A/N: So, oddly enough I actually needed to look up some prompts for this one. This one will probably be a mixture of funny and sad/serious because that's kinda what I'm feeling and I feel like making something that runs a bit deeper than some of my other things. Anyways, this is kind of a twist on a prompt (and maybe with some ideas for another sprinkled in there) just because I just needed a little nudge this year. :) Modern AU...hands down.

Davey Jacobs fears Christmas Eve every year since he's met the Newsies. 

He never knows what to expect and he's always slightly terrified when all twenty something of them show up (he lost count of how many of them there actually are a long time ago which doesn't ease his poor nerves. Who else is going to make sure that each and every one of those boys is safe under his watch and care?) on his apartment doorstep. 

He just wants a normal Christmas Eve where he can have a quiet night at home with his family. 

His siblings on the other hand couldn't be more excited. 

"David! Come on! Stop standing there looking like you're going to die of fright and fill this candy bowl. Everything's going to be just fine," his sister says, delivering a quick tap to his left shoulder as she goes by. Davey shifts his shoulders nervously and does as she asked. Les hurries around, pulling presents out of the room that he shares with Davey and slipping them under the tree. He and Davey nearly collide at one point. Davey yelps and runs off to his room to be alone. 

Oh how he wishes he could have snuck off to the library to see the cute assistant and chat with her. Tiger Lily always has some kind of a book to help him escape his problems or some kind of advice to help him solve them. 

He shuts off all the lights, closes the door and lets his eyes flutter shut as he flops down on his bed. Her face slips into his mind's eye and he can imagine her pretty little laugh as he becomes exasperated over some plot twist that he felt went poorly. 

He is almost completely captivated by his musings when the lights flick on. 

"What do you think you're doing?" the voice of his younger brother breaks him out of his dreams. 

"I'm....well just...thinking," he says, trying to think of some kind intelligent answer and coming up with literally none. 

You don't even know her that well, Jacobs. You shouldn't be this captivated with someone you hardly know. 

"Yeah, well, you should be done thinkin' and start helpin' or Sarah's gonna lose her mind. Mama too," Les says in a sassy tone before collecting some more presents and racing out of the room.

"What's the difference?" Davey mutters mostly to himself, "I'm pretty sure I've already lost mine." He rolls himself up out of bed and starts moving back towards the kitchen area. 

"Now remember," Les says quietly to Davey and eyeing Sarah as he says this, "Sarah says things have to be perfect since Jacky's  coming." His voice changes to a higher pitched one as he mentions Jack's name. 

"Les!" Sarah cries, setting the plate she was carrying down a little bit harder than necessary, "Someday you'll...." she starts to say to try to dissuade the boy from any more teasing. 

"Sarah and Jack sittin in a tree. KISSING!" Les starts to chant as he runs back to the boys' room to grab more presents. Sarah sighs and grabs her dish towel off her shoulder, clenching in between her hands. 

"What are we going to do with him?" Sarah asks Davey as she slings the towel back over her shoulder. Davey sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. 

"What else do we need to do?" he asks, trying to salvage any doubts he has before they take over his decision making abilities completely. 

"Well, the mistletoe still needs hung," Sarah says. Esther Jacobs enters the kitchen and she and Sarah share a playful look. 

"I wonder how many of your friends and their perspective girlfriends will need to kiss once they get here," Esther says to Davey playfully. 

"Ugh. Don't encourage, Race. Flavi would get so flustered," he starts to say but trails off as his mind wanders to what it would be like to kiss Tiger Lily. He shake his head, trying to pull himself back into reality. 

"Well, it's a Christmas tradition," Sarah explains as she and Esther continue their work in the kitchen, "So it needs hung up." 

Davey spends the next while standing on a small step stool and hanging mistletoe from the entry way light. He steps down and looks up at his handiwork. Shyly, he shuffles away from it and tries to make a beeline for it only to hear the sound of ribbon coming unfurled. 

"Les?" he calls out questioningly as he moves towards their room. 

"Finished!" Les calls out and he runs past Davey with the remainder of the presents in his arms. Davey pretends to calmly walk over to his bedroom door only to see it tied shut with...curling ribbon. "Ah ah ah!" Les' voice calls out. Davey jumps as though he'd been burned. He shuffles away and tries to find something else to do. 

