Yeah, it's still January.

But hey! It's not January 1st! haha

The beginning is super sweet :)

Enjoy! :)

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"Jack!" Race exclaims with glee immediately when he sees him.

"Race!"

They hug instantly.

Race hugs him tight. "I missed you. I missed my brother."

Jack hugs tighter too. "And I missed mine."

"Jack!"

Jack turns his head to find Boots holding on to him too.

Jack musses his hair. "Boots!"

"Hiya Jack!"

Jack looks up and sees Crutchy coming to him. His smile grows. "Hiya Crutchy!"

Now he's being hugged by Race, Boots, and Crutchy, feeling incredibly loved. David is just a few feet away, not being able to bear a distance between them bigger than a 25 foot radius. But he also understands that he already had his moment with Jack, and now it's everyone else's turn to see the brother that they never thought they'd see again.

Spot keeps his distance, arms crossed, trying to look calm and collected and stoic. "Nice to see ya again, Jackie Boy."

"It's nice to see ya too, Spot," Jack responds happily. He can't describe how hearing Spot say Jackie Boy is music to his ears. He can feel the warmth that Spot won't let show.

They had informed Dutchy that Jack and David were coming back home today. He arrives at the café shortly.

"Jack!" he exclaims. 

"Hiya Dutchy!" he smiles sheepishly. "Sorry for ghostin' you for a couple decades..."

Dutchy waves his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. You were dealing with things. I'm just glad that I get to see you again today."

Now they all sit down. Jack scratches the ears of a Scottish fold that rubs up against his leg.

"So what have you been up to these past few decades?" Race asks casually.

"Well, I joined a band," Jack starts.

"We know."

Jack glares at him. "Do you want to hear this or not?"

"Okay, okay. Go on. I'm listening."

"I joined a band. They...they became my family." Jack looks up at all of them. "You were my family first. I never forgot the newsies. It just...was nice to have a family when everything was so unfamiliar, you know?"

They all nod. They get it.

"And yet I ended up leaving them too," Jack says bitterly. He glances at Dutchy. "I left you guys too."

David puts his hand on Jack's. "You were in an unfamiliar situation. Some people try to cling to anything familiar, others keep going, unable to stop."

Jack smiles at him appreciatively. "Thanks Davey."

"I did jump around, but I mostly stuck to Seattle," he continues. "I ended up there by accident, but I ended up really liking it."

"Did you ever make it to Santa Fe?" Crutchy asks.

"I did, but it wasn't the Wild West anymore," Jack responds. "Also it was way too hot."

"Well, I'm glad you stayed in Seattle," David says, "because we already had a clue of where you might be. And so I was able to find you."

Jack smiles. "I'm glad you found me."

Race makes disgusted sounds. "Really? Do you have to do that in front of us? You guys had two whole days to be lovey dovey by yourselves, and yet you choose to do it in front of us?"

"We've been apart for three decades," Jack retorts reproachfully. "We deserve to be lovey dovey wherever we are for twice as many decades. Tenfold even."

"Trust me Race, you would have been exactly like this if we were kept apart for that long," Spot cuts in.

"No I wouldn't!" Race denies it instantly. "Who do you take me for?"

"My husband who is so smart and so dumb and so whipped for me."

Race dramatically puts his wrist to his forehead. "I never knew you thought this little of me, tesoro."

"Oh sweetheart. I don't think little of you. You are everything to me."

Race removes his wrist and opens his eyes. "Really?"

"Yes. And I know I would be this lovey dovey too if you and I had been kept apart for three decades. I wouldn't know what I would do without you for thirty years."

"Awww, tesoro-"

"Okay, break it up, break it up," Jack cuts in. "You sappy hypocrites."

Race makes little gremlin muttering sounds but has nothing to say in return.

"So...what do we do now?" Crutchy asks. "Are we going to try to find the others? Are we going to figure out why this happened?" He pauses. "Are...we going to figure out how to get back?"

They all sit in silence, contemplating.

Sure, 2024 is not perfect. Neither was 1899. Sure, they understood 1899...however, in this century, they can love who they want, be who they want, without having to hide. Sure, it's not perfect yet, but it's much easier to protest now and make sure they know you aren't going away.

"I think we should try to find others," Jack suggests after awhile. "I don't think we can do anything or know anything until we find everyone. I mean, we can't figure out why this has happened if we don't know everyone's story, right? So I think it would be easiest to find everyone before attempting anything else."

"Not everyone is in New York," Spot points out. "Or the same age as we remember them to be." He stops. "Some of them...might not be alive anymore."

They sit on that for a moment.

And all at once, David misses his family strongly. He misses Sarah. He misses his parents. He misses Les.

Les was also in the lodging house when this happened. Did he get pulled through time too? Will he ever see his younger brother again?

"I agree with Jack," David says decisively to save himself from his darker thoughts. "Let's try to find as many as we can."

"But how?" Dutchy asks. "We don't know how to get in contact with people."

"We can check social media," Race suggests.

"But we can't be sure what social platforms people use," Spot adds. "Nor what names they're using."

So they sit again, silent.

"What if...we create an event?" Jack suggests.

They all look at him curiously. "What?"

"Yeah, an event." the wheels in Jack's brain are turning faster now. "We organize an event. We advertise it. Specifically use phrases and other things we know that other newsies will pick up on. Get everyone to come to one place at one time."

