Ah yes, another fun song :)

Enjoy! :)

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"So where's Spot?" Race asks Jack casually immediately when Jack, David, and Boots return. Hopefully he doesn't seem too interested.

"They ain't comin'," Jack answers.

Race sighs. Ma dai. Well, it was never a for sure possibility.

"Anyways, what did the other boroughs say?" Jack asks, hoping for something more positive.

His smile fades when they all inform him that all those other boroughs would only join if Spot joined.

In other words ... they're all alone in this.

"Hey, Jack, maybe we may wanna ease off a little," Skittery suggests.

"Yeah, without Spot, you know..." Race trails off.

"Hey, listen to yourselves!" Jack shouts for all the newsies to hear. "Spot was right! Is this just a game to you?"

"I mean, without Spot ... there just ain't enough of us, Jack," Blink reasons.

"Hey, Dutchy, Snitch," Jack calls out. "What did ya say you'se heard the Long Island newsies talk about?"

"They said the wagons have been cheatin' us out of our papers--them bundles have one less paper than we paid for."

This causing a lot of concerned murmuring.

"Ain't that alone enough reason to strike?" Jack asks all of them. "The prices rise, and we'se payin' for one more pape than we received. What about that is fair?"

"Nothin'," Race says empathetically.

"There still is a lot to risk, though," Mush adds.

Jack sighs. "So no one wants to strike." A statement, not a question.

No one answers.

"Hey Crutchy," Jack murmurs quietly.

"Hiya, Jack!"

"Feelin' okay, 'spite of everythin'?"

"Yeah!"

The newsies go on, just conversing amongst themselves. David looks around at all of them. They have no motivation. He needs to change this.

He starts wandering around them, singing softly to himself.

"Open the gates and seize the day. Don't be afraid, and don't delay. Nothing can break us, no one can make us, give our rights away..." He plants his feet and raises his voice. "Arise and seize the day!"

That gets them all moving.

"Now is the time to seize the day!" David tells them, huge smile on his face, energized by their newfound energy.

"Now is the time to seize the day!" they repeat.

"Send out the call and join the fray!"

"Send out the call and join the fray!"

"Wrongs will be righted, if we're united, let us seize the day!"

"Friends of the friendless, seize the day!"

"Friends of the friendless, seize the day!"

"Raise up the torch and light the way!"

"Raise up the torch and light the way!"

All of them are gaining confidence. "Proud and defiant, we'll slay the giant, let us seize the day!"

"Neighbor to neighbor, father to son, one for all, and all for one!"

Race starts playing his harmonica.

They form two groups in the square, doing a call and response, all having fun.

"Open the gates and seize the day!"
"Open the gates and seize the day!"

"Don't be afraid, and don't delay!"
"Don't be afraid, and don't delay!"

"Nothing can break us, no one can make us, give our rights away!"

"Neighbor to neighbor, father to son, one for all, and all for one!"

"YEAH!" David jumps up with his fist in the air while everyone else poses dramatically. He coughs and brings his head down, feeling a little embarrassed.

Meanwhile Jack is staring at him grinning like an idiot, wondering just how cute David can get.

The circulation bell rings in the distance.

"Anybody hear that?" Jack shouts.

"NO!"

"So what are we gonna do?"

"SOAK 'EM!"

David sighs.

But they're all happy and motivated, so as long as they keep going, he'll go with it--for now.

David's caught up in the crowd as they all head to the circulation center.

When they go through the line, everyone raises their hands in the air and doesn't by papes. Weasel asks what's going on, no one answers. This feels rebellious. This feels good.

But some people still get their papes.

The newsies aren't letting them pass.

Most of the ones who buy papes throw them on the ground and join the newsies.

One, however, tries to make a run for it...

...And all chaos breaks lose.

Pushing, shoving, yelling. Newspapers flying everywhere.

And there it is: the wagon, the one that's cheating them out of their papers.

Not anymore.

As some continue scattering newspapers everywhere, a few go to tip the wagon over. They all cheer as it falls over.

