hc that davey cracks his bones a lot and it always terrifies jack
@races-stupid-cigar YOU GET ME !!!!!!!!!
crutchie is a BIG fun socks guy ... he's got at least 10 pairs of utterly odd and colourful socks ... davey on the other hand only owns black socks and jack only owns white socks ..
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There had only ever been two deaths in the Manhattan Lodge House.
13 years ago, a 12 year old boy named Rocky. A kid who'd been in the refuge for 8 years of his life and seemed to have contracted every virus he could've caught.
He went out quietly, passing away in his sleep and never waking up. An older girl, Nifty, was the one who found him and quickly informed Kloppman, who had him buried later that week in the patch of grass outside.
The second time was after the fight.
Everybody was sleeping soundly, aside from Race and Albert. Jack was nowhere to be found, so until further notice, they were now the ones in command throughout the house. They couldn't bring themselves to fall asleep in case something were to happen, so they were trying to keep themselves awake as long as possible.
They were simply lying there, Race tracing random patterns onto Albert's thighs with his thumb, while Albert smoked his cigar, trying to relax after such a rough day.
At around 01.36, Tommy Boy rushed over to their bunk, tears spilling down his face and panic in his eyes.
"Jesus Tommy, what's happening?" Albert asked, quickly showing himself to a sitting position. "You look like you saw a ghost."
"I think I did-" He stuttered out. "Splasher ain't waking up. We shook him, said his name, slapped him a few times but he still ain't wakin' up-"
Race swung himself off the bunk, Albert following suit and running to Splashers bunk, praying to whoever was up there that the situation wasn't as bad as they were thinking.
At the bunk, Buttons could be seen holding Splashers limp body in his arms, sobbing to himself.
"Buttons...is he-" Race began, before being cut off by Buttons slowly nodding his head.
"He's gone." Buttons whispered, wiping his cheeks as dry as he could get them. "My baby brother is gone."
A few more people were starting to wake up at the noise they were all making. JoJo had caught onto what had happened, and while his shake had come back, he was ushering some of the younger kids out of the room, making the situation easier for the ones in charge.
"C'mon Ike, outta bed." He whispered, Mike asleep on his back and Mush at his side. "Yeah, we's gonna go on a little midnight walk, aye?"
"Jo, yous are shakin'." Specs uttered, putting a hand on the other boys arm. "That ain't happened in a while, you sure you's are good?"
"I'm fine." JoJo replied, walking the kids out of the room. "Call for me when we can come back in."
Specs nodded, walking over to the group at the bed.
Albert had run downstairs to go and grab Kloppman, let him know about the situation on their hands, leaving Racer, Buttons, Tommy Boy, Specs, and poor Splish-Splash.
Tommy Boy was holding onto Buttons, who was now sobbing into his shoulder. Racer had Splashers body covered with a bedsheet, a few specs of blood from his injuries seeping through.
"Christ." Race sighed, unable to break his watch on the body. "Kids only what, eight? Still had everythin' ahead of him."
Soon enough, word had spread to everybody in the room about the death, Kloppman running in with Albert beside him, confirming the fact for everyone.
That night, Splasher stayed lying on that bed with the sheet remaining atop of him.
The next morning, Finch and Henry were sent outside to dig another spot in the ground where they'd lay Splasher just a few hours later.
Much like with Rocky, it was only some of the older Newsies who went out to witness the burial.
Tommy Boy and Buttons were crying again. They'd just lost their little brother, the kid they'd practically raised throughout their childhoods. Now he was gone, just like that, all because of that stupid rally. Kind words had been said, but that doesn't bring back the most important person in their lives.
Race and Albert were dead silent, practically unable to speak from shock and fear. How had Jack done this for so long without cracking? It was their first day, and a kid had just died. They'd been told that it wasn't their fault by Kloppman numerous times, but it just couldn't sit right with them that a child died under their supervision.
JoJo was leading a small prayer service. He hadn't stopped shaking, making a short note to himself to tell the nuns how long this one seemed to be going on for. He'd been in charge of keeping the little kids occupied and distracted, but he knew deep down that there was only so long he could hide the death of one of the loudest kids in the house. He was just praying the day wouldn't be sooner but much later.
