Disclaimer: I don't own the Newsies. Hell, if I did, all the nice little newsboys would be gay and that would piss people off. But I would have fun.*sigh Anyhoo, no, I don't own them in the slightest. I do own this plot line*what plot line? however. I t'ink dat's it. Enjoy me foist slashy Newsies story!

And there was nothing.

Davey opened his eyes and sat up straight in bed, cold sweat clustering over his fair skin and plastering his white long johns to his back.

"No…" he whispered to himself. "No, it was just a dream, Dave, calm down."

He looked at his younger brother, Les, whom he shared a bed with. Les was still sleeping, but that was nothing strange. The ten-year old could sleep through the end of the world. Davey smiled softly. Yeah. Les could be a pain sometimes, but he was all right, for a little brother.

Dave got out of bed and tiptoed to the kitchen for a glass of water. What a dream that was…but he wouldn't tell any of the newsboys about it. They would laugh at him for sure. And then…oh, but Davey couldn't stand to think of that possibility! To have Mush hate him…such a thing was unthinkable to Davey. Mush was the one that always had a kind word to say or a touch of comfort to give. Yeah…Mush.

Davey flushed suddenly, and downed his water quickly. No…not Mush. Mush was a boy. A Newsboy. Davey chuckled softly as he wiped his mouth dry. Those newsboys sure had a way of working on someone.

Especially Mush.

Davey arrived in Newsies Square the next morning, holding Les back by his collar. No reason to rush.

The other Newsies were already in line to get their papes, Jack heading up the line, as usual, followed by Race, Kid Blink, and…

Davey stopped. He didn't know why but every morning, just seeing Mush standing there in line, laughing and joking with the other newsies always made him stop. It was the same every day, yet it was also always different. And the reaction was exhilarating.

Exhilarating and embarrassing.

Les continued to pull forward and Davey relented and let go of his younger brother, who ran forward and jumped onto the boardwalk where the newsies stood in line. He and Jack started to talk animatedly, Jack getting down on one knee to have an easier time talking.

Davey followed Les at a slower pace, thinking, contemplating. Dreaming.

Racetrack Higgins, a smartmouth newsie with a taste for gambling and smoke, noticed Davey and waved.

"Davey!" he grinned, pulling a cigar from his mouth. "How's da day treatin' ya?"

"I only just woke up, Race." Davey replied. "I don't know how the day's treating me just yet."

Kid Blink, a blonde newsie with an eye-patch, grinned his most winning smile. "Well, den, how's da mornin' been treatin' ya so fah? Anythin' new?"

"No." Davey answered. "Nothing new. Have you seen the headline yet?"

"Nuttin' good." Jack answered, jumping off the boardwalk with a load of papes in his arms. "We'll hafta use our brains and talen's today."

Mush grinned. "Easy 'nuff." He ran his fingers through his curly black hair. "I gots plen'y a bot'."

Davey shook his head and hoisted himself onto the boardwalk, behind Mush. Absently, he watched Jack play with Les as he considered something.

"Hey, guys, I had a strange dream last night." He said, gathering his courage.

"Yeah?" Race responded with little interest. "What about?"

"Well…" Davey paused to reconsider. "About Mush."

Mush immediately raised his head and looked at Davey. "What about me?"

"Well…" Davey cleared his throat and flushed. "I dreamt that you were dead."

The other newsies suddenly developed an interest in Davey.

"Why wouldja dream somethin' like dat, Dave?" Blink asked, his one eye wide.

"I can't control my dreams." Davey replied with exasperation. "So I don't know why I dreamed it. It was raining and it was dark, and I was walking down the road when I happened on Mush, and he was bleeding, and he died right there in front of me. And then there was nothing."

The other newsies muttered among themselves, but Mush stared at Davey speculatively. Davey averted his eyes, but he could still feel Mush's gaze on him. Mush continued to study Davey as the line moved steadily forward, and Davey was allowed a short break as Mush got his papes.

Davey stepped up to the barred window and bought a hundred papes, then walked off the boardwalk to find Jack and Les. He passed Mush on his way over, and felt something pressed into his hand. He looked at Mush, but saw only his back.

