Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jack stifled a giggle as he observed the havoc that was likely about to be wreaked. Davey and Les were at the Lodging House with the rest of the Newsies. It was a few days since the strike had been settled, and they were finally celebrating. Jack thought about all that had happened since the day they confronted Pulitzer. It was all so surreal, He was officially co-leader of the Newsboys Union, the Refuge was shut down and Crutchie was back, and he was dating David Jacobs. He still couldn’t believe how it played out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What does Santa Fe have that New York doesn’t? Tarantulas?” Katherine pointed out when he tried to leave.

Crutchie followed it with another point, “Better yet, what’s New York got that Santa Fe ain’t?”

“New York’s got us.” Davey said quietly, already dreading his friend’s absence.

Jack felt a pang in his chest at the disappointment on Davey’s face. He thought about the moment they had won, Davey looked at Jack with admiration that could have been intended for the Moon itself. It was beautiful, and Jack realized that he wanted to see that look again, no drawing he ever made could recreate the look in Davey’s eyes.

“New York’s got you.” Jack breathed out as he put his hands on Davey’s shoulders and pulled him into a kiss.

It didn’t matter that they were surrounded by other Newsies, all that mattered was this single action that could change his whole world. Davey went stiff for half a second, before melting into Jack’s hold and wrapping his arms around his waist. The Newsies erupted with cheers, but Jack heard none of it as he reveled in the fact that he had just kissed Davey Jacobs, and Davey Jacobs had just kissed him back.

And then and there Jack decided that he would stay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack smiled to himself as he replayed the memory in his head. He wished he could relive it over and over again, but this was pretty nice too. He was sat on the floor with the other boys, some were just talking, others were playing games, and the littles were running around.

His focus was on Davey though, who had been observing as Race cheated at poker. It seems their long day of selling had gotten to him though, as he was now leaning against the wall and sleeping softly.

Jack looked from Davey to the paper he was holding, trying to recreate this moment of peace on his face. He looked so innocent like this, but Jack knew that it was about to be cut short. He sighed as he shut his sketchbook and prepared to watch the chaos that was inevitably about to break out.

Race, Albert, and Les paused their game of poker when they saw Davey was asleep. Being the gremlin he is, Race suggested a prank. And like the chaotic force that they are, Albert and Les agreed.

So now here they were, utilizing their single combined brain cell to perform their somewhat thought-out prank.

Les and Albert giggled as Race crept up to Davey on his tiptoes. He was holding a piece of charcoal and intending to draw some… creative images on Davey. He was remarkably quiet, years of stealing and sneaking around will help with that. Jack genuinely thinks that he didn’t make a single sound.

Race was right there; he drew in a breath and moved the charcoal towards Davey’s face. His eyes widened at Davey’s grasp around his wrist. Davey’s eyes were still closed, but he had his hand firmly wrapped around Race’s wrist, preventing him from drawing on him.

“Don’t.” Davey said in a much more stern and monotone voice than he would usually use.

He didn’t open his eyes, just dropped Race’s hand and tried to go back to sleep. Race just stared in horror as Davey was out again in seconds, Jack was amazed at whatever that ordeal was. How did Davey know Race was there? How was he so precise? How did he even wake up? How did he fall back asleep so easily?

Race finally snapped out of his shock and looked positively baffled. “What the hell Davey?!”

Race yelled like a child. Jack, Albert, and Les simultaneously bust into laughter as Davey grumbled and sat back up, awake again. Race made his way back to Albert and Les, muttering about how absurd this was.

“Can’t even play a silly little prank. I mean, who is this guy? The waking mouth’s what we ought ‘a call him. Can’t believe this.”

“Seems to me like someone ain’t as good at pranking as they used to be, getting rusty Race.” Albert teased with a smirk.

“Hey! You take that back!” Race yelled, tackling Albert to the floor as Les collapsed into laughter.

Jack chuckled at the boys’ antics, they’re certainly a force of nature, but he loves them. He heard footsteps and watched as Davey thumped down to the ground beside him. Davey leaned back against the wall, he looked… rough.

“You alright, Davey?” Jack asked softly as Davey leaned his head against his shoulder. It was a bit of an awkward angle, with Davey being taller, but it worked.

“mhm.. just tired, I guess.” Davey replied with a tinge of sadness.

