I do not own Newsies, or any of the Newsies characters. To the best of my knowledge they are owned by Disney.

I do not own the character Saiorse "Irish" Callan. She is owned by her creator Lady of Tir Na Nog who has graciously offered the use of "Irish" as a character in this story.

I am making no money from this story. I seriously doubt the sanity of anyone who would pay money to read anything I have written.

A/N:

The improved grammar and spelling in this work are courtesy of SakiSaki. When she found out that I have Dyslexia and have difficulty proofing my own work, she graciously offered to beta-read. SakiSaki didn't merely correct these mistakes. She has explained what I am doing wrong, so I can better understand and hopefully recognize these mistakes for myself.

Please note that this isn't a shout-out. As we all know, they are no longer permitted. (And we would never do anything against the rules . . . cough, cough.) This is giving credit for work well done.

Rated M for Slash, Sexual Situations, and Language.

Chapter 10 - Truth and Consequence

Chris sat waiting for his mother to return from her business trip. When he heard her car pull into the driveway, Chris thought he was going to be sick.

He watched uncomfortably as his mother lit a cigarette and sorted through the mail.

"It's now or never," Chris thought as he took a deep breath and began to speak.

"Mom, I know that you must be tired from your trip and all, but I need to speak with you about something."

"Its okay honey. What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, I've been thinking a lot about who I am and how I want to live my life."

"Oh Chris, this is wonderful. You've finally made some decisions about college. What schools do you have in mind?"

"No, Mom, this isn't about college. I'm talking about me. Who I am, and what I am."

"Okay, Chris. Go on."

"Well, you know how I used to bring home a lot of different girls, and lately I haven't brought anyone home? Well, I have been seeing someone, but we've been keeping it kind of quiet. I wasn't sure just how to tell you."

The color drained from Mrs. Hunters face. "Christopher Hunter! Please don't tell me you did something stupid like get some girl pregnant?"

Chris's started to laugh. For a moment the thought of Tony being pregnant flashed through his mind. Chris could picture him wearing a maternity top and sitting with his swollen feet up on a chair. The thought of Tony fanning himself with one hand and waving around a pickle on a fork with the other was quite amusing.

"No, Mother, I didn't get anyone pregnant!"

"Then why would you want to keep this girl a secret from me? She's not some sort of a minority is she?"

"What do you mean some sort of a minority?"

"You know very well what I mean, Christopher. I have seen your friends you know. What about that Michael Meyers. The boy with all that kinky hair and no father."

"Way to stereotype, Mom. Mush had a father. He died when Mush was three. Mr. Meyers worked with Tony's dad over at the newspaper plant."

"Please, Chris. Don't even get me started on that Higgins family."

"What do you have against Racetrack's family?"

"They are foreigners you know."

"You mean as apposed to us? What are we, Native Americans or something? I guess that's where all this blond hair and the blue eyes came from. I suppose that our family was waiting on the shore when Christopher Colombus arrived?"

"Don't be flip, Christopher. You know those foreigners only come to this country to take away our jobs. They make all the money they can here, then go back to their own countries and live like royalty."

"This is their country, Mother. Mr. and Mrs. Higgins are Americans. They're naturalized citizens. As a matter of fact, they met in citizenship class while they were studying to become Americans."

"That's another thing. Those two aren't even from the same country. He's Irish and she's Italian. I don't know how those half-breed children of theirs ever learned to speak English between his accent and hers!"

Chris leaped out of his chair. "Don't you ever call Racetrack a half-breed! EVER!"

"Christopher Donald Hunter! Don't you dare use that tone with me!"

"Well, Mom. You'd better get used to Racetrack and his family because you're going to be seeing a lot of them. You know that girl you were so afraid I got pregnant? Well, it isn't a girl. It's Tony!"

For a few seconds, Chris was distracted by his own words. Did I just tell my mother that I got Race pregnant?

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Brace yourself, Mom. I'm gay, and Racetrack is my boyfriend!"

"That's not funny, Chris. Just because I don't like your friends and their questionable families is no reason to try and upset me."

