Sloanne is not a single person, but is a writing team made up of Funkiechick and Studentnumber24601. This is the prequel to our fic Everything You've Done Wrong, but it takes place first, so it can be read alone. Newsies belongs to Disney, not us, sadly.

Take Good Care of the Poor Boy

Everybody sees me
But it's not that easy
Standing in the light field
Standing in the light field
Waiting for some action
Waiting for some action
-The Strokes, Juicebox

Chapter One: Passing Go

Jack dropped his backpack, and it landed on his foot. He swore, and jumped away, his mother giving him a tired look. He always reacted to things like this. She knew it was coming, but still.

"Jack, really."

"But..." Jack whined, sitting down across from her at the kitchen table and nursing his foot. "But you never said you were going to take him. You said you were iffy because his records said he had 'serious behavioral problems'."

She raised her eyebrows. "Well, I changed my mind."

"Without telling me!"

"You know why I'm doing it, Jack."

Jack looked a little hurt at that, and he looked back down at his foot. His long hair fell in his face, and Denise clucked her tongue. She always wanted him to get it cut. "Jack..."

"Whatever, you're the one who has to deal with him."

"Jack."

"Mom."

"Jack, come on. I want you to be okay with this. He's a special case."

Jack glared at her. He'd had a few foster siblings before and didn't want another. They were always annoying and screwed up, and they certainly screwed up his life. It always went from being such a nice, almost-normal, fun existence to... Well, bad. Someone in his space all the time, space neither of them wanted to share...

His mother sighed. "Okay, I know you're not thrilled about the idea. But Jack, he needs our help. He's..."

"'Special,'" Jack repeated. "With 'severe behavioral disorders.' Mom, why do we need someone like that--"

"We don't need him, Jack. He needs us."

Jack rolled his eyes, but didn't argue with her. She was like that... After all, that was why she'd adopted him. He'd needed a home and needed a mother, and she'd given him both.

"Fine," he finally muttered. "I don't like the idea, but fine."

"Good." She smiled. "He'll be here tomorrow afternoon."

"So what's his name, anyway?" Jack asked, still annoyed.

"Sean," she answered. "Sean Conlon."

Jack huffed. "Sounds stupid," he said childishly.

"Would you just pick up your backpack and go to school?" Denise snapped. "Please, you're more mature than this."

"Am not." Jack grabbed his backpack. "So...can David still come to dinner tomorrow?"

Denise sighed. "Well, I don't know, we'll see how Sean's doing." She stood up and finished up her coffee. "Listen, Jack, please try to be civil about this."

Jack watched her rinse her coffee cup out in the sink and once again couldn't get over how much he loved his mother, despite her not...technically being his mother.

"Yeah..." Jack trailed off, embarrassed that he'd been a brat. "I'll be civil."

She smiled at him from the sink. "Go on, you'll be late. And you need gas for the van."

"Okay."

"And pick up some milk on your way home."

"Yeah."

"And Dutchy wants you to give him a ride." She jerked her thumb towards the phone. "He called while you were showering."

Jack grumbled in annoyance as he walked out the door.

Jack found school that day to be... Well, bad. He was trying to ignore the news he'd gotten, but couldn't get it out of his mind. He didn't want a foster brother. This Sean Conlon person sounded pretty rotten, from what Denise had told him. He'd been thrown out or pulled out of his last few foster homes after causing too much trouble for people to handle. According to Denise, his file said he smoked and drank and swore too much.

She'd raised an eyebrow at Jack. 'Sounds like he'll fit right in.'

Jack hadn't answered. Usually, his mother pretended she didn't know about the drinking or the smoking, though he messed up and swore in front of her too often to pretend she didn't know about that.

So the day had started out bad enough--and then he'd run into his ex-girlfriend, Sarah, and saw her flirting with some guy on the basketball team and found himself insanely jealous; they were broken up, but then, they broke up once every few months, so it wasn't like she had a reason to flirt with anyone else...

He angrily shlumped his way through school, avoiding most of his friends. The only friend he wanted to talk to didn't go to his school anymore. Stupid David had been too smart for his own good and had a scholarship to some freaking private school across town... And that meant he was never around anymore when Jack needed him.

And Jack needed him today.