“You’se a light sleeper, ain’t you? Gave Race quite the scare.”

Davey hummed in response. Quietly, he responded, “never could fall asleep easy, try to take advantage of it when I can."

"Mmm, s'why you don't like being woken up?" Jack questioned, but his tone indicated that he already knew the answer.

Davey had his eyes closed, and Jack took a moment to look a bit closer at him. He had bags under his eyes, and he looked exhausted. He looked like he had the weight of the World on his shoulders, and just a few days ago, they had.

"Well, you know what they say, if I fall asleep for the first time in 2 days, let me sleep dang it." He muttered into Jack's shoulder

"Literally no one says that Davey." Jack teased, but his eyes narrowed at Davey’s statement.

"When was the last time you slept Dave?" Jack prodded with an uncharacteristically gentle tone, obvious concern showing through his proud facade.

"Mm, night after we won?" Davey replied, but it was more of a question that a statement.

Jack pinched his nose and sighed, they won 3 days ago. It made a more sense the more he thought about it. Davey had been uncharacteristically quiet today. He was leaning on Jack on the way back, which he now knew was probably Davey keeping himself stable. He looked down at Davey, who was looking more tired by the minute.

"OK, we have a lot to unpack wit' all that, but you needs sleep. You're staying here tonight." Jack said softly.

"Nonono, me and Les need to get home, mom'll worry. And I'm fine.. Just a bit tired, I'll get up and go, see?" Davey said with a false air of confidence.

Jack raised an eyebrow as Davey moved to stand up. He succeeded, but the poor guy's head was spinning. (lol) Davey leaned against the wall and slid back down, putting his head is his hands.

"OK. Can you help get me home, please?"

"No. You's staying here tonight. I'll have Specs walk Les home, and they'll tell your mom you's staying here. You need rest, and I'm not dragging you home when you're so tired you cans barely walk." Jack put his hand around Davey's and gave it an encouraging squeeze.

Davey took a deep breathe. "OK, that, that sounds good."

"Good, now you stay here for a minute while I go take care of your brother."

___________________

When Jack returned from talking to Specs, he found Davey sitting straight up against the wall, shaking his head and blinking his eyes rapidly. He decided that asking about that could wait til later.

"Hey, let's get you to bed, want to stay with me?" Jack said putting his hand on Davey's shoulder and hauling him up.

Davey only nodded in response. And they slowly made their way up to Jack's penthouse. It was the first time Davey and been up there, but he didn't pay much attention.

"I'm going to sit here for a few and draw, I'm not going to sleep yet, you can use my makeshift bed. OK?"

"Let me sit with you? I'll sleep better." Davey said quietly, asking like he was scared Jack would say no.

Jack chuckled lightly, "OK. You can use me as a pillow if you want? I like to think I'm quite comfortable." He said with a grin, sitting down and patting his leg.

Davey smiled softly and layed on the ground with his head resting on Jack's leg. "Thank you, Jack." He said with a sincerity that made Jack's heart ache.

Jack nodded as Davey closed his eyes, Jack combed his hands through Daveys soft hair as he watched the slow rise and fall of his chest. He considered getting out his sketchbook to preserve the moment, but decided on just watching it happen this time. He would have more times like this, he could just enjoy this peaceful beauty for himself.

Jack yawned as he realized he should probably go to sleep as well. He didn't want to disturb Davey, so he just put his hat over his eyes and reveled in the feeling of Davey next to him.

Davey didn't remember much about that night, he was awfully tired after all. But there was one thing he knew, that night he slept better than he had in a very long time.

Chapter Text

Davey was having an alright day so far. He and Les made their way to the gate as usual, and he only felt a little bit exhausted, nothing worse than a normal day. Les was selling with Crutchie today, so the day was for him and Jack. 

They really could use it. Between union leader business, watching over Les, and dealing with the rest of the boroughs, they hadn’t really had much time for themselves. So Crutchie offering to take Les for the day, he earned the title of ‘savior’ in Davey’s mind. 

“Hey! Jack, my pal, I’m stealing yous’ boyfriend for the day.” 

Aaaannnd there goes that plan for the day. “And what could you possibly need me for today, Race?” Davey said with a raised eyebrow and a slight grin . 

He was happy to spend the day with Race, he really was, but he needs a heads up on these things. He does much better if someone can let him know ahead of time, he’ll be fine as long as he can rearrange his carefully constructed schedule, that’s all. And it doesn’t help that he’s just so tired. 

