This Ain't Just Newsies No More ~ Sprace & Javid

New Beginnings | David

This is the last Javid. Ever. Wow. I...this is big. Well technically, only the last Javid of this story. I will write more Javid. That is a given. Also I just reread my first two Beginnings chapters and I just...that hit me. My goal is for this one to be 1000 words--over twice the length of the first Javid Beginnings. Anyway. Enjoy! :)

David watches Jack hesitantly open the door to the house for the first time. He watches it creak open. They step inside, examining all that they see. It's an empty house, one that hasn't had a residence in a year or more. It's not too old. It all looks okay.

And if they like it, it will be theirs.

They can't officially move in as a couple together. The world isn't ready for that yet. But it's okay to play it off as if they're close relatives or at least just relatives or long-time friends.

"What do you think, Davey?" Jack asks tentatively.

David looks at his boyfriend with a smile. They've been together for some time now, yet Jack can still be nervous of David's opinion. He takes Jack's hand. "Let's look through it together."

It's not a huge apartment. Not that they need a super big house. This one's looking to be just fine.

"What do you think the fellas will say if they find out that this is our house?" Jack asks as he looks everywhere in each room.

"They'll think we've made a right choice."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"I thought I wouldn't miss livin' with everyone in the lodging house. But...turns out, I was wrong."

David grabs Jack's hand. "I get that."

At the turn of the century, on January 1, 1900, all the newsies made their own resolutions. Most of those resolutions were along the lines of how much papes they'll sell each day, but some, like Jack, vowed that they would start thinking about what would happen when they move out.

Now it's spring of 1902. Jack and David are twenty, looking for a place to start their life together, moving away from the protected living with others. At 21, they for sure won't be kids anymore.

They aren't the only ones to want to start new lives. Jack wasn't the first one of his age to move out of the lodging house, but he won't be the last. Soon, though, all those younger kids are going to be the older ones running the lodging house. David thinks of Race at age eighteen and Boots at age fifteen. Once Race moves out...Boots and Tumbler, and even Les are going to be the older newsies. This is what happens to kids, though. They grow up fast. 

Jack wanders into another one of the rooms without David as David took a quiet moment for himself.

"Davey! This house is great!" Jack calls from the other room. "It wasn't too expensive, was it?"

David chuckles. "No matter what the price, we'll find ways to get more money. We can get jobs with higher pay. The more the both of us work, the sooner we'll be able to buy a place for ourselves."

David's got to admit, he likes the look of the house as well. It's a modest house. It's exactly what they need.

He goes to a window and opens it up. Light comes streaming in. What's better is, is that it's not just a view of factories and dirty cities. It's nice outside.

He looks down at the grass outside, and a place where flowers probably were planted some time ago.

That could be one of our projects, David thinks. Starting a garden.