Number One
"Dave, come look at the stars."
"Jack, come back inside. It's freezing out there."
"It was colder this morning, and there wasn't even anything pretty ta look at then!"
"Fine, but only for a quick look."
"Where do stars come from?"
"Sorry Jacky, but I think you'll have to ask Sarah about that."
"All Sarah talks about is the moon. Her facts ain't worth two beans."
"It's interesting though. Did you know about the moon hoax that happened a couple years back?"
"Hoax? Like, pullin' someone's leg? With the moon?"
"Yeah! It was a really interesting event. People said that there was life on the moon, but Sarah says that the moon is just a barren wasteland."
"Nah. Nothin' that pretty could eva be that empty"
"And that is what Sarah says is wrong with you."
"Sarah says lotsa things about me. I've learned ta just let her talk."
"But you should listen to her for a change. She says that you're a romantic idiot, and I think that it's true. You keep on flirting with random girls when all I want is for you to — "
"Maybe you should try it before you knock it, Davey."
"Nah, I, uh, already like somebody."
"Ooh, does Davey have someone he's sweet on?"
"Well, um, I don't think they like me if it...if it makes you feel better."
"Aww Dave. Any guy as good lookin' as you could land a goil any day!"
"Uh...yeah. Well, then I guess you'd want my looks, seeing as Katherine and Sarah aren't sweet on you anymore."
"Shucks Dave, you sure know how to make a guy swoon."
"Hopefully you'll swoon off the roof."
"Anywhere I go, I'm taking you with me. Can't be without my Walking Mouth!"
"Yeah 'cause who's gonna give you all of your ideas?"
"I've got all the ideas I need! You's just here to tell which one's are stupid."
"I'm the one with common sense in this relationship."
"Take a boy out to dinner before you commit me ta anything, Dave."
"You've had dinner at our house. Speaking of which…"
"Mama Jacobs's famous stew?"
"You're not even married to Sarah and you're calling Mama 'Mama Jacobs'."
"Maybe it's not Sarah I'm after."
"Then who in our family are you sweet on? Les? ...I'm joking."
"Your mother does know how ta make a hot meal on a cold day…"
"Don't joke with me, Jacky. I know it's not Mama you're after, she's too old for you."
"Mmm. Then I guess we'll never really know, huh?"
"If you marry Sarah then I'll never forgive you."
"Well then I'll just have to marry someone else, won't I?"
"Who're you planning on marrying?"
"Someone I love. Or someone who can cook, it doesn't matter ta me."
"No, I meant a person, Jack."
"That is a person! I'm not gonna fall in love with a toad!"
"Give me a name."
"Jack Kelly."
"For who you wanna marry."
"Dave, you always gotta be givin' me all these questions. Can't we just look at the stars in peace?"
"Davey, Jack, mama says you gotta go sleep."
"See Dave. Now we gotta go back inside and our romantic little setup is ruined."
"Are you gonna stay the night?"
"Anything for you, Davey."
Number Two
"Jack, you and me are going to go to Tibby's today."
"As long as you're buyin?"
"No, we're both paying."
"We sold enough papes today to feed all the boys!"
"Mostly 'cause you're a natural at this thing."
"Couldn't do anythin' without my partner in crime."
"Uh-huh. So are you comin'?"
"Always."
"Alright. What are you planning on eating? Do you want to share?"
"Split a sandwich? There's this new one Race was talking about, but I'm pretty sure he couldn't afford the food that came outta these trash barrels."
"He gambles it all away anyways."
"Them cigars ain't doin' him any favors either."
"Yeah, true. Are you gonna give me a name for who you want to marry now?"
"Aww Dave. Way to ruin the mood."
"I'm curious, okay?"
"I just have a feeling you won't like the answer. Can we drop the third degree?"
"If you spill, I'll name who I'm sweet on."
"I'm not the gambling type, Davey."
"How is this gambling?"
"Betting. Whateva. Either way, I don't like the odds."
"Fine. Are you going to stay the night again?"
