Curate, connect, and discover
can u write some javey please!!!!
Notes: this is set after the strike, when davey has gone back to school. This can be read as any of the versions 🙈 I'm not too big of a fan of this fic, so I may rewite it soon, lmk what u think 🩷
It was quiet in the Jacobs household, peaceful even, Esther was in the kitchen happily cooking, mayer was sat silently in the kitchen reading the new edition , Sarah was delicately sewing up an old shirt that had been ripped and les was playing nicely in his room. The family were happy, the comfortable silence soothed them all as they basked in its hypnotic sense of calmness. You could hear a pin drop as the warm evening sun shone through the window, leaving the sedative family very pleased with life. However, the Jacobs household never stayed quiet for long...
"Mama, papa guess what!' Davey announced running into the room, he was sweating perfuesly which told his startled parents that he had ran all the way from school.
Ethster jumped at the sudden sound echoing through the previously peaceful house, making her drop the pan she was holding to the floor with a bang. She cursed under her breath and picked it up.
"David, how many times have I told you to not bound into here like a bull in a China shop?" She accused angrily.
"I'm sorry, Mama, it's just that -" He was practically beaming with exitment, his eyes had a certain spark to them, which made his exited face light up to the next level.
"No, I don't want to hear it." She interrupted, she became quiet for a few seconds as if trying to find the right argument, "just... go to your room." She sighed.
That spark in Daveys eyes had dissipated , leaving an unpleasant aura of tension and melancholy in the air of the once comfortable household. Slowly, he turned and sulked into his room.
"Come on, you didn't need to be so harsh." Mayer said quietly.
"Yes I did, the boy needs to learn how to regulate himself like an adult." Esther snapped.
"But he's not an adult honey, he's a child."
"And he will be forever if we dont teach him otherwise."
Mayer sighed in defeat and turned back to his paper.
Davey was sat on his bed, with the palms of his hands pressed against his eyes so that he could see colourful little circles. It seemed to be the only colour in his life right now. His chest tightened as he replayed the embarassing memory of his outburst through his head, forcefully acknowledging his wrongdoing and creating self promises to never do it again. He heard a knock at the window, and he looked up to be met with the eyes of Jack. He walled over and opened his bedroom window.
"Heya dave." Jack said climbing through the window.
"hi." Davey replied sheepishly.
"Whats da matta?" Jack asked wairely
"Nothing."
"Ise know youse lying."
"I know when YOU'RE lying." Davey corrected
"But Ise aint lied 'bout anythin." Jack looked puzzled
"No, I meant that you needed to fix your grammar." Davey gave a small smile now.
Jack chuckled softly and punched him in the arm.
" Yeah ise will get right on that, but seriously, what's eatin at ya?"
"Well at school about a week ago, my teacher told me that next time at debate a woman from the national team would be there, and she would basically come to scout out who she thinks would be fit for nationals, and they picked me and said that they want me to represent them on their team so i-" davey ran out of breathe and cut himself off.
Jack only smirked as Daveys heavy breathing continued.
"Wow, davey ise don't knows much about debate, but that sounds amazin'."
Once Davey had regained his breathe he replied.
"Yeah, it is. If i win, then I get a fully paid scholarship to a private grammar school." Davey beamed, the magical spark in his eyes being reignited by Jack.
"That's great, so whys was youse so upset about it?" Jack asked, following Davey to sit next to him on the bed. Davey remained silent ( for the first time ever). After a minute, he spoke.
"Do you think I'm too much?, like are my emotions too much for you?" Daveys tone saddened, as did the overall mood.
"Naw not at all, youse get very excited about a lot of things, but that ain't bad." Jack said gently.
"Because earlier I was really excited to tell my family about what happened and when I tried my mama yelled at me and said I need to calm down and regulate myself." Davey mumbled. Jack scooted closer to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, Davey leaned into him.
"Well ise think it's a good thing, not everybody has the same passion for everything that youse do." Davey nodded sadly and sunk deeper into Jack's embrace.
"So what is debate anyways?" Jack asked cheerfully.
