A/N: Newsies x Ghosts (CBS) crossover. I don't own Ghosts (which no characters from Ghosts will be featured in this one maybe in another one though if this one goes well) so please don't sue. This is a Modern AU (as is the show) and just a tiny warning for a slight bit of gore/violence because we are going to be talking about how people died. If people like this one, I'd be more than happy to do a sequel. Special shoutout and thank you to and for both of your help with this one.
Buttons Davenport thought it was going to be a normal semester.
And boy, was he wrong.
He and his two roommates, Albert and Elmer, had decided to move into an apartment on the Lower East Side since life in the dorms was a little too rough for their liking.
The boys had just moved in the day before and are currently exploring their new humble abode.
Albert is in the kitchen, busy labeling and storing his collection of Lucky Charms.
Buttons and Elmer step into an old bedroom/study area.
"Hey, look at this old desk. Somebody must have left it. It's gotta be good for something," Elmer says, going about the room and looking at all of the different things. Buttons stops and gazes over at the old ornate mahogany desk. He runs his index finger over the gold pattern on one of the doors. A closet is right behind the desk with a door that swings out.
"Elmer, ya gotta check out this desk," Buttons says, marveling at it. He opens one of the drawers and sees an old book.
"Ya woulda thought that they would've cleaned this out before they sold the place," Elmer notes as Buttons takes out the old dusty book and opens it. It's a ledger with a bunch of strange names in it.
"Whoa..." Buttons breathes as he sees the messy and old faded handwriting on the pages, "Wait a minute. July of 1899? This is a really old book then." Albert enters the room upon hearing the exclamation.
"What happened? I'm busy with my lucky charms," he says as he enters. Both boys look up at him and gesture with the book. "Yeah? What is it? I ain't able to read your minds."
"It's a book with a bunch of weird names in it," Buttons explains, "This page says July 1899 on it."
"You're joking, right? The last thing I need is a bunch of historians knockin' down my door cuz of some book I found," Albert grumbles. He moves over to be behind Buttons so he can read over his shoulder. "Who the heck names their kid Racetrack Higgins? Or Pie Eater?" He laughs in disbelief as he leaves the room.
"I wonder if there's more stuff behind this closet door," Elmer says. It's an old door so he opens it carefully. A large stack of boxes is behind the other side and it starts to topple over. Elmer shuts the door and runs out of the way.
Two seconds later, the boxes fall and knock the door down with them.
"BUTTONS!" Elmer cries out.
"Wha?" Buttons asks but he's a moment too slow.
The door and the boxes tumble down on top of Buttons before he can move out of the way. He falls to the floor unconscious. His face smacks against the desk as he goes down.
"ALBERT! COME QUICK! A CLOSET DOOR JUST FELL ON BUTTONS!" Elmer shouts loudly.
"You've got to be kidding me!! I just wanted to move in here, not do renovations on this whole place," Albert grumbles as he leaves the kitchen from sorting his Lucky Charms. He lazily walks into the room where Buttons and Elmer were. "What the?!" he exclaims and quickly hurries over, "What were you two doing?"
"Well I just wanted to see what was behind the door," Elmer starts to explain and Albert just rolls his eyes.
"Oh brother. Curiosity killed the Buttons," he grumbles as he starts to move some of the boxes off of Buttons. Noticing the bruising on Buttons' head, he starts to move faster.
"That's not how the saying goes," Elmer comments and Albert rolls his eyes.
"I know it's not but..." he sighs as he keeps going, "Someone has to keep the two of you out of trouble or we'll all wind up dead. This place is old and ain't the most stable."
"I was just curious!" Elmer says, "I think old stuff is cool and..."
"We don't have time for this. We gotta get Buttons to a hospital," Albert says and the two boys hurry him into Albert's car. Elmer sits next to Buttons in the backseat to keep him company. Albert tries to start the car and it just won't turn over. He smacks the steering wheel and starts grumbling things that should not be repeated in front of small children.
"Maybe you should hit your head on it. It works for Marty McFly," Elmer suggests from the back seat. Albert swivels around and looks at him with this confused and disappointed look.
"I'm sorry. What?" he asks. Elmer shrugs.
"You never watched Back to the Future?" he asks and Albert just rolls his eyes. Trying one more time, the car finally starts and Albert drives faster than any respectable speed limit to get to the hospital.