Which was why Jack promptly told his friend, Itey, to tell his chem teacher that he was sick, because he sure as hell was skipping fourth period chem to go get David out of his preppy ass school to console him.

Jack was a bad driver, and he couldn't help but notice that when he got into the richer areas of town, he got the finger more, especially from little old ladies sitting in the back of their limos.

Jack casually flipped off an old lady right back and made a right turn, parking smack in front of the school.

And when he jumped out of the car, realized how far he'd parked from the curb. "Oh, well..." he muttered, and hurried inside.

He stood just inside the foyer and gaped.

David's new school was... Well, not totally new to him, as he'd been there a few times since David had transferred. That had been at the beginning of ninth grade, a full two and a half years previously. But it never failed to shock him. This school had serious money, and it showed in every way possible. The school shone like janitors maybe actually polished instead of sweeping, and the architecture was all high arches and marble and felt kind of like some cathedral more than a school.

A sign hung nearby that said 'main office.' He debated where to go, since he had no idea where to find David... But didn't have to approach the office because the bell rang and the hallway flooded with students, all in the same navy and gray uniform. People gave him strange looks and avoided him; after all, he was clearly an outsider. He stuck out like a sore thumb.

But it made it all the easier for David to find him.

David saw him across the crowded hall and waved, picked his way over to where Jack stood, flanked by two guys: a short Italian boy who was scowling, and a much more pleasant looking boy with dark skin and a nice smile.

"Jack!" David said, surprised, once they reached him. He touched Jack's arm a little, and then pulled back. The friendly look kind of evaporated. "Why aren't you in class?"

"Skipped, Davey," Jack continued, cutting David off before he could scold Jack about skipping. Because he always did. "Davey, I have to talk to you."

"I'm kind of at school," David said, then noticed that his nice-looking friend was clearing his throat. "Oh, uh... Jack this is Michael. And--"

"Yeah, I have English," the Italian kid snapped, giving Jack's clothes the once-over. "Bye." With that, he briskly walked by Jack, bumping Jack's elbow with his own as he went.

Jack stared after him. "Fine, dick."

"Tony is not a dick," Michael defended firmly, then he smiled. "He's had a bad day, uh, well, you two talk and I'll go catch up with Tony." He touched Jack's arm, and it was then that Jack was positive this kid was gay. "Okay, nice meeting you, see you, Dave. Tony, wait!" Michael ran off.

Jack looked angrily at David.

"Tony is kind of a dick..." He trailed off. "So, what's wrong? I have class, Jack, I--"

"This is important, Davey, come on..."

David sighed. "Jack..."

"Dave, Mom decided to take the foster kid after all."

"Oh." David sighed. "Well... Okay, fine. Let's go talk in the van, I've got lunch the period after this so we've got awhile..."

"Thanks, Davey." Jack managed a slight smile and almost put an arm around David as they walked out of the school building, David glancing around guiltily. He wasn't usually the skipping class type, but just having him there made Jack feel a little better. David was like that.

"So those are the guys you're friends with?" Jack asked as they walked.

"Yeah," David agreed. "They're pretty cool, really. I mean..." He shrugged. "Tony's spoiled and all, but he's not so bad underneath. He just, uh, acts like he is. But Mush--Michael--well, he's a sweet guy. You'd like him a lot."

"Yeah, sure." But somehow, Jack doubted that. He didn't like them sort of as a concept--he didn't like David being friends with people he didn't know, it just reminded him that there was a whole part of David's life where he didn't belong. He hated that feeling.

They reached the van and Jack unlocked it. David wrinkled his nose as they climbed inside. "Did something die in here?"

"I think there's an old cheeseburger in the back somewhere that Dutchy left."

"Jack, that's disgusting."

"Blame him, not me."

David made another slight 'ught' noise, and settled in to the familiar shotgun seat, then looked expectantly at Jack. "Well?" he asked.

Jack sighed and didn't say anything. It always took him awhile to gather his thoughts.

David knew that, and waited patiently, fiddling with the buttons on his grey vest. Jack looked at him fondly. Jack always noticed that David fiddled constantly, usually making himself look more clean. David was a very clean looking teenager. He was a clean looking person in general.

Jack sighed. "Apparently the guy has...'behavioral disorders'."

"So did you, for awhile."

