Ik I'm not supposed to update until tomorrow but this was too cute not to share (plus a voice actor that played one of my favorite characters died but this made me cheer up a bit)
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Jack stood in front of Davey, dabbing a wet towel on his face. The shorter winced, causing him to frown. "You okay?"
"I'm having a ball", Davey muttered, picking at a string on his pants. "Pain is wonderful."
"Didn't see you as the type to say that, Davey Boy", Jack teases, cleaning the wound on Davey's knee. The other blushed, looking away.
"I-I didn't-"
"I know what you meant, baby", Jack says, looking up at his crush with a small smile. "I just like teasin' you."
Davey chuckled softly, gripping the end of the bathtub. He wondered why there was a bathroom, seeing as he was in a theater right now, not a living area, but he didn't ask. "Who owns this place, anyway?"
"Well, Race likes to say us Newsies do, but-"
"Newsies?"
"Let me finish, doll. Miss Medda Larkin owns the joint."
Davey nods, processing the information. "You know her?"
"Yeah", Jack says, standing up. "She takes care of me."
"What about your parents?"
Jack stares at Davey silently, a small amount of noticeable pain in his eyes. He looks away, clearing his throat. "A newsie is someone who sells newspapers."
"Oh", Davey says, going along with the subject as he stood up with Jack's help. "So you and the guys are paperboys?"
"Some of 'em are", Jack mumbles, walking out of the restroom with Davey behind him. "But most of us help out when we can."
"Ah."
"Ah?"
"Yeah."
"That's cute."
Davey blushed and smiled at the floor, giving him a better chance to not fall down the stairs. He watched as Jack walked across the stage, following him.
"Hey, Racer", Jack shouts, running up to his second. "Where's Specs at, huh?"
"Probably outside playin' backseat bingo", Race mumbled, chuckling as he checked his cards. "Check Ro's chariot."
Jack nodded and walked away, knowingly bringing Davey with him. He opened the back door out of the theater—the alley where he had his first kiss with Davey—seeing Romeo's car. He went over to the passenger side window, knocking on the glass. Specs and Romeo jumped apart, sighing in annoyance as Romeo rolled the window down.
"No one asked you to lay out all your cards for the entire world to see", Jack teased, leaning in.
Romeo pouted. "But I've got so many tricks up my sleeve."
The boys burst into laughter, leaving Davey confused. He had no idea what that meant, and he wasn't sure he wanted to. "What's up, Jack?"
"Just comin' to check on Specs, here", Jack sighed, thumbing his nose. "Brought Davey with me since he patched him up."
Davey walked up to the window, seeing the same boy from earlier. "Hey. You okay?"
"Peachy keen", he says, a small smile on his lips as he adjusts his glasses. "Had to wear my spares, though."
Davey nodded as Jack laughed, patting his friend on the shoulder. "You ain't gonna die from your glasses, Specs."
"I think you look very nice in them", Romeo complimented, smirking. "On and off."
Specs stared at him, completely ignoring the other two boys outside of the car. Jack whistled and pulled Davey away from the car in a hurry. "You ain't gonna wanna see that."
What were they going to do? Davey shrugged and followed Jack back inside, where he noticed most of the boys were cuddling with someone else. Another boy, in fact.
"Are all of you homosexual?"
Everyone turned to look at Jack's boy, Albert being the only one brave enough to react. He kissed Elmer deeply, pulling away and and smirked at Davey as he stared straight into his eyes.
"I like girls", he says sarcastically, going back to what he was doing. Poor Elmer was left a blushing mess.
"Come on, Dave", Jack chuckled, grabbing the shorter's hand. "I'll explain everythin' to you upstairs."
Davey followed him with a small smile, waving to the other guys.
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"David!" Sarah ran up to her brother, Katherine not far behind. She pushed him out of frustration and relief. "Where the hell were you?! What happened to your face?!"
"Sarah, you shouldn't-"
"I'll do what I damn please!" Sarah ignored Katherine protests as she stared at Davey. "What happened?"
"I got into a fight, Sar", Davey says tiredly, closing his locker and walking away. Sarah follows him with a scoff.
"A fight?! Davey, you don't get into fights, you don't know how to-"
"I can fight", Davey argues, stopping in the hall. "I just got a little bruised. Jack cleaned me up."
"Jack, cleaned you up, huh?" Davey furrowed his brows in confusion, nodding. "Is that all he did?"
"What else would he do?"
Katherine placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder, glancing at her friend with a small smile. "We'll see you later, okay?"
Davey nodded and watched them walk away, the air becoming more curious. He felt an arm around his shoulders, his lips curling into a smile.
"So", Jack starts, a small smile on his lips. "You? Me? Date?"
"Oh, I can't", Davey denies, looking through his planner. "I'm supposed to study with Katherine and Sarah tonight."
"Study for what?"
"The variety tests coming up", Davey chuckles. "You studying?"
"I usually just skip those", Jack shrugs, looking at Davey's shocked face. "What?"
