((Never written with this ship or fandom before- let's hop aboard))

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Ship: JackCrutchie (Newsies) (Semi-Platonic Semi-Gay because gay)

Winter's Freezing
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"Carvin' pumpkins?"

"Come on, Jackie! Wes can afford it!" Crutchie gave a wide grin from the terrace ledge they called home, looking hopefully at Jack who sat across from him.

"It's cold as 'ell out here, you're nuts! I ain't moving from this spot 'till I has to." Jack lowered his hat down to cover his eyes.

"I can't walk all the way to the market, Jack, yous knows that them other guys'll rough my up with my leg." Crutchie leaned down until he yelped at the pain from all the pressure on his leg, causing him to stumble into an awkward sitting position in front of Jack.

Jack looked up with a semi-concerned, semi-amused look, "Good?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, but what about the pumpkins?" Crutchie still looked hopeful, keeping his eyes locked with Jack's to try and persuade him.

Jack groaned, "Don't look at me likes that, Crutch!" Crutchie's eyes just grew wider.
"Ehhh...fine!"

"Yay!" Crutchie squealed like an excited child.

"But we ain't carvin' no pumpkins, I ain't spending our money on stuff tha's gonna' rot in a day or two." Jack stretches his arms, stiff from the cold air that openly hit them.

"What then?"

Jack looked around and perked up before grabbing two empty bean cans, "See, these are already gutted 'n everything, just gotta'..." Jack pulled out his pocketknife, "Carve it in."

Crutchie frowned slightly in thought as he considered this before smiling slightly, "A'ight, so long as you'll be carvin' with me, Jackie."

"If I has to, yeah." Jack sighed but couldn't ignore the fact that he felt moved knowing Crutchie cared about this. However, before he'd let the whole mushy feelings stuff take over, handed Crutchie a can and kept the other for himself.

Crutchie took out his own pocketknife, unsheathing it to reveal a clean and sharp edge, looking like it'd never been used.

Meanwhile, Jack's was rugged and was missing shards all along the edge, looking a bit dull but sure as hell being able to cut through some thin metal from a can.

There was a long pause that Jack took as he simply stared at his can. He'd been in and out of foster care since he was kid, until he'd finally skipped it with Crutchie at the tender age of nine. In all his years, he'd never carved pumpkins- of course, it seemed like Crutchie had as that kid was already digging into the can with his tongue blepped out, a rigid smiley face could be seen so far.

Jack frowned, wishing he had the capability to simply jab his knife into something and carve whatever he do pleased.

"Somethin' wrong?" Crutchie glances at Jack's blank can.

"Just can't think of nothing." Jack huffed.

"Ah, come on, that's the easy part! Especially for you, Jackie, you're an artist! Just draw whatever comes to mind, what's on your mind?" Crutchie smiled a nice smile.

Jack kept his eyes on him for a moment, studying his face before nodding and looking down at the can, "I thinks I got it now..." He grazed the tip of his knife on the surface of the face of the can, creating a sketchy outline quickly. Jack prided himself in how fast he was capable of drawing, panting, you name it when it came to this stuff, once he got an image in his head at least, he could do it all in a matter of minutes.

In the time it took Crutchie to finish his smiley pumpkin that winked, Jack was nearly finished.

Crutchie set down his can and grinned in admiration, "Pretty darn great, don't'ch'ya think?"

"Mhm." Jack hummed absently as he finished up the last few etches in the can before setting it down with a triumphant expression.

Crutchie examined Jack's can for a moment before scratching the back of his head, "I'm gonna' be real honest here and tell you as I sees it- looks like a bunch'a lines..."

"'Course you would see it like that, it ain't lit up yet!" Jack fished around in his pocket until he felt his matchbox and pulled it on out, looking disappointed when he saw that there were only two matches left, "Well...just enough for the two'a these, I s'ppose."

Crutchie nodded eagerly as Jack lit one match and gently placed it in his smiley pumpkin, then moving to his, pausing a moment before placing it in. Crutchie instantly gasped, "That's- that's a mighty fine fella right there, Jackie! Real handsome like!"

"It's you, Crutch." Jack chuckled.

Crutchie's face went a scarlet red, "W-well lord! It's brilliant! You ain't done a thing to not bring out my pwersonality in this, Jackie." Crutchie smiled widely at Jack who returned with a soft smile.

"Ah, don't mention it, just making what I saw." Jack put his hands in his pockets and let out a puff of air which made a cloud in front of his lips.

Crutchie chuckled at the sight, "Yeah, 'spite this fire, sure is cold without a roof in the middle'a winter in the big city..."

"Sure is...you s'ppose-" Jack shut up when he felt a large weight hit his shoulder and glanced down at Crutchie who had invited himself to curl up on Jack's shoulder, "Well then, alright." Jack was reluctant before lowering his head to rest on top of Crutchie's, "Not a word to the guys about this though, ya' hear?"

"No shame in enjoying the moment, Jackie." Crutchie hummed.

"Ah, shut up with your moments." Jack placed a gentle arm around Crutchie's shoulder, pulling them both closer to each other.