Which on average was about 15mph since traffic doesn't really move in New York but who wants to move an unconscious person onto a subway or down the street. Both look really suspicious.
After much grumbling and promising on the name of his childhood cat's great uncle to take out every annoying driver in New York, they make it to the hospital. Albert and Elmer try to carry Buttons inside as gently as they can.
And by gently, meaning that they didn't drop him.
After several stressful moments of discussion with the hospital staff, mostly regarding why the boys just didn't call an ambulance, Buttons is in a hospital bed with staff working to get him better.
Several days pass and Buttons is eventually released. The boys are so thrilled to see him but something seems off.
All Buttons does is stare off into the distance when nothing special or no one is there.
"Hey," Albert says, nudging him after he starts staring off again, "You okay?"
"Yeah umm..." Buttons starts, "Do you guys see that lady?"
"What lady?" Elmer asks innocently. Buttons looks off in the distance again.
"She's real pretty. She's got this long hair and almost looks.... pale," Buttons says, trailing off as he looks like he's looking harder. To his surprise, she looks at him like she can see him.
"You can see me?" she asks breathlessly and she starts moving towards him. Buttons nervously starts moving away. "I didn't think anyone would ever see me again," she says softly. Her voice is soft and airy.
"No no no. This isn't real. This can't be happening," Buttons protests as he starts backing away from her. She only keeps coming closer.
"Oh please! Don't go! I need companionship. Someone to pass the time with. It gets awfully lonely around here. The other ghosts aren't very sociable," she complains, clasping her hands together and looking sadly at the ground.
"Wait...did you just say 'ghosts'?" Buttons asks, growing more nervous by the second.
"Buttons, you sure you're good?" Elmer asks, "There's nobody here but us."
"Yeah yeah," Buttons says, shaking his head and trying to clear his vision. To his surprise, the willowy young woman is still standing there. Albert and Elmer start walking away while Buttons stares in shock at the woman still standing there.
"Come on, ya nitwit," Albert grumbles, "I've already have to save you once and I don't really want you winding up in a hospital bed again." He pulls Buttons out of the hospital by the arm. Buttons toddles along behind him like a small child, staring as he's beginning to notice more and more people.
The boys get in the car and start driving back to their apartment. Buttons, who's still trying to figure out what's going on, screams at one point,
"WAIT! STOP! THERE'S A GUY CROSSING THE STREET!"
Albert slams on the brakes, sending all three boys pitching forward. Buttons whacks his head on the driver's seat and his heaving breaths are easily the loudest sound in the car. Elmer looks over at him in worry and Albert whirls around from the driver seat. His red hair sticks out wildly from underneath his backwards baseball cap.
"Ya tryin' to get us killed or something?" he asks with no trace of any humor in his voice. Elmer's just hunched over into a little ball and is muttering something over and over to himself.
"No..." Buttons says quietly, "You didn't see the guy crossing the street?" Albert looks at him like he's crazy.
"If I saw the guy crossin' the street, I obviously would've stopped," he says like it's common sense, "If there's nobody there, then why would I stop?" Buttons takes a deep breath and closes his eyes.
"I'm fine. Just keep driving," he says, shaking his head. His mind reels over the mention of a single word that the young willowy woman at the hospital had brought up.
Ghosts.
Buttons isn't a superstitious individual and he's never been one to believe in ghosts or anything of the sort but he's seriously beginning to doubt what he's known to be true.
"Buttons!" Elmer says, pulling him out of his thoughts, "We're home." Buttons follows the other two into the apartment and he notices a guy with a bullet hole in him walking around across the street. Buttons stifles a scream and runs inside, slamming the door behind him.
"What?! You see another invisible dude cross the street or something?" Albert asks with a hint of annoyance in his voice, "For cryin' out loud, go get some sleep. You obviously need it." Buttons takes a couple of deep breaths and stands up against the door. Albert and Elmer climb the stairs to their apartment. Once Buttons is sure that they're gone, he turns around and looks back out the window to see the guy still across the street.
He waves at Buttons and Buttons runs up the stairs faster than he ever has before. Reaching for the doorknob to the apartment and seriously hoping for some solace from all of this, Buttons flings the door to the apartment door open.
