#jasperscringepit

[pigeonwit]

pidge,,, I have no clue if the prompt post you reblogged was supposed to be for suggestions,,, but the one about character A moving around character B and trying to turn the light of mid cuddle is just,, so javid. Javid who will do ANYTHING to prevent disturbing the other, no matter how urgent a task is,, (the 2am delirium is setting in)

(yes they were indeed!! and if anyone else would like to put something in the suggestion box you can do so here

thank you jasper for choosing the prompt i wanted to do the most)

"Jack," Davey murmurs into the comforter, "what are you doing?"

"Nothing," Jack whispers, "go back to sleep."

Davey makes a childish little hum in the back of his throat, clearly very upset about things he doesn't currently know about, but settles further into the cradle of Jack's arms with a soft sigh.

Jack breathes slowly, his whole body boiling over with Davey - Davey's warmth, Davey's weight, Davey... He's never going to get used to holding him, just... Touching him. Being allowed to do that. It'd taken him at least a week into being 'official' - three and a half weeks from their very first date and two months, three weeks and four days from first trying to work up the nerve (but who's counting) - to even feel like he really was allowed. Like Davey wasn't just waiting for him to reach out only to jump away from him and ask what the hell he was doing, as if he might've somehow misread all the flirtatious comments and obvious dates and Davey actually, literally telling him, "I want to be your boyfriend," word for word.

It'd honestly taken Davey pointing it out to him - trying very hard to be polite and chaste about it and failing miserably, because Davey doesn't like being denied, as much as he might pretend otherwise - for Jack to even realize, oh, yes, he can touch his boyfriend if he wants - and he has to think that Davey might regret giving him that realization, because those words went deep, deep into his chest, into something aching and wanting that he'd kept hidden away for years, and activated what Crutchie accurately calls his 'grab drive'; and now Jack can't turn it off.

It goes something like this: Davey will be making breakfast, still looking perfectly sleep-rumpled from the night before in nothing but Jack's sweater and a pair of long pyjama pants that, while Jack maintains are dorky as hell, make him look so heartwrenchingly soft. His hair will still be a mess of brush-stroke curls, not being bothered to've found a brush yet, and his eyes will still have just a bit of a sheen to them as he pulls himself into wakefulness, and he'll be punching the spatula into the frying pan in tiny jolts of movement, his limbs still sleep-weak and numb in some places. And then Jack, without even realizing, will be right behind him, arms around his waist and squeezing - not too hard - just to know that yes, Davey is real. He'll lean up on his tiptoes and prop his head on Davey's shoulder, nudging at the bare skin of his neck until Davey laughs once - a soft and sleepy sound - and turns himself into Jack's weight, flopping over him like a blanket, surrendering the spatula to Jack's more experienced hands (bless Davey's cooking skills, but the man is not patient enough for scramble). Grab drive.

There's more, of course - Davey's doing his 'tism pacing' (his words, not Jacks), wandering back and forth in the fog of overthinking? Jack's pulling him gently into his lap, letting him giggle and sigh and rest against Jack's shoulder as he works. Grab drive. Davey's reading on the couch, flat on his back, his shirt riding over the sharp jut of his hipbone, curls tumbling over the cushions? Jack's suddenly blanketing him, snuffling at Davey's neck, as Davey props his book against Jack's head, resting his wrists and rubbing little circles into Jack's scalp. Grab drive. Davey brushes his fingertips against Jack's wrists, slowly working his thumbs into the sore muscles? Jack's tipping his forehead into Davey's chest, nuzzling his forehead against the crest of his collarbone like he might fuse them at the marrow, and humming happily as Davey works out the kinks in his wrists and chides him for not warming up properly. Grab drive.

It's not his fault - mostly. If anything, Davey's the one who made him realize how very touch-starved he'd been all his life, denying himself hugs and head-pats and cheek-kisses from the time he was a child, because he'd done nothing to deserve them. Touch was earned, in Jack's experience, whether it was a soft stroke of his hair or a good, hard smack. It wasn't right to just expect someone to want you. It was rude, annoying, childish, bratty-

And then Davey showed up and gave him everything, without question - and Jack hadn't looked back since. He takes every touch Davey'll give him and does it with a smile - and he'd hope he gave back as well as he got.

