Time Truly Divides || Newsies Time Travel AU

Chapter 16

TW: Hospitals and injuries.

Jack held Davey's hand in his own as they sat in silence, letting the sounds of the hustle and bustle of the ward go on around them. Davey was sat on his good arm's side. He didn't know why one of his arms was in a sling against his chest but he honestly couldn't bring himself to care enough to question it.

Down the hall, a child was laughing loudly, the other way, crying. The noises reminded them how even with just the two of them in the room, they weren't alone. Jack wished he wasn't reminded of that. He wanted to be alone with Davey. Properly alone.

"Jack," Davey sighed.

"Don't, Dave. I like us like this." Jack motioned between himself and Davey as he spoke. "You're my best friend and I don't want to lose you."

"You won't lose me, Jackie."

"I will," Jack persisted. "You'll realise that I'm not who you want to be with and you'll leave."

Davey lifted Jack's hands to his lips and kissed his knuckles. "Why don't we try this again?"

"What do you mean?"

"Can I kiss you, Jack?"

Jack opened his mouth before closing it and nodding quickly. "Yes, please."

Davey cupped Jack's cheeks with his free hand, still keeping a firm grip on Jack's hand with the other, and slowly leaned in. As they kissed, Jack's mind went blank as he tried to figure out if he was only dreaming or not.

When Davey pulled away, Jack chased his lips, trying to make the moment last longer. Davey placed a hand on his chest and stopped him from kissing Davey again.

"Let's maybe wait until you're better to do more kissing, Jackie." Jack pouted at Davey, warning him an eye roll. "You'll be better soon. I just don't want to risk hurting you or you straining yourself or anything."

"You won't hurt me, Dave. I promise. Can I get one more kiss?"

Davey rolled his eyes again but leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to Jack's lips. Someone cleared their throat and Davey jumped back from Jack.

"It's good to see you awake." Jack blushed and ducked his head, avoiding eye contact. The doctor cleared her throat and crossed the room to Jack. "I'm just going to have a quick talk with you. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

"Alright. Would you like your friend to stay here or leave?"

Jack looked over at Davey and shrugged. "I don't know."

"I'll let you have some privacy," Davey promised. "I'm going to go talk to your brothers."

"They're not my brothers," Jack replied, almost on instinct. All his life he'd thought himself not to get attached to other kids at foster homes. But for some reason he felt a strange closeness to the two boys.

"Okay. I'm sorry."

Davey quickly left the room and Jack tried moving to chase after him.

"Stay lying down," the doctor instructed. "Can you tell me how the pain is?"

"It's not that bad."

"On a scale from one to ten. One being little pain, ten-"

"I know the deal," Jack interrupted. "I guess it's like a five."

"You guess?"

"I don't know. It's sore but I've had worse. More annoying than anything else."

"Alright. Is there anywhere where the pain is the worst?"

"My ribs," Jack mumbled. "My head hurts pretty bad too."

"You're ribs are cracked so that's to be expected and you have a gash on your head, I wouldn't be surprised if you hit it."

"That's it? When can I get out of here?"

The doctor sighed. "We want to keep an eye on your head, just to make sure it doesn't progress to anything more complicated, you're booked in for a scan to make sure there isn't any damage. Same with your foot, your fibula was snapped here-" She held up an x-ray to the lit up box and pointed to it. "-we had to do a surgery to set it in the right place to heal. Once we know there wasn't any complications you'll get to go home."

"How long do I gotta stay here?" he asked.

"Depends, a few days most likely. All going well, you could be out tomorrow afternoon."

"Great. That's good," Jack mumbled to himself. "What's wrong with my arm?"

"Ah, it was dislocated so we have it held there for while it heals. I'll explain everything to your guardian on how to look after it." The doctor pulled up one of the chairs to beside Jack's bed and sat down. "Jack, I want to have a little talk with you. Nothing bad. Just about some of the injuries."

"It wasn't Miss Medda who did it," Jack said quickly.

"I wasn't going to ask that. Has Miss Larkin ever hurt you before, Jack?"

"No. She'd never. Why would you think that?" Jack asked. He knew he hadn't been with Medda long but she seemed too nice to ever. But all foster parents always seemed too nice at first.

"You seemed very quick to tell me," the doctor pointed out. "Why is that?"

"I dunno, I've been in crap group homes for the past year and Miss Medda is nice. I don't wanna leave."

The doctor nodded. "I'm going to talk to Miss Larkin and explain what she'll need to do so we can ensure your leg heals correctly and no complication come from your shoulder.

"Would you like your boyfriend to come back in?"

"My boyfriend?" Jack raised his eyebrow, trying to rack his brain for who the doctor could think was his birthday.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I assumed the boy you were with was your boyfriend."

"He's- we're-" Jack stopped and sighed. "He's my best friend but I kissed him a few days ago but we haven't talked until now."

"Do you really like him?"

Jack nodded.

"Then talk to him. That's the most important thing. It's not worth losing your best friend over a kiss."

"Thanks," he said as the doctor left and Jack was left alone.

Honestly, he was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. Being hurt was as tiring as ever. Being hurt was always tiring. Maybe Jack could just try not get hurt but that never lasted long.

"Hi." Just as Jack was closing his eyes, Crutchie appeared and disrupted him. He crossed the room and sat by the bed, in the chair the doctor had been in moments before.

"Hey," Jack answered moments later.

"How are you feeling?"

Jack shrugged slightly. "Tired. It ain't all that great being hurt."

Crutchie rested his crutch against the wall and rested his hand on Jack's arm. "Sleep," he instructed, running a hand along Jack's arm to try and help him relax.

"No, I don't want to sleep while you're here. It's rude."

"Jack, I'm here to make sure you know you aren't alone. Now please sleep. The sooner you sleep the sooner you go home."

"With you?"

Crutchie smiled and nodded. "With me and Mama and Toni. You'll go home with your family."

Jack's eyes drifted shut and he felt himself falling asleep. "What 'bout my dad?" he asked.

"Your dad?"

"Yeah. Haven't talked to him in ages."

"You can talk to your dad later. Just sleep now."

Crutchie kissed Jack's forehead as Jack fell asleep, enjoying the closeness of Crutchie beside him. Meanwhile, Crutchie tried to make sense of that new information.

~~~
1234 words
That's quite an aesthetically pleasing word count