For multiple years after, they would look out the window and see the graves of Splasher and Rocky, remembering two kids who ended up dying to fend for themselves and their families.
It wasn't about pennies from that moment onwards. It was about remembering the newsies lost selling to help their family and striking to help future generations.
MY NEWSIES AUDITION IS DONE! i went for jack and I really hope I get it but either way ill be absolutely stoked to be in the production ........ cast list comes out on Dec 18th .... pray for my nerves
love your writing! could you do some more for ralbert?
Aaaa thank you!!! I’m so sorry that this took so long, school has been beating me up lately, lol. Enjoy this little bit of rambling!
There’s a crack in the mirror in Albert and Race’s home.
Neither are quite sure how it got there- perhaps a box was dropped onto it during moving and hit the glass a bit too hard, perhaps one of them had bumped into it and just didn’t remember- but it’s been there for as long as the two of them can tell you. It was there when they signed the lease on the house, it was there when they came home one day with a shining bundle of joy in their arms, after years of waiting, and it’ll be there when the time comes to put the mirror away.
When you stand in front of it, your view of your reflection is distorted a bit where the glass has chipped. Right above your heart lies a star-shaped crack, your skin seeming fragile and broken underneath it. Both Albert and Race have looked into this mirror hundreds of times, a quick glance on the way out to run an errand or for several minutes as they laughed at the faces their kids made in it.
Their youngest barely comes up to the crack, a little puncture mark poked into his face when he passes by. He laughs when he sees it, brushing his hand just close enough to feel the groove where the mirror’s broken, smiling at his reflection.
Race has to blink tears from his eyes when he sees this, his beautiful child so happy with what he saw in that glass. Albert isn’t so lucky- he’s always been sentimental anyways. It had taken a long time for the two of them to find that, for their own reflections to not punch a hole through their heart.
Their children won’t ever have to suffer through those long years of waiting before freedom, trapped in the hopeless purgatory of no support before they finally get the courage to stand up. That mirror will never haunt them. Their names will not be a source of pain. They’ll never be afraid to be who they were- both Race and Albert had promised that long before they’d first adopted.
For now, that mirror will distort their children’s faces, hear their giggles as they stick out their tongues at the warped image. As they grow, they’ll fall into the same routine, ignoring that old crack in the glass as they fix their jacket or comb through their hair, the slight bend in light unnoticeable now. Their hearts will break, just like the glass, and be mended together again with some sort of miracle. When they leave their childhood home, that mirror will watch, still the same as ever yet having bore witness to the molding of two human beings, just as it had done before. They’ll come home for holidays and birthdays, funerals and reunions, their fingerprints left on the mirror and wiped off again, like when they were little.
Sooner rather than later, it’ll become no longer useful, and it will sit in a basement or old antique shop, slowly staining and losing its light. It will heave its final, weak breath, the memories made lost to time and decay, to all except those who lived it- those who still dream of the time spent in that house, with that mirror.
That glass may one day be broken, but those men and their family? They never will be.
im australian and we call them boy mosquitos
crutchie who knows FAR too much about javey because every night if jack isn't at davey's house he's talking crutchie's ear off about literally EVERYTHING that happens. crutchie knows what daveys mouth tastes like and that one of his molars is chipped. crutchie knows the exact dimensions of davey's face and balls. crutchie knows. crutchie wishes he did not know because now every time he looks at Davey he cannot block the imagery.
little miss “goes on a writing spree for a day or two, publishing a bunch of stuff, and then can’t write for nearly a week”
OH TRUE i actually see that but like
me personally jack needs somebody to like love him gently, and I personally am a big supporter of brothers jackcrutchie ... and like their character development ... makes sense to me .. but i get what ur sayin
does anyone have any sprace fic recommendations ? i need more sprace content in my life
he/him media enjoyer • roman/rome • australian, 17 • javey&ralbert centric • always down for a chat !!
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