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

VI
Let's Go Bowling

"Arghed!" burst Specs, throwing the notebook that was once sitting quietly on his lap across the room.

"The homework isn't that bad," David commented calmly, looking up from where his head had been bent into his science textbook. "It's actually pretty easy stuff once you understand the basic idea."

"It's not the homework," Specs growled as he glared at David, "It's the fact that the whole school thinks we're gay together and we aren't doing anything to prevent it."

"What do you want me to do about it?" David asked, closing his book and looking at his friend, "It's old news, no one cares anymore… I just don't understand why you think it's such a big problem."

"Look, I know I'm over reacting, okay? But I can't help it," Specs tried to explain. "Every time I finally calm myself down another question about the whole thing pops into my head. How long has the rumor been circulating? Are there people who started treating me differently and I just didn't notice? What about me makes people think I'm gay? Why would people think I'd willingly go out with you, of all people?"

"What's wrong with me?" David asked, putting down his homework and looking a little upset.

Specs gave him an odd look for a minute and made a strangled noise in the back of his throat. "You're… Are you seriously asking this? Don't you dare tell me you actually want to go out with me. I know you David, you aren't a fag…gay…homosexual…whatever the hell the politically correct term is."

"Why? Would it be so bad if I did?" David answered, looking quite angry.

"No!" Specs burst out before reconsidering, "No, yes, yes it would be that bad. You can't seriously… You don't really have a crush on me. Do you?" Suddenly he was looking very worried and very uncomfortable. So much so in fact, that he looked as if he'd flee the house if David did a single thing to answer in the positive.

"I don't have a crush on you," David replied, sighing as his anger swept away and was replaced by exhaustion.

"Are you in love with me?" Specs ventured quite seriously, making sure David's feelings for him weren't anything more than less of a crush.

David's anger seemed to rush back into him. "Go to hell, Specs," he shouted out before marching to the front door and stomping out before slamming it shut with a loud bang.

Specs realized a little late that he was in David's house, and therefore he should have been the one that got to slam the door. Picking up his books with a forced calm he walked out into the Monday afternoon sun, making sure to slam the door behind him as well.

Dutchy walked the streets with a quiet air, wishing it were night so that fewer people would be out to run into him.

His friends had been no help, though really he probably shouldn't have expected them to be (druggies were rarely ever reliable unless it required fucking up. Dutchy knew that little fact from both first and third person experience). Unfortunately that hardly solved the problem of Sean Conlon kissing him.

Did it mean anything? Did it not? Was Sean even gay?

Of course, these things always happened to Dutchy. A new guy would come to school, Dutchy would fall for him immediately, he'd make an idiot out of himself for a couple of weeks, and then the nameless guy would get a girlfriend and Dutchy's crush would be over. It was no wonder his friends weren't taking him as seriously as he wanted them to.

This situation was so different from the others though. Sean sat with them at lunch, didn't act like they were the scum of the earth, he knew Dutchy existed, and they had kissed.

…Well, to be truthful, it was Sean that had kissed him, and just on the cheek, but still, a kiss is a kiss.

But did it really mean something…or not?

And it probably didn't, Dutchy realized as a bout of depression overwhelmed him and made him feeling heavy. If it meant something Sean wouldn't have done it in front of everyone. He wouldn't have just ignored him afterwards and went on to talk to Bumlets and Itey and Skittery like nothing had happened.

But why would you kiss someone if you didn't mean something by it? Why would you do that to someone?

Was Sean just oblivious to people's feelings…or did he have a hard time expressing himself?

Or did Sean think that he liked him, but when he kissed him he changed his mind and decided that it was easier to pretend like nothing happened?

Or did he kiss him in the hopes that Dutchy would kiss him back and reciprocate his feelings? Did he still expect him to do something?

Dutchy looked at the ground, slowly walking as people pushed by him and rushed to wherever it was they were going.

Perhaps it was fate that he was slammed into or perhaps an accident; either way he wasn't too overjoyed with it at first.

"Watch where you're going!" screamed the person who had run into him as he tried to continue on his way.