“Davey! I can’t believe I need a reason to hang out with my good friend. Come onnn, it’ll be fun! Look, Jack can go with Albert, they’ll be fine. What’dya say?” Race was using all his tactics, even going so far as to dramatically drape his arms around Davey’s shoulders. 

He took a look at Jack, who nodded encouragingly. He sighed, maybe a bit dramatic, and smiled.

“Well, Racetrack, you better have something planned.” Davey said with a grin, before laughing at the exaggerated show Race was making of praising Davey. 

It’s ok, this’ll be good for him. He’s been wanting to sell with the other newsies for a while now, and selling with Race won’t hurt. 

“Hey, don’t worry ‘bout it, ok? Keep Race outta trouble for me, he’s a handful.” Jack bumped Davey’s shoulder and gave his hand a squeeze, then conveniently got called away by Albert.

“You’ve been planning this, haven’t you?” 

“Whatt? I’s would never. Listen, Dave, you’ve been selling long enough that you need to learn some more selling tactics, and who better a teacher than me?” Race flipped his cigar in his hand, seemingly buzzing with energy.

“I’m really that bad at selling?” Davey laughed, trying to lead Race away from the gate, they needed to get to work. 

“Absolutely. See, Jack’s been trying to teach you, but he gets distracted too often just looking at’cha. And you’se great with words, but unfortunately, you won’t lie like the rest of us. So, I’m gonna teach you!” Race explained his plan proudly, while Davey just stare incredulously. 

“Ok, Ok. So let me get this straight,” Davey paused, trying to wrap his head around this situation, “you’re going to teach me how to sell better, how?”

“Well, ‘Walking Mouth’, If you won’t lie to ‘em, you gotta charm em’.” He explained very matter-of-factly.

“Aannd how exactly do you expect me to do that?” Davey said with a light chuckle.

“You gotta flirt with them of course!” Race explained, like it was the easiest thing in the world. 

Davey froze, and just stared at Race. He opened and closed his mouth without saying anything a handful of times, before ultimately deciding that it must’ve been of joke. 

Davey started laughing, the kind of laugh when you’re delirious and things that shouldn’t be funny are hilarious. “That’s real funny, Race, hilarious. Seriously though, how?”

“Serious, Dave. Something wrong?”

Davey just stared again. He was nothing short of shocked. “Race, you’re seriously telling me that you think that I,” he said pointing at himself, “could sell by flirting?”

When Race just looked at him confused, he continued. “I mean, I don’t even know how to flirt, I’ve never flirted with someone before!” Davey rambled, only a little bit panicked.”

Race stared at him and the cigar fell out of his mouth. “Hold on a minute, you’re tellin’ me, that you’re dating Jack Kelly. Jack Kelly, who came back to the Lodging House every night since he met you, talking ‘bout how amazing you were, and you don’t know how to flirt? How!?” 

Davey decided that Race looked as baffled as he felt, “I don’t know Ok?! Wait, he talked about me?”

“That’s besides the point Dave, but I promised Jack I’d teach you, bet 50 papes on it, so guess its gonna be a long day.”  Race put an arm around Davey’s shoulder, and Davey wondered where he was pulling that confidence from. 

“Why did I agree to this?”

------------------------- One very awkward hour later ------------------

“This is ridiculous.” Davey muttered as Race pushed him towards a group of girls their age.

“Listen Dave, I did not bet 50 papes on you just so you could be terrible at flirting, we’re in this together now. You better not lose me my bet. The worst they could say is ‘go find another piece of moldy bread to steal, streetrat!’ so you’ll be fine!”

“Race, we are having a conversation about that later.”  Davey replied in his ‘you boys need to stop covering up your trauma with jokes, we need to talk’ voice.

“Fine, mom. Only if you get those gals to buy some papes. Go get ‘em!”  