"Well it's basically like a fight, a verbal fight obviously, but not an actual fight because its structured and you have a limited amount of time, so the proposition have to pass the motion that they have been given by the judge by basically talking alot and as fast as they can-"
"Youse will win easy then, no competition there." Jack teased. Davey smacked him on the leg and giggled. Jack was relieved to see Davey smiling again. He wasn't used to Davey being so glum. He believed that spark In his eyes was perminent. He had never seen it extinguished before.
"Carry on ise listening."
"Carry on IM listening." Jack made michevious eye contact with Davey before grabbing his pillow off the bed and gently smacking him with it. Davey cackled hysterically.
"Jack, stop!" He giggled, trying to grab the pillow.
"If youse promise to nevers correct mys grammars again!" Jack stopped to let Davey answer.
"If YOU promise to never correct-" Davey was cut off by Jack tackling him into the bed as they began to play-wrestle and laugh.
Jack was used to rough housing with his fellow newsies, newsies play fought all the time. They were very tough and thick skinned from having to live on the streets. However, when it came to Davey, Jack was extremely gentle with it, always making sure to never hurt the other boy.
"Um, Davey?' Mayer had appeared at the doorway looking inquisitive as he watched his son and his friend snicker wildly whilst rolling around on the bed.
"OH um hi dad..." Davey quickly sat up, his face flushed.
"I wanted to see if you were alright, but I'm guessing Jack already did that." The older man smiled.
"Yes sir." Jack said proudly.
"Welll then, dinners ready, and Jack's welcome to stay if he likes."
"Thank youse sir."
"Thank YOU sir."
Jack tacked Davey to the floor, and they began to roll around, trying to trap each other and get the upper hand. Mayer only smiled and rolled his eyes before walking back into the dining room.
Later on that night, Jack was soundly asleep snuggled up in Daveys bed, whilst Davey sat at his desk trying to write his debate speech.
"hi sweetheart." Ethster said standing next to him. Davey didn't answer, he didn't even look at her.
"Listen, I'm sorry for shouting at you, didn't mean it, sometimes I just find it so hard to adjust to your emotions and I know that's not your fault and I need to work on it."
"It's fine." Davey said dryly.
There was an awkward silence. Esther stuttered a few times but couldn't seem to find the right words before getting up and leaving. At that moment Davey felt so alone, so he climbed into bed with Jack and as soon as his body hit the soft mattress, Jack's arms were pulling him closer and rubbing up and down the length of his back. Now, Davey had never felt less alone as he embedded himself into Jack's warmth. Electric shocks, zapping into his nerves with every touch to his body.
Two weeks had gone by, and Daveys master status had become, completely and utterly stressed. He was trying his hardest to write this damn debate speech, and yet nothing he wrote seemed to sound the way he wanted it to. He had been sitting at his desk for almost 7 hours, and his brain felt so frazzled that the words looked as if they were swimming. His eyes were so heavy that they physically hurt to keep open, every inch of his body begged for the kind mercy of sleep whilst his mind slowly shut down.
"Geez davey, youse look terrible." Davey didn't even need to look to see who it was.
"Go away." He said, covering his face with his hands, propped up by his elbows on the table.
"When's the last time ya slept?" Jack asked, eyeing the stacks of disregarded, crumpled up papers next to the desk.
Davey only groaned in response.
"Come on ya need to get to bed."
"No"
"Davey, do not fights with me right now."
Davey shook his head, Jack sighed and sat on the table, his legs dangling next to the chair where davey was sat. Jack began to card his fingers through Daveys hair, lightly scratching from time to time or swiling his finger around in a messy curl.
"stop im going to fall asleep." Davey yawned.
"Don't fight it Dave."
Davey remained stubborn, fighting the sleeping spell that Jack's fingers were putting on him. Jack sighed, god he loved this boy but he could be so damn stubborn.
Jack changed his tactic to just scratching, davey made a sleepy noise of protest and began to lean into the peaceful touch. Not giving him time to think, he lifted davey out of his seat and quickly lay them both down on the bed, Daveys head resting on Jack's chest.
