Home Pt. 1 The Confusion
A/N: Hey everybody I am really really excited for this! This is a Crutchie x reader. This idea came to me at 12 am and decided to start writing it so I hope you enjoy! Just know there will be more parts to this series, I don’t know when I’ll post the 2nd part but it’ll come within reasonable timing I promise!
WARNINGS: Angst, death, mentions of abuse, mentions of suicide, blood or wounds (idk if this one counts already with the abuse warning but I’ll just put it in there)
Summary: You had just been let go from the Refuge and meet some newsboys who seemed to be mistaken.
You knew that this would be the end for you, after 3 long years of being locked up in the Refuge today was the day you were finally set free, though before you could enjoy your newfound freedom Snyder decided he needed to teach you one more lesson before you were let go. Afterwards he threw you into the nearest alleyway and left you there to die. There you were, hidden in an alley covered in blood, dirt and bruises from head to toe; curled up in the tightest ball your body would allow. You had tried to get further away from that horrible place you were in no shape to move anywhere far anytime soon.
“Hey are you alright?” Frightened by the sudden new voice you turned and scooted away from it, not saying a word you looked up to see a boy. He looked like one of those newsboys you would see through the window of the Refuge, the most distinctive feature you noticed about him was the kindness that radiated in his eyes but in this moment he looked more concerned. He adjusted his crutch and came a little closer to you but he kept his distance.
“You… you’se not much of a talker are you?” More silence, you weren’t sure what you wanted to say or even if you wanted to say anything at all, “Well my name is Crutchie and-” you smirked when you heard his name, you highly doubted that it was his real name but the nickname suited him well, he took notice of your smirk and gave a little chuckle to your expression. “yeah I’se know it sounds silly but I likes it, so what happened to you? Do you have any family? Any home?” You looked down when he said that, you did have a family but you were an only child and your family was more like people you lived with instead of the loving kind where you would see the mother and the father laughing and making jokes with the kid, the kind you saw out and about around the park, things only got worse when your mom was killed in a work accident your dad couldn’t handle it and took his own life shortly after. So you were all alone and only 11. Crutchie must have picked up on your sudden sadness and stretched his hand out to you.
“Hey why don’t you come with me? I know a place where you could earn some money and get a bed.” You were a little suspicious you spent one year living on the streets before Snyder decided that you should be sent to living hell and you learned quickly never to trust anyone so quickly but just the sincere look in his eyes softened you up a bit. You reached up for his outstretched hand but after momentarily forgetting about how badly injured you were you were snapped back into reality and fell back down and noticed that one of you began to bleed again and Crutchie looked down and his eyes went wide now that you weren’t curled up in the fetal position anymore he could see how badly beat up you were,
“Oh my god I’se didn’t realize how badly beaten up you was, stay here I’m gonna get some help alright.” He left you alone in a panicked pace, limped away as fast as he could, when he was out of sight you leaned against the brick wall and took deep breaths in and out and ripped off a long piece of the rags you called clothes, and wrapped it around the spot where you bled, which had happened to be your torso and tied it tightly, wincing from the pain you looked down and saw that you momentarily stopped the bleeding. You closed your eyes and began to take deep breaths again until you heard a familiar voice and heard footsteps, multiple. With Crutchie you saw two other boys with him, you scooted away again not sure of what to make of this even though you met Crutchie you still had to keep your guard up if you wanted to survive in this world. Crutchie seemed to pick up on your suspicion, “Don’t worry these guys are here to help you.” The two boys behind you gave you a reassured look, the one on Crutchie’s right side wore a blue long sleeve and a gray vest, he looked a little bit older than you and Crutchie, more of a leader, and to on his left side another boy, probably also the same age as you, almost the same type of clothing but with a cigar dangling from his mouth unlit.
“Well I ain’t the best at medical care but the boys back at the Lodging House get hurt frequently so you pick up a few things.” The boy in the blue crouched down, “Name’s Jack Kelly.” You gave wave and and the other boy piped up and said, “Oh and I’m Race.” You gave a puzzled look towards Crutchie and he explained, “Most of the boys have nicknames like Race and I.”