And nearly runs right into a boy he doesn't recognize on the other side of the door. Buttons notices something odd about him. A cigar dangles out of the boy's mouth and he looks up when he notices Buttons' looking at him like he was born with two heads.
"Albert! Elmer! There's some guy with a cigar in the apartment!" Buttons shouts, leaning up against the door. Albert's in the other room and grumbles when he hears Buttons shouting.
"Not again," Albert grumbles as he makes his way out to the main room. He looks around and only sees a panicked Buttons up against the door to the apartment. "I don't see anybody. Just lie down and get some rest. I'm sure they'll all go away in a little bit."
"Heh, that's what he thinks," the boy with the cigar says in a snarky tone, "We'se ain't that easy to get rid of. Besides, who would want to get rid of me? I'se irresistable. The gamblers at Sheepshead loved me. The ladies at Sheepshead loved me. I was on good terms with Brooklyn and my name ain't Racetrack Higgins if I ain't one of the best Newsies in..." Buttons stops and points at him, overcoming his stupor.
"Wait a minute! You're Racetrack Higgins?" he asks, before hurrying further into the apartment.
"The one and only! Who'd you think I was? My short friend, Spot Conlon? He's actually dead. He didn't get to become a ghost like the rest of us," the boy answers, twiddling his cigar in between his fingers, "Can't imagine anyone wanting to spend time with him. He was a bit of a hot head and thought the woirld was his erster."
"His what?" Buttons asks. Racetrack groans and throws his head back. His arms fly up in the air as he wanders around the apartment, shouting,
"Why doesn't anybody know what an 'erster' is? I'se been tryin' to explain it to all of ya for the last 120 years and ain't nobody understands it!" Another boy suddenly walks through the wall at Racetrack's outburst, causing Buttons to scream.
"If ya would just say what an 'erster' is, then we would know!" the second boy, who's blonde and has an eye patch, explains.
"I'se told ya!" Racetrack shouts in response, "I just don't get what ya don't understand about it. It's the clam with da fancy poyle inside!" He throws his hands up dramatically in the air before trying to lean on the wall.
Only to fall through it. The boy with the eye patch just shakes his head in disbelief.
"He think he's so intelli...intelli. Ah, can't remember the word for it. Specs! Help me figure out what I'm tryin' to say here," the boy with the eye patch shouts back into the apartment. A boy with glasses walks through the wall to join the other boy.
"Intelligent, Blink. You'se tryin' to say that Race is intelligent," Specs says, looking exasperated as Buttons feels about this whole thing. Buttons shakes his head and makes his way over to the small beat up couch that the boys have. He flops down on it and curls him in on himself, trying to hide from his problems for a little while.
Albert wanders into the room and walks through Blink, causing both Specs and Blink to start screaming. Blink fizzles out a little bit but then reforms, doubled over in pain.
"Ahhhhhh! I hate it when that happens!" Blink cries out. Specs just looks over at Buttons asleep on the couch.
"I think the kid on the couch can see us," Specs says. Blink straightens himself back out and stretches out his back.
"What makes ya think that?" he asks as he stretches his arms up over his head.
"He was lookin' right at us, Blink. Like right at us and there ain't nothing else over here," Specs explains, "He has to be able to." Blink looks at him in disbelief before his gaze flicks over to the boy asleep on the couch.
"So?" Blink asks, "What're we supposed to do with that?"
"Talk with him! We have access to a guy who's alive! An actual living!" Racetrack says as he enters the room, "I think it's about time we had a meeting." He walks through the door to go find someone. Specs exchanges a look with Blink.
"I have a very bad feeling about this," he says to Blink and Blink merely shrugs.
"I don't," he answers. A moment later, Racetrack returns with a tall dark haired. Both of them walk through the door and Blink gets excited at the sight of him.
"Jack! Look! We'se got ourselves a..." he stops when he notices pencil shaving on the still somewhat happy demeanor of the dark haired boy, "You snuck down to draw on Katherine's Post-It notes again, didn't you?" Jack looks caught and just rubs the back of his neck out of nervousness.
"Well....ya see. She just needed a little extra encouragement," he tries to explain and the boys just roll their eyes in response. Jack's gaze flicks down to the boy sleeping on the couch and grumbles,
"If they ain't on those glowing things, then they's sleepin'." Racetrack moves in front of Jack and puts his hands out.
