WORTH THE WAIT

Disclaimer: Slash. Don't like it? Don't read it. And I do not own Newsies.

A/N: New one-shot. Enjoy :)

That Monday morning, Blink came into our first period class with two hickeys on his neck. Now, this was not an out of the ordinary occurrence, as it was a well-known fact that Blink was quite the man-whore. Ever since he came out last year, he's been having guy after guy. Literally, he's been with basically every out gay guy in my school's three high schools, plus some from the neighboring town's school. That's roughly about twenty guys.

And when I said basically every guy, I really mean everyone but me.

Now would be the time to talk about my not-so-tiny crush on Blink.

I knew I shouldn't like him. I knew he wasn't the 'boyfriend' kind of guy. My little fantasies of him and I running off to Canada, getting married, and having wild, passionate sex would never come true. Only in my dreams…

Ahem… But I mean, how could I not like Blink? He's like, every gay guy's dream. His personality, that happy-go-lucky way he goes about life, his sense of style, that adorable eye patch… Not to mention he gives excellent neck massages. I'm in heaven whenever he gives me one.

Anyway, back to the story…

When I saw his that morning, I was already in a bad mood to begin with, so I was not looking forward to hearing about his latest escapade.

But, of course, I knew I was gonna hear it.

The rest of my friends started the usual catcalls of 'who are those from?' and 'who's the new guy-of-the-moment?' and so on and so forth.

Blink, never one to not talk about this sort of thing, launched into a full-scale reenactment. He was on the opposite side of the room, but I could still clearly hear him from my seat, where I was staring out the window, desperately trying to figure out a way to plug my ears. I never did find a way. I heard every word.

"Ok, ya know that guy I met from Brick at the movies Friday night? Well, we hit it off. Big time," Blink said, winking. "We went to Six Flags yesterday. And it only took us two hours to get home!"

My friends laughed at that. Six Flags is only a half-hour away from here, so we all got what he was implying.

I wanted to crawl up in the corner and die as Blink continued answering everyone's questions about how the guy was, and talked about all the things I did not want to hear.

Occasionally, I saw Skittery throw a sympathetic glance my way, for he knew how I felt. Actually, everyone knew about my feelings for Blink. Well, that is, everyone but Blink.

I mean, really. What is it with guys who can't see what is right in front of their faces?

Ok, Ok, I know. I'll stop digressing from the story…

Blink finally stopped talking about his weekend hook-up. For a second I was relieved. But, of course, that feeling didn't last very long, for Blink came right on over to me.

"Heya, Mush. Why do ya look so gloomy?"

I turned and glared at him, my eyes focusing on his hickeys, my heart hurting even more. "Because I am."

"Well then, stop being so glum and dumb and talk to us!" Blink slapped me on the back, obviously oblivious to my extremely bad mood.

"I don't want to talk."

Blink laughed again, still not getting the hint. "Ya know what? We need to find you a guy. Then you'll be happy."

That did it. I snapped. "I don't want a guy. Can't you take the hint? I want to be left the fuck alone."

Blink blinked a few times and stared at me, obviously shocked by my outburst. "Mush, I just… I'm just trying to help."

"Well, I don't want your help! Ya know why I don't want a guy? It's because I want you. I'm freakin' in love with you, don't you get it? Everyone knows. Everyone but you. You can't see what's right in front of your fuckin' eyes. All you care about is yourself and your random fuck buddies." I stopped for a few seconds, what I had just said sinking into my head. When I finally realized I had just admitted all that stuff, I freaked. My eyes went wide, and I saw Blink's eye was wide as well. "Oh shit… Oh my God… I, uh, I gotta go." I stammered, then turned and did the first thing that came into my mind. I ran out of the classroom, down the hall, and into the bathroom.

I don't exactly know how long I was in there… maybe five or so minutes? All I did was just sit again the wall, staring into space, praying no one would come in, and thinking how stupid I was to have shot my mouth off like that.

I got knocked out of my trance when I heard the door open, and of all people, Blink walked into the bathroom. I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. I really didn't want to deal with him right then, but just my luck, I had to.

"Mush… I… I'm sorry. I didn't know," Blink said quietly, walking toward me.

I peeked my head up a bit. "It was pretty fuckin' obvious."

He bit his lip. "Yeah. Everyone said they knew. I guess I'm just blind or something," he said, shrugging.

I snorted. "You think?"

He smiled a little. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm stupid sometimes."

"Sometimes? Try all the time," I said smiling a bit, trying to ease the tension with a little humor.

He laughed. "Ok, I get it. But, uh, seriously? Um, I really don't know how to say this, but… I… I like you too."

My mouth dropped, and I stared at him. Was he for real? "What did you just say?" I asked, incredulously.

"I like you. And… I don't know why, but I thought you weren't interested in me. And I was just plain old shy to ask, and well… yeah."

My mind was racing. Blink liked me. He actually liked me. And he was just too shy! Which reminded me. "Blink… Um, you? Shy?"

Blink chuckled. "Whenever I'm around you, yeah. Everything else is just an act," he said, the latter he added quietly.

"So you really like me?" He nodded, smiling. "I've liked you for so long and now, it's really coming true."

"Same here. I shoulda just gotten over my shyness and gotten the courage to tell you earlier." He said, reaching down to help me get up. I smiled back at him. Once I was upright and standing, he continued. "Are you ready to go back to class?"

"Not just yet." I leaned forward, brushing my lips against his. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but I didn't care. I knew there would be many, many more.

After we broke apart, Blink spoke. "Again, we shoulda done that a long time ago."

A huge smile appeared on my face. But then a thought occurred to me. "This isn't just a one-time thing, right? I'm not gonna be one of your random hook-up buddies?"

Blink laughed and shook his head. "Of course not. Actually, I think I'm done with them for a while." He kissed me again. "Come on. Let's get back to class."

We walked down the hall and back into first period, holding hands. As I expected, we got catcalls from all my friends, mixed with a round of applause, and a muttered 'finally' from Skittery.

That day was a little over three months ago. Blink and I are still going strong. It may have taken us some time to see what's right in front of our eyes, but it was well worth the wait!

THE END

A/N: yeah, this was originally planned to be a song fic, but yeah. Ditched that idea. It was supposed to have lyrics from the Zanna, Don't song "Sometime, Do You Think We Could Fall In Love" (Zanna's verse was what I wanted to use... and check out the song. It's good.)

For my loyal TJORH fans… I have one sentence written of the next chapter! (lol sara…) But I swear I'm working on it. It's just not coming out right.

Okies, enough of my babbling. REVIEW and make me happy :)

-Braids