"Anywhere you are."
"You've been staying at our house often. Are you sure you aren't sweet on Sarah?"
"Even if I did, she's too googly-eyed whenever Kath walks by. She'd never like me, and you know it Davey Jacobs."
"What, are you suggesting that she go marry Katherine?"
"Would you have a problem with it?"
"Would you?"
"How could I be anything but happy for them?"
"And if...if, hypothetically, of course, if Spot and Race..?"
"If hypothetically means what I think it does, then duh. But, I don't they's quite hypothetical."
"They're probably going to get killed."
"Love is worth it."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Never in my life have I been more sure. Even if it get's me killed- Crap, Dave, I meant them. Sorry."
"What, are you sweet on a man?"
"You gotta problem?"
"No, you're my b - friend. Yeah, we're friends."
"Okay, Dave. We're here."
Number Three
"How'd you like the show?"
"Good, though I couldn't really focus."
"Why? The girls looked nice tonight."
"I was, um, too busy thinking."
"You think too much."
"And the girls – I thought you were sweet on some guy?"
"That was a slip of the tongue. I was talking about Spot and Race."
"Oh. Listen, Jack, are you really, uh, okay with that sorta thing?"
"Yeah."
"How okay?"
"I'm fine, Dave. What about you? What about the girl you're hooked on?"
"How are you?"
"I just answered you. Why don't you answer me?"
"I just – answer the question."
"I'm fine, David."
"She's fine, Jack."
"Sometimes it's better not to know things, ya know?"
"What?"
"If I tell ya, things won't as good as they are. Let ya life have a little mystery."
"No, it's better if I know what's going on. More specifically, who you want to marry."
"Davey, I could never tell hi- her, and I won't tell you either."
"Was that a slip of the tongue again?"
"Was that another question?"
"Yeah, and your answer?"
"Fine. It was a slip of the tongue. Ya happy?"
"Is her name...Hilary?"
"Uh… no. I'm telling ya, Dave. You'll hate the answer."
"I think I would love the answer, actually."
"It's not important. If I's thought there was a shot in hell, I would tell you. But I know how'd it go."
"Then tell me. You've got a shot."
"Maybe later. Look! There's Medda, let's go tell her how the show went."
Number Four
"Jack, now isn't the time, sorry. I gotta do some homework, it's all due tomorrow – "
"I brought cookies from Jacobi's…"
"Just...be quiet, okay?"
"So I can come in, right?"
"Yeah, come in."
"What kind of homework is it?"
"My least favorite: science."
"Mmm. Skip the school work and teach me something instead."
"Like..?"
"Whatever you want. Lay it on me."
"Here."
"Oohf… Dave, how could you possibly understand any of this?"
"I'm not that good at it. I'm a lot better at other things."
"Show me something you're good at."
"...There, there's something I'm good at."
"Hugging? Is that what they's teachin' in those schools nowadays?"
"Oh. You meant school related stuff."
"You can teach me anythin' you'd like."
"Anything I'd like?"
"Teach me somethin', Davey."
"I've already taught you something, though, and it was that I'm good at touching you."
"Hugging can barely count. I know how to hug. I hug everyone. I want to learn something new."
"And that new thing is..? I need an example."
"You's the educated man! Surely you know somethin' I don't."
"Book smarts aren't everything, Jacky. You're really street smart, plus you're so charming, and I'm just your schoolboy sidekick."
"Charming, eh? Well that's something you can teach me."
"No, that's something you should teach me. I'm not the boy who's managed to get two girls and my– sorry, I'm not thinking."
"My what?"
"My nothing. It's just – I didn't mean to say that."
"Now here's somethin' I can't learn from you. How to lie. Tell me, Dave, tell me!"
"Jack, I'll tell you later."
"You're still an awful liar, but an awful liar I respect. Now. Tell me more about this 'science.'"
Plus One
"You never told me where stars come from."
"I don't know, but the Greeks said that the gods put stars up there to make amends to certain people or animals."
"Where do you think our star is?"
"It's southwest, I think."
