Disclaimer: This is a non-commercial work of fanfiction. Anything recognizable from Newsies belongs to Disney and not to me.


Chapter 131: Too Swift, Too Slow

"Remind me again why we're going to this?"

Les rolled his eyes at his older brother, who was dragging his feet as they walked down the street in the direction of the newsboy lodging house.

"Because Romeo invited us to come, and because Mom told me that you need to go have some fun," he explained. "She said that she doesn't like to see you moping around."

"I haven't been moping." David's tone was defensive. "I just have a lot on my mind."

Les gave him an unimpressed look. "What do you have to be worried about? You already passed your exams at school, Dad's operation was successful, and he's going to be back on his feet soon, and you've been selling more papers than ever these last few days. There's nothing to be worried about!"

"I didn't say I was worried. I said I had a lot on my mind."

"So stop thinking for one afternoon and just have a little fun instead!" Les exclaimed, perplexed (not for the first time), by his brother's persistent desire to linger in the doldrums.

"From what you were describing, this gathering doesn't sound fun at all," David remarked. "If Romeo's really so passionate about Valentine's Day, why doesn't he just go on a date with his sweetheart instead of getting together every year with a bunch of boys he already sees every day?"

"That's the point of it, David," Les emphasized. "He doesn't have a sweetheart. He needs moral support and consolation from others who are in the same boat."

"So he's making all of us who are unattached get together on Valentine's Day for the sole purpose of highlighting that we're just as solitary as he is so that he can feel less sorry for himself?" David shot back sourly.

Les nodded.

"Doesn't that disqualify you for attendance?" his brother pointed out. "You've got a girl. You're not unattached."

"I was assigned to make sure that you came," Les replied, unable to keep the self-importance out of his voice. "And besides, Jack's going to be there, too, so I don't think the 'unattached' rule is a hard and fast thing. Maybe those of us who've won at the game of love ought to give the rest of you sorry suckers some advice."

"I really don't think this is going to do anything to improve my mood," David muttered. "And you'd probably have a lot more fun without me."

Les could see the stubborn refusal growing in his brother's eyes and quickened his pace. He'd promised Romeo that they would be there, and needed to make sure that he kept his word.

"What if I drop you off at the lodging house and then come back to pick you up later?" came David's suggestion. "You can have fun with the newsies, and I'll go home to read for a few hours. Having some time to myself would make me a lot happier than attending Romeo's sob-fest. In fact, that sounds a lot more like moping than what I've been doing at home, so I'm sure that Mom wouldn't want me to go to this gathering if she's actually worried about lifting my mood."

Trust David to find a loophole, Les thought.

"It's not going to just be a sob-fest," he contended. "Race told me that he only goes for the free treats. He said that Romeo blows all of his money on half-off candy at the confectionery so that he can drown his sorrows in sweets for one day, and he always buys way too much for himself, so the rest of the boys get to eat it, too."

"That might be a good enough incentive for Race, but not for me," David replied.

Before he could protest further (or Les could think of a way to goad him into compliance), however, the sound of familiar voices was heard, and Romeo, Mush, and Buttons appeared only a stone's throw away, exiting from a store up the street with bags in their hands.

Romeo caught sight of them and grinned.

"Heya Davey, Les!" he called out, sounding unusually chipper for someone who was on his way to having, as David had so bluntly termed it, a "sob-fest." "You headin' to the lodgin' house? We was just goin' that way, too!" He held up his paper sack. "Scored big on some day-old sweets at the confectionery, so we's gonna eat well tonight, and I got more than enough to go around!"

"Actually," David cleared his throat, "I wasn't planning on - "

" - eating any candy," Les interrupted forcefully. "He's deathly allergic to it. Sours his stomach something awful."

His brother gave him a disbelieving look, but before he could call out the blatant lie, Mush interjected.

"Hey, that's all right, Davey. Specs is allergic to some of this stuff, too. It ain't nothin' to be embarrassed about." He smiled. "We's just happy you's gonna join us. It ain't the same without ya."

The sincere, heartfelt statement effectively silenced whatever objection David had been about to make, and Les saw his brother's shoulders droop in defeat as the group continued down the street, any remaining hope spending a quiet evening at home completely dashed by Mush's well-meaning words of inclusion.

Better luck next time, David, Les thought smugly.

"So, how was your date with Sally, Short Stack?" Romeo asked, clapping Les on the shoulder.

"Swell!" Les declared, not even minding the nickname (or the irony of Romeo using it) in his eagerness to boast about his girl. "We shared a cold custard and a rootbeer float at Lenzi's, and she said it was the most romantic date she's ever been on. I even paid out of my own pocket money, and after it was over, she gave me a kiss!"