Until the doorbell rings. 

Les goes running for the door and Davey sprints for the bathroom. He slams the door and locks it, hoping against hope that this had worked. 

Internally, he is very thankful that he can still outsmart his little brother. 

"GUYS!!!" he hears Les should enthusiastically, "You're here." He hears the voices of all of the different boys coming into his apartment. 

And all of the usual antics that seem to follow them. 

"Where's Davey?" he hears Jack asks. 

"He's in the bathroom," Sarah says casually, "I'm sure he'll be out in a minute." Davey smirks at Sarah trying so hard to be casual but he knows that deep down, she's panicking. 

The sight of Jack Kelly has his sister act a way he's never seen before. 

Outside of the bathroom door, everyone mingles in the kitchen and the living room area. 

Mush Myers tries to reach his hand into a candy bowl but Elley slaps it out. 

"I am not listening you to go on and on about your new gymnastics routine," she says, "Or your arm muscle workout." Mush smirks at her and leans his arm against the counter. 

"But without those..." he starts to reason but Elley walks away from him so that way he can't see the blush on her face that he knows is there. She moves to put her coat away and checks her phone. 

Standing right under the mistletoe. 

Mush looks away, feeling a blush creep up under his own cheeks at the sight. She was just doing that to mess with him, right?

"You see where she is?" the voice of Race whispers in his ear, causing him to jump. 

"Yeah yeah yeah. I don't see you takin Flavi under there," Mush retorts, turning to face his friend. Elley joins them again as his back is facing her. 

"I'm not sure I like where this conversation is goin. See what happens when I leave you alone for too long? You get into trouble," Elley says, nudging Mush out of her way before moving to see if any other help is needed. Race merely raises an eyebrow challengingly. 

"Oh I will...and she'll be happy I did," he says with a smirk before slipping back into the crowd, leaving Mush alone with his thoughts.

Sarah moves over to the sink to do some dishes from her baking earlier. She opens the window just above the sink to let some cool air into the apartment. 

"Well, ain't that perfect timing?" a voice asks. 

Sarah gasps and splashes the water in the bowl she had been filling to rinse out at the window. A gasp from the other side of the screen catches her attention and Elley, who had been moving over to see if there was anything she could help Sarah with, dies of laughter at the sight. 

A now very wet and cold Jack Kelly stands on the other side. 

"That's...what ya get for...." Elley tries to sass her brother but is giggling entirely too much to do so. Enough so that Mush comes over to see what the commotion is. His hands gently grab Elley's shoulders and get her to look at him, before sliding down her arms. She just continues to laugh and can't even get a word out. 

"Jack...I'm so sorry," Sarah gasps out, her hand flying to her mouth in disbelief. How had she completely soaked the boy she was trying to impress? Jack just laughs good naturedly. 

"Guess that's what I get for scarin someone so...prepared," he says easily. 

"I'm sure Davey has some dry clothes you could change into," she says, starting to search the room for Davey. "Davey?" she calls out only to realize that she can't find him. 

Davey on the other hand, is planning how to make his grand escape. To where? He doesn't know but he's going to make one. He peeks out the window of the bathroom, waiting for Jack to come back inside the apartment, which he does a moment later, desperately trying to stifle his shivers. His sister closes the window in front of her and he hears her voice fade back into the murmurs of the apartment. 

Davey stealthily opens the bathroom window and carefully climbs out onto the next landing of the fire escape. He hurries down it, wondering how Jack managed to sneak around on these things all the time and not get caught. 

Once he reaches the end, he lets himself dangle off the end of the ladder before dropping down, causing a low clatter. Now if only he could find somewhere to hide. 

He starts running trying to think of anywhere safe that he could go. 

"Needed some fresh air?" Flavi asks, breaking into his plotting before he could come up with anything legitimate. He jerks slightly at the sound of her voice, not expecting her to be out here with him. 

"Ummm yeah. I get you could say that," he starts. Suddenly, the window opens again and clatters of footsteps sound on the fire escape. Flavi and Davey both look up to see a group of boys standing on the fire escape. 

