Oh my gosh!! Here we are!! The final thing of this story! I can't believe it's here! These are the last words I'll write for this story! Anyway. Enjoy! :)

I'm listening to the Newsies soundtrack (mixed with other songs) right now haha.

It's under ten minutes to 1:00 am. If I can write this in that short of time is...questionable. Eh. We'll see what happens! :)

Since this is in fact 1:00 am writing, expect to see literally anything in here.

We've come so far since the beginning. Honestly, I feel like I've undergone character development just by writing this story haha. It's just that with this story I poured my heart and soul into it. True, I wrote it in such a short amount of time. But that doesn't mean that I haven't gotten really attached to it.

I started writing this story July 26th, 2021. On August 2nd, I posted the first few chapters. Now, early August 29th, I post the last few chapters. And a little around a year ago, a little idea went off in my head that became this story.

As of right now, with 55 published parts, this story has... 1.3k reads, 127 votes, and 748 comments.

I was not expecting that when I was decided I would write this story. Even when I first started posting chapters. My starting goal for each story I post on Wattpad is: ten reads, ten votes, ten comments. I've surpassed those goals so much I broke through the atmosphere and went past Pluto. Honestly, what did I do to deserve this?

Remember when I said I liked how it ended on Chapter 55? Well, this story is 59 parts. True, 60 sounds a tad bit better. But I like 5. And I like 9. And 5 foot 9 inches tall is me, Stargazer, Max Casella, David Moscow, and many more amazing people. So, I'm happy with it! :)

Honestly, this story is more a reflection of me than I thought it was going to be. Yes, I projected on to Race a lot. I gave him my neurodivergence, made him queer (but I think we all accept that as canon haha), and touched up A LOT on his Italian ancestry. (Once again, his prosopagnosia is not mine). Like me, he just knew that he was different growing up. No one told me that it was possible I might have ADHD or autism. In Race's times, these words didn't exist. We both have had to navigate the world in a world that doesn't understand how we think. But while I had the resources to learn about these things and educate myself, Race did not. He just had to rely on people around him to treat him in the way he needed. 

Writing about things that come straight from my mind (which is not straight haha) has been really scary. I had no clue how you all would react to all of it. In a sense, Race was kind of my shield. See how you all like him. Good thing is, so far, I've only heard good things about your opinions on him. You have no idea how much this means to me. It means, if you love the way his mind works...you love the way my mind works. And honestly, the indirect acceptance is really, really validating.

I encourage you to watch Newsies (preferably 92sies, but Livesies works I guess) and watch Racetrack intently. See if you can find all the places that made it easy to headcanon Race as neurodivergent. When he says something or does something, think, Was this influenced by Race's neurodivergence? or How would this be different if he was nuerodivergent? See how the other characters interact with him or react to what he says. Maybe then you'll see the strike that I wrote here. And while you're at it, watch the other characters too. Do they say something? Or do something that looks like a stim? What other characters aside from our beloved Racetrack could possibly be neurodivergent? (I'll give you an answer: as many characters as there are that we headcanon as queer).

So once again, thanks for accepting neurodivergent/autistic/ADHD Racetrack Higgins, and your author alongside with him.

I put so much effort into all the little details in these stories, you have no idea.

In this story, there are three major themes, mostly revolving around Race: I'll always look out for you, I'll always care for you, and I will always be there for you. I think I say them (at least along those lines) many, many times throughout this book. All three were potential title choices. And as you can see, I'll Always Look Out For You won out. Because even though caring for you is nice, you don't always need someone there to care for you. It was letting go of I Will Always Be There For You as a potential title that was hard. I even had two cover designs--one for it it had that title, or the one you see now. Believe me when I say that I am the worst at making decisions. I spent literal days agonizing over it. And, for many reasons that I won't get into, I chose I'll Always Look Out For You. It's very briefly explained by Spot at the end of Chapter 55 why I chose it. But here's one of the things: it's always nice to know that even if someone can't be there physically, or doesn't always fully understand what you're going through, they still will look out for you.

Now, let's talk about some other aspects of Race.

