Modern AU 

"Ok boys, and girls," Jack said as he clapped his hands together. "Today is the first Saturday of December, so ya know what that means?"

"That the weekend is finally here and we can party?!" Jojo exclaimed in an excited tone.

"I'll break out the-"

"NO!" Jack cut off before things got too far. He took a deep breath in, and slowly released a few times. How he managed to deal with this for his entire life was one of the biggest questions he has. But Jack knew it was better to go with the flow of things rather than question for safety reasons. "Today is the day we can decorate the Lodge and play cheesy Christmas music." two out of the many holiday rules regarding Christmas was the first Saturday of December was the day they'd decorate, and finally play the sappy music. The newsies who had more than one brain cell couldn't bare thinking about Christmas until December first. And the rest were already blaring "Jingle Bell Rock" a week before Thanksgiving. Before Thanksgiving. So the rule came about not to play it until December first. But of course, newsies have a way with bending the rules. So you can imagine the ruckus the second midnight comes. But, that's beside the point. "Alright, Race, Specs, Albert and Finch, you guys are on tree duty as usual. And bring Freckles with ya. You'll need a girl's opinion on the tree,"

"Hey!" three out of the four boys yelled in an offended tone.

"We're capable of pickin' a tree!" Race yelled.

"Last year you four picked a tree that looked like a troll's bad haircut and none of the decorations could stick," Jack replied as memories of that travesty last year. Buttons had suggested hot gluing the popcorn strings since that was the only thing they could afford throwing away with the tree. And let's not forget the mess it took to get the lights to stay on without getting hidden behind the branches.

"Plus, it'll be a lot easier takin' votes on which tree to pick with an odd number of people, and I won't be the only one tryin' to range you animals away from pretty girls and the hot coco stand," Specs said while glaring at Race, Albert and Finch. Brooklyn sat there with a worried look on her face, wondering what she was about to get into. It couldn't be that bad finding a tree. "Fine," the three boys whined while getting off the couch and going to get their boots, coats and everything else that would keep them warm in the harsh New York cold. Specs and Brooklyn followed in suit before heading out the door.

"While they're doin' that. Jojo, Mush and Tommy, start gettin' the decorations down from the attic, Henry, Blink, Elmer, halfway point, and the rest of ya take a box and set it wherever. Then I'll assign a task to each of ya after we finish," Jack said. And with that, the boys, and Feister started to work on getting the Christmas boxes down from the attic and into the living room.

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"Is finding a tree really that hard?" Brooklyn asked Specs quietly as they walked to the tree pop up stand with Finch. Race and Albert were finding a parking spot since there was nothing open closer, and the sooner they find a tree, the quicker they can go back to the Lodge.

"Jack's over exaggerating Freckles," Finch replied with a wave of his hand. "We ain't that much trouble. In fact we're - OH! Hot coco!" and with that, Finch ran off to wait in line for a cup of the sweet chocolate drink.

"Let the horror that is findin' a tree begin," Specs said in a serious tone He shook his head before turning to Brooklyn with a smile on his face, "You take that row, and I'll take that one. Oh! And if a big scary lookin' dad comes by askin' if ya saw a scrawny ginger and a blonde boy, say you didn't see 'em, cause then Race and Al would end up in the hospital. And that's the last thing we need right now," Specs explained before walking away. Leaving Brooklyn confused with a worried look on her face. Nodding to herself, Brooklyn started looking for a tree while humming Christmas songs. There were so many different shaped trees, all with their sweet smelling pine.

"Did ya find anythin'!?" a voice asked, making Brooklyn jump up and turned around to see a smirking redhead. "Forgot you were jumpy."

"Not funny," Brooklyn grumbled. She wasn't the biggest fan of Albert's rather annoying jokes and sarcasm. Although they did go to Homecoming together, that didn't really mean anything. They both didn't have a date and Albert ended up asking her last minute most likely because someone talked him into it. That's how Brooklyn ended up going. And while it was a nice night together, that's all it was. Albert was just being nice to his friend's sister. Nothing much of it. Brooklyn sighed knowing she was over thinking again as she went back to looking at trees.

"Lighten up will ya?" Albert said as he went after Brooklyn. He wished she would break out of that shell and let everything loose for once. Though Brooklyn was better at her social skills than when she first came to the Lodge. She was still stuck in her shell. The only times Brooklyn looked like her real self was when she was dancing. And even then, she's shy about it. The times Albert had to take boxes to the basement he would often catch a little peek of the blue eyed beauty dancing away. He was never caught because she was too lost in another world. And that's what Albert likes about Brooklyn. She's always has a dreamy far off look in her eyes. "It ain't my fault you're so easily scared. You really should be used to this by now ya know. If you think I'm loud, you should hear Race scream. He sounds like a little girl."

"I do not!" Race yelled from...wherever he was in the mini pop up tree farm.

Albert laughed and Brooklyn rolled her eyes as she took a delicate branch into her finger tips and took a whiff of the pine needles. "Real pine will always smell better than candles," she quietly said to herself with a smile.

"It's just pine needles," Albert replied in an obvious tone. "I highly doubt that the smell of a tree matters to the look. Just pick one and you're good to go."

"It doesn't matter what it looks like on the outside Red, but what's on the inside," Brooklyn replied as she continued to examine the branches.

"You've been watchin' way too many Disney movies," Albert replied as he crossed his arms. "Sides, this tree looks like it's a cotton candy hot mess." Brooklyn heavily sighed before walking away to find another tree. Albert followed and would point to every other good looking tree. Brooklyn would shake her head and move on. To say the least, Albert and Brooklyn couldn't seem to agree on one, single tree as they walked around for a good ten minutes before bumping into Specs, who asked, "Did ya find anythin'?"

