- Chapter 127 - Albert x Buttons -
Warnings: none! It's all fluff (with a bit of stress, but not much)
Canon Era
Third Person POV

A/N, when was the last time I did Newsies Placement Ships? March 28th (or 21st, I don't know which), 2021.
It's been a while, NPS. Let's see if I can actually finish them lol.

Love.

That's what Albert called Buttons.

Well, either that, "B", or "Cutie", but you get the point.

See, Buttons took that to the next level by constantly calling Albert "Love" in multiple other languages.

How many languages did Albert speak?

One.

English.

However, he could debatably speak and understand a few words in Italian and Spanish, thanks to being best friends with Race and JoJo.

On the other hand, how many languages could Buttons speak?

Five.

Here are the five different languages and different times Buttons has, 1) used them, and 2) called Albert a pet name in said language. Plus, one of the many times Albert got Buttons back for making him blush.

Idioma uno
Spanish

Buttons sighed. "Sí, lo sé, Jo," he responded as he sat on the top of the couch. "Sin embargo, vender con Elmer no ayuda en nada y solo los distrae a ambos, lo que hace que se olviden del hecho de que necesitan vender," he pointed out.

(A/N, to my Spanish speaking readers (and or just English speakers who didn't look at the comments already): please look at the comment thread in the paragraph above this (and or any other paragraph comment thread - if there is one - if the translation is wrong. I don't speak any language other than English and Italian, and I'm still learning Italian.)

JoJo grumbled softly, crossing his arms. "¡Pero nos divertimos juntos!" he responded. "¿No quieres que seamos felices, Buttons?" he questioned.

Buttons shot him a look. "No intentes hacerme sentir mal," he told him. "Puedes divertirte después de vender."

JoJo pouted. "Esto no es justo," he mumbled, before walking off.

Buttons sighed to himself, looking down at his redheaded boyfriend who sat on the couch. He played with his hair. "Sometimes I feel like an extra parent," he mumbled.

Albert raised an eyebrow at him, his head leaned back against the couch as he looked up at him. "What happened?"

Buttons shrugged, sliding down onto the couch next to him. "Davey told JoJo and Elmer that it wasn't a good idea for them to sell together tomorrow, so JoJo came to me because he wanted to know if they could when Davey had kinda already given them an answer," he explained. "I figure Davey's with Jack because Jack is weak to their puppy eyes, and that's why they haven't gone to him yet," he informed his boyfriend.

Albert chuckled. "That is fair."

Buttons shrugged again. "I mean, I'd feel sad if I really wanted to sell with my best friend and couldn't, but they sometimes don't take "no" for an answer," he said.

Albert nodded. "Want cuddles?" he asked.

Buttons looked at him with a smile. "Always, mi amor." He leaned against Albert.

Albert's cheeks reddened a bit. Buttons had used those two words a decent amount, so he went to JoJo (an interaction of which he think JoJo secretly told Buttons) and asked him what it meant.

Well, he got his answer and it never failed to make him blush, which always made Buttons giggle.

Lingua due
Italian

"Mi dispiace, Buttons," Race mumbled, picking at his fingernails nervously as he watched the boy.

Buttons shook his head, taking the needle out of his mouth. "Non essere dispiaciuto, Toni," he told him, brushing it off. "Ognuno lacera i propri vestiti di tanto in tanto. Questa è una soluzione facile, quindi puoi andare a trovare il tuo ragazzo amante." He smirked a bit as he poked his needle through the fabric.

Race blushed a bit. "Grazie, B," he mumbled. He looked around. "A proposito, dov'è il tuo ragazzo amante?" he asked curiously. "Di solito esce con te e so che non è con Jo."

They heard footsteps.

Both boys looked up, finding Albert walking into the room.

Buttons smiled a bit. "Ecco il mio bel ragazzo," he said.

Race smirked a bit when Albert blushed.

Race called JoJo his "pretty boy"; Albert knew what those words meant.

"Amore mio, how are you?" Buttons asked as he stitched up Race's vest.

Albert blushed again. "Good," he mumbled. "You?"