"Wait, Jacky, wait. He ain't like the other ones. He talked to me!" Race exclaims, "Like actually talked to me. I think he can...see us." Jack just stares at the boy, asleep on the couch.
"Ya sure?" he asks. Specs steps forward.
"Well, if Race says he talked to him and then he acted like he could see Blink and I, I'd say he can see us," Specs explains. Jack nods his head in agreement.
"Alright, time to go rally up the boys," he says. He walks through the door while the other boys in the apartment start looking for the other boys who they know commonly reside in this particular smaller apartment. Thankfully, the apartment's not very big so it all takes is a couple seconds of Race meowing really loudly like a cat for them to come out.
"I was enjoyin' my time in the closet!" Skittery grumbles as he enters the main room. He runs his fingers through his hair in an irritated manner. Snipeshooter and Splasher follow shortly behind him, also looking a little confused as to what's going on.
"Well, you can enjoy your time out here because something's happened!" Racetrack sasses him back, "Besides, I'se surprised ya didn't enjoy my meowing." Skittery just shoots him a glare and runs his finger tips through his hair. One by one, other ghosts start to enter the apartment. They're all teenage boys and they begin to rough house, joke, talk loudly and do other things.
Buttons wakes up at the sound and sees a bunch of boys in his apartment and screams.
Right before he falls off the couch.
Albert and Elmer hear the thuds of Buttons hitting the floor and they hurry over to him.
"Buttons! Ya really gotta stop hittin' your head on things or ya ain't gonna remember your own name!" Elmer cries out as he helps Buttons sit up. Buttons rubs his head and gasps again.
"They're back! They're all back! And there's even more than last time!" he cries out, trying to scoot away from them. Albert and Elmer gently take his arms.
"Look, Buttons. They ain't real," he says, "Just go back to sleep and I'm sure they'll be gone in a little bit." The boys are actually quiet as they watch the little situation next to the couch unfold. Jack shakes his head in disbelief.
"He thinks we ain't real. Then we prove we are," he says. Seeing a piece of paper that the living boys had left out, Jack starts to doodle on it with his pencil. He draws the red haired boy but he makes him angry and kind of cynical looking. He leaves a little note next to it.
Think we ain't real? Think again. There's a ledger in that desk drawer in the other room. All our names are in there. - Jack Kelly
Elmer hears the scratching of a pencil writing and he sits up a bit straighter.
"Guys? Do you hear that?" he asks and Albert sits up straighter as well.
"I hear it too. Sounds like somebody's writing," he says. He walks over to where the sound is coming from and sees a note on the paper on the counter. He stops dead in his tracks.
"Buttons, any of ya invisible friends know how to write and draw?" he asks, worry lacing his voice.
"They're not my friends! And I don't know!" Buttons cries out from the floor, "I don't even really know any of them but yeah. One of them was just over there." Elmer supports him as Buttons feels worried at everything goes on. Albert stares at Buttons and then at the note. Shaking his head, he hurries over to the room with the desk in it. Rummaging through the desk drawers, Albert finally finds the big old book that Buttons and Elmer had been looking at when they first moved in. He flips through the ledger until he spots the name on the paper.
His blood runs cold at the sight of the penciled in writing, faded from years of being tucked away.
"Buttons!!" he shouts. He carries the book out to the living room only to see Buttons still sitting on the floor in absolute shock.
"Look, I don't know what all of you want but please just let me live my life in peace," Buttons says, trying to move away from them, "This just all feels like too much." Jack walks over and squats down next to him.
"Listen, it's real simple. I'm Jack and these are my boys. We'se all ghosts. You had a near death experience and now you can see us. It happens to livings occasionally. You all are just a little too busy with your lives to really look out for yourselves," he explains, "Now I don't know how that near death experience happened...."
"Actually," Snipeshooter says, "I'm Snipeshooter and I know exactly what happened to youse. How ya can see us. Because I'm the cause of the accident." Buttons stiffens and the boys start talking amongst themselves and glaring at Snipeshooter. Snipeshooter turns to look at them. "I have a slingshot. It was on my when I died and I had some marbles too. My marbles can hit things in real life even though I'm dead. I shot the marble at those boxes in the closet. It moved em against the door, which was unstable from the last people who lived here. The boxes fell against the door and knocked Buttons over here upside the head."