"Upset you? Well, then you'd better go take some of that Valium you're so fond of because it's true. Your son is gay! I am a card carrying, died in the wool, honest to goodness homosexual! I like boys. I like one boy in particular. His name is Racetrack Higgins. And if I had my way, those foreigners and their half-breed son would someday be your in-laws!"

Mrs. Hunter was filled with rage and slapped Chris across the face.

The shock of the blow stunned Chris for only a moment. "It didn't work, Mom," he mocked. "You can't slap this out of me."

"That's it!" she shouted. "I forbid you to see any of those degenerates again. You'll be lucky if I let you leave this house before you are thirty!"

"What do your mean, "degenerates"?"

"First you bring home those two fairies Decks and Scutchy-"

"Their names are Specs and Dutchy, Mom."

"I don't care what their names are! You were normal before you started hanging around with them . . . Chris, did they do something to you? Did you let them touch you?"

"My god, Mom. Are you insane? Nobody did anything to me. I'm gay. Nobody made me this way, and locking me in my room isn't going to change that!"

"This is all your father's fault."

"Damn-it, Mom. First it was my friends' fault, and now it's Dad's fault. Can't you get it through your head that it's nobody's fault? This is just the way things are."

"If you had a good male influence around, you wouldn't be acting this way. Your father is a degenerate, and he passed it along to you. If he didn't parade all those whores around in front of you, then maybe you would know what a healthy sexual relationship is."

"Well, maybe if you'd had a healthy sexual relationship, Dad wouldn't have turned to all of those whores!"

The second he said it Chris knew that he'd crossed the line. Chris' mother did have issues. That was abundantly clear. But Chris' father was a bastard, and there was nothing she could have done to change that.

Mrs. Hunter hit Chris across the mouth with the back of her hand, splitting his lip and sending him crashing into the china cabinet. When his back hit the door, a shower of glass came crashing down around him.

Mrs. Hunter's knees went weak at seeing her son showered in glass.

"What's the matter, Mom? Didn't you and Dad hurt me enough the first time? Are you trying to finish me off now?"

Chris ran down the stairs, and out the front door. He needed to be with Tony now more than ever.

As always, Tony's friends were at the Higgins home.

"So, Jack. Your mom wasn't upset when you told her about you and Davey?" Irish asked.

"Nah. She seemed kind of happy about it. She said that Dave is a good influence on me. But then it got kind of creepy when she started giving me the sex talk. Although she definitely thinks it's a plus that I'm not going to get Dave pregnant!"

"That's disgusting," David cringed.

"Yeah. That's what I thought," Jack replied. "My skin hasn't stopped crawling yet!"

"Well, I told my parents about abut Blink and me," Tony said. "And as usual my father already knew. I think that man's got E.S.P. or something."

"That's not it," said Irish. " It's just that the two of you are so damn obvious!"

"Well, we're not the only ones," Tony laughed. "Dad said that he'd had suspicions about Jack and Dave too. He said that he's thinking about having the town's water supply tested because there seems to be an awful lot of us around here . . . You do know that he was only kidding, right guys?"

"Duh!" Spot replied.

Mush shoved Spot off the arm of the couch and took his place. "Yeah," Mush said as he and Spot wrestled for possession of the seat. "But think about it you guys. There does seem to be an awful lot of gay guys around here."

"My dad says that it only seems like that because we're all friends and we hang around together. I read somewhere that one out of every ten guys is gay. When you figure that there are about 245 guys at Pulitzer, then theoretically there should be 241/2 gay guys at our school. There are probably a lot more of us than we think."

"Hey, Race," Jack mused. "You said there should be 241/2 of us right? Well, don't you ever wonder who the other half a guy is."

A collective "Shut up Jack!" sounded from around the room.

"It's not as though we are all gay," said Irish. "Look at Mush, Itey, Reggie, and me. We're not gay."

"Neither am I," said Spot. "I'm bi!"

"Hey, Race. If Spot is bi, does that make him the half'a gay guy in that statistic of yours?" Jack laughed.

Spot lunged and got Jack in a headlock. "What it means is dat I'm an individual. Not a freakin' follower like you, Jackie-boy."

