I don't need this | Javid Oneshots

Sexuality AU: Part 1

In a world in which your sexuality is revealed by a pride flag on your chest when you turn 18

(original idea by very_gay_nugget on Tik Tok)

***

Davey hadn't expected much out of his life. He expected to get a good education, find a wife to settle down with after getting a well-paying job and have a kid or two, depending on what his wife wanted. He never thought anything would change enough to derail him from this plan that he'd had laid out for him since practically his birth.

However, the first thing to go was his education. Not entirely, just as long as it took his dad's arm to heal. He'd come back recently from the hospital only to find out that, without a functioning arm, he'd been fired from his job.
This left Davey as the working man of the house, who had to now find a job with Les.
Becoming a Newspaper boy seemed to be the safest job that two kids of their age could find. With Les at age ten and Davey at seventeen, not many other occupations were open to both ages.
And that's where the second thing to go came in. Except it wasn't one thing, it was slowly everything.

Jack Kelly.
The boy who'd taken Davey and Les under his wing and over the course of the next few weeks would lead a strike with the boy of whom had never imagined his life could become so exotic.
But Jack made it exotic.
He showed Davey that life could be fun.
And Davey who taught Jack that life could also be coordinated.

They bounced well off each other, they could talk easily for hours on end, got along fine, disagreeing constantly but never ending their arguments unkindly.

If Davey could choose anyone to spend his free time with, it would always be Jack.

The only issue was the feelings that Jack gave him.
Davey wasn't exactly sure how to identify them...or, rather, he wasn't exactly sure he wanted to.
Every time he saw Jack, his heart skipped a beat and a smile graced his features.
From if their hands brushed when they were passing papers to each other or when they just spent the night up on the roof of the lodging house sometimes, Davey felt special.
But he knew he shouldn't.
He knew he shouldn't allowed whatever this feeling towards Jack grow because he'd seen the other boy's chest, where his head lay, and the rectangle he bore on his skin printed with blue purple and pink.
He couldn't lead on a boy that had the potential of liking him. It would be cruel. Especially when Davey knew he had to receive a black and white flag. He had to. It was in his plan. To lead a normal life...nobody would hire him if his flag showed anything else.
So, he couldn't fall for Jack or else he might lose his chance at a normal life...and he didn't want that.
He wanted a normal life, a good life.
One where he and Jack...they could be friends.

Davey found it hard to keep his emotions at bay as he leaned against the wall that faced the the moon atop the lodging house roof, Jack there beside him.

Jack sighed, "Dave...you think I'm smart?"

Davey was caught off guard by the question, "Yeah...why?"

"I dunno', it's just...you've got yourself this fancy education and I've only got the streets to teach me which way is up and down."

"Books aren't the only source of knowledge, Jacky." Davey murmured.

"Yeah? Then what makes me smart if I don't got books." Jack chuckled.

"You're a leader...you know how to get people on your side because you know what they want to hear. Emotions, Jack, you can read them clear as day and you know how to respond to others when they're feeling those emotions. That's smart. And- you can find a good headline quicker than any of us. You know how to use what you've got your advantage. That's pretty smart if you ask me."