, I'm good. Sorry, it's my sister. She won't stop asking me about my cute roommate." He froze as he realized what he had said. "Uh! Her words, not mine. She won't shut up about it."

"That so?" Jack asked, smirking. He was so smug and so boyishly attractive that Davey's brain didn't even give him a second to think before he was talking again.

"Well, you know, you are." And holy shit he did not just say that. Holy shit he did not just say that. Jack's jaw dropped just slightly, but Davey was more focused on the panic making its way through his entire body and forcing even more words up his throat. "I mean—like, uh, objectively, ya know? Like, your face is, uh — it's, like, aesthetically.... pleasing?"

He wanted to die. He wanted to throw himself out the window and die. He could not believe all of that had just come out of his mouth. He continued to stutter for a few more seconds without any real words coming out, Jack's eyes still fixated on him as he blushed and fidgeted. Then, suddenly, he turned away as if to hide his face — but he didn't turn enough. Davey watched in muted shock as Jack lips spread into a broad grin.

"For what it's worth," Jack's voice was soft and gentle, slipping out from behind his smile, "I think your face is pretty aesthetically pleasing, too."

Davey's entire body shut down. Oh. Jack thought he had a nice face. Okay. Yeah, definitely not something he could handle — definitely something he would need to deal with and process when he was alone and could express the proper amount of freaking out over it.

"I actually, um—" Jack was turning back to him, opening his sketchbook to his most recent pages. "I think you have a really nice face, Davey." He held the book out to Davey and he took it with slightly trembling his hands. In front of him were two full pages populated entirely by sketches of Davey. His breath caught in his throat as he looked at them, at Jack's beautiful handiwork. He made Davey seem more breathtaking than he was, than he could ever dream of being. And, more than that, he made Davey seem like the kind of person worth paying attention to.

When he turned to look back at Jack, his gaze was softened and his mouth was stilling hanging open slightly. Jack looked like he was holding his breath, his eyes hopeful as they met Davey's.

Oh, Davey thought again. Oh.

While he had been sneaking glances at Jack, Jack had been doing the same. While he had been romanticizing every detail of Jack, Jack had been doing the exact same thing to Davey in his artwork. He made Davey feel like he was the kind of person who deserved to be romanticized, like he was the kind of person who was meant to made into art.

Oh.

Davey gently placed the sketchbook down on the bed, feeling more calm than he had since he moved into their dorm. The butterflies in his stomach were fluttering, his heart was beating out his chest, his face was practically burning, and yet everything felt peaceful. Jack's eyes widened as Davey reached for him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

But he melted into it when Davey kissed him. He grabbed at Davey, his hands scrunching up the fabric of Davey's shirt as he pulled him closer, smiling into the kiss. Davey felt like he had literally ascended to heaven, curling his fingers in Jack's hair.

When they eventually pulled away Davey's nerves returned in full force, stumbling over his words as he tried to explain himself. But Jack just smiled at him and kissed his forehead before lacing their hands together. And, yeah, Davey could make do with that.

"What do you say we go grab some dinner and I read one of your stories when we get back? Then we can have a movie night or something," Jack offered, standing up from the bed and pulling Davey with him.

No fear came with the idea of Jack reading his story that time, not after having seen Jack's sketchbook. Not after Jack had revealed himself so openly to Davey — it was only fair he do the same. Plus, he found that he wanted Jack to see that part of him. He wanted to know what Jack thought of his writing.

"Yeah," he smiled, squeezing Jack's hand. "That sounds good."

_________

tag list: @isarants @tomanybandstolove @seriously-ceci @bens-platt @earlyjunes @broadway-trashh @interwebseriesfan24 @returnoftheborle @cozykleinman @timesarehardfornewsies @jackclyde @last-an-eon @annabethgranger123 @musi-xals @notyouraveragegryffindoor @magic-made-by-melody @i-also-miss-our-talks@linfuckingmirandaaa @shatteringinprogress @storytellersun @psych-stereo @books-cats-sprinkles @me-andthe-sky @connor-is-my-sunshine @merediths2003 @papesfordavey @larryisinfactnotstraight @casifer-is-cute @gem-evieve @actually-lizzy @broadwayobsessedteen @majo16199 @sarkitsm @suffering-bi @tommy-braccoli @starryrevelations @woolfhrd @thesleepingandthedead @cruelnatalie @bencookisagod @abovethyfold @mycollectionofnuts @gayrightsansa @dorkydavina

#javid fic #javid #jack kelly x davey jacobs #newsies fic #newsies #newsies secret santa #jack kelly #davey jacobs #not my best work lol but i think it's a lil cute :)#bambi can kinda write

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mosiee · 3 years

Text

Newsies Square Discord Writing Challenge: Week 3

From @newsies-square-discord post

Inspiration: "I can’t believe you, the great [character name], has been rendered speechless.” / Careless

Pairing: David/Jack (platonic or romantic you decide)

Yet again, a passage from a wip that will most likely never get posted so here you go :)

The first thing David noticed when he awoke was how incredibly bright it was. He could barely stand to hold his eyes open for more than a few seconds before having to close them again. Next was the bunk above him. He wasn’t home. He thought he made it home last night after leaving the lodging with Les—

His mind flew into a panic. He was there, whatever state he was in, but where was Les? If he didn’t actually make it home last night, what happened and where was his little brother?

He pushed himself up which was much more painful than he ever would’ve thought. He felt something rubbing on the inside of his shirt and wasn’t too surprised when he felt it was a bandage wrapped around his chest and waist. Sitting crouched over had doubled the pain, the stabbing he was feeling in his side, so he mustered his strength and pushed off the bed so he was standing.

It took a moment to gain his balance without feeling his he was going to fall over. He took a deep breath and carefully walked to the door, trying to remember what happened the previous night.

He already knew he was at the lodging, he just didn’t remember how he got there. The fact that it was also daytime was kind of new to him too. It was significantly quieter and empty, though he heard some voices down the stairs. Oh, right. The stairs. He didn’t know if he could walk down them without losing his footing and tumbling. But luckily for him—

“Davey!” Said boy flinched slightly as Jack saw him, rushing up the stairs to meet him. “The hell you think yer doin in that state? I leave for three minutes to get somethin and yer outta bed lookin like yer gonna fall down the stairs at first step.”

“I— oh, uh sorry?” David didn’t really understand why he was apologizing.

“Christ, come here.” Jack very carefully took David’s arm and placed it around his shoulder while one of his own arms went around David’s waist. “Hold on so ya don’t fall.”

It seemed like it took forever to get down the stairs, and with how winded David was, anyone would think he had just run from Brooklyn.

Jack had slowly sat him in a chair, himself taking one right across from him. “Ya okay? Breathin right and everythin?”

“Where’s Les?” That was the only thing he could think of, besides how much he hurt.

“Kid’s fine. He’s out sellin with Race.”

It took a moment for the information to sink in and when it did, he let out a relieved sigh. “He’s okay… that’s good.”

“Are you?”

“Am I what?”

“Okay, David. Are ya okay?”

Oh, right. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Nuh uh, try again, when ya ain’t breathin like yer runnin from the bulls.”

David looked at him, blinking. “I—” He stared at Jack for a moment before his head went down so he was staring at his own hands. He knew he shouldn’t feel fine, but he couldn’t think of anything else. He felt like he normally did after a day of selling, just an extra amount of exhaustion on top of it.

He knew he was injured partly because of the headache he currently had and because of the bandages wrapped around his torso, but he didn’t know how badly. Jack was like he was when Les got hurt; fretting over the smallest thing and over the top care just in case. So he figured he wasn’t injured too badly.

“They really knocked yer brain to next week didn’t they?” David looked up as Jack spoke. “Can’t believe Davey Jacobs, the great Walkin Mouth of Manhattan has been rendered speechless.”

“Pardon?”

“You’ve been sittin there for five minutes just starin at yer hands.” Jack snorted. “I was too careless in lettin ya walk home by yerself last night and now look at ya, whole five minutes without a peep.”

A flash went through David’s head of the events of the previous night. It was later than they should’ve stayed and Jack had offered to walk them home, but David said they’d be alright—

“It’s not your fault.” He finally managed. “We got home fine—”

“Fine he tells me—”

“We did. I don’t remember the whole night but I remember that. I don’t remember why I left the second time though...”

“Whatever the reason, don’t think it was too important. After we found ya, Skitt ran to yer house and told yer folks you was gonna be stayin with us fer the night and they didn’t have a problem with it.” Jack huffed our a laugh. “So you were the careless one this time.”

“There’s a first for everything.”

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tending-the-hearth · 4 years

Text

It’s about time I talked about my favorite use of visual storytelling in Newsies (1992) - Davey’s costume

This post contains quite a bit of analysis and screenshots from the 1992 movie, so it’s all going to be under the cut! This is a post I’ve been wanting to make for quite a while, so I’m excited to finally be able to share it!

^^^^^^

This is the first version of Davey’s costume that we see. It’s buttoned up, stiff, and proper. At the beginning of the movie, his mind is set on the fact that he’s there to sell newspapers only to make a living to support his family. He’s not there to make friends or to work with anyone else. We see that in how he’s hesitant to take the papers from Jack, and to work with Jack. Even Les is put together, just like his brother. We can assume that Mama Jacobs helped her boys get ready for their first day as Newsies.

^^^^^^^

This is the second version of Davey’s costume we really get to see. It’s also the first time we really get to see him relaxed, and it’s around his family. His tie is loose, and his vest is unbuttoned. He’s let his guard down, and you can see his friendship with Jack begin to take shape in this moment. Jack’s begun to let him in (we’ve gotten to see Jack’s relationship with Medda, learned a bit about his Santa Fe dream), and now Davey’s invited him into his home, and introduced him to his family.

^^^^^^

Now we have his “World Will Know” costume version. He’s beginning to let his guard down around the newsies, allowing himself to be vulnerable around them. He’s allowed them to know one of his more personal “secrets” (his father’s injury), so he’s begun to open himself up, both emotionally and literally, unbuttoning his vest and removing his hat. He’s begun to mimic Jack’s costume, showing their position as equals in the Manhattan newsie’s hierarchy.

^^^^^^

Here, in his “Seize the Day” costume variation, Davey is becoming more confident, and he’s lost the tie, and any inhibitions. This is the first time that he’s completely taken the lead on a song, and the first time he’s taken the lead when encouraging and rallying the newsies. While “The World Will Know” was his words, Jack was the one bringing the newsies together. Davey’s showing his confidence and his personality as a leader, and it’s showing in this costume.

^^^^^^

The “Seize the Day (Reprise)” costume variation is probably the most drastic change to Davey’s costume so far. he’s lost his vest completely, and it could be representative to how the newsies have all lost a piece of themselves. They’ve lost Crutchy, their safety blanket, their hope, in a way. Davey’s costume is beginning to mimic the rest of the newsies’ costumes, though it’s still much more put together. He’s still the voice of reason, but he’s one of them now.

^^^^^^

“King of New York” isn’t very different, but it’s loose, and fun. Everyone in this song is celebrating, and why shouldn’t they? Their story is being shared, and they’re finally having some bit of hope back in their hearts. So understandably, Davey’s smiling, happy, and he’s loosened up. He’s cheerful, and excited.

^^^^^^

Davey’s rally outfit was difficult to get a full-length image of, but it seemed to be a bit loose-fitting. I can only imagine that this suit most likely belongs to his father, and he borrowed it for this moment. All the boys are wearing suits, and Davey’s gone back to the beginning of the movie, wanting to be taken seriously. He doesn’t want this strike to devolve into violence and anger, he wants the newsies to stay safe, and he wants them to listen to him, so he wants to be taken as seriously as possible.

^^^^^^

The morning after the rally, Davey’s still the same outfit, only he’s ditched the suit coat, picked up Les (who’s happily eating his hot dog), and has unbuttoned his vest). He’s claimed his spot as the leader of the Manhattan newsies while Jack’s in Pulitzer’s clutches, and he’s taking charge. He’s giving out instructions, making sure the boys know what to do, and he’s gone from not trusting the newsies to only trusting the newsies. He probably hasn’t slept since the rally, but he’s most likely not going to sleep until he knows what’s going on.

^^^^^^

Originally I just has a screenshot of Davey’s costume here, but then I rewatched this scene, and I knew I had to get a screenshot of both of them in this scene, because I realized that they switched outfit styles, and it just hurts so perfectly. Jack’s become the buttoned-up, prim and proper newsboy while Davey’s the loose and fiery newsie. Jack’s face, much like Davey at the very beginning of the movie, is guarded, not allowing any emotion to show through as he watches Davey walk away. Davey, on the other hand, is quite obviously holding back either tears or anger. Davey’s costume here shows him taking up Jack’s former mantle, leading the newsies as they watch their former leader betray them.

^^^^^^

Davey’s “Once and For All/Finale” costume is, honestly, probably one of my favorite costumes that he has in the movie. He’s most confident in it, confronting Denton, and standing up to Pulitzer without a second thought. He’s the most himself, as well, living up to his newsie name as “The Walking Mouth”. And this moment is, quite possibly, one of my favorite moments of the movie. Davey echoing Jack’s words to him from the beginning of the movie, “Headlines don’t sell papes, newsies sell papes”, as he puts on his hat. Davey’s grown so much. He’s ditched his prim and proper cover, completely lost any guardedness and walls that he put up at the beginning of the movie. The only part of his outfit from the beginning of the movie that he kept is his hat, but even his hat isn’t so structured- it’s more floppy, and worn in, more comfortable, showing how at home Davey is with the newsies.