Dutchy was about to let it go until the person had yelled. He was depressed, sure, and he didn't feel as if he could do anything about…anything, but the shout had jolted him out of his depression slightly so he readily yelled back. "Watch where I'm going? You're the one that ran into me!" he shouted as he grabbed the person's arm and swung him around.

"Dutchy?" Specs asked, losing his anger during the grab as he was swung into his ex-friend's chest and they both toppled over onto the sidewalk.

"Specs," Dutchy answered, looking at the person on top of him while all the people rushing by gave both boys a dirty look.

"Sorry, I guess," Specs replied, getting up off of Dutchy and smoothing out his clothes before he helped the other boy up.

"Yeah, no, it's fine," Dutchy shrugged off, falling back into his depression a little bit more.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Specs asked suddenly as they stood face-to-face and endured the awkwardness together.

"Uh, sure, I guess so," Dutchy answered reluctantly. "What's up?"

"Did you ever hear about me and David?" Specs forced himself to ask as people jostled the two boys on both sides.

"About what?" Dutchy asked in confusion before guessing, "That you two were going out? Yeah, I heard that. How's it going for you?"

"I-it's not," Specs answered, a little bewildered that the other boy knew what he was talking about so quickly.

"You broke up?" Dutchy asked with sympathy in his eyes, "I'm sorry, Specs."

"No!" Specs shouted out, as a car honked loudly, "No. We were never going out…I mean, it was just this stupid rumor and I just found out about it."

"Oh," Dutchy replied, unable to think of what Specs wanted him to say, "Well, okay. Why does it matter if I know then? …If it's just this stupid rumor…not that I ever put much stock in it in the first place."

"No, that wasn't the question," Specs answered as he became noticeably flustered, "I just had to make sure you knew that before I asked you the actual question that I wanted to ask you before."

"Oh, yeah, okay," Dutchy replied, feeling completely confused, "So what was the question then?"

"Did you think of me any differently…when you thought you found out about me and David," Specs asked, his utter lack of comfort not going unnoticed.

"So…to rephrase," Dutchy tried to sort out, wishing that he really wasn't as stupid as he felt, "'would I look at you any different if you were gay?'"

"Yeah, I guess that's what I'm asking," Specs admitted, "Not that I am…gay…not that I have a problem with that either…you know."

"Yeah, I guess I would," Dutchy answered as he nodded happily, knowing that it wasn't the answer the other boy wanted to hear.

"What?" Specs asked, obviously surprised and disappointed, "How?"

"Don't you think I've answered enough questions? I thought it was just going to be the first one," Dutchy complained in a mocking manner.

"Dutchy, seriously, stop kidding around. Would you really treat me differently?"

"Jesus, Specs, I don't know, probably. I mean, people would have to, wouldn't they?"

"How? How would people treat me differently?" Specs asked, nearing hysterics.

"You want to go get some coffee and talk it over?" Dutchy asked, taking a glance over the very crowded streets. "I don't have anywhere I need to be for a couple of hours."

"Yeah, okay," Specs said, nodding his head and acting a little out of it, "Lead the way then."

"This sucks," Blink sighed as he poked a fish swimming around in the small pond he sat in front of.

"Stop poking them," Mush ordered lightly, "Mom gets really upset when anyone does that."

"I know, I know," Blink replied, sighing again. "Where's Racetrack? There's nothing to do."

"He had to go home to do his homework after school because of his parents. You should know the schedule by now," Mush replied, giving Blink a playful shrug as he smiled.

"Yeah, but he's usually done by now, isn't he?"

Mush shrugged, "Maybe he just had more than usual."

"Yeah, maybe," Blink shrugged back, "but that doesn't make me any less bored."

"Alright, let's go somewhere then," Mush suggested as he got up and grabbed Blink's hand to help him up as well.

"Sounds better than this," Blink said, not letting go of the hand clutching his as he calmly walked with his friend to the car, "Where to?"

"Uh, if you want to risk getting yelled at we can try and go to Racetrack's house," Mush suggested reluctantly, finally letting go of the hand he held in order to climb into the driver's seat.

Blink jumped into the passenger's side, thinking nothing about the fact that they had been holding hands. "Let's waste some time first," he suggested, "That way it's more probable he'd be done with his homework."

