Newsies oneshots

Tommy boy // the making friends storyline

Despite his appearance, Tommy Boy is shy. Very shy. He grew up in an orphanage and was bullied alot for being so quiet. Alittle habit he has is to keep his eyes on the ground and try to seem as small as possible.
At 15, he left the orphanage because he was scared of the beatings he was given every day by the older kids. On the street, he had barely any money and nowhere to sleep, until a man approached him, "You one of them newsies? I need a newspaper."
Tommy shook his head. But that wasn't a bad idea, he saw a few newsies on the street selling and one morning he followed them from afar to the world factory. When he saw all the newsies already there, he got a nervous feeling in his belly, he hated being around so many people, what if they try to speak to him or they make fun of him. He took a deep breath and went in, he kept his head down and stood in a corner until they all lined up to get a news paper. Tommy listened to all the smartmouthed comments made to Weasle and he was impressed by their confidence. When it was finally his turn to sell and he put down his 50 cent, "Look, its a new kid." Weasle said, Tommy shrunk back without saying a word he took his papers from Oscar, "If only you were all this quiet." Weasle looked at all the newsies. When Tommy looked up for a split second, alot of the newsies were starring at him and that nervous feeling came back. He put his head back down and walked away. That's when there was a tap on his shoulder, "Kid, your not gonna say hi- I'm Jack Kelly, what's your name?"
At this point, Tommy's fight or flight response kicked in and he went with flight, avoiding eye contact with Jack and walking away onto the street. But Jack followed him.
"Wait- if this is your first time selling you should probably get advise from the best no? I'll stick with you just for today and show you how it's done, ok?"
Tommy lifted up his eyes for a second before slightly nodding.
Jack smiled, "Come on."
They start walking together and Jack tells Tommy all the best places to sell, and best ways to get people to buy newspapers. Tommy kept his head down and didn't say a word. When Jack found a spot for Tommy to sell beside a library, he smiled at told Tommy, "Ok, you can sell here, I'm gonna go find somewhere else for me, but I'll be back to check on you ok-" He was giving Tommy the opportunity to give him his name, but Tommy didn't respond, Jack sighed and left.

When Jack came back, Tommy was sat on the pavement, his head on his knees. "Hey, how many did you sell?" Jack asked.
Tommy look up, by the way he just looked back down, Jack knew the answer was zero. Jack sighed and sat beside him, "You expect to make money by just looking at the ground? You need to find your voice."
Tommy bit his bottom lip, he took his hand and covered his face with the back of his hand and started softly wheeping, "I'm sorry, I can't..." He said so quietly Jack barely heard him.
"What was that?" Jack was happy he was atleast saying something,
"I can't, this ain't a job for me."
"Sure it is, hey, just you ain't speaking right now don't mean we can't work on it, what is it? Are you shy?"
Tommy never thought about that word before, "Everytime people are around or I have to speak, my whole body shuts down, my stomach hurts, my heart beats too quickly, I feel all dizzy."
"That's alright, just the nerves, but I'm sure this is a right job for you, and it's the safest, and you can make lots of friends. Plus, you have a natural charm to you, folks will love that, and will buy from you."
"You think so?" Tommy's face lit up.
"Sure I do. Come on, go up to that man over there and offer him a newspaper."
Tommy looked at the guy Jack was talking about, "What if he-"
"Shh- you won't get anywhere unless you try."
Tommy nervously fiddled with his hand, he wiped a tear and got up and went over to the man, "Morning sir, can I offer you the latest news?" Tommys stomach was in knot, he was trying so hard to not run away from the interaction. The young man smiled, "Actually, yes, that'd be wonderful." He took out his wallet and brought the paper.
When he sold the paper, Tommy's heart beat so fast but he was proud of himself, he smiled and ran back to Jack he was cheering him on, "Ay! You did it, this is the start, you'll get better as we go- now will you finally tell me your name?"
"Oh yes, my name is Thomas-"
"Huh, I'll change that, from now on your Tommy. Alright Tommy boy?"
Tommy smiled, "Alright Jack Kelly. They shook hands.