"That was a long time ago!" Jack protested. "And has nothing to do with this Sam or Sean or whatever his name is. Mom is all gung ho and being Santa Claus and we're stuck with some bad little boy without a family." There was a silence after this and then Jack wrinkled his nose. "Oh man, Davey, I sound like an asshole."

"A...bit..." David smiled a little. "But Jack, come on, it's to be expected for you to be jealous--"

"I'm not jealous, I am concerned for the family's welfare with the asshole kid!"

"--but you should give him a chance. You didn't have it easy and I bet you anything he hasn't either. Foster homes aren't fun."

"Yeah, well..." Jack pouted. "Davey, he'll be no more related to Mom than I am."

"So?" David asked.

"So... I don't know." Jack groaned. "Just, you know. It's weird to think of some stranger calling her Mom, and... Like, if she tries to help him but he's as bad as everything says he is, and she can't help him she'll be really upset."

"Well, that's true," David said, smiling slightly. At least Jack was upset mostly for the right reasons. "But she's a grown woman, Jack. I know how much you love her, but you can't protect her, if anything, she's supposed to protect you. She wants to do this, and if she can't make a difference... Then she'll deal with it, because that's what she has to do."

Jack shrugged. "Yeah, but--"

"Anyway, she's had experience dealing with problem children, if you recall, Mister I-like-to-spraypaint-swearwords-on-the-front-of-the-house."

Jack laughed a little. "Davey, I was eleven. I grew out of it."

"Right. Because she helped you--so she actually knows what she's doing, and maybe she can help this kid out."

"Yeah, but..." Jack groaned again. "But my life is gonna suck in the meantime. Like it always does when she does this."

"Well...think of his life." Jack looked at David and raised his eyebrows skeptically. "Come on, I bet you ten dollars he doesn't want to be at your house anymore than you want him to be at your house. It's not easy, going from place to place like that. It probably just reminds him over and over again that...none of those families are actually his."

Jack blinked, and stared at his best friend. "David, how can you know this when you don't know him?"

"I read books."

"Well, I read comic books, and this is sounding more and more like the plot of one of the cheesy ones."

"One of the cheesy ones?"

"You know, the really bad ones."

David paused. "I'm going to class now."

"Daveeeeyyy..."

"Jack--"

"I'll buy hamburgers if you'll just come with me and let me whine."

"I did let you whine!" David exclaimed, but then Jack was pouting again. "Fine, but you can't expect me to skip class every time things suck."

"Yes, I can," Jack said, grinning, as he started up the van.

David opened his mouth to protest, but then didn't say anything because really, Jack was right and they both knew it.

When Sean first arrived at the Kelly household, Jack wasn't home from school yet. Jack discovered his spot in the driveway was being used by some random car, and scowled as he parked by the curb, ushered the people he'd driven home out of his car, and grabbed his bag. He usually gave a few guys a ride home--they lived within a couple blocks of his house anyway, and really, they were the people he spent most of his time with. Well, them plus David, who lived only three houses away.

Suspiciously, he let himself into the house--usually his mother wouldn't be home yet either, but he could hear her voice. He made his way to the dining room, and then stared--and then glared.

Sean had arrived. He, Denise, and someone who Jack assumed was a social worker were sitting at the table. The social worker was smiling and looked like, well, every other social worker Jack had ever seen, and Jack had seen quite a few. He was a little frazzled and probably vastly underpaid.

On the other hand, Sean was glaring back at Jack even more darkly. His hair was too long and got ratty at the ends. It had clearly been dyed black at some point, but had faded to a scraggly brown color. Sean's face was pretty, almost like a girl, but the look on it was just plain mean. His clothes hung off him, too large--Jack noticed he was abnormally skinny--and his t-shirt proudly proclaimed, 'Fuck you,' in bright red letters on black background.

"Jack!" Denise greeted him quickly. "Come in, sit down. Jack, this is Sean; Sean, my son, Jack."

"Hi," Jack said, pulling out a chair for himself.

"Fuck you," Sean answered, glaring at Jack almost challengingly--wanting to see if Jack would take that.

Jack narrowed his eyes, but took it. With his mother right there, he didn't have much of a choice.

The social worker let out a nervous laugh and adjusted his shirt nervously. "Well...as we spoke about, Sean isn't very comfortable in conversation. He likes his privacy. And uh...well, I know you're interested in making him as comfortable as possible. But he does have to develop some sort of relationships with people, do you understand?"

