Newsies One Shots

Just....Second Best

March 1898

Feister Johnson, a girl you don't want to get in hot water with. Granted, she hasn't actually soaked anybody. Just playful fights with the boys, maybe a couple of strong right hooks to the Delancey brothers, and any other thug, bummer, or no good that might come her way. But, those are stories for another time. Right now, it's about a side of Feister that's....shall we say...complicated. You see, long story short, Feister has your typical, tragic love story. A crush on her best friend, who only sees her as a little sister, and is too busy going after other girls to even notice her. Now, this is where the tables start to turn a bit. Usually, it's the protective brother who's watching out for his sister in the world of romance, right? Well, this time, it's the other way around. Feister is the one who's looking out for her brothers since they're too blinded by love to even notice a rotten apple when they see one. And, while usually Feister keeps her mouth shut when cupid has shot an arrow. When she sees a girl that's not right for one of her boys, then you better believe she will throw some words.

Which brings us too now.

It was the usual night in the bunk room. The boys were relaxing after a long days work by playing poker. Now, newsies are a lot of things, but when it comes to betting their money, that's something they're all careful with. So the winnings for poker were different trinkets the boys have found on the street that have no worth, they just liked them, along with a couple of coins for those who were more daring. Feister wasn't the biggest fan of poker. No matter how many times the boys would teach her, she could never get all the different hands to stay in her mind. Instead she was perched on her bunk bed, playing solitaire, while dreading the moment she had to meet Mush's latest girlfriend, Genevieve. Now, there are millions of reasons why Feister is dreading this moment. But the main one is because all of Mush's past relationships or girls he liked, but never made it official with, were always fake. At first, they were all sweet and innocent, but as soon as Mush stepped aside for one second, they'd turn on Feister. And only Feister.

While Feister is a tough girl, it still bothered her to a certain extent. The long awaited, dreaded moment soon came when Feister heard Romeo say, "Lookie what the cat dragged in." Feister looked to the entryway of the bunk room along with the other boys. She saw Mush with a brown haired, brown eyed girl with rosy cheeks. She was wearing a fawn colored dress with a white apron with pink roses on it. Her brown locks were halfway up, and tied with a pink ribbon. She looked shyly around the bunk room full of boys and then at Mush, who whispered something in her ear, which made her smile.

Mush introduced Genevieve to the boys, who were all eager to meet her. There were a few jokes and teasing here and there. Romeo of course, tried to flirt with Genevieve, who only smiled at the younger boy before leaning up to whisper something to Mush. A smile appeared on his face as his eyes met Feister's and gestured for her to come down. Feister grumbled to herself as she put on a happy face and jumped down from the bunk bed with ease. As she made her way over to where Mush was when Albert called out, "Hey Feisty, don't scare this one away! She's bout as strong as a baby kitten!" some of the boys chuckled and started to add on to Albert's little comment.

"Aw shut up Al!" Mush snapped. "Feisty's bark is bigger than 'er bite!" Genevieve looked worriedly over at Mush, who gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Ya wanna put yer money where yer mouth is Meyers?!" Feister cockily asked as she marched right up to Mush and looked him dead in the eyes.

"Bring it on little goil," Mush replied as he put his fists up.

"Oh are you'se gonna get the soakin' of yer life for that!" Feister said as she too, raised her fists up. The two newsies started to go at it. Playfully of course. In the middle of all this, both their caps fell to the ground while they rough housed. But that was the least of the problem because Feister ended up getting Mush into a headlock. She rubbed his head with her knuckles. Causing Mush to shout his surrender. Feister let Mush go, and they both shared a few laughs.