He brought his hand to his face and opened his fingers slowly. A crumpled piece of paper lay in his hand. Setting his papes on the ground, he opened the paper and stared at it.

Davy,

Meet me tonite outsida da lodgin house. Gots somethin ta tell ya.

Mush

Davey smiled to himself. At least the boy could write. Who said anything about spelling?

He stuffed the paper into his pocket and picked up his papes. Walking to the gates, where Les and Jack were waiting for him, Davey decided to take Mush up on his offer. He had somethin ta tell Mush too.

Davey leaned against the brick wall of the Lodging House and sighed. It was a beautiful night. Clouds loomed in the distance, and it would rain tomorrow, but that was okay. The moon was a full golden, low in the sky and dancing among scattered clouds. Davey smiled to himself in the moonlight. Such a setting was perfect for a romantic confession. He had promised himself he would tell Mush tonight. And he would.

Scuffling sounds hit Davey's ears, and he turned to the doorway. Mush stood there, silhouetted by the light coming from inside the building.

"Dave?" Mush called quietly.

Davey smiled. "I'm here Mush."

Mush descended the stairs and approached Davey almost cautiously.

"You make it look like I'm going to bite you, Mush." Davey teased.

"What I's gots ta tell ya might make ya bite me, Dave."

Davey stood up straighter, and felt his heartbeat increase. "What do you have to tell me, Mush?"

Mush was silent, but he was closer to Davey now. Davey could hear Mush's rapid breathing.

"I promise I won't hurt you, Mush." Davey said quietly. "Really."

Mush looked up then, and Davey was momentarily struck dumb by how beautiful the other boy looked in the golden moonlight. He almost didn't hear what Mush had said.

"Sorry, Mush, I missed that…" He said sheepishly. "What did you say?"

Mush's face was pink. "I…Davey, I t'ink I loves ya."

Once again, Davey was struck dumb. He's been hoping, anticipating that Mush would someday say those words, but he never actually believed he'd hear them. He shook his head to clear it and looked at Mush. The newsboy mistook Davey's head shaking for disgust and started to stammer.

"I'm sorry, Dave, I doan know what I was sayin', really, but I do t'ink I loves ya, I doan know why, and if ya hates me know, dat's okay, I'll be foine in a while…"

Mush was silenced as Davey pressed his mouth against Mush's full lips. This was what Davey had longed for for months now, this first kiss with the boy that had first intrigued him, then attracted him, then made him fall in love.

At first, Mush was stiff, uncertain in Davey's arms, then he loosened, and wrapped his arms around Dave's waist. The boys stood in the moonlight, their faces locked together, their arms around each other.

Mush removed himself from Davey and the boys looked at each other for a moment, neither one quite believing that this was real.

"I love you too, Mush." Davey said.

Mush smiled. "You didn't has ta say it. I already knew."

Davey checked his pocket watch and sighed. "I need to get home. My parents will be worried."

Mush kissed Davey briefly. "I'll see youse tomorra den."

"Tomorrow. Certainly."

Mush nodded, and started back up the stairs, waving slightly. Davey smiled when he noticed a slight dance in the other boy's step.

He turned and headed home, skipping joyfully.

There was rain the next morning and it was dark, but Davey didn't notice it. It was little else than God's joyful tears that His sons David Jacobs and Mush Meyers had finally admitted their love for each other. The darkness…well, Davey was simply to happy to realize that there was such a thing as darkness.

He turned the corner a block from Newsies Square, and stopped.

The Delanceys. Davey hadn't seen them for weeks.

"Ya stupid kid! We'll teach ya! We'll teach ya!"

"C'mon Oscar, he ain't gonna fight back, no way, woik 'im hahdah!"

Davey ran towards the fight, not quite knowing what he was going to do when he got there. He just knew, somehow, that he had to break up that fight, before…

Before what?

"Hey! Hey, you!" Davey cried. The Delancey brothers looked up at him, then looked at each other.

As Davey ran, he saw something in front of him. He stopped beside it, and slowly picked it up.

A hat, stained with blood.

Davey gasped and dropped the hat with a sudden realization.

This wasn't just any hat.

It was Mush's hat.

"No…" Davey whispered. "No!"

