Work Text:
Kid blink woke up. Naturally. Which meant something was terribly wrong today.
Now it’s not like he usually sleeps in or anything. None of the newsboys really have that luxury and getting enough sleep to make it trough a long day of selling is hard enough as it is. It’s just that kid blink has been getting rudely awakened for the past 5 years or so by his best friend Mush.
Mush is always up bright and early and the first thing he always does is jump down the bunkbed they share and shake Blink awake like there’s a fire in the lodging house. Except today he didn’t. And that felt weird and wrong Blink decided.
Blinking the sleep out of his eye, kid blink hazily looked around the bunk room. Most of the other boys were still fast asleep and there was no sign of life above him at all. Blink stared up at the mattress laying above him while trying to gather his thoughts and stop himself from getting too angry about the sudden change in his morning routine. Maybe Mush slept in? No, that doesn’t sound like him at all. Mush loved waking up early because the lodging house is always nice and quiet before the rest wakes up. Blink knows this, because he knows Mush like he knows himself.
Closing his eyes, he willed away the headache forming from the sunlight shining harshly in his eye.
It’s probably nearly time to get moving to the gates he thought to himself. He’d much rather stay in bed honestly. He didn’t have the best time selling yesterday. His usual spot has been getting less customers lately so he had to move spots. He was selling pretty well near the avenue until the nearby school went out and a bunch of the boys on their way home started pissing him off. Those stupid stuck up pricks think they’re so much better than him just because they have a stupid education. He spent the rest of the day kicking his papes to death in a nearby alley until Mush found him and dragged him over to the river to calm down. Thinking about it almost made him want to lash out again, if it wasn’t for the worry gnawing at his brain for his best friend.
Dragging a hand trough his face and pushing himself up from the crummy mattress, Blink stood up carefully and peeked at the top bunk. Mush was indeed still laying in bed, but he didn’t look comfortable at all. His thin blanket lay crumpled up at his legs and he was curled up holding his arms tightly over his stomach. He was turned away from Blink but judging from the small pained noises he was making he probably didn’t look very happy. Which was also weird and wrong, Blink just decided.
Slightly unsure of what to do, Blink started gently patting his friends back in a weak attempt to wake him up from whatever stupor he was in. He heared Mush’s breathing still slightly, before the other boy stated slowly wriggling around his bed to see who ever so rudely awakened him from his slumber. Finally fully turning around, Blink was met with Mush’s frowning face. He still had his eyes closed slightly but the moment he opened them and saw kid blink there his face immediately lit up a bit. “hmm,... g’morning Blink” Mush mumbled softly rubbing his eyes, his voice still a bit hoarse from sleep. “goodmorning yourself” Blink responded “What’s wrong with you, huh? Why didn’t ya wake me up this morning? Had too much to drink last night or sumptin?” he joked. Blink knew Mush didn’t drink, but he just wanted to make sure that Mush didn’t think he was cross with him.
Mush looked a little guilty at that, giving Blink a small smile. “sorry Blinky” he yawned, face contorting into a pained expression as he stretched his arms “jus my stomach hurting a bit ya know. Didn’t feel like getting up much.” Realisation dawned upon kid blink at that statement. Ah, it’s one of those days.
Everyone in the lodging house remembered that day, a couple months ago when Mush woke up for the first time clutching his stomach in discomfort. No one thought much of it, catching a cold or a sickness going around happend a lot in the newsboy lodging house. Jack made sure to keep Mush inside that day so he didn’t infect any of the other boys. Except then a day passed. And another day, and another day and Mush still woke up with pain in his stomach. Nobody else seemed to get sick and some of the other boys were starting to get worried. Mainly Jack, Davey and of course kid blink. After five days of Mush continuously complaining about his stomach, it seemed to get less bad for a while. The worrying died down a bit as things seemed to get back to normal and Mush went about his day selling papes with kid blink like nothing happend.
Until that night when Mush came running out of the bathroom, tears in his eyes and screaming something about blood. Everyone who was currently inside the lodging house at the time started panicking. Kid blink immediately rushed over to Mush while Jack sprinted out of the lodging house to get ‘he who knows everything’ Davey. Except Davey had no clue what was going on. Davey was in fact not a doctor, and Davey could not handle blood very well. Now with Davey passed out and a sobbing Mush somewhere in the bunk room and a house full of screaming boys, Kloppman got involved and called for a doctor. The newsies had to drag kid blink away from Mush when the doctor arrived. Separating the two boys from eachother was always a hassle.