"Okay, so do you have any ideas of where?" Race asks.

"And when?" Spot adds.

"And what?" Dutchy adds.

"'Kay I haven't gotten that far yet," Jack responds, mildly irritated. "I don't have to be the only idea guy."

"What if we meet up somewhere everyone knows?" Crutchy suggests. "Central Park? City Hall?"

"We can meet at the Horace Greeley statue!" Boots adds.

Race snaps his fingers and points at Boots. "Brilliant idea! It's still there! Yes! I don't know what we're doing yet or when but yes definitely the Horace Greeley statue!"

Boots beams.

"Well, do we want to make it sooner rather than later?" Crutchy asks. "Or it can be an important day of the strike."

"We could meet in July," Boots suggests.

"Ooh! How about July 18th?" Race adds. "That's Kid Blink's birthday, and it's when the strike started."

Everyone agrees.

"So...are we just suggesting a meet-up?" David asks.

"We can come up with details as we go along," Spot suggests.

"We can try creating a poster digitally and sending out advertisements monthly til July," Dutchy offers.

"Alright! It sounds like we have a plan going!" Jack exclaims.

"So what will we do in the meantime until July?" Boots asks.

Silence.

"So...we just wait," Race states flatly.

"Yep," Spot agrees.

Race taps his foot impatiently.

"Race sweetheart, tapping your foot is not going to make July come faster."

"Come on, at least let me pretend it will!"

"We can start coming up with poster ideas now," Jack cuts in. "It might help a little."

"Can't really argue with that I guess."

And so they spend more hours planning. They think of the way to phrase it, how to design the poster, which social media websites they should use, what kinds of food they should bring, and other stuff.

So now they have a plan. They'll put up posters digitally and in real life as soon as they can.

And so the wait for for July 18th, 2024 begins.

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David is minding his own business in the antique store one day in February when Race bursts in.

"I need a new book to read," Race announces. "I was wondering if you have anything."

David takes a moment to recover his senses after being startled by Race's sudden and unexpected entrance. "Uh...yeah, I do. Do you mean like, from my own personal collection or an antique book?"

Race shrugs. "I don't really care. I'm just looking for a book."

David motions to the shelves. "Help yourself. If nothing looks interesting, I have my own books that I can lend you."

That satisfies Race, and so he starts wandering around silently. David eyes him silently, hoping he won't break anything. After he can see that Race is keeping his hands to himself unless it's books, he relaxes a little and gets back to doing a crossword.

After awhile Race comes up to him. "Alright. What else ya got?"

"I-"

"Col cavolo!"

"Uh, what?"

Race points to the book next to David on the table, eyes wide. "No way! You read Ross Gay?!"

"Of course I do," David responds. "He's only one of my favorite authors of all time."

"I can't believe it!" Race exclaims. "This is awesome! Finally, I have someone I can talk to about Ross Gay!"

David smiles. It feels weird having something in common with Race, but this is nice. And David is glad that it's their love of Ross Gay that they have in common.

"The next time he does a poetry reading in New York, do you wanna go together?" Race asks.

"Of course!" David responds.

Race lights up. "Dude, I don't think you understand how awesome this is."

David chuckles.

"What else might we have in common?" Race asks.

"Well, this isn't exactly the same, but when I came to this time, I was taken in by a Sicilian man," David tells him.

"Oh right, this is his place." Race looks at him curiously. "Did he teach you Italian? Or Sicilian?"

"Only bits and pieces," David responds. "Mostly I remember him calling his lover m'amore."

"M'amore. I like that. It's not like the Italian I learned from my grandparents, but it's still sweet in an Italian way nonetheless." He glances towards the stairs. "Do you still have stuff of his?"

"Yeah, I couldn't throw anything out."

"Do you think he might have books in Sicilian and/or Italian I could look at?" Race asks hopefully.

David hasn't touched Antuninu's stuff in forever. But he can't see the harm in letting Race see his things. "Sure. Follow me."

Antuninu and Soma's room is basically exactly how they left it. David bites his lip. It's painful to remember them. He misses them. A lot.

He points over to the bookshelf against the wall. "There. All those books were his."

Race walks over there slowly. Each time he picks up a book, he does so gingerly. He puts each one back ever so carefully. David is grateful that Race is showing this much care.

"Some of these titles are in Italian, and some of these are Italian-adjacent," Race comments. "He also has some English books too..." he trails off, staring at one of the English books he just picked up.

David walks over to him. "What is it?"

Race says nothing.

David reads the title out loud. "America's Forgotten Ones."

He doesn't understand why this made Race stop talking--something David has never been able to do--and that's when he sees the author.

Les Jacobs.

Race opens up the books to the dedication page.

For my sister Sarah, for my parents. For an old friend who took me in when I needed it the most.

For David. For David, his cowboy, and his ragtag underdogs.

I will never forget you.

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AAAAAAAAAAAAA

Yeaaah basically I just try to get myself screaming with how I end each chapter haha.

How was that?!

Sometimes it felt like I didn't have a direction also I've been going out of hyperfocus but hey I did it!

Yeah I don't have much to write down here.

Oooooooo you get to learn about Les nextttttttt

Thoughts? On anything?

Please, no homophobia or transphobia, profanities directed at other users, hate etc in the comment section.

Best,

~Your Beloved Author (who would love to talk about Ross Gay with someone)