Denise was clearly not impressed with the way the man was speaking of Sean as if he weren't there. It was written all over her face, and this also seemed to be making the social worker nervous.

"Well," Denise said. "We all have our ways of dealing with things."

"Yes, but--"

"And our own time for accepting others."

The man cleared his throat. "I know that; it's my job to know that. No need to tell me."

A long pause followed. The tension could have been cut with a knife.

"Uh..." Jack finally said. "Anyone want coffee...or...anything?" Jack looked at Sean tentatively. "Want anything?"

"I said, fuck you."

"I'll have a root beer, thanks, Jack," Denise said. "Can I interest you in some coffee before you leave?" she added to the social worker, as Jack stood up again.

"No thanks, I--"

"Then that'll be all." Denise smiled, and Jack knew she'd just won some kind of argument. He walked off to the kitchen, by the time he got back Denise had left to walk the guest to the door. Sean sat exactly where he'd been before.

"So, uh..." Jack set down Denise's soda and looked over at Sean. "What's... up?"

Sean turned to look at him, and Jack expected another 'fuck you.' Instead, though, Sean just gave him a long, measuring look, then snorted with disdain and looked away.

He hadn't said anything, but the message was pretty clear. Jack had a lot of experience with rejection, but rarely had it ever been so... flatly dismissive before. Usually girls at least pretended to feel bad.

But then, Sean may have been pretty, but he was definitely not a girl.

"You're getting a good room," Jack said, sticking his hands in his pockets. "It gets most of the sun. More than mine does."

Nothing.

"You hungry or anything?"

Sean didn't reply this time either, but he did move. He moved his hand up and bit a little at his knuckle. It was obviously a habit, because his knuckles were a little red and scarred. Probably like biting nails.

Jack wrinkled his nose a little, and stared up at the ceiling. He hated awkward situations. He usually pretended they weren't happening by talking. Jack really liked to hear himself talk.

But not now. This was too awkward even for him.

Fuck, this guy was so skinny...

Jack opened his mouth and was about to start talking again when Denise breezed back into the room. "Everyone getting along?" she asked, picking up the rootbeer and popping the tab. Neither of the boys answered, and she continued, "So, Sean, the ground rules: you get a key and lock the house when you leave. You leave a note on the pad in the kitchen telling me where you are, who you're with, the phone number, and when you'll be back. You call if plans change, and your curfew is ten on school nights and two on weekends unless you've checked with me first. Okay?"

He stared at her, and said nothing.

"Come on," she sighed. "I shouldn't let you have that much freedom but I want to do it. So just let me know you understand."

Again, nothing but a stare.

"Sean--"

"Answer her, asshole!" Jack snapped, not able to just sit there and watch anymore.

Sean's gaze snapped back to Jack. "Why the fuck should I?"

"Because she's letting you--"

"Jack," Denise said quickly. Jack lost his steam, and collapsed back in the chair, glaring furiously at the floor. "So, Sean, we'll show you to your room. Grab your stuff."

Sean made no movement towards his duffle bag, which was in a careless heap by his feet.

Denise shrugged. "It's down the hall--come on."

Sean did stand at that, but Jack assumed he probably wanted his own room as soon as possible so he could shut the door on him and Denise.

They walked off, and Jack was left staring at the bag.

He swore, picked it up, and followed them down the hall.

"So." Denise pushed the door open. "It's not the biggest room in the world, but it should suffice."

Sean looked in and didn't say or do anything else. The room was bare--it had been a guest room, but then, this wasn't the first time it had been converted to bedroom for a foster kid. There was a bed under the window, a dresser, a desk, and a full bookshelf without decorations. "So... Okay?" she asked.

"Fucking spiffy."

"Hey--" Jack started, but Denise reached out to take the bag from him.

"Thank you, Jack," she said, and tossed it in to the empty room. "Well, it's not much, but we can go shopping for posters if you want. I figure you'd rather decorate it yourself than have me do it for you."

Jack glared at Sean as he looked over the room again, then muttered, "It's fine."

"Good!" She smiled enthusiastically. "Well, I need to get back to the office, but I'll pick up Chinese on the way home, and in the mean time, Jack can help you with anything you need."