About an hour later Mush emerged again, looking slightly worn out but he calmed down a lot since the incident. Blink was immediately by his side and they sat down together on the nearest bunk, while Mush tried his hardest to repeat what the doctor told him. Although Mush didn’t understand much about it, he managed to vaguely explain something about having wounds in his stomach. Davey had heard of such a sickness before in school, and tried to explain it a bit more. There wasn’t much they could do about it, since they didn’t earn enough money to get remedies for it. Blink for his part was just happy that Mush wasn’t actively dying. He would’ve been really angry. But it still worried him, and he must have shown it on his face because he felt Mush squeeze his hand a little harder. Looking into his bright brown eyes, kid blink already felt a bit calmer. Mush just had that effect on him. “i’s gonna be okay Blinky, dont’cha worry about me too much. Doc said i’s won’t be in pain forever.” He had said to kid blink. Not worry about Mush? As if, he thought. He didn’t say that out loud. Mush had enough stress for the day.
Life just went on as usual after that, except every once in a while Mush would wake up in pain again. He’d gotten better at hiding it from the other boys, but kid blink always saw trough him. When you spent as much time together and Blink and Mush do it’s only natural to notice small changes about each other. Today was another one of those days, but Mush wasn’t very much trying to hide his pain.
Suddenly the morning bell rung loudly, scaring Blink out of his thoughts. Oh great, peaceful time is over. He heard a groan next to him, Mush probably felt the same way. “hey dont’cha worry about selling papes today ‘kay?” Blink spoke to him “i’ll spot ya it’s not a problem.” Except it was, but Blink didn’t want Mush to worry. He never sold well by himself and all the other newsboys knew this. Mush looked at him like he’d grown another head. “yeah right Blink, i’s coming with you wether you likes it or not. I’ll be okay it doesn’t even hurt that much anymore!” he said cheerily, already sitting up and moving to grab his cap. The movement obviously caused him pain, as he hissed silently and his hands went to his abdomen again. Blink raised an eyebrow at him, but Mush just chuckled nervously and jumped out of his bed. Blink followed after him, feeling very conflicted. Yeah he was happy that he could sell with Mush today, but he was also worried about him. He’ll just have to keep an eye on him. His day is always a little brighter with Mush around anyway.
After making his way over to the gates and buying his stack of 50 papes for the days, Blink excitedly waited for Mush to catch up. Sure enough a minute later Mush came running up to him, 100 papes in hand. Blink held out his hand and Mush gladly took it. “i’s got a great sellin spot for us t’day Blinky. Racer told me ‘bout it yesterday and i figured we could go there together.” Mush happily told Blink. Kid blink smiled back just as brightly “sounds great Mushy, you lead the way ‘kay. But promise to tell me when yer stomach starts hurtin’ you again?” he asked seriously. “yeah okay Blink, but it’s not that bad honest.” Mush responded, sounding a bit frustrated. Mush was never frustrated, so Blink decided to drop the topic for now. He just held his hand a little tighter as they went off together.
The selling spot was indeed great. Kid blink felt like he was on top of the world. He never sold this well. He only had two papes left and it wasn’t even noon yet! He looked down happily at his pouch full of change he made. Maybe i’ll get us something nice to eat, he thought to himself while grinning. He decided to take a short break to munch on the bread he got from the nuns this morning. Zoning out slightly, he looked around the plaza they were selling at. Usually when kid blink and Mush sell together whenever the crowd clears around them they always wave at each other and hold up their leftover papes. But now Blink couldn’t find Mush, even though the crowd had cleared out. Last time he saw him he was selling near the bakery on the other side of the street. Has it really been that long? Blink started to feel panic creeping up in his chest. What happend to Mush? Did he get soaked? How did i not see it happen then? Before Blink’s thoughts could spiral anymore out of control he caught sight of a slight figure, hunched over in the alley next to the bakery.
