#jojo de la guerra fanfiction

[fishcowwrites]

In The Stars - RedFinch Military AU

Albert DaSilva x Finch Cortes from Newsies

2.5k words cross posted on ao3 under cut

Title from the song by Benson Boone which was on repeat as I wrote this to establish ✨vibes✨

Any inaccuracies regarding military death notifications can be taken up with Fort Lee Casualty Assistance Center Casualty Notification Guide for the Casualty Notification Officer pdf from 2013 that I found online.

TW: major character death, mentions of vomiting (non graphic), mentions of self harm (not really graphic)

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When Albert was deployed, Finch was distraught. He didn’t want his husband to leave him, let alone leave their daughter.

“It’s just ten months. Not even a year. I’ll be back before you know.” They were both trying not to cry for the sake of Lily, who was not quite old enough to understand what was happening but not young enough to be ignorant of it all.

“Papa, what’s happening?” Albert knelt down next to her, gently taking her hands.

“I have to go, lilybug. Just for a little bit. Not a long time. I’m coming back soon, ok? Be good for your daddy.” Albert scooped her up, passing her into Finch’s arms. He hugged the two of them, then leaned in for one final kiss. “I’ll see you soon, I promise. Just ten months, yeah?” he spoke quietly, pressing his forehead against his husband’s. Finch nodded, choking back his tears.

“Just ten months.”

Then Albert was leaving, and Lily was crying, and maybe Finch was crying too, but he couldn’t tell. The rest of the day was a blur. The two of them headed back home, where Race and JoJo were waiting. JoJo took a now sleeping Lily to her bed while Race got some water for Finch.

“What if he doesn’t come back? What if I never see him again? What would I tell Lily?” Finch was hyperventilating, his hands shaking as he sobbed. Slowly, Race turned Finch towards him.

“Look at me. Look at me, Finch. Albert will be okay. It’s just ten months. He’ll be fine. I promise.” Race tilted Finch’s head up, nodding with what he hoped was a comforting smile. “Albert will be back before you know it.”

Those were the words that ran through his head when a soldier showed up at his door 7 months later.

“Daddy?” Lily called out. “There’s a man at the door.” Finch ran to the front hall.

“Lilybug, what did I tell you about answering the door? You gotta-“ He froze, taking in the crisp uniform and the stoic expression of the man who wore it. “Can I help you?” The man pursed his lips. “Are you Patrick DaSilva-Cortes?” Slowly, Finch picked up Lily, trying his best to ignore the dread creeping into his bones.

“Yeah, can I help you?”

“I am Captain Sam Robinson from Company A, 2nd Battalion, 21st Ordnance, from Stuttgart, Germany. I have an important message to deliver from the Secretary of the Army. May I come in, Mr. DaSilva-Cortes?"

Finch knew exactly what was happening. He had imagined it in his head over and over, and all the ways it could go, but nothing could’ve prepared him for the shock. It felt like he was drowning, with muffled sound and no air. All he could do was nod.

The captain stepped aside, revealing a younger man dressed in a slightly different uniform.

“This is Chaplain Steve Lewis. Is there somewhere we can sit down to talk?”

Wordlessly, Finch led them the living room, clutching Lily tightly. He moved to sit on the couch before stopping to look at the captain.

“What,” Finch closed his eyes, willing himself to stay composed. “What do I do with Lily? She can’t-“ he stopped as she looked up at him, eyes wide.

At barely three, Lily Patricia DaSilva-Cortes was shaping up to be sharper than both of her fathers. She had Albert’s flaming red hair and Finch’s love for music, as well as the penchant for mischief that both men shared. And above all, he loved her with his whole heart. How could he make her leave now?

“It’s nothing, darling. I’m staying with you.” He sat down, gesturing for the two men to do so as well. Carefully, he did his best to cover Lily’s ears before nodding for them to start.

The older one cleared his throat, looking Finch straight in the eye.

"The Secretary of the Army has asked me to express his deep regret that your husband Albert died in Germany on October 19th. His truck crashed in an accident. The Secretary extends his deepest sympathy to you and your family in your tragic loss."

That was it. Those were the words that Finch had been dreading ever since he knew Albert was going to leave. Those were the words that haunted him every day and every night as he prayed he would never have to hear them. And those were the words being said to him in the house he had built with Albert, holding the daughter they had raised together. The man was saying something that Finch couldn’t quite make out, but this couldn’t be real, it couldn’t be real, it can’t be real, and-

Finch felt something. Two tiny hands reaching for his shaking ones. That brought him back to the moment.

“Daddy, what’s this man saying? What happened? What’s happening?” Lily was on the verge of tears, her childish mind trying to find reason in the unreasonable.

“Nothing’s happened, dear. Nothing’s happened.” Finch wanted to just close his eyes and wake up from this nightmare, but he couldn’t. Not when the nightmare was simply reality.

“Why are you crying then?” She was too smart for her own good, really. He didn’t know what to say. How could he tell her?

“Sir, is there someone I can call?” The man was talking to him again. At least this was a question he could answer. Finch nodded, reaching for his phone. His contacts. Albert’s name stood there at the top, but he ignored it. Anthony Higgins. Call. There must’ve been some mercy left in the universe, as he picked up quickly.

“Yeah, Finch?”

Oh god. Race was Albert’s closest friend.

“Hello?”

What could he say? What could he possibly say in this moment?

“Are you there?”

Finally, Finch found his voice.

“I need you. At the house. JoJo too. It’s an-“ His voice caught on the last word. “It’s an emergency.”

Race must have sensed the tone of his voice, because he could immediately hear action on the other side of the phone.

“Shit, yeah. Are you okay? Is Lily okay?”

Finch nodded for a bit, until he remembered Race couldn’t see him.

“Yeah. Yeah. But, um,” Breaths. Deep breaths. He could do this. “Please hurry.” Finch could here Race calling for JoJo; they must have been at their place. He heard the rustle of their shoes, the click of the door, the beep of the car.

“The GPS says 10 minutes. Are you fine? Do we need to call someone?” Why was breathing so hard? Why couldn’t he breathe? It was Lily’s touch that kept him grounded, at least momentarily.

“No, no, 10 minutes is fine. You don’t need to call anyone. See you then.” He hung up quickly. He didn’t know how much longer he could’ve held on. Finch looked up at the man desperately, unsure of what to say next. Thankfully, he spoke up.

“We can stay with you until they arrive.” Finch nodded gratefully, running one hand through his daughter’s hair. He held her close, praying to whatever god was left that Race and JoJo would show up soon.

When they knocked on the door, the other man stood up to get it. He led Race and JoJo to where Finch and Lily were sitting. Finch could see them putting the pieces together and the shock of realization that flashed across their faces. They both turned towards the captain, gripping each other’s hands tightly. Race spoke first.

“Is Albert-“ He shook his head, unable to say those horrible words. JoJo stepped forward, holding onto Race like he was a lifeline.

“What happened?” The man turned towards Finch, seemingly asking for permission. Finch nodded, unable to see how he could tell them himself.

“The Secretary of the Army has asked me to express his deep regret that Albert died in Germany on October 19th. His truck crashed in an accident. The Secretary extends his deepest sympathy to you and your family in your tragic loss.”

Race’s mouth dropped open in horror as JoJo reached back to steady him. Carefully, he sat Race down next to Finch and took Lily out of Finch’s arms.

“Thank you…”

“Captain.”

“Well, thank you captain. Do you need anything else?” JoJo’s voice was carefully measured as he reached out to shake the man’s hand. The man turned back towards Finch, taking out a clipboard and a pen.

“Once again, you are Patrick DaSilva-Cortes?” Finch nodded numbly; he knew that this man had business he needed to do.

“This is your place of residence and your mailing address?

Another nod. Another scribble on the clipboard.

“And you phone number is xxx-xxx-xxxx?”

Finch nodded again, now desperate for the man to leave. He had put the clipboard away and taken out a paper, which he handed to Finch.

“That paper has more information, as well as the contact information for your casualty area command. A casualty assistance officer will contact you sometime in the next 24 hours to arrange another visit. Please do not make arrangements for his remains until you have been fully briefed by them.”

Casualty. Remains. All words that now described his Albert. The man stood up from his chair, taking a deep breath before addressing Finch one final time.

“Mr. DaSilva-Cortes, I must be returning to Stuttgart. Again, on behalf of the Secretary of the Army, please accept the United States Army's deepest condolences.”

Then he walked out the door, the other one trailing behind. Everything was silent. Silence. Finch hated silence. Albert always knew what to say. But Albert was gone.

Albert was gone.

“I’m just gonna, y’know.” JoJo looked calm somehow, still holding Lily. He went off to put her down.

“Finch, god, I don’t-“ Race’s mouth hung agape as he tried to find the right words, but Finch couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Albert will be okay. It’s just ten months. He will be fine. You promised me, Race! You promised he would be fine! You promised-“ Finch gasped before running into the bathroom, barely making it as he collapsed in front of the toilet. Race was on his tail, slamming against the door frame as he ran towards Finch.

“Shit shit shit shit shit. Do I need to call-Do I need to see if I can get that guy back here? Do you need like an ambulance?” Race was crying now, but his worry for Finch overtook anything else he was feeling. “I need Albert. I need Albert. I need Albert. I need-“ Finch was cut off by another round of violent heaving, gasping for air all the while. He couldn’t take it anymore. His skin felt too tight on his body, restricting his movement and not letting him breathe. He needed to tear it off, tear it off, tear IT-

Race’s hands covered his own, refusing to let him harm himself. “I’m calling someone, okay? JoJo has Lily, they’ll be fine together. This time I promise. I’m sorry I can’t-I just can’t.”

Race stepped out of the bathroom, pulling out his phone. Finch stayed there, hunched over the toilet, just crying. Eventually, he heard sirens. Voices. Hands on his body, lifting him up, placing him on something soft. Wires and cuffs and beeps and white. So much white. White sheets, white walls, white gowns, white ceilings, white floors. And pink. Pink? A flower. A lily.

“Uncle JoJo said you would like it.”

His Lily. Standing there. Scared.

“Where’s papa?”

Oh. JoJo stepped into his vision, followed closely by Race. His voice was soft, as if they were all glass that could shatter.