#newsies #newsies 1992 #broadway #david jacobs #disney #disney plus #costume design #visual storytelling #costume analysis #now if you don't mind #i'm going to go cry about david jacobs and his costume for the 500th time

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ihatecoconut · 4 years

Text

One of Ours

Cross Posted to AO3

It was an unfortunate series of events that moved the Jacobs family from Ohio to New York, but it came with a pay rise for Mayer, a new job for Esther, and a new school for their three children. All three had been struggling at their previous school, bullied for being Jewish, and Esther had high hopes that they would get on better in a state with many more Jewish people around.

Davey and Sarah were fifteen, Les was twelve and unknown to their parents, they were all relieved to be moving to New York- or, back to New York, considering they all had memories of living there before. Sarah called it her past life, Davey just called them memories, without giving it a name that had such huge connotations as Sarah’s did. Les didn’t call it anything, because he was twelve and not yet fully aware of the fact that it set them apart from everyone else.

“It’s called ‘The World’,” Esther was explaining to Sarah as Davey came down the stairs. He still wasn’t used to having a house with two floors, or a room to himself, despite it having been nearly a week since they had moved in.

“It’s run by a man named Joseph Pulitzer, a descendent of the Pulitzer Prize man- morning David.”

“Good morning, mama,” he replied, sitting next to Sarah.

“I was just telling Sarah about your new high school. It’ll be good to know some things before you get there, won’t it?”

Davey mustered up a smile and nodded, biting into his toast despite the nerves churning in his stomach that threatened to send anything he ate back up. Sarah squeezed his arm under the table, smiling at him hopefully. He knew what she was thinking- in the memories the three of them shared Pulitzer had also been named Joseph, and Sarah had been utterly in love with his daughter. If they weren’t the only ones, maybe Katherine went to their high school as well.

Les borderline tumbled down the stairs and dropped into the chair on Sarah’s other side, “Good morning, mama!” he chirped cheerfully, taking the toast she set in front of him and devouring it.

“You seem excited.” Esther commented, looking relieved- even if the twins were nervous, she knew they would have each other, Les on the other hand was only in middle school, and would be alone surrounded by people he didn’t know.

“I am!” Les replied, around a mouthful of toast that made Davey grimace, “I can’t wait to meet my friends!”

Esther laughed, ruffling his hair, the statement meant nothing to her, just the ramblings of her excited son. Davey and Sarah knew that he was convinced that they would meet the people they had known before- it had been their topic of discussion last night- and neither of them had the heart to point out to their brother that they might be the only three that remembered.

Breakfast was finished, and Esther hurried the three of them out of the house, dropping kisses on cheeks and wishing them a good first day as she walked in the opposite direction to them. Together, they watched her hurry off- she had started working at a local bakery partway through their first week and was used to it by now. As she got out of sight, they turned as one and began walking towards the school.

Their father had made them walk to the gates and back multiple times over the previous few days, so they knew where they were going.

“Davey!” Les gasped, tugging on his sleeve like he did in the memories, the memories where he was much younger, “It’s the lodging house!”

And it was. The building had barely changed, save for some wear and tear and the sign that now read ‘Kloppman’s home for boys’ instead of ‘Duane Street Lodging House.’ As if on cue, a group of boys tumbled out of the door and began walking in the same direction they had been.

Les stood on his tiptoes, glancing between all the boys, trying to see anyone he recognised. Davey and Sarah exchanged a slightly horrified glance- it had been fine thinking about meeting the other people they remembered in abstract, but the sudden idea that it could be very real wasn’t something that either of them had really been prepared for.

“Les,” Sarah said, pulling him back from where he seemed to be about to run into the fray, “you have to be careful. They might not remember.”

His little face took on a much sombre look, “I know. I’m not supposed to know their names unless they say something first.”

She nodded and squeezed his hand, “If you were friends last time, I’m sure you’ll get along this time too.”

He grinned up at her and nodded, with that the three of them began to walk again, no more words exchanged until they had left Les at the gates of the middle school, gaining a promise from him to wait for them and not walk home on his own.

“Do you really think that?” Davey asked quietly, “That if we were friends last time, we’ll be friends this time?”

“Why wouldn’t we be?”

“We only became friends with them last time because we had the same job. They wouldn’t have cared about me if I hadn’t joined the newsboys.”

Sarah hugged him, “You’re so pessimistic. Try and look on the bright side, ok?”

He sighed, “Yeah, ok.”

They went to the school office, following helpful signs, to collect their schedules- and apparently, someone who would show them to first period if nothing else. The secretary introduced herself as ‘Hannah, you don’t need to call me miss anything’ and handed them their schedules with a smile and a basic explanation of the shape of the school.

“It used to be the headquarters for ‘The World’ newspaper, so the main body was set out like offices, but there was some reworking before the school was opened, so there’s more classrooms- and obviously the newer parts were built to be a school.”

Davey didn’t say anything, so Sarah took over the polite smiling and responses until they were told to sit in the waiting room and wait for the people who would be showing them around this morning.

“What’s up with you?” she asked quietly, pretending to be comparing their schedules, “You’re never like this.”

“I know her,” Davey replied, the same volume, “She was one of Pulitzer’s… I don’t know, secretaries?”

“Weird.”

“Do you think…”

“No. No way, she didn’t seem to recognise you.”

“Maybe she’s had practice.”

“If she’s here, who else- “

Sarah was cut off by two people entering the office kind of loudly,

“Hi Hannah!” the boy called, leaning on her desk and grinning brilliantly, “You are looking radiant as always.”

“Romeo.” The twins whispered in unison, thankfully not loud enough for either him, or his friend to here.

“Sarah! David!” Hannah called, “Come here, please.”

They did, smiling at Romeo, and the girl who turned out to be Hotshot, while trying not to let the recognition show through. Neither of them seemed at all surprised to see the two of them, or as if they recognised them and Davey wasn’t quite sure if that was a relief or not.

“Alright.” Hannah clapped her hands, “Sarah, this is Romeo, he’s gonna stick with you for the morning and hand you over to Mike for the afternoon. David, this is Niamh- “

“Hotshot.” Niamh interjected,

“-Hotshot, yes, and she will be with you for first period, then she’ll hand you over to Katherine for the afternoon. Ok?”

They both nodded their understanding and went to stand with their assigned partner, for lack of a better word. Sarah gave her brother an encouraging smile, one that said he could do this, even if he was almost completely convinced, he couldn’t.

They split up almost immediately, with Romeo leading Sarah down one corridor soon after the exited the office, and Hotshot continuing straight on. She didn’t say much, pointing out things Davey would want to remember as they passed, and glancing back every so often to check that he was still there, which was fine by Davey as he had never been particularly good at small talk, and it gave him time to think.

He hadn’t got many memories of Hotshot, just that she had been Spot’s second and he had sometimes had to pass messages through her in order to speak to Spot. She hadn’t been particularly talkative last time either, from what he vaguely remembered, but then none of Brooklyn had- she still had the Brooklyn accent, even at a school in Manhattan. “This is first period,” she said, gesturing at a door that was marked ‘Bi3’ “Biology.” She pushed the door open and walked in, obviously expecting Davey to follow. The teacher who turned and smiled at them wasn’t at all recognisable to Davey, which he found slightly relieving, and she welcomed him to the class, before directing him to sit next to Hotshot at the back- the only spare seat.

A few corridors over, Sarah was behind Romeo in math. Before they had gone in, he had warned her that the teacher wasn’t particularly nice and that they called him ‘Snyder the Spider’ behind his back. The words had sent a chill up her spine- her memories of the newsies explaining the Refuge to her and her parents were harsh, sharp, and awful. The memories of even one of the littles lifting up his shirt to reveal an ugly scar were too embedded in her head to ever forget.

“Miss Jacobs, I assume?” Snyder had said as they entered, smiling at her in a way that made her realise that no matter what Romeo or Hotshot or Hannah remembered, Snyder had all his previous memories and he had connected her to Davey immediately.

“Yes sir.” She replied brightly, “Where would you like me to sit.”

He gestured at the empty seat behind Romeo, who was sitting next to another one she recognised, even if she couldn’t call his name to mind- both of them were looking at her worriedly, a warning not to incite his anger. She sat down and pulled out her notebook and pencil case, wondering if anyone was going to sit next to her, or if she was destined to sit alone for the rest of the year.

“Alright,” Snyder said, “Quadratics.”

As if on cue, the door was flung open and someone slid in neatly- a baseball cap sat backwards on top of red hair, bright enough that she knew immediately it was Albert.

“DaSilva.” Snyder snapped. “That’s the second time this week. Detention.”

“Yes, sir.” Albert replied, grinning cheekily, and making his way across the room to flop into the seat next to Sarah, “Morning Romeo, Elmer, new girl.”

Elmer- that was his name.

“Hi,” she said, “I’m Sarah Jacobs.”

“Albert DaSilva.” He replied and shook her hand politely. At the front of the classroom, Snyder was writing questions on the board. “You met Romeo and Elmer?”

“Romeo’s showing me around this morning.”

“Damn, be prepared to get lost.”

“Shut up.” Romeo replied, but he was laughing, “I’m not that bad.”

“I’m Elmer,” Elmer said turning around. “Ignore these two idiots, honestly, and don’t worry about math too much, we have another teacher more often than we have the Spider, so she actually teaches us.”

That was actually something of a relief, and she thanked him for the information, at which he nodded, and turned back around before Snyder did- she was remembering Jack saying that you didn’t give Snyder a chance to yell at you, you did everything right before he could tell you.

The class went silent as Snyder turned around, instructed them to do the twenty questions he had written up and left. The silence remained for a good five minutes and then the classroom almost erupted into noise.

Sarah sat back, copied down the questions, and wondered if the Katherine that would be showing Davey around would be her Katherine.

As it turned out, it was in fact Sarah’s Katherine that Hotshot passed Davey off to after Biology- he barely held in the urge to shout her name, hug her, or do something else that would scare her off. Her fiery hair stood out from where she was leaning against the white walls, a pink folder hugged to her chest with one arm, while she checked her phone. She smiled up at the two of them when Hotshot called out her name, and moved towards them. She was taller than Davey remembered, almost as tall as him, but aside from that she seemed exactly the same. He had known her the best out of the few people had seen so far, and he found that it actually ached not to be able to reach out, brush her hair off her shoulder, hug her, lean into her and just resume the comfortable affection that they had had last time.

“English?”

“Huh?”

“I said, are you ready for English?” she repeated, smiling gently, and he almost thought she was going to reach out and put a hand on his shoulder. She didn’t, and he nodded, trying not to show his disappointment, and wondering if he could warn Sarah about how it felt.

Like Hotshot, Kath pointed out a few things he should remember- the lockers, the nurse’s office- and unlike Hotshot, she kept up a steady stream of conversation that Davey wasn’t really expected to contribute to, only interrupted by people greeting her, where she would pause and introduce them to Davey. By the time they reached English, Davey had been told more names than he thought he could ever really remember, and maybe he was right because they all flew out of his head immediately when he was faced with the English teacher. Denton.

The English teacher was Bryan Denton, and he could have laughed at that if it wouldn’t have got him several questioning glances.

“David Jacobs?” Denton asked brightly, moving towards him to shake his hand firmly, “It’s a pleasure to have you in this class, please- take a seat.”

Slightly tongue tied and reminded of the unfortunate crush he remembered having on Denton, Davey followed Katherine and sat down next to her, remembering to ask if the seat was empty before he collapsed into it.

“Alright,” Denton said, “I just need to go grab some photocopies, so talk amongst yourselves for a bit.” Katherine smiled at him and turned around to talk to someone behind them, who turned out to be Spot, much to Davey’s surprise- they were introduced, and then Spot pulled Katherine into a conversation that seemed to need a lot of background knowledge to follow, so Davey pulled out his phone instead. To Sarah: I’ve found Katherine and Spot, as well as Hotshot. From Sarah: I’ve found Romeo, Elmer, Albert, Specs and Jack. He stared down at his phone, willing the words to make sense. She had found Jack- his Jack.

