Modern Au

The comb gently ran through her softly curled hair while she continued to not only debate between lip stick and lip gloss, but also on which perfume to go with. The only good part was she had settled on an outfit days ago...with some help of course. She had chosen simple skinny jeans that had a few tatters, a white shirt with thick black strips and a simple bomber jacket.

"Can't believe I'm about to say these words," Feister began as she rested her forearm on Brooklyn's shoulder. "But go with the pink gloss. And the perfume you usually wear should be fine." once that was said she went to gently combing the curls to give it that softer effect. At least, that's what Brooklyn told her to do. In all honesty she had absolutely zero clue when it came to hairstyles that weren't braids and ponytails.

"I just...want to look perfect, ya know?" the freckled girl replied as she opened up the little bottle of gloss and began to apply to her lips, making sure not to add too much or too little. Her makeup was a simple natural look. And I really do mean that. Most of the work had gone on her eyelids, though she did lightly brush on some bronzer and highlighter just to tie the look together. The finer details of this date were kept locked up, and any information she got was along the lines of "casual". "With it being a first official date and all..." her cheeks flushed the same color of the lip gloss bottle. "Any other one I've been on before meeting Al doesn't count. At all. I was sort of the back up girl now that I think about it."

"Well, hey. It's the bummer's loss, Albert's win." Feister smiled.

"Any clue what he's got planned?" she asked hopefully.

"Sides takin' you out to eat I've got no clue. This is Albert we're talkin' bout here."

Brooklyn heavily sighed seeing as that plan had failed. Though, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise seeing as she bugged Race for details, but the blonde boy had kept his lips shut. Mostly because Albert refused to tell him, and anyone else about what he's planning in case someone slips up. Then word would get to her and everything would be ruined. "Is my outfit at least-"

"Let's just say you're lucky Katherine's outta town, otherwise she would've shoved ya in a skirt," Feister cut off with a hint of bitterness in her voice. Yes, she was still mad about that, but her feelings on the item that forced her to sit properly wasn't important at the moment. Right now was playing the older sister role for the freckled girl. Hypothetically of course since Brooklyn is older than her, but apparently her knowing the boys like the back of her hand qualified her enough to play the part.

"I dunno bout that," a new voice said. "You looked pretty cute on our first date. And even though you're cute all the time, you're the cutest when wearin' my clothes."

"Knock much?" Feister asked Mush.

"Just here to tell Brooky that it ain't too late to back-"

"Oh look at that, he's made it past the denial stage. Why couldn't have that happened oh..I dunno...tomorrow?"

Brooklyn rolled her eyes at her brother and Feister's banter. It wasn't the first time she's witnessed it, and it certainly wouldn't be the last either. Yet, somehow despite all the bickering and yelling they made their relationship work out for the better. How that was possible, she had no idea. All she really knew was that it was true love....she wanted that too. Minus the constant bickering of course. Did she have that? Was the real question. Everything sort of spiraled out of control over the past few weeks. There was nothing serious going on, but it was pretty close...to...it....Brooklyn had to pause for a moment. The things she started to think were all too familiar as her stomach turned into a knot. Maybe this was a bad idea after all...it was too soon. Too fast. What was she even thinking in the first place. That's just it, wasn't it? She wasn't thinking at all and instead jumped in head first into strange territory. There was definitely a pattern for her choice in romance. The fast pace kind that would suddenly stop without any warning whatsoever. But...Albert wasn't like that. It would be too much out of character for him to do something like that. And Feister's reassured her that he's loyal as can be. And to be patient since this whole thing is new territory for him too. Which was very reassuring. Not.

"You ok Brook? You're lookin' a little flustered there."

"For once I agree with Mush brains," Feister replied with a nod of the head. "And I know for sure you didn't use the stuff that makes your cheeks all pink."

"Yeah, don't worry, I'm fine," Brooklyn whispered quietly.

"Probably the nerves talking. Once you fall into the swing of it, everythin' will be fine mini Meyers," Feister reassured. But when Brooklyn didn't answer, that's when she finally put two and two together. So Feister leaned closer to her ear so Mush wouldn't be able to hear. She figured this wasn't the time and or place for this to be revealed. Besides, this was Brooklyn's story to tell, not hers. When she's ready to become more open then she will. In the mean time, Feister's lips would be completely sealed. Unlike the boys, she knew how to keep her mouth shut. "I know why you're worried, but ya don't have to be." she whispered ever so quietly. "I promise you, Albert ain't nothin' like him. He's not the type guy of go around breakin' hearts. Ignore any and all the rumors you've heard cause they ain't true. If he didn't like ya he wouldn't have asked ya out. Muchless kiss ya in front of the entire school for that matter."