“I can’t believe that I finally learned to flirt after I got a boyfriend, and I’m learning for a reason completely unrelated to dating.” Davey mumbled to himself as he sighed and walked up to the girls. 

~~~~ Race’s POV ~~~~

Race watched from the opposite side of the street as Davey nervously approached the group. After attempting to teach Davey to flirt, did he have much faith in him? Admittedly, no. But he was going to win the bet. Racetrack Higgins never loses a bet, especially not to Jack ‘good luck trying to teach my boyfriend how to sell through flirting’ Kelly. 

Thinking back on it, of course Jack would take that bet, he probably knew Davey couldn’t flirt, and thought it’d be easy money. Well god dang it he was going to prove him wrong if it was the last thing he did. Davey was going to be a flirting god by the end of the day if it was the last thing he did. 

Race sneakily followed Davey across the street and hid behind the wall of the corner they were at. He would watch Davey’s approach and then give him feedback afterwards. 

----- a few minutes later -----

Ok, so maybe Race got a little bit distracted by the dog that was running around, but he was sure that he could still watch Davey and help him mentally recover from his likely failure.

In a surprising turn of events, when he peeked out from behind the corner, there Davey was, his back turned to him, but doing really good? He couldn’t hear what Davey was saying, but it must’ve been something cause all the girls were giggling and swooning. Davey took his cap off and ran his hand through his curls casually, and Race wondered who the hell taught him that, cause it sure wasn’t Race.

Race just stared with his mouth wide open as Davey walked over to him “Careful Race, if you keep your mouth open you might drop your cigar.” He said with a grin. 

“Wha- how?” Race asked, completely baffled. “Did they buy?” 

Davey said nothing, just held out his hand, 3 dimes sitting in his palm.

“You- how? Why?” Race’s eyes were wide, and Davey just laughed. “Are you serious Dave? How the hell… You’re a marvel. Where’d you learn all that?” 

“Here’s my secret Race, I have no clue what I’m doing.” (heh) 

“Well keep it up, we’re gonna be rich! Jack is gonna lose those 50 papes. Come on Dave we got selling to do!” Race said, miraculously recovering from his confusion.

~~~~ Davey’s POV ~~~~

Davey laughed and followed Race. He wasn’t going to admit it but that was horrifying. He was sure he was going to be laughed at and shooed away, but maybe he should listen to Jack for once and stop doubting himself… nah.

Anyways, he’s pretty sure that he’d made those dimes with someone else’s tactics anyways. He’d just mimicked Jack. He spent more hours of selling watching Jack than he’d care to admit, and its not his fault he picked up on some things. 

--------- A lot of hours later --------------

Frankly, Davey was exhausted. It was a long day of selling, and he honestly really enjoyed it. He made way more money than usual, and seeing Race grow more and more confused over his success was hilarious. However, he was already really tired when he started selling, and learning to flirt, then actually trying (and succeeding?) at flirting was pretty draining. 

He'd be fine if he got home soon, he would just have to head straight home instead of going to the lodging house tonight, he’d find an excuse. Now he just needed to find Race, god knows where he ran off to, and they could head back.

Davey actually sold out a while ago, but Race insisted that he sticks around so they could hang out. It went really well but then Spot showed up and of course Race had to go be a menace. So now Davey was looking for him. 

Now, if Davey wasn’t walking in a straight line anymore, and was occasionally stopping to lean on things, that was his business. 

When he finally found Race, Davey thought he might’ve cried. 

“Hey! I was just looking for you Davey, ready to head back?” Race  said patting Davey’s shoulder.

“Absolutely.”

So now they were on their way back. Race was rambling on about… something. Davey had no clue what, he felt a little bad for not paying attention to his friend, but what can you do? Everything felt a bit hazy, and he might’ve been seeing double, but they only had to make it a bit further. 

Race asked him something, and he nodded absent-mindedly. He stumbled a bit and almost fell, before shaking his head and blinking rapidly. 

“Dave, ya alright? You don’t look too good..” Race asked hesitantly.

“Mhm, I’m fine.” Davey said, before immediately proving himself wrong by collapsing. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Davey blinked his eyes blearily, waking up on the ground, sitting up with his back against a wall.

“Shit shit shit. Jack’s gonna kill me….”

Davey shot up, albeit a bit fast, so he sat back down, and looked around frantically. “Racer! What’s wrong, are you alright?”

“Oh thank God, I live another day.. Nothing Dave, I’m fine. Are you alright? Ya kinda collapsed on me.” 

Davey let out a sigh of relief, before putting his head in his hands. Why were his hands shaking? “Sorry Race, just really, really tired.”

“When was the last time you’se slept Dave?” Race said with a raised eyebrow.