“We told you, honey. He’s-“ Finch could here JoJo take a deep breath, with Race saying something to him quietly.

“He’s gone, honey.”

“But when is he coming back? He said he would come back. Why won’t he come back?”

She was crying now, far too young for this tragedy. JoJo picked her up, muttering an apology as he left. Race sat down next to Finch’s bed, taking one of his hands. They stayed there for a while until a nurse came in a said that Race had to go. All the white turned to black as Finch slipped into unconsciousness.

He dreamt of Albert, sitting on the docks in Brooklyn. He dreamt of Albert, dancing in the rain. He dreamt of Albert lying in their bed, holding their daughter. Don’t go, he tried to say. Don’t leave, it’s not worth it.��But Albert couldn’t hear him. More scenes of him passed by. Albert swimming, eating ice cream, watching tv, reading a book, playing with Lily at the playground. The day he asked Albert out, the day Albert proposed, the day of their wedding, the day they brought Lily home from the hospital. Their whole life together, blurred together through time. When Finch woke up, he was crying.

The funeral was hard. Hell, everything was hard. Lily was trying her best to understand, and Race and JoJo were trying their best to help them. They helped Finch tell the rest of their friends. Jack, Davey, Les, Sarah, Katherine, Crutchie, Romeo, Elmer, Buttons, Mush, Specs, Tommy, Mike, Ike, and Spot were all at the funeral. Finch tried to say something, he really did. Thankfully, Race had his back and gave the speech instead. He was glad when the whole thing was over. He just wanted to go back home.

Race and JoJo, bless them, stood by Lily and Finch for the rest of their lives. Slowly, they all learned to heal. Support groups, therapy, time. Some days were harder than others. Albert’s birthday, and their wedding anniversary. Those were days when Finch couldn’t get out of bed, days when Lily cried simply because her dad did. But time passed, no matter how slowly it did.

On Lily’s 18th birthday, there was a video. Something Finch had never thought they would have use for, but something that he had convinced Albert to make just in case. The sight of Albert’s face was enough to bring tears to their eyes, and the sound of his voice almost made Finch turn the tape off. But he didn’t.

“Hey, Lilybug. Happy 18th birthday! I hope you never have to see this, and I’m sorry if you do. I bet you’ve grown quite a lot, now! I’m sorry that I couldn’t be there today. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there every day. Hopefully, you’ve been good for Father Finch there. I wish I could see who you’ve grown up to be. I hope you know I’m proud of you, regardless of whatever has happened. I love you!”

As Albert leaned in to turn off the camera, Finch could see the tears in his eyes. He was crying now, and Lily was too. He tried to apologize, but she wouldn’t let him. As he hugged her tightly, she just whispered “Thank you.”

And 35 years later, as Finch laid in his hospital bed with his daughter by his side, all he could think about was finally seeing Albert again.

“I’ll see you soon, huh?” Finch laughed a little. “I’ll see you soon.”

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tysm for reading! hope this wasn't too shit

[somedayonbroadway]

Hi! I've been watching WandaVision, and the next episode will be the last I think, so I was wondering if you could do a WandaVision AU?

Yeeeee this is such an old ask but I am rewatching the show because I love it so much.

Sorry for such a late reply, anon.

WandaVision AU

Jack Kelly as Wanda

David Jacobs as Vision

Racetrack Higgins as Ralph/Pietro

Crutchie Morris as Monica

Albert DaSilva as Jimmy Woo

JoJo as Darcy Lewis

Mike and Ike as Billy and Tommy

Joseph Pulitzer as Agatha

I absolutely love the idea of this AU. I debated for a very long time about who I wanted to make Wanda. It was between Jack and Race, as it often is, and I was leaning towards Race for a long time but I think Jack makes more sense in the part.

Jack would’ve grown up with his baby brother, Racer. The two of them lived in Sokovia when they were young, with their parents who were later killed by a missile while the kids were trapped in the debris for over two days, able to see what remained of their parents bodies. Unknown to them at the time, Jack was born with miraculous powers of a witch and is immensely powerful. When they were kids, Jack loved watching sitcoms to escape from the horrors of the world.

Jack grows fiercely protective of his brother after their parents are taken from them. The two of them grow up protesting against the industry that killed their parents until they are basically tricked into Hydra’s experiments of the Mind Stone. These experiments are painful to Jack, amplifying his magic that he was only acutely aware of. This mind stone also gives Race the power of speed and opens a psychic connection between Jack and Race so they can communicate without speaking, making them all that much closer and more dependent on each other. Of the hundreds of people taken into this experiment, Jack and Race are the only survivors.

When the head of that experiment asks the brothers to help fight against the avengers, Jack goes immediately to get revenge on who he deems responsible for his parents’ death. His role is planting nightmarish visions into the heads of his victims to lead to their downfall, whether that means weakening them and scaring them enough to attack or forcing them to kill themselves to end the nightmare. He then helps with the creation of Ultron, who he is lead to believe will bring lasting peace, however, among looking into the machine’s mind, Jack finds that Ultron is planning the extinction of humanity and convinces Race that they need to turn against him.

After seeking help from the avengers, specifically a very skilled archer by the name of Bryan Denton, a very scared and traumatized Jack fights back against Snyder, the man who forced experimental practices on him and his brother, and Ultron.

However, as Ultron is attacking Sokovia, and Jack is guarding what could be a machine of global destruction, Race, who is also taken under Denton’s wing, shields him from being shot while the man is trying to get a young child back to his mother. Race is shot six times and saves Denton’s life by sacrificing his own.

A physical pain takes over Jack when he senses the loss of his brother, who is really the only person he’s ever had. He is unable to breathe for a full minute before he goes after Ultron personally and manages to destroy him.

David, a version of technology that had been destroyed by Ultron and recovered, saves Jack’s life despite Jack walking back into the collapsing city to sit by his brother’s body.

Jack is invited to train with the avengers after this, despite the overwhelming grief and Davey grows closer and closer to him as he is learning how to be human and Jack is relearning how to live without a psychic connection with his brother.

Before long, Jack and David fall for each other and begin to live a life together, desperate to be a happy, normal couple, but as the fate of the world is threatened, are forced to come back and fight with the avengers.

However, Jack discovers that David’s soul is made of the very same stone that created Race’s powers and their psychic link and it is a stone that the world’s attacker is after.

Jack tries to remove us peacefully without hurting David, but as they run out of time, David assures him that he must take it and destroy it, which would surely kill him. After delaying as much as he could, Jack is forced to take the stone and crush it before the alien creature can get ahold of it. However, the time stone allows the alien to rewind time, kill David in front of Jack again, forcing Jack to watch his pain as he takes the stone and wins anyway.

Jack can only scream and hold the body of his love before he falls victim to The Blip and fades away to dust.

When Jack is brought back, Denton takes him in, knowing the kid had lost everything he’d ever had and known.

Then, one day, Jack wakes up in a life he’d always dreamed of, and can’t remember anything before. He is happily married with his husband, Davey and as far as he knows, that’s how it’s always been.

Jack had unknowingly released chaos magic and has painfully forced an entire society into playing roles in a real life sitcom. He tries to allow himself to be happy despite knowing that something is wrong. However, he is aware of his and his husband’s power.

After simply talking about having kids, Jack ends up pregnant, which is a complete shock to him, but doesn’t seem to surprise anyone else, other than David, as Jack shouldn’t be able to get pregnant. Yet after only a few days, he becomes fully pregnant, he gives birth to two identical twins, Michael and Isaac with the help of a neighbor named Charlie who walks with a limp and a cane. After delivering the babies, Charlie seems dazed and confused and asks Jack about Race dying at Ultron’s hand and David being killed in front of him twice, but to protect his new life, Jack telekinetically casts Charlie out of his carefully created world which Jack can recall only for a moment is the result of his own magical enslavement of the town.

After repairing his perfect home, Jack holds his sons and waits for David to come home. They only get to revel in the sight of their children for a short while before the children begin to rapidly age themselves up. Jack is amazed by this as Mike is revealed to have magic very similar to his own and Ike is a speedster just like Race. But as time continues and SWORD continues to try and disrupt Jack’s crafted reality, Jack exits his world to confront them, telling them that if they threaten his perfect world again, they will be sorry. Though Jack still isn’t aware of exactly how he created this world, he knows that everyone he needs is there and he won’t let anyone get in the way of that again.

He goes back home only to find David distraught as his husband has accidentally freed someone from Jack’s control and found that Jac is causing them immense pain. Jack starts explaining that he feels that same pain everyday and this is the only cure for that. Still David insists he stop, though he does tell Jack he loves him and he knows it will be hard.

Almost considering letting go, Jack is interrupted by a knock at the door, opening it to find none other than his baby brother waiting for him outside the door, looking happy and healthy and safe and Jack knows he can’t let that go.

Jack confides in Race, telling him he has no idea what he’s done. He can’t remember anything other than being alone, hurting and angry and all of the sudden, he was here where everyone he ever loved was.

Race comforts him, telling him that maybe it was a second chance.

But Jack can feel that something is wrong as David escapes the town to try and get help for the people, only resulting in starting to die. So Jack, feeling this, expands the boundaries of the town, retrapping Charlie and also getting Albert and JoJo.

Jack starts to lose control of the reality he created and Charlie tries to talk him down but Pulitzer, Jack’s next door neighbor who’d been his friend since beginning, takes him to his house where he reveals that he’s taken Mike and Ike and forces Jack to relive the moment where he took control of the town. The pain of reliving coming back and having no one brings Jack to his knees and he’s unable to lash out as Pulitzer reveals that Jack is the legendary Scarlet Witch, a reincarnation of a Witch that has been around since the beginning of time.

But as Pulitzer tells Jack he’s going to get rid of the kids because they’re not real, Jack fights back, feeling deep down that in some universe, those were his children.

While fighting, Pulitzer frees the town from Jack's hold, revealing to him that he’d accidentally trapped them inside their own grief and nightmares that they relived over and over again while playing their parts in his perfect world. Jack is horrified by this and loses control of his power again, nearly choking all the residents to death. He manages to stop himself and restore the town, letting the people go, but Davey and Race and Mike and Ike begin to disappear before his eyes. So he puts his hex back up in a desperate attempt to save his family.

As SWORD is able to rush into the town, Jack is able to take down Pulitzer by trapping him in his persona that he took in Jack’s dream. Charlie is able to talk Jack down and Jack is forced to say goodbye to his husband, brother and sons and promises Charlie to understand his powers.

Jack is distraught and seeks out the Darkhold that he begins to study.

However he begins to hear the screams of his two boys, Race and David and knows he can’t live without them…

Please please let me know if you wanna see anything written out from this AU!

For more mood boards and AUs, click here!

[willowistic22]

mercy bullet

a newsies zombie apocalypse au fanfiction

The United States is turning into a warzone against the uprising of the infected and the twin brothers, Mike and Ike, are separated from across the country as they fight for their survival in their own way. Mike becomes a nomad and escapes his old college campus with his friends, while Ike hunkered down in his campus with his friends and fortified it even further . One was constantly on the run to look for a place to settle down, the other was shielded while desperate to look for answers to the apocalypse they're in. The chances of them running into each other are low, however it's never zero...

Read on my ao3:)

Trigger warnings!!: guns, cuss words, violence, apocalypse, injuries, death mentions, character death, near-death experience, blood, sex jokes (no sex, just jokes bcs i'm immature and still think they're funny), parental trauma, mentions of ableism, and basically a lot I'll try my best to tag accordingly

A/N: Oh my fucking god I've teased this for so long and I'm finally finding the courage to actually start posting the chapters lol. It's not professionally written (I'm not a professional author ok?) and it's probably have a ton of holes in it though I tried my best to patch things all up while i was writing the first few several chapters. But do feel free to ask for more elaborations about any holes because tbh i'd love to talk about this piece. This is mostly a mike and ike brotherly guilty pleasure fanfiction with jomike and ikeshot sprinkled around so i'm not really hoping for a lot of people to enjoy it but oml these cahracters/ships are underrated pls give it a shot. Hope you enjoy it regardless! :)

[collecting-stories]

Postcard - Jojo de la Guerra

A/N: This is modern day Newsies. I just love Jojo, its impossible not to.

Jojo starts pen palling with the reader and then they meet in person for the first time. 

///

It had started with a postcard. One that wished him a magical day and had a little sticker on it of Jupiter with a smiley face. It was the first postcard he had gotten after he had decided to sign up for a website that promoted pen pals and snail mail. Wouldn’t it be nice, he had thought, to share a little bit of happiness with someone the old fashioned way. Race had teased him endlessly about it but Jojo was set on the idea, he didn’t care that he wasn’t as artistic as Jack or as clever with words as Davey, he sent little doodles to people or funny poems he thought up in English class. He sent letters all over but mostly he exchanged them with that first person. He sent them envelopes full of stickers or little packages with facemasks and washi tape and friendship bracelets he made. They sent him letters with sticky notes that looked like moons, paint chips with quotes on them, envelopes full of confetti.  

The address wasn’t far from his own, within the limits of the city in fact. Closer to the Lower East Side than he was, maybe fifteen minutes on the subway. Once he took the line to your street and walked to the corner, where a convenience store stayed open 24hrs a day. He bought a soda and a lottery ticket and left, not sure what he was even expecting to happen. When he told Race about it two days later his best friend teased him endlessly for the entire ordeal. It didn’t dampen his mood though, or alter the overwhelming feeling of pure joy that spread through him when he opened the mailbox to find a letter from you.  

You were the one who first suggested a faster mode of communication. You sent a card that had watercolour popsicles on the front of it and inside offered your number as an afterthought to a full page of writing about a book you were currently reading. A little bubble around the digits, separating them from the rest of the note with the suggestion that ‘we could text sometimes’.  

You texted all the time. He sent you pictures of your mail going into the mailbox but offered no more glimpse of himself than a hand. You sent him a picture of something funny in Target and he thought he could just make out the tiny, blurry, obscured reflection of you in a mirror at the end of the aisle but it told him nothing about your physical appearance. It wasn’t that it was some great mystery. Maybe he would never meet you in person, maybe you would just be some entity that existed in letters and on his phone. You continued to send letters weekly and so did he, glad that this new form of constant communication did not lessen your affection for sending him small gifts in the mail.  

Sometimes you had endless conversations, sometimes days of pool games or finding the strangest bitmoji and sending it along. Gif wars and links to news articles, terrible reviews of tv shows, music, and movies. Texts never seemed to cease and yet the length of your letters never wavered either. He couldn’t find your face in a crowd but he had memorised your handwriting.  

That changed when he proposed seeing the new Star Wars movie together. It had happened spontaneously but also not. He’d thought about it for ages, meeting you in person, he had just never thought about it happening for real. But then he offered and you accepted. He would be in a red hoodie and a pair of track pants, he’d even sent you a picture of the outfit laying on his bed. You added it to the list of things you knew better than his face.  

You were already at the theatre when he got there, waiting on a bench outside the ticketing booth, watching for any sign of the boy that you were supposed to be meeting. When he saw you, and recognized the hoodie as the one you sent him a picture of, a smile spread so wide on his face you thought he could light an entire city with the joy behind it. When you stood he greeted you with a hug. The kind of warm, all encompassing hug that made you want to stay there forever, safe and comfortable and feeling a little light headed from the overwhelming emotion that struck you.  

“This feels so surreal,” Jojo commented when he finally released you, a little too soon if you were honest. He took your hand and headed for the escalator, “not surreal in a bad way obviously, just-“

It was meeting for the first time when you already knew everything about each other. When you could already list his favorites and know his people by name without him having to provide clues as to how they fit with him. It was that tiny fleeting hope that he would kiss you even though you had no idea what he even looked like.  

“Surreal,” you echoed. He offered another smile, impossibly happy in its appraisal of you.  

As the end credits rolled on the film you stayed in your seat, shifting to face Jojo instead of the screen and lifting the armrest that separated you in an attempt to move closer to him. He was reading all the names that went along the screen with a rapt interest, as if he was truly invested in who catered the food for the cast and crew. You sat on your knee in hopes of being closer, letting your other leg dangle off the chair beside Jojo’s. Where the seats conjoined was harder than the soft cushioning you’d been accustomed to during the film but you made the sacrifice of discomfort to be closer.

“What did you think?” You asked, voice a mere whisper in his ear. As far as excuses went you could say that you were being mindful of the other patrons still in the theatre but you knew none of them cared about the credits. You were this close merely to be this close.  

These were not simple like or dislike movies, they had to be dissected just so, something you had told Jojo just the other day when you were discussing the new film, and you looked forward to hearing all his opinions. He had opinions on lots of things that he liked and his emotions seemed to range from good to exciting on every rating he gave. When he talked about something in a letter or a text you could almost feel the pure adrenaline of excitement rolling off the words. It felt like everything had the potential to make him happy and, in turn, brighten your day unknowingly.  

“I feel like I need to watch it over again,” Jojo commented, finally looking toward you. In the glow of the screen you could see him smiling. It seemed perpetual.  

“I’m gonna need a few days to recover before then,” you commented, without thinking that he might not mean with you.  

He didn’t miss a beat though, wrapping an arm around you and somehow pulling you closer to him, “Race wants to come see it on Saturday, you could come with us?”  

Saturday was two days away and while you had just admitted that you needed time to process the film you thought that Friday would seem like the longest 24 hours of your life now that you knew what it was like to be with Jojo. You felt a little lightheaded by your own internal confession but you also felt like you wanted to spend every waking moment with this boy. Somehow hearing him talk and having him next to you was even better than reading what he wrote.

“Race won’t mind?” You asked. Seeing him again was definitely high on your list of things to do but sharing that time with someone else, a new person you only knew from stories, wasn’t exactly something you found yourself looking forward to.  

“No, not at all.” Jojo assured, “Usually there’s a bunch of us...I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the other guys showed up too.” Everyone always tagged along to everything, not that he minded. And he felt excited about showing you off to his friends, he’d talked you up to them so much that they were all dying to meet you, maybe as much as he had been.  

“Okay,” you agreed. The lights came back on as the final credit went dark and suddenly it wasn’t so hard to make out Jojo’s face. You were close enough that your noses were almost brushing and his eyes were bright as he watched you, waiting for something. “What do you want to do for now?” You only moved away from him as a theater attendant came in to clean up. You slipped your feet back into your moccasins and stood up, watching Jojo as he gathered his trash and stood as well.  

“What’s open?” He asked. It was well passed 1am but neither of you wanted to say goodbye. You thought that you would much rather just stay together until it was time to go back to the theater with Race. Jojo had the same idea, he would sit on a bench outside the movies with you for the entire day if it meant you didn’t leave. Texting would not suffice the way it had before.  

“Insomnia cookies is open for two more hours...and the convenience store around the block from me is open too.” You replied.  

“How are they Insomnia Cookies if they close at 3am...what I want a chocolate chip cookie at 3:30 or 4?” Jojo asked, following you out back toward the front doors.

“Then hope you have leftovers,” you teased.  

“There will be no survivors.” He replied, serious tone though the uptick of his lip suggested he was struggling not to smile.  

Insomnia Cookies was not at all crowded at 2am and, despite never being there before, Jojo stepped right up to the counter with all the assurance of someone who knew how to order from the cookie place. He got two dozen cookies, mixed flavors and two brownies and two chocolate milks after confirming that you were vegan or lactose in tolerant. “We’ll get coffee at Queen Village.”  

“They have a cat there,” you mentioned, “Cosmo. He naps around the place all day and night.” You’d gone in at midnight once for bananas and spent thirty minutes petting Cosmo and telling him how beautiful he was.  

“I stopped in there once when I was in your neck of the woods.” Jojo replied, thinking that now was as good a time as any to tell you he’d been to your favorite convenience store. “I did not find Cosmo though.”

“We’ll find him.” You promised, taking the bag of cookies off the counter. Jojo beat you to paying and ignored any attempt you made at offering money.  

Once Queen Village was conquered the two of you found yourselves in your apartment, sitting on your bed with the cookies spread out between you. It was too cold for city benches and being outside in the dark though you would’ve risked your health for Jojo if he’d really wanted to stay out longer. He was gushing over the cookies, enamored by the taste and claiming each one he ate was definitely his favorite.  

“This has been the best day ever.” He exclaimed just before biting into a mint chocolate chip cookie that was somehow still warm.  

“Watching Star Wars and eating cookies? You’ve set the bar pretty low.” You teased, reaching for an oatmeal raisin. There were white chocolate chips inside.

“Being with you.” Jojo clarified, not at all embarrassed by his feelings. If he was happy he said so and that was arguably his greatest trait. “Getting to know you has been amazing but spending today with you has been incredible. I’m so looking forward to Saturday.”

“Me too.” You replied, suddenly at ease, eager for your own admission if only to make him feel as happy as he made you, “I sort of wish we could just keep hanging out until Saturday comes around.”

“Lets.”

-

If you wanna be tagged for Newsies stuff let me know. 

[denimwrites-archive]

Could I please request #84 and #54 from the prompt list with JoJo? (Newsies)

Newsies (2017) - Jojo de la Guerra x Reader#54. “You’re the most amazing, incredible, beautiful being I’ve ever met.”#84. “You deserve so much better.”

It had been another shitty day of selling papers. The headlines lately were terrible, and with the cold, no one was out who didn’t need to be. Jojo shook his head as he saw how many papers he had left to sell. The sun was already half below the horizon and he knew that he wouldn’t break even today. He let out a sigh. This would be the third time this week he didn’t sell enough.

As he headed back to your shared apartment he tried to think positive. It was supposed to be warmer tomorrow, and he could try to catch up then. When he finally reached the building, he flexed his fingers as he climbed the stairs. Fishing his key out of his pocket, he opened the door to find you getting something together for dinner.

You smiled at him as he shut the door behind him. As he turned around, about to take off his coat, you came and wrapped your arms around him. “How’s my handsome man on this winter night?” You asked.

He just gave you a tired smile and grabbed your hands in his, unwrapping himself and bringing them to his mouth for a gentle kiss. You pulled him over to the fireplace, where you had a good flame going.

As he sat in his armchair, you brought over the sandwiches you’d been preparing. Handing him his plate, he gratefully accepted it and quickly got to eating. As he got lost in the food, Jojo found himself praising your amazing skills, “You’re the most amazing, incredible, beautiful being I’ve ever met.”

You giggled at him before eating some yourself, sitting in the chair next to him. Jo finished soon enough, and you offered him the other half of your sandwich. He waved it off, but you insisted. Shyly taking it, he ate much slower this time.

After you both had finished, you sat in comfortable silence, simply listening to the crackle of the fire. When the flame started to dim some, Jojo got up and grabbed his paper bag. Taking a few papers, he tossed them into the fire, causing the flames to dance brighter once more.

“Not a good day?” You asked quietly. He just shakes his head, dropping the paper bag next to him and flopping back into his chair with a sigh. “Well at least we have more fuel,” you tried to comfort him.

“At least we know papers are worth more as kindling than selling them back,” he responded. You saw him look longingly into the fire, lost in his thoughts. Taking hold of his hand, he turned back to you, a sad smile on his face. “You deserve so much better,” he said quietly.

“Hush,” you say. Sounding as stern as you can, you try to knock some sense into him. “Jojo de la Guerra, you make me the happiest person alive. Times may be tough, and the nights may be cold, but I wouldn’t want anyone else here with me. Do you hear me?”

He gives a small nod, and you give his hand a squeeze. “I love you. So much.”

“I love you too. We’ll get through this. Together.” At that, he squeezes your hand back. You sit there, silently comforting each other for a while longer, and you really knew that you would. The world could be cruel, but you had each other, and that was enough.

[albertsbootayyy]

When you are reading a fanfic with multiple parts and it’s so good but the story isn’t done yet and the writer hasn’t updated the story since 2019

[misguidedswagger]

Newsies Jojo de la Guerra & Spot Conlon’s fan backstories!

a/n: hi! so i originally came up with these because my school is doing Newsies as our spring musical and they wanted us to have backstories for depth. so, here’s my backstories for Jojo de la Guerra & Spot Conlon, from Newsies! 

P.S.: I know a common last name of Jojo’s is “de la Guerra” but I didn’t feel comfortable using it, so I edited it to “de la Cruz”

Edit: This may grow longer and gain a little more depth the more ideas I have, so if you’re interested in a fall length spinoff, please please let me know! :)

Jojo de la Cruz

Joseph de la Cruz was the product of two people who weren’t ready to be parents, leading to him being left on the steps of the Sisters’ convent. Upon seeing the small bundle of joy that God decided to grace them with, the sisters took Joseph in as their own and raised him as such. The sisters gave him the name ‘Joseph’ as they had no idea what his birth name actually was. Joseph was the only person who was a constant in the convent. Every other young boy was one who only stayed to get better, get food, or just rest. With all of the boys in and out of the convent so often, Joseph had a lot of interaction with boys his age and older.

Every new face was one that Joseph was excited to befriend. He would run up and introduce himself, exploding with friendliness. He would introduce himself as Joseph and would take pride in it, after all, he was named after the husband of the blessed mother. But, as much friendliness as he exuded, unfortunately it wasn’t reciprocated. Joseph always gave more than he received, but that was okay. 

On the day of Joseph’s 13th birthday, the nuns approached him and told him they unfortunately couldn’t house him anymore. He was completely heartbroken, but he understood. The nuns couldn’t afford him anymore, especially if they wanted to keep taking care of the other kids who were worse off than him. It was ultimately for the greater good. 

And so, Joseph left the convent. He wandered the streets for a little while, growing more and more dejected as every job he applied for turned him down. Joseph was on his last legs and was ready to give up when he suddenly stumbled across a news stand. Another kid around his age, add or subtract a few years, stood in front of him. The other kid introduced himself and could’ve sworn he heard a little bit of hesitation, “Specs. My name is Specs.” 

The hint of hesitation caused Joseph's head to spin a little bit. An internal war flared in his head. ‘Joseph’ was the only thing he had to himself, but it'd gotten him nowhere. The dots finally clicked in his head, this was his chance to become someone new. swallowing his nerves, Joseph cleared his throat and placed a friendly hand on Specs’s shoulder, turning him around slightly to shake his hand,  “Specs, huh? Well, you can call me Jojo.” 

The two kids shook hands, grabbing the stacks of papes offered to them as they began their first day of work. For 4 years, the two newsies worked side by side, almost never leaving each other unless they absolutely had to. While they knew not to mix their personal lives with their work lives, if you look hard enough, you can always see one messing with the other in some way. 

Jojo made several friends along the way, one being a certain brooklyn newsie leader. Spot Conlon practically adopted Jojo, using his older age to be an almost foster brother to him. After the newsies’ strike, Jojo ran as far and as hard as he could to his friends in the Bronx. Collapsing after ending up on his friend Splasher’s doorstep, he ended up being brought to the hospital by him. 

Through mutual friends, word made its way around the different newsies’ Squares and Spot heard through the grapevine that one of his best friends, someone he viewed as another little brother, had been hospitalized by the Delancey brothers, and by extension, Pulitzer. Spot rushed over to where Jojo was being held, staying by his side, day after day. Some of his cronies had come to tell him that some of the other newsies needed them again to help beat them back, but he stayed still. He stayed by Jojo’s side. 

“I’d just been with the boys down at Jacobi’s…What am i gonna do Spot, Am i really gonna die here?” He’d sounded so broken, nothing like himself, and yet SPot kept his firm and reassuring grip on Jojo’s hand. “You ain’t dyin’, not now, not ever. You’se strong, Jojo. You’se stayin’ alive.” Jojo knew his organs were failing, he knew that being beat so badly by the Delancey’s and pretending it didn’t bother him would kill him if he didn’t get himself treated accordingly, and guess what? It was killing him. 

Spot hadn’t the slightest idea that his little brother’s Friend’s  insides were doing as awful as they were. HE thought that at worst the Delancey’s hit him a little too hard and he just was being a little dramatic. So, when Jojo grabbed his hand tight and whispered, Spot let tears roll down his face. 

“The Newsies… They need your help, Spot. Don’t fail ‘em… Be there in my place. Please.” The younger boy begged him, Spot’s eyes widened and a pit opened in his stomach, “Jojo…You’re talkin’ like you’re dyin’ or something..!” He laughed nervously, “Thank you for takin’ care of me, Spot. I’ll be forever grateful to you.” Spot’s  heart rate picked up when Jojo’s eyes began to close,  “Jo! C’mon, open your eyes, don’t close ‘em! Not yet, not yet!” 

But Jojo only smiled before saying one last thing, “Newsies need your help today.” The once tight grip on Spot’s hand disappeared, causing Spot to scream his name, “Joseph! Quit playin’ with me! Wake up!” He shook his body a little, receiving no response. “Hey! We need a doctor here!” He screamed over his friend, small sobs leaving his mouth as he lost his little brother all over again. 

His face dropped into Jojo’s stomach as he sobbed, “S-Say hi to Little Ike, wouldja? I know he’d love ya…”

Spot Conlon

Born into a very loving family, Sean Patrick Conlon was an older brother of one Michael Conlon, who he always called ‘Ike’ to mess with him. Their age difference was one of 5 years and yet they were practically inseparable. Sean was the breadwinner of the family, due to the fact that his father had been in an accident involving a printing press at The New York World’s Office, run by Joseph Pulitzer. His mother used to be a maid, but after her husband’s injury, she stayed at home to take care of him full time, which led Sean to get his job. Sean was an incredibly kind and loving brother while having to worry about the family’s financial situations; the young boy had so much on his plate, yet he made it all look easy. There was a reason why Ike looked up to him.

Sean worked at the Town mill daily. One day, he came home to his father and his mother crying in their living room. Incredibly alarmed, he ran to their sides, “ma, Pa, what’s goin’ on?!” He asked. He was met with his mother’s heartbreaking cries, leading him to turn to his father for an answer. “Michael’s been taken to the refuge by Snyder…” He said flatly, devoid of all emotion. 

Sean’s entire world stood still for a moment. His tiny little brother? What did he do? More importantly, why wasn’t he there to protect him? Now, Sean was a lover more than a fighter, but when it came to Little Ike, he’d fight someone to the death. “What happened…?” He asked quietly, too scared to ask louder. 

“He was playin’ outside with the other kids, and all of sudden I hear him screamin’ and I see him gettin’ thrown in the back of some car with that spider drivin’.” Sean stood and nodded, not knowing what to do with himself. So, he did something to distract himself. He walked into their kitchen and began to make dinner, as if nothing happened. He had no idea what else to do. Usually, he’d use this time to hang out with Ike and get him ready for bed and everything else.  

3 months later

Sean’s  birthday was tomorrow, and no word from Ike in a good month. It was breaking his heart, his 14th birthday was going to pass and his little snot of a brother wouldn't be there to celebrate it with him. He walked into his house and like 3 months ago, his mom was sobbing in the living room, laying in her husband’s arms. 

“Mom…Dad…? What’s goin’ on?” The fear he felt caused his voice to shake, were these tears of relief? Unlikely, but he tried his best to remain optimistic. He stepped closer, causing his dad to hold up a hand to stop him. His heart clenched, his dad wasn’t usually like this. “What’s goin’ on…?” He repeated, a little more sternly now.  

“Your brother. He’s dead.” His father said as if it was a report of the daily news. Stumbling backwards, Sean collapsed. His entire world crashed down on his shoulders as he began to cry. His little Brother Ike was gone, just like that, and he couldn’t do a single thing about it. “Snyder killed ‘im.” He continued, looking at his older son crumpled on the floor.  

“And you wanna know the real kicker…?” Sean looked up, his father’s figure blurry from the tears, “He’d still be here if you weren’t such a screw up. If you’d been here and you’d been protecting him…” His father shook his head at him, 

“But, dad, I was-” Sean tried before getting cut off, “NO! YoU WERE JUST NOTHIN’. Michael’s DEAD BECAUSE YOU WERE TOO WEAK TO PROTECT HIM!” His father had never even ended a conversation without telling Sean he loved him, so his father yelling such awful things at him caused his head to spin. He flung his head towards his mom to silently beg for help, and yet it never came. 

“M-ma, please, I-” His mother composed herself for a second, “Do not call me that. My only son is dead.” Sean gut-sobbed. “Where’s this all comin’ from?! It’s not my fault, I-I- I’m the only one workin’!” He pleaded, only getting threatened by his father once more, 

“Get out. I never want to see you again.” His father spat before turning around and sitting back down with his wife. Sean sprinted to his room and grabbed the only important thing to him. He grabbed the hat that Ike had gotten him for his 13th birthday and placed it on his head before running out of his home and never turning back.

And so Sean made his way from Manhattan to Brooklyn. With such a large physical gap between his old life and this one, he figured he oughta completely start over, so he adopted a new name. It required no thinking at all, Spot. The name that Ike used to call him, back when he couldn’t pronounce Sean. It was a no Brainer.  Placing the hat on his head, Spot began his journey to becoming the toughest he could. HE wanted to be the bravest and the strongest on top of that. He wanted to be what he wasn’t as Sean, because that was what failed Ike, wasn’t it? 

That was what failed him.

This new persona that he’d adopted had led him a little too far in the wrong direction. People were scared of him alright, but a little too scared, and it killed him. He’d thought becoming a newsie’d make him more likable, but everyone stayed scared of him.  Everyone was scared of Spot, everyone but one newsie. 

When Jojo de la Cruz pushed his way into Spot’s life, he brought a ray of sunshine everywhere he went. The two grew close very quickly, ending in Spot practically adopting the younger newsie as a younger brother. Jojo soon knew everything about Spot and vice versa. The two had an unspoken bond from their meeting, so when Spot found out through the other newsies that Jojo had been hospitalized, he practically flew over to him. 

He couldn’t handle this. This was the second member of his family affected by Pulitzer indirectly.  Day after Day, Spot was at Jojo’s side. He cared about nothing other than his little brother closest friend. Several of Spot’s Cronies tried telling him how badly the other newsies need him but he wouldn’t budge. Not while Jojo was practically fighting for his life. 

On one of the days, Jojo cried to Spot. 

“I’d just been with the boys down at Jacobi’s…What am i gonna do Spot, Am i really gonna die here?”  Jojo had sounded unrecognizable to him. The usual lilt in his voice was gone. Spot had squeezed his hand tight and reassured him,

 “You ain’t dyin’, not now, not ever. You’se strong, Jojo. You’se stayin’ alive.”

Spot hadn’t the slightest idea that Jojo was doing as awfully as he was. HE thought that at worst, the Delancey’s hit him a little too hard and he just was being a little dramatic. After all, Jojo was silly like that. He liked having people care about him. He liked being protected.  So, when Jojo grabbed Spot’s hand tight and whispered, Spot knew something was wrong. 

“The Newsies… They need your help, Spot. Don’t fail ‘em… Be there in my place. Please.” Spot’s eyes widened and a pit opened in his stomach. Those sounded like the words of someone dying. He laughed, nerves fraying his laugh. “Jojo…You’re talkin’ like you’re dyin’ or something..!” 

“Thank you for takin’ care of me, Spot. I’ll be forever grateful to you.” Spot’s  heart rate picked up when Jojo’s eyes began to close. A crushing pain soared throughout Spot’s body as he fought back tears.

When he’d originally come to Brooklyn after the incident, he’d sworn to shut off every emotion. Yet, when Jojo forced himself into Spot’s life, that promise had been broken. Every emotion had been let out, except one. Jojo hadn’t gotten him to cry once. 

Coming back to the present, ignoring the slight reminiscing, SPot shouted at the younger boy.   “Jo! C’mon, open your eyes, don’t close ‘em! Not yet, not yet!” But, his only response to the older newsie was a smile. “Newsies need your help today.” And those were Jojo's final words.

“Joseph! Quit playin’ with me! Wake up!” He shook Jojo’s  body a little, receiving no response. “Hey! We need a doctor here!” He screamed over his friend, small sobs leaving his mouth as he lost his little brother all over again.  His face dropped into Jojo’s stomach as he sobbed, “S-Say hi to Little Ike, wouldja? I know he’d love ya…”

And so Spot was wrong.

Jojo had gotten him to cry. 

When Spot walked away from Jojo’s memorial and funeral,, he twisted the ring around his finger as he fought tears. Jojo had made it for him, It was a silver ring with spot and Jojo's initials carved into it.  If it were anyone else, the other newsies would’ve ridiculed the hell out of the ring, and the two newsies, calling them names and being overall jerks about, but what’d you expect? A bunch of teen boys with no one to teach them what respect was. Though, it was Spot, and it was Jojo. Everyone knew better.  

So, when the Brooklyn newsies had to help out Jack Kelly and his newsies, he swallowed hard and thought of something inspirational, Something driving, and something that’d get everyone going, even if he was the only one with a personal attachment to those words. He held his hand up in the air before yelling his chant,

“Newsies need our help today!”

[oscar-delancey]

talk about the infinite ikea au pls

OH MAN OH BOY YOU'RE ENABLING ME

Infinite IKEA has been an AU that's been around for almost two years now (I actually got it started RIGHT before the shutdown in March 2020 with some friends) and I have had brain rot ever since.

It's very heavily based off SCP 3008-1 (with the inclusion of SCP 3008-2) and kinda messes with the idea of what infinite really means.

There's a lot under the cut and I am begging people to read it. I have so much for this AU and this post is barely any of it

Infinite IKEA follows a group of 5 newsies (technically): Race, Davey, Smalls, Spot, and Oscar, and their experiences within the store. It's a completely different dimension, which means once they're inside and away from the front door, they've stepped into somewhere new. Somewhere with no way out.

They don't know each other well prior to sneaking in together. There's some loose relationships within the group already where some connect others (like how Race is friends with Spot but Spot is also friends with Davey). Which means that they really have all the time in the world to get to know each other once they get stuck with no way out. Except, they don't... realize there's a time disconnect. They're going to be inside for what feels like eternity and they'll be lucky if a couple days pass.

Inside the IKEA is another group. They've been there for God knows how long (and don't some of those kids look similar to those missing posters outside the police station?). It includes Jack, Albert, Finch, JoJo, and Elmer. Except they're not quite so much friends anymore. And being in the alternate dimension has really... done some things to them. Physically and mentally.

TL:DR, it follows the 5 and their adventure into the IKEA and their attempt to survive long enough they can find a way out

[writinganothertime]

The Secret of Vanishing Newsboys

Chapter 8

warnings: the refuge, internalized misogyny

word count: 627

——————

Three days was far too long. Everyone was seriously concerned, though they had to move on and continue life as normal. They couldn’t afford to sit around and mope. After selling, Race left the crowds of other newsies and pedestrians and went where no newsie would willingly go.

He went to The Refuge. Just going up to the front of the building he started shaking. Terrible things had happened here. One of his closest friends had been here. In these walls, Jack had suffered.

Race wasn’t sure if he should go in or knock and wait to be admitted. He chose the second option as it seemed more polite. Though when no one answered he decided to go in on his own. Immediately he was faced with a hallway. This was an issue, he didn’t know where he needed to go. He started walking. The first door he came to looked like an office so he stepped in. He was greeted by a lady sitting at a typewriter.

“Here to turn yourself in young man?”

“Wha-?” Race was taken aback. “No, uh I was wondering if I could find out if a friend of mine was here?”

“You want to know if your friend is in trouble. Hah.”

Race didn’t see the amusement in that statement but he thought it was best if he stayed quiet.

“What’s your friend’s name?”

“Albert. DaSilva,” he added the last name after a moment’s hesitation, unsure if that was required.

The lady flipped through a stack of papers on her desk.

“I don’t recall seeing that name, and I’m not seeing it here, boy, you’d better look elsewhere and hope we don’t find him.”

“Oh no he’s not in trouble like tha…” Race trailed off when he noticed the look she was giving him. He gave her a brief nod. “Thank ya for looking.” And left.

Well that was a breath of relief. If only his hands could stop shaking. And though Race was glad Albert wasn’t locked up it was still very worrisome that there was just no word of him. At all.