From Sarah: I think Romeo and Specs are dating and I know Albert and Elmer are dating because they started making out as soon as they saw each other. They were both avoiding the obvious topic, but it was nice to know that they were surrounded by people they had known. To Sarah: I’m pretty sure they were dating last time as well, subtlety had never been Albert’s strong point. He got a laughing emoji in response, and didn’t have time to send anything else as Denton re-entered the room, waving a load of paper triumphantly, “I have the photocopies.” The lesson began there, they were looking at The Great Gatsby, which Davey had covered at his old school only a few years prior, so he felt comfortable enough to relax slightly. Or relax as much as he could with Spot’s eyes boring holes into the back of his head. The one time he glanced around, Spot made direct eye contact and held it until he turned back. Spot wasn’t any less terrifying in the twenty first century it seemed. * Katherine seemed to be expecting Davey to eat lunch with her and her group and based on the interactions she had had with people that Davey recognised, he was pretty certain that Sarah would be eating with her group as well. He went with her, stopped by the small greetings from people that he had gotten used to by walking around with her, and some of them even remembered him, remembered his name and were actually interested in how his day had gone so far. They went through the lunch room, Katherine pausing at one table to talk to some people- two of whom Davey recognised as Bill and Darcy- but kept going after she had gotten the information she wanted, past all the other tables and outside and towards a tree. A tree that already had a large gathering of people under it- including Sarah who jumped to her feet as soon as she saw him and pulled him towards where she was sitting. Where she was sitting, next to Jack. “Hey,” Jack greeted as Sarah pulled him down onto the grass, “You must be Davey, Sarah said you were somewhere around here.” The utter lack of recognition in Jack’s friendly tone went like an arrow straight to Davey’s heart, and he somehow found it in himself to smile politely and ask who Jack was. “I’m Jack.” Jack told him, “Jack Kelly, and I live at Kloppman’s with most of these idiots.” “We walked past that on our way this morning,” Davey said, desperately trying to keep the conversation as long as possible. “Yeah, Sarah said, she said you’ve got a younger brother too?” “Uh, yeah- Les, he’s twelve and at the middle school.” “Yeah, my brother Crutchie’s there too, he’s thirteen, though.” Davey smiled, both at the fact that Jack still considered Crutchie his brother, and at the fact that Les would be able to make at least one friend, even if nobody outside of the three of them remembered the previous century. “Speaking of Les,” he said, and pulled out his phone to discover that Les was ahead of him and had already texted. From Les: im fine, ive made friends, im being shown around From Les: ALSO ULL NEVER GUESS WHO I MET To Les: Was it Crutchie? From Les: YESS!!! From Les: and he remembers Davey paused staring at Les’ final text, a text that in three short words had brought something that might have been hope to sit in Davey’s chest. “Sarah?” “Yeah?” “Has Les texted you?” “Yeah, he said he made friends with Jack’s brother.” They both looked up at each other, and he could see that Les had in fact imparted the important piece of information to Sarah as well. She raised her eyebrows. Davey went back to his conversation with Jack. Looking around, he could see most of the previous newsies that had been their age in the little group under the tree. Race and Spot were next to each other, arguing over something that he couldn’t quite hear, Sarah was sat with Katherine, Smalls, Sniper, and the twins- Mike and Ike- on the other side of Jack was Buttons, Tommy Boy, Henry, Blink and Mush, Hotshot was next to Spot, but not involved in the argument, instead talking to Albert, Elmer, Romeo, Specs, and Finch. It was just as chaotic as he remembered the lodging house being and it was oddly perfect for him, someone who hated loud noises and crowds. * They picked Les up at the gates of the middle school, along with Jack and Race who had accompanied them to grab Crutchie- the rest of the group, Jack explained, just left when they were let out and they all reconvened at Kloppman’s, otherwise they’d be waiting on the school grounds for ages and it was sometimes hard to know when they had everyone. Crutchie beamed at the four of them as they approached and was quick to introduce everyone who didn’t already know each other. “You guys wanna come back to Kloppman’s with us?” Jack offered, one arm slung over Crutchie’s shoulders, “We generally do homework and stuff together.” Les wanted to say yes, it was obvious in his face, but… “Mama asked us to have dinner going when she got home.” Sarah pointed out gently, “Maybe another time.” Les and Crutchie looked sorely disappointed by that, and maybe Davey was flattering himself, but he thought Jack looked a little disappointed too. They said their goodbyes, Les hugged everyone because he was just like that, the three Jacobs headed back to their little house, and the other three headed to their home. Jack would never have admitted it to anyone, but he did glance back multiple times until they were out of sight, hoping that they might change their minds. The Jacobs weren’t aware of Jack’s glances, instead too focused on getting back to their house where they would be free to discuss the weirdness that had gone down on their first day. Sarah locked the door and dropped her bag, rounding on Les, “You’re certain? You’re certain that Crutchie remembers?” Les nodded frantically, “he brought up an inside joke from before and I finished it and we both just knew!” The twins exchanged a glance, both hoping that the other would know what to do about the situation, and- when no solution came- the three of them just fell about laughing. There wasn’t really anything else to do in such a situation, it wasn’t like there was a handbook entitled ‘What to do when your friends don’t remember their past lives’ or anything, no matter how much Davey thought it would help. “Holy shit.” Sarah finally breathed out, “This is insane.” “Yep.” “Yep.” They looked at each other and started laughing again. * Back at the lodging house- which was still how most of them thought of it, despite the fact that it hadn’t been called that in over a century- Crutchie was sitting in the middle of a circle as he explained how Les also remembered, but he didn’t think that the twins remembered because Les hadn’t said anything, and he hadn’t seen any recognition in their eyes. Other people mumbled their agreements at that, they hadn’t seen any recognition from the Jacobs either. “I don’t know,” Katherine argued, “I’m pretty sure Davey at least recognised me from the way he kind of stared when Hotshot introduced me.” “Maybe he was just doing that ‘cos he thinks your hot.” Spot offered from Race’s bunk, where he was currently curled up with Race. “Funny.” “Just saying.” “Well don’t.” Jack muttered, ignoring the amused looks that gained from most of the older members. Spot shrugged in response, “Kloppman’s gonna come and tell us off for not working soon.” There were a series of groans and objections from around the room, but people stood up and moved to their desks or onto their beds, depending on how they preferred to work, and by the time Kloppman walked in everyone was doing something appropriate- even if they were occasionally mentioning the three Jacobs’s siblings. “What’s this about then?” Kloppman asked gently, sitting down next to Jack on his bunk, “There’s some new kids,” he glanced up, “you remember Davey? Davey Jacobs?” Kloppman resisted the urge to ask how he could have forgotten with Jack drawing him every few days, and instead just nodded. “Him, and Sarah, his twin, and Les- you remember Les- they joined our schools today.” Kloppman raised an eyebrow, unphased. He had met too many people that he had known before to be surprised when another one showed up, in all honesty he was almost convinced that they were all gravitating towards New York in some way- call it fate, destiny, a horse- they would all be there eventually. “Bring them ‘round.” He said to Jack, patted his knee and eased himself up to check in on the littles, who were primarily looked after by Miss Medda these days, but it was good to keep up with them for when they moved up. “Yeah,” Jack sighed, watching him go. “It would probably help if they remembered.” * “Yeah,” Les sighed from where he was cutting carrots at the table, “I’m pretty sure they don’t remember, that was what Crutchie implied before you guys arrived.” Davey sighed, resigned, “I mean, I’d already worked that out, but…” “It kinda sucks?” Les finished, “Yeah, it kinda sucks.” Esther and Mayer arrived home at that point, thanked their children for starting dinner and the conversation about past lives, memories and people they knew that didn’t know them, had to be dropped in favour of more parent-friendly conversations like how was your first day at school? And did you make any friends? Which classes did you enjoy? Were the teachers nice? Did you find your way around alright? That became a sort of pattern for the rest of their week, they would walk to school, drop Les at the gates, continue walking to school where they might be joined by one of Kloppman’s boys or their extended group, split up for classes which they both all had with at least one of said extended group, regroup for lunch, under the tree, finish classes, walk to the middle school with at least Jack and sometimes a few others, collect Les and Crutchie, say goodbye to Jack and Crutchie, reject Jack’s invitation, walk home and start on whatever their mother had planned for dinner while complaining about how much they wished the others remembered. And it followed into the next week, and the week after, until Sarah finally remembered to ask their parents if they could go over to Jack’s after school with their friends. That broke the pattern more than they could have anticipated when Esther gave them the go-ahead that morning. They walked to school, dropped Les and weren’t joined by anyone but that was fine because they were going to hang out with them after school, they split for classes, regrouped at lunch, by mutual agreement didn’t tell anyone they had been allowed to go over to their house- Sarah’s idea, she thought it would be funny to just say yes to Jack’s invitation with indication that was going to happen- spilt up again for afternoon classes and walked to the middle school with Jack and Katherine. “Do you wanna come over?” Jack asked, “Get something done on your homework with friends?” It was pretty obvious he was now just asking to be polite, because he didn’t think that they were going to say yes, but he had made a habit of asking everyday. “Yeah.” Sarah said. “That’s fine, I- wait what?” “Yeah,” Sarah repeated, trying not to laugh, “we’d love to.” Jack blinked at the three of them stunned for a couple of seconds, before a smile broke out across his face. Davey thought it looked like the sun was coming out, and he was taken breathless by the happiness that Jack displayed and the memory of when he had truly been in love with him- he thought that he might be able to fall in love with Jack again if he was given the chance. “Let’s go!” Jack said, looking happier than a child in a candy store- as happy as a child in a candy store who had been told everything was free. The five of them turned towards the home and crossed the road, Jack thundering ahead to yell the good news into the bunk room. Davey, Sarah and Les entered to loud obnoxious cheers- the loudest of which came from Race, because he was just like that. There was some laughter when Race just kept going after everyone had stopped, and more when Spot pushed him off the bunk, but they made space for the three of them, offered them blankets and fluffy socks because the floor was always cold no matter how high they turned the heat up. Kloppman came in at the usual time glanced around the room and stopped his gaze on Davey, “Davey Jacobs?” Davey jumped up automatically, “Yes, sir.” Kloppman stared at him for a second and then broke out into one of his rare complete smiles, “Isn’t it good to see you again?” and wrapped Davey up in a hug, shook hands with Sarah and swung Les around like he had done before. Davey stood in a minor amount of shock, “What do you mean again?” “Don’t you remember? 1899? The strike?” “I mean, yeah but I didn’t realise you did.” “Wait,” Jack cut in, “You and Sarah? You remember too?” “Yeah, we thought only Crutchie remembered.” Jack laughed, “We thought only Les remembered.” The volume suddenly picked up with everyone asking questions over each other, but Davey found he could only look at Jack- and Sarah for a brief second when he saw her leaning in to kiss Katherine. “Hey Mouth!” Spot called, and the angry eyes Davey had been faced with in English for the past few weeks were gone, replaced with an odd gentleness. “Welcome back.” “It’s good to be back.” Jack lunged at him suddenly, and he found himself with an armful of Cowboy, “I missed you,” Jack whispered, loud enough for only Davey to hear, “I missed you so much.” I missed you didn’t seem to cover Davey’s feelings, but he said it back anyway, because how else could he express feeling like a part of him that was missing had been returned now that he was holding Jack in his arms? There was no other way. He glanced around the room, Les and Crutchie were on one bunk with some of the other pre-teens, Sarah and Katherine were curled up next to Smalls and Sniper and everyone else was in their own little groups. Spot was the only one still watching them. “It’s good to be back.”

#the newsboys #newsies fanfiction #newsies fandom #writing #writer #handwritten #writers #my writing #writblr #writeblr #writers of tumblr #davey jacobs #Jack Kelly #sarah jacobs #katherine plumber #javid #javey

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starship-squidlet · 3 years

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As the November/December fervor that was New Music, holiday one-shots, and Twelfth Night is starting to die down (it’s not dying down just yet, I know, because starting Friday I’ll be posting every day until 1/5, but it’s fine shhh), I wanted to present some of my other fic ideas to y'all, and let you guys pick what you'd like to see next!!! Whichever one(s) of these I wind up writing, I'll be working on planning the New Music sequel while I do! I’m also going to put ballpark ratings (based on what I have planned/the image I have rattling around in my head of the fic idk)

So here are my current fic/AU ideas that I have rattling around in various stages of planning, in no particular order of personal preference:

(I made headers and they make me happy so you’re going to see them)

1) Yo Ho Hero: Space Pirates AU. Think: Newsies characters, (grittier) Treasure Planet aesthetic, Star Wars planet-hopping, and an embarrassing amount of plot from the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything movie. Jack, Race, and Elmer are plucked out of their ordinary lives and thrust into a whole new world as unlikely heroes when Princess Katherine is captured by a wicked pirate. They join the crew of Prince Crutchie and his mage Davey to rescue Katherine and defeat the evil Captain Mechno-beard. (Rated K+-T because... they’re pirates. It’s going to get violent at times, but I don’t intend for it to be like gory or anything.)

Main Characters: Jack Kelly, Elmer Kasprzak, Race Higgins, Crutchie Morris, Davey Jacobs

Supporting Characters: Spot Conlon, JoJo de la Guerra, Specs, Romeo, Skittery

Minor Characters: Sarah and Les Jacobs, Katherine Pulitzer, Buttons Davenport, Albert Dasilva, Snyder, probably others IDK I haven’t finished planning.

2) The Green Fields of France: beginning in canon-era, a look at the lives of Elaine, Mush, and Finch, along with their descendants. Mush and Finch go off to war and never come back. Years later, Elaine finally learns what happened to them. (This one is entirely self-indulgent, I won't lie) (Rated K+. No adult themes, that I’m planning on, but there will be talk of war and dying. Nothing graphic, but just to be safe)

Main Characters: Elaine O’Dell (OC), Charlie O’Dell (OC)

Supporting Characters: Race Higgins, Albert Dasilva, Crutchie Morris, JoJo de la Guerra, Mush Meyers, Finch Cortez

3) {unnamed modern!academia!AU}: Albert transfers to a new grad school and meets a collection of... interesting people, not the least of which is the enigmatic Race Higgins. Follows them and their friends on a wide variety of adventures over several years as they work on their degrees. Theoretically, several slow burns all at once because I intend for this to be very long and a little over-dramatic. Also, it’s kind of an Indiana Jones/Jurassic Park/Stargate AU all at once don’t ask it just seemed like fun. (Rated T. Moderate adult themes, including alcohol, minor violence, dinosaur violence, alien/sci-fi violence, potential “hooking up”. IDK. They’re adults. Who knows what they’re going to get up to. Again, nothing graphic/explicit/everything will be pretty much glossed over but it will also be there.)

