Sorry for the wait haha. I'm making up for it with five chapters released at once.

Okay, yes, we will move away from July 20th at some point, but there's just a lot happening in this one day, okay? haha

This ... woah. 

Enjoy! :)

------------------------------------

They can all see how Sardinia Frank is related to Kid Griffo. They have the same warm brown eyes. But while Kid Griffo's eyes have the look of a trapped animal, Sardinia Frank's eyes are full of confidence and strength, determination to stand his ground. And he is so, so much taller than Kid Griffo.

He has a smile on his face looking at Kid Griffo and Chick Tucker, but once his eyes fall on everyone else, his expression turns into a question mark and distrust.

Mush steps forward. "We knew Dave Simmons, back when we were all newsies, and, um..." he swallows. "We knew Kid Blink too." He shakily holds out his hand. "I'm Mush."

Sardinia's eyes widen with recognition. They all guess he's heard Mush's name over the years. And slowly, the distrust fades away, and he shakes Mush's hand.

He opens the door wide. "Come on in."

And so the seven of them walk in. For the five, this is when it finally all comes together.

Sardinia closes the door behind them all. These people do love sealing away from the world. That means either they have a reason to hide, or something to hide from. And knowing their complicated past, and complicated present, it's easy to say it's both.

"Hey, love?" Sardinia calls to another room, never taking his eyes off the still-strangers in his house. "Come 'ere for a moment."

A man comes into the room. He has the same face as the Dave Simmons they knew, but where there was once edginess and constant wariness in his eyes, there's easiness and even loving happiness. "Yes, dear?"

That's when he freezes when he sees all of them.

For a moment, none of them says anything.

Who should speak first? What should they say? What can they say? Should they bring up what happened fifteen years ago with their strike? Or talk about Kid Blink? One would think that by now they would know what they should say when they show up seemingly out of the blue; but they still haven't found a good way to warm people up to the idea of why they came.

So Mush acts first rather than speaks first. He walks up to Dave Simmons, and hugs him. "I missed you."

Dave is still frozen, like he doesn't know what to do. And then he relaxes, and hugs back. "I missed you too."

Of course, the others realize. While they all had once held a grudge against Dave for betraying the newsies, Mush never gave up on him, just like he never gave up on Kid Blink. Throughout it all Mush believed in them.

Seeing this makes them realize once again that they should have done more. They should have been more open and forgiving back then, they should have pushed to interact more over the years, they shouldn't be near strangers now because of years of no communication. But it's too late for all of that. So the next best thing is to work with what they got: the present.

"So." Race sticks his hands in his pockets, trying to start up a conversation. "You ended up being into guys in the long run, huh?"

Spot elbows him, disbelief in his eyes. "You have got to be kidding me."

"What?" Race replies in the same "hushed" tone Spot spoke in.

"Did you hear how tactless that sounded?"

"Well what else should I say?"

"I don't know!"

"Exactly!"

They keep whisper-shouting at each other as Dave Simmons says, "It's true, though. After everything, in the end, I am into guys."

That's what gets all of them to stop talking.

Dave walks toward Sardinia Frank. He smiles fondly at him, and caresses his face. "And I wouldn't change a thing."

"I love you," Sardinia whispers, his voice matching in fondness and love, with a fierce protectiveness.

"And I you." Dave pecks him on the lips.

The others smiles. It's so sweet.

Jack glances at David, who looks happy seeing how happy Dave is. Jack smiles at David. Maybe when this is all over, they can start again.

Kid Griffo follows suit and kisses Chick Tucker on the cheek.

"Come on, this isn't fair!" Mush complains. "You are all acting so sweet in front of me! I can't handle it!"

That gets everyone to laugh a little, to lift everyone's spirits.

"I'm sorry you lost Kid Blink," Dave tells Mush quietly. "He was great until the end."

As just as quickly as it came, the light mood leaves.

Because that's what they're all here for.

Kid Blink.

