Hi y'all! How ya been?

I completely vanished out of existence for a while, so sorry about that. I got behind in school, and my birthday happened, and then finals week, and then I was doing other stuff that wasn't writing...

But finally, I have returned! And it's summer break now, so I'll have more free time!

Review Responses:

lucykeeven7: If I haven't said this before, I want to mention how quickly you review. It's always so soon after the chapter is posted, and that means so much, the fact that someone is rushing to read my work. So thank you! And thanks so much for the kind words on the chapter; I'm glad you enjoyed the Lesally content!

JustVildaPotter: HECK YEAH LESALLY IS ENDGAME! New chapter alert, eh? That's glorious, thank you!

Emz (Guest): I hate that I completely vanished soon after receiving a review questioning if I'm still updating. The irony in that is not fun at all. That being said, thank you so much! I love love LOVE that people are still finding this story and falling in love with it! (And you caught the In The Heights references, you might be the first person to actually do that.) Welcome to this, and I hope you come back to this new chapter even though I went poof.

As it's been a while, I'd like to say a thank you to any and all new people who have found, followed, and favorited this story. Thank you all so much! Even if you don't review, I appreciate your existence. (However if you feel comfortable reviewing, I'd love for you to do so.)

Alright, let's get on with this, shall we?

Bring on the confusion!

Chapter 52- Henry

Monday, September 20, 1999, 7:57 a.m.

In the weirdest, most twisted way possible, Henry felt like thanking the Delancey brothers. It went like this: if Oscar and Morris hadn't been part of a gang, they never would have brought along their goons to break up the strike. Without that battle, Elmer wouldn't have been injured and stuck in the hospital. And if Henry hadn't gone to see his best friend in said hospital, then he wouldn't have spiraled out of control when Elmer wasn't, as Jojo had promised, perfectly fine. And he wouldn't have lost his shit on Jojo, resulting in them kissing him, or rather, Henry kissing them. Jojo had only been trying to comfort him, and had been going for a kiss on the forehead. But Henry, still reeling from Romeo and Elmer's teasing, had completely misread that, and turned it into a kiss on the lips. To his surprise, Jojo hadn't objected in the slightest, and the pair of them had kept on with the activity until some judgy woman with a bad haircut had asked them to stop in a less than polite way.

Without the Delanceys, who had been the people to set all of that in motion, Henry would not be standing in the hall outside the theater now, holding hands with Jojo. Henry would have said he owed them if Morris and Oscar weren't complete asshats. But because the two brothers' actions had also primarily led to Elmer getting hurt, any good they had inadvertently caused was canceled out.

In all honesty, it was Elmer and Romeo that Henry owed, for they had led him to realize how he felt about Jojo. But Elmer was probably mad at him now, as Henry had yelled at him and never gone back to apologize or explain that he couldn't understand anything Elmer said. He'd meant to go clear things up, really he had, but he'd gotten... distracted. Confusion about the fact that one had just kissed someone when one rarely did such a thing often happened to take priority over other misunderstandings.

Besides, even if Henry had tried to justify his yelling at Elmer, he most certainly would've failed and made it worse instead of smoothing things over. He had never been good at discussions of feelings; he was too hardheaded for that, and too stubborn to allow others to see the real reasons he was cross with them. Attempting to explain how angry and scared and generally upset he was at seeing Elmer hurt wouldn't have gone over well. Now maybe, if Henry had been allowed to make a sandwich while opening up about all that, then he might have been able to make coherent sense rather than exploding.

Unsurprisingly, he'd known the hospital wasn't going to cater to his absurd habits, so he had been left with no choice but to vent to Jojo that night after departing from the hospital. Although to be frank, Henry hadn't been so coherent with them either. Every time he'd felt himself getting too wrapped up in the emotional side of things, he'd initiated another kiss. Which probably wasn't a good system, but Henry didn't want to analyze that too hard. He just wanted to enjoy this relationship and the fact that he had someone who wasn't afraid to show they cared for him. Someone who would always be there for him, unlike-

"Hey," Jojo nudged their shoulders into Henry's, swaying him back and forth and back into the present moment. "How much time do we have?"

To check his watch, Henry had to remove his hand from Jojo's, which he didn't want to do, but did anyway so he could give them an answer. "Three an' a half minutes before we're officially late."

"So... if we run, we could still make it ta class."

Now Henry shoved them with his shoulders, laughing, "Quit bein' such a goody-goody."

"I jus' don't see why we came back ta school if we ain't gonna go ta class."

"Who cares?"

"I care."

"Hello hello lovebirds," announced Sniper, coming up the hall. Finch limped at her side, evidently still working off his injury.

"Hello, 'lovebirds', Henry teased, before realizing his mistake, at which point he braced himself for the argument he'd most certainly set off. Even though Sniper and Finch seemed to have made up, much of the group was still unsure as to where they stood with each other, and so were wary of launching their dispute again with the slightest wrong word.