Ditching his leftover bread and quickly running over he discovered that it was indeed Mush sitting there. He was leaning against the brick wall of the bakery, holding his stomach protectively while his head was hung low between his legs. Now that Blink got a good look at him he really didn’t look himself. His short curly hair was matted to his forehead either from the heat or some pain induced fever. His warm tanned skin looked flushed, but not in the usual way it would look when they’d jokingly flirt with each other. He almost felt angry that Mush didn’t tell him he was feeling this bad, but he quickly pushed the feeling away. Already mentally kicking himself in the head for even thinking of getting upset at Mush.
“Mush?? Mush are you okay, answer me Mush!” Blink’s panicked voice cut trough Mush’s hazy mind and he slowly lifted his head. They looked into eachothers eyes for a couple seconds, Mush slowly starting to frown as he watches his best friends scared expression. He registered kid blink’s hands on his shoulders as the fog in his brain cleared slightly.
“Oh. Hi Blinky” Mush said softly, closing his eyes and enjoying the sunbeams falling onto his face. Truth be told Mush did not feel good at all. He just finished selling all his papes when a horrible cramp hit his stomach and made him double over in pain. It really did feel like the Delancey’s were taking turns kicking him in the gut. He knows he should have probably stayed in bed today, but he just hates feeling useless like that. Besides he’d have to spend the whole day without kid blink, which felt like a death sentence to him.
“Hey Mushy..” Blink started, nervously chewing on his lip. “Ya don’t look too great. Whaddya say we head back to the lodging house for t’day huh? I’ll even get us sumptin nice to eat later.” Mush blearily smiled up at him and brought his hand up to cup Blink’s face. “Yea.. that sounds nice i think. Sorry Blinky.. guess i don’t feel that well.” Blink chuckled. “Yeah you think?” They both giggled softly. Kid blink wordlessly grabbed Mush’s hands and pulled him up. Mush wobbled on his legs a bit, before slinging his arm around Blink. “S’ a nice day to lay in bed.” He said softly, leaning his head on kid blink’s shoulder. “Sure is Mush,... let’s get you home”
It took them a while to get to the lodging house, with Blink struggling to support Mush’s extra weight and Mush feeling too worn out to walk that fast. When they finally made it home Mush immediately went for his bed and jumped in, pulling the covers up to his waist and taking his cap off. Kid blink sat down on his bed to take his shoes off and throw his remaining papes under his mattress. Afterwards he stood up and jumped onto Mush’s bed gently, as not to jostle his body much. He laid next to mush and pulled the covers all the way up to both of their chins.
Kid blink closed his eyes for a little bit, taking in how nice it felt laying down. Mush’s bed has always been one of his favorite places. He spends more time in there than his own bed. Whenever he has nightmares about home or just trouble sleeping. It’s kind of his safe space now. He loves the softness of his covers and the scent of it. Mush often sent his pillowcase and covers to get washed at the Jacobs house so it always smelt a lot cleaner. There were hints of the soap Davey’s family always uses but it also slightly smelled like the pastry stall Mush selled his papes by a lot and the freshly baked bread he’d always save money for to buy. It was an one of a kind scent that kid blink always associates with Mush, so of course it was his favorite.
After a minute or two Blink felt Mush shift next to him, facing his side and looking up at Blink with that wonderful smile he always had on his face. Blink cracked open his eye to look at Mush, and turned his body so they were laying towards each other.
“Hi you” Mush said chuckling. “Hi yourself” Blink responded and shifted himself closer to Mush. He felt Mush snake his arm around his waist and pull him impossibly closer, heat radiating off of him causing kid blink’s face to flush slightly. Blink curled around his body and softly pressed his warm hands to Mush’s stomach, in the hopes of helping to ease the pain a bit. Mush let out a content sigh and nuzzled his face into Blink’s shoulder while still firmy holding onto him. Pressing a quick kiss on his cheek and mumbling a soft “mmm,,.. thank you Blink... love ya” As he fell asleep to the sound of their hearts thumping together. There really was nowhere else kid blink would rather be. And if Mush’s stomach decided to be an asshole again he will just drag him into bed again. Even though he hated to see Mush in pain, these days where they can just lay together and forget about the world really were the best. Mush is always there for him, so in turn Blink will always look out for Mush. And that felt right, Blink decided.