𝙽𝚎𝚠𝚜𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝙾𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚜

♥︎ Crutchie x Reader ∥ Sway To The Music

• 936 words • female reader •

Crutchie sat alone at Medda's New Year's Eve party that she hosted every year. All his fellow newsies were dancing with their dates. Crutchie was the only one without a date. He wanted to ask someone, but he chickened out at the last second.

   He was seated at one of the small tables scattered around the outskirts of the large room, his crutch leaning against his chair. He watched as his best friend, Jack, twirled Katherine, his girlfriend, around. They seemed to be having so much fun.

   Though he didn't like to admit it out loud, Crutchie was very jealous of his friends. Crutchie was such a hopeless romantic. He wanted to find someone to love so badly. He wanted to go on cute dates to the park and hold hands with someone in public. But he felt like no one would ever love him because of his gimp leg. That's why he didn't ask out his crush to the dance.

   (Y/N) was a young girl, the same age as Crutchie. She was Romeo's cousin who recently moved to Manhattan from Orlando, Florida. She was the sweetest girl Crutchie had ever met. She had dreams to become a famous chef, and was very passionate about Jane Austin's novels. Crutchie had fallen in love with her very quickly.

   However, he knew she couldn't possibly like him back. She was a beautiful and intelligent girl, and he was an annoying gimp. At least, that's what he thought.

   (Y/N) on the other hand, absolutely adored Crutchie. He was hard working, optimistic, and had a heart of pure gold. She didn't care if he needed a crutch to walk.

   (Y/N) looked at him from across the room. She felt bad that he was sitting alone. She turned to her two friends. "Hey, I'm gonna go sit with Crutchie. He's all alone," she said. Her friends nodded and (Y/N) walked towards Crutchie.

   She pulled up a chair and sat across from him. "Hey," she said.

   Crutchie looked up from his thumbs that he was twiddling. "H-hey," he replied. "What are yous doin' here?"

   "Sitting," (Y/N) replied.

   Crutchie laughed. "I would never have guessed if you didn't tells me."

   "Well, I'm glad I did," (Y/N) joked. She looked out at the sea of dancing people. Most were newsies that Medda invited, and others were friends or family of the newsies. "Wanna dance?" she asked Crutchie.

   Crutchie looked at her. He chuckled. "You sure yous wanna dance with a gimp like me?" he asked. "What about Race? I'm sure he'd love to dance with ya."

   "Nah, he's dancing with Spot," (Y/N) replied. "Besides, I wanna dance with you."

   Crutchie looked awkwardly at his leg. "Well... I'd love to dance with you. But my leg, it's- it wasn't made for spinnin' around and doin' all sorts of crazy dance moves."

   "Oh, that's alright. We can just sway to the music. Nothing crazy."

   "Yeah, but-" (Y/N) stood up and grabbed his arm before Crutchie could finish his sentence.

   Crutchie grabbed his crutch and they moved to the dance floor. (Y/N) took Crutchie's free hand and placed it on her waist. She then placed her arms around his neck. Crutchie could feel his face heating up.

   They started to sway back and forth to the slow music that a live band was playing. They swayed back and forth for hours on end, chatting about anything and everything.

   As the end of the night approached, Crutchie and (Y/N) had moved outside onto the roof of the Bowery. Their legs were dangling off the side of the building. They could faintly hear the newsies talking and music playing from below.

   "I had a lot of fun tonight," (Y/N) said.

   "Yeah, me too," Crutchie replied. He could feel his heart racing and his cheeks heating up. He ran his fingers through his hair.

   (Y/N) looked up at the night sky. The stars twinkled like thousands of small diamonds. She pointed up at the sky. "A shooting star," she said. "Make a wish."

   Crutchie closed his eyes. He wished for the courage to tell (Y/N) how he felt. That he loved her. He opened his eyes and looked at (Y/N). Their eyes locked.

   The newsies could be heard starting to count down.

10, 9, 8...

   "What'd you wish for?" (Y/N) asked.

   Crutchie shook his head. "Can't say. Or else it won't come true."

7, 6...

   Crutchie looked into (Y/N)'s (E/C) eyes. "I... um..." he stuttered out. "I need to tell you something."

   "What is it?"

   "I um... I just... really like you."

5, 4...

   "Aw, thank you. I like you too Crutchie," (Y/N) replied, smiling.

   "No, I-uh... I really, really like you, (Y/N). Like... as more than a friend." Crutchie's face was red.

3...

   (Y/N) smiled at him. "I know. That's what I meant too."

   "R-really?"

   "Really."

2...

   (Y/N) scooted closer to Crutchie. His eyes moved from her eyes to her lips. His heart was racing so fast he thought it would burst out of his chest.

1... HAPPY NEW YEAR!

   (Y/N) and Crutchie kissed right as the clock struck twelve. Cheers could be heard from the newsies in the Bowery. They quickly parted.

   "I really do like you, Crutchie," (Y/N) said. "You're the kindest and most adorable person I've ever met."

   (Y/N) leaned her head on Crutchie's shoulder as fireworks flew into the sky. They stayed there in silence watching the night sky being lit up by beautiful bursts of colour.