But a fight didn't come. Sniper rolled her eyes as far as she could, while Finch said sarcastically, "Very funny. I'll have ya know, the Great Cortes Mistake of '99 is in the past now."

"If by past, you mean Thursday," agreed Sniper, "then sure. Sure it is."

"I thought you two got all that worked out," said Jojo, backing up. They, like Henry, still feared an explosion.

"Oh, we did. But that don't mean I'm eva' lettin' Finchy live it down."

Finch groaned. "But ya could."

"But I ain't gonna."

"Aw, you guys're true friends," remarked Jojo.

"Yeah." Finch smiled. "Dunno where I'd be without 'er."

Squirming under his grin, Sniper stuck out her tongue. "Shut up."

"It's true, though. I dunno where I'd be."

Henry said, "In jail, probably," leading Finch to swat at him.

Getting in the way before Finch could touch him, Jojo warned, "Hey, hands off my Henry!"

"He's 'your Henry' now, is he?" asked Sniper with a teasing grin. "Dang Jo, how'd ya manage that?"

"By not bein' an idiot an' actually makin' a move."

"Um, no," Henry was quick to correct, "That's what I did."

Finch lamented, "Yer lucky that worked fer you."

"Very lucky," he agreed, taking Jojo's hand again. The feeling of having their fingers curl around his was quickly becoming one of the most pleasant things in the world, and he never wanted it to stop.

From the entrance to the hall, a voice called, "Hey, is the coast clear or not?"

"Yeah!" Sniper hollered in response, adding in an undertone, "Oh my god, I completely forgot we were s'posed ta be scoutin' this hall out."

"You an' me both," said Finch, nodding.

Henry was prepared to ask what was going on, but Davey, Katherine, and Sarah came down the hall before he could. The new leader of the newsies had instructed Henry to show up early this morning along with assorted snacks, and although he had completed the task, Henry had no idea what purpose doing so served.

With an annoyed glare at Finch and Sniper, Davey reprimanded, "In the future, if I give you a task, couldja do it promptly?"

"Yeah Mouth, we'll be sure ta do that," Finch snarked.

"I'm serious. You guys elected me leader, so I expect you ta listen ta me."

Arms crossed against her midriff, Katherine suggested, "Maybe next time, if you told them the plan beforehand, they'd actually obey you."

Sniper scrunched up her nose in disagreement. "No. We wouldn't."

"Davey tellin' us the entire plan would a' put us all ta sleep," Henry provided his insight while Katherine gave Sniper a look of utter exasperation.

"Gee, thanks," said Davey, changing abruptly from sarcasm to business as he went on. "By the way, you two," he told Jojo and Henry, "I said ta meet in front a' the school with the food. Didn'tcha get the message I left ya?"

Henry vaguely recalled finding a voicemail from Davey when he and Jojo had returned to the Duane Street apartment. They had started listening to it, but then, getting bored of Davey's big words, had decided there were other mouths that needed attending to. In all honesty, he wasn't sorry for not paying attention, since Jojo had been far more interesting than silly instructions about smuggling food into school.

"Sorry Dave," Jojo apologized. "You, uh... talk a bit too auspiciously for us ta understand."

"So that's a no."

"Yup."

"I don't understand how Jack ever got anythin' done with you people."

"He didn't," offered Sarah, blatant as ever. However, she was right despite not being a part of the group, and Henry fully welcomed the jab at the captain.

Jojo seemed to take offense to it from the expression they gave Sarah, but they didn't say anything other than, "So do you got a plan ta share wit us or what, Davey?"

Katherine butted in with an answer before Davey could open his mouth. "No, he doesn't. There is no plan."

Davey retorted, "Not true. I'm trying to carry out a plan right now, and that's gettin' us into the theater so we can discuss other plans."

"I am in awe of your leadership, Mr. Jacobs."

"If you don't like it, why don't you stop interrogating me about how to get back the attention of the press and start actually helping?"

"I have helped. My article got you on the front page."

"Mr. Denton got us on the front page."

Even Henry thought that was a bit too harsh.

"Excuse me?" said Katherine, anger flaring all over her face.

"I'm just saying, you aren't a real reporter. That exclusive wasn't entirely your article, was it? Part of it was his."

"I could have done it all myself, if I'd worked at The Sun beforehand."

"Oh really? When's the last time you wrote actual news?"

"When's the last strike you organized?"

Leaving Sniper room to say "Daaamn!" in support of Katherine's remark, Davey stood there, frozen with his mouth half-open.

Then he snapped, "Y'know what, Plumber? You win. I'll step down, an' you can take ova'." He paused, staring right into Katherine's pupils. "That's what you want, isn't it? Authority?"

