•Binding• •A Newsies Fanfic•

•Bloody Showers•

‼️TW! Panic attack, body dysphoria, anxiety, mentions of blood, mentions of The Refuge, mentions of scars and bruises

-~-*Night after chapter six*-~-

"IT'S SHOWER NIGHT!" Smokes came rushing down the stairs.

Hot water was very rare around the lodge and unless you got up super early on Wednesdays you had to wait till Saturday evening.

A flood of Newsies rushed past Smokes, Paint pushed their way to the front so they could get one of the half decent stalls.

Flames shook their head, bouncing off the shelf, slipping out a window and disappearing.

They had showered on Wednesday.

Paint stared at the dirty broken mirror, dreading what came next.

They slowly hung up their clothes, glancing at the dirty bandages tightly wrapped around their chest, 'You'se got this...'

They pick at the edge of the bandage, sighing, 'No you can't...'

They pace around the small shower room, hearing the others whistling or talking from outside the door.

"Just do it!" Paint stops dead in their tracks, slapping a hand over their mouth.

Smokes knocked on the door softly, "You'se ok Paint?"

"I- uh, yeah! I'se fine!"

They slowly began to unwrap the scratchy fabric, eyes squeezed shut. 'Don't look down, jus' don't look down.'

They turned on the hot water, stepping in and letting it wash away the bulk of grime on their skin.

They used a cloth to scrape away most of what was left.

Paint subconsciously glanced down slightly and panic decided to exist right then.

Their breath hitched and they fell back on the wall, memories flooding in.

Bugs crawling everywhere, muffled screams from nowhere exactly, 'cold, so cold...'

They slowly sank down, their whimpers drowned out by the steady beating of warm water and shouting Newsies.

Paint could feel the tight grip of rope around their wrists, warm blood rolling down their bruised and scarred chest.

They clutched at their leg, fingers digging in till a tiny spot of red liquid sputtered up.

'No more pain!' They shook their head rapidly.

Banging on the door snapped them away from the nightmare, lukewarm water now pattering on their head.

"Paint, Are you'se ok?!"

Flames knocked on the door again, hearing the water slowly shut off.

Paint had yanked the faucet off, tightly wrapping a thin towel around their chest.

They grabbed at their binding, tying it on tight, wincing and whimpering at the pains that stabbed at them.

Flames knocked again, now crying, "Please answer..."

Every Newsie in the shower room had stopped to stare at the sight.

Paint stepped out a second later, fully dressed, avoiding all eye contact.

"You'se ok?" Flames leaned down, gently lifting their face up.

It was tear stained, eyes puffy and their usual shine long gone, they must have been crying, not like they could tell with the water pouring down.

Paint slowly leaned onto them face first, starting to cry again.

"I'm so s-sorry.." It barely came out as a whisper.

Flames started humming softly, holding them close.

Ace was the first to speak, his voice slightly saddened, "Is they ok?"

Flames shook their head, 'no'

"Hey Paint?"

The shorter Newsie slowly looked up, wiping away a few tears.

"You'se wanna go out?"

They nodded slightly, letting Flames pick them up.

The two went up to the roof, Paint snuggling their head into Flames' chest.

They stayed up there a while longer, humming songs together while the stars slowly began to come out.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Thanks for reading chapter eight!

Leave a comment if you've got any

feedback!

•Paint•