Oh this is going to be so much fun. I can't wait :))))

Sorry for the hiatus. Summer camp happened.

Anyway.

Enjoy! :)

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Race looks around, confused why the whole gang is here. He looks up at Ray who is holding on to him gently, furrowing his eyebrows, very confused. He's more confused by how big Jack's nostrils are flaring. "Am I...missing something...?"

"You were," Jack quips back instantly.

Race tilts his head. "Uh, no, I've been here the whole time."

"Define 'here', honey," Ray prompts him gently.

"We've been...around." It dawns on him. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh," Jack responds snarkily.

"Can't ya cool it, Jack?" Race retorts. "We were fine. Are fine. We've just been 'round the city, that's all."

"Yeah, Jack," Spot cuts in, blue eyes extra icy. "We're fine. There's no problem here."

"Why weren't you checking in?" Ray asks. "We got a little worried."

Instead of answering like a normal person, Race averts his eyes and sways with his feet rooted, hands fidgeting. "I don't know, we just..." he tries looking up at Ray but can't bear the thought of making Ray worried and/or disappointed, so he averts his gaze again. "I dunno, we were...we were just..." He glances at Spot for help and/or words.

"We just got wrapped up," Spot says steadily, maintaining eye contact with Ray before glancing at Race supportingly. "The world just kinda disappeared."

Race blinks gratefully. He swallows down a lump in his throat, swallowing down the disappointment in himself for not being able to get the words out himself.

Stargazer sighs. "Look, I know young love makes it seem like there's no one else in the world. But you gotta remember there's more, okay?"

"But we were out there finding more," Race counters. "We were-we were finding people for Fabrizio-"

"You guys were only doing this for Fabrizio?" Stargazer interrupts. "For the old folks?"

"Yyyyyes..." Race looks at him uncertainly. "What else would we...?"

Ray squeezes his shoulder. "It's time we sit down and have a chat about what our 'patron saint' came to tell Stargazer and I a few nights ago. Pretty soon you're going to figure out what has everyone huffing and puffing over you."

Race's stomach grumbles. He looks down at his stomach, then up at Jack, apologies for several things in his eyes. "Any chance we can do it over food?"

Jack closes his eyes and nods.

And so they all walk into Moretti's to eat some of the best food in town.

"So what have you been up to?" Ray asks curiously after they get settled, and they all get hugs from Moretti.

So Race dives in to the tale-after he dives into his pane, that is.

"First, we, met up with this lovely couple who owned a bakery," Race begins. "Mircea and Tomo. We loved them. And their food."

"Emphasis on the food," Spot jokes, huge smile on his face.

"And then we went to meet a prostitute-" Race starts back up again. The whole table explodes. Mush and Blink look at each other, eyebrows raised, laughing. Crutchy shakes his head and muses, "never woulda seen that coming." "You WHAT-" Jack looks like he's about to explode. David is sipping water, pretending he's somewhere else and he didn't hear his brother-in-law say that. He starts apologizing to nearby tables who unfortunately seem to have heard all that. Stargazer is trying and failing not to smile or laugh. Ray's eyebrows are raised, smile frozen on his face. He's very curious.

"Not like that," Spot interrupts, drawing out every syllable, each word a note lower than the last and more curt. Nooot liike that.

"Not like that," Race agrees, annoyed that this keeps happening. He plows on. "Her name is Alara. We helped her find her friend."

Race suddenly turns to Spot. "Hey Spot, you wanna tell this next bit? The garden?"

"Thought you'd never ask," Spot smiles and sits up a little

In all honesty, Race just wanted an excuse to eat again. But he enjoyes hearing the story from Spot's perspective.

"It was really special," Spot tells them. "I definitely want to go back."

"That sounds like fun!" Mush comments. He turns to Blink. "Don't you think we should join in, bring some excitgement to our lives?"

"Are you suggesting your life with me is boring?" Kid Blink exclaims.

"Honey, I would never." Mush puts his hand on top of Blink's. "However it would never hurt to have more company than just you."

"Hey!"

Race and David roll their eyes at the pair good naturedly as Crutchy and Jack complain, "ahh, go back home if you're gonna be like that!" "Alright, break it up, break it up!"

"What's your problem with love birds, Jack?" Ray teases.

"Aw c'mon, Ray," Jack protests. "Why are you teasing me when these two are being so gosh darn over the top?"

"Uh, Jack?" Crutchy says.

Jack turns to face Crutchy. "Yes?"

Crutchy motions to Jack's lap. Jack looks down; his hand is clasped with David's.

Ray chuckles.

"Crutchy!" Jack whines, shoving his shoulder lightly, good naturedly.

"Keep me out of this," is all David says, unable to hide the smile on his face.

"So," Stargazer begins, and the whole mood changes; they can tell it's about to get serious. "Let's talk about what we really came here to talk about, shall we?"

They all nod solemnly.

Race stands up. "I'll tell Moretti we need to use his back room."

The rest stand up too. Race stuffs as much bread as he can into his pockets, and walks up to Moretti.

They all follow the pair of Italians to the back of the restaurant to have their conversation where no prying ears or eyes can spy on them.

"So what's this really all about?" Spot asks as they sit down. "What got y'all so in a huff that you tore apart all of New York lookin' for us? What happened that got Jack to go more into a maternal panic than a mother who temporarily lost her young child in a crowd?"

"I didn't get that bad-" Jack mumbles, only for Mush, Kid Blink, and Crutchy to tell him "oh no, you did. You definitely did." He swats his hands at them, grumbling.

"You said you heard from Annie Kelly?" Race asks, remembering Stargazer said that there had been word from their 'Patron Saint,' which is what only the newsies called Annie Kelly.

It's still strange to him that she just showed up out of no where. She usually doesn't show up unless she absolutely has to.

Which is why Race is sure this is a grave matter.

"She came to visit us." Stargazer clasps his hands and sets them down on the table. "She told us that she's been seeing signs of Them again."

Race swallows. Spot's fist clenches.

"That's not all, though." Stargazer pauses, looking like he doesn't want to relay this next bit of information. "Word is is that Pulitzer is calling the shots again."

"But he can't!" Race exclaims. "Not unless they have a jailer under cover."

Stargazer looks at him solemnly. "Not like that."

He takes a deep breath. "Pulitzer has been released from jail."

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OOOOOOH DUN DUN DUHHHHH

So maybe this chapter is kinda a filler. I kinda have to ease back into it since I've been gone so long. And also because it's one of the last chapters before the action's going to pick up.

On that note, hiiiiiii everyone! I'm backkkk

I do kinda have a busy schedule so updates are going to be sporadic, but I promise I am coming back to work on this story.

Apparently "brother in law" has been a term since 1300, or at least the 14th-15th century.

Yeah, I don't really have anything else to say. I hope you enjoyed this short chapter! :)

Please, no homophobia/transphobia/acephobia, profanities directed at other wattpad users, hate etc in the comment section at all times.

Best,

~Your Beloved Author (who got goosebumps from the songs in K-Pop Demon Hunters)