"It's your choice," Mush gave in easily, "So where do you want to go to waste some time?"

"We already ate, so that crosses off any type of food," Blink replied, thinking aloud, "A movie is too long. How do you feel about going bowling?"

"Yeah, sounds good," Mush accepted happily, turning the key in the ignition and pulling out of the driveway.

"So how would you treat me differently?" Specs asked as soon as they received their coffees.

"Well…I'd certainly stop seeing you with a girlfriend, wouldn't I?" Dutchy answered happily.

"What? That's it?" Specs asked, wondering why he had had to go get coffee just to hear Dutchy state the obvious.

"Hey, you're the one who asked," Dutchy shrugged. "Look," he said, leaning in closer and taking on a more serious air, "Anything personal you tell people will either make them look at you differently or will make them ignore the facts. It's absolutely impossible to accept something about someone and not change your outlook about them; even though the changes may be subtle."

"And what? I'm just supposed to be okay with that? I don't want people to look at me any differently," Specs answered with a small amount of anger in his voice. "Your theory's crap anyway. You can tell someone something personal and nothing has to change."

"Yes, it does. Say I told you my favorite music and you accepted that fine. Okay, now, when asked what music I want to listen to you're going to already assume the type I'm going to pick. Or, you might think of me when you hear my favorite band on the radio. It's neither a bad nor a good thing; it's just something that slowly happens when you get to know someone better," Dutchy explained.

"So now that you know I'm not gay, are you going to go back to the way you looked at me before?" Specs asked, ready for things to go back to normal.

"No, I'd think about this incident and this conversation when your sexual orientation came up," Dutchy answered honestly, "Which isn't too unthinkable, seeing as how this is the first time we've actually talked in quite awhile."

"So in other words, no one will ever look at me the same again?"

"I suppose not, but it's your choice as to whether that's a good or a bad thing. I told my friends I was gay, and now it's like we're closer than before," Dutchy replied, surprisingly without any hesitation.

"But I'm not gay; it's just going to make people look at me wrong!"

"Then that's their problem, isn't it? Your friends will accept you no matter what; or rather…I'd like to think they would. If they don't then they weren't really friends in the first place, were they? …But I'm sure you've heard that a million and three times before," Dutchy responded with his same easy-going attitude.

"It's not that simple."

"It really is," Dutchy assured, nodding his head as he sipped his coffee, "You just don't think it is because you still have feelings attached to the friends that may not accept you. From a purely logic view point it's quite easy."

"But I'm not purely logical, am I? Logic tells me that people thinking I'm gay isn't really a big deal, but unfortunately the rest of me isn't listening very closely," Specs explained.

"Yeah, but that's the whole problem, isn't it? People aren't just logical, they're a whole variety of an entire bunch of quite a range of different things," Dutchy enlightened nonchalantly, still sipping his coffee quietly.

A silence fell over the table after that, a little awkward, but a little contemplative as well.

"So…you're gay, huh?" Specs asked quietly, "I didn't know that."

"Not much of the school does. I'd prefer if it wasn't spread around just yet," Dutchy explained, still calm as if he was already completely sure that Specs wouldn't tell anyone. "Will you look at me any differently?"

"Yeah, I get your point," Specs submitted, "I will, but not very much."

"Shit," Dutchy said as soon as he glanced at the clock, "I've gotta go."

"What? Hot date?" Specs asked, slightly disappointed that Dutchy was leaving but not daring to show it.

Dutchy threw a five onto the table, enough to cover the both of them, "God no, I'm just going to be hanging out with friends, smoking it up, living up to my reputation. …Though Sean's going to be there, so if God loves me it might go in that direction." He wasn't quite sure what made him say it, but he didn't regret confiding in his long-lost friend.

"You have a crush on the new kid?" Specs asked with happy disbelief as Dutchy stood up and he continued sitting.

"Yeah," Dutchy admitted sheepishly. "We'll do this again, okay? And I'll tell you all about my wonderfully annoying crush."

"Sounds good," Specs said lamely as the other boy darted off.