Romeo sighed, a wistful, melancholy look coming over his face. "Ain't that just the sweetest thing," he murmured, starting to choke up. "Such a pretty picture. A pity some of us don't have that kinda luck…"

"Hold it together there, Rome," Mush interjected soothingly, patting the younger newsie gently on the back. "If you's gonna start cryin', at least wait 'till we get to the lodgin' house, all right? You's gonna turn into a blubberin' puddle right here on the street, and that ain't real good for a fella's image, if you know what I mean."

Romeo gave an audible sniff, but he nodded, managing to keep himself from digressing completely into sentimental tears. Mush and Buttons continued consoling him as they made their way down the street, and Les found himself once again walking next to his older brother, who was observing the proceedings with an unreadable expression. It made Les wonder if David was mostly glum about attending the gathering at the lodging house because of its purported intention, or if it was because David was more or less averse to having fun in general.

Either cause seemed equally valid at first. The loud and boisterous newsies, Les knew, occasionally tried his older brother's equanimity, but David had been growing more and more accustomed to them as the months had passed. He'd gotten closer to the boys in his reading group, too, and clearly enjoyed spending time with them, so maybe it wasn't just the fact that this was going to be a large group gathering that was making David so morose about attending. Maybe it was because he actually didn't want to be reminded that he was without a sweetheart on Valentine's Day.

A year or even six months ago it would have been a far-fetched conjecture in Les' opinion; for as long as he could remember, his brother had maintained what seemed to be an unflagging indifference to romance, far more taken by his books and his big ideas than by any of the girls in class (and uniformly oblivious to even the few who had attempted to catch his eye). Les had never understood it; most of the boys he knew, including himself and all of his friends, were fascinated by girls on a regular basis, but David had always been rather obtuse in that regard.

At least, he had been…until he'd crossed paths with a certain playful brunette.

Ever since the conversation with Jack several weeks ago regarding David's weakness for Sadie, a seed of curiosity had been growing in Les' mind. Previously, he'd only viewed his brother's suppressed infatuation as something to be leveraged, both as a means of teasing and as potential fodder for blackmail, but he'd never considered the possibility of anything romantic actually developing between David and the landlord's daughter, mostly because he assumed that the latter would have no interest in such a notion. Jack, however, seemed to have a much more positive outlook on the situation, and as Les had pondered the matter more, he'd realized that such an arrangement - unlikely though it was - could actually be beneficial in more ways than one.

David, for one thing, was noticeably happier whenever Sadie was around, so it stood to reason that his good mood would improve even further if the girl in question became his sweetheart...and Les knew that the advent of a happy (and more importantly, an occupied and distracted) David would result in far less overbearing older brother supervision, which would be a welcome relief.

Accordingly, Les had taken it upon himself to do some investigating when he'd gotten a chance to speak with Sadie alone. His opportunity had been brief, and she'd brushed off his attempts to ascertain exactly how she felt about David, but Les was unruffled by his lack of success, for she hadn't written off David completely, so maybe Jack was right, and there was still hope.

At any rate, despite the fact that David was clearly reluctant to be going to this gathering at the lodging house, it would probably do him some good. A little bit of forced reflection on how much he could stand to gain by acting on his feelings rather than denying them might provide the necessary impetus for a confession, and if nothing else, Les and the more romantically-adept boys could give him some pointers on how to win over a girl (something Les was sure that his brother hadn't the smallest inkling of how to approach).

Pleased at the prospect (in addition to the chance that he knew he'd have to brag about his date with Sally), Les sauntered down the street with spring in his step, eager to arrive at the lodging house so that the fun could commence.

David really was lucky to have such a thoughtful younger brother looking out for him, whether he acknowledged it or not.


"Hey, pass that bag 'round here!" Race called out, beckoning for the paper sack that by now was only half full of candy. The other newsies obliged, handing over the bag, and the gambler eagerly rifled through its contents to fish out his favorites.

"You's liable to rot your teeth if you keep munchin' like that, Racer," Jack jibed from where he was lounging next to Mush on the latter's bunk bed. "Surprised you ain't turned into a big piece of taffy yourself with all the sugar you've been eatin' the last half hour."

"This here's the reason why I got such a sweet personality!" Race declared, gesturing with his handful of candies before shamelessly popping one into his mouth. "You oughta try it sometime, Jacky - heaven knows you could stand to be a little less sour."

Jack shook his head, smiling in spite of himself. It had been the same story each year since Romeo had started this Valentine's Day tradition: the lovelorn newsie would spend all of his money on sweets in an attempt to drown his sorrows in sugary distraction, and Race would eat his way through more than his fair share of the haul during the gathering that followed, where the rest of the newsies would gather to console (or in some cases, covertly amuse themselves by observing) their downcast brother as he bemoaned his inexplicable status as a single fellow.

