Warning: Mentions of Abuse
Third Person POV

When Race finished selling his papes for the day, he walked back to Manhattan in silence, just looking around.

Usually, he would be in a rush or he just didn't choose to admire the beauty of the city, but he was feeling sentimental today and decided to admire the beauty of Manhattan.

It really was a beautiful city, people weren't wrong there.

He had good memories in Manhattan, yeah, but no one cared about a street rat.

When he got to Newsie Square, he found Jack, Davey, and Specs waiting for him and Blink.

He wasn't the last one there like he thought he would be.

Jack looks up when he sees Race.

"Wow," Jack looked more concerned than amused. "did you get worse over the course of the day?" He asks bluntly.

"Rude." Race mumbles in response, subconsciously rubbing his eyes.

"Race, did you get any sleep last night?" Davey asks, concern clear as day in his voice.

Davey is like the mom of the Newsies and he's dating Jack who is the leader, and kinda like a dad, though he would kill me for saying that.

"A little." Race answers, standing next to Specs.

"Less than 3 hours." Jack reiterate, shaking his head at Race.

Race, not so subtly, glares at him.

Davey looks at Race in shock.

"Jack stayed up and watched me to see if I was going to fall back asleep." Race points at Jack so that Davey would be concerned about his boyfriend instead of Race.

"He always stays up if somethings wrong with a kid, I can't stop him there, but I can worry about you." Davey responds, crossing his arms.

Jack smirks at Race, who mentally groans.

Please drop it.

"Oh look, there's Blink!" Race points to Blink.

Blink now looks confused as he walked over to them because he didn't expect anyone to be shouting his name.

"Let's stop talking about this now!" Race decides.

"Race, this isn't over." Jack and Davey tell Race in unison.

He rolls his eyes, ignoring them.

"Now, let's go!" Race exclaims, turning and walking towards Queens.

Jack grabs Race by the back of his shirt, pulling him back to the group.

"Are you feeling okay?" Jack asks Race, putting his hand on Race's forehead. "You're acting weird." He states, concerned.

Race pushes Jack's hand off of his forehead. "I'm fine, let's go." He assures him, forcing a fake smile onto his face.

Jack and Davey look at each other, making a silent decision, before they start heading to Queens.

Jack and Davey walk in front of Specs, Blink, and Race, just talking about couplily stuff.

Race walks in the middle of Specs and Blink.

"Okay, stop with the act Racer." Blink tells Race, not believing a thing he's said.

"What?" Race asks, turning to look at Blink, confused.

"We all know that that wasn't your real smile. That was the most fake fake smile I've ever seen, especially from you Race." Specs tells Race.

Race mentally punches himself.

"Guys, it's nothing." Race tells them, getting annoyed. "Let it go."

"Fine," Blink mutters, letting out an annoyed exhale. He just wanted to help.

"Just please know that we are here if you need someone to talk to." Specs reminds Race, putting his arm around him.

"I know, Jack told me the same thing." Race responds.

Specs sadly smiles at him.

In Queens

When Race, Specs, Blink, Davey, and Jack make it to Queens, they're greeted by Spot, Ace, Smokes, and two more of Spot's Newsies, Thunder and Lightning.

Thunder and Lightning are twins, they were found by Spot in a storm, hence their names.

The other boroughs were there too, Harlem, The Bronx, as well as others. They all have 5 Newsies, including the leaders.

Their plan is to try to make peace, but if they have to fight, they'll fight.

It's a little risky, but you do what you gotta do.

Race tried not to let the nerves get to him, but he never wanted to be in Queens again. When he had left his father, he told himself that he wouldn't ever come back.

He promised himself, and he was breaking it.

Jack, Davey, Blink, and Specs could tell that something was wrong with Race, especially Jack and Davey.

Jack and Davey were gonna ask Race about this when they got back to the Manhattan Lodging House later.

In case Race wouldn't tell them, he had a second plan.

Jack knew that Race would tell Spot anything, or almost anything, so he would ask Spot to help.

Then, the Queens Newsies arrived.

To Jack, two of them looked familiar.

They looked like Race!

The two leaders of Queens were called Bullet and Blade.