Main Characters: Race Higgins, Albert Dasilva, Mush Meyers, Finch Cortez, Elaine O’Dell, JoJo de la Guerra, Buttons Davenport

Side Characters: Elmer Kasprzak, Davey Jacobs, Sniper Wah, Crutchie Morris, Jack Kelly, Spot Conlon, Tommy Boy, Henry Butler

Minor Characters: Specs, Smalls, Sarah Jacobs, Katherine Pulitzer, probably a lot more honestly if this turns out as long as I think it will, assorted characters from other franchises

4) Shakespeare: canon-era. Maire O'Connell comes from an immigrant family with an abusive father. She becomes a newsie to try and get her siblings away from him, but it's hard. Set in a world more like the 92sies movie than the musical. (Rated K+-T for Maire’s father and the Delancey brothers beating people up)

Main Characters: Maire O’Connell (OC), Jack Kelly, Davey Jacobs, Spot Conlon, Race Higgins, Sarah Jacobs

Side/Minor Characters: other newsies we’ll see who comes up

5) A Midsummer Night's Dream: unsurprisingly based on the title Part 3 of the Modern!Theatre!AU. Jack and Crutchie are still working at the World Theatre and living with Elaine and her brothers. March 12, 2020, their whole world changes. It is a summer of life-altering realizations as they all learn more about themselves and each other and hopefully become better people for it. Yes, this is the COVID quarantine one. Very gay. (Rated K. It’s just soft.)

Main Characters: Jack Kelly, Crutchie Morris, Elaine O’Dell (OC), Alan O’Dell (OC), Alden O’Dell (OC)

Side Characters: Davey Jacobs

Minor Characters: Anyone else who’s come up in As You Like It or Twelfth Night (which I know I haven’t published and have hardly written at this point it’s fine) is fair game, but won’t be appearing much because... quarantine.

6) {unnamed fairy tale AU}: This is literally only a vague idea, but I’m thinking something along the lines of Once Upon a Time, incorporating lots of different fairy tales/themes??? I’m thinking sort of the vibe of the Spiderwick Chronicles meets the Hobbit, with elements of Peter Pan/general changeling child legends and Irish mythology. Very mystical. IDK. If this is the one y’all want to see, it’ll probably take longer to start posting, because I’ll have to do more planning (unlike the others, which I have at least a little bit of planning done for, I have very little of even a concept for this one, it just seems like fun). (Rated ??? because who knows)

{Characters TBD} (I’m leaning towards a Davey lead though, based on the loose image forming in my head after making this moodboard)

Feel free to ask questions about any of these that you’d like to hear more about!!! I’m always happy to talk about story ideas xD Make sure to let me know which one(s) you’d like to see in the near future!!! My mesages and ask box are always open!

Tag list: @the-cowbi @i-am-a-wizard @xbanner-carriedx @celestial-rose-sky @ersterwithablog (let me know if you’d like to be added to/removed from the tag list!!! You can also let me know if there’s a specific story you’d like to be on the tag list for if/when I write it!)

All images from google. Headers made in Procreate. Please let me know if any of these images belong to you and you want them credited/removed!!!

#jack writes #fanfic #fanfiction #newsies fic #newsies au #the theatre au #a midsummer night’s dream (newsies)#amnd (newsies)#the green fields of france (newsies)#tgfof (newsies)#yo ho hero (newsies)#yhh (newsies)#the space pirate au #the fairy tale au #the academia au #shakespeare (newsies)#maire o’connell (newsies oc)#shakespeare (newsies oc)#yes i know the gills picture from the yo ho hero banner is a peta promo image i don’t care

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lesjacobs · 3 years

Note

Gimme the newsies fic recs blease? 👉👈

This is really long, sorry. I’ll post the second half of my fic rec soon.

Name: Keeping Promises

Link:

Rating: Mature

Characters: Jack Kelly, David Jacobs, Katherine Plumber, Racetrack Higgins, Crutchie Morris, Spot Conlon, Sarah Jacobs, Buttons, Smalls, Les Jacobs, Mayer Jacobs, Esther Jacobs, Medda Larkin, Bryan Denton

Ships: David Jacobs/Jack Kelly, Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - FBI, Modern Era, Enemies To Lovers, Enemies To Friends To Lovers, Childhood Trauma, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Francis Sullivan’s A+ Parenting, Judaism, Jewish David Jacobs, Warning: Republicans, Jack and David hate each other at first, except not really, Jack hates David and David is confused, I recognize that I’m writing about law enforcement but also...defund the police, Cancer, It’s not David or Jack but it appears in the plot

Summary: David Jacobs is desperate to leave the past behind, so when he gets offered a promotion and a transfer out of town, he takes it. Now he has to deal with a new city, a new job, a criminal investigation so big that all three branches of the federal government might have to get involved, and - perhaps worst of all - Special Agent Jack Kelly.

My Extra Comments: Okay it’s been a hot minute since I read this but I think the Republicans are only mentioned once or twice, so they don’t make a huge impact on the story.

Name: Oh, It’s You

Link:

Rating: Teen

Characters: Spot Conlon, Racetrack Higgins, Albert DaSilva, Jack Kelly, David Jacobs, Crutchie, Romeo, all the newsies tbh

Ships: Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins

Additional Tags: Slight angst and then a lot of angst later, background javid, background blush, background redfinch, background spromeo, background newsbians, Reincarnation AU, High School AU, Nightmares, background ikeshot, background jomike, background belmerttons, They all die, but don’t worry they all come back, Angst, Hurt/Comfort

Summary: Race is well aware that his friend group is strange. For one thing, they’re the entirety of their school’s drama club. For another, there’s always a sense of deja vu when a friend joins the group. A kind of... “oh, it’s you. Welcome home. Why did you stay away so long?” It doesn’t at all feel like meeting someone for the first time.

Then Race meets a boy in his 1st period class who gives him a feeling way stronger than just a vague sense of deja vu.

My Extra Comments: I put this in my ‘to recommend’ list twice if that counts for anything. Also there’s a sequel now.

Name: Stare Down The Odds, May They Be In Your Favor

Link:

Rating: Mature

Characters: David Jacobs, Jack Kelly, Les Jacobs, Katherine Plumber, Medda Larkin, Kloppman, Smalls, Oscar Delancey, Morris Delancey, Joseph Pulitzer, Wiesel, Sarah Jacobs, Esther Jacobs, Mayer Jacobs, Bryan Denton

Ships: David Jacobs/Jack Kelly

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, Canon-Typical Violence, Violence, Character Death, Graphic Violence, Child Death, Heavy Angst, Major Character Injury, Permanent Injury, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Developing Relationship, Battlefield medicine, Mild gore, Suicidal thoughts, Post-Tramatic Stress Disorder - PTSD

Summary: "And the second Hunger Games Tribute from the Manhattan District is...Les Jacobs!"

Davey's entire world freezes. No, not Les. Anyone but Les. Anyone... "I volunteer! I volunteer as Tribute!"

---

Newsies in Hunger Games setting.

My Extra Comments: This is probably my favorite fanfic ever, I’m not exaggerating. The tags may seem like a lot, but it’s literally just The Hunger Games. The plot is so well developed and I’ve read this ten times. The authors also done the second book and is currently working on the third. I very very very very very very very highly recommend this.

Name: All This Time Did More Than Pass Us By

Link:

Rating: Teen

Characters: David Jacobs, Jack Kelly, Racetrack Higgins, Spot Conlon, Katherine Plumber, Mush Meyers, Kid Blink, Albert DaSilva, Romeo, Specs, Sarah Jacobs, Les Jacobs, Elmer, Smalls

Ships: David Jacobs/Jack Kelly, Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins, Kid Blink/Mush Meyers, Romeo/Specs

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Modern Era, Slow Burn, Slow Build, Alternate Universe - College/University, Other Additional Tags To Be Added, Trans Character, Trans Racetrack Higgins, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Elmer, Underage Drinking, Enemies To Friends To Lovers, Friends To Lovers, Friendship, Mentions of/reference to homophobia

Summary: New York, 1899.

David Jacobs fights alongside his fellow newsies. He is with them. His voice is sore from yelling, his legs are tired from running.

New York, 2019.

David Jacobs wakes up in the middle of the night. He is alone. His hands are shaking, his forehead is burning up, and he suddenly remembers names and faces he should not know.

Flashes of memories are making their way through his mind, flying through at a rapid pace. He’s walking through central park, holding hands with Sarah in pigtails. Then he’s running through the same surroundings, laughter in his chest, adrenaline shooting through his veins, and with the figure of someone much larger than Sarah running alongside him.

My Extra Comments: abdksjsjshsjsv I love this so much

Name: Lines

Link:

Rating: Teen

Characters: Spot Conlon, Racetrack Higgins, Jack Kelly, Kid Blink, Mush Meyers, David Jacobs, Tommy Higgins (oc)

Ships: Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins, Kid Blink/Mush Meyers, David Jacobs/Jack Kelly, Albert DaSilva/Elmer, Buttons/Henry, Mike/JoJo, Ike/Finch

Additional Tags: Angst, So much angst, Soulmate AU, Soulmate- Identitying Marks, Every kind of Soulmate AU, Spot’s the angst this time, Autistic character, Autistic Spot, Mental Health Issues, Implied/Refernced Child Abuse, Implied Relationships, The Newsies and Mental Health Issues, Trans Jack Kelly, Autistic Mush, Deaf Jack, Snyder is evil, what else is new, why did I do this?, APSS is messed up, You thought you hated Snyder?, Protective Race, Marvel - Freeform, Star Wars - Freeform, Spot loves Carrie Fisher just like the rest of us, All the cuddles, Spot needs love, Sharing a bed, meltdowns, Race is the best, Race’s little brother is a little shit, Hospitals, a given at this point, but ANGST TRAIN IS PULLING OUT OF THE STATION, There will be more pain, choo choo, Implied/Refernced Self-Harm, I never tagged those?, Fluff and angst

Summary: Racetrack Higgins had a soulmate.

They had deep, beautiful brown eyes. They didn’t have a good living situation, if the dark brown spots that covered his back and slashes over his ribs were anything to go by. They were ambidextrous, and they had been cutting neat lines into their arms since Race was 14.

Spot Conlon had a soulmate.

They had bright blue eyes, never seemed to get hurt badly, and were perfect. In every way, Spot was convinced. They wouldn't want him. He was convinced of that too.

My Extra Comments: I cried both times I read this

#newsies #92sies #newsies 1992 #newsies broadway #newsies movie #1992sies #newsies strike #david jacobs #racetrack higgins #sarah jacobs #jack kelly #spot conlon #newsies fic recs #newsies fanfiction

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verilyruth · 4 years

Text

The Jacobs at home (but mostly David and Sarah):

Okay so we all know that Davey comes out of his shell during the strike

This boy goes from literally bowing to Medda when he meets her to yelling at one of the most powerful men in New York in his own office

But he didn’t change his personality at home

At home, Davey is David

Les gets into the habit of calling him Davey when they’re working but he knows not to at home

Davey would be too American for his parents

Not even Davey originally liked being called Davey

He does now though because Jack is the one who gave him the name

One time David was walking with his father and he heard Romeo call his name

He ignored it because he didn’t want his father to know that “Davey” was referring to him

He apologized to Romeo the next day and he understood

David is quiet and respectful at home, leaving Sarah and Les to do most of the talking

He may have accidentally started one of the most talked about strikes of the last decade and shut down New York for almost twelve hours but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t follow orders at home

David and Sarah know how hard their parents work and they do their best to take the burden off of them

When they get home from selling/school/the factory, they take over the patchwork their mother takes in, insisting she lies down before dinner

(I have a whole series of headcanons to do with Esther but they’ll come in another post)

The twins are often up very late finishing this work

The thing David says at home most often is probably some variation of “yes, Ima” or “no, Aba”

This boy is SHY at home

It’s not because he’s nervous around his parents

It’s because he doesn’t want to cause them any stress at all

And despite his job and how he acts around his friends, he’s an introvert and likes to not have to speak

Sometimes he and Sarah take their sewing up to the roof and he doesn’t have any qualms about talking her ear off then

She loves it though

Katherine is actually the first of their friends to visit them at home, not Jack

Les wanted to go to the lodging house after selling but David had chores to do and promised to pick him up later

Katherine was there too and Les got tired so she offered to walk him home

David isn’t happy about it but Les doesn’t know that his brother is a little self conscious about where he lives when it comes to Katherine

Esther invites her in and she’s shocked at the dynamics of the family

David barely speaks above a whisper and if she wasn’t seeing it with her own two eyes, she never would have believed it

In fact, Jack doesn’t believe it when she asks him about it, assuming he had already been there

When Jack finally visits, he stops on the way home to see Katherine and they have a wtf moment together

David and Sarah do their best to mind Les

They read him a bedtime story every night

David reads the narration and Sarah does the characters’ voices

They don’t have many books so they often read stories Les has heard a thousand times

