Hey, hey, hey! So this story is kind of a sequel to First Day but not really. If you haven't suffered through that story, just know that it's Crutchie's first day and he tripped in the morning, but Jack caught him. I don't own Newsies. If I did, I probably wouldn't squeal every time I see the ad for it on a billboard.
Jack stared at his new...friend, as he tried to sell his first newspaper.
"Water pipe busted! Read all about it!" the boy yelled at the people walking along the street. "Jack, can I ask yous a question?" Crutchie walked back over to Jack.
"Sure, what's up?"
"How come nobody's walkin' on dis side a da street?"
"Oh, dat's just cause it's still kinda early for this sellin' spot."
The smaller boy nodded and smiled, showing off his dimples. Jack unconsciously smiled back as his heart skipped a beat. It had been doing that all day. The first time he saw Crutchie walking through the gate, when he felt Crutchie's warmth against him after he had tripped, every time he smiled-skip, skip, skip. Jack had never felt like this before, but the older boys had talked about it enough for Jack to know exactly what was happening, he was in love. But, at the same time, he knew that he couldn't be-it was wrong. Hell, it was even illegal for two guys to...but every time his heart jumped, Jack didn't care.
"Jack, Jack! Look, I sold my first pape!"
"Wow! Congrats, what did cha tell the sucker?"
"The headline? What was I supposed ta tell her?"
Jack shook his head in disbelief. The headline sucked today; apparently he wasn't the only one that found Crutchie irresistibly adorable.
"I'm gonna go sell some more!"
"Ya, I'd betta get back to my own corna before the rush hits." Jack waved back at Crutchie as he ran across the park. He sold a few papers on his way down the sidewalk, but once he got to his usual selling spot, he sat down on the curb and pulled out his pencil. He quickly got to work setting an outline. His hand flew across the paper as a face took shape. Jack smiled down at the face grinning up from the paper.
"Hey, Jackie Boy! Who's dat?"
Jack crumpled up the drawing and shoved it into the gutter. "Jeez, Spot! Ya scared me half ta death!" Jack yelled trying to give a reason for his profuse blushing.
"Ise been callin yo name fow awhile. Who's was dat yous was drawin?"
"Nobody, just one of tha new Newsies. So what're'ya doin up in Manhattan?"
"Came ta hunt down some poor sucka's wallet dat's ripe faw da pickin"
"Good luck with dat" Jack stood up and looked at the big clock tower. "Ah, jeez ise promised da new kid I would meet him foir launch." Jack ran down the side walk back to the park.
"Water pipe busted! Read all about it!"
"Eh! Crutchie!"
"Heya, Jack! Is it time faw lunch already?"
"Shoiw is! How many you got left ta sell?"
"Only 5!" Crutchie beamed proudly causing Jack's knees to wobble. "Whada bout yous?" Jack dismally looked in his full bag.
"Bout 45..."
"You've only sold 5?! Whadve you been doin all mornin'"
Blush started creeping up Jack's neck as he thought about the drawing he had been working on all morning.
"Ummm...Ise fells asleep." Jack was surprised at how hard he had to work for the lie. He could make up stories on the fly, but something about the way Crutchie was smirking at him jammed his brain signals.
"So what's we doin for lunch?"
"Well, we's is gonna get the best grub in alla Manhattan." Jack turned down the sidewalk and started walking. Once the boys got to Jacobi's, Jack handed Crutchie off to some of the older boys so that he could actually sell his papers. By the time Jack's bag was finally empty, the sun had dipped below the skyline and turned the horizon a deep orange. Jack was so excited to get a painting of the beautiful scene that he didn't even stop inside the lodging house. He ran to the side alley and climbed the fire escape to his roof. He had almost finished when he heard a light clicking coming up the staircase.
"Hiya Jack!"
"Oh, hey Crutchie!"
"What cha doin?" Crutchie walked over to Jack's shoulder.
"Just paintin the sunset" Jack said, leaning back so that Crutchie could see.
"Wow, it's beautiful!"
"Thanks, it reminds me of Santa Fe."
"What's Santa Fe?"
Jack gasped excitedly and started telling magical stories about tough cowboys and rushing rivers. Crutchie listened intently long into the night. The boys talked together on the rooftop long after the night turned frigid so they bundled together in a blanket. Jack continued to weave beautiful pictures with his words until Crutchie's head fell into the crook of Jack's neck. Jack's heart fluttered as Crutchie tried to nuzzle in closer to Jack's warmth. He smiled and slowly nodded off to sleep with his arms around Crutchie, and for the first time, in a long time, Jack slept soundly through the night without any nightmares, because for the first time in as long as he could remember, Jack felt safe; Jack felt loved.
Hi! Thanks for reading all the way through! I hope you enjoyed it. I really liked the idea of First Day but did not enjoy the actual writing so this dramatic shift in writing structure occurred. As always, pretty please tell me what you love and what you hate. Let's see…so if you haven't noticed I'm gonna do like favorites at the end of my stories so like officially it'll be a video and a song! For a video I would say on YouTube Eisenhower Middle School's Five Star Show Choir-I Want You Back. This is my old choir that I now am the assistant student director in training for and they literally just competed like two hours ago and got third. Yay! As a song I am super feeling Honey, I'm Good by Andy Grammar. I'm currently arranging and choreographing this song. Alrighty it is currently 8:15 PM MST so goodnight, good morning, and good everything-in-between!