Author: Elladan (a.k.a. Red in the world of Newsie fandom
Disclaimer: As you all know, I most definitely don't own Newsies.
Summary: Mush can't stay awake. Mush/Blink fluff with more fluff piled on top.
Genre: Fluff (is that a genre? It better be.)
Rating: K for, uh… lack of anything objectionable.
Sleeping Soundly
It had been a good day. Good headline, lots of buyers, every newsie sold all their papers. Racetrack instigated a celebratory game of cards, and proceed to cheat Jack, Crutchy and Bumlets out of their hard-earned cash, which made up for all the money he had spent up at Sheepshead. Jack tried to get David to stay for a hand or two, but he and Les had to go home for dinner. Mush had no interest in poker, so I sat with him on his bunk, and we talked, late into the night.
I love talking with Mush. We stay up, discussing the day's headlines, or how many papes we sold, or laughing about Race and Jack's latest taunts at the Delancy brothers. Sometimes if one of us says something even remotely funny, we end up laughing so hard we can't talk, and the conversation deteriorates until we are just a giggling heap on the foot of Mush's bed.
Other times we are more subdued, talking about everything and anything until we have nothing left to talk about. Even then we just sit tacitly, in a comfortable silence, no words needed as long as we have each other's company. I'd stay up all night talking to Mush, if Kloppman didn't come in around midnight to make sure all the boys are in bed, and yelling at those who are not yet in their bunks.
So we talked, listening to the curses of the other newsies who were slowly being deprived of their money. Crutchy stopped by to talk for a while--was the first to go broke--but then headed off to his own buck to sleep. By then it was late, and as hard as Mush had tried to stay awake, he had drifted off to sleep, head resting on my shoulder. I just smiled, looking down at him, watching the moonbeams resting on his face. You never could stay up late, could you.
A breeze blowing through the open window stirred Mush's brown curls, so that they tickled my neck. I absentmindedly pushed them out of his eyes, my fingers brushing his forehead. I didn't want to wake him, so I sat motionless, watching him sleep and listening to the quiet voices of the newsies still awake.
The card game had ended and it was just Jack and Race left at the table. I could hear Racetrack's voice from across the room.
"Hey Jack, d'ya see dat? Mush fell asleep on Blink's shoulda again…"