He jetted forward, dropping the hat on the ground as he ran blindly through the rain. Under normal circumstances, the Delanceys would have stood there and waited for him, but Davey was livid, blind with his anger, and the Delanceys knew it. They took off running, leaving a crumpled human body behind them.

Davey fell to his knees, and turned the body over to look at him.

"Mush, Mush, Mush, are you all right, Mush, please be all right!"

But Mush was not all right, and the rain started down harder, diluting the spilled blood from Mush's stomach.

"Dave? Dave!"

Davey lifted his head slowly, numb with shock and disbelief at his beloved's empty brown eyes. A strong hand clapped his shoulder.

"Dave…is he all right?" Kid Blink's voice came from somewhere faraway, small and frightened.

"No…" Davey answered hollowly. "The Delancey Brothers…they killed him."

Gasping, more than just one now. Davey turned slowly and saw Racetrack, Kid Blink, and two other newsies, Swifty and Snitch, standing behind him. Swifty looked a little green and tears made tracks on Snitch's dirty cheeks. Race and Blink looked as paralyzed as Davey.

Mush was cold, getting colder in the rain. Race sent Swifty to run and get Jack from the Square. Blink looked at Davey for a long time, then turned his back to watch Swifty run. Race and Snitch did the same. Davey was grateful. He turned to his glaze-eyed Mush, and hugged the newsboy, not caring that the still-flowing blood was staining his shirt and pants.

"I will kiss thy lips; Haply some poison yet doth hang on them, To make die with a restorative." He whispered, quoting Romeo and Juliet.

He checked briefly over his shoulder to see if anyone was watching, then pressed his mouth against Mush's. The newsboy's mouth was full but icy-cold, lifeless, like the rest of his body. Davey felt warm wetness slide down his cheeks, tears, leaking for his precious Mush.

Crack.

Davey's eyes glassed over suddenly. There was nothing anymore. He released Mush and lay him on the ground. He closed the other boy's eyes softly, then stood and walked away. Because there was nothing anymore.

Kid Blink watched with his one good eye. Davey was slumped over, walking drunkenly. It was not your usual Davey walk. Blink shuddered with premonition, and ran to meet Jack, who was running towards them with a doughy face.

"But I nevah saw him tahday!" Les cried, his bright eyes worried.

Jack ruffled the younger boy's hair. "Jus' calm down, Les. We'll fin' yer brudda. 'Sgotta be 'round heah somewheres."

Both newsboys ambled into the Lodging House.

"You check downstaihs." Jack told Les. "I'll check upstaihs." Les nodded and took off down the hall. Jack forced himself to smile and started up the stairs. He checked a few of the rooms, looking for Davey, who had disappeared that morning after Mush's death.

Jack bent his head into the bunkroom, and a tremor rained on his spine. He lit the lantern with a shaking hand, and when he lifted it to get a good look at the room, all color drained from his face.

"Jesus Christ, Dave…he was dat import'nt ta ya?" he whispered softly, barely audible even to himself.

Davey swung above him, Skittery's long johns around his neck. His face had a bluish touch to it, and his eyes bulged.

But his violet mouth was smiling grotesquely.

A sheet of paper was pinned to Davey's vest. Shivering with disgust, Jack reached up and took it. Davey had written a note in shaky handwriting, so very different from usual.

To whomever finds this first (Probably Jack)

I loved Mush. I will make that clear. He and I loved each other, but didn't even know our feelings were mutual until last night. I cannot be without him. I am nothing without him. I was nothing without him and now that he's gone for good I will be nothing. So if I am nothing, why should I continued to live, taking up space in God's world?

Give Les and Sarah a hug good-bye for me.

Dave Jacobs

Jack pressed the sheet of paper to his heart, tears raining down his cheeks.

"Youse was nevah nuttin', Dave." He whispered. "But I un'nahstands."

He worked quietly, not wanting to upset Les, and brought Davey down from where he swung. He lay the boy on an empty bed and covered him with the sheet, then went downstairs to find Les. To give the younger boy a hug.

There was nothing Jack could do anymore.

~*End*~

This is my first*complete Newsies fic. I think it started slow, but ended well, so I hope you liked it. If you did, please review. If you didn't, review anyway and tell me what I did wrong. I'd appreciate it muchers. Please and thank you.^