Disclaimer:  I don't own Newsies.  Never did.  Never will. 

Warning:  This is fluff.  Pure, pointless SLASHY fluff.  Well, maybe fluff isn't exactly the right sort of word, if you know what I mean.  It is rated R for a reason.  ^_~  Come on, we all need an escape from the bounds of our created characters and relieve some of the sexual tension every once in a while.  Enjoy!  ^_^  now, I just have to decide who it's between.  _

The Forgotten One

            Mush lounged comfortably over the couch.  The summer was hot, just as it always was.  The apartment was empty, except for his sleeping friend.  Mush sighed and pulled off his sticky shirt.  God was it hot.

            Jake lay on Mush's bed in the corner.  Maybe the apartment was so small that Mush slept in the living room.  Maybe it was stiflingly hot once you got past the 50th floor.  But it was a safe place to sleep with a roof and walls and everything.  Even a bit of carpet, if you could see past the grime. 

            Jake was grateful that Mush had asked him to stay when his mother went out of town.  Jake enjoyed not being woken up by the rain in the middle of the night, and not having to worry about someone sticking a knife in his back and taking what little money he happened to have. 

            There was also the fact that the apartment offered a great view.  Not like that you sicko!  Of course Mush was nice to look at.  Who wouldn't want to wake up to a smiling face and innocent eyes?  But Jake wasn't like that… Wasn't like Dutchy and Snitch (both so flaming gay that even the girls they hung out with invited them to Mary Kay and Avon parties.  Sadder still, said boys accepted with enthusiasm.)  Naw… Jake wasn't all into the flaming thing.  He was just kinda there.  Sex drive was something he'd never had.  Wow, this is getting really off topic.

Anyhow, back to the view.  The bay windows opened out over Central Park.  You could see the little figures down below.  In the winter, there were people ice skating on the frozen water.  Now, the horses pulling carriages with young lovers sweated, and probably stunk to high heaven.  Sometimes, at night, you could even see stars.  Yeah, the view was beautiful.

"Jake," Mush called.  "Jake!  I'm going to go get something to eat.  You hungry?"

Jake mumbled a reply and attempted to twist himself out of the sheet that was sticking to his body stubbornly.  Needless to say, it was a few minutes before he joined Mush in the kitchen.

Mush stood with the refrigerator door open, cooling his chest and head while he rummaged for food.  Jake opened the other side of the fridge.  The freezing air swept out over his sweaty body.  It felt absolutely wonderful.

Mush pulled out two bottles of Cream Soda and handed one to Jake.  Jake grabbed the bin of ice cubes and headed out onto the balcony where he sat on an empty cooler.  He rubbed ice down the back of his own neck.  The water dripped down his bare back, sending shivers up his spine.  It was cool and relaxing in a way that bordered on the erotic. 

Mush joined him a moment later.  He sat in the lawn chair behind Jake.  The sun was starting to sink off in the distance.  It may be a bit cooler at night, though the concrete held an awful lot of heat.  The cool liquid ran down his throat.  A few droplets fell onto his chest.

Jake was bending his arms in every direction, trying to reach that one place on your back that no matter how hard you try, you just can't reach.  Mush gently took the ice cubes from his friend's hands and caressed the struggling boy's back.  Jake relaxed and let the coolness rush over him.

Mush gently let his hands wander over Jake's back, making patterns with the dripping ice.  Jake's back glistened in the failing daylight.  Without really being aware of what he was doing, Mush let his arm fall around Jake's neck and rubbed the ice cubes on the other boy's chest.  Jake sighed, and let himself be pulled in by the cool, crisp feeling.  A warm breeze blew, ruffling his hair.  Jake realized that Mush's head was next to his ear and gently pushed him away.

"Mush, what are you doing?"

"I… just… nothing."

Mush pulled his hand back and dropped the ice half heartedly into the tray.  Jake, unsatisfied with Mush's answer, turned back to the sunset anyhow.  Sometimes, a friend just needed space.

"You know, it's lonely, sometimes.  Up here.  You know how it is.  All the other guys live on the other side of town.  'Cept Jack…" Mush lapsed into silence.  Jack had finally left.  They all knew he wasn't the type to stick around forever.  They all knew he would leave some day.  Mush had just always thought that he would go with him. 

Jake turned around and looked fully into Mush's big, brown eyes.  They were filled with sorrow, and a longing.

"He loved you, you know," Jake told him gently.

