Disclaimer: i do not own Newsies. Okay...
"Hey fellas!" Bryan Denton greeted, entering Tibby's to the sounds of the Newsies feasting and jabbering. Greetings of "Denton!" and "Oh hey!" followed him as he patted the backs and shook the hands of the various boys around the floor. Unfolding the newspaper, he plopped it in front of the leader, Jack 'Cowboy' Kelly.
"Big time," he grinned, thumping the picture on top. Jack picked it up as the boys crowded closer.
"Whatcha got there Jack?" asked someone while Spot Conlon leaned against him, inquiring "Where's me pitcha? Where's me pitcha?" Jack waved him off, glancing in slight disbelief at the large portrait of himself and his buddies on the front page of The Sun.
'THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE,
NEWSIES STOP THE WORLD
AND THE JOURNAL'
"What are them woids there? They all about us?" Boots asked pointing to the article. Mush pointed to Jack's face in the picture.
"Hey! Hey look at'cha Jack, you look like a gentleman or something!" Mush jeered as Jack smacked his hand away.
"Will you please get your fingers off my face?" he sneered.
"Well, where does it say my name? Where's my name?" Spot asked, moving closer to the paper.
"Would ya quit thinkin' about yourself?" Jack snapped, trying to read the story.
"You got us on the front page!" David said excitedly as Denton dug into a plate someone had handed him. Denton smiled.
"You got yourselves on the front page. You just gotta make sure you stay there," he said.
"So what?" asked Skittery, "You get your picture in the pape, so what does that get'cha? Huh?" Mush pushed him slightly away from the table.
"Hey, whatcha talkin' about, huh?" the boys crowed their insults at him and Jack glared at him.
"You been in a bad mood all day!" he called over the rising shouts.
"I ain't been in a bad mood-" Skittery defended, before Racetrack interrupted him.
"Hey glum an' dump!" he smacked him in the cheek, "What's the mattah with you? You're in the papes, you're famous! You're famous; you get anythin' you want!" he walked around the table and slammed his palm down, "And that's what's so great about New York!" The boys yelled their agreements as each one of them thought about what they would get if they were "Kings of New York."
"A pair of new shoes with matchin' laces" sighed Mush, sitting in a chair.
"A permanent box at Sheepshead Races," Race whistled.
"A porcelain tub with boilin' water," Spot dreamed, sipping his sarsaparilla lazily.
"A Saturday night with the mayor's daughter!" yelled Kid Blink, standing onto the table. The others laughed and cat called as Race stood on another table opposite Blink and held the paper high over his head.
"Look at me!" he called to his friends, "I'm the king of New York! I'm respectable; starin' right at 'cha and lousy with stature!" The Newsies laughed, not quite sure what stature was but pretty sure it was what fancy pants like Pulitzer had. Jack stood up and swiped the paper from Race and laid down on his own table.
"Nobbin' with all the muckety-mucks, I'm blowin' my dough and goin' deluxe." Race swiped it back, sticking a thumb at his own face in the picture.
"And there I be. Ain't I pretty? It's my city, I'm the king of New York!" Suddenly, all the boys were reaching for the paper and Jack tried to calm them down, hollering for them not to rip it.
"A corduroy suit with fitted knickers." Boots said quietly, shifting his weight in his chair as the boys continued to fight over the paper.
"A mezzanine seat to see the flickers!" Les said, smiling brightly at the thought of him being able to take Davey and Sarah and Cowboy to see the film he'd been wishing to go to.
"Havana cigars that cost a quarter." Snipeshooter breathed out a puff of smoke from the cigar he'd stolen from Racetrack again.
"An editor's desk for the star reporter!" grinned David, catching Blink's eye and kicking a chair to the middle of the restaurant. The boys pushed Denton into it, taking his plate and throwing a table cloth around his shoulders like a cape.
"Tip your hat! He's the king of New York!" the Newsies cheered as the chair was lifted into the air.
"How 'bout that! I'm the king of New York!" Denton laughed, silently wondering where his pie had gone.
"In nothing flat, he'll be covering Brooklyn to Trenton: Our man Denton!" the chair was paraded around the room.
"Makin' a headline out of a hunch!" Blink assured.
"Protecting the weak…" Denton declared, finally back onto the ground.
"… and payin' for lunch!" Race finished, earning a head shake from the reporter. Denton stood and leaned against the table.
"When I'm at bat, strong men crumble!" he boasted.
"Proud yet humble!" Race jabbed, pushing him back down into the chair by the shoulders.
"I'm the king of New York!" Denton defended jokingly.
The boys continued to imagine what would happen now that they were "Kings" and Denton looked around in amazement at the energy they had.
They've been pushed down so many times, but they never give up. Someday, I'll get them what they want. Then they'll really be kings of New York.