A Very Obsessed Fangirl: I do /know/ how much fluff there is because I write it. And read it. So much. As I recall, it's just the two of us writing the revolutions.

Fish: Write what you know. It's big, but I won't screw it up. Poor little kids versus great greedy sourpusses. Just so happens that they just might win. I didn't notice that until now. Thank you for getting Newsies stuck in my head.

The bakers, the barbers, the tailors and the jewlers. They're with us. The entire shopping district is with us. We're back to closing at our normal time, but Sophie, a rotating handful of others, and I always get in some good protesting and canvassing after class and work. A person dressed in emissary robes is counting out his coin, trying to pay for headache medication. The single vial sits on the counter as he picks out 98, 99, 100 lusters and slides them over the counter. I count them quickly and then smile sickly at the emissary,

"Have a good day," I croon. The emissary mutters something not so pleasant under his breath as he exits the store. I slide the lusters into the box under the counter. It's rather large. The lusters don't fit in the cash register anymore. My parents walk in with Sophie and my heart leaps.

I know I should come out. I know. I know. It should be soon. I've been keeping it a secret for so long it's bound to come pouring out of me, like soda bubbling out of a shaken can. A can that's been shaken for years. It ought to be flat and yet, it's still inside of me. A big, rainbow, blob. I think to myself. Evasive inside of me, untrappable, a strange feeling. No. A queer feeling. I snort at my pathetic excuse for a joke, and glance up from the piece of wire I was fidgeting with to look up at my three favorite people in the world, who are looking at me peculiarly. I blush and go back to fidgeting with the wire, my ears and cheeks as red as the first stripe in the rainbow. That thought makes me blush even harder. I can't stop it. I can't I can't I can't. I can't bury it any longer, inside of me. I can't hide it any longer behind the dusty memories of my childhood. No device, or gadget can hide it. I hear my parents talking.

"Well it's going to be a little longer Juline, they have tons of money,"

"I know that. You know I know that, but don't think I don't enjoy watching them count out seventy lusters for a loaf of bread like they don't have anymore," my father snorts. My parents go back and forth at each other, talking about various uprising related topics. I hear Sophie launch herself onto the counter that I'm sitting behind. She crosses her legs and props her chin on the hands. I can feel her gaze on me, burning into the top of my head. My parents chattering in the background, Sophie feeling at a couple bottles on the counter, the clinking loud in my ears. It's too much. The noise amplifies in my head, I can hear the blood pumping through my body, the lights too bright, the wire too cold. It's too much. I snap my head up,

"I'm gay," I say. Not loudly, but not quietly either. Loud enough that my three favorite people notice. They turn to look at me, stunned. "I'm gay," I repeat for them, slightly louder and far more confident. "I'm gay, and I know that it's not okay. I tried to hide it, I tried to get rid of it, I tried and I tried, but I couldn't. I'm gay, and you can kick me out, and you can stop feeding me and you can try to get it out of me, but I tried and it didn't work," I take a deep breath. "I'm gay,". They look at me, frozen in place like they don't know what to do. But to be fair, I wouldn't know what to do if someone had said that to me either.

Sophie is the first to move. After a few seconds of painful silence she slides off the counter and wraps her arms around me. I freeze for a second as her warmth leeches into me. I melt into her as she mutters something under her breath into my ear about how she loved me and how it's okay. After we part, I glance up at my parents, who are looking slightly less frozen than they were a minute ago.

"I'm sorry you felt the need to hide this from us," my father says,

"I mean…" My mother goes, "I like boys too, so who are we to judge. They're cute!" My mother pinches my father's cheek and goes into the back of the store. My father follows. Sophie pulls out a roll of a hundred lusters from her pocket and a vial from a display on the front counter. It's dye for iggy. Periwinkle this time. I toss the roll into the bin of coins and look back up at Sophie, clearing my throat.

"Thank you."

"For what? For being decent? Humane?"

I count out my pay for the day. A thousand lusters. It's a lot, but we have hundreds of thousands now. Normally I got about twelve an hour, but these are not normal times. I shove them into my bag, the little gold coins resting among my screws and wrenches. It's the evening, about six o'clock. I took the later shift today so my parents could have an afternoon to themselves. It's been about a week since I came out. It's been exactly the same, which is good, how it should be. Sophie says that in the human world being gay wasn't as big a deal. I switch out the lights then close and lock the door behind me. My stomach growls as I walk away from Slurps and Burps. I run towards the end of the street, towards the fountain. I know that most of the food stores remain open a little longer, and I run around the street a little, in search of some mallowmelt or ripple puffs. I know my parents wouldn't have wanted me to eat sweets for dinner, but that is what happens when you give teenage boys thousands of lusters and no supervision. I run past several clothing stores and get stopped short in front of a bakery.

The owner had set up a stand on the outside, with tiers of mallowmelt and ripple puffs and other assorted sweets. But that's not what stopped me. What stopped me was Fitz Vacker, standing at the stand, digging around in his pockets for a few more lusters. I can see the small fortune he had piled on the counter already, but I could tell he was still about thirty short of the eighty luster price of a slice of mallowmelt. As the setting sun shines in his face I walk closer. He looks… Vulnerable.

And here it is again, this queer feeling inside me. Elusive and rainbow.

"Um," I say walking up to him. "Hello," Fitz glances up at me, and then blushes. He goes back to digging in his pockets for lusters, managing to procure a few more. The shop keeper looks slightly bored as he goes,

"That's twenty more ," Fitz sighs shakily. Like he's going to cry,

"Here to make fun Dizznee?" I shift on my feet as his voice catches in his throat.

"No." I say, reaching into my bag. I pull out a couple rolls lusters and put them on the counter. "Two slices of mallowmelt please," I take Fitz's pile of lusters and hand them back to him.

"You don't have to do that Dex," He says. I feel the blood rushing to my ears as my heart pumps faster from his accented voice.

"It's fine," I say to him as the shopkeeper hands me the change, I slide it into my bag. "What are friends for?" He shifts uncomfortably as the baker hands me two individually packaged slices of mallowmelt. I hand Fitz one.

"Thanks," he says dryly. He looks around uncomfortably. It takes me a second to realize that he probably doesn't hang around the shopping district much.

"I uh, I know a park, if you want to eat there," I say. He looks startled, and slightly freaked out. "You don't have to," I say flustered. "It's just that you look like you don't know what to do with yourself." Watching Fitz Vacker get flustered is a glorious sight, comparable to Sliveny flying through rainbows and Sophie's reaction to all the glorious colors I force upon her imp.

"Yeah," he manages to get out of his mouth. "Yeah that would be great," We walk away from the baker. I wave to the shopkeepers closing up their stores for the evening. Some of them throw me things. It's wonderful, being the lead of a revolution. I manage to acquire a bracelet made of a shiny material, and several strange looking fruits by the time we reach the entrance of the park.

Fitz Vacker might not know where he fits in, but I do know where I do.

And It's right here.