Hey guys- I'm so so sorry I haven't posted anything in forever! I've been insanely busy and have had a lot of personal stuff going on, so I couldn't really make updating this story a priority. I did, however, see Newsies very recently and met a lot of the cast- they were absolutely incredible! It was an amazing experience.
Anyway, I know this is a fairly short, slow chapter, but I promise it will end up being important to the plot. I'm going to tentatively say that I should be updating more regularly now, but I can't say for sure. I hope you are all still liking the story, and please leave a review! They truly make my day. I hope you are all good!
"Davey?" Les asked tentatively, looking up at his brother. The two of them were walking home, Les could see that Davey was in a terrible mood. Les knew from experience that Davey's bad moods were scary, and usually Les would shut up until they got home and wait for it to pass. But Les wanted to know what was wrong with his brother, because he knew what Race had said wouldn't usually bother Davey so much. Davey was used to people getting mad at him.
"What, Les?" David said tersely. His eyes were focused straight in front of him and he was walking fast, so fast that Les was having trouble keeping up.
"Why did Race yell at us?" Les asked. "You were just trying to help, right?"
Something in Davey seemed to break. "Yeah," he sighed. "I guess he just couldn't see that. I mean I know he's worried, and I get that, but I just though it'd been long enough… I don't know Les. I really don't know."
"Ok," Les said quietly. He didn't want to press the matter, even though he was secretly very upset that Race, someone he considered a friend and a brother, had yelled at them the way he did.
The brothers walked in silence for a while until Les suddenly grabbed Davey's hand.
"Are we gonna sell tomorrow Dave?" Les asked, looking up at his brother's face. "Race didn't sound like he wanted us to come back."
"Of course we are," Davey replied. "We don't really have a choice, Dad still hasn't gotten a job yet. And besides, I'm sure he didn't really mean any of that. Don't worry about it, okay Les? Come on, we're almost home."
Les and Davey walked up the seven flights of stairs to their apartment, Les lagging behind from exhaustion. Usually Les would be sprinting up the stairs, hurrying to tell his parents about how many papes he'd sold or about something funny Jack had done, but Les didn't care today. There wasn't anything to be excited about today.
Davey opened the door, and Les immediately ran to his and Davey's room. He couldn't face his parents right now. He heard Davey speaking quietly to his father, and Les knew he was probably making something up to explain Les's behavior. Davey never really liked telling their parents about their day, whether it was because he wanted to keep it private or he thought their parents would disapprove, Les had no idea.
From his position lying facedown on the bad, Les heard Davey walk in the room, and Les felt the old, slightly broken bed sink with his brother's weight as he sat down.
"I don't like this," Les burst out. "Everything's wrong! Aren't we newsies too Davey? Aren't we? Why was everyone acting like we were strangers or something?"
"We've been over this," Davey said calmly. "They were just worried about Mush, and I probably said all the wrong things and made everything worse, and Race has a bad temper. You know all that. It has nothing to do with you Les, I promise. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine." Les noticed Davey's voice getting more strained as he kept talking, but his words were strangely comforting. Jack would make Race calm down, everything would be back to normal in the morning, and Les was too tired to worry about what Davey was feeling. He felt himself slowly losing consciousness, and then he was asleep.
Les stared at the ceiling of the bedroom. He had only been awake for a few minutes, but it was still the middle of the night, and he somehow couldn't make himself go back to sleep. Everything was quiet, except for the sound of Davey's breathing and the sound of someone moving around down on the street, probably a bum trying to scrounge up a meal. Les rolled over and was just about to fall back asleep when he heard a new sound. A sound like the noises Romeo made when he woke up in the middle of the night thinking about his parents, or the noises Specs made when remembered how badly his dad had hurt him, sounds Les knew well from the nights he had spent at the lodging house. But he had never heard Davey make one of those sounds, and Les suddenly felt very unsettled.
"Davey," Les whispered, prodding his brother in the back. "Are you crying?"
"Go back to sleep, Les," Davey mumbled in response. "I'm okay."
Les didn't say anything else. Davey may have said he was okay, but Les knew what he heard. Davey was crying.