This year the lodging house felt especially full - a few of the boys were absent, but most of them had elected to join the festivities (if you could call it that). Some, like Jack, actually did have sweethearts whom they were planning to celebrate with, but since the holiday fell in the middle of the week, many had planned to defer their observance to the coming weekend. The newest members of their company, Tucker and the Jacobs brothers, were also on hand, though Les was the only one who looked like he was even remotely enjoying what was transpiring.

Romeo, true to form, started off the proceedings with an overdramatic lament for himself and his fellow brothers who were bereft of sweethearts, a plaint replete with what Jack was sure had to be slightly-misquoted if not completely butchered references to Shakespeare (judging by the pained look on Davey's face, as well as the bewilderment in the other newsies' expressions). Romeo was nominally familiar with the play from which he'd derived his newsie name, but clearly his memory of the specifics could use a refresher. Despite this, his antics were heartily amusing to Race, who was listening to the malarkey with an unconcealed merriment as he popped taffy after taffy into his mouth, occasionally letting out a quiet snort-laugh when an especially inane turn of phrase tickled his fancy. (Romeo, however, was far too caught up in his own dramatics to notice).

This went on for several moments until the younger newsie finally reached the end of his address.

"...and so we's gathered here on this evenin' to mourn our pitiful lot in life," he concluded, pressing a hand to his heart as his eyes welled up with tears, "and to soldier on, manfully facin' our despair side by side, as under love's heavy burden we...do...stink."*

The dramatic completion of the speech and Romeo's accompanying look of despondency elicited a modest smattering of applause, Race clapping the loudest and calling for an encore, a request which Romeo probably would have been more than happy to oblige if he wasn't so eager to get to the next part of the night, where the actual "lamenting" would begin, and the floor would be open for any of the boys to share about their relationship troubles or lack of success in love while the rest of the lodging house offered consolation or advice. Jack was usually one of the more vocal contributors to the latter category, being one of the older newsies and having better-than-average experience (if not necessarily success) with girls besides. Most of the other boys were primarily sympathetic listeners (Race, again, being one of the few notable exceptions), though occasionally a few of them would offer up a pointer or two. Romeo, as both the unofficial moderator and the party most invested in the subject, generally dominated the conversation, despite the fact that he actually had very little experiential knowledge or helpful advice to offer on the subject.

This year's gathering proved to be no exception: Romeo opened the discussion, exhorting those gathered to not hold back their feelings, and a few of the newsies good-naturedly obliged (more out of a willingness to humor the younger newsie than anything else, Jack suspected). The first few confessions were fairly simple, with Buttons and Elmer sharing some relatively straightforward disclosures followed by Romeo and an eager Les chiming in in response and then Jack offering a few casual remarks in an attempt to balance out the other two's rather juvenile if earnest perspectives.

However, when Mush spoke up, things began to get interesting. The newsie in question had struck up an acquaintance with a girl he'd met at an ice cream social that he'd snuck his way into several weeks ago, and apparently they had gone on a few dates, but since then, things had stalled a bit. Mush wanted to move forward, but he was unsure of how to do so, especially since his prospective lady love was rather demure when it came to expressing her feelings.

Romeo was quick off the blocks with his advice.

"Methinks you need to handle her like a real man, Mushy," he drawled. "It's easy: all you gotta do is get her alone, say some real sweet things, then get in all close and give her a good kiss. She probably thinks you ain't serious about her, and that's why she's playin' hard to get."

Mush looked unconvinced. "I dunno," he said hesitantly. "Seems like it might be a little too soon for that. I ain't even sure if she likes me that much or not. This could be the kinda thing that don't go both ways."

"Well sure it don't go both ways, not with that kinda attitude!" Romeo chided. "You gotta be bold! Swoop in and sweep her off her feet. Like I said, she probably just needs a good smoochin'. You wanna kiss her, right?"

"Well...yeah."

"And she agreed to goin' out with you, didn't she?"

"Uh huh."

"So what's the hangup?" Romeo demanded, clearly unable to understand the other newsie's reticence to accept such a simple solution. "It's just a kiss - go on and take what's yours! It couldn't hurt to try it, right?"

"Actually, I don't think that's true," Davey suddenly spoke up.

All eyes turned to stare at him, for he'd said hardly a word the entire evening, and the collective attention flustered him for a moment, but then he sat up a little straighter and cleared his throat before the words came tumbling out.

"I'm not trying to say anything definitive about Mush's situation - I don't know the girl, and I don't know what's going on in her mind - but in general I don't think you can assume that just because someone's gone out with you once or twice that it's fine to kiss them whenever you want - not unless you're sure that they're ready for it, too."