He doesn’t care though because he just likes to listen to his siblings’ voices as he drifts off to sleep

David helps his mother cook and clean (although there isn’t much to clean in the two room apartment)

Sarah does too but she knows David likes cooking (it’s a quiet, calm activity with their mother telling him exactly what to do; it gives his brain a rest and just lets him do without thinking) so she gets ahead on the patchwork while he helps make dinner

After the injury, David is the one who helps Mayer get up and down the five flights of stairs

This usually happens about four times a day and it’s exhausting

But he never says a word about it because he knows his father would just feel guilty and he doesn’t want that

There’s only one bed in the Jacobs’ apartment

It’s not small by any means but it can’t fit all five of them

Their parents sleep on it with Sarah and Les

Sarah always tries to get David to take her spot but he refuses

He would literally rather lay on the floor next to Sarah than take her spot on the bed

Sarah gives up eventually because there’s no use in both of them being sore and achy all the time

Les sleeps on the bed too but once he gets bigger they’re going to have to figure something out because four full grown people can’t fit on it

David has a thin pad to sleep on and a pillow

Sometimes he’s so tired that all he wants to do is collapse on the bed with no one else on it but he would never say anything

Their parents already feel guilty about it and he won’t let himself add to it

Sarah and David do everything in their power to protect Les from knowing just how dire their situation is

Sure, he knows they had to drop out of school to sell papers but he doesn’t know that it’s a struggle to put food on the table

Some weeks are better than others

During the weeks that every headline is boring or rent is due, David and Sarah secretly take turns eating

They would both rather let the other one have all the food but they don’t argue over it much because they know that if one of them isn’t eating that meant that one of them isn’t going to be able to work

They eat in the morning with the family and then switch on and off who eats depending on the day

This doesn’t happen all the time but it happens more frequently than they’d like to admit

Their mother doesn’t leave the tenement much (again, I’ll explain in another post) so the twins do most of the shopping

Because of this, they can trick their parents into thinking they ate something they didn’t

“Sarah, you’re not eating dinner?” “Sorry, Aba, I was so hungry that I ate an apple and a lot of bread on the way home. I’m not hungry anymore. Maybe I’ll eat later.”

“David, you only put out four plates.” “Jack and I had a late lunch at Jacobi’s, Ima.”

Sarah sometimes gets into heated arguments with their parents if she thinks something is unfair

The twins don’t fight often but when they do they make sure no one else knows

They wait until everyone else is asleep and go up to the roof

The maddest Sarah ever gets at David is when he doesn’t stand up for himself to their parents

“You led a rally of hundreds of newsies and you can’t tell Ima that her expectations are unfair?” “None of those newsies gave birth to me, Sarah.”

But at the end of the day they’re a team and they know their job is to take care of their family

I have a lot more but this is already too long so I’ll do them another time

#newsies #newsies hc #davey jacobs #david jacobs #sarah jacobs #les jacobs #jacobs siblings #esther jacobs #mayer jacobs #davey jacobs hc #sarah jacobs hc #les jacobs hc

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like-the-wings-of-butterflies · 4 years

Text

This Moment In Time (Racetrack Higgins x Reader)

Summary: Upon moving into your first apartment with Race, you’re reminded of the moments that led you to where you are

Warnings: Some mild angst quickly followed by sweet sweet fluff because I’m an absolute sucker for it

Word Count: 2,244 (this is longer then any of my usual stuff wtf)

A/N: I KNOW I’M A QUEEN BLOG BUT I NEEDED TO WRITE THIS AND DIDN’T FEEL LIKE SETTING UP ANOTHER BLOG TO POST IT SO ENJOY SOME OF MY OTHER FANDOM NONSENSE

A.K.A - I rewatched Newsies for the upteenth time (god bless you disney +) and it sparked an idea which is only a tiny little bit self indulgent

Feedback and comments are always appreciated! ♡

“So this is it.” You breathed into the darkened room, a smile dancing on your lips.

Race placed the burning candle in the centre of the one room apartment before rising to his feet again and grasping hold of your hand. The gentle flickering glow revealed that the small apartment. It was neglected to say the least, paint peeling from the walls, dust-encased windows and the odd squeaking floorboard; certainly a step up from the lodging house however. “I know it ain’t what we were dreamin’ of, not even close, but it’s-“

“It’s got a roof and it’s got you,” You finished for him, squeezing his hand in assurance with an honest smile despite him barely being able to see through the darkness. “It’s perfect. Nothin’ a bit of cleanin’ won’t fix.”

Truly, you couldn’t help but fall for the mess that was Racetrack Higgins. When you first showed up on the doorstep of the lodging house at the age of 13, it was Race that volunteered to take you under his wing and teach you the fine art that was selling newspapers. Staying as his selling partner permanently wasn’t exactly part of the plan, either was becoming one another’s best friend, but the pair of you couldn’t imagine selling with anyone else; having grown too accustomed to each other’s company.

He’d always flirt with you - as he would with every other person who’d give him the time of day— flattering you with compliments and cheesy pick up lines at every opportunity. You’d flirt back of course, not being able to resist the handsome blonde’s charm, but at the cost of catching feelings; no matter how much you tried to convince yourself otherwise, a childhood crush steadily emerged, turning the heads of the other newsboys.

But as the years progressed, you both matured into young adults. Your experiences bringing you closer together as you grew fonder of one another day by day.

Never in your entire life did you think you’d be living anywhere else but the crumbling walls of the lodging house or in one of New York’s damp alleyways. Yet here you were, hand-in-hand with your fiancé, settling into your first home together. Many were shocked that you were engaged at such a young age, but neither of you could truly see yourselves without the other in your life. Now too old to live in the lodging house, Race ironically managed to find work operating printing presses, and you as a server at Jacobi’s. In a unlikely twist of fate, you managed to earn enough money to move into the small apartment and support yourselves, all while keeping a close eye on the other Newsies.

“Should we check out the penthouse?” Race grinned ear to ear, running to the window upon your nod. He wrestled with the frame for moment before it opened with a satisfying ‘crack’ that echoed through the apartment, before stepping out onto the fire escape.

“M’lady~“ Race offered his outstretched hand with a charming smile, helping you step onto the raised surface. Your breath hitched as you saw the landscape in your surrounds. You were about four floors up which made the view expansive, and you suddenly became keenly aware of how many beautiful sunrises you’d be able to watch from your current position. You’d been in Jack’s penthouse on a couple occasions, but never just to sit and admire the view.

“How the hell did we make it here Racer?” You breathed in awe as you watched lights and lampposts decorate the otherwise dull streets of New York, like little stars in a blackened sky.

Race wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you into a sweet embrace, your back pressed against his chest and his head resting on your shoulder, “I was just the prettiest Newsie you’s had ever seen and you’s couldn’t help but fall for me,” He teased, pressing a long kiss against the side of your neck as he giggled lightly to himself.

“You don’t think growin’ up or working together our whole lives had anythin’ to do with it?” You jested back, reaching a hand behind you to fiddle with the curls upon his head as you closed your eyes and leaned into his embrace.

“Absolutely not. But the strike?” He mused thoughtfully, “That’s when I realised I loved you.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It was no surprise waking up to Race sitting on the cold floorboards beside your bunk the night after the strike had been announced. Your beds weren’t too far from one another and Race always slept lightly, often being the call of comfort whenever anyone was having nightmares. He gently shook you awake while brushing away the tears that stained your face, smiling lightly once your eyes opened.

“What’s goin’ on Doll?,” He whispered out, careful not to wake the others, “Why you’s havin’ nightmares?”

“I’m scared what we’re doin’ is gonna get us all hurt,” You croaked out into the darkness, doing your best to hold back a sob. “That we’s gonna end up in the Refuge.” Nobody was oblivious to the chances of the strike ending in violence, the stakes were high; you were only a group of kids fighting against one of the most powerful men in New York after all.

Race’s hand stilled on the side of your face, his warm palm flat against your cheek grounding you and bringing you a sense of comfort. He could see in your eyes just how scared you were.

“I’m scared too,” He admitted before pausing, seemingly collecting his thoughts, “But we’s gonna be okay. Jack and Davey are smart, they’s know what they’re doin’.” He vowed, taking hold of one of your hands and rubbing his thumb against your knuckles.

You both sat in silence for quite some time, both too distracted by your thoughts swirling around your heads. As you felt your eyelids growing heavy, you lightly tugged on Race’s arm who brought his eyes up to meet yours.

“Stay with me?” You queried, eyes hopeful.

Without so much as a second thought, he lifted the thin sheet covering your body before sliding into the small bed, his chest pressed against your back, “Anythin’ for you (Y/N).”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A few days later, when the bulls attacked, you were an absolute mess; much like the others. In such a short amount of time, your entire world had flipped upside down and everything was shrouded in a new sense of seriousness.

Of the entire group, Davey, Mush, Albert and yourself had come out relatively unscathed - save for a couple bruises - meaning you’d been tasked with patching up the others who weren’t as lucky. You’d just finished tying up Les’ arm into a sling, only as a temporary measure however, just to stop the energetic boy from exercising it too much until he got home. You bargained on the fact that Mrs Jacobs would have a far better fix to his seemingly broken arm, knowing that if worst came to worst, the family could afford a doctor.

“Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” You grinned softly as you walked towards Race in the back corner of the lodging house, shrouding himself in the shadows of the late afternoon sun.

“Ha ha.” He imitated, his usual playful attitude absent as he refused to look in your direction.

Something wasn’t right.

With your bodies facing each other, his legs hung over the edge of the table he was perched on as you remained standing. After a few moments of unmoving silence, you lightly tapped his knee, asking him to move so you could stand between his legs. He complied, but kept his eyes secured to the wall on your right. Slowly, you reached out to cup his jaw with a gentle hand, tilting his face to meet yours. You face fell the instant you saw the extent of his injuries.

His left eye was swollen shut, with hints of black already forming on the delicate skin. His chin was tinged an unforgivable red from where he’d wiped away the blood from his busted lip and damp trails ran from his watery right eye.

He’d been crying.

Your own tears welled up when he looked you in the eye, and you found yourself biting your lip to stop any from falling.

With your other hand, you grasped hold of the brim of his worn hat and placed it on the table beside him, letting the mess of curls fall lose against his face.

“Are you okay?”

He nodded solemnly, bringing a hand up to wipe away at his own tears before resting his head against your chest and wrapping his arms around your back, “You?”

“Just shaken up.” You stated, wasting no time in wrapping your arms around his shoulders and placing your chin upon his head. The pair of you stayed like that for an extended period of time, without anyone questioning you. It was a hard day for everyone, no one needed to make it any harder. After some time, the sun had set and the lodging house was quieter then ever before. You longed to sit down and fall asleep yourself, your legs sore and aching. But you couldn’t bring yourself to disturb the heavy sleeping form of your best friend. The years of denial on your behalf, stating that you hadn’t caught feeling for Race were long forgotten now.

The things you’d do to make that moment last forever.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A few days later, you and the other Manhattan Newsies had recovered for the most part. Physically, everyone were well on their way to healing, but emotionally there was still a fair way to go. Crutchie was still in the Refuge and Jack was still missing but everyone had managed to rest up while Davey reassessed the group’s future movements.

While the others sat glumly in Jacobi’s, you’d decided to go for a long stroll around New York to clear your head, musing the thought of visiting Crutchie in the Refuge. He was one of your closest friends, so sweet and so caring with an equally as vibrant personality, the thought of him in such a wretched place brought tears to your eyes.

You’d helped Jack smuggle food and blankets on too many occasions to count; how difficult could it be without him?

Your thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the shout of your name from a long way down the busy street. Race’s figure came into view quickly, his chest was heaving as he sprinted down the cobblestone footpath towards you. Immediately, you panicked, thinking Race had been caught stealing cigars again and the cops were on their way but much to your surprise, he slowed as he neared you. Rather then desperation being painted across his features, his face held joy. Pure, unadulterated joy.

“We’s in the papes (Y/N)!” He gasped out, bending to place his hands on his knees as he caught his breath.

“What are you talkin’ about Race?”

“Katherine got us in the paper!,” He heaved, sweat glistening on his forehead. He pulled the rolled up newspaper from underneath a strap of his suspenders, before unrolling it to the front page and holding it out to you, “Look! That’s us!” He beamed, pointing a finger at the image underneath the headline: ‘NEWSIES STOP THE WORLD’.

In your slight state of shock, you glossed over the story and mentally took note to personally thank Katherine later on.

You actually made it into the papes.

“You’s know what this means?” You queried, your smile transforming into a bright grin as you grabbed hold on Race’s hands, tucking the paper under your arm.

“We’re famous.” He finished for you, his grin matching yours.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Newsies of New York City.” Jack addressed from the top of Newsies Square, Joseph Pulitzer at one side and governor Theodore Roosevelt at the other. It was nice to see him back where he truly belonged, the so-called ‘King of Manhattan’. You could feel your heart beating painfully in your ears as you awaited the news, the anticipation making every second feel longer then what it actually was. Race’s hand was tight in your grasp as you sucked in a final breath, “We won!”

The chorus of cheers that sounded was deafening. It was finally over. After two ruthless and unforgiving weeks of striking, and everything had finally come to a close.