"I think we might want to start running," Flavi suggests and Davey agrees just as Racetrack Higgins shouts, 

"Snowman poop away!!!" 

Davey and Flavi soon start to get pelted with something surprisingly soft and squishy. 

"Is that...?" Davey asks as he picks the snowman poop up off the ground, "a marshmallow?" Flavi picks one up that had hit her in the arm. 

"Yeah," she says, "I guess so." Suddenly, she starts laughing as it all sinks in. 

"You thought you could escape the snowman poop, but the snowman poop found you!!!" the voice of who Davey think is Henry, shouts from the fire escape. 

"Yeah! You can run but you can't hide!" Kid Blink joins in and Flavi looks up at them with a challenging look on her face.

"What's it gonna take for us to stop getting pelted with snowman poop?" she asks, crossing her arms and looking up at Race. 

"Come and give me a kiss, DiAngelo. And then we'll talk," he replies. Davey feels his face flush a slight shade of pink at the mention of a kiss even though it has nothing to do with him. 

David Jacobs simply gets flustered by the mention of romantic feelings being expressed....especially when individuals like Racetrack Higgins, who have a tendency to get a tad bit on the passionate side, are involved. 

He has a feeling it will be a different story when he finds a girl that he feels he can express those feelings towards. 

Flavi herself even looks a tad bit shy. 

"In front of everyone?" she asks, shyly. Her hands clasp in front of her as she apprehensively shifts her weight from one foot to the other. 

"Well of course!! That's how we did it the first time I kissed you!!!" Race exclaims before sending another marshmallow in her direction just to drive her crazy. 

"What're all of you doin on the fire escape?" Albert asks. 

"Attack the Leprechaun with snowman poop!!" Race shouts, distracted momentarily from his previous task at hand. Marshmallows fly and hit Albert from every direction. 

"Why did Sarah even let them get the marshmallows?" Davey mutters under his breath as the chaos ensues. Albert starts shouting and hurries for the fire escape ladder, only to hang by his fingertips at the very edge. 

The drop is still just a touch too much for him. 

All the while, marshmallows are still raining down on him from above. 

"OW!" he yells at one point, trying to avoid something that had been thrown down at him, "The pretzel sticks hurt!" Inwardly, he begins to smile at the thought of the callouses forming on his hands and how some kind of a girl might find them attractive someday. 

Along with his red hair, his strong muscles, and his fabulous personality..........

He really needs to stop pining for some invisible girl and get back to the situation at hand, escaping Racetrack and his band of snowman poop throwing ruffians. 

Not that he would ever engage in their antics. No, he was entirely too normal for those kinds of shenanigans. 

He finds himself thinking that he's spent too much time with Davey because of all the big words he's now using. 

"Wait!! Go, find some chocolate chips or something. We need some reindeer poop too," he hears Elmer say. 

"Reindeer poop? How do you know that reindeers poop? They're magical!" Snoddy shouts at him, "Maybe they don't." 

"At least the snowman poop didn't hurt," Davey calls out from his place on the ground. He notices that Flavi has snuck off somewhere. 

Meanwhile, in the apartment, while the chaos of....whatever is going on outside is happening. Jack steps out of Davey and Les' bedroom with a shirt of Davey's on. A shirt that Sarah thinks he looks rather good in. 

She nearly drops the bag of chips she was carrying over to refill the chip bowl that was used for dip. 

Elley is standing nearby waiting for her to do it and when she's not paying attention, Mush swipes his index finger through her dip and sticks it in his mouth. 

"Nicholas Myers!" she yells at him, setting her plate down with more force than necessary. Mush pulls his finger out of his mouth, making sure that his lips pop around his finger as he does. He smirks at her as she comes closer to him. "You're gonna pay for that."

"Oh yeah? How?" he asks her, challenging her with his eyes. Elley crosses her arms and thinks for a second before stealing an M&M off of his plate. "Awww. That's cute," he replies and she feels her face flush in irritation until she hears the commotion from outside and her brother's voice, 

"What's the matter?" he asks Sarah. Sarah nervously tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and goes back to refilling the chip bowl. 

