AN: This is my second entry for the Newsies Pape Selling competition. Inspired by the recent reunion, our prompt was to have the movie-verse characters meet the stage-verse characters, and we had to include a time-hole rip.

Prompt: Your newsies meet in college.

Characters: David/Davey and Crutchy/Crutchie

Dialogue: "This shouldn't be possible."

Disclaimer: I do not own the movie version of Newsies, or the stage version of Newsies, or any other musical or show that I mention or reference in this fanfic.

Chapter One

"Hey, Davey, you okay?"

Davey flinched at the sound of his friend's voice in his ear, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Y-yeah…I'm fine."

Crutchie frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Of course," said Davey, lowering his gaze. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, it's just that you'se been organizing your sock drawer for…'bout an hour or so."

Davey felt his face redden as he hurriedly stuffed his last pair of white socks into the drawer before slamming it shut. He hadn't meant to take so long, but his mind had wandered off without him again, dwelling on all of the things that could possibly go wrong in his current scenario. As per usual.

Besides, how could Davey expect to survive an entire four years of college if he couldn't even manage to maintain a perfectly organized sock drawer? If his socks were all in disarray, well, then soon his whole room would be a mess, and then he wouldn't be able find a pencil to do his homework, and then he'd fall behind in class, and then he'd end up flunking out of school! His entire family would be so disappointed in him—they might even disown him, and then he wouldn't be able to get a good job, and then he'd be stuck living on the streets all by himself, and then one of his former friends might pass by him one day and think, "Oh, poor David Jacobs. He could've amounted to so much more in life if he weren't such a failure."

He would probably die of shame.

"Hello, Davey? Are you there?" Crutchie waved a hand in front of his face to catch his attention. God, he really needed to stop zoning out like that.

"S-sorry," he mumbled, blushing again.

"S'okay." Crutchie smiled at him before motioning towards Davey's bed. "Wanna talk about it?"

Davey hesitated before walking over, taking a seat on the foot of his neatly made bed. Crutchie followed after him.

"Alright, so what's buggin' you?" Crutchie asked, placing a reassuring hand on Davey's shoulder.

"It's—it's stupid. It's just that, well…" Davey's voice trailed off and he sighed. Crutchie looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to finish. "I don't know. I'm just really nervous about starting school here."

Crutchie nodded in understanding. He'd probably known that the whole time. He and Davey had both been accepted into UMTC (the University of Musical Theatre Characters), and it was only natural that his friend would be feeling anxious. Honestly, Davey seemed to feel anxious about nearly everything, but that was just a part of who he was.

Davey continued. "I mean, nobody at school back in New York liked me, so what if no one here does, either? What if they all think there's something wrong with me, or if I can't make any friends? What if I do something to mess everything up and they all end up hating me?"

"Davey," Crutchie laughed, "that's what you're worried about? That the folks here will think you is weird?"

"Well, I-I mean…" Davey shifted uncomfortably.

"We're at a college for musical theatre characters, Dave! Everyone here's weird! Have you met Elphaba Thropp from Wicked, yet? Her skin is green! And then there's Matilda; she's only, like, ten, and is smart enough to move things with her mind! Or what about those guys from West Side Story we saw on the way in, huh? They was beatin' each other up while doin' ballerina moves at the same time!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Davey, laughing at the memory because it had looked pretty silly.

"See? You'll fit right in with these guys in no time." He beamed at the other boy. "In fact, I bet you'll meet somebody who's exactly like you!"

AN: Also, there's a reference to an older fanfic by another author in here. The first person to guess it right gets their own oneshot. :D