- Chapter 76 - Newsie Tips 101: Don't Get Lost or Separated in Alleyways/Back Alleys -
Warnings: Abuse, kidnapping?
Third Person POV
Race bounced ahead of Sling, grinning. "Fifteen more papes and I'm done for the day!" he exclaimed, beaming.
Sling rolled his eyes. "Thirty-three more papes and I'm done," he grumbled.
Race stopped bouncing, laughing as he patted Sling's shoulder. "Don't worry, Sling," he started, a reassuring smile on his face.
Sling smiled back, only noticing Race's smirk a second too late.
"Not everyone can be as good of a seller as I am." Race grinned smugly.
Sling rolled his eyes, muttering curses under his breath. He should've seen that one coming.
Race laughed.
The two boys started heading to Sheepshead again.
When they got there, Race pulled a paper out of his bag and waved it above his head. "Extra, extra! Read all about it!" he shouted. "Historical news is being made!"
(A/N, the flashbacks that line gives me lol. No thanks.)
Sling looked over at him. He raised an eyebrow at him, amused. "Historical news?"
Race shrugged, handing a man a paper. "You never know." He slipped the penny into his bag. "It could be historical news one day."
Sling just shrugged and started waving his paper above his head again.
"Extra, extra!" Race shouted, waving his paper around. "Sheepshead Races' results, scores, and more!"
A man chuckled, walking over to Race. "And what is new at the Races, Racer?" he questioned.
Race looked up at him, a smile making its way onto his face. "Wouldn't you know that, John?" he asked knowingly. "I mean, you are the owner." He chuckled.
John held his hand out as he chuckled. "I want to see what you know about Sheepshead, see if I made the right choice letting you sell here."
"The majority of what Race talks about—have a good day, Ma'am—" Sling tipped his hat to a woman as she walked off with a paper, "—is Sheepshead and Poker, sir. You couldn't have chosen a better Newsie," he told him.
Both Race and John smiled.
"In fact," Sling looked over at them, "half of Race's older and male customers come to him because he can give them the updates on the Races."
John chuckled, looking back at Race.
Race shrugged. "It's my thing."
John chuckled again. "One paper and an update on Number 7 please." He handed Race a dime.
Race handed him a paper. "Number 7 will be back in the Races come next Summer, which has caused some anger within the community of people who like them and they are now falsely accusing others of purposely hurting number 7," he explained as he slipped the dime into his pocket.
John nodded, satisfied. "Nice job. I might have to hire you when you're old enough." He smiled.
Race nodded. "Have a good day, John." He tipped his hat to him
John nodded back and walked back inside the Sheepshead Races building.
Race turned back to face Sling, a grin breaking through his poker face.
Sling rolled his eyes fondly. "Can't you be bad at something?" he grumbled.
Race laughed. "I'm bad at lots of things," he responded, shrugging it off.
Sling shot him a look. "Liar."
"I'm not lying."
"Yes, you are."
"I'm not lying, Sling."
"That's what a liar says, Racetrack."
Race ignored him, waving his paper over his head and shouting out headlines again. "False accusations arise as Sheepshead announces Number 7 will be out until next Summer!"
Sling rolled his eyes, turning back to start selling.
"The World and The Sun Newspapers fight getting so bad, people are saying they're at war!"
"Girl found after running away!"
Sling looked over at Race, raising an eyebrow.
Race opened the paper to show him.
The actual headline was 'Two-year-old wanders into park alone. Parents panic'.
Sling laughed.
Race snickered to himself. He closed the paper and went back to selling.
Later in the day
Race followed Sling down the streets of Brooklyn.
After Race finished selling and waited a good amount of time for Sling to finish, Sling said they had to go somewhere before they could go back to the Brooklyn Lodge.
"Sling!" Race whined a bit. "Where are we going? I really just want cuddles from my boyfriend and to sleep for hours."
Sling chuckled softly, walking slightly ahead of Race. "We have to get food," he informed him. "Chris mentioned earlier that we were out of bread, he gave me some extra money today to get some." He smirked a bit. "I thought you would be excited to have a little more time outside of the lodge," he taunted.
Race glared at him. "No need to be annoying," he grumbled.
Sling chuckled. "Plus, you should probably have some of the bread," he stated.
Race shook his head, sticking his tongue out in disgust. "I'm not hungry."
Sling looked at him, a bit concerned.
Race ignored the pity in his gaze, catching up to Sling so he was now walking next to him instead of behind him.
"Do you know any back-alleys to get to the store faster?" Sling asked Race, looking over at him.
Race nodded. He paused and looked around, before walking towards an alleyway in between two buildings. "Come on, this one is pretty quick."
Sling quickly followed him into the alleyway.
Race slipped behind two buildings, Sling still following.
It was sort of a tight fit, but both boys could make it through fine.
Race lead Sling back down another alley, walking in between two buildings and behind another two buildings.
"Man," Sling looked around in awe, "these would be good hiding places," he commented.
Race nodded in agreement. "They are," he responded, though he was a bit more focused on where to go than on what Sling was saying
"And the fact that you know where this is is amazing." Sling added.
Race nodded absentmindedly.
After a moment, Sling's footsteps stopped.
Race stopped when he realized. He turned around, expecting to see Sling there.
There was no one.
No Sling.
No signs of Sling.
Panic flooded through Race's body as he turned back around, trying to find Sling.
Someone was in front of him when he turned around.
Race's eyes widened.
Impulse smiled snidely. "Night, night." He whacked him over the head with a bat.
Race was out before he hit the ground.
Impulse scoffed as he stares down at Race. "Extra, extra," he mocked him, "something happened and now Racer is in danger." He rolled his eyes.
A deep chuckle echoed through the alleyway as Revenge walked toward him, his arms crossed. "Good job." He smirked as he looked down at Race.
Impulse nodded, throwing his bat across the alleyway.
"Phase one completed."
1134 Words
Oops, I did it again.