"You're just greedy," Jack replied. "You want to eat off of everybody's plate!"

"Well, why should anyone be deprived of the glory that is me!" Spot proclaimed.

"Bite me!" Jack grumbled.

"You wish!" Spot laughed.

"Come on Mushie-boy," Spot said as he dragged Mush off of the couch. "I need to have a smoke, and you can keep me company."

"That's a disgusting habit," Mush said as he and Spot headed up the stairs. "You should really think about giving it up."

"Bite me, muscle-boy!" Spot grumbled.

"You wish, skinny!" Mush replied.

Mr. and Mrs. Higgins were in the kitchen having their tea when Chris came to the door. His complexion was gray, and he was shaking all over. His lip was split, and he had some bloody scratches from the broken glass.

"My god, Christopher. What happened to you?" Mrs. Higgins gasped as she checked out his face.

Chris didn't answer right away. He wasn't of sure where to begin.

"Anthony!" Mr. Higgins called. "We need you to come up here right away!"

"Oh Crap!" said Tony. "He called me Anthony, and that's never a good sign"

Mrs. Higgins grabbed a washcloth and was cleaning Chris's lip and scratches when Tony reached the kitchen.

"Blink! What the fuck happened? Are you all right?"

"Dam, Race, it was just awful. I tried to explain but she wouldn't listen. She said that I was a degenerate and that she was going to lock me away until I was thirty. She made cracks about Mush's hair, and Dad's girlfriends and Decks and Scutchy and . . ."

"Slow down, Blink," Tony urged. "You're not making any sense."

"She called you a half-breed, Race. It was awful."

"Okay Gabby," Mr. Higgins said gently. "Calm down and start at the beginning."

Chris held onto Tony's hand and tried his best to remain calm. He told them everything that happened.

Tony's friends crept up the stairs, trying to hear what was going on. By the time Chris had finished, they were all huddled in the doorway, jockeying for position.

Spot and Mush were still sitting outside when Mrs. Hunter pulled into the driveway and came to a screeching halt. She banged on the front door until Mr. Higgins let her in.

Spot and Mush followed her inside.

"Christopher, get in the car right now!" she demanded.

"No. I'm not going with you!"

"Christopher, get in the damn car or I'll . . . "

"Or you'll what?" Tony asked. "Or you'll hit him again? Maybe you'd like to try pushing him through one of our glass doors while you're at it!"

"Anthony! That's enough!" Mrs. Higgins warned.

"That was an accident!" Mrs. Hunter shouted. "And besides, this is none of your business."

"The hell it isn't," Tony hissed. "Blink is my business!"

"Anthony, be quiet!" Mrs. Higgins snapped. "Please, Mrs. Hunter, sit down so we can discuss this calmly."

"This is between me and my son!" she answered. "I'm not about to discuss this with the likes of you."

"The likes of them?" Spot's voice boomed from behind.

"Oh Sweet Jesus! Another county heard from," Mr. Higgins grumbled.

Spot stepped forward and locked eyes with Mrs. Hunter "Whadda ya mean the likes of them, you tight-ass bitch?"

Mr. Higgins gave a Spot a rap on the behind with his walking stick. "Mrs. Hunter is a guest in our home" he said calmly. "We don't speak to our guests that way do we, Spot?"

"I'd be willin' ta make an exception in her case!" Spot shouted.

"Okay now," said Mrs. Higgins. "I want all you children to go down stairs while Mr. Higgins and I have a chat with Chris' mother." Then she herded them to the stairs, and closed the door.

"Please take a seat, Mrs. Hunter," Tony's mother said reassuringly. "I will pour you a nice cup of tea, and we can discuss this."

"With all due respect, Mrs. Higgins, this is none of your business. I had absolutely no problem with my son until we moved here, and he started hanging around with those children."

"By those children, do you mean my half-breed son, and his degenerate minority friends?" Mr. Higgins asked sarcastically.

"I'm sorry that Christopher told you that. It was an unfortunate choice of words. I was angry at the time."

