- Chapter 139 - Relationships with the Enemy Borough (and Jack's Reaction) -
Warnings: mentions of enemies, crying, worry, anger
Modern AU
Third Person POV

A/N, this was the one-shot sherlockian_demigod , iwantaferret_ , and I talked about. I hope you all (but especially you two) like it!

"Frick, frick, frick, frick, frick, frick, frick." Race slammed his hands against his head multiple times.

"What's that banging noise?!" someone shouted from downstairs.

"Just me losing my sanity," Race grumbled to himself. He sighed deeply at the look he received from the person in front of him. "Just me! I just dropped something!" he shouted back.

"Be careful!"

Race rolled his eyes fondly. "I'm trying," he grumbled, gritting his teeth.

"It may be easier if you tell him." Smalls stared at her nails, paying no attention to him.

Race glared at her. "Yeah? And how do you expect me to do that?" he grumbled. "Go up to him and say, "hey, Spot. I know we're both in leader positions in rival gangs and my brother hates your guts, but I have a crush on you"?"

Smalls smirked at him. "Yes."

Race's glare strengthened. She knew full well that he was being sarcastic.

"Come on, Race." Smalls sighed, adjusting herself on the bed. "It's not that hard to tell him, and Jack would do anything for you and Charlie, you know that," she reminded him.

"He hates Spot's guts, and just him in general," Race reminded her. "The whole gang does."

"Elmer doesn't," Smalls responded.

"Elmer couldn't hate a fly, Smalls."

"Elmer hates spiders."

"Everyone hates spiders."

"Sniper doesn't."

"Sniper literally can't hate anyone either," Race stated, his arms crossed.

Smalls rolled her eyes. "Come on, just do it."

"You're just biased and want me to do it." Race waved it off, walking over to his drawers to fold his clothes for the millionth time that day because they didn't look good enough yet. The room wasn't clean, and it needed to be. "I've been ignoring my feelings, and I will continue to. You can't do anything about it."

Smalls sighed deeply. "Maybe I am biased, but that's only because I just want to see you two happy," she told him. "Spot's my cousin, you're part of the family that took me in when we got separated," she reminded him. "I care about you two, the same way that Jack cares about you. I swear, he won't be mad, Racer."

Race's hands shook violently as he struggled to fold the shirt again. He swallowed hard and shook his head. "I'm not doing it, Smalls. Nothing can make me."

Smalls frowned. "Alright," she mumbled, getting up. "I better head back to Bronx or Blade'll start to worry his head off so far that Banner can't assure him I'm fine," she said.

Race nodded, silent.

"I love ya, Racer," Smalls said after a beat. "I really, really do. I just want you to be happy," she reminded him quietly.

"I know," the blond boy whispered, turning to his drawer that held rocks that he could play with to feel less fidgety.

Smalls nodded. She went over to the window and climbed out. "Tell your brothers I love 'em, 'kay?"

Race nodded. He grabbed his cigar and followed her out onto the fire escape.

Saying nothing else, Smalls jumped off of the fire escape, waved to Race, and left.

Race watched her as she left, only moving when she disappeared from his sight. He sighed and turned his head to look at the building across from the lodge, sticking his cigar into his mouth.

A bit later

Smalls smacked the top of his head with her hat. "Idiota! I swear to Befana, you're both stubborn polli," she grumbled, putting her hat back on her head again.

Spot cringed in pain. "What was that for?" he grumbled, holding his head.

Smalls glared at him. "For leaving the blond boy you're whipped for alone, in his room, panicked out of his mind," she answered.

Spot fell silent.

"But, of course, you're both refusing to tell each other." Smalls rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

Spot swallowed. "I just... it's much less complicated if I don't say anything," he mumbled.

Smalls turned around and looked at him. "Maybe so, but it's not better to let both of your hearts break every time you see each other," she responded.

And maybe, she was right.

A few days later

Race stared at his feet for a few minutes, before switching to staring at his bag, before switching to staring at the sky.

Anything to keep from looking at the group in front of him.

Spot took a deep breath. "I called you here because I have something to tell you, Kelly," he said, keeping his collected composure on the outside.

However, he felt far from composed on the inside.

Jack raised an eyebrow at him. "What?" he spat out.

Race visibly cringed. He was on Jack's side, but part of him ached knowing his thoughts on Spot.

"I... I fell in love with your brother," Spot admitted. "We haven't been able to talk about it, but we love each other," he said, "or so I've heard..." he mumbled.

Jack's eyes widened. He looked at Crutchie. "Charlie, you love him?" he asked, shocked.

Crutchie blinked. "Jack, I have a platonic boyfriend," he reminded him. "I'm asexual."