You let out a breath you hadn’t realise you were holding and turned towards Race. Race grabbed your shoulders and pulled you into his chest, laughing and chorusing while you were grinning ear to ear yet entirely speechless.

When he pulled away, you were slightly disappointed with the loss of contact, but when his arms around your body were replaced by his lips against yours, the world melted away. Slow and soft yet fiery and passionate the same time, as unpredictable as Race himself. His hand moved to cup your jaw and draw you closer, your arms finding their way to wrap around his neck.

When you pulled apart, there was stars in both of your eyes.

“I love you (Y/N).”

“I love you too Racetrack.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

You sighed lightly at the fond memories, feeling incredibly grateful for all that had happened in order to bring you to where you were.

“We’s really made it huh?”

Race briefly chuckled into your shoulder, before raising his head and placing another long kiss against your neck, “We’s really made it.”

#newsies x reader #racetrack higgins x reader #race x reader #newsies race x reader #newsies #jack kelly #davey jacobs #jack kelly x reader #davey jacobs x reader #x reader #fluff #fanfiction #fanfic #writers on tumblr

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bijackkellys · 4 years

Text

thunderstruck ; part three

safe haven.

Fandom: Newsies (All Media Types) Relationships: Jack Kelly/David Jacobs/Katherine Plumber Pulitzer Word Count: 4,352 Dedications: a huge huge shoutout to my beta and gf @mistyw273 without whom this fic would not exist! tag list (if you’d like to be added to this list just send me an ask or dm!): @dimenovelcowboy @santa-fe-maniac @pulitzers-world @yo-let-me-get-a-milkyway @verified-dumbass @jewishdavidjacobs @agentsnickers @thetruthabouttheboy @the-games-changing Author’s Note: yes i know what i said and i'm aware that it's been WEEKS since i posted and i have absolutely nothing to say for myself. except that i'm the worst. and also that i'm going to stop making promises and tell you guys straight out that i'm probably not going to be any better at updating from this point forward, especially considering i'm working on college apps and sat prep right now. but it's fine! i hope the fact that this chapter is only like 10 words less than all the other chapters so far put together sort of makes up for it? but i kind of hate this part; i have a ton of exposition to get through so i'm really really sorry if it sucks and you've waited this long for like 4.3k of bullshit. i'm also sorry that i still haven't introduced kath—she will get here in the next chapter and she will play no small role in this fic, i promise!! we've just got a lot to get through leading up to that. anyway, thank you to everyone who's read and reviewed so far, and if you're still here despite my questionable reliability (or lack thereof) i love you, personally. tws for this chapter includes a minor panic attack, mentions of vomiting but it's pretty brief, and that's about it.

read it on ao3

MEDDA IS SINGING when they get to her apartment.

Even through the closed door, Jack can hear her voice lilting down the corridor, a bittersweet melody that he can’t quite remember but loves all the same. It makes him falter, makes his throat close up as warmth and the ache of missing her spread through his chest in time with each other. He doesn’t know what she’ll say when she sees him, and the thought of her viewing him as a killer nearly makes his knees buckle. Distantly he thinks that it doesn’t matter what the world has been told as long as she believes him.

“Is this it?” the older boy says behind him, gesturing to the door that Jack is staring at. He’d mostly been quiet the whole walk here, but now he’s looking at Jack expectantly.

Jack nods and pushes back the tide of emotions swelling in his chest. If he waits any longer he might never be able to do this. He knocks twice on the door, and her singing cuts off abruptly; he hears her voice saying “Coming!” and then the lock clicking as the door swings open.

“Hi, Miss Medda,” Jack says hoarsely.

She stares at him. For this brief, terrible moment, he thinks she’s going to turn him away, and then she’s crying and oh, she pulls him into a hug. Something he’s been trying to hold back since he found himself running in the streets hours ago spills forth. In her arms he can’t stop the tears; he feels suddenly twelve years old again, scared and small but not alone, not anymore.

“You’re alive,” she’s saying, over and over, like a mantra. “Oh, baby, you’re really here.”

Jack clings to her tightly. “I didn’t do it,” he breathes, desperate for her to know as she runs a hand through his hair. “The fire—that wasn’t me.”

“I didn’t believe them for one second.” Medda pulls him back at arm’s length. “But where have you been?”

He winces, looks away. “The Refuge. I just escaped.” Her mouth opens again but he shakes his head slightly and she nods, understanding immediately.

“It’s okay, sweetie. We’ll talk later,” she says, and cups his cheek with a gentle hand. He leans into it, starved of positive contact like this for so long. “Jack Kelly,” she says warmly, her eyes shining—he’s gotten so used to hearing his name spit at him like a curse—“I thought I’d never see you again.” She huffs a laugh and smiles at him, wiping at his eyes with her thumb. “Don’t you ever disappear on me like that again, you understand?”

He gives a watery chuckle, maybe his first in months. “I’ll do my best, Miss Medda.”

She pulls him into another hug, squeezing his shoulders tightly, before her eyes come to rest on the two boys still standing awkwardly in the hallway. “And who are your new friends?” she asks.

“Oh, this is—” Jack breaks off, realizing abruptly that they had never gotten to introductions. The younger of the two steps forward and puffs his chest out.

“I’m Les, and this is my brother, David,” he says brightly. He’s been solemn since Jack met him, no doubt jarred by his experience with the Snatchers, but Medda’s warmth is notoriously infectious. Even the kid’s older brother—Davey—cracks a smile.

“It’s nice to meet you, ma’am,” he says politely, and Medda beams and waves a hand.

“None of that. It’s Miss Medda to you, darling. Come on in,” She steps out of the doorway and gestures inside, placing a gentle hand on the small of Jack’s back as she ushers him in. He’s grateful for it, a grounding presence that reminds him he’s really here in front of her. “Stay as long as you like, boys.”

In the last few hours alone, Jack has felt like he’s been thrust into an entirely different world. Entering Medda’s apartment is a burst of shining familiarity; there’s the elegant wooden piano in the corner, the blooming plants lining the windowsills, the photos of the theater and the paintings Jack has done over the years hanging on the walls. The faint smell of cinnamon in the air. He may never have lived here, but it feels like coming home all the same.

“I’ve still got the clothes you’ve left here, if you want to change,” Medda tells him. “I’ll get something going for us to eat—how does Sancocho sound? I don’t have any plantains, and now I know it’s not quite the same without them—”

“That sounds incredible, Miss Medda,” Jack says, his mouth already watering. For as long as he’s known her, Medda has always made it a point to give him and the other boys a taste of home however she can manage. She’d tested recipes for Sancocho for months until she’d perfected the warm, rich stew that always drew up distant memories of Jack’s mother.

Medda smiles at him and bustles into the kitchen, pulling vegetables from the fridge. “David, Les, is there anything you two don’t eat?” she calls to them.

“Oh, we keep Kosher, so no pork, shellfish, or meat and dairy together? And Les can’t have peanuts. Sorry,” Davey responds quickly.

“No worries, darling, this recipe doesn’t call for any of that anyway. Dinner will be ready in a couple of hours—Jack, why don’t you go clean up and get some rest? You look exhausted, baby.”

It’s one of those things he doesn’t fully realize until she points out, and then it hits him full-force; he thinks his legs will give with the impact of it. He’s tired and starved and wants absolutely nothing more than to take a hot shower and eat and sleep through the next day—and in truth the only thing holding him back is the still-stinging bite of the cuffs around his wrists.

“Uh, Miss Medda—you got a screwdriver somewhere around here?” he asks tentatively, rubbing at the skin underneath them.

Her gaze drifts to his hands and she winces in sympathy. “In the office down the hall. There’s a toolkit on the shelf—you need some help, Jack?”

He shakes his head. “No, I’ve got it,” he says as he heads into the room.

It turns out to be harder than he expected. He spends a good ten minutes hacking at the cuffs with a screwdriver, but all he really succeeds in doing is scraping his wrists raw. He’s getting desperate, though—the longer he’s stripped of his powers, the less he feels like himself, and the silver steel is nothing but a jolting reminder of everything that’s happened. He needs to find a way to get these stupid things off.

“It doesn’t look like you’ve got it.”

Jack’s head snaps up to see Davey standing in the doorway, his hands in his pockets. His expression is hard to read, half-concerned but laced with something else, and he’s sort of tentative as he steps into the room and kneels down beside Jack. “Here, let me.” He holds his hand out for the screwdriver.

Jack gives it to him and splays his hands out in between them. Davey switches out the head of the tool for a tiny flathead and gets to work on the right cuff, astonishingly careful. His slender, practiced fingers pry open a tiny panel on the side of the cuff, exposing the circuit board underneath.

“You seem to know what you’re doing,” Jack notes.

Davey pauses his movement for a split second and then continues without looking up. “I was captain of my high school robotics team for two years,” he responds. “And I’m an engineering major.”

Jack clings to this small piece of information; it’s the first thing he’s learned about Davey since they met, and he’s already desperate for more. “Where do you go?” he asks. At this, Davey tenses up, and Jack bites back a wince. “I’m not trying to interrogate you,” he says flatly, after a moment. “Guess I just...thought you’d changed your mind about me.”

Davey’s dark eyes latch on to Jack’s for just a moment before darting away. “I don’t know yet,” he answers finally. He prods at the wires of the cuff; there’s this crinkle in his brow that Jack can’t help but think is sort of endearing. “Miss Medda seems like a really good person,” he continues, still barely looking at Jack. “And she clearly loves you a lot. It’s possible you could be lying to her, too, but the way you were when you saw her—no one’s that good of an actor.”

“So what’s your holdup?”

“I’m not sure what to believe.” Davey twists the screwdriver and bites his lip, then meets Jack’s gaze at last. “After you—after the hospital burned down, the whole city was in chaos. No one knew what to think or who to blame—the police revealed that the sprinkler line had been damaged, and that some of the exits had been sealed, and that the fire started because the power box had been tampered with.”

Jack’s stomach twists. “I don’t understand...you—you’re saying it wasn’t an accident?”

“I think if it had been, it would’ve been contained a lot faster,” Davey says darkly. “It hadn’t even been a week before The World published a full story about how it was Strike’s doing. Jack, there were witness statements, sources explaining how your powers could’ve caused this—”

“I was trying to save people,”

“A lot of people thought you had done it by accident. Or that you’d...snapped, or something.”

“I nearly died in that fire.” He isn’t entirely sure he hadn’t, to be honest. Everything since then is blurry and out of place, and he feels like he’s been set right back to grappling desperately for a handhold, like he’s in the center of an inferno all over again—

There’s a click of metal on metal and the cuff on his right hand clatters to the floor.

“Got it,” Davey says, and suddenly Jack can breathe again. Even with the cuff still circling his left hand, he feels electricity surge through him, that familiar hum of lightning beneath his skin. A part of him he hasn’t felt in so, so long.

Sparks dance over his fingertips, and the air fills with static. He can see the hairs on Davey’s arms standing on end and despite everything, fights the urge to laugh. Davey looks at him, eyes wide with amazement, and Jack wonders if he can taste the power in the air, too.

“Thanks,” Jack says, breathless as he runs his hand over the torn skin of his wrist.

Davey nods and gently takes his left hand, starting the process again and evidently more sure of what he’s doing now. “Jack,” he begins, but whatever he’s going to say next, Jack doesn’t let him finish.

“Someone set me up,” he says fiercely, trying hard not to sound as desperate for Davey to believe him as he really is. “Whatever evidence and witnesses they had—it was fake.”

“Okay, but why?” Davey presses. “Why go through all this trouble to frame a dead man? How did they get The World to publish a bunch of false information? And if someone really is trying to pin this on you,” there’s a click, and the cuff around Jack’s left hand pings against the ground, “who set the fire in the first place?”

Jack can’t remember the last time he’d had a hot shower. Even before the fire—and god, Jack is really about to start categorizing his life events as before and after his death, like that’s not absolutely insane—the lodging house never really had a surplus of hot water, especially with so many of them. Standing under it now, though, everything else melts into the background. There are scars and bruises along his skin that he hadn’t even noted before, but the water is like instant relief; he doesn’t have to think, just lets it wash him clean.

By the time he gets out, the effects of the drugs, which have been weaning away for hours now, seem completely gone. Everything is sharper, like he’s been thrusted into high-definition, his thoughts clearer and his memories—well, his memories becoming more painful by the second.

It’s not easy, trying to push it all back. As he pulls on fresh clothes, Jack stares at himself in the mirror, at the jagged scars raised against his chest and the tiny spots that pockmark his forearms where he remembers needles going in, and tries to reconcile this picture of himself—exhausted and hollowed out and afraid—with the identity he’d spent so long building up from the ground. He doesn’t look like Strike, New York City’s favorite vigilante. He looks like a scared kid.

He doesn’t know what to do. Something bigger than himself is brewing in the city, he knows it, he has to stop it. But he doesn’t know how. People are counting on him and Jack just wants to forget any of this ever happened.

There’s so much noise. Davey’s questions are ringing in his ears and behind them there are voices telling him he’s never, ever going to get out, and he thinks he might be on fire. Everything is too hot and too loud and hurts.

There’s nothing in his stomach to throw up, but he dry heaves over the toilet anyway.

Jack sits back on the cold tile floor and drags his knees up to his chest. He could just go—break out the money he’s been saving and skip town, hop on a bus all the way to Santa Fe. Crutchie could come with him, and he could change his name—again—and start fresh. Never see this place again.

