Updated: 4-12-08

Disclaimer: I have no delusions about owning or holding rights over Newsies; you shouldn't either. Don't sue.
Also, any pop culture references...guess what? Don't own those either. Actually...anything that you may have heard of and/or recognized in this story is owned by someone who isn't me.

Warning:Updates may (and probably will be) slow.
This contains SLASH, in other words same sex couples. If this doesn't appeal to you, you shouldn't be here. It also contains drug use, violence, sexual situations, and may contain a(n OC) death. This story is marked for mature readers only, please treat it as such.

Pairings: Will be switching around quite a bit. If you have any preferences please let me know. They probably won't end up together unless I already planned for it to happen, but I can put in a couple flings for you if you ask nice enough

Getting Back Together Again

III
Knock Me Over One More Time

"A fight broke out is all," Slingshot shrugged, "We thought it was going to be really massive so we called Speed over…you know, to get as many men as we could."

"And you didn't come and get me?" Spot asked with skepticism clear in his voice.

"It was dangerous. These people weren't creating a fight because you were dead, they were starting it because they wanted you dead," Slingshot explained.

"That's never stopped me from being in a fight before," Spot reminded his friend.

"Yeah, okay, you won that round. I'll inform you next time," Slingshot promised, looking a little guilty.

"Good," Spot accepted, walking away and trying to find Speed.

"Boss?" he asked from the middle of a crowd of people as soon as Spot had made eye contact.

"Come with me." He grabbed his cane before going into the back alleyway, and some tension released from his shoulders as he carried his favorite weapon.

Speed followed his boss towards the door and into the back seat of his precious car. "Uh…boss…"

"What were you doing that you couldn't pick me up on time?" Spot asked bluntly.

"Uh…well you see Boss…Slingshot said to not talk about it," Speed explained, slightly cowering from beneath the other boy's glare.

"Who has the superior status?" Spot reminded him quietly. "Now tell me what you were doing."

"I'm not sure exactly; he said not to ask questions. He…um…gave me a package and had me deliver it and then told me to race over and pick you up," Speed answered.

"What was the address where you dropped the package off?"

"It was on Sherman Street…uh…I remember it was apartment 102…1492…I think was the address."

"Good," Spot complimented, not making it look like he thought it was good at all. "Did he tell you anything else, any information that I would find useful? Tell me even if you think I already know."

"He didn't talk about it much Boss, just handed me the package and the directions and made me swear to god that I wouldn't tell anyone anything about it," Speed answered.

"He actually made you swear to god?" That struck Spot as weird, given the fact that Slingshot hated anything that had anything to do with god.

"Yeah, but it's no big deal because even in comparison to god you're more powerful," Speed enlightened his boss.

Spot smirked in what could only be pride.

"Though that's not a huge compliment since I'm an atheist; to me an ant is more powerful than god," Speed continued.

"Get the hell out of my sight," Spot snapped while still holding onto his smirk.

"Sean has my art class," Blink announced as soon as he joined his two friends in Mush's basement.

"I haven't seen him yet," Mush admitted. "So? From your point of view…how hot is he?"

"He's super pretty…I swear if he grew his hair out a little longer people would start mistaking him for a girl," Blink laughed. "And Race was telling the truth when he said he was skinny; it looks like he hasn't eaten for more than a month."

"So unhealthy skinny?" Mush asked to make sure.

"Definitely," Blink nodded.

"It's not unhealthy…it's not like he looks like a skeleton or anything," Racetrack argued in a weird attempt to defend the new kid.

"Oh, and he's cocky…and smug…" Blink continued, ignoring Racetrack.

"He's…he's not that bad," Racetrack tried to explain, not realizing his friends had tuned him out.

"In art class he actually had the balls to splatter red paint all over his canvas and then tell the art teacher it was a painting symbolizing how pissed off he was," Blink continued.

"Did he really?" Racetrack asked in amazement.

"I have to admit he is sort of cute in a…tame-the-wild-beast sort of way. And I could definitely bear his attitude problem if it meant I could fuck him," Blink decided to tell his friends. "I can definitely tell why Racetrack would have a crush on him."

"I don't have a crush!" Race yelled.

Mush giggled first before Blink quickly joined him.

"Ah, shut up," Race demanded.

His friends just laughed louder.

"God, I'm bored," Itey announced from his position below Skittery on the couch.

"We can make fun of Dutchy for his new crush," Skittery suggested happily.

"Oh yeah," Bumlets agreed with a smile, really just happy that his friends hadn't decided to make fun of him for not sleeping with guys. "So Dutchy, when did you first realize you were infatuated with our new friend Sean?"

"It's…it's not a crush, alright?" Dutchy answered, "I mean he's so obviously straight that it'd be pathetic to get a crush on him."

