A Troubled Family || Newsies Soulmates AU

Chapter 12 - Anthony

- Chapter 12 - He Can Dance? -
Warnings: Anxiety, mentions of abuse
Third Person POV

Anthony quietly knocks on the door to Medda's office.

She answers with a, barely heard by Anthony, 'come in'.

Anthony slowly opens the door, peaking his head in. "Good afternoon, Miss Medda."

Medda smiles at him. "Good morning, Anthony. How are you doing this morning?"

Anthony nods, shrugging a bit as he steps into the room. "I have a question."

Medda nods, motioning for him to ask. She notices Anthony holding what looks like torn-up tap shoes behind his back.

"Am I allowed to go into the basement?" Anthony asks. "I've always liked tapping, and it helps me de-stress. It's not exactly a quiet dance so I didn't want to bother the others."

Medda smiles. "That's perfectly fine." Anthony let's put a breath of relief, cause Medda to softly smile. "The boys would never mind, I think a good amount of them would be happy to have another 'tapper' in the house, but you can anytime. I'd just prefer you tell me so that if one of the boys think you're missing, I'll tell them that you aren't."

Anthony nods. "If you don't mind, could you not tell them?"

Medda frowns a bit, but nods nonetheless. She wasn't one to go against someone's privacy.

"Thank you, Miss Medda" Anthony responds. Medda smiles.

Anthony turns to leave, but Medda's voice stops him. "Oh, and Anthony, you can call me Medda or Mom."

Anthony nods, though he knew he probably wasn't going to do that.

He leaves the room and walks downstairs, successfully avoiding any Newsies he saw, somehow.

He was actually very surprised none of them walked out of a wall, dropped from a ceiling vent, or popped out of the floor. It seemed like something they could probably do.

When Anthony got to the basement, he put down something to play the music on, and got his tap shoes on.

He liked tapping, especially the sounds the tap shoes made. He also liked the rhythm.

Anthony set up, and then starting running through it, stopping at parts he forgot.

He had always hid that he liked dancing since his other homes would never approve, but he knew Medda probably would be fine with it.

"Cinque, sei, sette, otto, e basta." Anthony reminds himself, running through the counts. "So, five, six, seven, eight, and stop!"

Anthony giggles to himself; he always looked ridiculous when he ran through the steps and counted in Italian. He always did that, and not even on purpose.

"Okay, restarting" Anthony mumbles to himself, as he sets the music again.

A little later

Anthony had been mid-tap, when the door to the basement opened.

"You tap?"