"How'd we earn it? What'd we do?"
"Well, it's not exactly ours, but I think it fits."
"Tell me their story then, Dave."
"Okay. Well, one day, there was new newsboy, Davey. He was lost on the streets, trying to figure out a good place to start selling is papes when he accidentally stumbled upon a boy selling faster than Davey could blink. Then, he realized. This was the mighty Jack Kelly! Best Newsie Manhattan had ever seen! So Davey turned away, realizing that Jack would never sell with him. However, Jack watched him turn around and called after him, seeing that Davey could be a great Newsie someday, like him. So everyday, they would sell together and talk about how lucky they were to have one another. However, one day the evil Delancey brothers saw how well they were both doing, and grew angry. So they told Jack that a newsie was thinking about becoming a scabber, and Jack was in a rage! He grabbed his slingshot and followed the brothers, where they led him to scene that looked like a newsboy making a deal with the scabbers, but Davey was actually being threatened by them. Jack hurriedly shot stones at the newsie, and the scabbers and the Delanceys ran away, leaving Jack alone with the body of his once beloved partner. Jack, realizing that it was beyond hope for Davey, placed a gentle kiss to his lips and hung him in the stars for all of eternity."
"Oh."
"Yeah. I – I'm really sorry, it's just that I really like you and it's just gotten out of control and I keep on thinking about what it'd be like to kiss you. I'm sorry, I'm just – I'm really creepy, aren't I?"
"Oh."
"If you want, I can just stop talking and we can pretend that this never happened. Or you can go and leave; I won't judge you, really, it's not normal for a boy to have feelings for a boy."
"Davey… Jus… Stop talkin' for a minute."
"I'll go inside, then…"
"David."
Davey paused on his way to the door. Jack turned around and caught his wrist, sliding his fingers down to his palm. He opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it once he remembered what Jack had said. Pulling him in by the hand, Jack rest his forehead against Davey's and looked him straight in the eye. "Is..is the minute over yet?" Davey whispered.
"You talk too much." Jack murmured, pushing forward and brushed his lips against Davey's. Davey stumbled back, cheeks scalding.
"I don't understand, Jack."
"The only thing I understand in that I'm in love with you, Davey."
"I thought – I thought you liked girls?"
"I might like girls, but I like you a whole lot more."
"And you're in love with me," Davey said.
"So in love I might just die if you don't kiss me right now, Davey Jacobs." Jack smiled as he pulled at Davey's tie to get him to come closer.
Davey took a deep breath and put his hands on Jack's waist. "My parents," he began.
"Love you, and will understand." Jack finished, putting his hands on Davey's shoulders, leaning in closer.
He pressed his lips together in a thin line, then after some thought, kissed Jack with too much force. Jack tangled his fingers in Davey's hair, causing Davey to whimper beautifully and squeeze his waist. Jack could smell the newspaper ink and vanilla that was so very Davey, and he could feel every nerve in his body light on fire.
"I love you, Davey Jacobs. More than the law worries me, more than Race loves gambling, more than you Sarah loves facts about the moon, more than you hate science. I love you to the stars and back."
Davey laughed. "You sap," he said. "Are you sure that isn't Shakespeare or something?"
Jack grinned, humming into a soft patch of skin just above Davey's collarbone. "Words directly from that one book ya always gotta read for english… Which one was that one again?"
He bit his lip but managed to keep a steady voice, "Love's Labour Lost."
"Maybe. Or maybe I thought of it myself."
"Wow, you're so smart."
"Not as smart as you."
"I have an unfair advantage, though, I'm just a school boy."
"Maybe you could teach me a thing or two."
"What else do you want to learn?"
"Just exactly how talented that mouth of yours is."
hi everyone! just a quick note saying that this was actually cowritten! my friend cathy, newyorksgotus on tumblr wrote for davey and i wrote for jack. make sure you go follow her, and she also has some amazing art too! (wouldn't hurt to follow me, too. deafwestnewsies on tumblr. #shamelessselfpromo)