Katherine closed her eyes. When she opened them again, it was along with a resigned sigh that made Davey back up. "I don't know what I want, but authority isn't it. I've got too much on my plate as it is, trying to look after you guys for Jack, figure out where Jack actually is, and deciding if I'm gonna take that stupid offer from Mr. Denton after all. Leading you maniacs is hardly one of my goals."

"Hold on," piped up Henry, "you takin' a job wit The Sun is still on the table?"

"It's not off the table."

Finch told her, "But we all saw ya shut Denton down when 'e proposed da job. Yer mind looked pretty made up ta me."

"Well, I changed it." As the others stared at her in confusion, Katherine gave them the smallest smile in history, joking, "I do have the power ta do that, if ya didn't know."

No one laughed. Jojo said awkwardly, "If ya don't mind me askin', Kath, are you planning on takin' the job?"

But before they could get an answer, Sarah cut through the tension by shouting a greeting to Tommy Boy, who arrived at that precise moment. Once he got closer to the group, she posed him the generic question of "So? You find any ways into the theater?"

"Outer doors're a total dead end," he answered, "They all been blocked."

"Jus' like Jack's phone line," said Race, popping out of an alcove at another end of the hall.

His appearance was so sudden that Henry jumped out of his skin, while Jojo let out the longest string of curses they had ever used in the company of others, ending with: "-hell did you come from?"

"I been here this whole time." Race waved his phone with one hand, while his other fingers stayed occupied twirling his cigarette. Henry picked up on the shaky quality of Race's words as the other boy went on, "You'll be happy ta know I fin'ly succeeded in breakin' 'is phone. Jack's cell officially won't take my calls anymore, ain't that neat?"

"Cowboy still ain't answered ya yet?" Tommy Boy looked surprised.

"Did I say he answered me?"

"No."

"Then quit askin' me if he has!"

Sarah proposed, "Maybe Jack jus' don't wanna talk ta you."

"Yeah," Sniper concurred, "You might be on ta somethin'." She turned to Race. "Not ta say that it's personal, but-"

"I didn't do nothin' ta Jack! He's got no reason ta ignore me fer this long!" With each phrase, Race's pitch grew more shrill.

"Geez man, calm down," Henry instructed unhelpfully. "She was only jokin'."

"It wasn't funny!" Despite his feet being planted firmly on the floor, one of Race's knees started uncontrollably bouncing up and down.

Noticing, as Henry was, the increase in Race's fidgeting and the way his eyes were steadily widening, Davey stepped forward to ask, "Are you okay?"

"Fair question, Davey," said Race, still in the same tense tone. "Am I okay? I wonder!" And that was his only answer, as he pressed his lips shut, visibly trying to mask the fact that his lips were trembling.

"Racer, breathe, " Jojo ordered in a comforting tone. They released their hand from Henry's in order to bend down and root through the crates of food and drink stacked against the wall. Returning to standing, they handed Race a sturdy paper cup of coffee.

Quickly, Race shoved his cigarette and cellphone into his pockets. He took the drink in both wobbly hands, pulled off the plastic lid and chucked that aside before starting to chug the substance within the cup. By that point in time, the coffee had been sitting around for an hour or so, and was probably lukewarm; Henry could only hope this for Race's sake. The other boy showed no mercy when it came to scarfing down caffeine. He must have drunk half the cup before he came up for air, stating, "Yer such a Boy Scout, Jojo." After another sip, he added, "and a Brownie, I guess."

While Jojo gave him an appreciative smile, yet another voice rang out from the entrance to the hallway. "Hey, we gettin' this damn thing started, or what?"

Henry had only half turned to face the person when Race shouted, "Spot!" and shoved past him, barreling down the hall and throwing his arms around the older but much shorter boy.

In the process of this hug, Race's coffee cup went flying. Straight into the face of Spot's right-hand newsie, who didn't even have time to react before getting drenched in presumably not scalding liquid. At his friend's annoyed yelp, Spot, who had been nearly bowled over by Race, shoved himself free from the embrace.

Henry, along with the others, held his breath as Spot surveyed the damage. The King of Brooklyn's expression was hard to read even as he spun around in the direction of an open-mouthed Race. Then, he put up in his hands, stated, "That's it, I'm out," and promptly walked out of the hall.

There was a frozen, tense moment in which everyone exchanged glances that said things along the lines of "What the hell do we do now?" and "Oh shit Race has really done it this time". Nobody seemed to know how to function until suddenly, the loudest, most undignified laugh Henry had ever heard shattered the silence, coming from the very corner Spot had just disappeared around.

JENRY JENRY JENRY! (Yes I'm very excited, I love them so much.)

I don't really know what else to say in conclusion of this chapter, so I suppose...

Thanks for reading, and please review if you will to tell me your thoughts!

Let's plan on next weekend for the next chapter, I hope to see you then!