A new story! Really it's more like stories. It's a group of short stories of Jack's friends finding out just how insecure he is, and you as a reader, finding out why.

With that being said, every chapter is going to deal heavily with verbal abuse. A few chapters have physical abuse, but all of it is very verbal. If you don't like that, you can skip the italics part of each chapter.

Italics is Jack's pov, the rest is the other characters.

This chapter is pre-strike.

Anyway, please enjoy!

WARNING: Verbal abuse, a child gets slapped (if this is a no for you, skip the italics).

~TH~

Crutchie hummed quietly on the rooftop. It had been a good day of selling, now he had his back pressed against the wall, watching the sunset. Jack was on the other side of the roof, trying to finish a drawing while there was still light in the sky.

"Watcha workin' on?"

Jack's head shot up, startled.

"What are you working on, boy?" The large man staggered over to the table where the six-year-old was sitting at the small table, pencil in hand.

Young Jack Kelly looked up his father with wide, scared eyes. "I-I's just drawing."

"Ha!" The drunk man scoffed, snatching the paper out from under the boy's hands. "You call this drawin'?" He studies the paper, wadding it up and throwing it across the room. "This is nothing but scribbles!"

"I-it's the flowers. F-from, from Mamma's fun'ral."

He growled bringing a hand down on his son's face. Jack's head snapped to the side as the man grabbed the small pencil out of his hand, breaking it two.

"You can't draw worth nothin' boy so go ahead and get that through your thick skull. You's mamma could draw, but she's dead and ain't no one gonna ever be as good as her. So stop wasting your time and go do something useful!"

Jack tried desperately to keep the tears out of his eyes. "Yes, P-papa," He managed from trembling lips, standing and rushing out of the room.

Jack hadn't moved, staring into the distance as his chest rose and fell a bit too fast. He was remembering something, though Crutchie couldn't be sure exactly what. He knew the best thing to do for the moment was to just leave him alone.

"Nothin'." the older boy finally spoke. "I ain't workin' on nothin'. Just messin' around."

Crutchie hobbled over to his friend. He didn't want to crowd Jack, but he didn't want to leave him alone either. "Can I see?"

Jack pressed the sheet of paper to his chest giving a slightly fearful look at his best friend.

"Please?"

His hands came down a little, revealing to Crutchie a beautiful drawing of a sunset. "Jackie, it's beautiful." He gasped. "I di'n know you could draw." He reached for the paper, only for the older boy to jerk it back to himself.

"I can't. It was just somethin' for my hand to do, ta keep it busy."

Crutchie pulled Jack's hand away, taking the paper in his own. "This is amazing Jack. It's the sunset in black and white!"

"It's nothin' Crutch." he reached for the drawing, but the younger boy kept studying it.

"No, it ain't. It's somethin' for sure. Can I keep it?"

He looked at his friend. Jack blinked at him.

"Why would you want it?" He said, sounding utterly bewildered.

The crippled boy laughed, "Because it's good Jack. It's pretty. Makes me smile. So can I keep it?"

"If you really want to." Jack shrugged, "Jus'," he paused a moment while Crutchie looked at him expectantly. "Jus' don't show it to no one."

Crutchie nodded, but he didn't understand. If he could make something so beautiful, he'd want everyone to see it.

"I, uh, I should probably go make sure the boys is gettin' to bed." The Newsies leader practically jumped to his feet before heading down the latter.

Crutchie watched him go, still confused by his normally confident friend's actions. He looked at the picture and smiled. It truly was breathtaking. 

~TH~

That is the first part! 

Every chapter will deal with a different insecurity Jack has. If you have any ideas for chapters, let me know! I have four written at the moment and will be uploading them over the next couple days. 

Thanks so much for reading! Please comment if you enjoyed it or have any critiques or suggestions!

Follow me on tumblr @ Trekkiehood.

God bless,
Jamie