“Alright well let’s see what we’re dealing with here.” Jack pulled out bandages, cotton balls, and other forms of makeshift medical things from an old bag; you could tell that these boys probably didn’t have enough money so whatever in this bag was either traded with, made, or perhaps stolen. You noticed that Jack would try and fix you himself and that alone just made you more nervous, you never really liked physical contact and that anxiousness worsened through time, you stopped him and pointed to the stuff and then yourself hoping he would get the message that you wanted to do it yourself. After a few seconds of trying to process what you tried to tell him Jack handed you the stuff and you gave him a grateful smile. Turning to the side you began to fix your wounds. Jack turned to the other boys and talked in a hushed voice, though not hushed enough for you to overhear the conversation. Both Jack and Race grilled Crutchie on what he knew about you and why you were in the condition you were, his very obvious answer was: I don’t know. As you finished patching yourself up you tried to get up but it seemed impossible at this point, you silently cursed Snyder under your breath because you knew that all of your pain and suffering was because of him. The three boys see you try to get up and almost fall, Jack goes and tries to hold you upright and the second you come he touches you and you flinch and accidentally knock over a crate that was nearby and land back on the ground. Breathing deeply you faced the guys and they looked shocked and seemed to pity you, you silently cursed yourself for having such a reaction towards these guys, they were trying to help you.
“Listen, we’s ain’t gonna hurt you, we want to help you?” You looked up and it was Race talking to you, you gave a look that gave of how guilty you felt and Jack sat down next to you,
“Hey, its alright we aren’t gonna hurt you ok? Listen, Crutchie told us you were in the Refuge,” you look back up to Jack, knowing for a fact you did not tell any of that to Crutchie, hell, you haven’t even spoken a word to him yet, “no I mean, he thinks you were… were you?” Tears welling up you look down and nod, “I know what you’ve been through, I’ve been in there quite a few times myself.” He had been there. He also had his run-ins with Snyder, what a twisted way to share something in common with someone. “Look I’m gonna be honest with you: it’s about to get dark soon, so’s why don’t you come with us and become a newsie?” Crutchie walked closer to you and leaned down towards you, “You can make some money and get some food, also live in the Lodging House.” Race came by also, “And get some rest after what Snyder the Spider had done to you.” What was it with all the nicknames?
“So’s what do you say? You in?” Crutchie reached for your hand, you knew that this would be the best option for you, so you took his hand tried to get up this time letting Jack help up. You soon figured out that your legs were just so sore from everything Snyder had done to you, you hoped that they’ll get better with time… hopefully. You were asked multiple questions to which you replied the same way: silence. You figured it would be better this way to not say anything at all so all of your responses were either shrugs or nods.
By the time you all arrived at the Lodging House it was sunset and you could sorta walk on your own limping only a few times. You entered and you saw a big group of boys messing around, playing cards, laying on their beds, or eating some bread.
“Just wait here for a minute.” Jack turned to you and then turned back to the group of boys and yelled for their attention, “Hey! Everyone!” All of the boys settled down and turned their attention to Jack, “Alright! Now I would like you to meet our new friend and his name is… well he don’t talk much so we don’t know yet but we’ll find somethin’ for you, anyways-” Wait did he say he as in a boy? Your eyes went wide at your sudden realization: Jack, and most likely everyone in this room, thought you were a boy. You started to worry and your mind began to race thinking about the worst that could happen if they found out the truth about you. You were snapped back to reality when Crutchie touched your arm and you turned to him and he asked you, “Hey you alright?” You turned and faced his warm hazel eyes and and the softness in his smile made you suddenly glad that you chose to stay silent you simply nodded and you turned back to face Jack as he was finished wrapping up his speech, “-So let’s welcome our new member with open arms!” Everyone cheered and met you one by one, you learned that more than half of the boys had nicknames and that they all did the same thing everyday which would be sell papers and try to survive. When everything died down you went to look for a restroom and after awhile of searching you find it on the upper level where no one else was and you enter and lock the door and after 3 years of being in the Refuge you finally see yourself.
There’s so many bruises that you don’t even try to count them, there’s dried blood everywhere but what’s most distinctively different is your hair; your hair seemingly stopped growing, most likely because of the mistreatment your hair had been through with the pulling and all of the dirt in it. You decide to wash off the blood and afterwards your face is more clear but the bruises, new and old, hide your face. You knew that if the boys found out that you were actually a girl they would immediately remove you from the Lodging House, you were sure that there were rules against girls staying in a Lodging House with a bunch of boys. You looked at the mirror and saw a long shard of it was on the verge of falling out of place. Slowly you pull it out, you bring it to your hair and slice a piece to see if what you were thinking of would work. You hid the shard of glass beneath the sink and threw away the piece of hair. Was this a horrible plan? Yes. Would it work? Hopefully.
A/N: Hi there! Hope everyone like this and if you do maybe reblog it? Also I wanna get your input as to what you all think the nickname should be??? I’m having trouble figuring it out so I would like to see what you all think? Just send me a message or anon also if you want to be on the tag list reblog and or just send an ask (not on anon tho because then theres no way I could add you lol) CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS ALWAYS WELCOMED!!!!