"No- I need i-"
"Shhhhhh." Jack began tracing up and down Daveys back, Daveys exhausted eyes finally closed, and he snuggled deeper into Jack's hold.
"I've been trying to do that for hours." Mayer whispered into the room. Jack only smiled and closed his eyes too.
It was the big day of the debate, and Davey was panicking. He had arrived early to the event and had brought three extra copies of his speech in case he somehow lost the original one and was also slowly forgetting how to breathe.
He was pacing around the backstage area, running over the speech in his head. He left a reassuring hand on his shoulder, his first thought was Jack, however he wasn't disappointed to see his father -like him- dressed in his best and smiling from ear to ear.
"Don't worry, Davey, you will be fine." Mayer assured.
"Yeah, you'll be great!" Sarah smiled wildly.
"Come on, let's go find out seats, Goodluck we are so proud of you." His father pulled him into a quick hug before leaving. Revealing his mother apparently hiding behind him the whole time.
"Davey, baby, I am so sorry for ever making you feel like your passion and love for things was a problem, it was really my problem the whole time and I never want you to change ever." She pulled him into a big hug.
"It's okay mama." Davey said sincerely.
"Thank you, baby. I am so proud of you no matter what happens tonight. Good luck." She kissed him on the cheek and left.
He heard the announcers call his team up, and he walked on stage. He sat with his team members and was relieved to remember he was the second, not the first speaker. The first round did not go favourably for his team. The first speaker stuttered so hard that they missed half of their speech, and they kept taking on questions they didn't know how to answer.
"Please welcome, proposition, speaker 2." The judge called.
Davey stood up and prepared his speech. He looked into the crowd and felt his stomach do summersaults. The crowd went blurry as he felt hundreds of eyes digging into him. His breathing quickened as the hands holding his paper began to shake as the clapping bounced around his brain and all he could think was 'I can't do this'.
Somehow in the crowd of faces he could only make out one of them, and it was Jack's who mouthed, 'just breathe'. And so he did, he steadied his breathing and began to read, he read flawlessly and without stuttering. His unprotected time proved not to be a bother due to the opposition not being able to think of an argument, the longer he spoke the more confident he got. And before he knew it, it was over.
His new gained confidence proved useful as he was now able to rebuttle the oppositions final speaker as he scribbled down new arguments for the conclusionist once they counted the jury's votes. Davey held his breath and felt his heart pounding in his chest yet again.
"I declare this motion...carried." The judge announced. And daveys bloodstream turned into pure joy. His veins carried nothing but exitment and happiness around his body as he hugged his teammates and couldn't seem to wipe a stupid smile off his face.
He ran around the back of the audience to his family, who all excitedly greeted him and hugged him tightly. Once, they had been beckoned away to talk to the grammar schools principle who was seemingly very impressed, he finally turned his attention to Jack.
"Ise don't really understands much of what youse said, but it sounded good."
Davey giddyly hugged him and looked up at him, the spark in his eyes shining brighter than ever before.
"Ise mean it must've been good if youse won."
"Or maybe you're just my goodluck charm."
At this davey pulled him into a deep and passionate kiss, he was always told that his passion was too much, however in this moment it felt just right.
Summary: Skittery has been in a bad mood for the last few weeks, and bumlets and swifty help him cheer up.
Tws: mild language, depression talk?
Winter time was always the worst time of year for skittery,the cold weather never failed to dampen his already glum mood, and the frosty wind made him dread getting up in the morning. This year was no different, skittery already found it hard to put up a smiley, happy front the rest of the year, but in winter, it felt damn near impossible. This was one of the worst depressive episodes he had ever had. He had not smiled or laughed in what felt like weeks. Words hardly ever left his lips anymore, and his fellow newsies were starting to get worried, gravely worried,in fact.
After another long,dreary day midway through December, skittery was sat in his bottom bunk, knees pulled to his chest, staring blankly ahead as if consumed in irrepressible thoughts. He was so ingulfed that he didn't even realise that Bumlets had sat himself down next to him.
"Hey, skitts.." Bumlets said quietly. However, skittery seemed to be blocking out noise that wasn't coming from his brain,so there was no answer. He places a gentle hand on his shoulder and skittery jumped back, startled.