"But it's not like we blame you, I mean some straight guys are really hot," Itey replied with understanding.

"Itey had the biggest crush on Bumlets at one point," Skitts confessed.

"Yeah…that was what our first break up was about," Itey smiled fondly, thinking more about the making-up stage rather than the fighting stage of the break up.

"You had a crush on me?" Bumlets asked, choking a little on the beer that he had been drinking.

"Yeah, but you were pretty adamant about staying in the closet," Itey explained, shaking his head sadly.

"I'm not in the closet; I'm straight. How can you not see the difference?" Bumlets announced with some annoyance.

"Please, have you ever slept with any guys? How do you know you aren't just bisexual?" Dutchy asked, happy to take the pressure off of himself.

"I'm sure," Bumets answered without wavering.

"Because you've slept with a guy?" Skitts continued for Dutchy.

"Yeah," Bumlets answered, managing to make Skittery fall from the couch, Itey choke on the beer he was in the middle of chugging, and Dutchy loosen his bottle of beer from his fingertips and letting it crash to the floor all at the same time.

"When the fuck did that happen?" Itey asked first because he was the one that recovered quickest.

"How the fuck did that happen?" Dutchy asked next, quickly recovering after Itey.

"I don't know," Bumlets shrugged, "I was at this party making out with this chick. We verbally agreed to have sex, we went into her room, and she did a strip tease. Then I found out she wasn't so much a woman as a girly-looking male. Of course, it wasn't like he was trying to dress as a woman; sure, his hair was a little long and he had his ears pierced…but anyway…when I finally regained the ability to think he was already completely undressed. I couldn't really say 'Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were a woman' so I just…forced myself to have a good time…except it was too uncomfortable to really work out that way."

"Maybe he was just really bad at having sex," Dutchy suggested.

"No, he was…good I guess. It was just his dick and lack of boobs that threw me off," Bumlets shrugged.

Skittery started laughing hysterical. "So really," he said between gasps, "the gay guy in the group is the only one that's never slept with a guy."

"Sh-shut up! Bumlets!" Dutchy said, turning towards Bumlets in the hopes that he would defend him (because Itey never would, if just for the sole reason that it was Skittery's insult).

"What? I'm not sleeping with you," Bumlets replied with a small smile as he got out a cigarette and lit it.

He made a startled sound before he shouted, "Fuck you," over the laughter. He didn't leave though, and no one really considered him angry so they just kept laughing.

"Hey man," Itey announced as some of the laughter died down, "No smoking in my room; my parents would seriously flip.

"Took you long enough to notice," Dutchy pointed out, eager to get the insults directed at someone else.

Bumlets nodded in agreement with Dutchy as he took another hit.

"Just put it out…seriously man. I don't want to be wearing a black eye tomorrow; it would completely ruin the outfit I picked out," Itey said, making sure to joke so his friends didn't get too serious and try to talk to him about his abusive parents.

"I should get home anyway," Bumlets claimed as he threw his cigarette out the window. "Ma's getting paranoid about cops so I have to watch her and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."

"You need help?" Dutchy asked.

"Nah, high people are amazingly easy to take care of; you just give them food and it usually shuts them up for awhile," Bumlets explained with a shrug.

"I should go too, and walking home's always better with another person," Skittery announced, jumping up from where he had fallen after Bumlets' confession.

"I can drive you," Itey offered, taking his car keys out of his pocket.

"Nah man, your parents will be home soon and you need to get the cigarette smell covered up," Dutchy pointed out, standing up and getting ready to leave too.

"And it's not like we live very far," Bumlets shrugged, "So it's not like it's a big deal."

"I'll take the ride," Skitts announced as if it was the obvious choice.

"No you won't," Bumlets corrected, smacking him in the head.

"See ya man," Dutchy said to Itey has he dragged his other two friends out of the house.

"What time do you want to go to that party?" Jack asked before chomping down on his fast food burger.

"Eh…I wasn't really planning on going," Swifty shrugged.

"Why man? You totally kicked ass tonight and the party is for you," Jack persuaded.

Swifty just snorted, "Yeah, right. The party's for Masson to show off how much money he has some more. Don't pretend like you're that stupid."

"Alright, yeah, it is," Jack admitted with a smile. "But it's not like you can't get something out of it too."

"I'm just getting tired of all his bullshit. I mean, people are only friends with him because he practically bribes them," Swifty pointed out.

"He's not that bad," Jack defended.

"Yeah he is, Jack. And I don't know," Swifty said quietly, "sometimes I just wished I had real friends, like before, ya know?"

"Ya still got me though," Jack tried to point out helpfully.

