Disclaimer: I do not own "Newsies" or any of the genius associated to them. Disney owns them, no infringement intended. I am not making money from this in any way, I claim no rights to the characters mentioned from the movie, but I do claim the plot and the ideas surrounding this story. Don't steal, don't sue, and I'm sure we will all be grand friends.

A/N: This is easier to write since I've already done all of the rough drafts at camp. So I can cut straight to the editing process. Very nice for you all since you're getting nice quick updates. It also helps that these are never longer than two pages typed...

Warning: PG-13 (adult situations, drug use)

Chapter 4

iv.)
honesty only gets in the(ir) way
they need emotional subtitles
he gives warnings (but she doesn't listen (care?))
to him: fidelity is a 4our letter word
on a red letter day he says he won't leave
(he doesn't say he won't disappear)

She doesn't want his truths – she wants his promises (whether they fade or not). She wants to take that key from his neck and unlock him unto her. She wants all of the things he says he could (will) be if that would mean that he would love her. Girl Explicit doesn't want Boy Anachronism any other way than what he is; she just wants him to love her because then everything else would fall into place (or so she believes because that is what Hollywood tells her). He doesn't understand. Again – communication is lost in the haze of drugs, sex, and drama.

There is always something different about him. Another mark on his skin (ink or otherwise), another colorful streak in his hair, or a new hole he's pierced with a safety pin. He always keeps her guessing. Inside he wonders that if he changes enough she'll stop loving him (and he hopes so). These aren't the vows, oaths, and changes she wants from him. All she wants is for him to love her like she loves him: obsessive & all consuming.

"Emotions fade." He tells her.

"Love isn't an emotion." She replies.

"Then what is it?"

When she can't come up with an answer (where was Hollywood with a script when she needed it?) there is a coy smirk that stretches across his lips and he reaches for a marker.

His skin is already marred with his habit, but he has a method of covering the old with the new. Anything less than brilliant is renewed and remembered or covered and forgotten. In the back of her mind – Girl Explicit knows that he sees her the same way in which he views his marks. How long until he no longer renews and remembers her but covers and forgets her with someone new?

Silently he reaches for her arm. Pale cold fingers with broken dirty nails covered with chipped black polish look like tapered porcelain wrapped around her wrist – delicate and determined. With his pen he scrawls bold letters across her forearm much like how she'd written down his spine.

"EMOTIONS FADE"

The hand writing has a childish slant but is done with a flair that John Hancock would admire. There is a pause as he examines his work and absorbs the warmth of her body into his (he's always so frigid). It's an oddly pensive moment – his whirlwind arrogance and crashing waves are paused (and in this moment she knows why she loves him). The marker in his hand moves again to tickle the skin of his lover as he edits his commentary.

(emotions)"LOVE FADES"

He scratches out 'emotions' and replaces it with something more significant. Even through the black scribbles and revisions his message is crystal clear and cuts like a knife through the dark. He's lethal – and she likes it. No matter how dangerous she never could stop loving him (she didn't know how).

Before she has a chance to reply and try to change his mind – he grabs her hand and pulls her out the door onto the Brooklyn streets (they don't look anything like Oz). They sneak in the back of a run down dollar theatre (as is their habit) and find a deserted showing. The air reeks of stale popcorn, spilled soda pop, and sex. They aren't the only couple who use the theatre for gratification. There is no one from which to hide, but they still gravitate to the back row (are they hiding from themselves?).

It's a foreign film with subtitles and over dramatic actors. Neither really liked foreign films though they both agreed the most interesting subtitles were the emotional ones. He pulls out a marker from his second-skin jeans and it isn't long before he slumps in his seat and looks up her with washed out Atlantic eyes. They're so dark they look like an oil-spill. The familiar vacancy sends a chill down her spine (she almost joins him just to avoid that hollow stare).

Tonight though – Girl Explicit pulls him close and kisses him instead. He may not love her but he lets her make love to him in the deserted theatre. The noise from the screen was a soundtrack and a disguise for what they were doing. His shoes stick to the floor so he takes them off with no intent of replacing them on his feet. He's always been terrible at hiding evidence of where he's been or who he knew. Girl Explicit may have been the one, but she wasn't his only (he didn't always say her name). Sometimes his mouth reeks of different brands of cigarettes or the marijuana he was too thrifty to buy himself, and she knows. After all – his number has appeared on walls since she's claimed him. It doesn't surprise, but it still stings.

The metal stud in his tongue (he put it there yesterday) plays pretty patterns on her skin. She tangles a hand in his multihued hair and breathes his smell. If they were any closer he would have had to crawl inside of her body (he already is under her skin).

"Never leave me." She whispers.

"Not today."

"Not ever."

There is a kiss from boy to girl – a kind of distraction that doesn't quite work. She knows his methods and tricks better than he knows them himself.

"Promise me." Her hot breath races down his neck.

"What?" It's so hard to talk right now.

"Never leave me."

"I won't."

"Promise." He forces his eyes to hers.

"I promise." His resolve wasn't the only thing which shattered in that moment.

"Don't let your promise fade." She picks at strands of hair which stick to the sweat on his neck.

He says nothing.

The credits are rolling before they dress. When the lights come up they aren't even close to touching anymore. They're oddly awkward when the lights show them what they really are: kids who are trapped in strangely grown up bodies.

They leave the way that they came (all secret & subterfuge). It is on the walk home that he sees the writing he left on her arm and wonders how long 'never' really is. He promised not to leave, but he never promised that he wouldn't fade.

A/N: (heart shatters and crumbles to the floor)

Dang it. Some day I will write something happy! I will! I will! I will!

Thanks to ConlonsGirl, Purple Rhapsody, stress, xoborogrlxo for reviewing.