This made Brooklyn chuckle and look at Feister with the softest smile. "You mean that?"

"Newsie's honor," Feister replied with her signature smirk.

"Am I missin' somethin'?" Mush piped up after witnessing...whatever that was.

"Nah, just a little girl talk is all," Feister said as she sent Brooklyn a quick wink.

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"Watch your head gorgeous, there's a beam comin' up." he held both her hands in his while carefully walking backwards on the steps to help guide her down. "We're almost there. Just a few more to go and...ok, now you can open 'em," he said with a hint of proudness in his voice.

Brooklyn opened her eyes, letting them adjust to the lighting to see that most of the walls were made out of brick. A bar area was to the far side of the room, and she could see the little window that peaked into the kitchen. She could smell all sorts of food coming out from there, but what she was able to pick up the most was a garlic mixed with something she couldn't put her finger on. And boy did it smell good. She could faintly hear music playing, she couldn't exactly name the song, but she did recognize it. There were booths lining the border of the walls while tables took up the rest of the space. To the other side of the room was a mini arcade with the older, classic games that would be harder to find in any other arcade. There was also skeeball, air hockey, and darts too. By the looks and smells of everything, this place definitely screamed Albert through and through. She wouldn't be surprised if this was one of his usual hangouts either. And soon that hunch was answered, because as they headed towards the corner booth, there were several greetings from the staff and customers as they went to their table.

"I'm guessing you come here a lot," Brooklyn said as she removed the purse strap from her shoulder and set it aside.

"Yup," Albert replied, popping out the p. "Figured it was better than goin' to Jacobi's and all the other places ya been to already. Sides, I wanted ya to be the first girl I brought here. The only girl I'd ever being here."

This made Brooklyn look up in pure shock. Did he just say what she thinks he said? Or did she hear it wrong.

"My mom used to bring me and my older brothers here whenever. There was this one time when I was still part of the pee-wee tea...we were down by two points, bases were loaded and I needed to hit a homerun to win the game. Course me bein' a kid and havin' a lotta pressure I choked up and was striked out. After that, she dropped my older brothers at Grammys, we came here and she let me drown my sorrows in an extra large banana split. For lunch too." he chuckled at the memory. "Then course things changed next thing I know, Klopp's the one bringin' me here with the boys an' Feisty after a game. Then I'm here with the team and now with you."

That was probably the deepest she's ever seen Albert get. In fact, that was the first time he's ever opened up about his past to her. Brooklyn never really took him for a "in the feels" type of guy. Albert only ever had two main moods. Laid back, and goofy. If there was or wasn't an in between, she's yet to find out. "What happened to your mom?" Brooklyn quietly asked.

"Cancer," Albert replied calmly.

"Al-"

"Don't be sorry. Ain't your doing," he cut off before she could reply.

"What'd bout-"

"My dad drank my mom's death away. As for my brothers they were both much older than me. Guess you can say I was an only child for most of my life. Liam went into the marines, wanted to follow in Gramps footsteps. Cade made some bad choices after mom died. Became a truck driver once he somewhat got his life together. Gram took care of me long as she could, but it was hard. After she passed that's how I ended up at the Lodge."

"Do you ever miss your brothers?" was Brooklyn's next question.

"Sometimes. There's a letter or a call every so often, but I've got Racer, Jojo and the rest of the fellas. And I wouldn't wanna trade them for the world. They're my brothers. Feisty's my sister. You're my girl. And that's all there is to it. Couldn't ask for anythin' else in life."

My girl...just two simple words that somehow made Brooklyn's stomach flutter into a million butterflies. Then again, Albert always had a knack for making her feel that way, and it scared her that someone she's known for only a few months can cause such emotion. But, it was the same scenario with him...made her feel everything and anything with a few words. She fell for him (hard I might add). What did that lead too? She got played. Her heart was broken for a boy that didn't care about her the way she did for him. Albert ain't nothin' like him. He's not the type guy of go around breakin' hearts. Feister's words repeated in her mind. Brooklyn would just have to trust that statement, right? At least, that's what she told herself.

Albert would be lying to himself if he said he didn't take notice of the way Brooklyn suddenly seemed tense out of nowhere. Though it wasn't completely out of character for that to happen to her, he couldn't shake the feeling there was a deeper meaning. He knew very little about her past relationship, just knew the guy she was kind of with was a complete idiot who played her. Ok, he wasn't told with those words exactly, but it didn't take a genius to figure how that was the case. So he got up from where he was sitting, slid next to her and asked, "You alright princess?"