Let's start off with Race having developmental prosopagnosia. I honestly don't know why I wanted him to have it. There are just some things that my mind decides as a Fact for a story that I write, and that was one of them. I kinda went with it. When I first got the idea, that was when I was fascinated by pareidolia, and what was pretty much its exact opposite--prosopagnosia. I did research on it. And suddenly, with the more I wrote, it was as much a part of his identity as the neurodivergence I gave him. I think one of the reasons why I wanted him to have prosopagnosia is because it's not a common thing to talk about. And I wanted to spread awareness of it. Because there are people out there who have an actual condition where they can't recognize faces the way others can. If you have prosopagnosia, or are really close to someone who does, please tell me what your thoughts are. I hope I did prosopagnosia justice.

I think everyone knew when they were walking into a Sprace fanfic that they were getting a very queer Race. Honestly, I don't know if Race is flat-out gay or fits under the umbrella term of bi. But he's definitely asexual. I just couldn't picture him being allosexual. Even though autism and asexuality and/or aromanticism don't always go hand in hand, they can definitely influence each other. Being asexual is something I understand, and know from personal experience. And people still invalidate all aspec people. And that's not right. I wanted Race to show how I feel about relationships and stuff. Now, moving on from being asexual. I'm glad that Race had so many healthy gay couples around him. He didn't have to go through that much struggle with his identity in that sense.

Honestly, I put most of the queer struggle into Jack. Blink and Mush had it figured out. Stargazer and Ray had it figured out. But Jack had internalized homophobia and just wanted to know what was going on with him. I think everyone can relate to that in some way. Especially all of us who identify as bi/pan/etc. Jack is the epitome of being a bi disaster, which I heavily relate to. I needed someone to go through the confusion, and then the euphoria of finding out that you are valid.

I don't know if the real Racetrack Higgins was Italian. I know that it's a widely accepted headcanon. In one version of the original 92sies script, they described Racetrack as an Italian beanpole. According to the internet, Max Casella is of Italian descent. Just like I am. I really needed Race to want to connect to a culture that he never learned. I needed him to have people he could look up to to teach him about Italy. And ultimately, he needed his grandparents. I'm so glad that Race has his grandparents. In my family, with time, and the late 1800's-early 1900's not being the best time for Italian immigrants, the language and culture and beautiful names faded away. My great-grandfather's family came to America from Sicily in the late 1890's. Around 1898, my great-grandfather was born--in New York City. I like to think that there was a chance that Race could have met my family back then.

Another important thing is how people react to Race. Because they all know that he's different. So how do they try to handle him? How do they talk to him compared to how they would talk to any other person? The good thing about his newsie family is that they were able to recognize quickly that his mind works differently, and don't try to force him too hard to be normal. But what came along with that, though, was treating him like a little kid longer than he probably should have been. In my experience, that happens. Another thing to consider is how do they feel to be obligated to spend time with Race and his crazy mind? Do they like it? Or are they annoyed by it? There's also about how his friends treat him. The adults. People who just met him who don't know his story. When you can find that person in your life like Spot who knows that your mind works differently than theirs but they love how your mind works and want to follow your thoughts forever, that can mean the world. I know from personal experience. When I apologize to my neurotypical friends for the mess my mind and I are, and they say don't apologize for it, and that they like it, that's one of the most amazing things ever.

I think that the Real Racetrack Higgins was really, really cool. I did as much research on him as I could. And I still don't feel like I've learned everything about him. I tried to incorporate all that I knew about him: his birthday was around November of 1883. His real name was Ed (short for Edward--which I used as his middle name). He actually never lived in Manhattan; he lived in Brooklyn with his grandparents--which would have happened, if I didn't mess up his life haha. During the strike, he actually tried to hire a band for the rally and what I wrote in that chapter is exactly (or as close as I could get to) what happened. He spoke at the rally. He told the newsies not to sell them out to the Journal or the World. They all looked up to him. Why we never talk more about him as a historical figure, I'll never know.

Honestly, I wonder what the real Racetrack Higgins would think if he came back and learned that there is a whole fandom about him haha.

It's 2:15 am and I don't know when I'll be done writing this.

I'm so glad that you all loved Stargazer and Ray. I loved them ever since I first came up with their characters. I loved that I was able to give them the happy ending they deserve, and that they got to be the perfect role models for Spot and Race to look up to. Out of all my original characters in fanfiction, they are by far two of my favorites.