Everyone feels a rush of adrenaline here, papers flying, seizing the day. And Denton and Katherine are watching it all from where they stand.

It's nice, until the police come.

"It's the bulls!" Les shouts. "Run!"

Everyone begins to scatter. Except for Crutchy, who hasn't noticed, and is still tearing up the newspapers.

"CRUTCHY!" Race shouts.

That's when Crutchy is aware of what's happening, and stands up as fast as possible. Before Crutchy can reach the newsies, or before the newsies can reach Crutchy, the Delanceys get there first.

Crutchy puts on a brave face. "Hiya, fellas! How are you doin'?"

Unfortunately for Crutchy, the Delanceys aren't as nice. Morris snatches Crutchy's crutch and whacks Crutchy's legs with it, causing Crutchy to tumble to the ground. Then they both take Crutchy by the arm and carry Crutchy off, as Crutchy continues to protest; with Jack in the distance, hands clenched, already forming a rescue plan.

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Jack and David go under the cover of darkness. Jack has his cowboy hat on his head and a giant rope in his hand; a rope that David doesn't know the purpose of yet.

"This is it," Jack gestures to the Refuge. "Home sweet home." He had once vowed never to come back. And now here he is, walking right up to it. His hand is trembling, but hopefully David can't see the tremble in the dark.

"Are you sure Crutchy's here?" David asks. He sees Jack's hand trembling, and knows that this probably isn't where he wants to be right now. Unless Jack is totally certain that Crutchy is here, David may suggest that they maybe look elsewhere first.

"Oh, 'e's 'ere," Jack responds. "Ain't any other place they'd take 'em."

"Alright, then. So what's the plan?"

So this is what the giant rope is for, David thinks as he holds on for dear life, lowering Jack in front of one of the windows.

If anyone ever finds out about this, David will say it was Jack's idea. Which is true. 

"Alright! That's good!" Jack whisper-shouts to David.

David immediately stops lowering him down. He just hopes he doesn't drop Jack.

"Psst!" Jack hopes to get anyone's attention.

"Cowboy!" two younger kids come up to the window.

"Hey, Tenpin."

"So, Cowboy, you missed the joint?"

"Nah, I'm lookin' for someone. You got a new kid. Crutchy."

"The gimp? I'll get 'im for ya." And with that he scampers away.

"Gimp," Jack repeats under his breath, disgusted that anyone would use that term to describe Crutchy. It's just not right.

Not too much later, Tenpin and another kid help bring Crutchy over. Once Crutchy sees Jack, a big smile instantly grows on their face. "I don't believe it." They do a head shake/head roll.

"Hiya, Crutchy," Jack smiles.

"Well, whaddaya hangin' 'round 'ere for?"

"Rescuin' you, of course."

"No! Really??"

Crutchy's surprise causes Jack to chuckle. Of course Jack would come to save Crutchy. Without a doubt. 

"Wanna know who's up on the roof?"

Crutchy's eyebrows raise. "Who?"

"Davey."

"Is that Dave?!" Crutchy tries looking up out the window. "Hiya, Dave!"

David shushes them loudly and frantically.

"You know, they still talk about when Jack rode out of here on that carriage," Crutchy continues on conversationally.

"Oh yeah, Teddy Roosevelt," David says in a quiet, disbelieving tone.

Crutchy does their head roll. "You already heard the story."

David stops. "You mean it's true?"

"'Course it is!"

"So Crutchy, get your stuff, we're gettin' you out of here," Jack says.

Crutchy falters. "Um..." They look around. Crutchy hesitates a few more seconds before speaking, conflicted. Jack waits patiently. Crutchy whispers, "I ain't walkin' so good. Oscar and Morris ... they ... well..."

"Did they beat you up bad?"

Crutchy bites their lip and nods.

"Well, that's okay," Jack assures them. "Davey and I can carry you out."

"Hey," Crutchy says firmly, "I ain't havin' no one carryin' me. Ya hear? Never."

"Alright, Crutchy," Jack chuckles. "I hear ya."