Except - selfishly, perhaps - he does wish Davey might roll off his arm just a bit.

He should've said something, yes, but 'such is the hubris of man' or whatever else Davey might say if he were awake. It's Jack's fault, really, and he can't even bring himself to be that embarrassed about it. Davey likes to read himself to sleep most nights, which is fine, because Jack likes to tip his head onto Davey's shoulder while he scrolls aimlessly on his phone, so they can both trade memes or funny passages or whatever else - but this time, Jack had gotten just a tiny, tiny bit distracted. They were in the same position they are now, therabouts, Davey on his side with his book resting on the pillow and Jack hugging his face into Davey's chest like a koala (grab drive, baby) - and with every chapter Davey passed, he seeped further and further into the pillows, so enraptured in Alys Conran that he didn't even notice he was falling asleep. Jack did, though, of course, because Jack notices everything about Davey - particularly the way he fell asleep with his whole face nuzzled inside the pages, soft paper tickling his nose as he snuffles and hums. Usually, Jack's able to grab him right before he dozes off, nudge his way over Davey's long waist and click off his reading light without Davey so much as noticing, too caught up in the limbo of wake and sleep. But this was an image Jack had needed to just stare at for a bit, hold it in his hands, slip it into a scrapbook and doodle over it in glitter-pink gel pen, and by the time it'd even occurred to him to turn off the lamp, Davey was out like a light (ha-ha, irony) and sleeping like a rock on Jack's arm.

He tries to peel his left arm away from where it curls around Davey's shoulders, to stretch his joints until he can reach the switch, but no luck. He can almost hear Crutchie mocking him in the back of his tired mind-

("Alas, another victim of Jack Kelly's wee little nerd arms."

"You play DnD, motherfucker, don't start-"

"And I fuck at it, Cowboy, you wish you were me!")

Damn Crutchie and his noodle limbs - Jack can turn off a light. He shifts forward a little, tries to turn Davey just enough to let him reach over him - and Davey makes a noise like a baby rhino, shoving his weight indignantly against Jack's own.

"Come on, Jack, I'm tired..." He whines petulantly.

"I know, baby," Jack says soothingly, pitching his voice down to where he knows Davey's weak for it. "S'okay, go back to sleep."

"M'trying..." Davey mutters. "What're you doing?"

"Cheating on you. Go back to sleep."

"Oh?" Davey hums. "With who?"

"Hank Green. Go to sleep."

"Mm, that's so weird..." He can feel Davey smirking against his temple, which means Davey's at the very least awake enough to mock him - shit. "Hank never mentioned you."

"Oh? Are we on a first name basis with Hank now?"

"Yup," Davey nods, slow and sleepy, "we get brunch, like, every Sunday. Never mentioned you."

Jack laughs quietly, because the day Davey wakes up before noon on a Sunday is the day the world ends.

"Well, we just have that kind of relationship, y'know? We don't need to go bragging about it, we have that kind of..." He yawns into Davey's shirt, and feels Davey's soft chuff of laughter through his chest. "Natural intimacy."

Davey hums, stretching from his spine to his toes like a cat.

"I guess we'll have to share."

"Tragedy." Jack smirks. "Go to sleep."

"I can't if you're bothering me," Davey scoffs. Jack winces - if Davey can manage a word with three or more consecutive syllables, he has to be awake now. "What's going..."

Jack looks up in time to see Davey blinking awake, star-blue eyes still glossy with sleep. He frowns, penny-wide pupils shrinking at the sudden light - it's a battle for Jack not to clutch his chest and aw at the sight - and shakes his nose out of his book, twitching like a rabbit.

"Did I read-sleep again?" He asks, and Jack can't help his soft, confirming laugh. Davey giggles with him, glancing over his shoulder. "Did I leave the light on?"

"Yeaahhh," Jack winces. "I was gonna get it."

"You...?" Davey turns back to him, his frown turning soft at the edges as a smile toys at his lips. "Jack, is that seriously it? You just wanted to turn the light off?"

