After the Strike (Newsies X Reader)

ELEVEN

"Y/N. Y/N," Beth poked her sister in attempt to wake her up. Y/N quickly sat up and anxiously asked, "What's wrong?" "Y/N I can't sleep. I'm scared."

"Aw, I'm sorry, love. Do you want to talk about it?" she whispered. "Y-yeah...I miss mom. And I had a dream and you and Sue died too, and I was by myself and-," she little girl stopped to wipe her runny nose on her sleeve. "Oh, that's terrible," Y/N said, pulling her sister closer, tears pricking her eyes.

After cuddling her little sister, Y/N managed to get her to fall back asleep. But now she was up, and feeling too sad to go back to sleep. Feeling adventurous, she wandered silently around the black room, trying to find something to do. Eventually, she climbed out of the window at the end of the room onto the fire escape and climbed up to the roof.

"Jack?" she asked, inspecting the shadowy figure at the other side of the roof. Jack turned around and asked, "Hey kid, whatcha doin' up so late?" Y/N made her way over to him and miserably smiled. "I don't know, I guess I just can't sleep..." She leaned against the railing, breathing in the beautiful sight of the city at night.

"Beautiful, ain't it? I call this rooftop my 'penthouse' because with this view and this ceiling of stars, it's worth a lot more than one of them thousand dollar mansions." Y/N nodded in agreement, pulling the jacket she wore tighter around herself to warm up. Yet, for being late fall, the air was warm and a little humid that night. Her tired legs ached, so she sat down on the ground, staring up at the stars.

The soft wind whistled by, and Y/N shifted around to be more comfortable. Over time, the celestial dome over her, the warm lights from below, and the temperate, fresh air were soothing, lulling the girl into a sense of peace. She looked around to see Jack finally asleep a few feet away and suddenly felt very tired herself. Though the floor of the rooftop wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, she fell asleep quickly, enjoying the tranquility.

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"Mush, Albert, Specs-" Y/N woke up to Jack yelling at the boys to wake up. She quickly jumped up and blinked her eyes a few time as they adjusted to the light. She ran over to Jack, who just finished buttoning his shirt and was starting to climb down the ladder. "Hey Jack, can I come with you guys today?"

"You can do whateve' ya want, kid. So sure," he responded. He continued down the ladder when suddenly he froze and looked back up at Y/N, with a look full of confusion and amusement. "Are you wearing Davey's jacket?" Y/N's face heated up, and she stuttered out, "Uh, y-yeah."

Jack smirked and continued down the ladder. "Wait, Jack, no, he just gave it to me! Nothing happened, we're just friends!" He snickered and patted her on the back once she reached the ground. "Sure, sure." Y/N rolled her eyes before climbing through the window and sitting on her bunk.

"Hey you two, time to get up," she said, gently shaking them and wondering how she had ever slept through the chaos that was overtaking the lodging house now. Boys shouting, running, fighting, and stampeding through the room.

Y/N swiftly slipped coats on the two half-asleep little girls and herself, which proved to be quite difficult with only one good arm. She grabbed Sue's hand, who grabbed Beth's hand, and they joined the crowd of newsies as they flooded out into the street.

She let her little sisters go when they spotted Specs, who smiled cheerfully when the two little girls ran to him. Happy, she was too distracted to notice that someone shoved Race, resulting in him bumping into her. They both fell to the ground, first sitting in shock for a few seconds before they broke out laughing.

"How ya doin' this mornin', Miss Y/N?" Race asked as he helped her up. She brushed the dirt off of her skirt and grinned at him. "Well, you called me "Miss" so I'm flattered." "Just don't let it get to yer head." He winked at her mischievously and ran off. Y/N laughed when he whacked Jojo, the boy that shoved him before, on the back of his head playfully.

"G'mornin' Y/N," a voice said beside. She turned around and smiled warmly at him. "Hi, Crutchie!"