Realization dawned on Jack as he looked around at the facepalming Newsies. He turned to his other brother, finding him looking anywhere but at him and Spot.

Spot watched him.

Jack frowned. He cleared his throat. "Meeting over." He walked over to Race. "Come on," he mumbled to him, lightly taking his wrist.

Race felt like running, but stopped himself and followed. He tried to rush Jack so they could get away from everyone's prying eyes.

Crutchie sighed. "I'm going after them," he muttered and started following them.

Elsewhere

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Race had been dreading this question. It was part of the reason he didn't want to tell Jack. He pursed his lips. "Because I was terrified?" He did jazz hands.

Jack watched him.

Race stared back, unable to read him. He didn't move, not even when the door opened and Jack looked to it.

Crutchie hobbled into the room and shut the door behind himself. "Racer," he started.

"Please don't be mad at me," Race whispered, staring at the floor.

Jack's mind went back to a memory he always hoped to forget.

"Please don't be mad at me."

Everyone in the room froze.

Sparks and Sparrow stopped arguing, their heads whipping towards him.

Jack's eyes flicked over to the newest boy, and Crutchie pulled his hands off of his ears.

The older boys who had been getting littles out of the room stoped as well.

"Toni." Sparks quickly went over to him and pulled him into a hug. "Toni, no one's mad at you."

Antonio sniffled. "But you were mad at Sparrow," he whispered.

"I'm..." Sparks paused for a moment to try to think of words, "I'm not... mad at Sparrow," he finally mumbled. "I'm just worried... about both of you." He looked up at Sparrow.

Sparrow stared into his eyes, silent.

Antonio looked up at him. "Worried?"

Sparks nodded, looking back at Antonio. "Because I love you two."

"Racer."

Race felt hands lower his own. He hadn't even realized that his old reflexes to protect himself kicked in. He slowly looked up.

Jack frowned, looking down at him. "Racer, why would I be mad at you?" he asked softly.

Crutchie paused, seeming as shocked as Race was by that reaction.

Jack looked between the two boys. "Oh come on, is this reaction really that shocking?" he questioned.

"I was expecting you to yell..." Race admitted hesitantly.

Crutchie nodded. "I didn't expect you to yell, but I didn't expect you to be... calm, per se," he said.

Jack sighed deeply. "Well, I ain't mad," he responded. "I mean, you can't really control..." he hesitated, "love."

Race looked over at Crutchie. "What is happening?" he whispered, his eyes wide.

Crutchie chuckled.

Jack rolled his eyes fondly. "Oh, shut it." He pulled Race into a hug.

Race fell silent and just hugged him close.

After a few minutes, Jack pulled away. He looked into Race's eyes, before letting out a soft sigh. "I guess we should go end this turf war, huh?" he mumbled to him.

Race bit his lip to hold back a grin. "I love you, Jackie."

Jack smiled down at him. "I love ya too, Racer." He patted his head. "But I hope you know that I will hold it over your head that the one person you fell for was our enemy."

Race rolled his eyes fondly. "Danger is fun, alright?" he muttered.

Jack laughed, Crutchie joining in. "What a Racetrack Higgins answer."

Race rolled his eyes again.

Outside

"Did I just get rejected?" Spot muttered to Ace, breaking the silence that had fallen over the two groups for a minute.

Ace looked at him. He pursed his lips. "I'm... I'm not sure."

After a few minutes of quiet chatter between the groups, three boys came out of the Manhattan lodge.

Everyone looked at them.

"That's a lot of people involved in this scandal," Race mumbled as he was dragged along by Jack.

Crutchie chuckled to himself.

"Hey, Jack," Race started slowly.

"Ya?"

"Can you not embarrass me?" the blond-haired boy asked.

Jack pursed his lips. "Uh, no."

Race rolled his eyes.

"As your brother, it's my duty to embarrass you," Jack reminded Race, something he said often. "Plus, you got yourself into this mess."

Race opened his mouth to respond, but was stopped by Jack stopping in front of the groups and Race slamming into him. He stumbled a bit, glaring at his older brother. He could very clearly see the smirk Jack was trying to play off.

Crutchie chuckled.

Race grabbed Jack's hat off of his head and smacked him with it, before running over to Davey. "Davey!"

Jack glared at him when he smacked him with his hat. He went to hit him back, but stopped when he saw who Race was with.

Race smirked a bit. "Davey! Jack's being annoying and embarrassing me!" he complained.

"I'm pretty sure it's a brother's job to embarrass you," Davey commented, looking down at his younger brother. He looked back at Jack. "Stop hitting your brother."