She flinched at his question. "Yeah. Fine," she mumbled in reply as she kept her eyes down on her lap.

"Was that somethin' he used to call ya?" it stung a little to ask, but the redhead needed to know. He had made good progress with the freckled girl, and he didn't want to her to start taking steps backwards. But if she did then he'd try extra hard to make her feel secure. "Look, I ain't gonna push for details till you're ready. Hell. I don't think I want to know 'em either. But I'm tellin' ya right now, that I ain't-"

"I know," Brooklyn cut off quietly. "It's me. All of it, everything, it's not you it's just me." she admitted. Before Albert could say anything, she looked over at him and said, "I'm scared. Scared of this. You. Me,. Us...where this is headed and-" she rested her elbows on the table, letting her face fall into her hands. "Everything is - it's all happening so fast and I don't know what it is. I've only known you for a couple of months and gosh I shouldn't be getting all these feelings so quickly and the last time it happened I got my heart broken by some sucker who didn't feel the same way I did for him so-"

"Woah! Slow down doll face. Take a breather." Albert didn't want to cut her off. He's learned first hand that when a girl rambles to let her get everything off her chest. Then he can talk and possibly comfort her. But Brooklyn had started talking a mile a minute to the point her accent was getting thicker, making it nearly impossible to understand what exactly she was saying. He gently rub her back, starting to feel a bit of of his comfort zone. Overwhelming girly emotions wasn't his forte. Finch, Henry, Crutchie, Mush and Buttons, (just to name a few) were usually the experts on this sort of thing. How many times has he witnessed Feister losing her cool? One would think he would've paid some attention on how to handle such a task when his own girl would snap. Sadly, that wasn't the case, and he was about to go off of memories that were all blurred together into one tiny lump. Usually if Albert somehow found himself with an emotional Feister, he'd simply grab some snacks and turn on the younger girl's favorite Clone Wars episodes. But, Brooklyn wasn't Feister and needed other means of comfort.

Before he could say anything, Brooklyn pulled herself up, laid her head on his shoulder and sniffed her nose. So the moment was more delicate than he originally thought. She usually wasn't the physical touch kind of girl, unless she was either extremely tired or the moment felt right....Ok so maybe Albert should start paying more attention to how Mush handles Feister when she snaps. On the bright side, Brooklyn was too sweet of a girl to punch him if he said the wrong thing. That's about the only thing that helped Albert in the moment. "If ya don't want me to call ya princess I won't."

"It's not that," she quietly replied. "I'm just scared."

"Of?"

"You. Breaking my heart." she glanced up at him with soft wide eyes.

"Why would I go and do a stupid thing like that?" he asked. "Sides, we both know your brother would soak me if I did." that made Brooklyn laugh. They both knew it was true. Hell, Feister and Race would probably be down his back if that happened. "I ain't perfect, I'll say that now. Who is anyways? But I would never purposely hurt ya. That's a promise Freckles."

"I like it when you call me that."

Albert let out a light chuckle as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Anyways, what're you in the mood to eat?"

"Not sure...any suggestions?"

"Well let's see, with it bein' your first time here I've got at least three suggestions, there's deep dish pizza, the grilled cheese special, and the ribs."

Once she had taken a closer look at the items Albert had suggested she decided to go with the grilled cheese, which came with fries and a side soup of choice if she wanted. And it seemed she had chosen her meal just in time because the waitress had come over to take their order. Albert ended up going with the everything deep dish pizza.

"Ok but you have to try a slice of pizza. It's one of the best in the entire city. And I should know, I've had a lot of pizza in my day." Albert smirked.

Brooklyn couldn't hold back a laugh due to the adorable look across the redhead's face at that moment. Yet, that was all the more reason to run away from what was going on between them. It started out with a simple kiss, and sure he was a gentleman for actually asking to kiss. Most people would find that a mood killer, but it told Brooklyn that Albert wasn't going to push her. Still, that was all the more reason to run away from all of this.

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Surprisingly enough there weren't any sort of bumps in the road whatsoever, it was actually quite enjoyable. Even though Brooklyn was still on the quiet side of things, Albert didn't mind doing all the talking, he already figured that was going to be the case. When she was ready to become more talkative, he'd be all ears. However, he did manage to get her to say more than half a sentence, and he learned she can make a joke about something, or even get a little sassy when she was comfortable enough. Though it was hard to tell if it was a habit picked up from Feister or Brooklyn's natural, laid back personality given how much time the two girls would spend together. Either way he liked laid back Brooklyn.