Race walked about a block away before finding a bench to sit down on. He was shaking and slightly disoriented from the anxiety of going to The Refuge and the weight of the situation hitting him once again. It didn’t feel real. He hated that he didn’t know that day, three days ago, would be the last time he’d see Albert. He wished he had given him a hug or something. And it didn’t seem like Albert had checked in anywhere. Of course there was the possibility that the other boroughs weren’t keeping their promises and they had seen him and just weren’t telling. Or maybe Albert had somehow made an agreement and was being hidden with one of them. How another borough would allow that? Race didn’t know. He was grasping at straws.

Racetrack began the long walk home. It felt like forever, yet not at all. He hardly remembered getting back to the lodging house. It wasn’t as busy as yesterday. A much warmer night meant less kids inside. It really was too stuffy to sleep inside when the days were so hot. He practically fell onto his bunk, all of his energy completely drained out of him. He felt like crying again, he hadn’t let himself cry properly yet. Though some tears had been shed. And he knew that others had already cried about it. So he ignored the voices in his head telling him to ‘man up’ and let himself cry. After the first tear fell he couldn’t stop. Someone came over and rubbed his back. Race didn’t try to figure out who it was. Though it was probably Jojo. Sweet, reliable Jojo.

[offspring-of-calliope]

Pins and Needles (Newsies Gang AU)

Chapter 3

Description: Davey's and Les' first day as Newsies and they already meet the famous Katherine Plumber.

words: 1675

warnings: There's no warnings on this chapter but if I did miss something triggering, feel free to tell me.

A/N: I know that there are only approximately two people and a shoelace who are even interested in this story but still - I'm sorry for not having updated this in ages. I kinda had a big writer's block which I've overcame for now, I guess, but we'll see how long that may last.

Also, just stating the obvious here but considering latest complications between my gender and me, I changed my username from "daughterofcalliope" to "offspring-of-calliope", I hope that's not too confusing.

As always, feel free to tell me if I've made some mistakes considering grammar or spelling. Comments in general are very appreciated.

I hope you enjoy it at least a little bit,

Sincerely me,

Lélo

-----

If David had thought that the Manhattan Newsies had been loud before, now he was convinced that the concept of volume got a whole new meaning when being around these boys. Selling with them was like sitting in the front row of an opera performance you hadn't even planned to attend.

David sighed. His thoughts were so misleading that he feared that people who he'd tell them to might think he hated the Manhattan Newsies. It was quite the opposite. Despite his urge to keep everything in order, to not overstep boundaries and to behave like a mature boy his age, being with the chaos that were the Manhattan Newsies filled his insides with joy.

The people he talked to at school couldn't really classify as real friends, seeing as their discussions were always aimed at topics they'd covered in their lessons or some other things that didn't relate a lot to something like free time. They were always so serious and David sometimes felt as if the other people didn't even want to talk to him more than absolutely necessary. With the Newsies, it was different. Some of them were even regularly trying to include him in their conversations, to find out about him as a person. Ironically, every one of them seemed to make a better spy than him, who couldn't even think of important questions to ask them that would lead to something that Sarah could work with.

Right after leaving the circulation gate, some kids named Kid Blink – a guy with an eyepatch and a charming smile –, Race – who constantly had an unlit cigar dangling between his lips – and Jojo – who had the most animated facial expression David had ever witnessed – had pestered him to tell them if Italian or Spanish was the more beguiling language. (While they'd been bickering, David had started to regret telling them that he was currently teaching himself Spanish. That had been the trigger that had started his inclusion to the debate.) The whole conflict had been postponed when a guy named Romeo had loudly declared that neither Spanish nor Italian was the real answer and that no language was as enthralling as his love language. Then, he'd proceeded to lure a pretty woman to buy a paper from him – the other Newsies were too nice to make him aware of the fact that she'd only bought the pape to escape his flirting – by sweetly talking in a language David didn't know. (It had been Tagalog, as Jack had later explained to him.)

Yet in his defence, David had also managed to overhear some conversations that hadn't been for him to hear – cue his bad conscience. One conversation in particular had irritated him. Some redhead – Albert was his name, he distantly recalled – had at one point asked Race if “it was cloudy up there”. That in itself hadn't been confusing since it was indeed very cloudy this day but Race's answer had been: “Oh, don't worry, I was just thinkin' 'bout somethin'. Everything's sunny as could be.” The sun didn't even shine! But maybe that was just a code David simply didn't understand.

“Sing 'em to sleep, will ya?” A voice was breaking through his thoughts and David only now registered that he had been blaring the words “Extra, extra! Does somebody want a paper?” for quite some time without actively concentrating on actually selling some newspapers.

The owner of the voice, Jack, - because of course it was Jack, why did Jack always seem to be near him? - took the most recent newspaper from his hand and exclaimed: “Extra, extra! Terrifying flight from burnin' inferno! You can hear the story right here!” It didn't take long for some guy to come and buy the paper.

David scoffed. “This story isn't even in the paper.”

“Well, I didn't say that, did I?” Jack retorted, a cheeky grin on his face.

“My father taught us not to lie,” David said, clutching the remaining newspapers in his hand tighter. He didn't want Jack to take papers from him again, or else it might become a habit for the other boy.

Jack only shook his head, holding one of his own papers into the air. “And mine taught me not to starve. Seems we both got an education.”

“Jack, Jack, look how few papes I got left now! I did everything you said I should do and the people just wouldn't stop buying the papes!” An excited Les ran over to them, smiling brightly and holding up some money for David to put away. “This is so much better than school,” he added.

“Don't even think it.” David tried his best to put on his strict-older-brother face.

A few feet away, Jack laughed. “At least someone listens to me.”

“Yeah, maybe if you'd start to actually say some things that are true, it'll be something worth listening to,” David answered. He didn't even know where the sudden burst of confidence came from. At first it had been difficult for him to focus around the leader of the Manhattan Newsies. However, after getting to know Jack a little, focusing was still difficult but now he couldn't suppress taking out his frustration on the other boy.

“I see you're making a habit out of attracting people who will put you in your place some time.” Suddenly there was another voice and upon turning around, David surprisingly found himself face to face with Katherine Plumber.

“Hello, Miss. Can I interest you in the latest news?” Jack said and his smile grew somehow even bigger. It made David's stomach twitch.

Katherine chuckled and held her hands up. The fabric of her dress wrinkled around her elbows and David noticed some spots on her clothes that were patched up. He'd always assumed that rich people would just buy new clothes when their old ones were torn but apparently Katherine didn't fit this assumption. “I'm sorry to disappoint you, Kelly, but I've bought two papers already. One from Specs this morning, the other from the little boy here.” She was pointing at Les. “He truly is a talented student of yours.”

“Hey!” Les exclaimed. “I'm not that little!”

“Of course not! But compared to Jack's ego, everything is little,” Katherine conceded amused.

Jack, who had somehow managed to sell a paper during the former exchange, crossed his arms before his chest. “Why are you all hating on me now? First Davey, then ya, too. That reminds me – Les, Davey, meet the wonderful Katherine Plumber. Kath, that's Davey and his brother Les.”

It seemed as if Katherine only now started to examine David closer. It made him so nervous that he completely forgot to tell her that it was actually David and not Davey – nobody had ever called him Davey before and he didn't know what to think of that – and without further ado, his hands started to flutter. Eventually, Katherine smiled and said, “Nice to meet you both. Say, do we know each other already? I feel like I've seen you before.”

Panic bubbled up in David's stomach. Did she somehow know that he was Sarah's brother? What if she suspected something and the whole charade – which hadn't really been that good to begin with – blew up? He looked over to Les, maybe to search for help, maybe to feel a little more at ease. And then he remembered that indeed, he had talked to Katherine before. Relieved, he let out a breath. “Yes, we already met each other once. Or better, we talked once on the street. I'm a big admirer of your work, Miss Plumber.”

“Oh, please, just call me Katherine. Kath is fine as well, friends of Jacks are also friends of mine. And thank you, I appreciate that. Perhaps we could talk more about this topic another time? I'm kind of in a rush right now but I would like to hear your opinion on some of my articles – I got this feeling that lately, something is missing but I haven't really been able to figure out, what.” Katherine was just as modest and friendly as he remembered. It was interesting that she also had a teasing side on her when it came to Jack, apparently.

David blushed. “It would be an honour, really.”

“Great,” Katherine said, then proceeded to pat both his and Les' shoulders. “Kelly, it was nice seeing you, maybe I'll stop by the lodging house later.”

“Well, it's not like you's paid a lota attention to me,” Jack retorted with a teasing grin. “Don't flirt with my colleagues that much, a boy might get jealous.”

David only registered Katherine's laugh after that. He didn't really know why but something in him refused to listen further. Well, he did know why but it was totally unfair and irrational of him to be jealous of Katherine. It was not like he was interested in Jack or something. The boy was frustrating and distracting, always had a snarky remark on his tongue and – as even Katherine had said – had a really big ego.

That was also really fragile, at least as far as he could see. The way Jack's smile had faltered for a second upon Kath's remark. The way he wouldn't take credit for the thoughtful things he'd do, like tying Crutchie's shoelaces or trying to help Romeo to court a pretty girl that had watched them doing an impromptu dance performance for a while.

“Hey, Davey.” Breath on his ear, Jack's presence right next to his – didn't he know of some thing called personal space? “If ya keep starin' at Kath like that, maybe I should draw a picture of her and pin it to yer head for a day, aye?”

David sighed and elbowed Jack in the side. Forget the thoughts of Jack being thoughtful – the boy was such an idiot.

[wide-eyed--wonderer]

17. “It’s just unfair to carve your pumpkin on both sides! It’s cheating!” “It’s creativity, you should try it.”

Thanks for sending this is and giving me another excuse to play with the group newsie dynamic!!

“LADIES, GENTLEMEN, CLASSY NON-BINARY BUDDIES AND JACK.”

“Hey!”

“WELCOME TO THE ANNUAL PUMPKIN CARVING CONTEST”

The assembled group cheered. Standing around tables in Medda’s backyard stood the competitors; Kath, Jack, Spot, Race, Albert and Jojo. In front of each of them was a single pumpkin and some pumpkin carving tools.

Blink was on the microphone, as always, and at one end sat a table with three judges, Buttons, Mush and Charlie.

