NEWSIES: The Ultimate Modern AU

How Les Lied

Davey walked through his front door and wiped his feet on the door mat, small specs of dirt speckling the floor. He put his shoulder bag neatly at the door where his mother had an organised assembly of shoes, keys, coats and bags in IKEA storage.

He walked down the hallway that creaked under his socks, Les sat at the dinner table doing his homework. He scratched his forehead with confusion. Cooking at the stove, his mother spun a wooden spoon in a large pot, filling the home with an aroma of sweet vegetables and chicken stock. The father of the household was at the couch, reading a newspaper. "Dad, no one reads those anymore." Davey sighed at him.
"Son, you can never get rid of the paper. No matter what they say, the paper will always be apart of us. It tells us all."
"So does twitter?"
"Nonsense! Does twitter tell you about the dog who was lost for a week and then found at the old families home? No. It does not. All 'tweeter' does  is remind you of the orange man we call a president. The paper is the only escape."

Davey simply shrugged and moved on, sitting at the table himself. He knew there was no point with his father, he was an old fashioned man. While he moved up with society, he still kept his old values.

Les let out a huff and pushed his school book away from him, resting his eye sockets in the palm of his hand and taking deep breaths. Davey looked up and took a glimpse at the book. English.
"Hey what you got there, Les?"
"Some stupid thing. I don't even know! It's something about adnoun?"
"Adverb? Or a noun?"
"Both? I think? I don't know. And-" Les looked towards his mother and then hid his mouth behind his hand, whispering the next part to his big brother, "I'm scared I'm going to fail. Mom won't be happy and you know what dad will do-"
"Hey it's ok. I'm here to help you get through this ok?"

Davey moved to the chair next to his little brother, who seemed to be calming down but was will looking overwhelmed with work. Davey explained the things multiple times until Les had gotten the hang of it, using different examples to teach his brother. Soon Les was filing the homework with ease and Davey smiled to himself.

By the time Les finished, so had their mother. The boys looked at each other when they heard the sound of a metal latal scraping the bottom of an iron pot, dinner was ready. Their mother was a wonderful cook, she was always trying new things. Spices, creams, herbs. It was always a wonderful meal. She placed four steaming bowls of Chicken Soup on the table in front of the boys and Les practically threw his books away and they almost crashed to the floor, paper flying in every direction.

"Careful darling!" Their mother warned in her light British accent.
They all sat at the table, blowing on the spoons before finally putting the steaming soup in their mouth; besides their father who shoved the purée straight into his gob without hesitation. He was red in the face and the only reason he wasn't in agony from the steamy soup, Davey thought, was because he had done it so often that his tongue was permanently numb. "How was school?" Their mother prompted.
"It was good." Davey began. "Professor Galeway submitted my text to the headmaster, claiming he wanted to see 'how far it could go'. Won't lie, I'm a bit worried considering I don't think it's that good-"
"Oh hush child I'm sure it's fantastic!" His father snapped, full of pride.
His mother smiled warmly at him, "You make us proud that's for sure." She reached out and touched his face softly. "Our David. How about you Les, how is everything going for you?"

Les almost froze, the spoon half way to his mouth. "It's going... err..." he started to form a sentence, "Fine. It's really great I'm doing well. Especially in English!"
"That's great, Honey!" His mother squeezed his shoulder
Davey made eye contact with Les from across the table and gave a weak smile. He was trying, and although yes he had lied, perhaps it was for the best.