Author's Note: Hello! I've officially decided to start a collection of Newsies one-shots, and I'm super excited! It'll mostly be brotherly fluff between the Newsies, because that's what I'm best at writing. I am very welcome to prompts! Please leave your ideas and suggestions in the reviews! I'll take suggestions that are both Canon era or an AU.(Also, if you have a better title for this collection, that'd be nice!) I'm going to try and keep these one-shots somewhere between K-K+. Probably, the worst that will happen are mentions of the Refuge and people getting "soaked."
This story is the first time I've written a modern AU for Newsies, so let's see how that goes!
Well, that's all I've got to say! Thank you so much for reading, and if you like it, please leave a review! I hope you enjoy!
"Hey, Dave!"
Jack ran up to Davey as he spotted him leaving the school. Davey had a stressed expression, but Jack didn't make anything of it, since Davey wore that expression a lot. "You busy tonight?" Jack asked.
Davey sighed and nodded.
Jack frowned. "Huh. That's a first. Davey Jacobs is out on a Friday night, and I ain't!"
"I don't think you could say I'm 'out,'" Davey replied with a slight smile. "I've got a surprise orchestra rehearsal tonight."
"Aw, no wild parties?" Jack chuckled, nudging his friend.
Davey shook his head and sighed again. "But, it's the worst timing for a last minute rehearsal. My parents are out of town, and Sarah's got some sleep over, so what am I supposed to do with Les? Bring him with me?" Davey rolled his eyes and added, "Yeah, that'd go over well."
"Dave, you're clearly missin' the obvious solution," Jack responded.
"What's that?" Davey asked.
Jack scoffed and pointed at himself. "Hello? I'm free tonight, Crutchie's free tonight, and I think Race is, too. I bet some of the other guys are, too."
Davey's eyes widened. "Oh no. No way."
"Oh yes," Jack smirked. "Yes way. A night with the Newsies!"
Davey shook his head. "No. I don't think you guys should be trusted with children. Especially Race."
"Hey, there's no one better to trust with children!" Jack argued. "We have the same maturity level!"
"My point exactly," Davey crossed his arms. "I'll just find a sitter nearby."
"Oh, come on, Dave!" Jack whined. "Look, who do ya trust more? Some fourteen year old girl found on the Internet just tryin' to make an allowance off of you, or a band, no, an army of men to protect your brother?!"
"Since when were you guys an army?" Davey laughed. "Or men?"
"We're an army of babysitting, newspaper-selling men, David," Jack said in an official voice.
Davey shook his head. "No. There's no way on Earth I'm trusting you guys with Les."
"I can't believe I'm trusting you guys with Les," Davey sighed, looking at the room filled with his friends and Les.
"I sure can!" Jack grinned, putting his hands on his hips. "This night's gonna be fantastic, I can feel it." Then, he knelt down to Les' level and said, "Hey, what do you think, buddy? Is this gonna be awesome or what?"
"Yeah!" Les nodded enthusiastically, practically bouncing.
"See how happy he is?" Jack said, turning his head towards Davey. "This is not a mistake."
"Yeah, we'll see whether this is a mistake or not later," Davey said.
"Oh, you don't need to worry about nothin', Jacobs," Race interjected. "It's not like we'll be teachin' him to gamble with real money!"
"No!" Davey snapped. "No gambling!" He sighed for what had to be the 20th time that day and said, "Okay, let's set some ground rules. First of all, no gambling. Second off, no sugar."
"Aww, what?!" Les exclaimed.
Jack nudged Les and winked.
"I saw that, Kelly," Davey said, pointing at him.
"Saw what?" Jack smirked.
"You know what," Davey frowned.
"Hey, no sugar for this kid," Jack said, patting Les on the back. "No, sir. We'll give him all sorts of healthy junk."
"Like kale!" Romeo suggested.
"Yeah, kale!" Jack agreed. "All sorts of green stuff that you can only get at organic hipster stores."
"Hey Jack," Crutchie called, holding a Ziploc bag. "Where should I put the bag of pixie sticks?"
"Jack," Davey warned.
"Hey, that's for us, not Les!" Jack said, winking at Les again.
Davey clenched his jaw. "Moving on, no leaving the house. I don't want to come home to a note that says you guys have all splurged on a night at Blazer Tag."
"Oh, don't worry," Jack said. "If we're splurgin' anywhere, it's at Dave and Buster's."
Davey glared at Jack.
"Jack's just jokin', Davey," Crutchie assured. "Trust us, Les is in good hands."
Davey took in a breath. "Okay. I think I'll trust you. But, hey, if something goes wrong-"
"Nothing will go wrong!" Jack laughed. "Now, you're gonna be late!"
Romeo ran up and swung open the front door for Davey.
Davey backed out slowly. "Alright. Bye." As Romeo closed the door, Davey called, "But, hey, text me with updates!"
Jack clapped his hands together and turned to Les. "Okay, what've we got to work with here, bud? Got any movies? Toys?"
"Well, we've got this huge collection of Disney movies," Les said. "I've got cards, chess, Monopoly-"
"Oh, I'm boss at Monopoly!" Race shouted, jumping on a chair.
"Yeah, you'se never played against me," Romeo smirked.
Les scrunched up his nose, a sly smile appearing on his face. "We could play Monopoly, but you know what else I got?"
"What's that?" Crutchie asked.
Les locked eyes with him, his grin widening. "I've got Nerf guns."
It was 9:00 pm, and Davey was just getting home. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and walked up to the door. Then, he paused and took a breath in, bracing himself for what he may see inside. Slowly, and carefully, he opened the door.
"Halt your fire!" A voice shouted. "Davey's back!"