"Davey!" Jack complained.

Davey shot him a look, causing Jack to shut up.

"Anyways," Race walked to the center of the group, "let's clear up this mess that I've gotten myself into, and Smalls! Get your butt down from the fire escape!" he shouted to her.

They heard a groan and multiple bangs from a nearby building, before an annoyed Smalls walked out.

Spot looked at Race. "How-"

"She's been bothering me about confessing for the last few weeks." Race shrugged a bit. "I'm not that oblivious. I know when people are spying," he coughed, "Brookies."

Spot raised an eyebrow at him.

Race just shot him a grin.

Spot looked down at one of his spies.

Haste smiled up at him. "He gives me cookies." He pointed to Race.

Spot sighed softly, shaking his head. He patted Haste's head.

Jack looked at his youngest brother. "You haven't told me they were spying?" he questioned. He stopped. "No, just- I'm just going to move on. We're talking about this later," he told Race.

"I hate that phrase," Race muttered.

Jack shot him a look. "Do we need to talk about G-" he started.

"Nope!" Race blurted out. "Moving on! I have a crush, okie dokie. We're all set here! War over! Voilá!" He did jazz hands. "Great, thanks! Everyone can go now!"

Spot smirked a bit. "You're going to kick me out when I just confessed to you?" he questioned, his arms crossed.

Race looked at him, his cheeks red. "Yep. Goodbye. Arrivederci."

Jack shook his head and stood next to Race. "Spot, seeing as how my youngest brother has a crush on you, we've decided for the sake of our two boroughs, if you agree, to end the Borough war," he informed him.

Spot seemed to light up at this, but he played it off and just smiled. "I agree." He spit in his hand and held it out for Jack to shake.

Jack spit-shook with him. He sighed as he looked at him. "This will take a lot of getting used to," he muttered.

Spot nodded in agreement.

Jack turned to his Newsies. "Alright, is there anyone else who's crushing on a Brookie who hid it from me?" he questioned, not expecting any responses.

Ike pushed through the crowd and walked past Jack. "Yep. I have a hot boyfriend who's a Brookie." He walked over to Hotshot and hugged him.

Spot chuckled at the look on Hotshot's face.

Jack stared at Ike. He watched as Boots waved sheepishly at him and walked over to Red. Jack shook his head. "Anyone else?"

Knobs pursed his lips, holding his notebook against his chest.

"You too, Knobs?" Jack shook his head and gestured for him to just go over to the Brookies' side.

Knobs smiled at him and bounced over to his partner.

Dice embraced their boyfriend, holding him close.

Knobs grinned to himself.

Jack looked back at Spot and Race.

The two were stood across from each other, neither on them moving.

Jack rolled his eyes at them. "Oops." He pushed Race into Spot.

Race yelped, falling against Spot, who grabbed him and pulled him against his chest. "Jack!" He went to turn and go fight his brother, but was stopped.

Spot chuckled as he stared down at him, smirking when Race's cheeks reddened. "Look at that, Manhattan's second fell for me."

Race rolled his eyes. "That was stupid. Don't make me throw up," he muttered to him. He grabbed him by his collar and pulled him close. "Just kiss me, idiota."

"Sure thing, bello." Spot leaned in and connected their lips.

Race's cheeks turned bright red and he kissed him back. He pulled away after a moment. "I'm not blushing," he told him, pointing a finger in his face.

"Not as much as I'd like you to be." Spot smirked.

Race narrowed his eyes at him. "I'm going to high-kick you if you keep making me blush," he threatened, his voice low.

Spot just chuckled. "Why don't you cuddle me instead?" he suggested.

Race stared at him, before nodding.

"Spot! We're going to have to talk in a few!" Jack shouted from somewhere else in the crowd. "Same with you, Racetrack!"

Race turned around quickly. "Nope!" He grabbed Spot's hand and started running.

"Antonio Higgins! Get your butt back here or else I'm making you sleep on the floor!"

"That doesn't phase me, Jack!"

"He could just sleep with me!" Spot added, grinning.

Race smacked his arm.

Jack rolled his eyes fondly. "Just get your butt over here and I won't have Charlie give you a talk." He winked at Crutchie.

Crutchie chuckled.

Race stopped in his tracks, frowning. "We have to go back over there," he grumbled to Spot.

Spot chuckled. "Okay. I'll go anywhere, as long as I'm with you."

Race blushed.

"Woah! Happiness! Who'd have thought?!"

"Stai zitto, Smalls!" Race and Spot shouted in unison.

2588 Words
This took me three months to finish and it's not even the storyline I wanted to go with, but it's cute and funny and good enough. I hope you all enjoyed this!