The crutch that ain't under my arm (Crutchie x Jack)

Chapter 12

As soon as Race fell into Jack's arms, everyone crowded around them. 

"Hey! Give some space, come on clear out!" Jack shouted over all the noise of people talking and gossiping about the scene playing out before them. 

"Specs, help me bring him to a bed." Jack nodded over at him.

They moved Race over to a bed, which happened to be Crutchie's, but he didn't mind. Race's was towards the complete other side of the room.

Right after he was set down, Race started blinking heavily. He moved to sit up, but Jack gently pushed him back down on the pillow. "Hey, you should rest!"

Race pushed himself up. "no... NO I'VE GOT TO DO SOMETHING!" 

He jumped off the bed and up on his feet. He brought his hands up to his hair in stress, messing it up more than it already was- if that was even possible.

Race paced, facing away from everyone and mumbled to himself  "do something... do something... jack..." 

Everyone stayed away from him, almost in fear. Race's eyes were wide and bloodshot from crying. 

Crutchie cautiously walked over to Race. "I'm sure it'll be okay." He put his hand on Race's shoulder, "Why don't you calm dow-"

"dON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" Race pushed Crutchie back, accidentally knocking him over, his crutch falling to the ground with a clang. Jack instantly shot up and helped Crutchie to his feet. 

Race screamed loud and fell to his knees. He started sobbing again, completely enraged "SEAN, SEANY!" He cried into his hands like a little kid. "my baby" he said in a pitiful, teary voice. 

"Who's Sean?" Albert asked Jack.

"Uhh." Jack and Crutchie shared a look. 

"Yeah, I ain't heard of no-one named Sean." Specks shook his head.

Race turned around and looked at Specks, "That's because you don't care."

"NONE OF YOU EVEN CARED ABOUT HIM!" He motioned to the group of newsies huddled together in the middle of the room.

"If any of you looked past what you saw, you'd know." Race wiped his nose.

"An then wit' support, he'd be able to know he could tell his newsies tu knock it off an' then he'd show them that it's okay an' then they'd shut down that stupid refuge together an'..." He said all this really quickly, so most didn't catch any of it.

He whispered to his self, "an' then my spotty would be back." 

Race turned to Jack, shaking his head in desperation, "Jack, we's gotta do something. We's gottta." 

He looked so pitiful with his messed up clothes and hair and bloodshot, pained eyes, that Jack almost started crying too. "W-what even happened." Jack swallowed a lump.

Race backed up and looked at everyone. "They's got Spot. In that new refuge, they's got him."  

"Yeah, but what do you care?" Romeo asked, causing Jack to shoot him a death glare.

Race's face flared up with anger, and he whipped around to stare at Romeo, walking towards him. "Did you ever pull your head out of your ASS for ONE MINUTE tu think that maybe, I'm not single?" His voice cracked at the end of the sentence.

Race pushed through the other newsies to his bed, lied down facing the wall, and started crying, just out of pure sadness like a baby crying for it's mother.

All the other newsies cleared out to their own bunks, but they still watching the scene. Jack walked over to Race, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Race. We'll get him out, I promise." Jack sniffled and wiped a tear. "Jus' not tonight." He paused again. "We has to come up with a plan, alright?" 

Race nodded after a few seconds, so Jack patted the boy's shoulder before retreating. He shot all the other newsies a glare, causing them to look away and go back to talking or starting to go to sleep.

Jack motioned for Crutchie to come out and join him, so he obliged, following out the window after him.

 They both sat out on the rooftop in silence for a while. Jack was sitting with his knees up, and his hands in his hair propping his head up. He always felt like all of the newsies' problems fell onto him to solve, and he was fine with that, but it wore him out after a while.

Crutchie eventually spoke, "Jack..."

Jack's head raised and he looked over at Crutchie, tears streaming down his face. Crutchie scooted over and hugged Jack tight. They stayed like that again for a while, Jack crying as Crutchie held him. 

It didn't matter how annoyed Crutchie was at Jack about their situation. What mattered most was that Jack was okay. Above all, they were friends, best friends, and that overtook everything. The most important thing to Crutchie was Jack, and he could tell that in that moment with intense clarity.

As Crutchie held him, Jack realised, having similar thoughts, that he didn't have any idea what he'd do without Crutchie. 

"I can't help but think..." Jack wiped his nose. "What if it was you they took. It could have just as easilyhave been."

Jack looked over at Crutchie who was staring at him, in all of his perfection with a caring look, his face lit just so by the moon. 

In that moment, everything that Jack was confused about didn't matter anymore. It all made sense suddenly, or perhaps it just all went away. 

"I..." Jack hugged Crutchie, his hand bringing the smaller boy's head to his chest. "I won't let you go. I love you too much." 

"You... love me?" Crutchie's eyes widened.

"Yeah. I do." Jack separated the hug and looked into Crutchie's eyes. "I'm sure of it, now more than ever."

"I thoughts you was just doin' it for sympathy." Crutchie said quietly.

"No... No, I was jus' confused..." He put his hands out in front of him, motioning for emphasis, looking away. "I.. I never thoughts I could end up with a boy, but you..." 

He looked back at Crutchie, shaking his head. "You's different. You's special."

"I love you." Jack pleaded for Crutchie to believe him, his voice cracking.

"Really?" Crutchie asked, still a little shocked.

"Yeah. An' I can say that now an' know fo sure." Jack shook his head. "I never felt like this with no one else before."

Crutchie felt his heart start beating and his breath stop. This was like a dream come true. He never thought he'd be hearing this.

Jack took the smaller boy's hands. "Charlie, will you be my boyfriend?"

Crutchie's mouth hung open. He nodded at first, then quietly said, "Yes."

Jack smiled wide and held Crutchie's face, kissing his forehead like he was the most precious thing there ever was. They were able to forget about why they'd been crying earlier and the pressure put on Jack.

 It was time for Jack to finally be happy, and it was time for Crutchie to fully recover from his stay in the refuge. 

Although, maybe Jack hadn't fully healed yet either. Perhaps one could say, it was time for them to heal each other.

Either way, it marked a significant moment in both of the boys' lives. Unbenonced to them, it was the next step in the domino effect that would be the exact reason for writing this. Was it was for better or for worse? Well, that's for fate decide and for you to find out.

Okay, I know this chapter is a bit jumpy in the mood, but that's on purpose. The next chapters might come across as cliche or as unrealistic, but bear with me, you will find out why by the end.

Word count: 1208