Jack laughs indignantly, shoving his palm against Davey's shoulder.

"You try moving when there's a six foot loser on your arm!"

"Five-nine, Jack, you're just little." Davey scoffs. "And you could've just woken me up."

Jack stuffs his face into the pillows and grumbles, glaring at his horrible, lovely boyfriend from over the fabric. He's going for cute, maybe a little 'so weird Davey's into it' if he's lucky, but Davey only stares at him in delight, eyes wide and calculating.

"Oh, Jack," he grins, his voice gilded with a teasing edge, "is that what that was? You didn't want to wake me!"

"I-!" Jack splutters, his face going warm. "You - you were sleeping, I didn't-!"

"Jackie..." Davey drawls, the just-barely-awake rasp in his voice doing very terrible things to Jack's mind. "You didn't want to wake me..."

"Stop it. That's your I'm right voice, and you haven't even proven anything-"

"You wanted boyfriend points," Davey snickers, "you wanted a good grade in cuddling, something that is both possible to achieve and-"

"Don't fucking Tumblr me, you menace."

Davey rolls his eyes, leaning over to drop his crumpled book on the bedside table, and hovers his hand over the switch with a teasing look.

"Can I turn this off, or will I be undermining your valiant efforts?"

"Mm, keep talkin' dirty to me, babe."

"Menace." Davey scoffs as he flicks off the light. They shuffle back to each other - Davey has a habit of pushing and shoving at his bedding, Jack included, until it's suitably comfortable for him - the two of them bathing in darkness, warmth and the whispers of each other's breath, already wrapped in soft slumber. Jack squeezes his waist with a contented sigh, one arm laid between them, the other pressed, palm flat, to the small of his back.

Yes. Very real. Good to know.

"Goodnight, Jackie."

"G'night, Davey."

#THIS is the shit i needed rn #gimme that soft shit. im tired of plot rn i want cozy. i want somft. i want sleebjy. #oof i feel good now #jack kelly #davey jacobs #david jacobs #newsies #uksies #(its ALWAYS uksies in my fics) #javey #javid #pigeon scribbles #ask #jasperscringepit

[walkman-cat]

hi hi ion!! I'd love to hear all about something from the detective noir au that you've thought about/planned but not had a chance to post about yet!! It could be literally anything you want, I'm very intrigued and would love to hear abt it :))

hihi hello jasper !! :D

hmmmm. here’s a couple tidbits:

despite davey trying his hardest to stay out of the criminal underworld/spot conlon’s work, he’s still pretty well known. people call him “Spot Conlon’s Bloodhound” (which is funny, because he hasn’t done any actual work for her) (though he owes her big time for covering up the time he murdered a guy, it happens).

i’m thinking about using the phrase “when you kiss a thief, count your teeth” (ווען אַ גנבֿ קישט דאַרף מען זיך די ציין איבערציילן) as a title or subtitle (because it’s a banging phrase and also because it’s about trusting untrustworthy people, which is kind of the whole basis of the detective noir au javid dynamic wbwbwb)

it’s not much, but i hope it piqued your intrigue wbwbwb :]

#detective noir au #newsies #i considered talking more about crutchie’s role but i may leave that for his costume post :] #because it’s changed since i last talked about him wbwbw #answered #jasperscringepit

[jasperscringepit]

psps. 14 16 28 - @pigeonwit :)

OK I'm actually awake now, hi pidge!!! how are you?

14. I honestly don't know whether I've been properly hydrated in my life, I'm definitely dehydrated now. But this did motivate me to get a drink!

16. I am unashamedly a mint chocolate chip lover, it's one of my go-to ice cream flavours depending on the day.

28. ohhhhh this is tough. Probably Spaghetti Bolognese, but I'd probably give a different answer depending on the day lmao.

#dificult quesion #i am a pasta lover through and through though #and an ice cream lover #jasperscringepit

[jack-kellys]

now that ive dove head first into uk newsies can you recommend cool people to follow from the newsies world because ive found my new obsession 🫡 thank u for ur service

YES I SURE CAN!!!

@pigeonwit

@walkman-cat

@jasperscringepit

@chimeofthecomet

@baura-bear

@joeythefrog

@thegroundsofbrooklyn

all i got for now!! these ppl rock!! ♥️♥️♥️

#mutuals #fizz answers #me when i convert quinn!!!! haha!!!!

[noxexistant]

@jasperscringepit i’m so sorry i hope u don’t mind me nabbing your tags but YES. YEAH. THATS IT. THATS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MICHAEL JAVID AND GEORGE JAVID.

michael jack; davey falls first. he is bewitched by jack immediately. there is Something There, that jack in particular doesn’t seem to really understand, but davey near immediately starts chasing it after getting over the first mountain of his anxiety. he is openly interested in jack, he’s always watching him, and then when he dares to start reaching out and being more physical, he doesn’t stop. and jack doesn’t really seem to notice for a while, doesn’t seem to understand - he only bumps davey up to being on the same level as the rest of the newsies in terms of jack’s affection, which he’s admittedly soft and open with. and then suddenly jack Does understand, a distinction i always place in the moment he lights up during watch what happens (reprise) - a moment solidified by jack sitting on pulitzer’s desk beside davey, hip-to-hip, shoulder-to-shoulder, slinging an arm around him and grinning, calling them us in this showcase of playfulness and closeness and comfort and confidence that they find in each other. and their hug when they win - jack hugs davey strong and tight, and davey hugs him back just as tightly, like confessing.

george jack falls first. falls immediately, and it clearly terrifies him. he gets cold every time davey tests him or makes jack think for a moment he can’t be trusted - shuts down entirely when he finds out davey and les have got parents - but he watches davey like he’s Yearning. like he’s looking at something he can’t have, believes wholeheartedly he doesn’t deserve. he keeps himself closed off behind playfulness and toughness beneath that, and because of that davey doesn’t notice what’s underneath that. and davey doesn’t have this big moment of realisation, he just steadily descends into the understanding that he would do anything for jack, wants him close, feels love and pride and frustration for him and wants to feel it all more. realises it feels too natural, the way he finds himself always holding jack’s elbow, looping an arm around his waist, stopping him with a hand on his chest, arguing and encouraging and joking and being loud in a way he’s never been with anyone before. when they win the strike, jack finally all but throws himself into davey’s arms and davey catches him, holds him tight like they’re both suddenly, finally, having this moment. jack admitting he wants davey there and davey admitting that he is, that he needs to be.

either way, they love each other. it just takes them their own path to figure that out.

#sorry i’m still going insane from the last george jack show. which also featured lindsay kath. and the dynamics were [screams] #uksies #javid #jack kelly #david jacobs

[newsiesminibang24]

Artist Claims Now Open!

I meant to make this post earlier, but it completely slipped my mind! Artists: please check the email you signed up with for claims. Claims will be open through the weekend.

@lithuanian-king @ethereal-bumble-bee @gay-little-axolotl @chimeofthecomet @walkman-cat @jack-kellys @dcbutinamrev @snowynsunny @jasperscringepit @agentsnickers @hellosammy19 @cowboy-caboodles @randomotaku-418 @licensedfool @echofive7567 @forest-city @ragdolldancer @bigmack2go

#artists #artist claims

[ihatecoconut]

WHAT IS A SUPER BOOP

@jasperscringepit

#boop o meter #april fool's day

[pigeonwit]

before the beginning for the ask game!!!

this got. too long for these prompts but it's about the Context okay.

“And it’s like – how can you not sympathise with him, y’know?” Davey exclaims with wild hands. “He was made by this – this egotist who didn’t even care about him, he just wanted the Creature to be this, this idea of ‘perfect’, but how can he be that when the doctor never even taught him what that is?” Jack nods slowly – he’s been laying sprawled out on his bed-pallet as Davey rants, chin propped curiously on his hand as he watches. “Sounds like this Frankenstein fella don’t even know, if I’m honest.” “Yes!” Davey cries – louder than he intended, but Jack only ducks his head and smiles good-naturedly. “Exactly, thank you!”