Except there’s an arsonist on the loose in the city. There are Snatchers all over the streets, and maybe Jack wants nothing more than to leave it but New York is still his city, still his place to protect. He can’t just leave.

Jack tilts his head towards the ceiling, biting back the urge to scream. The unsteady silence is broken by a tentative knock at the door, and then Medda’s voice—“Jack, honey,” she says, “Dinner’s ready. You okay in there?”

Slowly, he picks himself off the floor, pulls the loose hoodie hanging on the door on over his clean t-shirt, takes a shuddering breath. “I’ll be right out,” he calls through the door, and glances at his reflection one more time. He can be Strike again. He can do this.

And even if he can’t, he has to.

The Sancocho is perfect, warm and spicy and brimming with the taste of home. By the time he’s inhaled maybe three servings and helped clear the dishes, Jack is so exhausted that he doesn’t even make it to the guest room. He just stumbles towards the couch and collapses there with the sunlight still spilling in through the windows, falling hard and fast into a heavy sleep.

It’s dark when he bolts awake. He feels hot and breathless, his heart racing against his ribcage, and whatever awful memory had invaded his dreams left the sharp taste of metal in his mouth. Sparks flicker across his fingers, blinding blue-white in the darkness, and Jack curls his hands into fists to quell the lightning brimming in his veins. His eyes dart to the clock on the wall; it’s just past one in the morning. He doesn’t think he’ll get back to sleep any time soon.

He maneuvers around the coffee table to stumble blindly towards the kitchen instead. A dim glow catches his eye, then; Davey is sitting at the bar stools, hunched over his laptop.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Jack says, and Davey starts and then swears.

“Jeez, you gave me a heart attack,” he huffs as Jack chuckles lightly and fills a glass with water. “I thought you were still asleep. And...no. You?”

Jack shrugs. “I slept okay, got a few good hours. But I don’t think I can go back to bed. What are you doing?” he asks, nodding towards the open laptop.

Davey hesitates. “Miss Medda let me borrow her computer. I’m trying to contact the rest of my family,” he replies, his gaze flitting between the screen and Jack’s eyes. “When Les and I ran off there were already Snatchers at our house. None of them have powers, though. Just Les.” He works his lip between his teeth. “They said not to contact them in case the Snatchers found some way to trace it back to us, but I set up a separate email account and sent them a vague message, hoping they’ll know it’s me. I just need to know if they’re okay.”

Jack’s chest twists in sympathy. Davey’s family is just one more example of all the lives the Snatchers have torn apart—and Jack is the poster boy for their whole agenda. He has to fix this, for Davey, and for the rest of his city. “You’ll see them again soon, Davey,” he says—yet another promise he can’t afford to break—“I’m gonna make this right, okay?”

“How?” Davey scoffs. “You don’t even know where to start.”

Jack slips his hands into the pockets of his clean hoodie and feels the familiar weight of the flash drive he’d placed there. Actually, he might have some idea. “Can I use the computer?” Jack says, barely waiting for Davey’s nod before taking a seat on the barstool beside him and plugging the flash drive in.

“What is that?” Davey’s brow furrows.

“Honestly? I’m not sure. I took this from a computer in the Refuge’s control room, hoping I’d find something important. Maybe something here could give us a clue of what’s really going on.” There’s only a handful of files on the drive, and they’re labeled with numbers instead of actual names. Jack opens the first one and feels his heart sink. “Shit. It’s encrypted.”

“Let me try,” Davey says, pulling the laptop towards him and typing furiously. The computer makes a few error noises in protest as he works through the code, but Davey is laser-focused, seems to know exactly what he’s doing. He’s some kind of genius. “Got it,” he announces after a few minutes. Sure enough, the screen flickers, and rows of text begin to replace the numbers and symbols from before.

“That was incredible,” Jack tells him.

Davey shrugs and ducks his head, smiling just a little before turning back to the screen. “They look like email exchanges. Between some guy named Snyder—” Jack feels a cold trickle of shock run through him at that name, “—and...Joseph Pulitzer.”

“Wait, Pulitzer?” Jack leans forward to read over Davey’s shoulder. “As in the CEO of The World?”

“He’s running for mayor in next month’s election,” Davey explains. “It looks like he’s trying to get Snyder’s support? He’s promising money to fund the Refuge. But why would—shit.” There’s something dawning on his expression as he looks up at Jack, eyes blown wide. “Jack, a lot of his campaign has relied on anti-super propaganda. And...The World was the one who first published the story about you setting the fire.”

The realization crashes into him, hard and fast. “He’s the one who framed me.” Jack feels a hot rush of anger surge through him. “For what, a political platform? So that he could give the people a common enemy? Holy shit, did he set that fire for this...twisted agenda?”

“I can’t believe this,” Davey shakes his head, leaning back in his chair and tugging his hands through his dark hair, shell-shocked. “How could he do something like this?”

How could he?

“I’m going to kill him,” Jack says fiercely, and the lights above him flicker. He stands up, feeling wild, brimming with untamed fury—innocent people died for Pulitzer’s insane power grab, and he has to pay for that. He can’t get away with this, he won’t; Jack can’t find it in himself to mitigate his anger right now, he needs to find Pulitzer and fix this.

“Jack—Jack!” Davey’s hand latches around his wrist and a shock like static electricity bursts between them, making him pull back. “Wait. You’re not thinking clearly.”

“What, you just want me to let him walk? He killed people, Davey. Innocent people.”

“You don’t actually know that yet.”

“I know enough,” Jack snaps, pulling back. “This can’t all be a coincidence, it makes too much sense. He has to be behind this, behind everything.”

“I’m not arguing that.” Davey is astonishingly calm; Jack doesn’t know how he can keep his resolve right now, after finding out something this sick. “But what are you going to do, break into his house and murder him? What is that going to solve? Things are only gonna get worse for supers.”

Jack hesitates. Davey is right—a personal attack on one of the most influential people in New York would make him even more of a villain than he already is. And every super in the city would suffer from it. He can’t make this some sort of revenge plot; he has to be smart about it. He takes a shuddering breath. “Then I’ll expose him. These emails—”

“—aren’t enough. All you have from this is a theory. Pulitzer would just find a way to spin it, make you look like the bad guy here. Again.” He shakes his head. “He holds all the cards right now. We have to find hard, indisputable evidence. What we need is a way to get close to him.”

“We?” Out of everything, that’s the word Jack gets hung up on. Davey’s making it sound as though they’re partners.

Davey looks at him for a second. “I believe you, Jack,” he says finally. “I’m sorry I didn’t before. I don’t think you set that fire, and if we’re right, and Pulitzer did frame you, and we can find proof...we might be able to stop everything. Shut down the Refuge for good.”

“No, no—I’m not dragging you into this any further than I already have,” Jack stops him before he can go any further. His whole time as Strike, he’s been a solo act for a reason—not for lack of Race or Specs or Elmer trying to get him to let them join him—but because he can’t bring himself to pull someone else into this life. Especially not someone like Davey, who’s an engineering student, and a genius, and has a family. He’s got his whole life ahead of him. “I appreciate everything you’ve done to help me so far, I really do, but I can take it from here. You and your brother just lay low and stay out of trouble.”

“You can’t do this by yourself,” Davey argues. There’s something hardening behind his eyes, something bright and sharp and determined. “I’ve already shown you what I can do, so let me help you.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

He snorts, defensive. “I can handle it.”

“You think so?” Jack stares him down, skin buzzing. “I almost died because of this, and I may not remember everything about the Refuge, but I can tell you that it wasn’t pretty. If we try to take Pulitzer, there’s a good chance we don’t make it out alive.”

Davey doesn’t break his gaze. “But if we do it together, we double our odds,” he says quietly. When Jack snorts and turns away, Davey keeps going. “This is so much bigger than you or me, Jack. If we can pull this off, we could make New York safe for supers again. I promised that I would protect Les, but I can’t do that as long as there are Snatchers roaming the streets and as long as Pulitzer has power. And you can’t protect this city if you’re dead.”

Jack wishes he didn’t have a point. “You could get hurt,” he counters. “You don’t even have powers.”

“You’ll protect me,” Davey replies swiftly, and something in Jack’s stomach twists.

“You have an awful lot of faith for someone who didn’t trust me an hour ago,” he says grimly, eyes darting away from Davey’s fierce ones.

“You don’t have to do this alone,” Davey presses, unrelenting, and god, the offer is tempting. Davey clearly knows his way around his computers and technology, a skill that could be really helpful here, and more than that, Jack stupidly, selfishly doesn’t want to do this by himself. He wants a partner. He’s tired of being alone, and he hates himself for it.

“We do this on my terms,” Jack says finally, and in the corner of his eye, he can see Davey smiling. “I say get out, you get out. You’ve got to be smart about this. Got it?”

“Understood,” Davey nods. “I’ll be okay, Jack. I promise. So where do we start?”

“It’s like you said, we have to get close to Pulitzer.” Jack sits back down, racks his brain for anything that could help. Pulitzer is a private person, watching the rest of the city from high off the ground; getting close to him would require someone who already knows him well. He can practically see the lightbulb over his head when it hits him—he knows the perfect candidate. He just hopes she’ll be willing to join them.

“I know someone who might be able to help,” Jack says, already drafting an email—coded words like the two of them used to use when he was just starting out as Strike. “She interned as Pulitzer’s personal assistant for a while when she was in high school, but the last time I saw her she was a journalism student, working for The Sun. She may not work for him anymore, but she knew Pulitzer as well as anyone.” Jack takes a deep breath and pleads silently that she’ll believe him, then sends the message.

“And you think she’ll know what to do?” Davey asks.

“I’m sure of it.” Jack has always had faith in her; he knows she’ll come through, will fight for what she believes in. “If cards are what we’re playing,” he tells Davey, suddenly brimming with a newfound sense of determination, “then Katherine Plumber is our ace.”

#THUNDERSTRUCK #newsies #writing #my writing #umanawrites #newsies fanfic #jack kelly #david jacobs #javid #jathvey #ot3: watch what happens #newsies the musical

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deafclintb · 4 years

Photo

Alright, everyone. A note before this:

You may have seen this before. That’s okay! It was likely on my old blog, the one that got deleted when I decided to redo everything. So this is 100% a repost on this new blog!

Put the Gun Down and Step Away

Summary: Jack wasn't supposed to make it home from the war. He didn't deserve to, not more than Crutchie.

TW: TW: Suicidal thoughts/almost an attempt, PTSD, gun use, war violence, MIA/missing person

Characters: Jack Kelly, Davey Jacobs, Crutchie Morris

Ships: Jackcrutchie

A/N: This takes place mid and post-WWII

AO3

Jack wasn’t supposed to make it home alone.

His best friend he’d made was from New York, too. They were going to get back and share an apartment.

It had been five months since he’d made it back from the war and his best friend didn’t. Five months exactly.

Fighting was hell. Crutchie was the only thing that made it genuinely bearable.

The first time they’d met, Jack made a joke about the 18-year-old needing crutches permanently after the war, since the kid refused to recognize any injury he got unless it was major. Jack and the few buddies he’d gotten slightly close with remember being like that when they first enlisted (literally one year earlier), eager to die doing their duty or something like that. They wouldn’t let a stupid sprained ankle take them out or having them rest for a few hours.

The group just laughed it off with the kid, watching him limp along and constantly re-injuring himself.

Jack cared about everyone he was around, obviously. Some didn’t get along with him, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care. They could bump heads all day, he’d still push them out of the way of a bullet in a heartbeat.

C was different, though. He was nicknamed before Jack even knew the guy’s real name (which was Charlie, by the way. Jack found that out a few weeks later). He couldn’t explain why or how… he just was.

The first few weeks of Crutchie being there was relaxed. He was obviously willing to do whatever, whenever, as long as it benefited everyone. He always seemed to be injured, Jack even wrapped up a pair of crutches in some newspapers as a gift for the younger’s nineteenth birthday. Crutchie pretended to be annoyed, but those crutches laid near his bed until he was gone.

It was then that there was an unspoken rule that, no matter what, they’d stay best friends. Even if they ended up living their own lives on separate sides of the city after the war, they’d keep in touch. They had to.

The two had gone through however many change of locations, battles, arguments, covering up the other’s dumb mistakes…

Among other things they’d managed to sneak in the few moments of privacy they got.

Comforting touches, talking through nightmares, shedding a few tears, small kisses, and...other things they’d managed to do in their precious alone time.

Jack informed Crutchie early on that they didn’t have the worst spot. Sure, there were better, calmer places to be, but there sure as hell were a lot worse, too.

Well, until they get sent in as reinforcements somewhere else in the Pacific. That also guaranteed that they were likely going to be plopped down in the middle of some shit.

Everyone who had been through this before was uneasy. People like Crutchie who still had a somewhat romanticised view of war were almost excited. They had this idea that they’d become a hero after their first big battle rather than a statistical probability that they’d die or get seriously injured.

C didn’t even make it to the end of whatever battle they were dropped into. It ended up lasting ten days or so before they could ease up.

Everyone had been split into different groups so they could try to corner everyone and it would be an easy victory. Obviously, like usual, their plans fell apart.

The constantly humid June heat was exhausting, everyone was beyond exhausted, and those who were supposed to be the reinforcements were being spread thin. This meant they fell into traps far more than at the start, no one had any extra water on them, and sleep was usually out of the question.

