one question remained in finch's mind constantly; "was crutchie really that oblivious?" surely finch thought he was being obvious about his feelings. yet crutchie was absolutely clueless.
the first time finch tried confessing the crutchie, he had sought advice from romeo. romeo was definitely they guy to go to first—the considerably most romantic newsie.
"you just have to tell him! be straight up about it," romeo suggested. the two were selling together that hazy summer day. finch had not stopped talking about crutchie and wanting to confess his feelings.
"just tell him? like that? no big gesture or anything?" finch furrowed his brows, turning his head to look over at romeo while waving a paper around.
"yeah! it's crutchie for crying out loud," romeo snorted.
"what's that supposed to mean?"
"you know how nice and simplistic he is!" he explained. "it'll go great trust me. i think everyone knows how into you he is."
"you think so?" finch asked after selling his last paper.
romeo chuckled, "i know so, finch."
"how would i even bring the subject up?" finch met at romeo's side and they began walking to the lodging house.
"just pull him away from the crowd i guess. take him somewhere no one can hear you and just do it!" romeo nudged his shoulder.
"yeah, much easier said than done," finch scoffed.
they arrived at the lodging house and everyone was gathered in the common room chatting loudly about their day. specs was quick to jump on romeo once they entered. which left finch alone.
"finch!" race greeted, looking up from the redhead that layed on his lap. "you sell everythin'?"
finch nodded, "even got a little extra cash." he waved around his earnings. "have you seen crutchie?"
race cocked a brow. "last saw him with jack when they walked in. why?"
finch shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets. "just want to see him, that's all."
"you're gonna tell him?" albert joined the conversation. "it's about time. we all could see you two pinning non stop." they finished off before placing their cap over their face in attempt to cover up the light so they could fall asleep.
"way to be blunt," finch deadpanned.
"so you are?" race said a little louder than he should have.
"....yeah. but keep it down would ya?" finch whispered.
race winked. "speaking of..." finch turned to see crutchie limping into the common room. finch shot a nervous look at race—who responded by waving his hands in a way that told him to "go"—before walking over to crutchie.
"finchie!" crutchie beamed when finch approached him. "how'd ya do?"
"sold pretty well and smuggled some extra cash," finch boasted. finch lead the way to a sofa that was away from the big group of boys and they sat down.
"i sold all of mine too!" crutchie smiled.
"of course you did. who wouldn't want to buy a pape from that cute face of yours?" realizing what he said, his face went bright red. he cleared his throat, "i should tell you something though..."
crutchie's smile fell and was replaced by a concerned frown. "is everything okay?"
"yeah! yeah...just um...crutchie," finch looked down at his hands, "i like you..." he looked back at crutchie, now with a huge grin on his face.