Davey stared in shock. The room had been divided into two sections, each with a tall pile of furniture and pillows. He spotted Crutchie's crutch in one pile. He walked up to it and asked, "Crutchie? What is this? And why don't you have your crutch?"
"Come back here!" Crutchie hissed.
Davey walked around the pile of chairs, pillows, and Crutchie's crutch and saw Crutchie, Jack, Specs, Mush, Buttons, and Jojo in a huddle, each holding a Nerf gun and they had black battle lines painted on their cheeks in what looked like mascara. "When did these guys get here?" Davey asked, sounding exasperated.
"They came to support us in the war!" Jack said triumphantly.
"And, I donated my crutch to the barricade," Crutchie answered proudly. "It's for a greater cause!"
"What war?!" Davey exclaimed. He motioned towards the barricade and asked, "What is this, Les Mis? And, how are you supposed to walk, Crutchie?"
"I don't need to walk!" Crutchie cried. "I'm a stationary warrior, Davey!"
The other guys cheered and wooped when he said this. Jack put his hand on Crutchie's shoulder and solemnly said, "You're a brave soul, Crutchie."
Davey put his head in his hands. "What is happening? And, most importantly, where's Les?"
"Les is in enemy territory," Jack said, shaking his head. "Because, SOMEONE just had to put him on their team!"
"HA!" Race shouted from the other end of the room.
"What's going on?" Davey moaned.
"NERF WAR!" The boys shouted.
"Okay, so there's two teams," Jack said, motioning for Jack to sit down with them. "Me and Race are team captains. Race's team-"
Jack was interrupted by jeering from his teammates. He laughed and continued, "Which is clearly the losing team!"
Now, he was interrupted by jeering from Race's team, and cheering from his own. With another laugh, Jack said, "Race's team has got Race, Les, Romeo, Smalls, Sniper, Albert, Henry, and Finch, and the best team-"
He was cut off once more by various cheers and boos. Over the noise, Jack finished, "Has got the rest of us. The winning team gets the bag of pixie sticks."
Jojo was counting on his fingers when he suddenly looked up, apparently troubled. "Wait, Jack, we's outnumbered!" He exclaimed.
"What?!" Jack cried. "No, that ain't right! We's equal, right?!"
"No, they's got one more than us!" Jojo frowned.
Jack did a quick, silent count of heads and frowned. "Oh no, you're right." Then, he turned towards Davey and grinned. He quietly started to chant, "One of us! One of us!"
Crutchie joined him, and soon the whole team was loudly chanting, "One of us! One of us! One of us!"
"No!" Les shouted, running out from behind his team's barricade and towards them. "You can't take my brother!"
"Hey, no enemies on our territory, little guy!" Mush said, pointing at Les.
"It's only fair for us to have Davey!" Specs pointed out.
Les crossed his arms and shook his head. "You'll pay for this!" He exclaimed with a grin, and he ran back to his side.
"What do ya say, Dave?" Jack asked. "You in?"
There was an expectant silence as they all stared at him, waiting.
Davey laughed. "Oh, why not!"
"Yeah!" The boys all cheered.
"Buttons!" Jack cried, putting his hand out. "The battle paint!"
Buttons nodded and dropped what was indeed mascara in Jack's hand.
As Jack painted two black lines on Davey's cheeks, Davey asked, "Is this Sarah's?"
"Yeah," Jack answered casually. "Do you think she'll mind?"
Davey rolled his eyes and chuckled. "We'll see!"
Jack put the cap back on the mascara and stood up. "Okay!" He shouted. "Let's make this a fair game! No misconduct! Now, who's ready?!"
Everyone cheered and cried, "Nerfsies forever, second to none!"
"Yeah, that's what I thought!" Jack grinned. "Okay. Ready? Aim? FIRE!"
Chaos broke out. All the boys emerged from behind their barricades, shouting battle cries and shooting everywhere.
"I am the goddess of destruction!' Sniper cried, shooting at Mush.
"Oh, bring it on!" Mush laughed, shooting back at her.
Romeo came out from behind his team's barricade, waving a red blanket in the air and singing, "Do you hear the Newsies sing?"
"Ahh!" Jack shouted dramatically, falling down. All of his teammates quickly gathered around him.
"I've been shot!" Jack declared, pulling a foam bullet off his chest. He sighed. "Avenge me, boys. Avenge me!"
Race ran over, and quickly fell down, too. "No! Both team captains are down!" He angrily pulled a foam bullet off his ankle.
Crutchie peeked out from behind his place at the barricade where he had his gun poking out from between two chairs. "The stationary warrior stikes again!" He laughed. "Vengeance has been received!"
The fighting continued for a while, until an hour had passed, and a winner still hadn't been declared. Eventually, they decided to call it a tie and, after taking down the barricades, they all settled on the couch and plugged in a Disney movie, eating pixie sticks and popcorn. One by one, the boys (and two girls) left until it was just Davey, Les and Jack. Les had fallen asleep on Jack's shoulder, holding a pixie stick wrapper and a handful of popcorn.
Jack chuckled. "We sure wore him out." Then, he sighed and said tiredly, "Well, I should probably be hittin' the road."
"Well, Jack, you could spend the night here, if you want," Davey suggested. "If you don't mind sleeping on the couch, that is."
"Nah, that's alright," Jack responded sleepily, waving his hand. "I don't wanna trouble you."
"It's the least I could do after all your help tonight," Davey countered. "Thank you for that. Les really had a good time. I was wrong. You are good with kids."
Davey awaited a response until he looked over and saw that Jack had dozed off. Davey smirked and tossed a blanket over him and Les. As he left the room, he looked back at them and chuckled, "Good night, Nerfsies."