"Well, I found one-"

"Correction, you were smelling it," Albert cut off.

"But this one said it was a cotton candy hot mess," Brooklyn finished. Specs shook his head with an amused look on his face. "Little somethin' to know bout Al, is to never listen to anythin' he says. He don't know good lookin' from ugly."

"Hey!" Albert shouted in an offended tone.

"Let's take a look at this hot mess cotton tree of yours Freckles," Specs said. Brooklyn smiled and lead Specs to the tree she was at moments ago.

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"Mush Meyers I swear if you take one more popcorn I will soak ya!" Feister yelled as Mush innocently chewed on the popcorn that was meant to decorate the tree. The reason why Feister was always given this task was because she had the smallest fingers, hence she could easily thread the needles and get it through the popcorn with ease. But this also meant that someone would always steal a popcorn or a handful.

"Trees don't eat popcorn!" Mush yelled back. "Why let it go to waste?" he asked while going in for another handful, but sadly, Feister resorted to pricking his hand with the needle to get him to stop. "What was that for?"

"Do you see any blood?" Feister asked. "I don't think so! Sides, popcorn can decorate a tree ya idiot! Now go do something useful like movin' the boxes outta the way so the nightmare twins, Finch, Specs and your sister can get the tree through to the corner."

"You just wanna see me use these muscles," Mush said with a little smirk.

"Oh, is that what we're callin' limp noodles now?" Feister asked innocently with those eyes.

Mush shook his head as he went to go help move the boxes into the basement. "I swear, that girl hasn't changed since we started datin'," Mush said to Kid Blink.

"Did ya really think Feisty would become one of those girls who obsess over their boyfriends, and fall for everythin' they do?" Kid Blink asked in a shocked tone.

"Nah," Mush replied with a smile. "I'm glad she's still her usual feisty self, and not one of those girlfriends." Kid Blink laughed and shook his head while opening the door to the basement and headed down with Mush and Jack.

"Your other left!" Mike yelled. But Ike didn't hear that in time, because the next thing the two boys knew, was that they were tangled. Again.

"Can someone give us a hand here?" Ike asked. Henry and Sniper quickly went to untangle the twins from the strings of colorful lights.

Crutchie was busy winding garland around the staircase railing. It was made out of fake pine needles that had pinecones and golden lights. To wind around the polls were candy-cane stripe ribbon. This was an easy job for Crutchie to do with his bad leg, plus he could keep a lookout for when Race, Albert, Specs, Finch and Freckles came back with the tree. Of course there was also getting to talk to Kloppman, who usually watched the newsies decorate the Lodge, and would help when it was needed.

Tommy boy was hanging up stockings with Romeo, who wouldn't stop talking about how amazing Juliet is. "She's real somethin' Tommy," Romeo beamed.

"Oh I bet," Tommy replied. "Ya haven't stopped talkin' bout her." which made Romeo blush, and Tommy roll his eyes at the hopeless romantic.

Jojo was carefully setting up the manger on the window, while Buttons and Elmer were hanging up snowflakes and angels. Along with the manger on the window sill, there was a snow blanket where Santa's village was. Reindeer, elves, and snowmen were perfectly set and spaced from each other. With that being done, the three boys went to go work on the dining room window.

"In comin'!" Crutchie yelled, catching the attention of the others. Which could only mean one thing. The tree was here. And in a matter of seconds, the door flew open, letting a gust of cold wind and snow come into the warm Lodge. A big, green tree plopped halfway inside. Before anyone could process what was going on, Race popped up from behind the tree and said, "Good news, we found a tree! Bad news, we can't get it through the door."

"On another bright side!" Albert added as he popped up from the other side. "It'll make the place smell so much like Christmas that it'll last till Fourth of July when it's supposed to smell like BBQ and sweet apple pie."

"Other bad news!" Finch piped up. "Race's drivin' made my stomach turn inside out that I feel like tossin' up some marshmallows."

"More good news! We got Freckles as soon as we found out we left her at the tree farm," Specs shouted.

"Bad news, it took half an hour for the idiots to get me back," Brooklyn added in a slightly bitter tone.

"I'm finally rubbin' off on ya," Feister said with a proud smile at Brooklyn's use of the word "idiots". Anyways, the boys and two girls went to work on getting the tree through the doorway. It took awhile and it didn't help that the tree sap was sticky, but eventually the tree was put into its pot in the corner. The bare green tree looked beautiful in it's spot. But, knowing in the next couple of hours, it would look gorgeous after some handy work. As they got busy with decorating the tree, Christmas music was playing in the background. The boys sang along on the lines on horribly and somewhat good while doing goofy dances. "Ya bummers are makin' my ears bleed!" Feister shouted as she threw some tinsel at the boys. But of course, the boys went on with their obnoxious singing. "You're all so annoyin'!" Feister added while covering her ears to drown out the awful sound.

"We love you too," the boys replied happily.

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Author's note

This was yet another fun one shot to write. I loved getting to play around with Brooklyn's character a bit more. I think finally getting the feel on who she is and how she fits into the group. On another note, Mush will probaby think twice before stealing more popcorn with Feister and that needle. Do I feel bad for doing that? Kinda. But was it worth it for a laugh? Absolutely. I love writing these two crazy kids together. And of course there was the little tree finding adventure. I mean...at least Race and Albert didn't get chased by a big scary guy and almost fall into yellow snow...so that's good. I can't say much for Finch's love of hot coco though, as well as Specs and Brooklyn dealing with the crazy bunch. There was a tiny reference to something that happened during the tour. Hopefully all you fansies can spot it easily. Anyways, since I've got a one shot for each week this month I decided to try and post them every Saturday. That just about wraps up this one shot, I hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading!