AHA THIS IS IT THEY LEARN EVERYTHING. FINALLY.

I GET TO WRITE AN AWESOME BACKSTORY NOW.

Enjoy! :)

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Kid Griffo eyes them all wearily. They understand: if they were in the same situation, they probably would be too.

He's average height with brown hair and light brown eyes, and in those eyes is the look of a trapped animal.

None of them want to appear that threatening.

With a soft smile, Jack takes one step forward, slowly stretching out his hand for a handshake. "I'm Jack Kelly."

Wearily, without saying anything, Kid Griffo takes Jack's hand.

"We've heard a lot about you," Jack tells him.

"And yet I know nothing of you," Kid Griffo murmurs.

"Well, we have an unfair advantage," Race pipes up. "Loverboy over here was telling us your whole love story."

Kid Griffo tries to glare reproachfully at Chick Tucker, but he's just smiling. "My love, really?"

Chick Tucker smiles sheepishly. "I couldn't help it. It's my favorite love story in the world."

They grin at each other, no more words left to say, but their eyes full of so much love.

And the group of five just watches them, smiling too.

I want something like that.

The one who thought that wasn't alone. They all share that wishful thinking. They just don't know it.

"So you all knew Kid Blink?" Kid Griffo asks curiously.

They nod.

"We were newsies together," David explains.

Kid Griffo nods thoughtfully. "I think I remember Kid Blink talking about being a newsie. He especially mentioned a certain one named Mush a lot."

Mush blushes.

Kid Griffo smiles at him. "Nice to finally meet you."

"Likewise."

"So what brings you here now?" Kid Griffo asks them curiously.

Jack hands him the letter. "I think you might want to read this for yourself."

"What's this?" Kid Griffo asks as he takes it.

"The last written words of Kid Blink."

Kid Griffo nods solemnly, understanding the heaviness of the situation. His eyebrows raise when he finds his name on the paper. Then he goes back and looks at the date. His eyes widen. "You've been looking for me for a whole year?"

"Not a whole year," David puts in quickly.

"I just got this letter on the 18th," Jack explains.

"So you've been looking for me for three days and you found me," Kid Griffo says flatly. He hands the letter back without reading it all the way; he's read what he's needed to read.

"I ... yes."

"So I guess you want me to tell you the story of ... what happened that night?"

"That would be helpful."

"Chick Tucker already told us his side of the story," Spot tells Kid Griffo.

"And all we want to know is your side of the story," Race finishes.

"It's what Kid Blink wanted," Mush adds.

Kid Griffo stares a little at him. And, because of Mush's one last sentinemnt, he sighs, invites them all to sit down in their living room, and begins his story.

"So Chick already told you about how he got shot, yes?"

They nod.  "And how you swore revenge."

"What? No. He wanted revenge. I actually did something about it."

"Okay, okay," Chick Tucker nudges him, blushing. They all chuckle a little.

"What you gotta understand, is that Chick and I were only a part of the equation," Kid Griffo explains. "As you probably heard, I wasn't the one to actually kill McManus. But the one who did had good reason to. Eat-'Em-Up McManus was a threat to everyone, but especially us."

"And why's that?' Jack asks. 

"Because ... because ..." Kid Griffo sighs. "Let me start from the beginning."

They wait patiently.

"You've probably already heard that we made a lot of wrong decisions when we were younger, right?" he asks them quietly. When they all nod, he continues, "Me, Big Jack O'Brien, Chick Tucker, Kid Blink. Tangling up with gangsters, trying to be gangsters like them ... it wasn't our brightest idea, but we did it anyway. My older brother--half-brother, but we were still raised as brothers nonetheless--he had done the same thing when he was younger, and knew it ended in nothing but trouble, so he wanted to spare us from it, trying to keep us away from it. As you can probably guess, that didn't entirely work out. Still, he swore off interacting with those kind of people ages earlier, and I've always admired him for that. I just wish I had listened to him better.

"So the thing is, McManus terrorized everyone. No one was safe when he was in the neighborhood. Even we knew not to mess with him. Young and reckless as we were, we still had an ounce of self-preservation left in us. So we tried our best to stay away. But trouble came to us.

"You see, my brother, he had taken this other man around his age under his wing. They grew close. They grew close in the way that Chick and I grew close. My brother was totally smitten with this guy. But ... McManus wouldn't stay away from him. And there was nothing my brother could do to protect him from McManus.

"And then this guy-" he nudges Chick Tucker- "had thought it was a good idea to be wandering around drunk in McManus territory. Next thing I know, he comes staggering home, two pistol bullets in his leg, and I nearly have a heart attack. As you can tell, he was immediatley brought to a hospital and got extremely lucky. As you probably know, or could very well guess, I was absolutely furious about the whole situation."

"You had smoke coming out of your ears you were so angry," Chick Tucker jokes.

Kid Griffo rolls his eyes, smile on his face. "I probably did." He continues the story. "So my brother and I formed a plan. I was the one who suggested that I would be with McManus when my brother came to end him. My brother didn't like that, but I convinced him to let me be a part of this scheme. Because if I posed no threat, then McManus' guard would be down, and my brother could easily come into the scene as a sneak-attack.

"You see, before we decided the night we would do it, we had started interacting with McManus, trying to figure out how we could keep him away from us. While that didn't exactly work, it meant that I wasn't exactly a stranger that night that was his last.

"We were walking down the Bowery. I was trying to think of anything and everything I could say. Luckily, my brother didn't keep me waiting too long. So he had a gas pipe with him, that he wrapped in a newspaper, and smashed it through McManus' skull, and that was the end of Eat-'Em-Up McManus," Kid Griffo finishes.

"I said it before, and I'll say it again: that is kind of graphic," Race comments.

"So how did your brother get away with murderer and no one figured it out?" Spot asks.

"I was the only witness, so I claimed that it was dark and I had no clue who did it," Kid Griffo finishes. "Of course, they didn't believe me. And also of course, Chick, Big Jack O'Brien, and Kid Blink all wanted to try the tactic of just bragging they knew who killed McManus, but in a way where it's obvious they're bluffing, and I had no choice but to join in. If this situation happens to any of you, just know that you're talking yourself into jail whether you're fake bragging or real bragging."

"But then at one point it was Blink who claimed to kill McManus," Jack says. "Why would he do that?"

"We were all doing our part to protect my brother and his lover," Kid Griffo answers. "No one knew about them, and no one knew they were together, and if we could keep that a secret, then we had done our job right."

"So who were they?" Jack asks.

"My half-brother's name is Sardinia Frank. His lover is Dave Simmons."

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OOOOOOOOOOOO

PLOT TWIST

You all remember the name Dave Simmons, right? The guy who actually led the strike? The guy mentioned off-and-on in this story?

Looks like they aren't done after all.

But they still have the story now.

But they are so, so far from being done.

What did you all think?

Also, Sardinia Frank did kill McManus, they did figure that out eventually, but when that happened, I don't know for sure. So for now, they're living in that gray area of time.

Please, no homophobia, profanities, hate etc in the comment section at all times.

Best,

~Your Beloved Author (who is gonna have to plan out the chapters after the next two REALLY fast haha)