"Ya nearly killed him!" a tall boy with lighter hair shouts, raising his own slingshot in the air.
"I've told you not to play with your slingshot around things like that. You're a bad example for Les!" another tall boy with dark hair shouts.
"I can make my own choices, Davey!" the boy who Buttons presumes to be Les, protests. The shouting at Snipeshooter only gets louder.
"Ya tryin' to be like Spot?" another tall boy with dark hair asks rather loudly, "Ya ain't short enough to be like him." And soon, there's shouting and chaos all about the living boy sitting in front of them and the ghost who caused his injury.
A boy with a crutch standing near the back shoots Jack a look. Jack tries clapping to get their attention but it doesn't work. His ghost brethren are equally excited and horrified at the prospect of nearly killing a living. Much too excited to pay attention to their leader. Jack slips two fingers in his mouth and whistles. His whistle is loud and shrill, causing Buttons to cry out and clamp his hands over his ears.
"Sorry, Buttons," Jack apologizes once everyone calms down, "These bummers don't pay attention to anything less than that." Buttons just shrugs and stares at them all in shock. He didn't think a group of boys could be this chaotic.
It appears that he has much to learn.
"Buttons, I'se really didn't mean to hurt ya," Snipeshooter explains, "I just was bored and I didn't want to go play in the water from the shower with Splasher for a number of times higher than I can count."
"Speaking of the shower..." the boy who Buttons thinks to be Splasher, says, "Anybody want to go splash around in the...?"
"No!" multiple boys say.
"Think I'd rather go throw Oscar Delancey in a trash can," the tall dark haired boy who had made the comment about Spot earlier, says.
"Nobody asked you, Skittery," Splasher answers, "Besides, Mush likes to come play occasionally." A muscular boy turns around at the mention of his name.
"I mean I do," Mush says, feeling slightly exposed at the mention of his enjoyment of the water, "But I uh..got other things to do."
"Don't take all the ladies away from me. I have to turn someone's head," a shorter boy with dark hair and fantastic socks says.
A chorus of "Ahhh, Romeo" and "Ya ain't gonna get a girl like that" rings out throughout the small apartment. Buttons gets up and starts to move away but the shorter boy with the crutch intercepts him.
"Hey! I'm Crutchie and I'se don't mean to hurt ya at all or use ya or anything. It would just be nice to have someone to talk to. And the other livings may think you're crazy but ya ain't. Don't listen to a thing they'se gotta say about it," he says before patting Buttons on the shoulder.
Buttons turns around to see Albert and Elmer staring at him in confusion and disbelief.
"Wait!" Buttons calls out to Crutchie, "So, I can see ghosts. What happened to all of you? Who are all of you? Why did you write a note for my friends?"
"You can see ghosts?" Elmer asks, confused by what's happening.
"All our names are in that book," Jack says, "I told your friends to look in there. We'se the Lower East Side Manhattan Newsies." The boy who Les had called Davey steps forward.
"It's not exactly a happy story of how we all died," he says, "One of the gas lamps in the building next door exploded. There was smoke and fire that covered a good chunk of Manhattan and we couldn't get out. We suffocated on the smoke."
"'Cept some say it ain't an accident," Racetrack inputs.
"What?!" Buttons gasps.
"Wait, why are you so confused? Ya can see ghosts or you can't. There's no in between," Albert says. Buttons becomes exasperated with him and whirls around to talk to his living friends.
"Listen, I'm talking to the ghosts right now. I'll talk to you in a second," he says before whirling back around to talk to the ghosts.
"Well...we don't know that for sure," Davey says, "It's just a story."
"A story that might be true.." Racetrack prods. Davey rolls his eyes in disbelief.
"Why would someone want to kill a bunch of Newsies?" Buttons asks, "Ya don't cause that much trouble, do ya?"
"We started and led a strike back in 1899," Davey says, "Some powerful people gave in to our demands and weren't very happy about it at all. That's why some 'historians' think somebody may have paid someone else to kill us on the sly."
"Get rid of you so that you wouldn't cause any more trouble?" Buttons gasps, "But...that's so unfair." The boys who are listening nod their heads in agreement. "So, what now?"