“THE RULES ARE SIMPLE. YOU HAVE 1HOUR TO CARVE THE BEST PUMPKIN. TIME STARTS…. NOW!”

And with that cue, a flurry of activity picked up amongst the contestants, as well as a steady stream of banter started by Spot, who was the first person to hollow out his pumpkin.

“Wow Race, awfully slow there, I’ve got time to stretch my arms after all that hard carving. Wanna come give me a massage babe?”

“What I want is to throw the filling of this pumpkin on you, but Charlie will disqualify me.”

“Keep chatting Spot and Race, you're just giving me time to get ahead of you, the two boys whipped around to Jack, who had finished hollowing out his pumpkin and was starting to design his pumpkin.

Race, who was yet to even finish hollowing his pumpkin, swore and went back to work. 

“Fuck you, Kelly.”

“I think you’re talking to the wrong Kelly, Spot. Race however-.”

“Jack Kelly don’t you dare finish that sentence.” Kath interrupted, lighting hitting Jack on the shoulder.

“Yes Kath.” Jack put his reddening head down and got back to work to the sound of everyone else’s laughter. 

“Charlie, babe, I’m dedicating this pumpkin to you.” 

“This just in,” Blink cuts in, “Albert tries to cheat by flirting with his boyfriend. Charlie your response?” 

“You’re not getting extra points for that hun, but I appreciate it.”

Albert groaned and looked back at his dismal design.

“Please?! Have pity on my Charl”

“Surely having his boyfriend as a judge is considered cheating?” Jojo complained.

“I think having Charlie as a judge is just biased,” Spot added, “his boyfriend, his two brothers, and Kath, who is basically his sister.”

“THIS JUST IN?? IS CHARLIE CORRUPT?”

“Babe, I love you, but we are never giving you a megaphone again.’ Mush groaned. Blnk had been standing next to his partner the whole time, and poor Mush was starting to go deaf in their ear from all the shouting. 

“Sorry, hun.” 

“Jack Kelly!! You cannot do that!”

“Do what Kath sweetie?” Jack replied where he was hunched over his pumpkin, carving the second side. 

“It's just unfair to carve your pumpkin on both sides. It cheating!!”

“It's creativity, you should try it.” Jack shot back.

“And while we're on the subject of cheating,” Jojo added, “surely having a literal artist with his work in international galleries is unfair.”

“THE FINAL VERDICT - THIS WHOLE COMPETITION IS CORRUPT?”

“Blink, please for the love of all that’s holy, put that megaphone down!” Buttons complained. 

At the end of the day, Spot had broken Blinks megaphone, and every competitor (except somehow Jojo) had been accused of cheating, and Jojo (kind of by default) won the Pumpkin carving contest.

Thanks for prompting!!

[somedayonbroadway]

Ooooo Freaky Friday AU

Ooooooooh

I absolutely love Freaky Friday, so I think this will be really fun. This AU will be based off of the Lindsey Lohan version (because it’s the best version).

Please enjoy!

Characters

Racetrack Higgins — Anna Coleman

Jack Kelly — Tess Coleman

Medda Larkin — Alan Coleman

Spot Conlon — Jake

Katherine Plumber — Ryan

William Snyder — Mr. Elton Bates

Smalls — Harry Coleman

Albert — Maddie

JoJo — Pegs

Oscar Delancey — Stacy Hinkhouse

A couple moodboards

Racetrack Higgins as Anna

And Jack Kelly as Tess

So…

Race is a typical teenager, at fifteen years old. He hates school, he’s considered lazy and stubborn day in and day out and he plays guitar in a garage band that he and his friends put together. He really loves music, fashion and makeup.

Jack is his dad, his teenage dad, the one that was branded a failure when he got Race’s mother pregnant when they were fifteen, opted to raise the boy alone rather than put him in foster care, get another girl pregnant with his daughter Smalls only a few years later only to lose the mother to cancer and become a single dad with two kids from two different mothers and then get married officially to a man named David who died just a year prior to this story in a car crash. Jack is criticized for not only having Race when he was fifteen, but also having an interracial child with another women and being bisexual and having another man help him raise a child.

Eventually, though, Jack manages to fall in love again, with a woman named Katherine, who he actually ends up proposing to her and they start planning a wedding.

This story starts on a Thursday, the day before Jack and Katherine’s rehearsal dinner, when Race finds out his band is up for a really big audition during the rehearsal dinner. Race not only gets two detentions that day, one for calling out his teacher, Mr. Snyder, who refuses to talk with him about getting his grades up even though he knows he deserves better, and another for hitting Oscar Delancey, his worst nemesis, in the back of the head with a volleyball after the other boy had been tormenting him for years.

When Race comes home, he finds that his door has been removed from his room. Jack has always been strict with him, not wanting his son to make the same mistakes he did, and he tells Race that his principal called and told him about the detentions and the F he has in Snyder’s class. Race says that he needs his door and Jack tells him that privacy is a privilege that Race has lost.

Race is pissed and constantly finds his little sister snooping around his things because he doesn’t have a door to keep her out.

After a long argument about how Race has to earn back door by proving to Jack that he can trust him again, Katherine suggests they go out for dinner and after a small temper tantrum from Race, they finally go, only for Race to reveal at dinner that he would like to go to an audition instead of Jack’s rehearsal dinner.

This sparks a big fight that the entire restaurant can hear and Race runs off to the bathroom, only for Jack to follow him. Before Jack gets a door slammed in his face, a blind woman comes up to them and hands them letters made out to them in their names. Too worked up to think much of it, they just take the letters while still fighting and when Race slams the door, they read the small letters, the words in a different language they’d never seen before other than some inscription at the bottom, telling them that they’d know what it was like to walk in each other’s shoes and only selfless love could change them back.

They think nothing of it as Jack and Race try to pull themselves together. But soon after reading these letters, there’s an earthquake and Race immediately runs to Jack who cries for him to make sure he’s okay. When they get back to the table, they find that this drastic earthquake they felt did not affect the rest of the restaurant.

The rest of the night continues on like normal, ending with Jack tucking his kids into bed and going to sleep only to wake up the next morning in his son’s bedroom.

Having no idea why he was in there, thinking maybe he fell asleep in there, he stands up only to find that everything feels different. Soon enough he realizes that it’s because he’s woken up in his son’s body, is horrified to find the boy has tattoos and piercings he never knew about and thinks that maybe he must be dead.

His daughter rushed in, crying and screaming that dad’s dead and Jack rushed to his own body which he realizes is breathing and sends Smalls to go eat some breakfast. He wakes up himself and realizes that Race has woken up in his body and they’d somehow switched. Race is horrified by this and insists that they tell someone but Jack convinces him that everyone will think they’re just crazy.

They try to hurt themselves into switching back and are unsuccessful, forcing them to switch lives for the day. Jack goes to school for Race and Race goes to work for Jack. Race is forced to dodge Katherine’s advances on him while he’s in Jack’s body as Katherine drives them to school and work. Once they get to Race’s school, Jack in Race’s body is confronted by Spot Conlon, Race’s crush since middle school and sends him away even though Spot brought Race a t-shirt of his favorite bands new album. Spot is confused but leaves him alone.

Meanwhile Katherine drops Race off at Jack’s job and Race takes Jack’s credit cards and goes to town, getting Jack a nice haircut, ear piercings, an entirely new outfit and even getting his nails done. He then goes to Jack’s job as a receptionist for a psychologist’s office. He ignores most of the phone calls and doodles in Jack’s sketchbook, finding several sketches of himself, Smalls, Katherine and Smalls’ mother and especially of David. He spends most of his shift going through Jack’s books before getting reprimanded by his boss right before he leaves work.

Jack is having an awful day at Race’s school. He’s forced to take exams that he has no idea how to pass and Oscar sets Jack up to make it look like he’s cheating and Jack gets detention where he meets Spot who offers to help him finish his test. Jack accepts and finishes the tests while Spot helps him with the answers but as Jack’s putting the test back, he sees Oscar’s test and wanting to get back at the boy for his son’s sake, he erases all of Oscar’s answers and writes “I’m stupid” over the test instead.

Spot confronts him about this and Jack tries to explain, knowing it looked bad, but Spot just tells him to forget it and leaves him there even after Jack asks him for a ride.

So Jack goes back to class, finding that Mr. Snyder was an old classmate of his, one that Jack had never really liked and he remembers that Snyder had asked him out on a date more than once. Then, Jack realizes that Snyder was tormenting Race because of how jealous he was that Jack never gave him a second glance.

Jack never realized how hard Race had it until that day but still, when Race comes to pick him up in Jack’s car, Jack is furious, telling Race that he made him look like some kind of male prostitute while Race argues that Jack has never looked better. Jack insists he drive, but in Race’s body he isn’t able to without a permit and Race rubs this in his face. It’s a dangerous drive home, to say the least.

The second they get home, Katherine is shooing Race in Jack’s body out the door and Jack goes to find the letters they’d been given the night before. Katherine takes Race to an art show where she entered Jack’s art into the show. It’s all set up and Jack is supposed to speak about his paintings in front of the crowd. It doesn’t exactly go as planned. Race has no idea what Jack’s paintings are about so he starts making things up and riling up the crowd before slipping out and going to the nearest coffee shop where he runs into Spot, the barista.

Spot says he saw him on TV and buys him a coffee, spending his lunch with him. Race just forgets about everything and just spends the afternoon with Spot, even letting Spot give him a ride home on his motorcycle.

He doesn’t expect Katherine to see them on her way home.

When he gets home, Race goes to find Jack and Katherine confronts what she thinks is Jack about riding a motorcycle with some random guy. She asks him if he’s getting cold feet and Jack in Race’s body jumps in and tells her that Spot is a friend of Race’s and that it was all just a test to see if Spot was good enough for Race. Jack states that he believes Spot was. This makes Race happy.

On the way to the rehearsal dinner with the letters, Spot tried to stop Jack from getting married because he believes he’s in love with him, so Jack in Race’s body stops him and asks Spot to give him another chance and go after someone his own age.

Later, at the rehearsal dinner, Jack and Race try to switch back by being selfless but nothing happens so they get irritated and separate for a while when Spot tries to talk to Race in Jack’s body again, and Race’s friends kidnap Jack in Race’s body, tying him up with duct tape to get him to the audition that Jack had told them earlier he wasn’t going to. Katherine catches them and tells who he thinks is Race to go and Race in Jack’s body is shocked by this.

