So Newsies is finally open in London. So far I’ve only seen it once (nothing in the world was keeping me away from the first preview), but that’s set to triple by the end of the week 😂 Can’t believe after eight years, it’s actually in my city.

If you’re one of the people who’s dropped into my tumblr messages over the last few years to reminisce about fics you still remember or reread, then thank you kindly. A lot of my work on here is frankly embarrassing to look back on now, but I’ve decided to leave the majority of it up in case there is still someone out there who might want to reread one someday. I can’t promise new content, but I’m not ruling it out completely either and anything new I write will be significantly less awful that I things I was writing several years ago!

I just wanted to promise y’all I haven’t given up on this blog! I’m just writing a book all of my own at the moment (maybe you’ll be able to read that one day!) so that’s taking precedent.

Also I’m at a J/eremy J/ordan concert and he’s a huge fuckin nerd. Just thought you should all know.

One Jack pin left!

While I was counting stock for a convention, I discovered that there’s just one Jack Kelly costume enamel pin left! This design won’t be restocked, so if you’d had your eye on it, act now!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/lovedoesdesigns/listing/516677493/jack-kelly-newsies-enamel-pin

Times Spot Has Cried

Spot Conlon is not a huge fan of emotions so he limits crying as much as he can, but sometimes he can’t help it. I present to you a (non-exhaustive) list of times he has cried:

Reunion - A Titanic AU Fic (Part 2/2)

Part 1

If had taken a while for Davey to convince Sarah that his letter wasn’t a hoax or a joke. He’d had to constantly repeat the fact that he didn’t want money or to claim part of an inheritance, he just wanted to say hi. He could tell she still didn’t believe it was really him, but eventually, by divulging some details of their childhood that no one else would know, she’d agreed to come and see him. One month later Sarah and Les were supposedly on a train, on their way to Santa Fe where Davey and Jack planned to meet them at the nearest train station. When it came to organisation it couldn’t have been easier for Davey, but his heart was still threatening to burst out of his chest. He hadn’t seen either of his siblings in a decade, and they’d assumed him dead for all of that time. It would be completely understandable for them to hate him.

“She didn’t believe it was me,” he mumbled, mostly to himself. Sarah might not even be coming.

“Can you blame her? She thought you were dead,” Jack pointed out tentatively.

They were sat on a bench outside the station so they could keep Katie away from the potential roar of trains. She was currently asleep in Davey’s arms and it was really best she stay that way.

“What if she still doesn’t believe me?” he panicked.

“After seeing your face? That’s pretty unlikely,” Jack laughed softly, taking a quick look around before pressing a kiss to Davey’s cheek.

“What if she hates me?” Davey’s spiral of terror was slowly building up, imagining the worst possible scenarios. What if Sarah never turned up, or she reported him and Jack for their relationship and Katie got taken away, or she had turned into a carbon copy of their mother.

“Davey, calm down. She’s going to be thrilled,” Jack promised, trying to be reassuring.

Just as he finished getting the words out, Davey heard the sound of a train approaching the station behind them. Without a hand free to check his watch, he turned to Jack and, when he got a nod in confirmation that this was the train they were waiting on, fear bloomed in his eyes. He’d been waiting on this a while and now the moment was here. He really wished it wasn’t.

“Want me to take her?” Jack offered, gesturing to Katie.

Davey gave him a suspicious look. It wasn’t often Jack could hold anything particularly heavy, with his wrists painful more days than not.

“They feel fine, I promise,” Jack said merrily, flexing his wrists.

They didn’t. They were having one of those hurt-so-bad-they-may-as-well-be-on-fire days, but Jack wanted to make this meeting as easy on Davey as possible and it was going to go more smoothly if he wasn’t holding a baby. Besides, he loved their daughter and it killed him that he couldn’t hold her as often as he wanted. Just this once he was going to endure the pain, despite how bad Davey told him it was to do that.

Still distrustful but aware Jack could make his own decisions, Davey carefully handed over their sleeping child. Just as he was tucking her blanket back around her so she was comfortable in Jack’s arms, a someone spoke behind him.

“David?”

It was Sarah’s voice, still unmistakable to him even after ten years without hearing it. Climbing shakily to his feet, Davey was faced with both of his siblings as they clutched travel bags and stared at the ghost before them.

There were a million things Davey wanted to say, but he couldn’t find the perfect way to word any of them.

“Hi,” he managed, his throat dry.

“I thought you…” Sarah trailed off, still not able to actually vocalise the words. She was still stunned in disbelief. The letters had seemed convincing enough, but it was too dangerous to hope so she’d maintained it would be a friend of Davey’s or at least someone with answers she never thought she’d get, but not her brother himself, waiting for them.

“I know. I’m sorry, Sarah, but… We couldn’t risk Mama saying something,” Davey sighed, finding his voice just a little. The pain Jack had had to endure on the ship because of their relationship was nothing Davey could bear to let him experience again.

“We?” Sarah asked.

Jack stood up and nodded at Sarah, prevented from the awkward wave Davey knew he would have done instead had he not been holding a baby who was slowly waking up from her nap. From the way Sarah’s eyes went wide, she recognised him.

“Hey,” he said, offering half a smile. “One arrest was enough.”

Her eyes flickering between her brother and his lover, Sarah struggled to understand how two people she thought were at the bottom of the ocean were safe on land and seemingly living a happily ever after.

