I do not own Newsies (surprise, surprise) therefore I do not own any of the Newsies characters. To the best of my knowledge they are owned by Disney.

I am making no money from this story (another big surprise).

Race has met the girl of his dreams. Spot has met the girl of his nightmares. And nobody wants to tell the toughest girl in New York that she needs a shave.

1899, Humor. SLASH Sprace Javid

A/N: Beta credit to pennylayne, the quintessential overachiever.

In just one night, pennylayne beta'd this story, and wrote and posted the first four chapters of her new story A Very Thin Line. Check it out. It's great!

WARNING: Be advised that despite the title this is a SLASH story not a Mary Sue story.

This story was written to entertain and not to offend the Mary Sue lovers of the world.

Chapter 2

"What the hell was that?" Spot demanded. "What's with all that Mary Sue business?"

"I told you that your friend is confused," The doctor replied. "He is under the delusion that he is a girl named Mary Sue."

"This ain't happenin'," Jack mumbled as he paced the dock. "This ain't happenin'."

"Your friend has suffered a very serious injury. He's lucky to be alive. Sometimes when a patient receives this type of injury, they become confused and don't know who or where they are. In this instance, the patient is quite familiar with his surroundings, but his identity is a point of confusion. Your friend has informed me that he a girl named Mary Sue. Apparently she has an evil father who beat her, so she ran away and became a Brooklyn newsie. She says that she is the toughest girl in New York, and that she is in love with Spot Conlon, the leader of Brooklyn."

"Son of a bitch!" Spot hissed as the others chuckled.

"This is very serious, young man. It's important that you all go along with him, and let him think that he is Mary Sue. The shock of telling him that he isn't Mary Sue or that he isn't a girl could cause him to have a complete brake-down. His mind could shut itself off from the world permanently."

"Okay, Doc. What do you want us to do?"

"I don't want you to do anything. Just behave normally, and follow his lead. If he thinks that he's Mary Sue the newsgirl, then let him be Mary Sue the newsgirl."

"And what happens when he wants to be Mary Sue, Spot Conlon's girlfriend?" Blink asked with a mischievous grin.

"Then let him be," the doctor replied.

"Excuse me!" Spot shouted through the sniggers of the others.

"I'm not saying that you have to kiss the boy just be nice to him. You're an intelligent lad, you can figure out what to do. In most cases the patient's memory comes back in a couple of days. I'm sure you can put up with it for that long."

Spot shook his head and took a deep breath, "Okay, Doc. I'll do it if I have to, but he ain't gonna go paradin' around Brooklyn in a dress or nothin', is he?"

"Definitely not. Mary Sue told me that she wears boys' clothing to disguise herself from her evil father."

"Well, that's a relief," Spot sighed.

Jack escorted the doctor out of the warehouse, and back to his carriage.

"So tell me, Doc. This Mary Sue thing. It's only gonna be for a couple of days, right? I mean, he is gonna snap out of this and be Racetrack again, isn't he?"

"That's generally the case, and at this point there is no reason to think otherwise." Then the doctor paused and looked at Jack. "So tell me, young man. Do you know the patient well?"

"I know him better and longer than anyone. Why, Doc?"

"Well, I was wondering who the real Mary Sue is. Usually a manifestation such as this is based on someone that the patient knows or someone from their past."

"Who's Mary Sue?" Jack grumbled. "Manhattan is loaded with 'em, Doc. You can't walk down an alley without trippin' over one. There all over the place. And once you find one you can't get rid of 'em. They're like stray cats. They either think that you're love with them or that you're their long lost brother. It's gotten so my boys don't wanna go out alone at night. They always travel in pairs to help keep the Mary Sue's away. I'm tellin' ya, Doc, it's an epidemic!"

"That's definitely a strange phenomenon," the doctor mused. "It would be interesting to see if there is any scientific basis for such an epidemic. . . In any case, I will be back tomorrow to check on the patient. Until then you should not leave him alone. Someone should remain with him at all times."

Spot and the Manhattan boys were sitting outside of the warehouse when Jack returned.

"So, can you put me up for the night, Spot?"

"Sure we can, Jack, but you can't afford to loose a day of sellin'."

"Neither can you," Jack replied. "But the Doc said that we can't leave Race alone. Somebody's gotta stay with him all the time, and you can't watch out for him by yourself. We'll take turns sellin' and keepin' an eye on Race. Then we'll split whatever we make. That should keep us goin' for a couple of days."

"I'll take turns with ya, Jack," Mush said.

"We all will," Dutchy added.

"Look fellas, I know you all wanna stay and make sure that Race is okay, but ya can't. Swifty and Snoddy can't keep an eye on the younger guys by themselves. They're gonna need your help. I'll stay here with Spot, and the rest of you can come by to see how he's doin' after you're done sellin'. And somebody's gotta tell Dave what's goin' on. He'll hafta work our spot alone for a couple of days."

"Yoo-hoo! . . . Oh, Spottikins!" Racetrack called from the doorway.

"Oh, crap!" Spot grumbled.

Racetrack bounced out the door and threw his arms around Spot. "Where ya been, Sweetie? I've been waitin' for ya all day. "Did ya miss me?" Race asked as he batted his eyelashes.

"It's gonna be a long couple of days," Jack grinned as he looked at Spot's panicked expression.

End - Chapter two

A/N: pennylyane pulled an all-nighter to beta this story. She's great and so are her stories. Please check them out. Strong Men Crumble (easily one of the best Newsies stories I've come across) and Lean on Me are two of my personal favs. Her new story A Very Thin Line is also first rate. They are well worth reading.