Her little fingers were laced with his. Dark-ish clouds were starting to roll in slowly as they walked back to the Lodge. She listened with a soft smile as Albert told her about some chaotic times. Most of which were about her brother's not so finer moments. The ones she hasn't heard from Feister that is. Every now and again Brooklyn would laugh or even shake her head at some of the more...crazier times that got them in trouble. It wasn't long before Brooklyn found herself standing on the Lodging House steps. She was somewhat face to face with Albert once she reached the second step, though the redhead still had a few good inches on her. She was a bit on the shorter end of the scale, but still made the five foot mark. Then again, Albert was naturally one of the taller boys among the newsies, so either way she was short compared to him.

"Did ya have a nice time?" Albert asked. "Such a nice time that you're willin' to go on a second date sometime in the near future? Then maybe a third, and fourth and so on?"

"I don't know. You'll just have to ask me and see what happens Red," Brooklyn replied with a soft smirk across her lips.

"You're a tease Freckles." he gently wrapped his hands around her waist, gently pulling her closer in the process.

"So are you, Dasilva."

"Is there anythin' you want to do about it?"

Brooklyn felt her stomach suddenly fill with a million butterflies at that very moment. The look in his eyes told her that he wanted this as much as she did....but was she really willing to put her heart out on the line again? Or was she already too far gone? All the way in the deepest end there is, with no hope of resurfacing? Was she ready for this...ready to take the risk again? Everything was happening so fast, it all blurred together. The time where he stood up for her when her so called friends and sorry excuse of an ex wouldn't leave her alone...that little kiss in the froyo shop, where literally the newsies and Feister could've caught them. The failed skateboarding lesson that resulted a little bruise on her bottom, causing her to go numb for days, all the way to now. But the longer she looked into his eyes, the more Brooklyn realized that she was already gone before it had even hit her.

"Ya know, this is usually where we're supposed to kiss," Albert chuckled just as thunder rolled in the air. He glanced up for a moment before looking at the freckled girl again. "Better make up your mind soon fore the rain comes in."

"And if I told you that's been on my bucket list since I was like ten?"

"Datin' your brother's friend or kissin' in the rain? Cause those are two very different scenarios doll face."

"Which one do you think, Red?"

For a split second Albert pretended to think for a moment while biting his lip. Mostly because he wanted to get this timing perfect since he felt a rain drop splash on his neck. In the next few moments, more rain started to drizzle down, causing her to wrap her arms around his shoulders and pull herself closer. "You're crazy Brooklyn Meyers." he said, using her real name for the first time since she had received the nickname "Freckles". "But I'm crazier." with that being said, Albert leaned up and kissed her right then and there.

Brooklyn didn't hesitate like all the other times they've shared a kiss, and instead cupped his face, bringing herself closer to him as the rain started to soak both of them in those next few seconds that seemed to slow down in an instant. She pulled away when she felt like she could no longer breathe with a wide smile. "Yeah, you are crazy."

"Bout you." he smirked before leaning in for one more quick kiss before pulling away.

To say the least there was still a long way to go in their little relationship. Albert definitely had his work cut out for what could come later on down the road. Her little break down of sorts just proved that point further. She had been hurt by someone who played mind games on her day in and day out. He knew that whenever Brooklyn would end up shutting down it wasn't anything he did, it was her own head messing with her. But no matter what happened, Albert wouldn't give up on the freckled girl. He'd make sure she knew that it was safe to let down the walls she had built.

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Author's note

Just so there's no confusion, this takes place sometime after Better Than a Homerun. With that being said, it's kind of weird writing Feister as a sisterly figure to Brooklyn, but it's still fun nonetheless. And it makes it even better to think she's completely clueless when it comes to things like beauty and love advice to a certain extent. Moving on from the sisterly moment and onto Alblyn, yay, they finally went on their first date. Few cute moments and some deep ones...Fun fact, on the back of Albert's trading card it says he has two older brothers (little canon-ish work for ya there). As for sweet innocent Brooklyn she's been through a lot, has her doubts, yet still knows inside that this is right. Has it fully registered in her mind at this point yet? I really can't tell you. Her timeline of events is all over the place...while on that note I'm slightly more confidant in modern AU Brooklyn then I am canon time. Other news regarding the backstory it's drafted so I'm thinking it'll get posted on June 25th (hopefully that plan sticks). Lately I've got some protentional ideas simmering on the creative stove, but knowing my track record of 3 A.M ideas we'll see how that plays out. Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading and I'll see you soon!