See, I kinda did a little something weird here. We'll figure it out. Anyway. Enjoy! :)
"This can't be happening. They jacked up the price! It's bad enough that we have to eat what we don't sell!" Kid Blink's not done. "Now they jacked up the price! Can you believe that?"
Honestly, Jack doesn't know what to think. No one really does.
"What's that tenth of a cent to him?" Mush asks. "Doesn't it mean as much to us as it does those millionaires? I mean, all the money Pulitzer's making, why'd he gouge us?"
"He's a tight wad, that's why," Race answers as he storms around. He is mad. He needs to pace. He needs to not be still.
Normally, Mush and/or Blink would say something about Race calling people things, but in this case they're just as annoyed at the price change as he is to really care about where Race takes out his anger.
It's just so sudden.
When the prices changed last year, they were making a lot of money. Of course the millionaires would try to make more money than they already had. But now? Headlines are slow. It was just so out of the blue.
"So what are we going to do about it?" Itey asks. "I mean, they can't do this to us. Can they?"
"It's a rigged deck!" Race snaps. "They can do whatever they want! They got all the marbles!"
Race can't take this. His head is spinning.
He can't think.
None of this makes sense.
So his mind jumps to the only thing that he knows makes sense.
Brooklyn.
He takes off, with everyone too wrapped up in their own confusion to see.
He goes the long way: walking. He needs to walk through this. He needs to keep moving. If he stops, he'll shut down. He doesn't want to do that. Walking's a good grounder. That is, until he can have a person be there for him.
He's just about to walk right up to Sheepshead, but then he hesitates. After yesterday, is this really what he needs?
No.
He needs a person.
Someone who will listen to him.
He turns around wildly. His emotions are still running high. He doesn't like it. He really doesn't like it.
But Sheepshead is still right there.
"What got you here in such a huff?"
Spot.
Spot asked that.
He's here. Right now. Asking Race a question.
Race should answer.
"The price of papes went up," Race answers angrily. Not angry at Spot; angry at the price change, at Weasel, at the Delanceys, Pulitzer, all of them in on it.
Spot takes a moment. Then empathetically, he says, "It ain't fair." This is happening everywhere, affecting every newsie.
"I know it ain't!" Race yells.
Spot doesn't even flinch. He knows how Race's emotions can get.
Race looks down. "I need to say sorry now, don't I?" He's used to it. He's used to yelling in someone else's face and having Jack or Blink or someone tell him that he needs to say sorry. Now he's more ashamed of himself. He thought he had grown up, but now he's right back where he started. Maybe the others are right to still treat him like a kid.
But Spot doesn't treat him like that.
"I mean, apologizing does sound nice, but you don't have to. Sometimes ya gotta let your anger out, and there ain't no reason to say you'se sorry for being rightfully mad."
That was exactly what Race needed to hear. He looks up again at Spot, and smiles. Spot smiles back.
What Race doesn't know is that it wasn't even three minutes after he took off that everything fell apart.
"What should we do?" Tumbler asks. "Should we get our papes and go?"
"We're gonna figure this out," Skittery tells him.
"They ain't never gonna lower their prices again," Snipeshooter says glumly.
Jack still doesn't know what to do. He's thinking, but everyone is talking at once. Well, everyone except David, who is trying to figure things out silently.
"Hey! World employees on this side of the gate only!" Weasel shouts at them.
They all start shouting angrily back.
"Hey Jack, do you see Race anywhere?" Crutchy asks after a few moments.
Jack looks around. "Oh no. Race!" he calls out.
"Jack, he probably just went to Sheepshead," Mush points out.
"I hope he didn't shut down somewhere," Blink adds worriedly. "It'll take forever to find him that way."
"I'm going to find him," Jack decides. "I'm gonna check Brooklyn. Blink, Mush, if you want, search nearby. Maybe he didn't go that far." he turns back to David. "Davey, I'll be right back, I promise."
"Why does this Race person need to be here for the decisions?" David asks curiously.
Right. David didn't really meet Race yesterday. None of the newsies are going to say anything. There's just too much to explain about Race at once.
Jack is already walking away. "Because I ain't doin' anything without my younger brother beside me."
In the time that it takes Jack to head to Brooklyn, Race has gone into Sheepshead. Spot told him that maybe gambling will take his mind off of everything. And so, he decided to listen.
Jack doesn't see Race around. But he does see Spot.
He smirks at seeing Spot perched up high. "Seems you moved up in the world, Spot."
Spot smirks back when he sees Jack. "If it ain't Jack be nimble, Jack be quick." He jumps down. They spit into their hands and shake. "So what brings you to Brooklyn, Jackie boy?"
"I was wonderin' if you've seen Race," Jack answers.
"Yeah, he's been at Sheepshead for what, a half hour, an hour at most, by now. If ya want him, go find him."
"Did he say anything about how the prices got jacked up?"
"Yeah. He was pretty mad about that. I mean, rightfully so."
"Did it seem like a different kind of mad, though?"
"What are you trying to get at?"
Jack sighs. "He ain't like everyone else, Spot. Race is different. He's special."
"Dang right he is."
"Hm?"
"Ah, nothing. 'Sides, I already knew he was special. Have you ever tried talkin' to him? Or just...being around him?"
"I mean it," Jack says seriously. "He's oversensitive. He just ran off earlier today. Glad to know that he's here."
"Where else would he be?"