He contemplated whether or not to be honest with Race, but if there was ever a right time to admit it, sitting in some random alley after collapsing was probably it. “Probably 2 days, I don’t really know.” 

“Davey- that’s, that’s not healthy for ya.” Race said, shocked for the 15th time today. “Why?”

“Never have been able to fall asleep easy. I just, lay there staring at the ceiling for hours. Doesn’t matter how tired I am, I just don’t fall asleep. I got tired of rotting away for 6 hours a night, so I just don’t even try to sleep until I feel like I’m going to collapse.” He admitted, taking of his cap and fidgeting with it. 

Race looked surprisingly thoughtful. “That, make sense. Do you know why?”

“Doctors said its insomnia- basically means sleeping don’t come easy to me- but the medicine is too expensive, and I don’t want to cause mom and dad any more issues.” He ran his hands through his hair, he doesn’t talk about this much. It sucks that he has to deal with it, but he refuses to burden his parents with it. 

Race hesitated for a minute before replying. “I, I can’t say that I’se know how to help you, but would you at least let me or Jack know when you start getting all hazy?” 

The amount of understanding and maturity Race was showing right now was shocking to Davey, he felt a bit guilty for doubting him. He hesitated for a minute before Race continued. 

“Jack doesn’t know, does he?”

Davey just shook his head. He really had meant to tell Jack, but it was kind of embarrassing and Jack had enough problems he already had to deal with. 

Race smacked Davey with his hat teasingly. “I get that you don’t want to burden anyone Dave,” wow, hit the nail on the head with that one, “but tell Jack. He’ll understand, and if he don’t, I’ll soak ‘em. And then, if you start getting tired, you can tell one of us, and we can help. Then no one else has to know, and you don’t collapse in a random alley and get mugged.”

Davey just laughed and nodded. It felt good to have someone else know. He knew Race was right, it would make things so much easier. 

“I’m gonna take that as a yeah. So, are you good to head back, or do we need ta wait?”

“Give me just a minute, and then we’ll head back.” Davey thought for a minute, “Well, you got any other questions for me? I feel kind of bad dumping this on you, so ask away, and I’ll answer honestly.”

Race thought for a minute before his eyes widened, “How do you when people are there if you’re sleeping? Like, a week ago, I tried to prank you and ya scared me!”

Davey laughed recalling the event. “I’m a bit of a light sleeper, doesn’t take much to wake me. I grew up with Sarah and Les constantly trying to prank me anytime I did fall asleep. So I started paying attention to the sounds and movements anytime they tried, got pretty good at predicting what was going to happen.” He explained with a grin. 

“It’s freakin creepy. I thought you were possessed or something.” Race joked.

They joked around a bit more before Davey decided that he was alright enough to get back to the lodging house. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Davey and Race had equally smug grins on their faces as they showed Jack how much Davey made today. Race explained the bet and Jack’s ulterior motives, and Davey was just as offended. 

“Pay up, Jack. A bet’s a bet.” 

“Theres, no way. You guys are messin with me. Where’d you get all of this?” Jack countered, refusing to believe that Davey made all of this by flirting.

“Your boyfriend here’s a natural. Ain’t cha Dave? And I’s just a great teacher.” Race teased, slinging his arm around Davey’s neck. 

Davey rolled his eyes. “great at being a menace maybe.” 

“You- you’re serious. I can’t believe it.”

“What, Jackie? Didn’t you have just a little bit of faith in me?” Davey smirked, putting a hand on Jack’s shoulder and ruffling his hair, before making his way over to Les and Crutchie as Jack stared at him in awe.  

~~~~ Jack’s POV ~~~~

Jack actually couldn’t believe that just happened.

“Anthony Higgins.”

“Yeah, Jack?” Race answered shakily. 

“Who the hell taught him that? Cause I know for a fact it ain’t you.”

“Can’t handle a bit of flirting Jack? What’s happened to you?” Race said, poking Jack.

“God, I’da kissed ‘em a lot sooner if he’d done half a whatever that was.” Jack was maybe a bit in love, just a little bit. 

Race just laughed at him and ran over to Davey, and Jack watched as they laughed and joked around. 

Davey really looked like a whole new person now, these past few weeks have really changed him. He’s so much more confident, and it really makes him shine. Jack doesn’t know what he would’ve done if Davey walked into his life the way he is now.

Needless to say, Jack was really happy.