"Great," they both said at exactly the same time, and it infuriated Jack so much that he almost screamed. But since Sean didn't seem to react in any other way but glaring at Jack, Jack was none to shy to return the stare.

"Well," Denise said, smiling. "Call me at the office if you need anything." She smiled at Sean and touched Jack slightly on the back. Reassuring him. Silently giving him strength that he really needed.

Where did she get her patience?

She left the room, and Jack was left standing there, while Sean sat down on the bed, staring out the window.

"You sure you don't want food or anything?"

"No."

Jack gritted his teeth. "Do you--"

"She's gone; you can fuck off now."

"You fuck off!" Jack yelled a little, and then stormed out of the room.

Once out, he swore at himself. He was such an idiot. Why did such a loser bother him anyway?

He knew the answer. Because it was important to Denise.

So he grudgingly went back to the kitchen and poured Sean a glass of water anyway.

Sean stared out the window and tried not to think. He heard Jack's footsteps walking away, and smirked to himself; he didn't want to deal with anyone right then. Not the damn social worker, not some crazy woman who wanted to be his mother, and not some asshole teenager.

Some crazy woman who wants to be my mother... he thought vaguely, and snorted. Like she could be crazier than his actual parents... Well, maybe. She'd taken him in by choice, after all. His actual parents had been stuck with him.

At least, until his dad was arrested and he was taken away from his mom.

Sean sneezed and realized at once what caused it; the room smelled all sanitary, but over the background scent of cleaners was potpourri. He looked around and saw a small basket of it on the top of the dresser, and sneezed again, and felt sick. It was supposed to make the room smell good--it really just made him sick to his stomach.

His mother had used potpourri at home. In every room. His house had this smell to it... His father brought in a sort of insane, unidentifiable smell, and there was always the overwhelming stench of alcohol and vomit and cat piss, and instead of doing something about it, his mother just put out more potpourri.

He hated the stuff. It smelled like home. And it made him want to puke.

He bit his tongue, wrapped his arms around himself. He wasn't about to puke. No way. He couldn't. He'd look like a dick if he did.

Not that he cared what these shitheads thought. Not the crazy woman or her bratty kid.

He felt the bile in his throat and he knew he was going to hurl whether he wanted to or not. He heard footsteps again as he stood up to look for a bathroom.

"I got you some--" Jack had a glass of water, and Sean purposefully walked up to him.

"Where's the bathroom?" he asked, sounding as mean as possible. Jack blinked and scowled as he led him down two or three rooms.

"I--"

Sean didn't listen to him. He just pushed by him inside, lifted the toilet seat and puked. Hard and disgustingly and painfully.

Jack heard it, and had to wince. But he wasn't about to check in on him.

So he didn't.

It was a few minutes before Sean recovered enough to straighten up and flush the toilet. He wiped his mouth with his hand and spat in the sink, trying to rid his mouth of the disgusting taste, but it didn't work.

On the other hand, when Jack handed him the glass of water. That helped a little. Not that he was going to say thank you or anything. Instead, he just glared.

"Are you okay?" Jack finally asked. "I'll call Mom's office, when she gets back they'll--"

"I'm fine." Spot took some more water, swished it around in his mouth and spat into the sink again.

"But you--"

"I'm fucking... I'm fucking allergic to the goddamn potpourri."

Sean glared at him, daring Jack to challenge him. Daring Jack to call him a pussy for being allergic to something so girly, really.

But Jack just shrugged. "Well, uh, we can air it out or--"

"Fine, whatever. Fuck off." Spot thrust the empty cup into his hand and stalked off down the hallway, back to the living room. Because damned if he was going back into a room that smelled like that.

Jack swore when Sarah answered the door, and once again he was painfully reminded that his best friend was related to his ex-non ex-ex girlfriend...currently really ex, because the fight that had caused this break up had been particularly bad.

She raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"I called. David knows I'm here. I'm here to see David. David!" Jack called over her shoulder. Sarah snorted and pushed him away.

"You have some nerve, Jack, coming over here to--"

"Daaaaaave--"

"--ignore me like what you did never happened and--"

"DAAAAAVE--"

"I'm here!" David shouted, pushing in next to Sarah. "Would you both please shut up?" David looked at Sarah. "Go away."

"Pussy," she shot back, and stalked off, glaring at Jack as she went.