"It's nothing," she answers shyly, "I just...." She stops, frustrated when she sees that a good number of the chips she was trying to pour had fallen onto the table instead. Biting her bottom lip, she tries to reign in her frustration. Jack comes up behind her and laughs lightly. 

"Didn't realize I had this effect on you," he whispers slyly in her ear. Sarah fidgets and picks up the chips before whirling around to face him. 

"Maybe you don't and I just...." she starts "Get shy and fumble around with things." Jack shrugs his shoulders, willing to take that as an excuse but not fully accepting it. 

"Whatever you say," he says, sending her a soft smirk before walking away. Elley nudges Mush to pay attention, previous argument now forgotten. 

Until Mush swipes his finger through her dip again. He starts running to get away from her. 

She sets down her plate and chases after him. 

"MUSH!" she shouts at him before cornering him. She traps him up against a wall next to the front door and he feels his face flush at the contact. 

And because of what's over their heads. 

"Ells," he mutters softly under his breath, "I think we may have made a mistake." Elley's brow furrows in confusion and Mush flicks his gaze upwards. She looks up and her breath catches in her throat at the mistletoe hanging over her head. 

"I'm so sorry..." she starts, "I didn't mean to." 

Before she could even finish the thought, Mush flips them around so she's the one pinned to the wall. His arms wrap around her waist and his gaze locks on hers. 

"I think we've waited long enough. Don't you?" he breathes, leaning their foreheads together. Elley closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. His eyes meet hers in a way that she can't resist. 

"I think my brother might kill us both if he catches us like this," she replies nervously. She shyly weaves her hands and arms up over his shoulders, her finger tips resting on the collar of his shirt. 

"You don't trust me to protect you?" he asks her, his voice low as he leans closer to her. Her breath hitches as she feels herself starting to come undone. 

"Mush..." she whispers, his breath fanning her face, making her crazy, "You're gonna...." 

She doesn't get to finish her sentence. Why?

Because her mind becomes focused on the soft and warm feeling of Mush Meyer's lips on hers. She feels herself get pushed up against the wall even more as the kiss deepens. Elley lets herself kiss him back wrapping her arms around his neck more firmly rather than just loosely draping them. Mush lets go of her as their foreheads lean together. 

"You were saying?" he asks and Elley strokes his cheek with her hand. 

"I forgot" she replies nervously. His strong arms hold her tightly as he smirks at her sudden nervousness and apprehension. 

"Didn't think anyone could make you nervous," he replies, laughing lightly at her blush. 

"Didn't think you could kiss people so well," she answers with a note of flirtation in her voice. Mush moves one hand from her waist to support himself up against the wall. They lean in and their lips meet halfway. Her eyes flutter shut as she kisses the man she's loved for so long. 

Jack and Sarah both stare open mouthed at the display of affection going on against the wall next to the front door. Jack starts to move toward his sister and her apparent lover when Sarah places a hand on his chest, distracting him. 

"Jack, I need your help with something," she says, "There's some canvas that my mom has. She was into a painting phase at one point but she's not now and I want something painted for when I move into a place of my own someday." Jack follows her into the laundry room and she shyly offers him the canvas where it is hiding on a shelf. He takes it in his hands and looks up at her. 

"You really want me to paint something? Sarah, I don't know that..." he starts, "I ain't even been to art school." Sarah hands him the canvas anyways. 

"Please," she starts, "I couldn't think of anyone better to do it with. Besides, I spilled water on you. Think of it as me asking for forgiveness." Jack holds it considering the idea as her eyes flick up and down Davey's shirt. Jack's a bit more muscular than David so Davey's shirt fits him a bit tighter. 

And in all the right places. Sarah is struggling to keep her eyes off of him. 

"What'cha lookin at?" Jack asks her, feeling her gaze on him, "You're already letting me wear this shirt and you're giving me a canvas. I don't think you need to do anything more." Sarah looks up at him almost pleadingly. 

"What if I want to?" she asks. Jack looks up from the canvas and puts an arm around her shoulders. 

"Ya already done plenty. You set up this party, helped me into some dry clothes, and now you're giving me this canvas. There's nothing else you can do," he says, meeting her gaze evenly, "Just relax." He starts rubbing her shoulder and she relaxes into his touch just a tad. 

