Mist under the East River

[jabbathehutt]

No one even noticed what happened to the kids on Delancey. Or never talked about it, which amounted to the same thing.

The papers covered the accident that took the life of three construction workers on the Manhattan side of what will eventually become the second East River Bridge. They said digging hit an underground cave they didn't know was there, and the families were compensated widely.

No one talked about the handful of street kids who had taken to using the site as shelter at night. Who had, due to dares and a morbid curiosity, snuck into the site to find - not an underground cave but a secret basement. And this is because no one survived to talk about it afterwards.

Except Ezra Bridger. Who never does talk about it.

In fact, most people have probably forgotten he was even friends with those kids.

Now he sells papes and lives by his wits on the Lower East Side, tries to avoid making any more friends, and keeps himself to himself.

Well, as much as that's possible among the ragged army of New York City newsboys.

Comments

[jabbathehutt]

Okay, he guess that makes sense. Ezra shrugs, not having anything else he wants to ask that he can ask in code. He figures he might as well swim, and drops his shirt on the dockside by Spot and dives in.

Trying to get fish to respond to him proves futile, so when he's had a good soak, and avoids getting into swimming races, he pulls himself out again and flops wetly down near Spot, basking in the sunlight.

[brooklynishere]

Spot's content to lounge on the pier and just watch the fun - mostly. He does wish he could just forget everything and join, but there's too much at stake.

He glances over when Ezra drops next to him - the rest of the boys have lost interest by now, off having their own fun, so it's a little safer to talk as long as they keep it quiet.

"Good swim?"

[jabbathehutt]

"Bit crowded." Not that Spot knows that he was looking for fish, but it just as easily refers to his reluctance to make friends.

"Water's nice though. Shame you're missing out."

Maybe Spot will have a nice bath later though. In a porcelain tub.

[brooklynishere]

Spot just shrugs.

"Maybe another day." it's his usual reply, but he almost never does - there's a rumour among some of the boys that Spot can't swim, but none of them dare say it where he can hear.

[jabbathehutt]

"Maybe." Ezra agrees. He stretches out, looking up at the sky for a while, trying to work out if he can ask what he wants to ask.

He closes his eyes, listens to the noise of the kids around them, and tries to figure out if he can tell if anyone's listening.

He can't. Or no one's listening, but he doesn't know which.

"It worked, then? Er, no harm done?"

He'd probably feel bad if the asshole had lost his mind. Probably.

[brooklynishere]

Spot shifts position, ostensibly to get more comfortable but using it as an excuse to glance around and make sure nobody was too close before he answers.

"Seems that way," he agreed "He didn't mention it at all when I got home."

He'd gotten in trouble later that week for some other infraction, but there'd been no mention of him running around dressed as a newsie, and no indication of a closer eye on him or anything else he might have expected in way of consequences from his father.

[jabbathehutt]

"Good," Ezra says.

"I mean, I figure he'd deserve it, but I ain't never done that before. Don't want to hurt people I don't intend to."

[brooklynishere]

You have no idea

But he doesn't say it out loud. He's not about to air his private life to someone he only just met, however much Ezra saved him. Besides, he's probably got a good enough idea, he saw what his father was like in the alley.

"He seems fine. His usual self."

[jabbathehutt]

Sorry he couldn't fix that, but Ezra would have no idea where to go with that.

He nods, and continues to sit quietly, basking in the feeling of the kids around them. It's nice to be surrounded by this much fun - feels good.

[brooklynishere]

"How long you been able to do it?" Spot asks after a moment of comfortable silence, not quite looking at Ezra - his tone is quiet enough not to be overheard, but he's still careful not to say anything too obvious.

He doesn't mind if Ezra doesn't want to answer, but he's curious.

[jabbathehutt]

Fourteen months, two weeks and a day.

"About a year," Ezra says. "Took me a while to figure out how to work it though."

[brooklynishere]

So it's not something he was born with, it was something that happened to him... that's interesting.

"What happened?" he asks, though he knows he's far less likely to get an answer this time.

[jabbathehutt]

"No."

Ezra shakes his head, still looking upwards and not any less relaxed.

"That ain't your business. Sorry."

Translation: it was traumatic as fuck and he doesn't want to relive it right now and ruin the mood.