(The official ship name for Ray and Stargazer is now officially Starray)

Alright, now for more analyzing the overall thingy.

My favorite chapters to write (in chronological order) were: Prologue; First Word; Carrying A Banner; Now A Newsie; Unfamiliar Familiars; Brooklyn; Significance And Euphoria; Strike!; King Of New York; Race's Rally; Once And For All; Triumph; Only Us; Perfect Together; Truths To The Light, Ray; All Is Found; Stargazer; Returning Home; Christmas; New Year, New Beginnings; and Epilogue. That doesn't mean I didn't like other chapters. I loved writing this whole thing. It's just that it was those chapters that I loved a lot.

What prompted this idea, you might ask? Let me tell you this story's...origin story. So last year in the first lockdown 2020, I read A LOT of Newsies fanfiction. And I started having ideas for my own. One of my ideas was, what if Race was raised at the lodging house? That Jack, Blink, Mush, and Crutchy were young kids, and suddenly now they have eighteen month old Race as an adopted brother? The idea grew from there. Ray and Stargazer, leaders of Manhattan and Brooklyn, came next. With Stargazer came the whole idea of Them too. Then I made Race more like me by making him neurodivergent. And it just kept growing and growing from there, but just in the notes app on my phone. I had no clue how much or how little of the story I had planned out until I actually started writing. And now I actually started writing. And now I actually finished writing.

Are there things I would change? Of course. Will I? Who knows.

I probably won't edit this page after the day I post it, though. So, a lot of checks beforehand is what's called for.

I made some chapters reaaaally long. My bad, haha. 

This is getting long too...

I think I covered everything.

I think my cat just hiccupped. I love my fluffy emotional support midnight writing buddy haha.

I DID revise this before publishing. A couple times.

Wow. If you're still reading, that means I didn't bore you. Or now you're pleased that you see the end coming up.

Now, I have three published Newsies stories: Coma; This Ain't Just Newsies No More; and now I'll Always Look Out For You.

You all have no idea how much this story means to me.

I think another one of the big driving factors for me to write this story is to get you all to think. To help you see from another perspective. I know that plenty of people will come here who can identify by some of these "I" perspectives, while others probably have never had any reason to know about them. I wanted to help you learn about many things—about history, culture, trivia, and these "I" perspectives. I hope that you had something big to take away from the story.

This is NOT the last you've heard from me!! I WILL write more Newsies fanfiction in the future! All of them will have Sprace, Javid, and Blush. All of them are vastly different concepts. I keep doing this. I have no pattern. I hope you'll read them when I post them in some unknown future! :)

Thank you all so much for reading this last page right here. Thanks for reading this story of mine. I played with so many themes that I wasn't entirely sure would be accepted easily, but turns out, they were. That's because of you. Thank you all <3

Thank you to Stage and TheWritingShows. (I can't figure out how to tag). You have shown your support for this story time and time again through voting, commenting, and Stage even told her followers about it. It is all very much appreciated <3

So I think the last thing I have to say is...what do you think of this story?

(Edit: I am writing this a year after I published this chapter. Let me just say ... it's been a year, but this story still means so much to me. I've written nine Newsies stories now, and I keep coming back to this one. Last year ... I was going through a lot, and was entirely undiagnosed. Now I am in the process of official diagnoses, and I know more about autism and ADHD and how my brain works than I did last year. There are just some details here that I can't bring myself to change/revise, because it was my truth last year, and I can't take that away from this story. If you are reading this edit right now, that means you're reading this author's note a year after I first published it. Thank you so much. This story has a very special place in my heart. And it always will.)

(Edit: hey y'all can't believe it's been two years since I finished writing this story. I don't have favorites, but this one story has stayed very close to my heart. I'm still making bad decisions of staying up late even though I have school tomorrow (I just wanted to read this around the time I published it two years ago haha), so I see that some things never change. Still, if you are here, two years after I published this, I love you. So much. And I hope you enjoyed this story, and that you have a wonderful day/night <3)

This is it. This is the closing.

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Love you all <3

Please, no homophobia, profanities, hate etc in the comment section at all times.

Best,

~Your Beloved Author (who thanks you all so much for reading this story and hopes you all loved it very very much)