David grumbled. "Sorry," he said. "I was on the computer."

"Yeah, well, I want to die."

"Uh oh..." David closed the door and went outside with him. Their ritual was walking each other home and back whenever the other needed to talk. "Is it bad?"

"Yes. I need someone sane to talk to. Talk to me."

"I am, Jack."

"He's so fucked up and weird and Mom is all talking about how we have to keep him comfortable and he puked and I don't know if..." Jack trailed off, after seeing the look on David's face. "If...I'm...sorry, Davey."

David blinked. "Sorry?"

"I'm complaining and being an idiot."

"Well--"

"And I'm done."

David smiled fondly. "No, you're not; you're a complainer, complain all you want."

"No, really," Jack said, looking at David, closely. "I really am fine. Just as long as you know...you're here to cheer me up, I don't want to complain."

There was a very awkward silence to follow that statement. Neither knew what to say exactly.

It sounded extremely and totally gay.

Finally, David snickered slightly and reached for his backpack. "Come on. Pizza, and you can play videogames while I do my homework. We'll kick out Sarah."

"We can do that?"

"Hang on. Let me try." He leaned out into the hallway. "Sarah, Missy and Chrissy called while you were in the shower and said they'd be at the mall and you should meet them!"

"'Kay, bye, then! Tell Jack to drop dead!"

And the sound of a door slamming shut.

"...Did they--"

"No." David snorted. "Pizza, come on."

Jack grinned. "I like you this way."

"Enough homosexual comments, please."

"Sorry." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Can I ask Les to play? He's really good at Tekken."

David shot him a disgusted look. David hated it when Jack and Les played video games together.

"Or you know, not."

"Extra cheese," David said, as they reached the kitchen. David gave him a piece of pizza with a napkin, on a very nice plate. David ate pizza wrong, Jack decided.

He looked over at his best friend, who was indeed, grabbing a knife and fork to eat his pizza with, and grinned.

Now he felt better.

David set about cutting his pizza and commented, "Dutchy says you picked up a new..." he coughed in that way that meant he was too embarrassed to say it, "video."

"It's porn, Davey," Jack laughed. "Normal guys like it."

David glared at him. Jack looked sheepish. David wasn't really the type who watched porn.

"Anyway, he said people were going to your house this weekend to... to check it out."

"Yeah... Fuck, goddamnit."

"I had wondered. As though it wasn't weird enough for you to get people together and watch that as a group when it's meant to be private." David coughed again. "Anyway. Plans canceled?"

"Yes. Maybe. I don't know..." Jack groaned. "I don't wanna think about it anymore, I wanna play video games. For once don't be a nerd and play with me."

"But you always win."

Jack shot him a grin. "I know."

"Well, some of us are responsible, some of us have homework to do."

"Bullshit, you just hate losing."

David narrowed his eyes. Jack smiled.

"I-have-homework-to-do."

"Okay, okay." Jack left his piece of pizza in his mouth, grabbed the whole box of it, and looked at David. "Lead the way!" Only it came out impaired due to the pizza.

David grinned, shook his head, and they walked together to David's room, where David did homework, and Jack ate a lot of pizza and played a lot of video games.

No school, no stressed mother, and no Sean.

B: We're baaaa-aaaaack! Did you miss us? You knew we couldn't stay away!

F: This world has consumed us. This is good and bad.

B: Mostly bad. But writing makes for some great escapism.

F: We're both very busy, but our love of the boys hasn't weakened. And nooowww, we get to learn a little bit about Spotty.

B: We love him and Jack. This is a very different fic from EYDW, though. Very brotherly, not so much romance, very little Race. But we like it anyway.

F: It's a big emotional trek, and I hope it's worth the big read. We realllyyy love writing this, guys.

B: Speaking of how much we love writing this, and writing these characters, if you haven't looked at our LJ community, you should. It's packed with extra scenes and shows you what happens to all of the boys, after EYDW ends... it's hot. But not in a skanky Paris Hilton way. The link is in our profile.

F: It's hot in the Special Collectors Edition DVD EYDW type way.

B: So that's it for now. Updates will be kind of slow... She's in college and I work full time. Retail. Ught. So we'll see you... in awhile. As soon as we can!

F: We work when we can and we still love each other, so there's a bond either way.

B: Ta! waves