Buttons nodded. "Good." He finished up the stitch and used his teeth to cut the thread. He held up the vest to make sure it was good and handed it to Race with a smile. "There you go."

"Grazie molto, B." Race put on the vest, smiling. "I owe you."

Buttons shrugged. "It's something I can do to help; I don't need anything in return," he told him. "Besides, if I said you owed me every time I stitched something up for you, Elmer would be in deep amounts of debt to me," he pointed out with a chuckle.

Albert and Race laughed.

"Fair, fair. Anyways," Race smiled as he looked at the door, "I'm off to find JoJo. Grazie, B! Bye guys!" He left the room.

Buttons and Albert smiled, waving to him as he disappeared from their sights.

Langue trois
French

"So, do you know that French is the language of love?" Buttons asked Albert as he laid on his stomach and chest, a small smirk on his face.

Albert blushed a bit. "Yeah..." he mumbled, knowing where this may lead to.

"Well, I was wanting to tell you just how much I love you, so what better language to do it in than the language of love?"

"Uh... English?"

Buttons laughed, causing Albert to laugh a bit with him. "English is so much less fun," Buttons responded knowingly, smiling brightly.

"Yeah, but then I can understand you," Albert responded like it was obvious.

Buttons smirked a bit. "You don't have to understand me." He pressed a soft kiss to Albert's nose. "All you have to do is listen and blush like the joli garçon you are." He caressed his cheek gently. "Plus, I'm pretty sure you already know I'm complimenting you and I've said half of this stuff to you before."

"True," Albert mumbled, his cheeks red.

Buttons smiled. He started playing with Albert's hair. "Eh bien," he started, "j'aime tes cheveux roux et l'apparence de tes joues quand je te fais rougir et qu'elles correspondent à tes cheveux roux, et-" this continued for a decent amount of time and no, Albert did not stop blushing.

Język czwarty
Polish

The one thing that was different about Polish is that certain pet names that Buttons would call Albert in other languages are less used in Polish.

However, that did not stop Buttons from finding some way to make Albert blush.

"Czy na pewno nie wiesz, gdzie to jest?" Buttons asked Elmer, his eyebrows furrowed. "Szukałeś wszędzie?"

Elmer nodded.

"Nawet w twoim domu?" Buttons checked, making sure. "A pod twoją pryczą?"

"Szukałem w obu tych miejscach," Elmer confirmed, a frown on his face.

Buttons sighed softly. "Zobaczę, czy uda mi się go znaleźć, a jeśli nie, wymyślimy inny plan," he told Elmer.

Elmer nodded, a bit defeated. He put his head in his hands. "Tak ciężko pracowałem, żeby na to zasłużyć," he muttered to himself.

"Znam El." Buttons placed his hand on Elmer's shoulder to comfort him. "Znajdziemy to. Obiecuję." He nodded.

Elmer smiled slightly. "Dzięki, B. Jesteś niesamowity."

Buttons smiled. He noticed Albert walking into the room and smirked a bit. "Czy wiesz, kto też jest niesamowity?" he questioned. "Albert." He made eye contact with his boyfriend and winked at him.

Albert had no idea what Buttons had said, but the wink and smirk caused him to blush a bit.

Elmer giggled.

Language five
English

Albert shook his head. "No, no, seltzer is far better than just water." He stuck his tongue out in disgust.

Race cringed and shook his head. "You're delusional. Seltzer tastes horrible," he responded, his arms crossed. "You just get it because you like to act cool," he accused.

Albert narrowed his eyes at his blonde-haired best friend. "I do not."

Race narrowed his eyes back. "You so do."

All of a sudden, Buttons and JoJo walked by the two boys.

Buttons pressed a soft kiss to Albert's cheek. "Hello, my love," he mumbled in his ear, before walking off again.

Albert's cheeks reddened.

"Hola, mi amor." JoJo squeezes Race's hand and shot him a sweet smile. "Mind helping me?"

Race, completely forgetting what he had previously been doing, nodded like a love-sick puppy. "Of course."

JoJo giggled lightly. "Come on, I need your help in the kitchen," he told him, leading him to the lodge.

