Newsies x Reader !!!REQUESTS ARE OPEN!!!

Mush Meyers - Shut Down

1 year before the strike

"Alright, I'll getchu situated with a sellin partner for the day" Jack, the self proclaimed leader of the Lower Manhattan newsies tells me.

"Um...ok" I agree

"Hm, I think you and Mush would get along well" He says, and i cover my mouth to keep myself from giggling at the name.

"What did you say his name was?" I ask

He sighs. "Mush. It's his nickname cuz he's a mushy romantic kinda guy"

"Ohh"

"Ey! Mush!" Jack calls out to the crowd of newsboys.

A boy with messy brown hair and bright blue eyes emerges from the crowd and walks over.

I immediately notice how good looking he is.

"Mush, this is y/n. I was wonderin if you'd mind sellin with her til she gets the hang of it?" Jack asks the boy

"Sure! Nice ta meet ya Y/n" he smiles at me.

"Nice to meet you too, Mush!"

"Alright thanks Mush, good luck y/n" Jack says, walking away to go talk to a curly blond haired boy.

"So, Y/n, why're you becoming a newsie?" Mush asks me as we get in line to buy our papes

"My dad kicked me out of our apartment because my step mom decided she doesn't like me" I tell him.

He gives me a look of pity and he wraps one of his muscular arms around me, pulling me into a gentle hug.

"I'm sorry y/n" he says once he's released me from the (extremely comforting) hug.

"Its ok...I can fend for myself" I say to him.

"Well, you've got us now too" he says, gesturing at the boys in the surrounding area.

He helped me with selling for the first month or so, and even after I'd worked long enough to be better at hawking headlines than him, we kept selling together just because we wanted to.

Present

"Racer! Albert! Elmer! Henry! Mush! Y/n! Specs! Time to get up!" Jack yells through the lodge.

I groan, sitting up and stretching.

I sit on my bed for a moment before someone comes and sits in front of me.

"Morning y/n!"

"Morning Mushy!" I respond to my best friend.

I hug him quickly before standing up from my bed.

He stands up after me, and right before I go to walk away he wraps his arms around me from behind, his head resting on my shoulder.

"Muuush, come on I gotta get ready!" I giggle

"But youse also very warm so let me hold you for a minute" He says, his grip on me not loosening in the slightest.

I turn in his arms so I'm facing him.

I wrap my arms around him, letting him warm up using me as a human heater.

After about five minutes of just holding each other close I say "ok, Mush, we've gotta get ready"

He groans but releases me from his hold.

I quickly get dressed and I meet Mush out in the living room of the lodge.

He sticks out his hand for me to take and i interlock our fingers gently.

We walk to the circulation gate together, talking quietly to each other.

When we get there, Race says "took you two lovebirds long enough!"

"Don't call us lovebirds Racer, we aren't dating" I reprimand him, trying to ignore the heat in my cheeks.

"Mmhm, so why're you holding hands?" Albert asks.

"Because we want to. Next question" Mush responds

"If you're not dating then why were you two just standing in front of y/n's bunk hugging for like five minutes?" JoJo asks this time.

"Because I'm a human heater and Mush is constantly cold. Duh." I answer this time.

"All I'm hearing are excuses, you?" Race asks JoJo and Albert.

"Yeah" both boys agree.

I flip them the bird before Race goes to buy his papes, trying and failing to get his papes for free.

Then there's a new kid who doesn't know how buying papes works.

The line moves along and me and Mush buy our papes as usual.

We walk to our selling spot, never letting go of each others hands.

We sell all 100 of our papes in 3 hours, so we decide to go on a walk together.

"Hey Y/n?"

"Yeah?"

"Ise been thinkin about what the guys were sayin and I gotta tell you, I really really like you and I uh...I was wondering if you'd consider being my goil?" He asks sheepishly

My mind shuts down completely, and I'm speechless.

I stop walking, and Mush looks hurt.

"I'm sorry- I shouldn't have asked, I've made you uncomfortable- I'm sorry, I'm just gonna go" He says, dropping my hand and taking off in the other direction.

I regain my senses after a few moments and realize I just fucked up, bad.

He went in the direction of the lodge, so that's where I go.

I run until I arrive at the lodge, about 15 minutes later.

"Shit, shit, shit" I mutter to myself

I walk up to Racer and ask "Hey have you seen Mush?"

"Why d'you wanna know?" He asks, giving me a dirty look

"Because I didn't mean to hurt him, I shut down because I was shocked! I love him more than anyone else in this world and to hear him ask me to be his girl just made my senses shut down!" I cry and his dirty look fades.

"Yous really hurt him, ya know. I know ya didn't mean to, but ya did. Check the rooftop, I'm pretty sure that's where he said he was goin" Racer tells me.

"Thanks Race" I say, taking off to the stairs to get to the roof.

I get up onto the roof, and I hear a sniffling sound.

I find Mush curled in a ball crying his eyes out.

"Mush!" I say, looking at the boy.

He looks up at me with red eyes and says "What do you want?"

"I want to say I'm sorry! I love you so much! I'd love to be your girl! I just- I was in shock when you asked me out on the street and that's why I didn't answer!" I say, talking a mile a minute.

I walk over to him, and I stick my hand out for him to take.

He takes my hand hesitantly, using it to pull himself up.

"Ya mean it?" He asks

"A hundred percent"

He wraps his arms around me gently, resting his head on my shoulder.

"I love you Mush"

He lifts his head off of my shoulder, looking me in the eyes.

He places his hands so he's cupping my cheek gently, before leaning in and kissing me gently.

As we separate, we rest our foreheads against one another.

"So...is you my goil now?" He asks

"If you still want me to be, yeah"

"Good, cuz I definitely want you to be" He says, kissing me again.