"Jesus christ, are yous tryna kill me?" Bumlets chucked at this.
"No, I was just tryna make sure youse alright." Skittery frowned, and Bumlets felt a sudden urge of guilt in his chest.
"Ise fine why wouldn't Ise be." Skittery snapped a little too loudly, making the heads of a few closer newsies turn.
"It's just that youse been in such a bad mood -"
"Ise has NOT been in a bad mood"
The dramatic irony of this sentence made bumlets snicker uncontrollably.
"What is youse laughing at?" Skittery yelled through gritted teeth, but he didn't look angry, just exhausted.
"Ise sorry, ise sorry-" Bumlets tried to apologise but he has still giggling too hard to get his words out right.
"Piss off." Skittery said angrily before turning and facing his back towards his laughing friend.
"Naww come on skitts I didn't mean it!" Bulets tried to protest but earned no reaction from his friend who was now ignoring him.
"Skitts...skitts...skittery...skitterrrrryyyy." He wined trying to stop his silent treatment.
A strong pang of guilt washed over him as he looked at the back of his friend who was more exhausted than anything else, all he wanted was to see skittery back to his happy self who laughed and played with the other newsies like the kid he was.
He stared at skitterys messy curls for a few moments, completely torn about what to do.
He placed a reassuring hand in the middle of Skitterys back, and all of the anger and tension in his body language seemed to just melt away. It was as if Bumlets could see the frustration draining out of him, like wringing out a sponge. Neither boys said anything, just enjoying the physical contact.
After a while, skittery slowly turned around so that he was facing Bumlets again, letting his hand drop from his back. He could see tears starting to dwell in Skitterys eyes. He just looked so drained, as if any personality behind those eye bags had been stolen.
"Ise- ise sorry..." skittery trailed off. He just sounded broken.
"Hey, it's okay, come here." Bumlets said in a gentle voice opening his arms up.
Skittery looked around, unsure for a second, then cooperated and climbed into his grasp. Bumlets wrapped his arms around his torso, and Skittery felt warm for the first time in weeks. He let the warmness wash over his body and nuzzle in. He felt like a real person again.
"Ise just don't knows what's wrong with me." Skitterys muffled voice came from Bumlets shoulder.
"Nothin' is wrong with youse." A voice stated from behind the two boys, they both swivled to see Swifty stood over them, looking down with big, sympathetic eyes. He then sat on the other side of Skittery and put an arm around his shoulders, to which he dissolved into him with his cheek pressed against Swiftys shoulder.
They sat there like that, all tangled and grateful for what felt like hours. Skittery felt like himself again for the first time in what felt like forever. The coldness outside was kept at bay in this moment, and all of the negative thoughts consuming him seemed to be locked away with Bumlets and Swifty holing the key. He had needed this for weeks and never knew that it was as simple as to ask his closest newsies to remind him that he could feel things other than emptiness.
"Thank youse." Skittery offered to the boys, Swifty kissed the top on his head.
"Now..." Bumlets chucked cupping Skitterys face in his hands, "Are youse in a betta mood?"
"Mhm"
"Youse don't look it, give us a smile." Bumlets prompted.
Skittery suddenly became very embarrassed about the situation and couldn't muster up the confidence to flash a smile.
"no." He glared, his cheeks burning red.
At that, Swifty began to tickle up and down Skitterys sides, forcing the widest, most face splitting smile to appear.
"Now thats much betta!" Bumlets smirked.
"Sthahahahap!" Skittery giggled and squirmed, laughing for the first time in days.
"Now are youse in a good mood?" Swifty teased.
Skittery was too over-come with laughter to answer, so he just frantically nodded his head as he slumped against Swiftys chest. He stopped his attack. Both boys stared down at skittery with the most love-sick eyes anyone had ever seen, grins etched across their faces with a beautifully soft gaze
"Glad ta hear it."
With that, Bumlets pulled the covers over them as they all cuddled into each other, Skittery in the middle, hoping to keep the unforgiving nature of winter outside.