"I kicked your ass again!" Swifty shouted out in glee. "Ha! You're only good at sports that could double as foreplay," he pointed out happily.

"Shut up," Jack ordered good-naturedly, "I am not. You're just…distracting."

"Because my body is so extremely hot and you just can't take your eyes off of it?" Swifty teased.

"More like you keep making noise every time I start to throw the ball down the lane," Jack explained, smiling.

"I'm just giving you an excuse to look at my extremely hot body," Swifty explained with mock arrogance, flipping his hair that was starting to grow too long.

"You're just an ass," Jack corrected. "And not only an ass," he continued, "but an ass that got me a week's worth of detention."

"Yeah, but that doesn't start until next week," Swifty shrugged off.

"And called me gay in front of our entire Current Events class," Jack laughed, ignoring his friend as he continued farther, "God, I really don't want to go back to school tomorrow and face that."

"Yeah, you're right," Swifty admitted with a frown, "Tomorrow's going to suck. You want to just skip?"

"Nah, people will just joke about it even more if they know I think of the issue as anything more than a joke," Jack shrugged, "but since I don't it's really no big deal to begin with."

"It was fucking hilarious though," Swifty admitted without reluctance, "If we went back in time nothing could stop me from doing it again."

"You're such a shitty friend," Jack said as if just stumbling upon the realization. "Are we playing another game?" he asked, digging into his wallet in preparation for the answer 'yes'.

"Are you paying?" Swifty asked, taking a sip of his drink that was sitting on a nearby table.

"Only half," Jack answered with a smirk, "This isn't a date, Swift; I'm not going to pay for you."

"But if it was a date…would you?" Swifty asked hypothetically, digging into his pocket and throwing a wad of small bills to his friend.

"Of course," Jack answered, swiping the bills from the air, "I would treat you like the princess I know you are."

"I'm flattered," Swifty answered before snorting. "Now go pay for another game, Dip-Shit."

"Yes Ma'am," Jack answered before running off to the front of the store to pay for their fourth game.

Swifty sighed, already bored without the presence of Jack. He looked around, swinging his feet from the chair he sat at with some difficulty (since he was a little too tall to be able to do the act comfortably) and finally settled on looking towards the direction Jack had gone.

He had a few suspicions about Jack, but none that he wasn't afraid to mention to the other man. Unfortunately they were rather serious suspicions and Swifty didn't know how to bring them up without getting his friend offended.

He was almost positive through his quiet observations that Jack didn't have a real place to live. He wasn't sure how much it bothered him, seeing as how Jack seemed to be getting by rather well. Swifty didn't know who was helping him, but he certainly owed them his thanks.

However, whoever was doing this made the subject a little harder to bring up. After all, Jack seemed healthy, clean, and happy. Wasn't that all that mattered? Of course it wasn't, and Swifty knew that his friend should have the right to be able to get a stable home environment, but his cowardice always argued that someone was obviously already helping him.

He didn't want to shove his nose in where it didn't belong, no matter how worried he was. As a result he became more and more anxious whenever Jack looked in the least bit disheveled, or came in just a few seconds late for class.

"Uh…excuse me," a shy voice said, interrupting Swifty's thoughts and making him jump a little in his seat.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" the same voice said sincerely as another voice started to laugh.

Swifty turned around; ready to beat up whoever it was that decided laughing at him seemed like a good idea. However, surprise and the little bit of loyalty he had left stopped him.

"Mush? Blink? What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, letting the old nicknames slip.

"We didn't mean to bother you," Mush said, still sounding like he was talking to someone he didn't know and not an old friend, "But Blink and I always use this lane and I was wondering if you could…uh…switch with us."

"We'll play you for it," Jack suggested from behind them, "If we win we get it; if you win you get it."

"Hey guys," Dutchy greeted as soon as he came into the old warehouse they always used for smoking together. "Is Sean here yet?"

"No. I'm tempted to start smoking without him though," Bumlets replied, breaking up the weed they were going to be smoking while taking the seeds and stems out at the same time.

"Yeah, what the fuck kept you?" Skittery asked from Itey's lap. It might have looked cute if Skittery didn't cuss all the time to warn people off of making fun of him and if Itey didn't have one of his hands down the other boy's pants.

