NEWSIES: The Ultimate Modern AU

How A Story Starts In Fair Verona

Romeo walked through the park alone on a brisk Sunday afternoon, he had nowhere particular to go but something about the serenity made him grin. Perhaps he would find a pretty girl to chat up and he'd have a drink, but he was happy to be alone for once and not have to worry about clever pick up lines. Perhaps he didn't want to taste rejection. A few dogs walked past him and it took a fair amount of self control to not instantly take them home with him although they had owners following behind.

He stopped at the bridge and looked over the lake, a few couples were paddling in small boats and some ducklings followed their mamma across the water gracefully. He smiled and inhaled the autumn air. Across the water was an open grass patch where a jazz band was busking; in front of them for some reason was a yoga session. It had no particular order, but a chalkboard out front of the five or so scattered yoga mats said 'Smooth Jazz + Yoga, no invitation needed, just join us :)'

At first he smirked at the idea, Jazz and yoga? Probably the most basic, snobby thing he could think of. Looking at the gathering of mats he saw a few spares in a basket and asked a man who seemed to be leading if he could take one. The dude was wearing some sweatpants and a dangling rose quartz earring, he appeared to be rather young and a well groomed stubble lined his jaw. "Of corse! Anyone can join." The dude said smoothly.

Romeo helped himself to the mat, unrolling it in a clumsy manner that made a few of the class joiners giggle. The mat was laid across the grass.

"It's better if you take off your shoes." Someone whispered beside him. She was a pretty woman, couldn't be older than 23 and had auburn hair that sprung out of her messy bun.
"Oh thanks." Romeo replied somewhat bashfully considering he has no clue what he was doing for once in his life. He looked at the yoga leader and went into a tree pose, following the rest of the jazzers. The Jazz was indeed smooth, a keyboard played some smooth notes accompanied by a chill trumpet and bass chello being plucked carefree. The band wasn't particularly following any music and instead improvising as they went. Romeo closed his eyes and he listened along and almost lost himself in it.

"So... this your first time?" The girl asked him, catching him off guard.
"Oh yeah, I've never been a jazz kind of guy but this isn't terrible."
"I know right! My roommates give me shit for it all the time but I think this is great." She began, "they just don't understand the power of jazz. I read that it's actually quite therapeutic and Mike over here," she motioned to the instructor who smiled back "is generous enough to run this class every Sunday and Wednesday at 4pm."
"Wow who da thunk?" Romeo moved into a warrior pose and kept chatting. "My roommates would never let me hear the end of it either... yikes."
"Oh you have roommates too?" She inquired, gaining interest.
"Yeah, quite a few. They're kinda all I got, we're all sorta wash ups and they're basically my family." He went red. "That was really sappy I'm so sorry." He was never like this.
She smiled at him, "No don't be I'm in the same situation actually! There's quite a few of us, they call us 'newsies' for some reason, apparently some old term or whatever."
"Oh my god no way same! What district are you from?" He couldn't believe the chances of finding another one of his own kind.

Her eyebrows raised and she couldn't believe the chances herself. "Brooklyn! How about you- you ok?"
Romeo went a bit pale. Brooklyn? Out of all the chances of anywhere of corse she had to be a Manhattan rival. Almost stuttering he pushed out the word "Manhattan..."

There was a relatively awkward silence as they analysed the odds. How the fuck did that happen? What would they do about it? Romeo had never really had serious relationships in fact he got the nickname from his hopeless romantic tendencies he seemed to always follow. Although he wasn't sure if the girl was receiving the same feelings herself, he was definitely already falling for her. Slowly the feelings would grow and to be quite honest he felt foolish at the vulnerability she gave him. He collected himself before asking what he didn't quite want to ask. "One of Spots eh?"
She paused before answering. "And I suppose you'd be with Jack-Be-Nimble"
Of corse the Brooklyn nickname given to Jack Kelly was apparently used by all folks.

"That's the one alright!" He simply laughed it off. It sucked for sure, but part of him wanted it to work. He didn't want her to just be another one of his little flings, he actually wanted to try for once. He hasn't a clue as to why the tendency kicked in with this one girl, but he knew she was special and a treasure. To be honest he should have known she was a Brooklyn folk when he saw her primarily red outfit; the signature Brooklyn trademark.

"The name's Romeo by the way." He reached his hand out for her to shake across the yoga mat.
"Well Romeo, your name seems to suit you well. I'm Alexas." She shook firmly.

The jazz continued and they talked for the rest of the session before parting ways, and just before she was gone Romeo called behind her, "Wait when will I see you again?"
"Smooth Jazz and Yoga! Wednesday at 4 don't forget!" She shot back finger guns and gave a wink as she skipped down her own way. Romeo returned home with a smile pasted on his face.