Disclamer:I don't own Newsies, or any of the characters.


Chapter One: A Wet Party

"Mush, all you're going to do tonight is watch your girly movies anyway, so you might as well come," Racetrack said standing at the door to Mush's part of their dorm. He leaned against it with his arms crossed, looking at him expectantly. Mush was barely able to see Race's dark eyes through his long black hair, but he could tell that his best friend wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Mush sighed, but agreed anyway. He didn't mind spending every Friday night by himself watching his favourite movies; it gave him something to look forward to during the week, but today Race came in and demanded that Mush come with him to some party. After all, he could wait to watch his movies when he got home if it wasn't too late, he thought.

"Come on, ya lazy bum," Race said getting annoyed at how long it was taking Mush to make up his mind. "Get the lead out of your pants."

"Alright, I'll come," Mush said and got up from his spot on his bed. He took one last look at the pile of movies that he had put together for the night and sighed before brushing past Racetrack.

When Racetrack noticed that Mush was headed for the door, he frowned. "You ain't plannin' to wear that to the party, are ya?"

Mush stopped and turned around to face his friend, "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" he asked, and he looked down at himself; he was wearing a pair of old comfortable jeans that were cut off at his knees and a white long sleeve shirt. He looked at the mirror hanging on the wall beside him and stared into his own dark brown eyes. His eyes traveled over his face and hair; thick brown curls covered his head like they always did and his skin was the same it always was also well, smooth and tan. He couldn't possibly look that bad, could he?

Mush's eyes wandered back to Racetrack. As always, his best friend was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Race was dressed in a pair of dark brown slacks and a white dress shirt with a stripped vest over it. His hair, which was normally slicked back, fell into his eyes and framed his face. He wondered about the change in Race's appearance, but he shrugged the thought off when he remembered that Race was complaining earlier about running out of hair gel.

Racetrack pushed himself off the wall and joined Mush at the entrance to their dorm. "Never mind," he said pulling Mush to the outside hall and locking their dorm. "You don't have time to change. The party started two hours ago."

It wasn't long before Racetrack and Mush had reached David's house for the party. It was a fairly big house with half drunk teenagers already all over the place. "That looks fun," Mush commented sarcastically as they both stepped over a guy passed out on the walkway. "Remind me why you dragged me here again?"

Racetrack opened the front door to the house and stepped inside with Mush following behind. "Because sitting at home by yourself doesn't count as an exciting Friday night," Race said. "You need to get out more, Mush." He patted his best friend on his shoulder. "And going to blockbuster to get more movies don't count," he added.

"Whatever," Mush said as he gazed around the hall they were standing in. There were pictures of the Jacobs family along the walls, as well as various oil and watercolour paintings.

Race lead Mush into the living room. A TV sat at the back of the room with couches and a chair surrounding it. Off to the left was another hallway and to the right lead out to a porch and the backyard; there were also teenagers everywhere, both smashed and in the process of getting smashed.

"Listen Mush," Race said looking down the hall. "I gotta go talk to Jack 'bout somethin'. Now, I know you didn't want to come and I sorta dragged ya here, but try to have some fun, okay?"

Mush rolled his eyes. "I'll try," he said. After Racetrack was gone, he took an empty seat on one of the couches in the corner of the room. From his spot he had a fairly good view of the drunken teens and all the stupid things they were doing.

A couple of kids, that looked no older than thirteen or fourteen, were amusing themselves by keeping a purse they had stolen from a sly looking girl, who was, Mush was without a doubt, drunk as well. The boys kept throwing the bight blue glittery object back and forth between them, while the girl attempted to get it back. Even though the boys' aim was horrible, and they missed every throw, they managed to keep the girl's purse away from her for a good fifteen or twenty minutes.

After Mush had gotten bored from watching the drunken students, he noticed a short girl stumbling over to him, carrying a half empty beer bottle in one hand. Something told Mush that that hadn't been her first beer. "Hey shexy," she slurred, and tripped over Mush's feet, landing on her butt. She pushed her messy red waves out of her face with her free hand. "Hey … you did that on purpose," she said and burst out laughing.

Mush raised an eyebrow looking down at her. "Oops," he said sarcastically. Mush didn't think it was possible, but she started laughing harder and finally when she calmed down, she put her hands on Mush's knees and practically pulled herself on top of him.

"You're in one of my classes, aren't you?" she asked as Mush tried to push her off of him. She was surprisingly strong in her drunken state and stayed put. She was sitting on his knee with one of her legs in between his and she was leaning close to Mush with her hands on his shoulders; he could smell the alcohol on her breath.

Mush took a second to consider her thought. "I don't know," he replied, still trying to get the girl off him. "Maybe."

She smiled and pressed herself closer to Mush. "My name's Sam," she said, "wanna make out?"

Mush suppressed a shudder and finally just shoved Sam off his lap without caring if he hurt the poor, drunk girl. She fell to the floor again, but this time, Mush noted, with a satisfying thud. "I need some air," he said more to himself than anyone else. He sighed and without looking back he walked to the door to the porch and let himself out into the cool spring night.