"You can't take the place of everyone Jack," Swifty pointed out. "You don't have an eye patch, you're not painfully oblivious to the world around you, you don't gamble, you're not anything like a mother-"

"I get it, okay? I guess I just don't think about it much."

"Yeah, but you gotta. We're popular; we can go down in social status if we really wanted to and hang out with our real friends again."

"Stop living in the past, man. That whole friendship thing is way over. And even if we did manage to get the old gang back together, you really think things would be the same as they were? We were just stupid little kids then, and it's easy to have best friends when you're still all innocent," Jack explained.

Swifty sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he admitted.

"So? Go to the party with me," Jack said with a smile, interrupting and ending the serious silence that had just loomed above them.

Swifty laughed, letting Jack know that, yes, serious time was indeed over. "I actually got plans."

"Instead of the party?"

"Yeah, my mom wants me to do some errands, and you know how she is when I disobey her. Anyway, if it doesn't take too long I'll probably stop by after," Swifty explained.

"Okay," Jack accepted with a smile and a shrug, "But when I have all the cheerleaders hanging off me don't complain and ask to share because it isn't going to happen."

"God I'm so bored!" Specs complained loudly.

"You're the one who agreed to study with me," David pointed out, looking up from his homework yet again.

"Yeah, but I didn't actually think you wanted to study."

David gave him an odd look, "After all these years as friends you thought that when I asked you over to study I didn't mean it? I'm kind of offended."

"It's a Friday night!"

"I'm David."

"Please, I'm begging you, put down your textbook for a couple of hours. We can go to a club, pick up some chicks, you know, not act like old men."

"I'm not going to pick up some girl at a club!" David burst out, looking affronted.

"Okay, okay, fine…we'll go to a gay club and pick up dudes, whatever, I don't care; let's just go somewhere."

"I'm not going to be picked up by some dude! He could be dangerous!" David objected, making Specs inwardly laugh because his excuse was not the ordinary 'I'm not gay,' that people would usually make.

"David, we're teenagers, we're supposed to go out and you know…actually do stuff…" Specs tried to explain, "Fun stuff, exciting stuff, stuff that doesn't involve sitting on your living room floor and doing homework that isn't due until we get back to school on Monday."

"School is important."

"Yes Davey, school is important, but having an actual life is kind of important too. Come out from behind your books and experience high school for once."

"I guess I could try it," David reluctantly agreed, "Is there a club that minors can get into?"

"Yes! Thank god!" Specs exclaimed, happy to finally be able to drag David away from homework. "Come on, let's go!" he said excitedly, already throwing down his homework and heading to the door.

"What the hell did you do?" Spot growled out as he shoved Slingshot against a wall.

Sean Conlon was in no way big. He was short and skinny; a perfectly terrible body to fight in. …But Spot was an exception. He was a lot stronger than he looked and seemed to know all the right places to punch to have his opponent screaming in agony, add that to his intimidating presence and he was nearly unstoppable.

"Speed didn't do anything wrong…it didn't even involve the gang," Slingshot got out.

"You ordered an inferior to do a job for you…an inferior that was mine to command. So yes, I think this does have to do with the gang," Spot explained calmly even while his arm was slowly cutting off his second-in-command's air passage. "What. Did. You. Do?"

Slingshot just mumbled, being unable to coherently talk at the present moment.

"What?" Spot asked angrily, easing up on his captive a bit.

"I said, 'I had him go drop off some money for your birthday present'."

"How the hell did you know about my birthday," Spot asked, shoving him back against the wall.

"School records are way too easy to break into," Slingshot provided, still looking a little worried.

"Why the fuck are you getting me a present?" Spot asked as he took on a more indifferent tone once again and released the other boy.

"I noticed you never mentioned your birthday last year so-"

"It didn't occur to you there might have been a reason?"

Slingshot just shrugged and looked at the floor, knowing he couldn't ask his boss what the reason was and not willing to apologize for going out of his way to get him a present.

"It better be a fucking good present," Spot demanded with a grumble before rolling his eyes and walking away to get back to other matters…mainly his homework, but he sure as hell wouldn't admit that to anyone.

"You brought me to Masson's party?" David asked with disbelief as he remained in the passenger seat, his eyes pleading that this was just some demented joke on Specs' part.

"What's the big deal, Mouth? They probably won't even notice us," Specs tried to persuade.

"My sister will! And I don't think it'd be something she would be very happy about!" David shouted.

"David, come on, calm down," Specs said in a soothing voice, "We'll go in and if you feel like anyone's going to start any kind of trouble we'll leave…right away."

"I really have to do homework anyway," David replied, trying to excuse himself.

"It's Friday night, Dave," Specs burst out, "This is one of the few days that homework cannot be used as an excuse to let you weasel out of something."