"Well, I'm glad you think I've done plenty," she says, "I sometimes feel like I'm not very interesting. All I want to do is help my family. It's where my place is. I want to have my own someday and...." she sighs, "That canvas may have been mine actually. I wanted to start learning to paint and I knew you painted but I was just too afraid to ask you." 

"You wanted to ask me to teach you to paint? Sarah, my skills ain't anything..." he starts but she stops him. 

"I want you to teach me to paint, Jack. I don't know that I'd be any good but for some reason, it's a skill I've always wanted to learn," she says, "Please, just teach me." She takes the hand that is resting on her shoulder and holds it in her hand. Jack intertwines their fingers and smiles at her as they enjoy each other's affection. "Besides, I hear you learn just as much about your own craft by teaching it to someone else." Jack smiles at her, giving her hand an extra squeeze before they walk back out to the actual part of the party. 

Only to see Elley and Mush still up against the wall next to the front door. 

Jack starts to move in their direction only to have a marshmallow coming flying at his head. 

"Stay away from the lovebirds or the snowman poop will continue to fly!!" Blink yells. More marshmallows fly at Jack to distract him. 

One hits him right in the forehead from someone he would never expect. 

Crutchie chuckles at the slightly surprised look on Jack's face. Mush turns to face the snowman poop war to protect Elley from any of the fire fight. Jack picks up a marshmallow on the floor and the snowman poop continues to fly. 

"Hey!" Crutchie calls out in the middle of the chaos, "Where's Davey?" 

"He was in the bathroom," Sarah explains, "I'm not sure what happened to him after that." 

Davey, thinking it was safe to come back inside, is just climbing back in through the window. The marshmallow fire does not shift focus to him at all even though he is a new target. He sneaks off to a corner where he sees Buttons making snowflakes. 

"What're you doing?" he asks him. Buttons snips the scissors dramatically, sitting down on the floor with his legs crossed. A piece of paper flutters down to the ground. 

"Making snowflakes. Is that a problem?" he asks and Davey shakes his head. 

"No. No, just don't make a mess," he says. Buttons holds up a snowflake to him and looks at him almost questioningly. 

"Do you want to make snowflakes with us?" he asks and Davey relents, sitting down to make snowflakes with Buttons on the floor. 

No one had noticed one Newsie in particular that had snuck out. 

Race is chasing after Flavi who he saw running towards Brooklyn where her old home would be. He sneaks behind just enough to keep up with her but not close enough to let her know that he was on to her. 

He eventually sees her stop in front of the old apartment building where she used to live. She stops and stands at the bottom of the fire escape, as if contemplating whether or not to climb up and try to make amends with her former family.

"Don't do it," Race calls out to her, "I know you want to try but you're just gonna get hurt again." She whirls around to face him, almost looking frustrated with him. 

"You don't even think I should try? Normally, you encourage me to try new things," she hisses at him, "And why did you follow me here?" Race pretends to consider things for a minute before launching right into his explanation. 

"Well, first of all, Brooklyn's a dangerous place to be at night. I don't care if it's Christmas. Second of all, I knew you would come here and....I didn't want something to happen to you," he explains, "I didn't want you to get hurt again." He moves closer to her and she takes his face in her hands. Determination lights up in her gaze as she smashes her lips against his. Race relaxes and holds her as she kisses him. She pulls away and looks at him as if surprised that she had done that. 

Race has the stupidest and dreamiest look on his face. 

She starts to move towards the fire escape again but he takes her hand. 

"Don't do it," he says softly, pulling her back towards him. 

"Race, they're my family. My real family. I want to try to fix things. There are so many things I could have done differently," she says softly, "If only I had just tried harder than I had." Race shakes his head holding onto her hand. 

"No, Flavi, no. I know you want to try but please, doll. It's just not a good idea," he says squeezing her hand gently. She holds back tears and turns to face him. 

"I've loved spending every Christmas that I have with you but I've missed the ones I used to get to spend with my family. I have such happy memories from Christmas. It was easily the happiest day I spent with my family...ever. All of our problems and anger just seemed to melt away and there was just joy and Christmas," she explains, "I miss that and I wish it could be like that always. There's just so much pain." Race nods his head and pulls her into his arms. 