Crutchie and Jack were in different groups, which stressed them out, but there wasn’t time to try and switch things up (plus, the consequences for that weren’t quite worth it). Jack wouldn’t have been as worried if the stupid boy he’d developed feelings for wasn’t going into this with some injured muscle in his arm that no one but Jack knew about.

God knows what else he’d hurt in this.

Regrouping and figuring out casualties after battles was always hard. Confirming deaths, having to declare someone missing even though you knew they were gone, and not knowing whether someone was actually missing or if they were dead was hard.

When someone confirmed that Charlie Morris was definitely missing, likely alive…

Jack spent the rest of that night as alone as he could possibly be.

Maybe he’d be able to get back within the next week.

When a week went by, Jack changed that goal post to be a month.

By the time Jack got home, he knew that there was almost no chance he would ever see C again. All he wanted changed from knowing Crutchie was coming home to just hoping he wasn’t fucked up too bad before…

God, he hoped C wasn’t waiting, thinking they’d forgotten about him. He’d rather have Crutchie dead and not hurting over thinking he got abandoned.

Upon arriving home, he met up with an old friend that had joined the Navy anda had just gotten home. Davey understood Jack and Jack understood Davey. They got an apartment together in the city and things were… okay. Sure, neither of them slept through the night and it was difficult to adjust to being home, but they made it work. Jack sure as hell was glad he wasn’t alone.

One of the things he and Davey agreed on was that they’d both feel better with a gun in the apartment. Nothing huge, just a pistol. It was like a safety blanket that they kept hidden in case of an emergency.

Jack guessed this wasn’t an emergency, but then he found himself sitting at the kitchen counter with the pistol in front of him.

It was loaded, he knew that. He’d been the one to load it once he got it out tonight. That was about an hour ago, he thought.

The clock that said it was 2:30 AM implied he’d been there much longer than that.

He just wanted to have let C come back and not himself. If he could’ve gone missing and never been found…

Crutchie had deserved to come back more, in Jack’s opinion. Crutchie hadn’t even gotten to really experience what he enlisted to do before he was just gone. Not even dead, but probably captured and--Jack didn’t even want to think about what his last memories would have been. How long was he even being held by whoever had him? Days? Weeks? Months?

The idea of it being a year or more made Jack want to vomit.

The idea of going to a place where Jack would be with Crutchie and not be here at all was uncomfortably tempting.

“Jack?”

Jack hadn’t realized he’d picked up the gun and that Davey had heard a sob come out of his mouth.

That wasn’t how this was supposed to be. He wasn’t supposed to worry his friend like that.

If he was going to do it, he’d at least have the decency to not do it with his roommate home.

“Go back to bed. I’m fine,” Jack whispered and dragged the back of one of his hands across his eyes.

“Doesn’t sound like it,” Davey sighed and took a few steps closer. He put his hands up in surrender when he noticed Jack’s knuckles turn white around the gun. “I’m not coming any closer, I promise.”

“I just…” Jack trailed off and refused to raise his voice any higher than the whisper. “It shouldn’t’ve been me. I don’t deserve…”

Davey understood, and he listened. But he also tracked every movement that his friend made with the gun.

“I know it feels that way,” he agreed gently, taking a step closer while Jack looked away to wipe his eyes again. “I understand, I do. But from what you’ve told me, it sounds like he’d be saying the exact same thing if he was here and you weren’t. So can you just… put the gun down and step away? Talk to me?”

It was a long few moments before Jack shakily set it down so the barrel wasn’t facing either of them. It was only another moment before Davey was behind him, wrapping him in a hug with one arm and pushing the firearm out of Jack’s reach with the other.

Jack didn’t care. The second he’d made physical contact with Davey, he broke down. He let everything out into his friend’s tight embrace.

#bad things happen bingo #newsies #newsies fanfic #jackcrutchie #fanfic #jack kelly #David jacobs #Davey jacobs #Crutchie morris #jack x crutchie #writing

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tellthosewithpowersafeintower · 5 years

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post-strike three's the day headcanons pls!! -you probably know who this is heh ILY

Ahh ily2!

After the strike, Jack and Crutchie are so relieved to have each other

Davey has an arm around Crutchie when they go to get their papes just after he's come back

Davey and Jack haven't really seemed to stop reaching out for Crutchie

After getting his papes, Crutchie falters because Davey seems to be struggling to say something. Crutchie prompts him gently, curious

Davey asks hesitantly if Crutchie wants to sell together

Crutchie's a little startled, and he thinks it might take him a few moments too long to react because he can see the nervousness overtake Davey before Crutchie smiles and agrees

It isn't too long later before Jack is at his side

They may sneak away together, where Jack checks on him and ensures Crutchie is okay. Jack runs a hand softly under a bruise on his cheek and they kiss

Crutchie smiles and cracks a joke

He's... He's not okay yet, but that's alright

The boys have been sure to let him know that

All in all, Jack is really grateful to have Crutchie back

He seems a little surprised when Crutchie says Davey wants to sell with him but he grins and says he's sure Crutchie'll like it a lot

And he does

Selling with Davey is actually really great

Davey sells... different than anyone else Crutchie knows

And not just because he's new

He's not the best seller, but he's trying and when Davey grins, genuinely smiles at one point through the day Crutchie feels about as though all the air has been knocked out of his lungs

Because he has seen Davey smile before- a little into the strike, at Jack in particular- but since he's gotten back Davey seemed open in a way he hadn't before

Confident and unafraid in the way the new boy fidgeting at the edge of the Square most definitely wasn't

And Davey's smile is one of those -oh frick this boy is too cute- moments

They talk a lot and banter throughout the day

When he walks home at the end of the day, Crutchie is grinning, legitimately grinning so much his face hurts from it

Silently, Jack is beyond grateful that Crutchie went out with Davey because Crutchie looks happy and after everything he needed that

Davey and Crutchie and Jack seem to grow really close as time goes on

Jack is really struggling with some leader decision and needs to talk about it? Davey is sprawled out of Jack's lap with his brow knit in concentration while Crutchie is playing with Jack's hair as his hands fly around in agitation

Crutchie is panicking? Jack has him and is whispering nonstop as he thumbs soothing circles on his hip while Davey coaches his through his breathing

They're p much always together

It's really hard to find one of them without the others

The three of them sell together on and off, and they all really love that

The first time Davey sleeps at the Penthouse is unplanned on all ends

It had been a really long day

Jack had gone to blow out some frustration on painting

What he isn't expecting when he comes back was to hear someone else already in the Penthouse

He pauses before he pulls himself to look

Davey Jacobs is sprawled with his head nestled on his arm, hair messy and fluffing up and fast asleep where he must have been waiting for someone to come up

It takes Jack a few moments to realize

Davey was worried about Jack, so even though he was really tired after a long day, he waited up for him

And Jack just about died right then and there

Davey, lanky and awkward so often, seems a thousand times smaller when he's asleep

He seems to naturally curl in on himself, and his features are softer and Jack desperately has to fight the urge to reach out and touch his hair

He's cute

Really cute

Jack absolutely wraps Davey up in a blanket after finding him

...and then two

But God he knows he's in love with this boy

"Crutchie come look at this" "I'm busy-" "just LOOK-"

It really shouldn't be all that shocking that Jack and Crutchie fall in love with Davey

Davey spends the night with them in the Penthouse a few times

The nights are full of laughter and bantering and closeness

Davey spends the night watching stars and dozing off with them still smiling

Crutchie falls asleep still tracing the freckles scattered on Davey's cheeks with his eyes

Jack and Crutchie are open with each other

Crutchie realizes first

Jack is smiling that particular smile of his, a little dazed as he watches Davey walk home

A little in love

And it just clicks

Jack's grins after talking with Davey, the skip in his step when he comes back from spending time with hom, the chatter about the boy

The way he smiles at the boy like he hung the damn moon

Crutchie recognizes that look because it's the same love struck expression Jack wears watching Crutchie

And Crutchie realizes he too echoes watching one Davey Jacobs

That more than anything he would like to have both Jack and Davey

Crutchie is the one who says that he knows Jack is in love with Davey

Jack panics

He tries to apologize and he gets so anxious

He stammers and fumbles and tries to tell Crutchie he couldn't, that he didn't mean to fall in love and he loved Crutchie more than anything

Crutchie assures Jack that he knows all that

Jack seems a little out of breath when he calms a little, nodding

And then, softly, Crutchie tells him it's okay if Jack loves Davey too

Jack's startles

They end up cuddling a lot that night

Crutchie soothes him

And Jack does open up, about how he feels about Davey and eventually just ends up babbling into Crutchie's chest about how much he loves Crutchie and Davey more than anything

Crutchie quietly confesses that he likes Davey too

Davey has been in love with these boys a long time

His crush has been growing into something a little more, but he goes on babbling nerdy facts and watching Crutchie's smile and the way he walks and falls hopelessly in love with every detail about these boys

He listens to Jack and sells and smiles

And at the end of the day he takes a deep breath and tries to ignore a lot of things

The two of the have never done anything like it before, but Crutchie bluntly asks Jack if they both want to date him, why don't they?

So they both decide they're going to try to court Davey Jacobs

While also courting each other

It proves to be a little difficult

Because Davey is sweet but this boy is so oblivious

Especially in regards to people liking him, whether or not it's romantically

Davey spends the night up in the Penthouse when it happens

Race sells with Les for the day, and Jack and Crutchie take Davey selling together

Jack may sneak a few compliments throughout the day

He drops the flower he tries to sneak into Davey's papers

All of it's right though, the laughter and clumsiness and stolen glances

Crutchie asks Davey if he'll stay over the night with them in the Penthouse

Davey happily agrees

After selling, Davey heads to drop Les home

And Jack and Crutchie agree for what they're going to do

They're waiting for him when he gets back

Crutchie grins and their ecstatic greetings are more than enough for him to smile in return

They talk for a while, seated together as they banter about headlines and selling and just drink in each other's presence

When Crutchie turns around and asks Davey to dance with him Davey stiffens and sputters for a few moments, and Crutchie can't help but laugh

Davey protests that there isn't any music and Jack tells him they'll make their own

Eventually, mortified, Davey mumbles to Crutchie that he doesn't know how

Crutchie laughs in the way he uses to show he doesn't mean it hurtfully and tells Davey that's the point, that they can teach him

And Davey hesitates

Jack pouts at him and with a huff Davey agrees

So Crutchie does help Davey dance, and he is a little clumsy

None of them care

Crutchie used to feel insecure bc dancing with a crutch is a little difficult to maneuver around and he hates feeling like he's slowing people down

But he has fun and Jack has assured him a thousand times when they have before

They haven't done it a lot, but he'd say it's enough to consider practice

He's learned what's easier for him and dancing with Davey is. Magical

Davey clearly has a fun time

They're really close and they can feel each other's breath and Davey is flushed

Crutchie can't stop watching Davey's smile as they slow dance together

They're both grinning like dorks

Watching Jack and Davey dance together is beautiful

They're so clearly in love and Crutchie is just giddy and grinning ear to ear as he listens to their laughter

There can't be a prettier sound

Jack steadies Davey every time he stumbles and even he gets flustered, Jack just flashes his charming grin and Davey settles a little more

They switch off dancing through the night in the safety of the Penthouse under cover of stars and it's filled with the sound of their laughter

Eventually, after Jack and Crutchie have a turn dancing and Jack sneaks a glance at Davey and mumbles about how in love with him he is and Crutchie can only agree

Crutchie makes some snarky comment, rolling his eyes and Jack grins, but Davey...

Davey snorts with some higher sound and he laughs, and it's bright and beautiful and free

For once Davey didn't clap his hands over his mouth the way he usually did when something made him laugh, even around them, and Jack could see the expression on Crutchie's face

Crutchie looks stunned, his eyes are fixed on Davey

Before he can lose the nerve, Jack leans up to kiss him

Davey freezes, and a moment later his fingers touch his lips as though he can't quite believe what just happened

"I love you," Jack breathes

After that, a dam breaks

Crutchie confesses that he loves Davey too, that they both do, that they both really want to date him and be with him while also being with each other

Jack, painfully small, tells Davey that he wants Davey to be their fella and asks after a beat if he'd be okay with that

And Davey's face breaks into a grin, wide and open and a little awed in disbelief. "That sounds perfect, Jackie."

That's all Crutchie needs before he lurches forwards and peppers a flurry of softer kisses along Davey's cheeks and then a longer one to his lips

When Davey, on the wave of vulnerability they've opened, confesses in a shaky voice all of the fears he's had since finding out he liked boys and so many of the insecurities he has Jack and Crutchie hold him a little tighter

They listen and comfort, and Jack softly kisses him as Crutchie plays with his hair

It's a promise that they'll always be there

Jack and Crutchie cuddle Davey until he falls asleep

(They have the excuse of the incoming colder months if anyone were to ask)

But more than anything, as they look forward into settling into the new days of loving on their fella they only find joy

#newsies #davey jacobs #crutchie #crutchie newsies #crutchie morris #jack kelly #david jacobs #jackcrutchiedavey #three's the day #three’s the day #threes the day #jack x crutchie x davey #jack x crutchie #jack x davey #jack x david #crutchie x davey #im soft #newsies headcanons #jackdaveycrutchie

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