Albert blinked at both his boyfriend, plus his two best friends left him. He sighed softly. "Okay then," he mumbled.

One of the many times Albert got Buttons back for making him blush

Buttons was walking down one of the hallways in the lodge when he was abruptly pushed against the wall, a yelp escaping his lips. He slowly opened his eyes and found his boyfriend staring down at him.

Albert smirked at him.

Buttons cheeks slowly started to heat up.

"Hello, Tesoro," Albert mumbled to him, looking extremely smug.

Buttons's cheeks turned bright red. "How?" he whispered. He barely used that nickname, saving it for special occasions.

Albert's smirk grew. "You can learn a thing or two from Race, you know," he answered, gently caressing Buttons's cheeks. "Plus, you've been making me blush far too much recently. It's like someone told you what made me blush, and I wanted to remind you that I still know your weaknesses," he told him, his voice low and his mouth next to Buttons's ear.

Buttons's knees felt weak and like they'd give out at any moment. Albert definitely knew his weaknesses far too well; he knew what made Buttons flustered and what didn't.

Albert pressed a gentle kiss to Buttons's cheek. "Vuoi delle coccole, amore mio?" he whispered to him.

Buttons's cheeks reddened further as he squeezed his eyes shut so he didn't look at Albert. "Ucciderò Race," he muttered.

Albert laughed. "I had him teach me that sentence too; he says that you love him too much to actually kill him," he responded.

Buttons stuck his bottom lip out in a slight pout. "He's so annoying when he's correct," he mumbled, slowly opening his eyes again.

Albert chuckled.

"But yes, I'd love cuddles," Buttons answered.

Albert chuckled. He slid one of his arms behind Buttons's back and the other under his legs, picking him up.

Buttons yelped and quickly wrapped his arms around Albert's neck so he didn't drop him. "Odio quando fai questo," he mumbled, still a bit dazed.

Albert chuckled again. "He taught me that one too."

"Oh god." Buttons groaned, throwing his head back while still having his arms around Albert's neck.

Albert chuckled. "He said to say, "Ma lo adoro e mi rende felice, quindi non ti dispiace perché ti piace vedermi felice"," he informed him.

Buttons rolled his eyes, his cheeks red. "He's so annoying, and you are too," he grumbled.

Albert smiled. "But you love us."

Buttons pouted a bit. "Yeah, I do," he muttered as Albert set him down on the bed.

Bonus

Buttons watched as Albert laid down next to him. "So... how long did it take you to learn all of the phrases he taught you?" he asked knowingly.

Albert chuckled at how well Buttons knew him. "A few months," he answered honestly.

Buttons laughed.

Albert pulled the younger boy into his arms, cuddling close.

Buttons blushed and smiled, cuddling close to him. "I love you," he whispered.

Albert smiled, brushing his hair off of his forehead and pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead. "I love you too."

"Thank you, for leaning the Italian even if it's a bit annoying," Buttons mumbled, his head laying on Albert's chest and his eyes closed. "It means a lot to me that you tried and learned it for me," he whispered tiredly.

Albert smiled. "Thank you for being my boyfriend," he responded.

Buttons smiled.

Yeah, some of the other boys would tease them for being sappy, but it made them happy. Plus, they were definitely more sappy when they were tired.

"By the way, you pronounced "felice" wrong."

Albert groaned. "Darn it! We spent extra time working on that one too!"

Buttons laughed groggily and quietly, his eyes still closed.

Albert smiled at his laugh, the laugh that he loved so much.

"And a few other... words," Buttons added, whispering.

Albert pretended to snap his fingers, sighing. "Well, not everyone is you who is extremely good at learning languages," he responded.

Buttons smiled. A few minutes later, he fell asleep.

Albert smiled as he watched the sleeping boy. He'd do anything to see him happy.

Even if that was purposely pronouncing a few words wrong to make him laugh.

2216 Words
This is actually kinda cute lol, but idk if I made Buttons how I wanted to. Idk, it's okay.
Sorry I haven't posted NPS in a while and that there were so many languages in this chapter. The translations should be in the comments, so I hope those help.