"Well now we stay around here in this area of land. We're confined to it," he says, "If we try to leave, we just get turned around so that we're back on the property."
"I tried to go gamble at Sheepshead," Racetrack explains, "That's how they know."
"But we all just kinda hang out in the apartment building or on the roof or something. Watching livings as they live their lives here. This is the first I'se ever gotten to talk to a living," Crutchie says, "But yeah, it ain't always the most excitin' life but, at least we have each other." The group of boys nods in agreement.
"Some of us have powers. I died with a pencil in my pocket so I can write and draw on pieces of paper that are in the real world," Jack says, "It's nice to be able to do that so I can sort of communicate with people."
"And by people, ya mean Katherine," Race says, nudging him. Jack rolls his eyes and walks away from the group.
Buttons overhears some discussion about him being a living and the possibilities of what the boys could do.
"Don't worry about them," Davey says, "I'll keep those crazy things from happening. They've just never had a living that they can actually interact with. They're just very excited. I'm sure you would understand."
Buttons just looks very confused.
"I'm in school and I don't really have a whole lot of money," he says, "So, there's not gonna be a whole lot I can do." Crutchie and Davey share a look.
"You'd be surprised at the simplicity of the things that entertain them," Davey states.
"Are you gonna tell us what's going on or I am just gonna stand here with this really big and old book?" Albert asks, looking worried and confused all at the same time.
"Yeah! So, long story short, there's a bunch of dead Newsies that live here. They all died in a fire. It was a gas lamp explosion but they didn't get out in time and some of them think they may have actually been murdered," Buttons explains, "Oh! And their names are all in that book." Albert opens the book and glances at the pages as he flips through the book.
"So you mean to tell me that this kid with the lame name of Racetrack Higgins is actually real?" Albert asks in confusion, looking up at Buttons.
Race overhears the comment and crosses his arms. "Whose name ya callin' lame, ya leprechaun? Bet yours ain't any better," he shouts.
"Yeah," Buttons says nervously, glancing in between Race and Albert, "And he didn't like that you think his name is lame." Albert just rolls his eyes and keeps going through the book.
"You bet I didn't! Racetrack Higgins is a great name!" Race exclaims and Skittery pinches the bridge of his nose.
"Oh no. Here we go. We're never gonna hear the end of it," he grumbles, "I'm gonna go hide in the closet while I still have a chance at not hearing this." He shuffles off and Buttons waves and calls out,
"Bye! It was nice meeting you."
"I'm literally gonna sleep your closet. I would say come see me at any time but I'm not really all that social," Skittery calls out. Buttons looks to Crutchie who just shrugs.
"Well good night then!" Buttons calls out before asking Crutchie, "So, you all live in different parts of the building, right? So, how will I find you or how will you find me?"
"Why would we need to find the ghosts?" Elmer asks, "How're they gonna be able to help us?"
"Hey! Ghosts can be plenty helpful!" a young blonde newsie calls out.
"Or a big problem, Jojo," Davey says, "You boys are more prone to chaos than you are to actually being helpful." He rolls his eyes and looks at Buttons, "They say they're so helpful but they're a bit much sometimes." Buttons chuckles at his comments.
"So, where can I usually find you? You seem like one of the more sane ones," he asks. Race stifles a laugh at that saying, nearly dropping his cigar out of his mouth out of laughter. He doubles over, catching his cigar and laughing.
"In the maintenance closet. It's quiet and safe," he says, "And a place where I can find my sanity. Jack and Crutchie like to hang out on the roof if you would ever need either of them." Race recovers from his laughter and stands up straight, wiping the tears from his eyes.
"You can get any of our attention by going out into the stairwell and whistling like Jack did earlier," he explains, "It's how Jack usually gets our attention. The stairwell echoes well so we'll hear something loud." Buttons just raises an eyebrow.
"I think it would be kinda weird for the other livings around me if I did that," he says, "I'll just try to look around for you instead. The livings can't hear you if you do that but they could hear me and think it would be weird if there was no one there. Besides, people don't really like a lot of noise."
"Heh, believe me. Walking up in the rich neighborhoods and hawkin' the headlines was nearly a one way trip to the Refuge," Race says, shaking his head in memory.