"Hey Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Finish what we started. With the strike. Please."

"So ... what are you going to tell the others?" David asks as they walk down the streets. Jack offered to walk David home, and David is glad that Jack didn't seem him blush when he said yes.

"I don't know," Jack answers honestly. "Maybe that we couldn't find 'em, or maybe that it wasn't the right time to get 'em ... I don't know, they'll all understand."

David takes that as an answer.

"You care a lot for Crutchy, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," Jack answer. "Crutchy's like a sibling to me, you know? So's Race, so's Spot. I don't know--it's just ... when you're a newsie, everyone looks out for one another, and it feels like a family, you know?"

That makes sense to David.

He also notices how gender-neutral Jack has kept the language talking about Crutchy. He has no idea how to ask about it though.

"Is Crutchy..." David really has no clue how to phrase this. "Like ... a ... um ... is Crutchy like a brother, or a sibling?"

Jack hesitates a moment. "That's the thing about a lot of us too, at the lodging house. Some of us ... some of us are different. I mean, we all come from different backgrounds. But ... a lot of us, our minds work different from normal people."

"Yeah, I think mine does too," David says quietly. He's been thinking about it for a while. But he's had no words to describe it. But for some reason, Jack understands him and his strange mind.

"Yeah, I thought so," Jack says, unaware of David going through a quiet revelation. "We think in similar ways sometimes, or react to certain things in the same way."

David listens quietly.

Jack hesitates. "Some of us ... some of us don't feel like the gender we was assigned by society, you know? Crutchy, for example, don't always feel like a boy. Not that 'e feels like a girl all the time, mind you--but more like neither. And sometimes Crutchy would rather be allowed to be neither instead of having to choose one or the other." 

David takes it all in. This isn't something he's heard about before. "Are there others?"

"Hm?"

"Others who have a gender that's complicated like Crutchy does?"

David took that insanely well. So maybe Jack can tell him about his own secret, about not being born a boy.

But ... he's not ready.

And he won't expose anyone else without their consent.

"Oh, people here and there," Jack answers instead, vaguely. "Some people are more open to talking 'bout it, others aren't."

Maybe another time, Jack tells himself. When I can finally be open about everything.

If that day ever comes.

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This chapter is under 2000 words and honestly I like that haha.

I love the song Seize The Day. And I also love all the choreography. I couldn't do all the choreography justice attempting to write it. But when I watch the movie, there's always some part in that song where I'm like look at all these neurodivergent people or how would this dynamic change if they were all neurodivergent? As some may know by now, I like trying to imagine the movie but with some changes haha.

But a lot of the things Jack does, Crutchy does, David does, Race does ... or pretty much what anyone does haha, is neurodivergent.

And just. Race with a harmonica in Seize the Day. Can never leave that out haha.

The Long Island newsies were the ones to figure out the wagon was cheating them of their papes. So the I only paid for twenty but I only got nineteen is 100% accurate, and I always want to write why they tip over the wagons because they never specify that in the movie.

I just headcanon Crutchy as non-binary, okay? I've found others who have non-binary headcanons for Crutchy, and I love them.

The amount of time I spend looking at queer/trans/neurodivergent headcanons for the newsies is not normal haha.

Also, the little head roll/head shake thing Crutchy does ... I don't really know how to describe it in writing, but Crutchy does it in the movie, and it can very much be seen as a form of stimming.

Jack picking up David being neurodivergent is like having a gaydar but with neurodivergence; and this happens, when you can just tell if someone thinks in a different way than everyone else. Sometimes you can be oblivious, but sometimes it's the most obvious thing ever.

Also, very important: DO NOT OUT PEOPLE WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT.

Alright, I think I covered everything. Failed to keep it under 2000 words haha.

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH EVERYONE!!!!!!!! :)
<333

Please, no homophobia or transphobia, profanities, hate etc in the comment section.

Best,

~Your Beloved Author (who wrote this nearly 2000 word chapter in around an hour and is pleasantly surprised by that fact)