"And looks like I'se won again."
There was a collective groan from the room as one Racetrack Higgins smirked at them all. It was a Friday night in the Brooklyn Lodging house and games of poker had been decided as the event for the night. Why anyone would pick that when Race was playing, he didn't know, although he wasn't about to complain about it. He'd almost doubled his selling money from the day, leaving him with a good amount that he began to scoop into his pockets.
"Pleasure playing with ya all gents."
There was various murmurings of disagreement from around the room as Race stood up, gathering his belongings, looking around the room.
"I'se be seeing ya all next week then?"
A voice called out from the bottom of the stairs.
"Not sure if ma boys will appreciate tha' Higgins. Youse seemed ta have bled them dry."
Race rolled his eyes at Spot with a small smirk.
"Wha' can I'se say Conlon?" He shrugged, walking to the door. "I'se a natural."
And with that, Race walked out of the doors, the sound of them slamming shut behind him. Spot sighed as he turned around, heading up the stairs with a small smile on his face. Race amused him, with his constant antics. He was a fun guy to have around and it allowed him to have an excuse to go to Hattan more to go and visit…people there.
Race slowly made his way towards the Brooklyn Bridge, whistling happily to himself. He always did enjoy a good poker night and the boys in Brooklyn were the most fun to play with; everyone in Hattan refused to play with him anymore. As he was nearing the bridge, he heard a clatter from one of the alleys behind him. Never one to push away his curiosity, he slowly retraced his steps, looking into the dark alleyway when, without warning, he was shoved against the wall, a surprised yelp coming from his mouth as he was held there as two of the Brooklyn gang towered over him. He gulped.
"Well hello again fellas, miss me already?" He really could never refuse saying a sarcastic quip. Honestly he was more of a walking mouth than Davey was at times.
The one holding him against the wall, Thrasher if he remembered correctly, growled as he tightened his grip on Race, hoisting him up off of the ground and just holding him hanging in the air.
"Ya was cheating." The other one, Curtains, spoke in a low tone.
"Maybe youse just suck." Race muttered, probably not the wisest thing to do which was proven when a fist came swinging at his face, punching him. Race let out a groan of pain, his head snapping to the side as he brought his hand up to swing back, but his fist was caught before it had any chance to make contact with anything.
"Ya know Curtains" Thrasher leant in close to Race "I think we deserve compensation fa being stolen from."
Race struggled in the grip, face throbbing, as his eyes widened in slight panic as Thrasher reached into Race's pocket, rooting around to take Race's money.
"Don't ya fucking dare-" Race needed the money to be able to afford lodge, food and papers for tomorrow. Curtains rolled their eyes.
"Don't worry we'll jus' take…hmmm a 90-10 split. I think tha' seems fair."
"Tha' ain't fair, tha' barely leaves me with anything!" Race struggled more, trying to reclaim his money. He gets punched in the face and then the gut in rapid succession, as they dropped him, leaving him curled up on the floor. When he looked up, both of them were gone. As was most of his money.
It took Race a while but he managed to finally limp his way back to the lodging house where he was met by a very worried looking group of newsies, with the most worried of them all of course being Jack. Mush took one look at Race before he ran off to get the limited medical supplies the newsies had. Albert and Jojo jumped up, helping Race to sit down on the edge of one of the bunks as Jack knelt in front of him.
"Racer what happened?" Jack asked him quietly as Mush made his way back over, starting to get to work on looking over him.
"Played poker and some guys didn't like how bad they sucked at it." Race spoke with a small smirk on his face, although it was tainted by a look of pain. Jack nodded his head with a frown.
"They..uh..also took most of ma money…"
The newsies around winced in sympathy. Losing money was never fun, especially when it was stolen from you.
"Which borough?" Jack asked through gritted teeth.
"Jackie it aint a big deal or anything-"
Jack cuts Race off. "Which borough?" He repeats again, in a slightly sterner tone. Race sighed.
"Brooklyn." Race mumbles looking at the floor.
Jack stood up, there was a look that none of the newsies could place on his face as he walked towards the door.
"Finch youse in charge until I get back."
Before anyone could protest, Jack walked swiftly out of the door.
It was dark as Jack made his way quickly over the bridge, the only light being an occasional street lamp that was lit. He was fuming at the thought of his brother being hurt, especially at the hands of Brooklyn, his own hands balled into fists hung at his side as the Brooklyn Lodging House loomed into view. He made his way over, knocking hard twice on the door. A few minutes later, the door swung open, a youngish looking boy stood behind it, seemingly scared by the look on Jack's face.
