Title: Somebody To Lean On.

Summary: It took some time after the strike for David to realize Jack wasn't okay.

Warnings: None.

Notes: None.

OoOoO

David froze as soon as he saw out of the corner of his eye the strange lump on the ground, close to the ledge of the tenement roof.

He hesitated a moment, but when there was no movement he warily moved closer. It took him only a couple of steps to recognize the person curled up on the ground; tahe grey shirt and the touch of red around the neck a dead giveaway as soon as he was close enough to notice them. The thought of an injured Jack coming up here to get out of danger made David's heart stop for a beat and then go as fast as ever a second later. He ran toward him without a second thought, calling out Jack's name.

Jack rolled slowly to lay on his back, the weak sunlight making his hazel eyes squint before he closed them again and rubbed them with his hands. He turned his still slightly bleary eyes in his direction, his lips curling into a soft smile as soon as he saw him.

"Hiya, Davey."

The warm greeting made something in David's chest unclench, and the lack of bruises or any sight of blood after a quick scan helped him relax further.

"What are you doing up here?"

Jack yawned widely, stretching his arms as he continued lying on the cold, hard ground. "What do you think?"

David looked down at the balled-up vest that Jack was still using as a pillow. "Did you sleep out here?"

"Yeah."

"Why?" He asked with a frown.

"Beats sleeping on the streets," Jack replied offhandedly.

"Why would you need to sleep on the streets?"

Jack only shrugged. He finally moved to sit up after a moment, and David had to fight back a smile as soon as he saw the messy brown hair atoo his head. He wasn't very successful, though, if the look the other boy shot him was any indication. Jack only had to run his fingers through his hair a couple of times to get it mostly under control, but even then he made no attempt to stand up.

David looked down at him for a moment, his lower lip caught between his teeth. He should be back with his family by now, but he still moved to sit next to him. He wanted to know why Jack was here in the first place, but it was clear he didn't want to talk about it. He could try another approach, though.

"You should have knocked. My parents would have let you spend the night, or if it was too late you could have just used the window."

"Didn't wanna bother you or your folks."

David shook his head. "You're always welcome here, you know that."

"Yeah. That's why I'se here," Jack replied with a toothy grin.

"You know what I mean."

Jack didn't reply, but David was sure he already knew that. After all, every member of the Jacobs family had told him that in one way or another- It was only a matter of Jack finally believing he was wanted by someone other than the newsies. Speaking of which-

"Did something happen at the lodging house?" He asked tentatively, breaking the silence that had formed between them.

David knew some of the newsies had been giving Jack a bit of a hard time after the strike. Trust was a very important thing for them and, leader or not, Jack had broke it. They knew the reasons behind his scab turn, but neither that nor the fact it lasted so little seemed to matter much. Not even the fact that, in the end, Jack was the reason they won the strike was enough to make them forget what happened with Pulitzer.

Things had been slowly getting better, though- or so he had thought.

"Nah. They's fine." Jack kept his head down as he fidgeted with the hem of his shirt. "Just haven't been sleeping much lately, you know? Thought maybe a change would help, is all."

Nightmares. Jack was having nightmares and he was here because he didn't want the rest of the newsies or David's family to be bothered by them. It took David's brain a second to understand what was being said between the lines, but once he did, he was left at a loss for words. Of course he had noticed something was wrong with Jack the last couple of days, but he had foolishly assumed it had to do with the rift that had been created between Jack and some of the newsies.

David should have known better. He should have done something.

"Do you want to talk about it?" David asked tentatively after a moment of silence. He wouldn't be surprised if Jack pretended not to understand what he meant, but it was worth trying.

Jack averted his gaze and busied himself straightening his vest.

"It ain't nothing to talk 'bout," Jack said with a shrug. "Guess almost being thrown back in the Refuge brought back some bad memories, is all."

David nodded slowly. From what little he had heard about the Refuge from the other newsies he could only try to imagine the kind of terrible things Jack had lived in that place the many times he had been locked there. Jack certainly had never mentioned anything before.

"Alright. Just- you can talk to me if you want to, okay? About anything. And you can keep coming here any time you want. I may even let you sleep inside some times," He added with a tentative smile.

"That's real nice of you, Davey. Thanks a bunch." There was a grin on Jack's face as he said the words, his tome teasing, but his eyes told a different story. They were warm and vulnerable, and David could see deep gratitude in them.

"Anytime."

Jack nodded once and looked away. He made no attempt to get up and get out of the rooftop, and David didn't either.

OoOoO

a/n: And that's the last of the small post-canon scenes I wrote. I hope you enjoyed this and please do let me know if you liked any of them! I have a couple of moden!AUs in my drafts that will be posted soon, I hope, so be sure to check them out if you enjoyed this. They are more in the slashy side, though, so I decided to post them apart from this collection so people who don't enjoy that kind of thing can still enjoy these.

Thank you all for the kudos, comments, and bookmarks!

Also, I don't think I mentioned it before, but the title of the series comes from the song Polaroid by Imagine Dragons.