"Jack! You can't skip one of the biggest parts of your grade."
"And how would you know how big of a part it is?"
"Because I do!" Davey sighed, hearing the bell ring. He glanced down the hall and back at Jack. "Listen, I'm going to Kath's place after school. You can study with us."
Jack was left speechless as Davey ran away, leaving him alone.
"I hate readin', though."
——————
"I can't believe you invited him", Katherine whispers, preparing snacks for their study session. "You know my father hates boys like him."
"Big deal", Davey mutters, causing Katherine to roll her eyes. "Look, we just need to help him study. He could use it. You know he's skipping classes?"
"And why should we care?" Davey turns to his sister, who's arms are crossed. Davey sighs.
"Because I do?" It was a big stretch, and it was likely it wouldn't even work. Thank God he was saved by the bell.
Davey raced to Katherine's front door, opening it and smiling when he saw who was there. "Hey, Jack."
"Hi", the taller beamed, gesturing to the sodas in his hand. "I didn't want to come empty handed."
"Did you at least come with your books?"
Jack gestured to the backpack in his hand. "It ain't too heavy."
Davey chuckled and walked him inside to the living area, where his friends sat. "This is Katherine, and my sister, Sarah."
"Hey", Jack greeted, smiling widely. "Nice to meet you guys again."
Sarah and Katherine smiled before running up to Katherine's room, where their books were. Jack hummed.
"Guess I ain't too radioactive with the ladies", he chuckles, turning Davey. "Where should I put the stuff?"
"Um, I'll take it", he offers, taking the case of sodas out of his hand. "Kath's dad is pretty strict about this stuff."
"He sounds like a real fun guy."
"Far from it."
Katherine and Sarah came back down, their books in hand. "You two ready?"
Davey and Jack nodded, walking over to a coffee table in the middle of the room. Davey pulled his things out like he'd known this his whole life, but Jack couldn't help to look around.
He's never seen anything like this. He's never even been on this side of town. The house was real big, and could probably fit his Newsies and the Brooklyn crew in there twice. It was pretty, too. "Nice pad."
"Thanks", Katherine says, nodding as she blushed. "We should get started."
They moved on to their usual schedule. First, science.
"Right", Sarah mutters, writing something down in her notebook. "So hereditary means it's not in your blood?"
"The opposite", Davey clarifies, leaning over. "It is in your blood. If someone else in your family has it, it's likely you will, too."
"Like eye color", Katherine connects, writing. Jack glanced at her paper, seeing she was listing examples. He moved his eyes back to the sheet in front of him, trying to keep up.
"You got it", Davey whispered, smiling softly. Jack smiled back, a small boost of confidence filling him.
After a while, they moved onto math. There's a little more difficulty with this, but Sarah seemed to have it down.
"So, you'd want to multiply the numbers", she says, writing it down on her paper. "Then add the exponents."
"Math is so much more complicated than necessary", Davey complains, sighing as he finished writing. "I'm gonna start a petition to stop learning math after fifth grade."
"Davey, if we stop learning math, how will we get all those people to the stars?" Katherine smiled, looking at Sarah. "Sarah told me all about it. We need math to build rockets, and stuff. It's pretty cool."
Talking about math reminded Jack of Race, and how he likes talking about the stars. It was admirable, really, how Race was one of the only guys in his entire gang that gets acceptable grades, math and science being the best ones.
"You ever thought about gettin' into engineerin', Sarah?" They all looked at Jack before he realized he said those words. "I think you'd be ace at it."
Sarah smiled with a small amount of pride and gratefulness. "It'd be a dream, but all that ended with the war. My mom told me about it. I wouldn't be able to be an engineer if I was smarter than all of those boys combined."
Jack nods in understanding, noting the thought.
Next up was history. Jack wasn't sure how he'd do with this subject, but it was his best grade, and he did pretty well when he actually went to class.
"So, there was that war with the British", Katherine listed, tapping her finger against her thumb. "And we got independence in 1776."
"It's 1783", Jack sniffles, writing. "The Revolutionary War ended in 1783, and the Treaty of Paris was signed durin' the same time."
Everyone stared at Jack in awe as he had barely said a word. "How do you just remember that?"
Jack looks up from his paper and shrugs. "Beats me. I just do."
"Cool", Davey smiles, going back to writing. Jack raises his lips in excitement, happy Davey was proud of him. "So how would one remember that?"
"Tying certain numbers to certain sections?" Everyone looked to Sarah as she began to explain. "Like the Louisiana Purchase is the third to be purchased, so it's the third section."
Jack wanted to point out how it was actually the second section owned by the US, but they were on a such good track.
"Now we're gettin' somewhere!" Everyone looked at Jack in question. "That's a good idea."
They continued the subject of history for a while, Jack answering every question without hesitation. He was having fun, and they were somewhat excited that Jack was around.
Especially Katherine, who was a bit hesitant at first.