"Just…I mean…did we really have to come here of all places?" David asked with a pitiful look on his face. "Going out I could stand but this…with Sarah here? I just don't think I can do it."

"David, I swear, first sign of any kind of trouble and we'll bolt from here so fast your ears will pop, okay?"

David struggled for a full six minutes, going through all of his nervous quirks. First a worried expression froze unto his face. Then he started biting his bottom lip. Next he began bouncing his leg up and down. During the last stage he just shifted his gaze all around him, as if searching for a fast exit. It was pretty damn funny when you saw him doing them all at once.

"I guess I can stay for a couple of hours," David gave in.

"Seriously? Ah David, you're awesome…honestly," Specs told him happily, quickly grabbing his friend's hands and jerking him up from the car seat.

Before David knew it he had been dragged across the lawn and into the party.

Absolutely fabulous.

Swifty kicked a rock as he walked. He'd lied to Jack; he didn't have anything to do. He was just feeling smothered and shallow and he felt like he needed to get away from all of that for a while.

But was it his group of friends making him feel this way, or was it all just in his head?

"Fuck," Swifty voiced after a grunt from being knocked to the ground by another person.

"Damn, watch where you're going," the other person said as he picked himself up.

"You're the one that ran into me. Don't blame me for your clumsiness," Swifty replied, jumping up from the ground as well.

"Swifty?"

"Dutchy? What the fuck man?" Swifty voiced with disbelief in his voice.

"I thought you'd be at Masson's party."

"I thought you'd be lighting up."

"Itey's parents were coming home soon. And for the record, we don't smoke pot as much as people seem to think we do."

"Masson's a douche and I didn't feel like humoring him."

"I thought the party was for you though…for making the winning point or something."

"I'm in track Dutch, not basketball."

"Oh…right."

"I was just an excuse for everyone to party and for Masson to show off his house again; I really doubt they'll miss me."

"So I take it you don't have the best of friends…as if that's a surprise."

"Jack's still…well, you know, Jack…so it's not like I'm totally alone. What about you? Are your friends like…nice and stuff?"

"I mostly just hang out with Itey, Skitts, and Bum…the other druggies usually leave us alone. I guess they're more acquaintances than friends."

"Really? I mean…when we used to hang out you didn't talk to those three very much. I assumed that you and Specs-"

"I don't talk to him anymore."

"Did…did something happen between you?"

"The same thing that happened between us I guess," Dutchy answered, shrugging his shoulders.

Swifty shifted his feet as the awkwardness kept growing. "Yeah."

After that a long silence came, with both boys avoiding each other's eyes.

"I should, you know…go," Dutchy excused himself. "I promised my mom I'd be home soon."

"Right, yeah, of course," Swifty replied, glad for receiving a reason to abandon all the guilt that had welled up in his stomach from not keeping in touch with all his old friends.

"Hey, uh…" Swifty started as Dutchy started walking away. "Do you ever wonder what it would be like if we were all still friends?"

"Yeah," Dutchy answered, not turning back to look at him, "But it's stupid to dwell on it. What used to be is over, you know?"

Swifty nodded to Dutchy's retreating form.

David was really not experiencing anything that could be labeled a good time. He had been insulted, shoved, pushed, and had beer spilled on him all in the time span of twenty minutes. And he couldn't find Specs anywhere so he could persuade his friend to let him just leave.

David kept his head down, hoping that no one else noticed that he was that nerd from school who was always hanging out in the library.

"Sorry!" David said hurriedly when he knocked into someone, his head still facing the floor.

"Watch where you're- …David?"

"Jack!" David replied when he finally took his eyes off the floor.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Jack asked with disbelief.

"I got dragged here by Specs."

"Specs? Oh, yeah, you hang out with him now, right? That's kind of weird."

"Yep, me and Specs," David answered, busy trying not to feel awkward around his ex-friend.

"Davey…I-"

"Kelly! Let's go!" shouted a voice from across the room.

"You what?" David asked curiously.

"I…gotta go," Jack answered, slipping the smile back onto his face and walking away.

"Hey man, I've been looking all over for you," Specs said as he came up from behind his friend.

"Specs, thank god. Can we go?" David asked, turning to the other boy with a pleading look in his eye.

"Come on Dave, it's not that bad, is it?"

David shot him a look of disbelief. "I can't believe you thought that I'd actually enjoy myself here."

"Alright, alright, I won't go back on my word. You wanna leave? We'll leave," Specs said reluctantly. "Thanks for trying I guess," he shrugged as he grabbed David's arm and started heading towards the door.

"I'm just not cut out for all this high school stuff."

"You are such an old man," Specs laughed, letting go of the fact that he had actually been having a pretty good time and really didn't want to leave.