"I understand that but there are some things in life we just can't fix and sometimes we have to learn to let the situation happen as it will," he says as he runs a hand through her dark hair, "Which is hard for me too. I'll just hold ya. I ain't so good at this advice givin thing besides telling ya what I just did. I can hold ya though." Flavi smiles and lets him hold her, leaning into his chest. The two of them move to the bridge to watch the beauty of the Christmas lights shimmer across the city, just taking in the joy Christmas can bring to a hurting city. 

The same kind of joy that Jack is experiencing as he and Les run around with their hands full of chocolate chips, throwing them at the boys throwing marshmallows. Sarah runs behind them pleading playfully for them to stop. She reaches for Jack's hand and Davey is shouting at Les to stop eating so many chocolate chips. Les wings one in Davey's direction before continuing on with the war of sweets. 

Mush is still trying to protect Elley from the sweets firefight and scoops her up into his arms, racing across the kitchen to deposit her somewhere safer. 

A gentleman must always protect his lady. 

Davey watches it all from his spot on the floor where he's still making snowflakes, contrary to his desire to bring an end to this madness. And yet, he can't help but enjoy the chaotic companions he has. 

Truly, there is no one else Davey would rather spend Christmas with. 

A/N: Ummm....what exactly was this oneshot?

Why the heck was it so chaotic?

Like literally, it was kind of all over the place. I think I captured all the feels though. Definitely got some romance in there. :) Definitely got some hurt/comfort feels in there. We so got some good old fashioned silliness. 

So just a typical Newsies oneshot but it's a little more all over the place than normal? Yeah, I'd say so. 

Oh yeah....MUSH AND ELLEY HAD THEIR FIRST KISS. THAT WAS REALLY EXCITING AND FUN TO WRITE. I'm so happy that they finally kissed. I was kinda debating about whether or not I should do it and then I was like well enough is enough. 

I've watched them pine for each other for two years....at least. 

So, they were gonna kiss if I had anything to say about it because I was getting tired of watching them ALMOST kiss and then it not happen. 

Also, to be a bit deeper I guess, I'm kind of learning a similar lesson that Flavi's learning. You just really have to let go of some things sometimes because there's nothing you can do to fix it. There's a situation that I'm dealing with that it's not mine to fix. It's really not a happy situation and it weighs heavily on me but there's ultimately nothing I can do. So, I have a hard time letting go of it emotionally because I hate conflict and I want everything to be okay. 

Also, Davey had a baby character arc in this one. He learned that sometimes the chaotic friendships can bring you a lot of joy. 

I don't know how I feel about my writing of Sarah in this one. Not my favorite but certainly not the worst. She was okay. 

Elley and Mush were hands down my favorite. I loved them so much. Their bantering and such. I think Elley and Mush remind me of me and someone else in a way. Not exactly but...something kind of similar. I loved the whole leaning against the wall thing. It was so so so so so cute. 

Anyways, snowman poop is actually marshmallows. It was a white elephant esque gift that I gave to someone at this Christmas party I went to a few years back (it was before I joined Wattpad) but it was like a party for my small group at youth group or something. And my friend who got it thought it was hilarious. I couldn't not put it in here. 

I hope you got a good laugh out of that and the "reindeer poop" (I made that one up.  I don't know if chocolate chips are actually considered reindeer poop or not. Please don't sue me. Hahahaha.) 

I'm sorry if this one didn't feel super Christmasy in nature. I did put the mistletoe in there but this one just didn't....I don't know. It just doesn't feel as Christmasey as some of my other ones do (yes, I know I spelled Christmasy/Christmasey two different ways. I was trying to see if I would make spell check happy or not and it didn't work). Let me know if you have an idea for a Christmas one and I would be happy to try one. :) I'm just really not feeling super into Christmas at the moment (there's a multitude of reasons why and I'll get to Christmas eventually. No worries there.) but I think we'll get there. 

Anyways, yeah!! I hope you all enjoyed this one. Sorry for this ridiculously long author's note. Thanks for voting, commenting, or doing whatever it is you do!! I greatly appreciate it!!! :) See you all around on Saturday!!

-Aisling