He walked over to the railing and leaned against it for a moment, once again amusing himself by watching his drunken classmates in the house. He noticed that Sam finally got herself off the floor and she was looking around. She stumbled in the direction that Race had left earlier, tripping only once on her way out.

After getting bored, for the second time that night, of watching the students getting drunk, Mush turned around and looked up at the sky to stargaze. He began picking out various constellations out of pure boredom when he heard the door open behind him.

Mush turned around to see a guy with dirty blond hair standing there with one hand on the sliding door. His other hand was reaching into the pocket of his light blue button up shirt. When the guy looked up at Mush, he noticed the leather patch on his left eye.

"Oh sorry," the stranger said. He successfully got a pack of cigarettes and lighter out of his front pocket. "I didn't think anyone would be out here. I just came out for a smoke, do you mind?"

"No, go ahead," Mush said startled. He turned back around to stare at the stars in an awkward silence when the door slid open again.

"Heys," a voice came from behind and Mush heard the distinct sound of someone tripping and he felt hands grab onto his hips from behind.

"Oh god," he cringed. The hands soon left his body and the person who had grabbed him was now leaning on the railing beside him. Mush looked down at Sam, who was – if it was possible – more intoxicated than before.

"I was lookin' for you," Sam said, sliding herself closer to Mush. "You disappeared on me, but I found you." She giggled. "Now lez go make out." She tried her best to sound innocent, but the alcohol in her system prevented it.

The man standing to the left of Mush snorted and glared at the girl while he lit a cigarette. Mush watched as he placed the item between his lips and put the flame to the end. The man inhaled, holding his breath for a moment before he let the smoke exit slowly through a crack he made between his lips.

Sam, on the other hand, didn't notice the blond. "Maybe we can do sometin' more too," she continued while giggling. "If you know what I mean." She snaked her arm around his waist and grabbed at his ass; Mush shuddered at the touch and looked like he was about to throw up.

"N-no," he stuttered and tried to get the girl off of him for the second time that night, but her arms were now wrapped securely around his waist. "Get off of me."

"Oh, god's sake, Samantha. He's not interested," the smoker interrupted. He put his cigarette safely between his lips and pried the girl off of Mush. Once he got the sliding door open again, he roughly shoved Samantha back inside; she fell to the floor almost immediately and passed out.

Mush stared blankly at the girl before he returned to his senses and turned to his hero. "Thanks," he said gratefully.

"No problem," the man replied and extended his hand to Mush. "I'm Ryan."

Mush shook his hand excitedly. "Matt," he replied and smiled shyly.

After a moment of silence Ryan spoke up. "Don't worry 'bout Sam," he said gesturing to the girl on the floor and giving Mush his most charming smile. "She won't remember any of this tomorrow, but she'll feel it." He paused to take a drag. "It's just like her to not be able to keep her hands off any hot guy she sees." Another drag. "I can't blame her though, because I can't either. That's why I broke up with her."

"Oh," Mush said, and for a moment he found himself lost in Ryan's exposed blue eye, before he quickly looked away to look at the moonlight sparkle in the night's dew.

"But I learned pretty quickly," Ryan continued after exhaling more smoke, "that I can't hit on guys as easily as she can." He lifted up the bottom of his shirt a little bit, revealing to Mush heavily bruised abs.

Mush let his brown eyes travel over the patch of black and dark purple skin. He frowned, wondering how much it had to have hurt – how much it must still hurt. For a split second, he pushed the thought from his mind and just admired how distinct the muscles moved under the unnaturally coloured skin.

Soon the patch of skin disappeared when Ryan dropped the part of his shirt that he was holding. "I got a little too drunk one night, and against by best judgment, hit on a homophobe," he explained with a sarcastic type laugh, to which Mush gave a small, sympathetic smile in return. Ryan dropped what was left of his cigarette on the ground and extinguished it before kicking the remains off the side of the porch. He lit up another cigarette before he continued, "but enough about me, what about you?"

Mush considered the question for a minute while he watched Ryan smoke. "What about me?" he asked.

"Well, I gotta know if you're gunna try the same shit he did," Ryan explained inhaling the smoke from his new cigarette.

Mush couldn't help but let out a small laugh at that. "I'm not going to do anything to ya," he assured Ryan.

"That's great," Ryan smiled. "But you didn't answer my question. Are you into chicks or guys?"

Mush raised an eyebrow at the question. He kept quiet and looked back to the sparkling dew all over the lawn's green surface. "I've never really had an interest in either," he replied honestly. And it was true; sure he noticed if a girl had particularly fine legs or if a girl wore a low-cut shirt, it'd catch his eye, but he also noticed similar things about men.

"Well that's great too," Ryan smiled and Mush glanced over at him with a questioning look in his eyes. "I can help sway you to the dark side."

Mush laughed. "I'm sure you and Racetrack will have fun trying," he said.

"Racetrack?" Ryan asked. "As in Anthony Higgins?"

"Yeah." Mush said surprised. "You know him?"

"Something like that," the blond replied casually. "He's fucking my best friend."

"Race is my roommate," Mush commented after a moment of awkward silence.