"I ran into someone," Dutchy shrugged, finding it even easier than normal to ignore Skittery and Itey's position. "Remember Specs?"

"You ran into Specs? And he kept you long enough to make you late?" Bumlets asked, clear disbelief in his voice, "Bullshit."

"Yeah. And he told me he wasn't gay and isn't going out with David," Dutchy replied. "He was freaking out about it."

"That's kind of late, isn't it? That rumor's been circulating around for quite awhile, hasn't it? I heard about it months ago," Itey spoke up, acting like he didn't have his hand down his fuck-buddy's pants.

Their conversation was stopped by footsteps and they turned around to see Sean.

"A warehouse? How cliché," Sean remarked, walking over to the group with a smirk on his face as he took one of the empty beaten up lawn chairs.

"It's better than nothing," Bumlets shrugged, finally lighting up now that everyone was there.

Sean shrugged as he grabbed the bowl from Bumlets and lit up before he dimly wondered why he had decided to meet with them. Mentally shaking his head at his thoughts he decided he really didn't care and started to try to get himself as high as possible.

"Jack! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Swifty shouted as his friend got another split, "That's the third time in a row you've done that!"

"Stop complaining. We're still winning," Jack pointed out.

"Yeah, no thanks to you," Swifty argued right back, "Jesus, you couldn't get a strike to save your life."

"You willing to put twenty bucks on that statement?" Jack asked.

"I'm willing to put twenty bucks and my reputation on that statement," Swifty raised.

"Reputation? Fine, I'll call," Jack agreed. "The terms?"

"If you can't get a strike this entire game you have to admit to the whole school that you're only good at sports that could double as foreplay," Swifty challenged.

"And if I do get a strike (which, by the way, I will) then you have to admit to the school that when you watch sports that could double as foreplay you undress the guys with your eyes," Jack decided.

"Deal," Swifty agreed.

"This is going to be interesting," Jack replied as he grabbed another bowling ball in an attempt to go for a spare, "I can't wait until you tell Masson."

"I can't wait until you tell Sarah," Swifty rephrased.

"Do you guys make bets like this often?" Blink asked with curiosity.

"Not usually; we normally just stick to money," Jack explained before throwing his ball down the lane.

"The stakes are higher than ever before," Swifty announced in a deep and serious voice, "Will Jack Kelly survive telling the school he's gay? Will the school still look at him the same way?"

"…The world may never know," Jack continued in the same voice, "because it is impossible for Jack Kelly to lose this bet."

Swifty snorted, dropping his fake voice, "Yeah, and then dog crap will fall from the sky and bums will suddenly search for work."

"Thanks for having so much faith," Jack replied sarcastically as his ball hit one pin but left the other standing upright.

"So…when are you two getting together?" Swifty asked, shifting the conversation to Blink and Mush.

"Getting together?" Mush asked with confusion.

"Yeah, getting together," Swifty tried to explain, "Like…become boyfriends…have that whole I-love-you-no-I-love-you-more argument…you know, get together."

"We're best friends; becoming boyfriends would just be...awkward," Blink pointed out, grabbing his bowling ball and hurling it down the lane. "And what makes you think we'd get together anyway?"

"Hey man, it's happening," Swifty tried to convince, "First Itey and Skittery, then Specs and David…it's only a matter of time before you two decide that fucking each other would be a good idea."

"Yeah? And when are you and Jack going to get together then?" Blink asked as if he had just found a loophole in the other boy's logic.

"We already have," Swifty answered without missing a beat, "but it didn't work out; fortunately we were able to salvage what little relationship we had left and stay friends."

"Bullshit," Blink snorted, "That would have been all over the school."

"I never really saw David and Specs getting together," Mush interrupted, "They don't seem to have any real chemistry for that type of a relationship."

Swifty shrugged, not really caring, "I only know what I heard, and if school gossip says that you two should be getting together soon I'm not going to disbelieve it; gossip queens always seem to know everything before even the people involved do."

"I have no intention of dating my best friend," Blink answered.

"And yet it's going to happen. Weird, huh?" Swifty replied before taking his turn.