"No.  No he didn't.  Maybe he thought he loved me.  But he didn't.  If he had really loved me, he wouldn't have left.  He wouldn't have left me here.  Not here!  Not in this hell hole without him!"

Mush was yelling.  He stood up and kicked the chair.  Jake jumped out of the way just before the metal collided with his legs.  He made a move toward Mush, but the tan, muscular Newsie threw his bottle of Cream Soda to the ground with such force that the glass flew five feet away.  Jake looked in horror as Mush continued to throw things around and break whatever he could get his hands on.  (hehe… it sounds a little Duckish, but that wasn't the intention)

After what seemed like an hour of Mush's breaking things, but was, in reality, only a few seconds, Jake dropped his own bottle and tackled Mush.  The force of it sent them both through the open bay door backward.  Mush landed hard on the carpet with Jake on top of him.  The air was gone from his chest.  Mush struggled to breathe.  Jake looked down and could see tears in Mush's eyes.  His breathing came back, long and shallow.

"It's not fair," he sobbed.  "It's just not fair.  I did love him, dammit.  And he left me.  Left me for a dream.  Fuck him.  Just fuck him."

"Shhhhhhh," Jake consoled, rolling off of Mush and onto the floor next to him.  He ran one hand down Mush's cheekbone, wiping away the tears.  He had never seen another boy cry before, and he was not quite sure what to do about it.  (I don't like crying boys, but Mush is always an exception)

            "I miss him.  Dammit.  I miss him so much.  I miss the way his arms would wrap around me when he slept.  I miss the way he would always grin at me like we had our own little secret joke about everything, even when we didn't.  I miss the way his lips felt on my cheeks, and my chest, and my lips."

            "Like this?"

            Jake leaned down and gently kissed the other boy's salty lips.  The taste of Crème Soda was still faint on Mush's lips, though it was mixed with the taste of tears. 

            Mush kissed him back, his hand still cold from the ice, rubbing its way down Jake's side.  Jake twitched as Mush's hand traced the waist of his pants.  Mush's tongue inched its way into the other boy's mouth.  Another burst of Crème Soda invaded Jake's mouth.  He started to pull away from the kiss.

            Mush grabbed Jake's waistband, just below his bellybutton, and pulled him back down with a jolt.  Jake's eyes went wide, but his brain didn't have time to comprehend much more than the tongue that was back inside his mouth and the things happening to his body just below his midsection. 

            "Mush…" Jake tried to speak around the other boy's tongue.  Mush removed it and began to kiss Jake's collarbone instead.  "Mush, I don't want to do this.  I don't want to take advantage of you.  You're… damn that feels good… oh God… you're vulnerable.  You're on the rebound.  You're… really fucking good at that."

            Mush smiled.  His head seemed to attach itself back to Jake's lips.  He started to work the button open on Jake's pants.  Jake found his own hands running up and down Mush's perfect, muscular back.

            Mush pulled away, and loosened his belt… the only thing holding his pants on his body.

            "Which way do you want it?"

            Jake did not answer him.  He just stared in a sort of odd fascination at his own penis, which was throbbing with the blood that rushed through it.  Mush smirked.  He had picked it up from Spot sometime in the past, and he wore it almost as well as the short Brooklynite. 

            "Fine, we'll do it that way then."

            Jake felt himself being thrown over the coffee table.  A moment later, an entirely new sensation filled him.  Though, he felt that it was filling him from the wrong end.  Everything else that entered his body usually came through his mouth.  Normally, that was only an exit.  But, it felt more sensuous than anything he had ever felt before.  He moaned as Mush pushed more of the sensation into his body. 

            Jake lapsed into an ecstasy that lasted for the next hour and fifteen minutes.

            "You know, Jack doesn't know what he's missing," Jake said, kissing Mush gently as his other hand tangled itself in the boy's curly locks.

            "Damn right.  Asshole always had to be on top."  Mush smiled his normal, Mushy, innocent smile.  Jake was amazed at how not innocent his friend was.

            "So when's your mom coming home?"

            "Not for another two days."

            "Hmmm.  I'm damn glad it's summer.  Even if it wasn't, I don't think I'd be going to school."

            "Why?  You have better ideas?"

            "Yeah.  I'd like to try being on top."

            Mush's borrowed smirk reappeared.

            "Only if I can't get there first."

            "Oh yeah?"

            "Yeah."

            The lamp crashed to the floor, casting the living room into darkness.  But neither Newsie had a problem with that.  They could always, feel their way.

End