newsies fics

enamored - davey jacobs

On your 15th birthday, your present from the world was getting caught living on the streets by Snyder. He got ahold of you and you got thrown into the refuge, left to starve and die. On your 17th birthday, you were still very much alive and thriving. Thriving as much as you could in the refuge.

Groaning, you shoved your head into the thin mattress you were sharing with another kid and you took a deep breath and rolled out of the bed, going over to the window that overlooked the circulation gate. As long as you remembered, you were completely enamored with the boys who lined up after the morning bell rang and bought newspapers just to sell them to other people. Every morning, you would wake up with the morning bell, much like those boys, and watched them all antagonize the Delancey brothers and Mr. Weisel, an endearing grin adorning your face.

But today was different; there was a new boy in line. His clothes were cleanly pressed and his cap placed carefully on his head. There was a younger boy by him, perhaps a brother. You watched as he talked with Mr. Weisel and then disappointedly put down money to buy a few papers.

Jumping as the door to the sleeping bunks slammed open, you turned away from the window, grabbing a broom and trying to make yourself look busy. "What are you doing? You should have woken up the rest of these kids. The cleaning won't happen by itself." One of Snyder's cronies grabbed the broom out of your hand and raised it like he was going to hit you. You threw your hands up to try and defend yourself a bit and the man laughed, throwing the broom back to you. "Just wake them up. Don't be slacking on us."

When the man left the room, you hurriedly went around and tried to wake them up so you could catch another glimpse of the newsboy who looked so out of place in this wretched environment. And when you did peek out of the window, you swore that the boy was looking back at you.

-

The glances went on for days and by then, you knew that it wasn't just your imagination. The dark haired boy was looking for you, watching, and that brought a flutter to your heart. You knew nothing about this boy, not even his name. When the weather's a little nicer, everyone would welcome opening a window or two and maybe then you could catch someone shouting his name. But until then, you just had to watch.

You had heard through the refuge guards that Mr. Pulitzer had raised the price of papers a few days ago, 60 cents per hundred. And with watching the Newsies, you could tell they were upset. They still went to the circulation gates but instead of buying papers, you watched them convince other newsies to join them in their strike, resulting in a fight: newsies vs. the Delancey's and police.

You also watched in horror as Snyder dragged away Crutchie, a newsboy you've been watching for as long as you could remember, and pulled him into the refuge. As soon as he got thrown in the room, you were by his side, calling out orders to the other kids just standing around and watching.

Once people had gotten old scraps of cloth from clothes that were beyond worn, you started to dress Crutchie's wounds as much as you could. "I remember ya," Crutchie whispered, his eyes still closed. "You'se the one who watches us every mornin'."

You laughed slightly and the pressed a damp cloth around his eye that was already starting to bruise. "I am," you responded. "My name's (Y/N)."

Crutchie covered your hand with his and pulled it away from his eye, resting it on his chest, over his heart. "Well, (Y/N), thank ya for bein' my savior."

-

Crutchie didn't sleep at night and you woke up earlier than the rest of the kids in the refuge, that much you two had figured out quickly. Once Crutchie arrived, you had managed to swap beds with a few kids to get an upper bunk for you and Crutchie to share. The upper bunk was your idea, if Crutchie was up high, there'd be less of a chance for Snyder or someone else working for him to come and hurt Crutchie. So between hushed whispers in the early morning, you managed to learn a lot about him and vise versa.