|| Side-By-Side || A Sprace Love Story

Chapter 28 - Carson's Visit

Warnings: Manipulation, kidnapping
Third Person POV

Blade/Carson stood outside of the Brooklyn Lodge.

He has finally gotten away, and came here like he had hold Anthony he was going to do.

He stood there, debating whether or whether not to knock on the door.

Should I?

Yes?

No?

A few minutes later, he finally decided to knock.

The door opened a minute later, and there stood Ace, looking shocked. "Blade?"

"Anth- er- Race told me to come here. He told me Haste was here and that Haste has to tell me something" Carson explains. Ace stares at him, wide-eyed.

Race did what? Ace thinks to himself.

"Hey- uh, Shot!" Ace calls over his shoulder, still staring at Blade, shocked. "Can you get Spot, Jack, and Haste in here?"

Hotshot nods, a bit confused, as he walks out of the room to go get Jack, Spot, Haste, and the other boys that were with that.

They come into the room, and Ace opens the door, revealing Carson.

Every Newsie in the room stare at him, wide-eyed. "Hayden!"

"Carson." Haste breathes. "Why are you here?"

Carson shrugs. "Race told me to come here. He said you had something to tell me. He seems to trust you all, and I promised him I would come here."

"Come in," Jack starts, as Spot turns to him, throwing him a look. "This is a long conversation."

Carson shakes his head. "I will be in so much trouble if I'm found in here. Plus, it's pretty obvious you don't trust me, and I understand that. I've been horrible to you."

"Blade," Jack starts, rubbing the back of his neck. "This is really hard to explain, but-"

"Spade and Rock are manipulating you! They want to kill you, Carson!" Haste explodes, shouting a bit.

Carson steps back in shock. "Haste, I trust you and you're my boyfriend, but that can't be true. I know some of the things they've gotten us to do are bad, and they like to be in charge, and they get mad at us when we mess up, and they command us to do stuff, but-"

"Blade, there's no 'but'." Albert states, stepping forward. "Do you hear yourself? That's not okay, especially since you are the leaders, not them."

Carson shakes his head. "No- no, no, no, no! They've been our friends for years now. They just want what's best for us."

"Blade, they're trying to kill Race" Jack informs Carson, who freezes.

"What?" Carson breathes, eyes-wide. "No, no, no, they said that he would be safe. Even through the threats, they said that what we were doing was to keep Anthony safe."

"Carse (Pronounced: C-r-se), please listen to us. I wouldn't lie to you" Haste basically pleads with his boyfriend.

Carson's hands tugged at his hair, as he tried to let the information sink in.

He tried to think of their reasoning, are they right?

"But why?" Carson whispers. "We were friends, brothers almost. I heard Anth talking about you guys like that, and realized that I know where he's coming from, but were they even?"

Carson smiles weakly at the Manhattan and Brooklyn Newsies. "He really loves you. It may have hurt to hear that he moved on from us, but he talks about you all so highly. When he woke up the first time, he made sure that you three," Carson points to Albert, Spot, and JoJo. "were okay."

"I've been horrible to you all, and I hate it" Carson whispers.

"Manipulation can do that" Ace whispers. Carson turns to him, shocked.

"Manipulation?" Carson thinks for a minute. It made perfect sense. "God, I'm so stupid for falling for that! I'm so sorry. They said it was all fine. I just wanted my siblings to be safe and with me again."

"Been there, done that." Ace mumbles. "You feel so horrible after. Blade, I promise we're gonna help you get your siblings back."

"Ace," Spot starts. "What happened to your siblings?"

Ace never talked about his past, though Spot, Smokes, Hotshot, and Red knew certain things about it.

"They're dead." Ace answers, almost emotionless. "I believed the person who manipulated me, believing that it would save my siblings. They're dead."

"Ace, I'm so sorry" Carson and Smokes whisper in unison.

Ace shrugs. "It's fine. I'm over it."

Spot makes eye contact with Ace. 'We're talking about this later'.

Ace nods, not making eye contact with anyone.

Spot looks at Smokes, Hotshot, and Red, and all three of them nod.

"I can't lose my siblings." Carson whispers. "God, why am I so stupid?! I should've known, Haste!"

"Hey," Jack starts, putting his hands on Carson's shoulders. "You are not losing them. We may not be on the best terms right now, but everyone deserves a second chance."

"We were horrible to you, and Anthony!" Carson whispers, not making eye contact with Jack.

"Blade, I let down every single Newsie in New York, minus the Queens Newsies, and turned on them." Jack bitterly laughs. "They still forgave me, and look where we are now."

Carson nods. Jack wasn't lying.

"So I promise you, Blade. You are getting your siblings back, and you'll be back to being the leaders of Queens" Jack promises, putting his pinky out.

Carson didn't care about being the leader anymore, but he didn't mind that. He always liked being the leader and being so close to the Queens Newsies, and the Queens Newsies liked him.

Carson hooks his pinky with Jack.

Jack smiles a bit. He and Race are more alike than they realize.

"I can't promise that Race will stay with you though" Jack adds, seeing Albert's glares.

Carson laughs a bit. "I couldn't do that to him again. I've learned my lesson. I just hope he'll let me visit him."

Jack nods. "He wouldn't not."

Jack let's go of Carson, who turns to his boyfriend.

Carson smiles at him. "Race told me you were okay, and teased me about this."

The boys in the room laugh, as Haste chuckles. "He's like his older brother."

Carson rolls his eyes. "Caleb is so annoying."

Haste chuckles again, engulfing Carson in a hug. "I love you, Carse."

"I love you, too."

Jack shares a look with Spot.

Spot looked to be torn from a mix of slight happiness for Blade and Haste, and longing to see Race again.

Jack puts his hand on Spot's shoulder, whistling. "We're gonna save him. He'll be okay, and for however many days after that, he can stay in Brooklyn."

"Forever" Spot responds, smirking a bit.

"A month at most" Jack responds. Spot rolls his eyes.

"Thanks Jack."

Jack lightly squeezes Spot's shoulder, before walking off.

1122 Words
Here's a third chapter :)