Am I really going to answer this question? With as much time as Race spends in Brooklyn, Spot might need to know this. Jack cannot always be there. "I don't know. Panicking somewhere. There are times where he totally freaks out. And just goes inside his mind. Just shuts down. And then he won't speak. At all. When we've asked about it when he's totally fine in the moment, he's described it as if he physically can't speak."
Spot is silent for a moment. "Do you know why this happens?"
Jack shakes his head hopelessly. "No. I wish I did. I wish I knew what goes on in that head of his. Race doesn't think like we do, Spot."
"Yeah, I know that. But why does that matter?"
Jack doesn't really know how to explain. "It's just that-"
"You're saying he's the wrong kind of different."
"What? No-"
"I know the kind of different you're talking about. It's the kind of different when you can't even say it to their face, and you feel the need to explain to everyone just how different he is to everyone."
Jack can't exactly argue with that. But he can try to explain it. "We're just trying to protect him, Spot." He doesn't think of it as a wrong kind of different. It's just...the kind where you truly can't tell how they're going to turn out.
"He can take care of himself just fine, if you hadn't noticed. He isn't totally sheltered. He comes to Brooklyn, Brooklyn, to gamble, at Sheepshead, where he meets the most stuck up rich folk there are. And he handles it all just fine on his own."
"He can't recognize faces, Spot."
That has Spot taken aback. "What?"
"He doesn't recognize faces that easily."
"What do you mean? He recognizes you, I'm sure. He recognizes me. Why?"
Jack shrugs hopelessly again. "If he knows the person well, he'll recognize 'em. Even if knows 'em, though, all they need to do is just change their look drastically and Race'll have a hard time putting a name to the face. I wish I knew how his mind works. I really do. Just everything he does. I wanna know why he does it. Maybe we'll never know. Just, please, be careful with him."
"Fine, Jackie boy. I can see you're like Race's over protective big brother. But if ya truly love Race, sometimes you just need to let him be, well, Race."
Jack looks Spot straight in the eye. When Spot sees Jack's eyes, then he knows. He sees it all. Jack does care for Race. A lot.
"I love him more than you could ever know." And just like that, Jack ends the conversation.
Hours pass. No one really knew exactly what to do. Some sold papers, others did not. Jack promised them that tomorrow they would figure it all out. So for today, they're all doing their own thing.
Jack waits until Race is out of Sheepshead. At this point of day, it's too late to really decide to do anything.
Race seems a little surprised, to say the least, that Jack is here. "Whaddaya doin' here?"
Jack puts his arm around Race. "I just wanted to talk with me younger bruddah."
And so they start their walk home together, Jack explaining everything.
"So you told everyone we'd wait till tomorrow to make a decision 'bout what to do 'bout the price of papes?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Because I wanted you there with me."
"Why?"
"Because I thought to myself, if I'm gonna decide on what our next move is, I'm gonna need you with me."
"Yeah, but why?"
Jack lightly shoves Race's shoulder and smiles. "Is that all you're gonna ask today? Why?"
"No..." a grin creeps up his face as well.
Jack's not done teasing him. "Is that all you're gonna say? Why?" and then he starts poking him. "Why? Why? Why?" and while he's doing that, Race is giggling and saying "nooo" and "stop" and scrunching up his shoulders, just like he's done ever since he was younger. Jack's smile grows bigger. He knows that there is some teasing that Race hates with all his might. Then, there's this kind of teasing, where you'll just have him glaring daggers at you. It's these kinds of moments that Jack enjoys. These kind of moments where they can pretend that Race is younger than he actually is, where they're just two brothers who only have each other--who only need each other.
Finally, Jack stops. Both are smiling so much that their mouths are beginning to hurt.
"You, me, David, everyone else, we're gonna figure this out together, you hear?"
"Mhm." Race nods.
A couple moments of silence.
"Who's David?"
Oh boy.
Jack knew this was going to happen sooner or later.
"You'll just have to find out."
OOOOOHHHHH Jack you're gonna have to explain your sorta-boyfriend to your younger asexual neurodivergent brother HAVE FUN WITH THAT haha ;)
Yes. I am aware that I went very off the script. From all scripts. I am fully aware that the newsies are able to assemble a plan, a union, and a strike within mere minutes of learning that their prices went up. But, I changed it up, gave Spot more screen time, gave us more time for development (kind of...), and gave you all something other than just the same strike to read. You're welcome! :)
That thing that Mush says in the very beginning about "doesn't that tenth of a cent mean the same to us as those millionaires?" an actual newsie said that. Like, 1899 documented that. I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure that the real Kid Blink (the real leader of the strike) said that, and it got put IN A NEWSPAPER. Again, I could be messing up facts. If this is off-the-charts wrong, I'll edit this part.
Turns out April 10, 1992, was Joseph Pulitzer's 145th birthday, and that's why they wanted it released that day.
I love how in 92sies Max Casella was 24 (nearly 25, even) and he's playing someone who is around fifteen but everyone is just like "WAIT IS HE TWELVE?!"
I mean, that's kinda how people react to Tom Holland haha.
So at first, my notes on where I wanted this story to go included...pretty much this whole chapter, because I forgot how the actual story went. Then I realized that no, it wasn't two different days where the prices changed and the strike was declared. But since my writing has improved since 2020, I edited it to work better than it would have, but still ultimately keeping that storyline instead of scrapping it. I needed a Spot and Race dynamic, and a Spot and Jack dynamic.
And I love Jack and Race dynamics. They're so close, you know? 92sies or Livesies. Race is in canon Jack's second in command.
Please, no homophobia, profanities, hate etc in the comment section at any time.
Best,
~Your Beloved Author (who just started watching The Owl House recently)