"Conlon. Now"
Is all Jack said to him as he took a few steps back out into the street, feeling no need to enter the building before him. It took less than a minute for Spot to walk out, flanked by three other newsies. Jack could see a hint of concern on Spot's face, but Spot masked that pretty quickly, returning to the stoic and infamous Brooklyn leader.
"And what can I do for ya this fine evening Kelly?"
Jack stepped forward squaring up close to Spot, hyperaware of the other people around them. This wasn't them meeting as friends; as something more than friends. This was business.
"Wanna tell me why Racer showed up back ta the lodging house; black and blue, saying some Brooklyner's soaked him and stole his money?"
Spot scoffed with a roll of his eyes.
"He was probably running his mouth, it happens a whole lot."
Jack started forward but he was held back by the people Spot was flanked by.
"Youse need to get your boys under control Conlon." Jack snarled at him.
"No ya need ta get your mouth under control."
"Oh yeah? Or what?"
Jack watched as Spot looked him up and down signalling to the boys to let Jack go. He tilted his head to the side before swinging an open palm, hitting Jack across the face. Jack retaliated, managing to get two good punches in before he was shoved back and to the floor, Spot towering over him, slowly pressing the sole of his shoe onto Jack's chest to keep him on the floor.
"Know your place Kelly."
Jack glared up at Spot, spitting in his direction as Spot pressed his foot harder against Jack.
"Now run off back to Hattan. I'se don't want to see youse over here again any time soon, less it's official borough business."
He lifted his foot off of Jack's chest. Jack waited on the floor for a few seconds, looking at Spot with an almost hurt look in his eyes as he picked himself up off of the floor, slowly making his way back.
"I'm gonna go after him. Make sure he knows wha' will happen if he speaks to me like tha' again."
Spot said in a threatening tone to the other boys. They all looked at each other and nodded, making their way back into the Lodging House. Spot was infamous on being able to handle himself in a fight and show people who was boss; particularly when he was left to his own devices, so they had no worries that Jack was going to end up worse for wear.
He made his way down the alley that Jack had walked through, looking around to make sure that they were alone.
"Jackie-" He called out, watching as Jack stopped, turning around, seemingly relieved that Spot had come after him.
Spot ran over to catch up with him, looking up at him as he stopped, gently pulling Jack down into a soft kiss. Jack relaxed even more, wrapping his arms around Spot's shoulders.
"Ya know I didn't mean none of that right?" Jack checks as he pulls away. Spot nods his head.
"Yeah of course I'se do. It was jus' a front." They'd discussed it plenty of times, how they always had to keep up appearances in front of other newsies.
"Is Racetrack alright?" Spot asked, concerned. Jack nodded his head, still keeping his arms wrapped around Spot, holding him close.
"He'll be okay. Lost most of his money though."
Spot cursed under his breath, leaning his head against Jack's chest.
"I'll find the people who did tha' to Racetrack. Get his money back."
Jack smiled softly, reaching a hand out to cup Spot's face, tilting it upward to face him.
"I knows ya will."
Spot smiled, to anyone else it would be a rare occurrence but to Jack it was completely normal. Jack smiled back at him, pulling him closer for another soft and sweet kiss.
"Ya should get back ta ya boys. Say ya beat me up or something."
Spot kept his hands bunched around the collar of Jack's shirt, staying close to the taller boy.
"One more minute?" He asked, looking up at Jack. Jack nodded his head.
"One more minute."
Spot rested his head against Jack, breathing in his scent. He smelt like a mix of newspaper ink and paint and it calmed Spot's mind. After one minute he reluctantly pulled away.
"I'll drop by tomorrow, sneak in yeah?" Spot asked Jack, who nodded his head in confirmation.
"Tha' works for me."
Spot stood on his tiptoes for one last kiss, putting as much love into it as he could before he started the walk back to his lodging house. Jack watched him go, laughing happily to himself as he turned on his heel and started his own walk home.
"So Jack what happened?"
"Yeah did ya soak him?"
"He seems ta have got a good hit on ya."
Jack shushed the various questions being thrown at him by the other boys.
"Race you'll get ya money back tomorrow." Jack said simply. "I'm heading off ta bed."
He walked off before any of them could argue, going up to his penthouse and flopping onto the floor, staring up at the sky.
All of the boys watched as Spot walked back in, trying (and failing) to see what his facial expression was showing. He stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking around the room with a raised eyebrow.
"Well?"
All of them looked away, making themselves busy. Satisfied with this, Spot made his way to his private room. When he shut the door behind him, he leant against it smiling happily to himself as he went and laid on his bed, staring out of the open window.
And both the star crossed lovers fell asleep, staring up at the same moon and thinking of the other.