Disclaimer: Newsies belongs to Disney. (But they don't deserve it because they pay no attention to it) And I don't own FullMetal Alchemist.
In 1899 the streets of New York City echoed with the voices of Newsies, pedaling the Newspapers of Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, and other giants of the newspaper world. On every corner you saw them carryin' the banner, bringing you the news for a penny a pape. Poor orphans and runaways, the newsies where a ragged army with out a leader, until one day, all that changed…
Seven O'clock. It always starts at seven O'clock. Klopman gets up, gets dressed, and goes upstairs to wake up the boys. They where all boys in this lodging house, not one girl. Sure, there where a few girls out on the streets selling the newspapers, but they where all selling them in a different district. It was like some sort of unwritten law, boy newsies in one house, and girls in another. But sometimes one of the younger newsies would wonder from his usual selling spot and find themselves lost or to far away from the lodging home, so they would stay with the girls, but that was about it.
The closest thing that the boys had to a girl stay at the lodging house was when the Brooklyn spy stayed the night. Even though it wasn't the whole night, it wasn't one that the lodge would soon forget (And not just because it was only last week). She wasn't in the same league as the infamous Spot Colons. She had arrived, saying that she had hung out with a friend from another lodging house, but couldn't make it back home because it was too late. So Jack, being the nice guy that he is, let her stay the night.
Her name was Sneak. And the real reason she was there to spy on Jack was because rumor had it that he had sold at least 250 papers a few days ago. Now, all of the trouble could have been avoided. Is Spot had just gone up and asked Jack himself, but the egotistic leader of Brooklyn had to send his spy in.
She wasn't in the same league as Spot, in terms of strength and the ability to sell newspapers, but she was sneaky (hence the nickname). She was able to spy on almost anyone. Keyword: almost.
She was caught.
Now, Jack doesn't take to kindly to spies. Even if it was only because Spot wanted to know if he had really sold 200 papers. Chaos had quickly spread through the lodging house. Pillows where flung everywhere, water was poured on people heads, and the whole time they never even noticed that Sneak had snuck away in the middle of the war. No one in the lodging house knew how exactly the war started against each other, even though they where supposed to be fighting against the Brooklyn spy. But they knew that it was one of the most fun battles they had had against each other.
The most fun battle, except for Klopman. Because he had come up that night to find the entire room a mess, water everywhere, and bits of pillow stuffing on the floor. He was so mad that he made them stay up almost half the night cleaning up. But they all agreed that it was well worth it.
It was seven thirty now, time to wake up the boys. They would hopefully wake up the ones outside and get a move on. Step by step he walked up until he could hear the snoring of the boys. He walked into the room to first see Boots, one of the few African American newsies. He was wearing his hat while he slept, which was probably a dare from one of the older newsies. He was also snapping in his sleep. A strange trait, Klopman had always thought. Klopman shook his head and walked toward another bunk bed.
"Boots!" he yelled. The newsie woke with a start, saw it was Klopman and leans his head back down, not wanting to wake up yet. A few other boys also woke up and groaned. Klopman was quite loud when he woke people up. Klopman went to another bunk bed.
"Skittery, Skittery. Skittery!" he slapped another boys foot. The boy shot strait up.
"I didn't do it!" he cried, fearing he had been accused of stealing another person's wallet.
"What do you mean you didn't do it? Get up! When you get up you have to get up! Snitch Get up!" a tall boy sucking his thumb opened his eyes slightly to give an annoyed look to the old man who was making suck a racket this early in the morning.
A little more yelling and Klopman got to the boy who was the presumed leader of the lodging house. Jack Kelly himself. Of course, Klopman did not care for the titles that the kids gave to one another, so he woke him up.
"Hey Cowboy," he jabbed the seventeen year old in the back with two of his wrinkled fingers. "You dreamin' 'bout sellin' papers?"
Jack mumbled and rolled onto his back looking at Klopman. "Don't wanna. What's the matter with you?" he mumbled.
"What's the matter with me?"
"What's the matter with you? Go away."
Klopman poked Jack again, and again until he was sure Jack would be able to get up by himself.
"Hey! What's the matter with you?" Jack laughed. Klopman's poking was tickling him slightly. "Get away from me. You're mad!"
"Get up!" was Klopman's final order before going to wake up some of the more stubborn boys.
A small Italian boy that goes by the name of Racetrack was already sitting up in his bed. He had always been an early riser. Because in the morning where when all the good races where, and he needed to get his papes so he could get to the tracks as soon as possible. He stretched and grabbed a tin can on the small table that was sitting next to him. Empty. That wasn't right. He was sure that he had put a cigar in that tin last night he looked around a bit then looked at the boy in the bunk across from him, he was holding his cigar in his mouth! He had stolen that cigar fair and square!
"That's my cigar." He said (sang) to the smaller news boy, Snipeshooter.
The boy just gave him a blank stare. "You'll steal another."
That little attitude made Race grab back his cigar, and give little Snipeshooter a smack on the forehead. He would have soaked him had it not been for a boy with an eye patch (Kid Blink) jumping down from the top bunk and putting his arms around them.
"Hey fella's we got work ta do." He said to them and started walking towards the wash room.
A boy with glasses named Specs smirked and asked, "Since when did you become me mother?" and laughed.
A boy with a crutch (Crutchy) limped over. "Aw, stop your bawling."
"Who asked you?" yelled Specs and Blink in unison.
A darker skinned boy who goes by Mush, walked over to the leader.
"So how'd ya sleep, Jack?" he asked.
"On me back, Mush." came the smart ass reply.
Mush burst out laughing, more than necessary for the somewhat lame joke.
"Ya hear that fellas? Ya hear what Jack said? I asked Jack how he slept and he said 'On me back, Mush!'" and still laughing he hurried to the wash room to prepare for the day. Just after Mush left, Crutchy walked up to Jack.
"Hey Jack, when I walk, does it look like I'm fakin' it?" he asked.
"No." replied Jack, putting an arm around his crippled friend. "Who said you're faking it?"
"I dunno." sighed Crutchy, "It's just that, with so many fake crips on the street today, a real crip ain't got a chance! I gotta find a new sellin' spot where they ain't used to seein' me."
A few newsies who over heard the conversation, started saying suggestions for their friend. They all finished getting dressed and washed and headed out. After getting the small bit of bread and water from the nuns, the headed over toward the world building, chatting away at the lousy headlines and the life of being a newsie in general.
When they arrived at the world building the gates where still locked saying that they where early. Out of nowhere, two brothers pushed their way to the front of the gates. Their names where Oscar and Morris Delancy.
"Dear me!" said Race sniffing the air, "What is the unpleasant aroma? I fear the sewer may have backed up during the night." Everyone laughed except for the two brothers. They slunk over to a younger newsie near the front of the line and pushed him down.
"In the back you lousy little shrimp."
A boy that no one had seen before was standing next to the fallen boy (whose name was Snipeshooter). He had not been paying attention to what had been happening around him so he instinctively thought that Oscar had been talking to him. This turned out to be either good or bad, depending how you looked at it.
"Who're you calling a pipsqueak midget?!" yelled the newcomer, while slugging him in the face. Oscar fell back holding his nose.
"Wh-what?" he stammered and stood back up. "What the hell?! I wasn't even talking to you! Who the heck do you think you are?!"
Hearing that the name calling had not been directed at him, he calmed down and realized what he was doing.
"My name's Elric." He said. "Edward Elric."
A/N: Took me a while to write this. Pairings: EdxWinry and JackxSarah. I need nicknames for Ed, Al, and Winry.
Please review.