Modern AU 

While snow was gracefully falling onto the cold streets of New York, a young girl in her third year of college was busy with attempting to make homemade hot chocolate bombs. So far it was going rather well in her mind. Music was softly playing in the background while the decorations sparkled against the gleaming lights. She was about to grab the bowl that was full of mini marshmallows, but was stopped with another hand beat her to it. She turned around and glared at him as he chewed the marshmallows with a cheeky look across his face.

"Before you yell at me, look! I got floof hair. See? See?" he gestured to his head with an even bigger smile.

"Remind me again why we're married. Or why I said yes to your proposal? Or better yet, why we became friends to begin with?" She leaned against the island with crossed arms.

"Feisty, winter break just started yesterday, can ya not ask me any questions for the remainder of the year? My head can't take any more knowledge."

That's right, Mush and Feister officially tied the knot a year and six months ago. Yes, it was a bit hard planning a wedding while they were in the sandwiched years of college, but just like every other thing they encountered in their life, they stuck together and it worked out for the better in the end. The newsies were beyond happy when the lovebirds said they were engaged...minus Blink of course, seeing as he was the person Mush dragged to jewelry store after jewelry store to find the right ring. Why that happened was for feedback purposes since Feister wasn't the kind of girl that wore jewelry. Unless you count the promise ring Mush had gotten when she turned sixteen. And even then, she mostly wore it as a necklace with the exception of a few occasions.

They have talked about getting a place of their own one day, but for now, living with Blink and Brooklyn was perfectly fine. There were no plans to make any big moves just yet. They were still both in college, Mush was already in his final year while Feister still had a few more under her belt. This was all long term planning for when they both had better jobs to actually get by on their own. As for now, they were fine with how things were at the moment.

It was a small apartment that was close to campus. In other words, despite the cold they could all easily walk there. Sometimes they'd stop for hot chocolate on the way in order to keep warm and then once they arrived it was off to the different buildings since they were all taking different courses. There were, however times in the day they'd cross paths. Though, truth be told, Mush purposely picked classes that would end just before Feister's so he could spend more time with her. Homework really took a beating out of them, more so than high school. But now that was all over for the meantime. Break had started the other day, so now the two lovebirds had more time for each other.

"And you wonder why I call ya Mush for brains." she turned back around and started placing handfuls of marshmallows into the bombs. "Now if you're done, you can help me make these."

But, Mush only wrapped his hands around her waist and gave it a tight squeeze. He nuzzled into her neck and said, "What's the point when you're already a cute little bomb of sweetness." he placed a kiss onto her neck. "Actually, now that I think about it, you're more like peppermint."

"Peppermint?" Feister questioned.

"Yeah. Sometimes the mintiness can be too much to handle....that made more sense in my head. Wait! Maybe you're like those cinnamon candies!"

"Mush, get to the point already before I dump this bowl of caramel onto your head!"

"I'm trying to say I love you!" Mush chuckled.

"Then why didn't you lead with that?" Feister exclaimed as she turned back around to give him a well deserved glare.

"Because you're cute when ya get all mad." with that being said, he pulled her in closer for a kiss. Which was exactly his plan from the very beginning. When he pulled away, Mush couldn't help but smile at the annoyed look written all over his wife's face. Clearly she figured out his little plan by now, to which he pulled her into a tightly warm hug and held her like that without saying a word.

Eventually Feister relented and wrapped her arms around Mush. her hands slowly made their way up towards the back of his neck and began playing with his hair. Surprisingly, it was floofy. His skin was still warm and tender as can be from the hot shower water. Really, Feister could simply pull herself up and wrap her legs around his waist so Mush could carry her to the couch, or the bedroom (it really didn't matter) for some cuddles....which would lead to a long afternoon nap. But what happened next put her back on edge. She looked up towards him, and without batting an eyelash she said, "You used my body wash again."

"But yours smells better."

"I return to the question, remind me again why I married you?"

"Shut up, you love me."

"Do I?" Feister teasingly asked.

"Yeah ya do, you just don't want to admit it. Besides, you're always stealing my hoodies, t-shirts, and oh yeah, my side of the bed...." Mush then lifted her up, placed her on the island top, and went in for another kiss. He felt her fingers move up and once again begin playing with his hair gently. "Seems only fair I get to use your body wash" he mumbled against her lips. And, without breaking the kiss, Mush sneaked a hand behind her back. reached for one of the empty chocolate bomb molds, and ran off as he took a big bite out of it.

"MUSH MEYERS YOU GET BACK HERE!" Feister yelled while stumbling off of the island. She began to sprint after him, but slipped due to the fuzzy socks that were on her feet. Quickly regaining her balance she went after him, weaving in and out through the furniture while yelling about how he was going to be sleeping on the couch that night if he didn't stop stealing the ingredients. Of course, it was no use in trying to get the half eaten bomb back, and Feister really should just let Mush eat the other useless half. But, she wasn't the kind to relent that easily, and instead she eventually tackled him onto the couch and pinned him down with a glare in her eyes. Chocolate was smudged around his lips while he had a rather smug face she wanted to wipe right off. The smugness, not the chocolate. That he can do on his own.

Though Feister was strong, Mush could easily overpower her, but he chose not to do so in order to mess with her just a little bit longer. "Yup, definitely cute when mad. But we already established that." he smirked.

"Careful, you're already halfway to sleeping on the couch," Feister warned.

"Eh, I don't care." he then flipped them around so now he was the one pinning her. However, his grip was just soft enough for Feister to slip away if she wanted too. But of course, he wasn't exactly gonna make it easy. Especially since he could start tickling her at any given moment. "Besides, if I sleep on the couch, you wouldn't have anybody to cling to when you fall asleep."

"Are we interruptin' anythin'?" a voice asked, making the duo look up to see that Blink and Brooklyn had returned home from their Christmas shopping adventure. "Cause if we are then you two can always -"

"Relax Blink, Mush brains decided it was a good idea to steal a chocolate bomb," Feister explained as she rolled onto the floor, causing Mush to face plant onto the couch.

"And ya might as well let me have the other half now," Mush smirked.

"Then get comfy cause you're sleeping there tonight." Feister glared at him.

"Promises, promises," he chuckled while leaning down to kiss the top of her head. "I love you, my little peppermint stick."

"Yeah yeah, whatever ya food napper."

Kid Blink and Brooklyn looked at each other with the same question on their mind. But they both decided it was best not to ask what happened while they were away. With Mush and Feister it's always best to know next to nothing if possible.

───── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─────

Author's note

I know this was a bit of a jump but I didn't want to do a repeat of the last two years, so I decided to try my hand at something a little different this time around. Timeline wise this takes place a couple of years after George the XI, (so a slight college AU in a few ways). Other than that, between updating News Girl and drafting Brooklyn's backstory it feels nice to get back to my Meister roots. Despite being married clearly their dynamic hasn't changed in the slightest. Fair warning I've only managed to write this and another Christmas themed one shot for this year. I know it's not much this year, but who knows, something might pop up last second. If not then that's ok. I'm not going to force myself to write when there's no inspiration since it'll cause write's block/zero motivation. As usual I must say that I don't own anything Newsies (and anything else that might get mentioned) only OCs. Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading and I'll see you soon