#he IS loud he IS eager he DOES like talking and interacting with people!!! #but that was when he was in a place that let him BE the way he is. and he's not anymore. and it's killing him. #run boy run #jasperscringepit #davey jacobs #david jacobs #jack kelly #javid #javey #newsies #uksies #ask #pigeon scribbles

[pigeonwit]

🧩🍬🦴

Mwah love u pidge hope you are having a good day!!!!

ily2 jasper i hope you're having a good day too!!

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

i try not to be too judgemental of fanfic since we're all learning and i absolutely have habits in my writing that plenty of people will dislike, but for me personally, i don't like jumpy POVs. if a writer is going to switch POVs, i'd prefer for the fic to have a clear indication of when that POV begins, either through scene breaks within the chapter or with separate chapters for separate POVs. jumping it around just feels overstimulating imo. i also get a little iffy on overly simplified character voices - this is something i'm guilty of even now, because fanfiction is meant to be a fun hobby and i'm not going to break my back writing something i just want to write for fun, but i really don't like being spoonfed information on how a character's feeling. no character flawlessly understands what they're feeling and why 100% of the time.

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

davey is bitter about his family life, but in a very specific way that i don't often see in this fandom. i do believe his older-brother frustrations with les come from a very bitter part of himself where he tries to push his parents expectations of him onto les as well. i don't even think davey knows why he does this - i think he thinks that he's doing les a favour and preparing him for the world to come, but i think in truth, it just comes from an idea of fairness that's been twisted in his own mind. why should he have to suffer alone?

🦴 ⇢ is there a piece of media that inspires your writing?

a lot of my current writing voice comes from alys conran's 'pigeon', which i recommend to anyone and everyone. the small welsh sections are very easy to understand through context or google translate if need be, and it really masters 'show don't tell' in a very artful way. the imagery and emotion is really visceral and poetic, and while my imitation of this is very,,, flowery, i still think i'm improving thanks to this book.

#ask #jasperscringepit #newsies

[pigeonwit]

pspspsps I wanna hear your jack thoughts for the ask game :)))

JASPERRR thank u king. i did not Get jack kelly at ALL until michael ahomka lindsay's performance so that's where all of this comes from

one aspect about them i love

his vulnerability. throughout uksies jack is trying so hard to convince someone to just Keep him. he puts on a big show for katherine and davey, trying to seem like a big strong guy who knows what he's doing, trying to convince them to stick around - but every so often you see him crumbling just a little bit, desperately wanting to just... be a KID, be held, be taken care of. it's so poignant, i love it.

one aspect i wish more people understood about them

his anxiety. i feel like a lot of people just assume that jack is naturally confident but in my mind he is only confident because he HAS to be. someone has to lead the newsies and it just happens to be him; his bravado is held together by staples, glue and sheer will half the time. honestly in my mind jack is JUST as anxious as davey is, he just knows how to hide it better and shove it down until it all boils over and consumes him.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have about this character

i imagine he has such steady hands from painting and sketching that he's good at sewing too - and i like to think he tries to add some little details that might make the younger newsies happy, like sewing a raindrop over a tear in splasher's clothes.

also, jack has AuDHD and intense RSD and if you disagree you are WRONG (/j) you can see when he learns les and davey have parents and a home he grows embarrassed and ashamed and stops talking almost entirely. not to mention the whole 'i know girls like you don't end up with guys like me' - it really sounds like he's been rejected before and it hurt him enough to never want to go after anyone anymore besides playful flirting.

one character i love seeing them interact with

katherine!!! i know javid is The Big One in the fandom but he and katherine have such a wonderful dynamic, specifically michael jack and bronte katherine. they're both pretty morally driven and impulsive but imho jack is the voice of reason between the two who has to bring katherine back down to earth on occasion ("we'll be using his very own printing press to BRING HIM DOWN!!!" "... remind me to stay on your good side."). they're playful, they bicker, they encourage each other, they believe in each other, they're very cute and they so clearly have each other's back ALWAYS, whether you view them romantically or no.

