Newsies Oneshots 2.0

Understanding-Albert and Ike

"Would you ever do anything to..."

Albert could smell the question on the top of his tongue, like burnt food or rotted fruit. Ike was not the first person to ask this question, and he'd doubtedly would be the last, but the way he formed the question, open ended and unfinished, left Albert to provide him with sympathy rather than anger.

He knew people couldn't understand the reality of being comfortable with being different, especially when that difference isn't backed up with a universal understanding that it can't be changed. He'd spoken to Crutchie about this before, usually on nights he couldn't sleep or a stranger particularly pissed him off. The last time they'd talked, Albert had gone to the movies and an attendant refused to give him an ALD, leading to a long debate that ended with Albert missing half of the movie. It was easy to remember how hotheaded he felt in that moment, like his skin was sticking to his bones from the rage heating off of him, until he thought about living in a world where his difference was a disadvantage.

Crutchie had said that people who aren't disabled don't imagine a reality where it could happen, and if they do, they see it as a right being taken away. He described it as if the ability to speak, like the allowance of self-expression, were taken from Albert, leaving him limited in what he could say. Someone who's mute won't see a large difference in their daily life, but Albert would feel grief for a life he once had. People who aren't deaf feel that, and Albert found a bit of comfort in that idea.

The movie attendant was still a huge nuisance in Albert's imagination, because he was just unwilling to accommodate to Albert's experience for the sake of his own, but their conversation did leave Albert to understand people who don't know his life, just like Crutchie always smiled at little kids who asked him questions about his leg.

Albert sighed and shook his head, smiling with understanding. "No. I wouldn't. I like my ears."

Ike cleared his throat awkwardly, feeling out of place and too outspoken, as if he had a foot in his mouth and couldn't pull it out. He and Albert didn't talk as much as they should, but he considered him a friend. They both were aware that when it came down to it, they'd die for each other, no matter how painful. Still, the gap between their friendship was larger than Race and Albert's, of Ike and Davey's.

But he wanted to get to know him better. He knew Albert liked listening to The Killers, and his favorite color was blue because it matched Race's eyes. He also knew they were the same age, and Albert loved the idea of getting older. He said people were understood better when they were old, and he could say whatever he wanted at retirement age and people would just laugh him off. As someone who is equally as blunt, Ike thought that idea sounded pretty sweet, and laughed with him.

Ike also knew Albert was deaf in one ear and could barely hear from the other, and he wore a small blue hearing aid in his right ear, one that he never forgot to charge. At times, he's watched Albert take it out and lie down, as if the world had began to run faster than his brain that alongside it, and he needed a break from everyone. He always wanted to ask why, but it wasn't hard to understand: life is annoying sometimes.

So when Albert answered with that, that he liked his ears, it was enough for Ike to pull his brows together in confusion, not because he couldn't imagine enjoying being deaf, but because he wondered why Albert bothered with the aid at all. 

Albert was more than happy to provide an answer. "I wear it because I have to. I'd rather not, but most of the world doesn't sign, or understand, so like...I have to catch up somehow."

"That sucks", Ike expressed, and Albert only shrugged. "When did you learn to sign?"

"I took ASL classes in middle school." Albert remembered watching videos celebrating deaf people, and the sense of pride he felt when his teacher looked at him with patience rather than annoyance. She taught him new signs, and invited him to lunches with her daughter, who was also hard of hearing, and helped Albert in areas of his confidence and learning. Just her bothering to go the extra mile for him left a lasting impression, as if she printed herself on his soul like a tattoo on skin. Albert was probably the only person on earth who had an okay middle school experience, despite everything. "Jack was in some of them, actually. I don't know what it is with him and languages but the guy is going through them like Ash Ketchum."