And the thing is, Kid Blink may never have said directly in his letter that they had to find Dave Simmons, but he wrote it in every other way possible. And so that's why they're here now. Sure, it would have been nice if Kid Blink had written in all capital letters FIND DAVE SIMMONS but hey, sometimes the scenic route is longer but worth it.

"You saw him, right?" Mush asks after a few moments. He falters. "Right before ... he..."

Dave nods empathetically. "I wish I could have been there when he ... well, when you would have needed a friend there. But I was here then."

"There was too much danger for me to let you go out," Sardinia wraps his arms around Dave protectively. "There still is. And always will be-"

Dave breaks out of Sardinia's arms. "I know that. But I'm not a child. I can look out for myself."

"What if there's another McManus out there? And I'm not there to protect you?"

The five can tell that this is a well-worn subject, one that has gone in circles.

And it's the perfect place for them to jump in to the conversation.

"What did happen with McManus?" Jack asks cautiously. 

"It's complicated," Dave starts. "I ... I really don't want to talk about it. When McManus ... when he..." he shudders. "It wasn't good."

"We won't make you talk about it," David assures him. "We're just trying to piece together what happened."

"I was in danger," Dave says. This is the most vulnerable they've heard him be in, well, ever. "McManus wanted me. And not much can stand in his way for long."

"We wanted to protect him," Sardinia jumps in. "I wanted to protect him. You see, I had known him for a few years, and he had really started to grow on me. I wanted to always be there to protect him." He caresses Dave's face. "I still do." He continues the story. "Anyway, we were together at that point. And he ... was telling me about everything McManus had said to him, everything he had done to him, said he would do to him. And nothing had made my blood boil more. I vowed to keep Dave safe, even if it was the last thing I did. I was already forming a plan to end McManus when my brother here approached me and proposed the same idea--to protect our lovers. And so, to protect the people we loved, we had to end McManus."

Kid Griffo nods in confirmation.

"And so we formed a plan. And then that fateful summer night..." he trails off. He recomposes himself, and regains his fierce determination and stubbornness. "I don't regret what I did. Every single day I think about it, and I'm still so, so relieved that it's done and over with. It's been nearly ten years, and these have been the greatest near-ten years ever. If put in the same situation, I would do it all again. And I don't know if you all have an ulterior motive, and if you've come to arrest me for what I've done, or to put me on trial for what I've done. In court, I'd say guilty as charged proudly."

"We're not here to do that," Race tells him quickly, at the same time Dave says "No, we're not gonna let that happen!"

"All my friends, they lied to protect me," Dave says timidly after a few moments. "To protect us. Big Jack O'Brien, Kid Blink, Chick Tucker, and Kid Griffo ... we wouldn't be here talking to you if it weren't for all of them. And for all of them, I am eternally grateful." He smiles at Chick Tucker and Kid Griffo, who smile back at him. "Every day, I think about how happy I am to be here now, alive and well."

"You didn't think it would last, did you?"

Everyone whirls around, in high alert. None of them heard the door open. And wasn't it locked?

Sardinia tucks Dave behind him protectively, hands forming fists, ready to protect the man he loves.

The intruder stares them all down, and narrows his gaze at Dave Simmons, indescribable fury in his eyes.

But that's not the biggest shock.

The biggest shock is that they know this person who has come to destroy all they've been working for, to ruin their happiness, to prevent them from finally catching a break. They know this person who is coming here meaning harm.

It's James Baletti.

-------------------------------------------------------

PLOT TWIST

I REPEAT PLOT TWIST

At first when I played with this idea in my mind I was like "okay, he could be the bad guy, but how bad is he-" and then the idea kept snowballing and growing until I was like oh my gosh. What is the result of that snowball? You'll see in the next chapter ;)

Again, all these 'original characters' were real people ... but weren't Newsies characters ... so how do I categorize them? haha

But why should I try to put them into neat little boxes when I am trying to break out of my own set of boxes?

Anyway, what did you all think?

Not much more to say here, except this is gonna get confusing really fast if there's a David and a Dave haha.

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

Best,

~Your Beloved Author (who recommends you all listen to the album Le Nuvole by Fabrizio de André, or literally any other song/album of his)