One-Shots!

Newsies: 1899 Sucks

"Crutchie..."

"Please" Crutchie's voice cracked and he knew he was close to tears "Leave it"

Jack sighed and pulled Crutchie into a hug "I love you"

Crutchie didn't reply.

------

That night Crutchie went straight to the roof. Having to talk to Jack was inevitable, but he wanted to delay it as long as possible.

Jack wandered up to the roof a few hours later and looked at Crutchie in concern "You look cold" Jack grabbed a blanket off the makeshift bed and draped it over Crutchie's shoulders before sitting down a little farther away then usual. Crutchie remained silent and Jack started fidgeting a little. Jack didn't like silence, it brought back too many memories from the Refuge. He always had to fill it "Look Charlie. I'm really sorry if I did something wrong. I would never mean to hurt you and I hope you know that" Jack searched Crutchie's eyes and he nodded "You can ask me to leave and that's fine I will, but I miss you and I want to talk"

"It's not your fault" Crutchie took a shaky breath and looked at Jack "I just had a bad day and you were making it worse" Jack opened his mouth presumably to apologize but Crutchie didn't give him the chance "It wasn't anything bad. It just-" Crutchie thought about how to phrase it "Sometimes it feels like you're babying me. I know my leg is bad, but it really isn't that bad"

"I'm really sorry" Jack looked down at his feet and leaned a little farther away "I just want to help"

"Jackie-" Crutchie sighed. Now he felt really bad "There's just stuff I need to do myself" Crutchie leaned against Jack's shoulder "I guess what Morris said really got to me"

"He doesn't know anything" Jack argued. He rested his hand in Crutchie's hair and stroked it softly.

"But he's right. You can't always be there" As much as Crutchie didn't want to think about it, there would have to be a time when Jack wasn't there. They couldn't be newsies forever.

"Yes I can" Jack objected "I always want to be there for you"

"But you can't" Crutchie sighed and tapped the ground with his crutch "I'll just hold you back"

"What?!" Jack exclaimed "Crutchie-"

Crutchie cut him off sadly "It's true" Crutchie patted his shoulder and put on a fake smile "I'm going to bed"

Jack looked after him helplessly. Crutchie wasn't useless, he was the most important person in Jack's life and he was important to the newsies. All the younger newsies like Boots and Pages looked up to him. They needed to find a way to make him see that.

When Jack finally returned to the mattress Crutchie was already fast asleep. Jack took his usual position curled around Crutchie's side and leaned up to whisper in his ear "I'm going to prove how much you matter to me, and everyone" Before drifting off to sleep.

------

When Crutchie woke up Jack was already gone. Judging by the sun Crutchie guessed it was around seven am. He got ready for the day slowly before starting down the stairs. When he got to the kitchen he was stopped by Pages pulling on his arm "Crutchie"

Crutchie stopped and sat down so he was face to face with the little newsie "What's up?"

"I need your help" Pages said "Can you fix my hair, everyone else left"

Crutchie realized that Pages was holding a hair bush and that their hair was sticking in every direction "Of course. How do you want it today?"

Pages thought for a second "Can you braid it?"

"Perfect" Crutchie started brushing out Pages' long hair. It was relaxing and reminded him of home, when he would braid his sisters hair before school.

After a few minutes Pages had a neat braid down their back and a smile on their face "Thanks Crutchie"

"My pleasure" Crutchie dropped the hat on Pages' head "Wanna walk with me to the circulation gate?"

"Yes!" Pages shot out the door and when Crutchie caught up they were waiting impatiently on the front step.

"Do you know if anyone is still in there?" Crutchie pointed back at the lodging house

Pages thought for a second "Specs is sick and Romeo is staying to help him get better"

"You sure?" Pages gave a nod and Crutchie closed the door without locking it. Kloppman had a rule that if no one was in the lodging house someone had to lock the door. It was slightly pointless because the key was always under the mat.

Once they got close enough to the circulation gate Pages set off on a sprint. By the time Crutchie got there Pages was already half way through the line. Crutchie went to join them but was stopped by a hand on his arm.

"Crutchie" Jack was standing behind him holding his papers and a flower. "Can we talk"

"Jack" Crutchie was actually happy to see Jack something about helping Pages had put him in a much better mood. "I'm sorry about yesterday"

"You don't have anything to be sorry about" Jack handed Crutchie the flower "I want to show you how much you matter"

"I think Pages mighta beat you to it" Crutchie apologized.

"Really?" Jack's face was a mix of disappointed and relived.

"Yeah," Crutchie pulled Jack closer and kissed him.

"I had a whole speech prepared" Jack pouted

"You can tell me the whole thing later" Crutchie promised.

"It was all about how much I love you and stuff" Jack wrapped his arm around Crutchie's waist "It was going to be epic" Jack turned to where the newsies were getting papers "You ruined my plan Pages!"

Pages shrugged and stuck their tongue out. Crutchie laughed and poked Jack in the side "Nice try Jackie"

"I'm telling you the whole speech tonight" Jack promised.

"I'm looking forward to it" They went to get their papers, and the rest of the day went by without a problem.

A/n: One down. I love Crutchie/small children, or even any character, little kids in fan fiction are usually great. Pages is totally non-binary even if they didn't really have a word for it in 1899. (Disclaimer: I do no historical research when writing so that may be wrong)

I hope you all had a good week! I can't wait for school to end! Vote, comment and leave suggestions!