"Most girls ain't gonna just come out and say it, you know," Romeo pointed out. "That's why you gotta make the first move. Girls like fellas who're confident and know what they want."

Davey hesitated. "I suppose that's true...but..."

"But you's tellin' Mushy he oughta be scared of a simple little kiss."

"Not to be scared," Davey clarified. "Just to be careful. Some girls might not mind, but others might, and it can't hurt to err on the side of caution and talk about it first if you're not sure where they stand - "

"Oh, yeah, and completely kill the romantic mood while you's at it," Romeo scoffed. "How would you know what gals want, anyway? You ain't got a sweetheart. You ain't even got any sisters."

Davey faltered again, whatever point he'd been about to make derailed by his qualifications being suddenly called into question.

"I think you's out of your league," Romeo continued. "You's probably the type of fella who's so stuffy that he wouldn't even notice a pretty girl walkin' by if his life depended on it."

"I really don't think that invalidates my point," Davey insisted.

"Don'tcha think you oughta step aside, though, seein' as this is the kinda thing you know nothin' about?" Romeo raised an eyebrow.

"Well..." Davey floundered. "Actually, I..." He trailed off, struggling to formulate an answer, and Jack was about to step in to divert the conversation, when Davey suddenly blurted out,

"I have been kissed before when I didn't want to be. So I do know something about it. Not in the romantic sense - but in the sense that I don't think it's nothing. In some cases, maybe it wouldn't be a problem, but in other cases, it probably would, and I don't think you can assume that it's fine to go ahead just because you're ready for it and you want it. Not when the other person might not be ready. Not when the decision affects them, too."

The lodging house fell silent as Davey abruptly ended his outburst, and Jack saw Les' mouth drop open in disbelief.

Romeo was the first to recover his ability to speak.

"A girl made the first move on you and kissed you?" he exclaimed. Letting out a whistle of admiration, he shook his head. "Geez, maybe you's a lot less stuffy than I thought!"

"It wasn't like that," Davey amended quickly. "It was for a bet - a joke. She didn't even know my name."

"So who cares if she don't? A kiss is a kiss, right?"

Davey shook his head. "Not in this case."

"Oh, so you's picky, that's all."

"No! No, that's not -" Davey cut himself off, and Jack could tell that he was struggling even more than usual to explain himself. "It's just that I didn't want it, and it didn't feel right - "

"'Feel right?'" Romeo echoed in disbelief. "It probably didn't 'feel right' 'cause you was too busy bein' all uptight about it and couldn't enjoy the moment." He shook his head, chuckling in disbelief. "No wonder you ain't got a girl, Davey! You's a prig, ya know that?"

Jack expected Davey to wing back a defensive retort, but instead the other newsie said nothing, a look of dismay flickering across his face as an awkward silence descended again upon the lodging house.

For a moment, it was utterly quiet and still.

Several of the boys shifted uneasily in their places.

Then Race's overly-cheery voice broke the silence.

"So, ah…what do you bummers say we start a round of poker?"

The others quickly agreed, and the chatter and ambient noise resumed, most of the boys eager to move past the curtailed conversation.

Once the group's attention was diverted, however, Jack saw Davey quietly get to his feet and make his way out of the room, the sound of his footsteps completely lost in the boisterous noise of the newsies, who didn't even notice him disappearing down the stairs.

Jack hesitated for a moment, then rose to follow him.


A/N: We are taking the scenic route through Angstville, a rather large precinct along the winding road of Character Development - sorry, friends. One question: Would you like me to start putting summaries at the beginning of each chapter to remind you of where we're at in the story? It wasn't something that I felt was necessary when I was updating every week/every other week (and it won't be necessary for someone reading this straight through), but now that life has required me to slow down on writing and posting, I'm realizing that it might be hard to keep track of all the plot threads for those of you reading installment-by-installment. Please let me know what you think. I'd be happy to start doing this if it would be helpful.

Props to you if you remembered the incident that Davey refers to in this chapter (he told Sadie about it seventy-something installments ago, so if you forgot about it in the meantime, I don't blame you). I promise that this chapter - and the conversation to come between Jack and Davey - will matter, even if they seem a little out of left field right now. Thank you for hanging in there; all four or five of you brave souls who are still persevering have my deepest, most heartfelt gratitude and respect (and a huge huge thank you to the folks who have been reviewing, too! Your words mean a lot to me!). :)

Until next time, gracious readers!

Notes:

*Romeo at this juncture incorrectly paraphrases a quote from Romeo and Juliet (Act 1 Scene 4): "Under love's heavy burden do I sink."