"I take no offense, Mrs. Hunter. My wife and I are quite proud of our half-breed children. We have taught Anthony and Regina to be proud of both their mother's culture and of mine. They are kind, polite, and intelligent. Both are well liked and get excellent grades in school. I don't think that we did a bad job of raising our children. For a couple of foreigners that is."

"Be that as it may, Mr. Higgins, the fact remains that since he has been hanging around with them, my son thinks that he is a homosexual. You may not mind having a son who is like that, but I'm not going to let him turn Christopher into a . . . a . . . "

"A homo, a fag, a puff?"

"Those are your words, Mr. Higgins, not mine. Now just let me get my son and we will be out of here."

"You're not taking Chris anywhere!" Mrs. Higgins spat as she bounced a teacup in front of Chris's mother. "Now just calm down, and drink your tea."

"What do you mean I'm not taking Chris anywhere? He's my son. You can't keep him here against my will. I'll call the police!"

"Well if you don't call them I will!" Mrs. Higgins replied. "I'm sure that they would be very interested to hear how you hit your son and then pushed him through a glass cabinet. Or maybe I should call Father Collins? I'm sure that he would find it enlightening to know how the president of the church's Mother's League deals with a major issue in her child's life. Better still, maybe I should call Kate Meyers? You know her don't you, Mrs. Hunter? She is the mother of the sweet boy you referred to as the minority with all the kinky hair and no father. Mrs. Meyers also works for Child Protective Services. I'm sure that she would find Chris' split lip and glass cuts very interesting."

"Dat's tellin' her, Mrs. H.!" Spot hollered through the family room door.

Mr. Higgins took his walking stick and smacked it against the door. "That's enough out of you, Spot!" he called back. "And back down the stairs with all of you!"

"So what are you going to do? Keep my son here forever?"

"No, but we are going to keep him here tonight," Mrs. Higgins said firmly. "Then tomorrow after you've both had some time to calm yourselves, we are all going to sit down and discuss this."

"And you expect me to let Chris sleep here with your son. The one he refers to as his boyfriend? It isn't decent."

"Jesus, Mary, and Saint Joseph give me strength," Mr. Higgins sighed. "Mrs. Hunter, this is our home. It is not Sodom and Gomorrah. I give you my word that there will be no Hanky-panky in this house."

Against her better judgement, Mrs. Hunter agreed to let Chris stay the night. "I'll be back here the first thing tomorrow morning," she hissed. "And he is going to leave with me no matter what you say!" Then Mrs. Hunter stormed out of the house slamming the front door as she left.

Mr. Higgins sneaked up to the family room door and quickly pulled it open. Spot, Tony, Chris, and the others all tumbled out onto the floor.

"Will you look at this?" Mr. Higgins laughed. "I hit the jackpot!"

After everyone was gone, Chris and Tony settled in for the night. Mrs. Higgins brought in an extra pillow and blanket, and they both stretched out on Tony's bedroom floor.

They remained silent, with Chris curled up in Tony's arms.

Eventually, Chris broke the silence. "Race, how come you never asked me what happened to my eye?"

"Cause I figured that you'd tell me when you were ready."

"I think that I'm ready now," Chris said.

"Do you remember when I told you about my birthday party? The one where everyone saw Dad screwing my best friend's mom? Well, Dad's little show turned out to be the high point of the evening. It went downhill from there. Mrs. Cooper ran naked past all of my friends and locked herself in the bathroom. Dad pulled on his clothes and pushed past everyone to get downstairs. When they got to the kitchen, Mom started hitting him and he started pushing her. All of our neighbors had a great view of them from the patio. It looked like that T.V. show where the cops get called out to the trailer park on Saturday night."

"I think I saw that episode," Tony smiled. His remark was a vain attempt to ease Chris' tension.

"I tried to break them apart, and I got shoved into the sliding glass door. It cut through my pants and into my right leg. That's how I got those two scars on my thigh. But one of the pieces of glass went through my lid and into the eye."

The thought of Chris being bloody and mangled turned Tony's stomach. He could feel his chest tighten as he tried not to cringe.