"Oh," Ryan said taking a long drag. "Oh," he repeated as if something in his head clicked and things made sense to him. He hesitated before he spoke again, "you're not Mush, are you?"

"Yeah, that's me," Mush nodded.

Ryan extended his hand to Mush again. Mush raised an eyebrow at the blond, but took his hand anyway.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mush," Ryan said as he shook Mush's hand. "I'm Kid Blink."

Mush vaguely remembered Racetrack and his boyfriend talking about a guy named Kid Blink, but he never paid too much attention when they talked about him, so he didn't know much about him. "It's nice to meet you too," Mush replied before they released each other's hand from their handshake.

"Aw, ain't that just so damn cute, Spot?" a familiar voice said from Mush's left. He and Kid Blink looked over to see Racetrack and his boyfriend standing by the now opened door. Mush wondered how long they had been standing there for, but he quickly dismissed the thought as Spot started talking.

"Yeah," he agreed with his boyfriend. "The best friends have finally met."

Neither Mush nor Kid Blink had a chance to respond because Racetrack was motioning for Mush. "I gotta talk to you for a sec, Mush," he said and ran a hand through his black hair.

"Okay," Mush agreed and followed Race back into the house. He closed the door behind him and glanced around the room again; most of the teenagers were either passed out on the furniture or floor, or had somehow gotten themselves home.

"Me 'n Spot are goin' to go back to his dorm for a while." Race said, gesturing back outside where his boyfriend was talking to Kid Blink on the porch. "I might not be back until tomorrow, sometime durin' the day. Just thought you ought to know."

"Yeah, thanks," Mush said. "I think I'll go back to the dorm soon then."

"You ain't gunna stay and hang with Blink?" Race asked.

"Maybe," Mush shrugged. "For a bit."

Racetrack nodded and walked back over to the door to retrieve his boyfriend. He and Spot said a quick goodbye to him and Blink before they left to go where Spot's car was parked somewhere along the road.

Mush rejoined Kid Blink on the porch and he noted that the blond had stopped smoking for the night. They talked for about half an hour before Mush decided that he was finally ready to go back to his dorm room, and Blink agreed that he'd go home as well. Together they made their way back into the house and to the front door.

"So which dorm do you live at?" Kid Blink asked as the stepped outside into the night once again.

"Tonly University," Mush replied and just after the words came out of his mouth he froze. Feeling around in his pockets, he let out a frustrated growl when he couldn't find what he was looking for. "Dammit," he swore, "I don't have my key card that lets me into the dorm."

Blink looked at Mush for a moment. "Call Race's cell?" he suggested.

"You know as well as I do that they both turn off their cell phones when they're together," Mush replied.

"Yeah," Blink replied lamely. "Hey," he paused for a second, unsure if he wanted to continue his sentence.

"Yeah?" Mush asked.

"You can stay at my house for the night. I don't live too far from here and my mom won't care."

Mush considered the thought for a moment, but Blink had already started walking in the direction of his house. He shrugged and quickly caught up with Blink and walked beside the slightly shorter teen.

"You'll have to sleep in my room though," Blink said after they turned the corner onto a different street. Mush was about to protest, but Blink continued, "I'm serious. My mom won't care that you're staying for the night, but if she – or my little sister, for that matter – finds a random guy asleep on her couch, she'd freak."

Mush nodded. "That makes sense," he said staring ahead of him.

They continued to walk in silence for another street, but Mush broke it when he felt water land on his cheek. "Is it raining?" he asked.

They paused to look up at the sky; the stars were no longer visible and you could barely make out where the moon was through the thick clouds. A second later, freezing cold water droplets started pouring down on them.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Mush said glaring up at the sky. He wrapped his arms firmly around his body in attempt to stay warm.

"Shit," Blink cursed, doing the same. "We'll freeze to death if we're out here any longer." He started to walk in the direction of his house again, and Mush followed.

"How much farther to your house?" he asked, trying not to let his teeth clatter together as he shivered. He now noticed the very cold wind that rustled the trees around them.

"About twenty minutes," Blink paused, "walking."

Mush half glared, half pouted at him. "I thought you said it wasn't far?"

"I said it wasn't too far," he corrected. "But that was before it started raining. Come on, it's only about a five minute run." He took off down the road as fast as he could manage, hoping that Mush would follow.

Mush looked at the teen running ahead of him and sighed. At least he'd get warmer if he ran, he thought. Shrugging, he ran trying to catch up to Blink, but making sure to stay a few feet behind him, because he didn't know the way.

AN: Whoo. Ok, I know it's a weird part to end the chapter, but it's my first Newsie fanfic, so be nice ok? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it.

Oh, and one more thing. I'm not really sure about the 'real' names of the Newsies, actually just about Race, Spot and Blink's. I mean, in a lot of fics out there people use different names for them, but there are the popular ones like Race is Anthony, Spot is Sean and Blink is Ryan. I wasn't really sure for picking a different name for them, because I couldn't find one for them that I liked, so I just stuck with the popular ones. I hope that no one minds that I'm doing this, but if you do, feel free to yell and me and I'll change them as soon as I can.