[brooklynishere]

Spot shrugs easily, accepting his answer.

"Fair enough." he's not going to push Ezra to talk if he doesn't want to - and yea, okay, it's at least partially because he knows that if he pushes too hard, Ezra could very well push him to talk about other things, in front of people, and Spot wouldn't really be able to say no. He doesn't think Ezra would, he just knows he could.

"You like being a newsie?" he asks, changing the subject.

[jabbathehutt]

Ezra shrugs. "It's better than being a thief."

Which is what he used to be, before he learned to sell. Still is, if he doesn't make enough to eat in a day, but that doesn't happen as much.

He lifts his head to look directly at Spot.

"Do you?"

[brooklynishere]

"Yes." Spot says simply - of course he does, unlike most of the kids here he's doing this entirely by choice, he could stop tomorrow if he wanted.

"The days are long sometimes, especially when the weather's bad, but it's.. for me, it's a kind of freedom."

[jabbathehutt]

"Huh."

Ezra wants to challenge that, to point out that it's not the same kind of freedom for Spot as it is for the newsies selling papes to keep themselves out of the refuge, but he stays that comment. Because he knows that Spot's got something to be free from, and maybe this is alright.

"How long have you been selling papes for?"

[brooklynishere]

Spot wouldn't have thanked him for it - he knows, he deals with the guilt of it every day, the knowledge that he's really just playing. It's why he works so hard as Brooklyn leader, why he makes sure every penny he makes goes into helping the boys, since he doesn't need it himself. He still knows he could do more, though.

"5, 6 years now?" he estimates.

[jabbathehutt]

Ezra gives Spot an appraising look as he tries to figure out his age and how old that would have made him.

It also means that Ezra's been doing this longer than Spot. Not that it's surprising they didn't know each other - there are a lot of newsies in New York, and Ezra keeps himself to himself.

"Why did you start?"

Enjoying it is one thing, but he can't fathom just getting up and trying it one day.

[brooklynishere]

"I was... lonely..." Spot admits - he's never told anybody about this before, but then nobody's ever known to ask "I saw the boys at the gate laughing and joking with each other and they looked like they were having fun... I learned there was more to it than that, obviously, but by then I was already hooked."

He wonders how much Ezra is judging him, whether he thinks he's just some spoiled brat playing pretend. Maybe he is, but he's happy with the life he's found for himself.

[jabbathehutt]

He's not, not really. He's just listening, trying to get his head around it. Maybe if he hadn't felt Spot's terror at his father, had a glimpse of what Spot was running away from...

He nods. He can understand that, maybe. There's a camaraderie in selling papes that he liked - until a year ago.

[brooklynishere]

He's glad that he doesn't get any judgement out loud, at least. Spot's got a lot of attitude and he's not afraid to back it up - but the whole actually-being-rich thing is kind of an insecurity. He's never had to deal with it before, because nobody knew. Now he isn't so sure how to handle it.

"You don't seem like you's close with the other 'hattan boys though." Spot says (he wonders if Ezra realises how his accent must be an affectation - and it is, he's picked it up from the boys around him and it's habit now, but it's a far cry from how he speaks at home).

[jabbathehutt]

Ezra feels like he should shut that down again, but it seems unfair, when Spot's only trying to understand.

He shrugs.

"Yanno what it's like. Kids come and go. Sometimes there's no point."

Translation: I had a street family and they all died.

[brooklynishere]

Spot doesn't quite get it, but he can tell there's something there that he's not saying, and he at least knows enough about this kind of life to make a few educated guesses. He nods his understanding - as much as he counts the newsies as his family, he knows he's kept most of them at arm's length too, not wanting any of them to realise the truth.

He supposes Ezra's got secrets of his own, too...

He falls silent, then, not quite sure what else to say. He's never really been a big talker.

[jabbathehutt]

Ezra's happy for that as well, sitting back for a few minutes and listening to the happiness around him as he was. He doesn't mind the silence, even if it's awkward

...until he picks up something sudden and sharp from beneath the docks. A rush of fear, from one of the boys that no one else has noticed.

He sits up - shoots a glance at Spot that does nothing except say he's scared of something - races to the edge of the dock and dives in.