"I woke up in the hospital with 57 stitches in my leg, and a bandage over my eye. They were able to save it, but the eye is useless. I can't see anything out of it, and it's really fuckin' ugly. The first time they saw it both of my parents turned away. I haven't let anyone see me without the patch since . . . Until now that is . . . Race, I want you to see it."

"You don't have to do this Blink," Tony assured him.

"I know I don't have to, but I want to. I came out to my mother tonight. It sucked but I did it. I don't want to have any more secrets. Especially not from you. Ugly or not, this eye is a part of me. We can't have much of a relationship if I am afraid to show you who I really am."

Chris reached up and slid off the patch. It took a few seconds before he could look at Tony. In the back of his mind, Chris was afraid that Tony would turn away like both of his parents had.

Tony didn't turn away. He examined every inch. A jagged scar covered the lid and continued out to the corner. The lid blinked in unison with the other, but it drooped and didn't open all the way. The eye had very little movement, and the color was almost gray from the scarring.

Tony reached up and traced the scar with his finger. The touch made Chris' body tense as he gasped in a breath.

Chris couldn't take Tony's silence any longer.

"Well, Race?"

"Well, what?"

"Well, what do you think?"

"I think that I am the luckiest guy in the world to have you as a boyfriend. I don't understand how you could think this would make a difference to me. I love you Blink. All of you. Nothing is going to change that. Especially not something like this."

Relief flowed through Chris' mind and body as he slumped against Tony.

Tony lay back down on the floor and pulled Chris's head against his chest. "Everything is going to be okay, Blink. You'll see. I'm not going to let anything separate us. I promise."

In the morning, Tony and Chris stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Sitting at the table were Tony's parents and Kate Meyers. Mr. and Mrs. Higgins had decided that calling Mush's mom was their best recourse. They weren't trying to cause Chris' mother any trouble, but it was obvious that both Mrs. Hunter and Chris needed help. Mrs. Meyers was trained to handle these situations.

Mrs. Meyers took Chris to the family room for a talk. When they returned to the kitchen, Chris saw his mother sitting calmly and drinking a cup of coffee. Kate Meyers had called Mrs. Hunter and explained that she wanted to speak with both her and Chris that morning.

"I have spoken with Chris and have assured him that I am not here to get you into any trouble, Mrs. Hunter. Chris has also expressed some concerns about his future. The first is that he is afraid he is going to be separated from Tony. The second is your refusal to accept his sexual preference. Christopher has asked about becoming an independent minor. I have assured him that although it is an option it is definitely too early for that."

Mrs. Hunter almost dropped her coffee cup at the thought of being separated from her son. She loved Chris and was not about to lose him. Chris' new chosen lifestyle went against everything she believed in, but he was the most important thing in her life. Mrs. Hunter agreed to begin counseling immediately.

After a few quick phone calls, Kate Meyers arranged for Chris and his mother to see the therapist that afternoon.

Though he wouldn't admit it, Chris almost cried from relief when he heard the news.

"Gee, Blink," Specs said. " I never knew that Scutchy and I were so unpopular over at your house."

"Now be fair, Decks," Dutchy laughed. "It isn't Blink's fault that his mom didn't like us. After all we did turn him into a fairy. He was normal until he started bringing us around."

"Screw you both!" Chris chuckled.

"According to that story, your mother did think you screwed both of us," Specs teased.

Chris was grateful when Reggie returned and took the attention away from him.

"Hey guys!" Regie called through the crack in the door. "Is everyone decent in there?"

"We're all dressed if that's what you mean," Spot called back. "But ain't nobody decent in this bunch."

Reggie propped open the door with a boom box and then rolled in a library cart stacked with pizza boxes. "I hope you're all hungry, because there is more than enough to go around."

Tony searched his suit jacket for his wallet. "How much ya need, Sis?" Tony asked.

"You can put your money away. This isn't going to cost you a cent."

"That's a switch!" Tony grinned.

"Very funny, Brother Dear. It just so happens that Brother Joseph paid this time. When I told him that I more or less kidnaped all of you, he said that the least he could do was to feed you. He didn't want you dying of starvation before you were paroled tomorrow."

"I think I'm gonna like this guy!" Tony said as he closed his wallet.

END CHAPTER 10