Now, they moved onto English, and Jack couldn't have lost anymore interest. While Davey, Sarah, and Katherine were discussing the meaning of some words—and the book the class had begun to read, which Jack had no idea about—Jack was drawing cowboy hats on his paper.
"Jack", Davey whispered, tapping him with a pencil. "You gotta pay attention."
Jack nodded, rolling his eyes as he went back to drawing. Sarah glanced at him, sighing as she put her book down.
"Are you going to do that for the rest of the hour?"
Jack stopped, looking at her from the top of his eyes. "That was the original plan, yeah."
"Then what's the point of you being here?" Davey's eyes widened as he turned to his sister quickly. "You aren't doing much."
Jacks eyes hardened as he stared at the younger girl. "It ain't as easy for all of us, but I is listenin'."
"Apparently not", Sarah muttered, crossing her arms. "It's 'I am.'"
"Well, I am done with this conversation."
"Big word for a little brain."
Jack was ready to stand up and show this girl every "big word" in the book when, "Katherine!"
Saved by the man, Jack thought as he sat down again, his glare strong. They are good for something.
"Father?" Katherine stood up and walked toward the door, Sarah following her to greet Mr. Pulitzer, the newspaper tycoon of the World. He's quite the over achiever.
Davey used this time to turn to Jack. "What the hell was that?"
Jack looked at him, his brows furrowed. "A conversation? What-"
"Why did you", Davey paused, trying to find the right word, "explode like that? It was rude."
Jack squinted his eyes in confusion. "It ain't rude to stick up for yourself, Dave."
Davey sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. He didn't know how to handle this. On one hand, it's his sister, and Mrs. Jacobs would have a fit if he didn't stand by his sister.
But on the other there's Jack, and Mrs. Jacobs would be very disappointed if he didn't stand by his lover.
Momma is a very confusing person.
"Mr. Jacobs", Mr. Pulitzer greets, making Davey's body go rigid. "It's charming to see you again. Who is this?"
Davey glanced at Jack, who was slouching in his seat in front of the coffee table. He could see Mr. Pulitzer was figuratively losing brain cells just by looking at him. "Jack Kelly, sir."
"Kelly." Mr. Pulitzer's face changed as if he was remembering something. There was a sense of realization in his eyes and voice, hidden anger found throughout the tone of it. He looked Jack up and down as Jack tried to figure out what he did. "Sit up, boy, you're a guest."
Davey automatically adjusted his posture, realizing it was almost perfect, minus the pain of sitting so unnaturally. He was talking to Jack.
And the other visibly didn't receive that well. "Yes, sir", he responded, making no plans to move. He watched as Mr. Pulitzer scoffed and walked away, just as Sarah, Davey, and Katherine did.
"Katherine, where's your can?"
She pointed up stairs. "To your right."
"Thanks", Jack muttered, getting up quickly and following her directions. To his pleasure, the powder room was right where she said it would be, accompanied by exactly what he was looking for: a window.
It was a dangerous mission, the estate was two stories high, but it was a necessary one. Jack didn't know exactly what he was getting into when Davey offered to study, but he did expect to have to escape if need be. And here he was.
He opened the window as quietly as he could, finding it just the perfect amount of space for him to squeeze through. He climbed onto the counter with a grunt, checking to see if his dirty Converse left any trace of him being there. If he was going to escape, he was going to do it properly.
He chuckled at how similar his plan was to the one he made his last year of middle school. I'm gonna graduate, then run off to Santa Fe. No one knew about it—except Crutchie, then everyone knew about it—it was his. For a while, anyway.
Fourteen year old Jack would be so disappointed, he thought as he climbed out, sitting on the windowsill. Don't worry. We'll get there someday.
Davey, Sarah, and Katherine heard a "thump" as they talked, but ignored it. This was much more important.
"Sarah, I can't believe you", Davey scolded, upset. "I actually thought we were making progress."
"Why?" Sarah was becoming bolder as this conversation went on. "What are we progressing towards, David? Jack is- he's a ruffian. He doesn't belong with us!"
Davey looked away in anger, so angry the very thought of his sister made him want to punch a wall in. How could she say that? The Jacobs weren't exactly on the right side of the tracks themselves.
But he had to admit they were better off than Jack might ever be (At the moment. Davey knew it was only for a moment). That's something he hoped wouldn't go to Sarah's head.
"Look", Sarah starts, sighing. "You can be with him all you want, but don't try to push us into your endeavors. You can make sure I'm not going to be apart of them."
Davey glanced at Katherine, who had her head down in guilt. He shook his head, remembering when Katherine was vivacious and out spoken. Now, she's Sarah's lap dog.
"I'm going to go check on him", Davey muttered, standing up. He walked up the stairs and to the bathroom, following Jack's pattern. He knocked.
"Jack?"
He knocked again, putting his ear to the door. Thank God, Mr. Pulitzer can't hear me. "Jackie?"
The door opened immediately as he turned the knob, and Davey was met with the flying curtains of the bathroom window.