(Author's Note: It was brought to my attention that Kloppman was the owner of the lodging house in Newsies the movie, therefore he will be mentioned several times throughout this story, and might even end up making an appearance later on. I haven't watched the movie in ages, so movie fans, I'm sorry if I don't do him justice when the times comes. Just thought it was important to mention that, especially for those who haven't seen the movie, or just forgot about that character entirely as I did.

Also, I know this begining bit is awkwardly written. It's mostly exposition stuff, and I just couldn't for the life of me come up with a better way to put it. Don't judge me. We all have bad days, right?

Standard disclaimers apply. I own nothing but my own imagination.)

Clicks's excited yipping greeted Crutchie as he left for work just as they had every day that week. Jack was right; Clicks had slept right outside the lodging house every night. He was most definitely Crutchie's dog. Crutchie had even gotten a cup of water from Jacobi's to wash some of the dirt from his fur, so he no longer looked quite as much like a stray. He was starting to look less emaciated too. There was no denying it, Clicks belonged to Crutchie, and Crutchie belonged to Clicks.

The two of them set off with the rest of the Newsies, gratefully accepting breakfast from the nuns over at the church.

"Four dead and dozens injured in county wide fire!" He called out after buying 50 papes from Weisel. Technically, the paper read nothing of the sort, but if that was the only way to sell papes, then that's what he was going to say.

Clicks and Crutchie made quite the team. Children were automatically drawn to the dog, bending down to pet and play with him-all which was gratefully accepted by Clicks-and that gave Crutchie the chance to sell to wealthier parents who normally would have passed right by him. He'd even been able to start taking more papes, knowing he could sell nearly all of them. That was good, because Crutchie couldn't bear it when Clicks didn't get food. He always split whatever he managed to scrape up with Clicks, but now, with the help of the pup, Crutchie was able to afford a little extra for his friend.

But it was getting colder. Every evening, Crutchie guiltily left Clicks out in the snow, forcing himself to go in and promising himself that he'd make up for it the next day. When the papers had been sold and the sun was starting to set that particular evening, Crutchie, Jack and Romeo sat on the lodging house steps. Well, Crutchie and Jack sat, Romeo, on the other hand, was running around with Clicks right on his heels, tripping after the boy gleefully.

"I ain't gonna leave him out here anymore Jack." Crutchie stated firmly. "He's gonna end up freezing' to death." Jack looked over at him, clearly surprised and a little impressed with Crutchie's blatant disregard of the owner of the lodging house, Kloppman, who definitely would not have liked a dog in his building.

"Alright, so how we gonna get him in then?" Dang it. Crutchie was hoping Jack would have a plan. He always had a plan.

"Ah-very carefully," Crutchie decided, twisting his newsboy cap up in his hands nervously.

And that's exactly what they did. In about ten minutes, they'd convinced Romeo to go inside, and wrapped a very squirmy Clicks in Jack's thin coat. (Jack refused to let Crutchie use his own coat to cover the dog.) They walked very quickly through the main room, trying not to draw attention to the wriggling parcel in Jack's arms, but of course, the boys weren't going to go easy on them.

"Hey, Jack!" Yelled Albert from his perch on the back of the couch. He and Racetrack were both holding handfuls of playing cards. "Tell Race to stop cheating!" Crutchie kept moving and Jack followed suit, only peering back over his shoulder to call out,

"Race, you gots to learn how to cheat better, so he don't know you's cheating!" There was a cry of dissent from Albert, and a noise that sounded suspiciously like someone getting kicked, but the two of them ignored it and pressed forward. They were almost to the stairs when Romeo came bounding down, nearly knocking Crutchie off his feet.

"Hey, Crutchie, I-uh-I had a question for you," he mumbled earnestly. Crutchie glanced at Jack warily, but he couldn't just brush the kid off, not with that sincere look on his face.

"Uh, what is it Romeo?"

"Well, I was thinkin' and, maybe sometime, could you, ya know, teach me to read and write real good like you?" Crutchie stopped short. He sometimes forgot that, while most of the boys could read well enough to hawk headlines, most of them didn't know how to read nearly as well as he could, and a lot of them couldn't write very much at all. He was getting nervous about the increasingly restless puppy Jack was holding, but Crutchie put his hand on Romeo's shoulder and said definitely,

"Course I will." Romeo's face lit up.

"Thanks Crutchie!" And he bolted out into the foyer with the other boys, leaving Crutchie and Jack to climb the stairs, uninterrupted.

It was odd to see Clicks running around on Crutchie's bunk, his paws getting tangled up in the blanket.

"Now, you's gots to stay real quiet, okay?" Crutchie instructed firmly, "or else I ain't gonna be able to bring you in here anymore. Clicks nudged Crutchie's arm as if in response to what he'd said.

"He sure seems to like you," Jack commented from the other side of the room.

"Yeah. Thanks for helping me out Jackie." He smiled, and Clicks jumped up into his arms, licking his face excitedly.

"Hey, it's no problem kid. What are brothers for?"

Crutchie stayed inside the rest of the evening, and when the other boys started turning in for bed, he covered Clicks with his blanket. The dog stayed surprisingly still and quiet, probably tired from running around all day, and even though he now had to share his thin blankets with the puppy, Crutchie was warm that night as he fell asleep with the dog by his side. Clicks emanated heat, as he slept soundly in Crutchie's arms, and for once, the lodging house wasn't so cold.

(Crutchie is so adorable. I can't get over it. Please review, I put a lot of time and effort into writing these, and it's always nice to see that people appreciate it. Also, if there are things I need to fix, tell me and I will get to them as soon as I can. Thanks again!

Also, just a side note, I found the stuffed dog that inspired Clicks the other day, and it made me really happy! It's this scruffy, tan puppy from when I was a kid, and I found it so funny that I subconciously based the look of Clicks off this stuffed dog, that's all.

Much love,
PrettyLittleMonster Xxx)