Jack, who has never played guitar in his life, is obviously trying to find a way out of this, but can’t and Katherine tells who she thinks is Jack to go after him, telling him that it hurt her that he thought she wouldn’t be supportive of Race’s music so Race rushes after them and watches Jack completely freeze on stage. Performing was never something Jack was too keen on. So Race rushes backstage and unplugs Jack’s guitar, playing for him instead while Jack mimes it onstage after nearly having a full on panic attack backstage with Race.

When they get back to the dinner, Jack tells Race to break it off with Katherine, knowing that it was hurting Race and Smalls who miss David, their abba, and he feels he should be putting them first.

So Race makes a toast in Jack’s body and instead of breaking off the wedding, he welcomes it, breaking into tears and telling Katherine he couldn’t wait to be apart of a new family where she was involved.

Then an earthquake hits.

And suddenly, Race is in his own body and Jack’s back in his.

And everyone is confused at what just happens, but Jack only wants to hug his son.

Everything slowly goes back to normal and Jack invites Spot to the wedding where Spot and Race kiss for the first time.

For more Mood Boards and AUs, click here!

[gracetrack-higgins]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins, Finch/JoJo (Newsies) Characters: Finch (Newsies), JoJo (Newsies), Spot Conlon, Racetrack Higgins Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Christmas Party, Finch is a foster kid, Spot is his big brother, this all fits in the tis the damn season au, and immediately follows the events of amscraypunk's fic, so read that first, brief mentions of child abuse/neglect i guess??, this is literally just rly soft and tender, Found Family Series: Part 3 of Woodvale, NY Summary:

Finch hates change. But sometimes, especially at Christmas, change doesn't have to be so bad.

shoutout to @amscraypunk and @firehearte for building this amazing au with meeeee i love u guys so much

enjoy my addition to the tis the damn season au, featuring the ever-adorable jojo and finch ship, big brother!Spot, and a look into finch’s pov <3 

[musicalhistory]

Newsies Characters Age Headcanons & Birthdays

I am attempting to post on this blog a little more during these difficult times when other people might appreciate a little distraction, so while I am working on some more explicitly history-related posts here are my own personal headcanons for the ages of (some) Newsies characters (in no particular order).

Jack- 17, born November 22nd, 1881

Davey & Sarah (I headcanon them as twins)- 16, born May 12th, 1883

Katherine- 18, born January 30th, 1881

Crutchie- 15, born January 16th, 1884

Race- 16, born March 20th, 1883

Les- 9, born September 23rd, 1889

Spot- 14 (almost 15), born August 8th, 1884

Mush- 16, born March 17th, 1883

Jojo- 16, born December 24th, 1882

Buttons- 15, born October 11th, 1883

Albert- 15, born May 30th, 1884

Elmer- 14, born April 19th, 1885

Romeo- 13, born December 31st, 1886

[helbramstrauma-main]

A Picture Lasts Longer

Masterlist

Jojo De La Guerra x Reader

Modern Era: Sometimes you need to have an embarrassing photo as your lock screen.

Word Count: 967

The sofa is slouching based on how long Jojo and I spend on it cuddling, watching Netflix, or napping. It is the go-to spot to get away from the world for a little bit, it is like time stops when we are there. However, it does not and that usually leads to a handful of problems. For instance, Jojo is out past curfew for his dorm, making another accidental sleepover. He stays over so much he might as well sign the lease- however, my roommate would never allow that. When my roommate was draining some pasta, he accidentally scared them thinking it was me. Needless to say, my roommate has not gotten over it yet.

"I should call Finch, let him know I am staying here so he does not worry about me," Jo says getting up from the couch. He walks behind me to the accent table and he scrunched his nose up. "Do you know where my phone is?"

I arch my back up against the sofa so I can see him, "No, but you can use my phone to call it" I offer. Diving forward too play the game, how far can I reach before I fall off the couch, I do manage to get a grip on my cell phone. "Here, the passcode is our anniversary" I inform him.

"That's a trick question, we did not make it official until the 29th" Jo defends his position.

I groan knowing we will never be able to settle this disagreement, "but our first date was Valentine's Day".

I expect to hear another rebuttal on how he specifically asked me out on the 29th to avoid being one of the couples who got together on the commercial holiday. To my surprise, I see my phone being held up to face showing me my lock screen, Jojo's head is resting on his textbook as he takes a nap during one of our study dates. "Care to explain?" Jojo questions, as he vaults over the back of the couch to sit next to me again. He crosses his legs over themselves as he turns to face me, and I mimic his actions. "You have to delete this I look awful in it" He groans, tossing my phone into my lap.

I shake my head vigorously, "You look adorable in it" I retort. My gaze shifts to Jo's pleading eyes and pouting lips, his power is being able to beg without saying much. It used to be rather effective in the beginning, but as he kept using it the initial charm wore off rather quickly. "Look at how messed up your hair is. Besides I like the picture- it makes me smile". I send over a rather obnoxious smile as we discuss. Then again I look back down at my lap and I think about that day more and more.

It was right before midterms and I was completely freaking out about my calculus class. I was certain I was going to fail. I would bother Jojo, day and night about it- calling him every time I had a question or simply breaking down in tears over stress. To put it simply, I was falling apart. Jojo offered to study with me, help me with practice tests, and I accepted immediately.

When the day finally came, we met at the library in the middle of campus and it was completely packed full of students. Luckily, one of Jojo's friends got a study room that day so we were able to sit in there. He already had a practice test prepared for me, so I could take it and we would just focus on my weak points. However, when I lift my head all I see is Jojo's head resting on his open History textbook. His brown eyes were covered by his eyelids as his breathing is slow, he looked so at peace. The sight was something that I do not see a lot of, he is always out running around- taking on more than he could handle. I could not help but snap a picture.

I found it scrolling through my gallery recently and I just had to make it my lock screen.

"I am going to keep it," I say handing him my phone back so he could make his call. Now it is my turn to get up so I can take the empty bowl that once held popcorn back to the kitchen.

While I am rinsing the butter residue off the large plastic bowl, I feel the counter start to vibrate. I look over and I see Jojo's phone face up. However, when I go over to investigate the only word to come out of my mouth is, "Hypocrite".

My contact photo is me sprawled on his chest. My hair is going in every direction but down and half of my face is nuzzled between Jo's arm and chest.

"I'll change my contact photo if you delete your lock screen," Jojo asks, already knowing I found out about it.

I simply walk over to him until our chests are touching and go up on my toes. His hands instinctively go to my waist but instead of connecting our lips I simply kiss the tip of his nose. As always his entire face crinkles up as he squints at me. Not ready to leave the closeness, our foreheads rest on each other's.

"I think we are even"I shut my eyes wanting to fully elope myself in the moment. This is when I feel the familiar warmth of Jo's lips on my own. It is over almost as quickly as it happened, so when I look up I simply see a smirk.

"I need to tell Finch I am staying the night, " Jojo says, before walking away completely forgetting that I still have his phone. Smooth Jojo, so smooth.

[malewifegradyruewen]

You’re Still Our Brothers

so i wanted to read something about Buttons and JoJo, but i couldn’t find anything so i tried to write something about Buttons and JoJo, but it turned into this. i don’t usually write like this, but i think it turned out ok. lemme know what you think!

-:-

The newsies are like one big family. It’s a fact disputed by few. None of the boys who lived in the Duane Street Newsboys Lodging House had been looking for a family, but they’d all ended up together as brothers. Every boy loved every other boy like a brother, but some were closer than others.

Buttons and JoJo and been best friends since the day they’d met. JoJo had showed up on a cold morning in late January, and Buttons had joined the newsboys’ ranks nine days later. Even though they were best friends, they had playful quarrels over which one of them was the superior newsie. JoJo argued that his nine days put him leagues ahead of Buttons, who was quick to point out that he was ten months older. Despite their arguments, which Buttons referred to as ‘heated discussions’, the two boys were inseparable.

Buttons and JoJo had been best friends for three weeks when a new boy showed up. JoJo wanted to be his best friend, and Buttons wanted to be his older brother. They compromised and Romeo became the newest addition to the family of little boys at the Duane Street Lodging House. The three of them were closer than any other newsies except for Jack and Crutchie for three years. They saw several newsies come and go, but no one ever broke into their circle until Elmer showed up.

Elmer was a year younger than Romeo, which was close enough in age for JoJo and Romeo. Buttons, however, felt a little old for this young boy to be his best friend the way the other two boys had been. Looking for a friend closer to his own age, he began spending more time with Finch. All the newsies were brothers, but every family has someone they’re not as close to. Buttons and Finch had always been good friends, but they became closer as the century came closer to an end. Finch was grateful for the quiet company. He’d always been close with Race and Albert, but sometimes they were too loud and dumb for his liking. Finch was glad to find someone who appreciated the quiet moments as much as he did.

Race had been close with Finch for years, but he was really closest with Albert and Jack. Jack had been the one to show him how to sell papers, the first one to accept him into the family of newsies. Albert had joined the ranks a few months later and his fiery personality had been a perfect match for Race’s. They were both wild boys who were smarter than they looked, although they rarely acted like it. No matter how close they were, however, they weren’t as close as Crutchie and Jack.

Jack had a habit of adopting new newsies. He’d done it with Race, Albert, Henry, Finch… the list goes on and on. Each of these boys had a strong relationship with Jack, but had much stronger relationships with their closest friends. However, there was one boy that Jack had adopted who’d never had a relationship stronger than the one he had with Jack. Crutchie was very similar to Jack in that he was good friends with everyone, but none of them were his best friend. Jack and Crutchie were inseparable. There was no friendship stronger than theirs, and they both liked bragging about how they had the best brother. Anytime they bragged to another boy, he’d playfully remind Jack or Crutchie that they were all brothers, and they all loved each other.

No matter who was closest, every newsie loved their brothers. The Duane Street Lodging House was a place where orphans, runaways, and boys who needed to support their families came looking for work and left with a family. No one came expecting it, but once they had a family they didn’t take it for granted. Once a newsie, always a newsie.