They were twins, everyone knew that, but Jack thought they looked a lot like Race.

He hadn't seen it before. They had the same pale skin, dirty blonde curly hair, and freckles.

The only difference?

The eye color.

Race had bright blue eyes, whereas, Bullet and Blade had bright greens eyes that switched from green to hazel at times.

It's probably nothing. Jack shook off the feeling, or tried too.

He couldn't shake off the fact that they looked so alike.

There are people who can look alike and not be siblings. Maybe that's what this was, He told himself.

Bullet and Blade brought three other Newsies.

Rock, who was the best at fighting in Queens.

Haste, the messenger and fastest in Queens.

And lastly, Spade, the best gambler in Queens, not better than Racetrack, of course.

The five were best friends.

No one messed with these five people and expected themselves to come out unbruised, except maybe Brooklyn Newsies as they were feared by these five boys, along with everyone else.

"Why do your Newsies keep coming on our land?" Spot sneers, snapping Jack out of thought and back into reality.

"Just wanted a little bit more land, that's all" Blade answers, a smirk planted on his face.

An identical smirk was planted on his twin's face, as well.

"Well you ain't getting anymore." Scar, the leader of the Bronx, sneers.

"How can you be so sure?" Bullet asks, staring at Race, not that he knew Race's name.

Race had caught his eye, as he looked like someone Bullet had known from his and his brother's past.

"Look, we've come to make peace. Stop sending your Newsies on our land, and they'll stop coming back bruised." Davey steps in.

He hated that Jack and Spot soak the other Newsies, but he knew he couldn't do anything about it.

Jack puts a protective arm around Davey's waist, pulling him back towards him. Jack didn't want Davey to get hurt.

Davey smiles slightly to himself.

"Oh, this is the 'mouth'. Impressive, I must say, that you ended up with Cowboy Kelly." Blade snickers, his twin doing the same.

"And, why would we want to make peace, when we could rule all of you?" Bullet continues, finishing his twin's thought.

"That will never happen," Arrow, the leader of Harlem, snarls.

Rock whispers something to Bullet, who nods, before jumping forward, grabbing Arrow, and sending them both rolling to the ground.

Bullet ended up on top of Arrow.

Ace and Blink were quick to jump forward, but Rock and Spade stopped them from getting to Bullet and Arrow.

Smokes and Race jumped forward and help.

While Rock and Spade were dealing with Ace and Blink, Race pried Bullet off of Arrow, as Smokes dragged Arrow away.

"Racetrack, be careful!" Spot warns, sharing a wary look with Jack.

This was going to end badly, he knew it.

"Who knew that Spot Conlon could be caring?" Blade asks. "Ain't you lucky?" He snickers a bit.

Race scowls at him.

"I'm fine, Spot!" Race assures him, turning his head on Bullet for one second.

Bullet uses this chance to get away.

He flips Race onto his back, sending him flying to the ground.

Race's head hits the ground, hard, and starts bleeding.

"Antonio!" Spot cries out, rushing over to his best friend and crush.

Bullet, Blade, Rock, Spade, and Haste stop, and look at each other.

Rock, Spade, and Haste knew that Bullet and Blade had a brother named Antonio, as they had tried to help the twins look for him.

"Specs!" Jack shouts, letting go of Davey, and running over to Race.

"I know," Specs grabs the bandages that they brought.

"I-I'm fine." Race tries to assure them, his voice just barely above a whisper.

His eyes were forced closed, and his teeth were clenched because of the pain he was in.

"Stop being stubborn." Spot tells the younger boy, lifting his head up a bit.

Jack, Specs, Davey, Blink, Ace, Smokes, Arrow, Scar, and a few other Newsies laugh.

"You're not much b-better." Race mumbles, holding his head.

"Oh, shut up." Spot slips a hand behind Race's back and a hand under his legs, picking him up.

Most of the Newsies there laugh again.

"This isn't over." Jack tells Bullet and Blade.

Spot adjusts Race in his arms, and they leave.

Bullet and Blade share a conflicted and worried look.

Antonio?

1546 Words
Sorry, this chapter isn't that great, the writing at least isn't.