Warning: Kidnapping
Third Person POV

"Hey, look!" Jack exclaims, leaning over Race's bunk. "Race actually fell asleep last night!" He starts clapping.

Race slowly forces his eyes open, only to find the majority of his friends, looking at him.

"He still doesn't look too good." Specs mumbles, looking a little worried.

Race sits up, subconsciously rubbing his eyes as he yawns.

Mike looks at him. "This is the first night he's fallen asleep since before he went to Queens with Jack." He points out.

Specs nods, though he still looked a little worried.

"Buongiorno ragazzi." Race mumbles, only one of his eyes open.
(Translation: 'Good morning guys'.)

The boys look at him, confused.

He realizes what happened and smiles cheekily at them. "Oops, sorry. I had been speaking Italian in my dream and I guess it just stuck?"

The boys all laugh.

Jack ruffles his hair. "It's all good, Racer. Now, come on." He tells him. "Let's go carry the banner!"

The boys all pump their fists in the air, cheering.

Race weakly pumps his fist in the air, causing a few of the boys laugh at his lack of enthusiasm.

Race gets up. "I'm tired," he mutters as he grabs his flannel.

"Most of us are," JoJo responds. "but probably not as tired as you are." He adds.

Race shrugs, sliding one of his arms into one of his flannel sleeves.

"You can go to bed early tonight, Race." Albert tells him.

Race nods.

Sounds like a plan, Race thinks to himself as he yawns again. It's gonna be a long day.

The boys all get dressed and ready for the day.

They head down to the Distribution Center, and after a bit of teasing the Delanceys, they get their papes.

Race was sitting on a crate, reading a page of the paper, when Jack, Albert, and JoJo came over to him.

"Yeah?" Race asks, having not looked up from the pape.

He could read fairly well. His father had sent him to school for a while, so he could read and write, among stuff.

He was definitely most skilled in Math and his handwriting wasn't great, but at least he could write.

"I've decided that you can sell with Albert and JoJo for today, since you're probably tired of selling with me, even if I'm amazing." Jack states, flipping his nonexistent hair.

Race scoffs, rolling his eyes.

"I trust you." Jack finishes, looking back at Race.

It takes a minute for Jack's words to sink in.

When Race realizes what Jack just said, he puts down his paper and stares at Jack in disbelief. "Really?" He asks, making sure this wasn't a prank.

Jack nods. "Yeah," he answers. "don't do something stupid to make me regret trusting you." Jack responds.

Race rolls his eyes. "How little faith you have in your Second." He mutters, looking back at his paper.

Jack rolls his eyes.

Jack did trust Race, but Race was one of the Newsies that he was more protective of. Most of the boys were pretty protective of Race.

Race was the youngest of the Newsies, other Sniper, Les, and Lucky, plus Smalls, but she's technically a Bronx Newsies even if she's over in Manhattan enough to be a Manhattan Newsie.

"Can you wave your papes over your head, Race?" JoJo asks, genuinely concerned.

Jack snickers quietly, already knowing the answer.

"No." Race mutters, getting up and gathering his papers.

He rolls his eyes at Jack, who continues snickering.

"That's okay, Race." JoJo responds. "We can help you." He tells him.

Race smiles at him, still ignoring Jack, and now Albert as well.

"Hey, Davey!" Race cups his hands over his mouth like a microphone. "Your boyfriend's being annoying!" He exclaims.

Jack rolls his eyes.

"Jack! Don't be annoying!" Davey shouts from where he and Crutchie had been helping Les and Lucky read the headline.

Race smirks at Jack.

Jack rolls his eyes, smacking Race in the back of his head with a rolled up newspaper that was in his hand.

Race rolls his eyes, holding his head.

Later in the day

Selling went normal for them, for a while anyway.

They made it through most of the day fine, just goofing off and selling papers.

And then Bullet and Blade showed up.

"Hey, Racer." Blade greets. "How are you?" He asks, as he walks over to the three boys.

His twin, Spade, Rock, and Haste followed him.

Albert, JoJo, and Race look up.

They had been playing a game with a pape from yesterday that someone had thrown out as they were taking a break for a minute.

Race jumps up.

Albert and JoJo stand next to him.

Behind Bullet and Blade was Spot, tied and gagged, and he had more bruises than Race could count.

Tears fill Race's eyes. "Spot!" He shouts.

They make eye contact and the two boys swore they could feel each other's hearts break.

Spot just stares at them.

"Come with us and Spot will be safe." Bullet's voice had a slight taunt to it.

Albert and JoJo scowl at him.

Race looks up at them. "My name isn't Anthony." He whispers.

Bullet rolls his eyes at his brother's statement.

"Then, I guess Spot wants another cut." Spade threatens, handing Blade a blade.

Race freezes, his eyes widening. This is all my fault.

"Come home, brother." Bullet tells him.

Blade stares at the blade in his hand. He'd used them before, but this felt wrong.

Spade grabs his hand, forcing Blade wave the knife around in front of Spot.

Race looks between his brothers and Spot, not knowing what to do. Why can't I just have peace for once?

Albert and JoJo were clueless as Haste and Rock came up behind them.

Haste grabs JoJo and Rock grabs Albert, holding them back.

"Hey!" Albert shouts, struggling against Rock's grip.

Race whips around, his eyes immediately catching JoJo's.

Rock smacks Albert. "Quit struggling." He snaps.

Race stares at them, tears finally escaping his eyes and rolling down his cheeks.

Race turns back around. "Will you let them go if I come with you?" He whispers.

JoJo and Blade's eyes were fixated on the tears streaming down his face.

Bullet nods.

Race turns to Albert and JoJo one more time, hesitant. This is the right choice, right?

"Race! Please don't!" Albert exclaims, trying as hard as he could to get out of Rock's grip. "You're gonna get hurt!"

His voice was drowned out by Race's panic in his head.

Race turns around and makes eye contact with Spot.

He couldn't help but feel guilty as he stared into his brown eyes.

Spot knew what Race was thinking and he wanted to go up to Race, hug him tight, and tell him that everything was going to be alright, and it wasn't his fault, but it he couldn't.

"I'm doing this for you, I don't want you to get hurt." Race whispers.

Albert, Spot, and JoJo's eyes widen.

Race turns to face Bullet and Blade. "I'll go with you if you let my friends go and don't hurt them." He tells them, trying to act tough.

They could all see right through it.

Blade's eyes filled with relief and joy.

Bullet looked happy as well.

Space nods at Bullet.

Bullet pulls Race's arms behind his back, hugging him against his chest.

Tears silently stream down Race's face, tears that Blade wiped off every time they came back.

Spade hits Spot over the head with a stick, knocking him out.

Race's eyes widen. "You said you wouldn't hurt them!" He exclaims, struggling to get away from Bullet and to Spot.

Spade just shrugs. "Sorry, not sorry." He responds.

Bullet holds Race against him. "I'm sorry, Race." He apologizes. "But they kinda deserve it." He mutters under his breath.

Race didn't hear him.

Blade continues to wipe the tears off of Race's face.

Spade knocks Albert unconscious, or mostly unconscious.

JoJo stares at him, his eyes wide.

Haste's hand covered his mouth, muffled any protests.

"I'm sorry." JoJo swore he heard Haste whisper to him as Spade hit him over the head.

Spade walks over to Blade. "If he's gonna keep struggling, you're gonna have to use it." He tells him quietly.

Blade stares at him, his eyes wide. "You-" he starts.

"Blade." Spade almost growls, shooting him a disapproving look.

Blade stares at him, his eyes slightly wide as he nods.

Spade hands him a bottle and a cloth.

Bullet looks at them. Is he really-

Blade pours whatever was in the bottle on the cloth and squeezes the cloth.

Bullet watches the excess liquid hit the ground with a small patter.

Blade walks over to Race slowly, holding the cloth out. He looked really nervous.

Race realizes what he's doing. "Blade, please." He starts.

Blade looks at Spade, the cloth in his hands lowering.

Spade shoots him a stern look.

Blade gulps, shaking his head as he walks over to Race. "I'm sorry." He whispers.

He placed the cloth over Race's mouth and nose.

Panic filled Race's mind, but it was quickly clouded.

A few minutes later, Race fell into Bullet's arms, out cold.

Albert watches them take away Race through his blurred vision, knowing he couldn't do anything. 

A ringing sound drowns out the sound of their voices as they walk away, and he slips from consciousness, praying for Race to stay safe.

With Jack

"Jack," Crutchie starts, slightly worried. "You okay?" He asks.

He had noticed that Jack had been acting weird, paranoid, even, which wasn't completely unordinary for Jack, just a little bit.

"I have a bad feeling." Jack admits, turning to face him a he bites his nails. "I feel like something happened to Race, Albert, and JoJo." He explains.

Crutchie hands a man a paper. "Do you want to go check?" He asks.

Jack nods. "I think I'm going to do that." He decides. "Do you mind telling Davey if he comes over here?" He questions, holding out his papers to Crutchie.

He felt a little guilty, but he couldn't let something happen to the boys.

Crutchie takes Jack's papers and puts them in his bag. "I don't mind." He responds. "Go check. Update us." He sends Jack a reassuring smile, one he knew Jack needed.

"You're the best, Crutch. Thank you." Jack smiles back, hugging the younger boy.

Crutchie smiles again as he watches Jack run off.

Davey comes over to Crutchie, confused. "What is Jack doing?" He asks, watching the taller boy run off.

"He had a bad feeling about Race, Albert, and JoJo so he was just going to check that everything is okay." Crutchie explains, handing a lady a pape, and taking a nickel from her.

He tips his hat to her as she walks away.

"Okay, need help selling Jack's papes?" Davey questions, gesturing to the papes at Crutchie was struggling to hold.

"If you don't mind." Crutchie shoots him a cheeky smile.

"Not at all." Davey assures Crutchie, taking some of the papes from Crutchie and handing a few to Les.

Les runs off to sell them.

"Thanks, Davey." Crutchie thanks him.

Davey nods.

They both get back to selling papes.

Jack ran all the way to where Race, Albert, and JoJo had been selling.

He couldn't shake the feeling that they were in danger.

When he got there, he found JoJo, Albert, and Spot? unconscious.

He looked around for Race, but Race was nowhere to be found.

He checked Albert, JoJo, and Spot's pluses, they were still alive, just unconscious.

He knew that something had happened.

Race didn't do this, did he?

No. Race would've never done this, especially not knockout his two best friends, and his crush.

Jack smacked himself for even considering that Race did this.

Jack looks at Spot.

Spot stirs a bit, and it wasn't long before he had groaned and forced himself to sit up.

He looks surprised that the ropes aren't on him anymore.

Spot looks at Jack.

"Where's Race?" Spot questions, his voice hoarse.

Jack looks at him, concerned. "I don't know," he answers slowly. "I found you three here." He informs him.

Spot turns to him, panicking. "Queens." He states.

No...

Spot explains everything to Jack.

"We need to get JoJo and Albert to the Lodge, and fix up you before we can go find him. Come on, you get JoJo, I got Albert." Jack instructs him.

Spot nods, picking up JoJo.

Please be alright, Racer. Don't do anything stupid.

2090 Words
Editing is a time lol