“But I saw the survivor lists, I scoured them,” she narrowed her eyes. She’d read those lists hundreds of times, just in case she was missing one name amid the hundreds.

“David Kelly. That’s who I’m down as,” he explained, shuffling his feet with a tinge of embarrassment. He’d been quick to give up his family name, and he hadn’t made any attempt to reclaim it since. It was a life he’d rejected.

“So, you’re-?” Sarah began, turning to Jack.

“Jack Kelly, yeah.”

“And this is…?”

She reached out a hand to the yawning baby, Katie immediately latching on to her finger with a tiny hand.

“Katie. Our daughter,” Davey grinned, loving that things seemed to be going so smoothly.

He turned from his sister to his brother.

Les hadn’t said much of anything. He had been too busy staring at the brother who had practically returned from the grave, and in all honestly it was a stare Davey couldn’t help but return. The little brother he’d left behind when he’d set sail on the ‘ship of dreams’ was gone and there was a young man in his place. By Davey’s best estimates, Les was 19 now and he found himself hating everything he’d missed. Still, at least he was still alive to catch up on it all now.

Leaving Sarah to coo over the baby in Jack’s arms, Davey took a few steps towards Les. Before he could get a word out, Les was speaking first.

“We all thought you were dead.”

His voice was cold and the lack of familiarity in it sent a chill down Davey’s spine. The interaction caught Jack’s attention and he was suddenly back at Davey’s side, with Katie still in his arms.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that,” Davey sighed, sadly. He had nothing to offer but the truth. “We didn’t really have a choice.”

It was impossible to explain the threats and the hatred that Esther had directed at him onboard the Titanic without demonizing their mother, and he wasn’t sure Les was ready to hear that so soon after her death.

Les nodded slowly, trying to make sense of everything that was happening. He hadn’t really been expecting it to be the real Davey waiting for them off the train.

“So you do like men?” he asked, needing a direct answer. Sarah had never given him a direct answer, always saying that it was Davey’s business, if she was even willing to talk about him at all. Mainly she refused and, knowing the tears that collected at the corners of her eyes at the mention of Davey’s name, he didn’t ask much.

Davey swallowed back nerves, not used to being directly asked. Usually people just got the message and tolerated it but didn’t talk about it.

“Yes. I do. I hope that isn’t a problem?” he said, trying to look more confident than he felt.

“Is this Jack?” Les asked, turning to the man hovering nervously next to Davey with a baby.

It didn’t escape Davey’s notice that he was avoiding his question. There was a pang of pain in his chest at the idea of his little brother not being able to make his peace with having a queer sibling, but there was still a little bit of hope. Maybe if he just met Jack he’d be okay.

Jack himself had decided it was best to stay quiet. He knew this was difficult for Davey and didn’t want to make it worse.

“Yes. I love him very much. I’m not asking you to understand that, or to even agree with it. Just respect it,” Davey said, staying as strong as possible. He very much wanted to take Jack’s hand for support, but Katie was somewhat of an obstacle.

Les was looking at Jack with equal measures of curiosity and confusion, like he couldn’t comprehend how Davey had chosen this person as the one to spend his life with.

“He’s the reason you’re alive?” he asked, a little wary.

“Probably on more levels than just the one,” Davey admitted.

He’d never have survived the Titanic without his husband, but Jack was also instrumental to his mental health when it came to living as openly as he safely could as a man who loved another man. He wasn’t sure he’d feel so happy being himself without Jack at his side.

After a moment of deliberation that was too long for Davey’s sanity to remain entirely intact, Les turned to Jack and gave him a respectful nod.

“I’m Les,” he introduced himself so formally Sarah was hiding was a smile. Jack grinned back.

“Hiya Les, I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Jack. I’d shake your hand, but,” he gestured down to the child in his arms, “I’m a little tied down.” He shared a smile with Davey, both of them intensely relieved.

“Whose baby is it?” Les asked.

“Well, ours. Your brother and I,” Jack explained, but he could tell that wasn’t going to be a suitable clarification. “She was left on our doorstep, so we’re looking after her.”

“Permanently?”

“Hopefully, yes,” Jack admitted, holding Katie just a little bit tighter. The idea of someone taking her away physically hurt.

“So she’s my niece?” Les suggested tentatively.

“Yeah. She is,” Davey nodded, withholding the intense amount of glee he felt that Les was acknowledging familial ties.

Les took a tiny step closer to the baby, waiting for Jack’s permission before reaching out to gently bop her on the nose and make her smile. Sensing that all the tension had dissipated, Sarah stepped up behind Davey and wrapped him up into a tight hug. The day she had both her brothers alive in one place was one she never thought she’d see again.

“I’m glad you’re alive,” she smiled. “Both of you.” Because anyone who mattered to Davey, mattered to her.

Sorry for being so absent! I’ve just got a new job and while I love it, it doesn’t leave me with much free time. But I promise good things are coming 💚

Newsies flower ^.^

New Etsy Shop Item!

So I finally found a use for all the show leaflets cluttering my flat and my life: paper roses! These are super cute and can be purchased as either long-stem flowers (stems are wire and can be bent around stuff) or hair clips!

There’s so many different shows in the listing, but there’s even more that aren’t up there (ran out of room) so send me a message if you want one and can’t find your favourite show! (I went trawling through my leaflet archives and found exactly TWO newsies leaflets from Broadway, so if you want a newsies hair clip or rose then hmu quick).

https://etsy.me/2z03YDE