Newsies Middle School - High School AU

Chapter 74 - Cousins

"I have to give all of you a fair warning," Davey was telling the newsies at lunch, "my older cousins are going to come to get me from school today, and they tend to be really... embarrassing," 

"The cousins that were at Katherine and Sarah's wedding?" Jack asked.

"Yep," Davey nodded.

"Those two were the worst," Jack shook his head.

"Don't worry, Davey," Maine insisted, "no matter how embarrassing your family is, we can be worse," 

"Maine has a point. We're pretty embarrassing," Jack chuckled.

"Well, you're good embarrassing. My cousins are bad embarrassing," Davey explained, "you all embarrass me on purpose and out of caring for me. James and Bristol don't embarrass me intentionally, but they definitely push their jokes a little too far," 

"I'd say a little more than a little too far," Jack pointed out, "they definitely made some jokes they shouldn't have been making when we were at Sarah and Kath's wedding," 

"What did they say?" Maine asked.

"Well, they said that they expected Davey to be the gay cousin, which, to be fair, he is. But that's not something you say," Jack rolled his eyes.

"Fair point, well made," Maine nodded, "well, I look forward to meeting these cousins of yours. Maybe I can give them a little lesson,"

"Yeah, if anyone can shoo your cousins away, it'll be the amazing Ace Jameson," Crutchie agreed.

"Don't flatter me," Maine rolled their eyes, "I don't intend to shoo them away, just to make sure they think twice next time they want to pick on our Davey," 

"I think he's mostly Jack's Davey," Race pointed out.

"Guys, we don't own Davey. He's his own person," Jack scoffed, "that's what makes him so great," 

"Awwwwww," Maine gushed, "why do you have to be such a perfect couple?"

"We're not perfect yet," Jack got a rolled-up poster board out of his backpack, "I spent all of one hour working on this," 

"Did you now?" Davey chuckled.

"Okay," Jack took a breath, "David Ben Jacobs, will you..." he unrolled the poster board, "be my date to Prom?" 

"You had to make it dramatic, didn't you?" Davey smiled, "yes, I'll go to Prom with you," he looked at the poster board. It had the question 'Will you go to Prom with me?' in big letters that alternated dark and light blue. It had one drawing of his face on one side and one of Jack's face on the other. 

"Alright, now you're perfect," Maine nodded.

"Here, you keep the poster. Maybe you can ask me to Prom next year," Jack rolled the poster back up and handed it to Davey. 

"Damn, we're going to be seniors next year," Race realized.

"And then it's next stop, college," Elmer pointed out.

"Not for all of us," Jack shrugged, "I don't think I'd be a good fit for college," 

"Why not?" Davey questioned.

"Not everyone is cut out for college. Think of Maine's pal... Sky was his name, right? He just went right into a job," Jack recalled, "I'll figure it out," 

"College isn't the only form of post-secondary education, either," Maine added, "trade school is a very viable option. That's what Sky's girlfriend is doing,"

"Not to mention Military," Race agreed, "That's always an option," 

"We could discuss after high school options all day, but it's not going to get us anywhere," Jack stopped the conversation, "to every man his own... or in Maine's case their own... and not a man,"