"Youse joinin' us today'?" She shrugged and replied, "If I can keep up." "I gotta warn you, I'm pretty fast with this new crutch," he said, laughing. He slung his arm over her shoulder, and the two walked at the back of the group, chatting away.

Suddenly, a voice greeted everybody and a chorus of, "Hi Davey," responded. Y/N's head snapped up, and she saw the two Jacobs brothers join the rowdy crowd. She felt the jacket she had slung over her arm and turned to Crutchie. "I'm sorry, but I have to go talk to Davey real quick." "Nah, no problem, just say hi to your sweetheart for me," he said chuckling.

Y/N turned around to look at him and sighed. "What did Jack tell you?" He looked at her innocently and shrugged. "He didn't say nothing. I just noticed that Davey stayed behind last night, and I saw that youse have his jacket." She shook her head and said, "Well, Davey and I are just friends, so don't get any big ideas," but made sure to turn away so her friend wouldn't see her blush.

"Davey!" she called out, running over to him. His face seemed to light up when he saw her, but Y/N thought it was just her imagination so she tried not to make a big deal out of it. "Here, I wanted to give you your jacket back," she handed it to him. "Oh, thanks." She awkwardly replied, "You know, I should just keep your jacket for how often you loan it to me," which was met with just as awkward laughter. The two stood in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments until Davey broke it by asking, "So, are you...how are you today?"

After that, they fell into conversation, talking easily. The pair walked together the whole way, both with ridiculously happy looks on their faces.

Y/N turned away from Davey for a second to look at the building they were approaching. Boys were clinging to the closed gates, staring up at a big blank chalk board. "Is that where they write the headline?"

"Yeah. I hope it's good today," Davey responded as pushed toward the front of the crowd. "Here it comes now!" some boy shouted. Everybody was silent as a man climbed up a ladder, picked up a piece of chalk, and wrote, "Arson in Bronx, Entire Block Destroyed." A cheer went through the crowd and Y/N smirked at her companion. "I guess that means it's a good headline."

The gates swung open, and all of the boys were teasing and bickering with whoever opened them. She looked over to see who they were all shouting at, and took a nervous step back. It was that boy she had met weeks ago, the one she could blame for her broken arm. Davey must have notice her nervousness, because he protectively put his hand on her shoulder and led them away from the Delancy brothers.

Jack took the spot at the start of the line, but Y/N and Davey weren't too far back. "50 papes, please," Davey asked as he placed his quarter on the counter. "Would you like me to-" Y/N cut him off by shaking her head and saying, "No, I'm fine."

Thankfully, Oscar wasn't handing out the papers that day. She felt the nickel she had in her pocket and placed it on the counter. "Ten papers, please." The older man behind the counter looked at her unimpressed. "A goil, huh? You're not the first, I guess," he grabbed her coin off of the counter. The boy, Morris, handed her ten papers and bag. She quickly slung the bag over her shoulder and put all of the papers into it.

Swinging her head around, she spotted her sisters and jogged over. "Come on, girls," she firmly said to them, who each clung to one of Specs' legs. "No!" they shouted back. Y/N sighed, and stepped forwards to order them to let go but Specs stopped her. "I can watch 'em, if you'd like. My selling spot is pretty safe." She looked up at him and was surprised about how much she trusted him. Hesitantly, she nodded her head. "If...if that's okay with you." He pushed his glasses up his nose and smiled. "Of course! Now, come on girls, I'm gonna teach you to be newsies," he said, plopping his hat on Sue's tiny head. Y/N chucked as she watched the poor boy lead the two girls out of the gate, with Beth gripping his hand and Sue on his back.

Running back over to Davey, she asked, "Can I tag along with you this morning? I have no idea how to sell papers." "Of course!" He led her out towards the gate, where boys were already running past them, whooping and yelling as the broke up. As they entered the busy streets, Davey held onto Y/N's shoulder and Les' hand to make sure he didn't lose them in the crowd of rushing people. "Here we go!"