"You realize we ain't going to bed yet, right? We have to get the system hooked up so we can game 'til three in the morning," Elmer says, still confused by Buttons just randomly shouting goodnight to someone they couldn't see.
"Skittery went to go sleep in the closet," Buttons explains. Elmer brightens up like Buttons had never seen before.
"Wait a minute. There's a ghost in the closet?" he asks before running off in the direction of the room with the closet, "Hi, Ghost Skittery! I'm Elmer! It's nice to meet you!" The cheery voice stops the conversation of all the other Newsies as they turn and stare at the backroom.
"You may not have wanted to do that," Crutchie says.
Skittery walks through the wall a couple moments later, looking slightly annoyed.
"Please tell me he'll leave me alone eventually," Skittery pleads.
Two seconds later, Elmer calls out in a happy tone, "I've never been friends with a ghost before...or really talked to one so, I hope I'm doing okay." All of the ghosts look at Skittery expectantly.
"What're you lookin' at? Go find somewhere else to mingle that's not in my apartment," he grumbles before walking back through the wall.
Albert picks up on the situation based on the look on Buttons' face. "Hope that lame kid named Racetrack isn't causing you trouble," he says, looking through the book absentmindedly.
"Finch," Racetrack says, beckoning the tall blonde boy with the sling shot over, "Get 'im." Finch loads his slingshot with a marble and shoots it through the air. It hits Albert in the neck and rolls on the ground. Albert looks up from his book and looks around, distracted by what's going on. Seeing Buttons empty hands, Albert shakes his head.
"The ghosts didn't like that," Buttons says with a small amount of whine in his voice.
"This ain't happening," he says, before looking himself in the bathroom.
"Oh no," Buttons mutters under his breath. He leans his head against the wall and closes his eyes. Snipeshooter and Finch both walk through the wall into the bathroom and Button can hear the distant yelps of him getting shot with marbles as well as the giggles of the two ghosts shooting him. He can also hear Elmer faintly chattering away in the other room to Skittery, who's most definitely hiding in the closet. Buttons looks up to Jack, Crutchie, and Davey.
"Ya know," Mush says, coming up next to him, "We make for some good spies. Besides, we ain't all out to cause problems." Davey's head goes into his hands as he mutters something under his breath that sounds like "most of you do anyways."
"Welcome to life with the 'Hattan Newsies," Jack says, "There ain't ever a dull moment."
"You can say that again," Davey says.
Buttons' mind races between the sounds of his living friends and his ghost friends interacting and he briefly wonders if his life will ever be the same again.
A part of that terrifies him but the other part of it promises to be an adventure that he knows he will remember forever.
And it's that part of the situation that excites him.
A/N: Soooooo... I wrote most of this in one day. And for the record, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It's entertaining and funny...very funny. And you even got your typical Aisling Newsies oneshot things in there.
I am so so so so so willing to expand this if you all would like me to do more oneshots kinda like this one but the Newsie ghosts getting into different antics with Buttons instead of like an introduction.
I also think it would be kinda fun to have some of the Newsies characters interact with the actual characters from Ghosts but I think this is a fun place to start.
Buttons just seemed like such a good victim.... I mean person to be the one who could see ghosts. He's such a chill dude but also is easily confused by the chaos. Poor thing. What have I done to him?
Sorry for the lack of OCs. I was having a lot fun just with the boys for this one. It really was a lot of fun to write once I actually sat down and did it.
I do have to say that it's kinda tricky to write Albert and Race when they don't actually interact with each other/know each other. You really have to get creative with how everybody gets into antics because those two (Nycnewsgirl affectionately calls them the nightmare twins) are the cause of a lot of antics. It forces you to kind of think outside that bubble and really use what other characters have to offer. Which is super fun by the way.
Honestly, this one was hard to find a place to stop too. Because you just want to keep going. This is the second AU oneshot that I've written that I've felt like they're really needed to be more to it but I don't really want to start another book right now because I have lots of drafts and lots of books already posted that need updated.
Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this one. I honestly had a blast writing it and it was a lot of fun to kind of explore what this AU might be like. Thanks for doing whatever it is you do and feel free to comment, ask questions about the actual show Ghosts, or whatever. It is greatly appreciated. I hope you had a lot of fun with this one!!
Thanks so much!! And see you around!!
-Aisling