one character i wish they would interact with/interact with more

any of the younger newsies, but specifically jojo. in uksies during carrying the banner he picks jojo up so he's horizontal-face-down in jack's arms and spins them both around like a propellor until jojo's in a laughing fit - i'd love to see more of how jack makes him feel welcome within the newsies

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have that involve them and one other character

(this one is pulled directly from one of our convos jasp) jack reads! yeah shocker right. i really don't like how this fandom made jack this illiterate dumbass and davey the genius - jack was never put in a situation where he was encouraged to read or seek knowledge, he was ALWAYS labelled as a dumb reckless kid. i imagine when he hears davey talking passionately about a book he loves, he gets interested - and i think davey would notice that and offer a book for him to read. i think it would be difficult for him at first, because the language is difficult but he doesn't want davey to think he's stupid, but i think one time davey sees him glaring at a passage and says 'oh yeah, i got really stuck on that one, my teacher says it's supposed to mean [x], i kinda thought it meant [y] but yknow, to each their own' - and he just doesn't make a big deal of it. and he doesn't make jack feel stupid at all. so they start reading together, back to back on the roof or in a park, and jack loves it. his favourite so far is the picture of dorian gray.

aaand one that ISN'T pulled from jasper - i imagine jack and crutchie both have trouble just doing kind things for themselves or taking gifts or food from people, as they don't want charity and they don't often want to indulge and spend their money, so i think they've started a habit of one of them buying them both lunch and if the other protests, they say 'it's fine, you'll get the next one,' and now they just have a little tradition of doing kind things for each other (buying lunch, penny novels, matchbox puzzles, etc) without the other needing to feel guilty about it.

#thank you jasper love you jasper #newsies #uksies #ask #jasperscringepit #jack kelly

[pigeonwit]

Hi Pidge!!! I had a small Manhatten WV thought.

it's not important but based on descriptions I feel like Davey would smell like the LUSH spray guardian of the forest!! it's super piney and woodsy, but it has a nice earthiness to it like moss and grass. It's my go to, and I feel like it fits the vibe he has in this AU

jasper my friend jasper i have SO many small and unimportant manhattan wv thoughts you wouldn't even believe

first of all: correct, davey very often smells like the woods (specifically ancient woodland if any of you are familiar - wild garlic, old earth, damp moss, etc etc), especially when he's feeling especially in tune with the town and what it's communicating to him. when something is distinctly wrong with the town (eg if theres a person or cryptid who's not meant to be there) he smells more like petrichor and ozone, and when he's especially pleased or everything's just content, he smells more like fresh rain. i'm kind of going by magnus archives rules where pieces of who and what davey is have sort of intermingled with the town itself, so sometimes he's responding to the town's weirdness, or his own weirdness - eg, he might smell like petrichor because the TOWN is in distress, or because he himself feels deeply uncomfortable. one of the reasons he's immediately suspicious of jack is because he smells petrichor when he's near him, which is clearly because jack is not meant to be in the town and not at all because davey's been self-isolating himself from other people for so long that he's very unused to feeling attraction and having crushes, and is therefore very confused and uncomfortable when he feels them.

(you see how much i just wrote for that small thought? im begging for the small thoughts. i could write ESSAYS on the small thoughts)

#got so many manhattan wv details planned and barely any of them pertain to the plot at all #but i dont CARE im ahaving so much funnnn #newsies #manhattan wv #davey jacobs #ask #jasperscringepit #fic thoughts

[pigeonwit]

I have some AUs if you were serious and down for them?

I LOVE fantasy/creature AUs, and I also love frenemies to lovers. Idk if this was newsies specific so pls feel free to go wild with any franchise! but I defo won't complain if it is newsies hshshshs

jasper i must be so honest the ask game meant for you to pick from the randomizer but i love those tropes so much that i just can't refuse them.

(i made jupes' ask SO messy so i wanted to add a little bit of structure to this one.)

Hades Davey, Persephone Jack AU:

yes yes i know it's problematic to retell the hades/persephone myth this way but i've had this tucked away in my brain for SO LONG and this was the perfect opportunity to finally make me write it

David is Lord of Hades, God of the Dead (NOT the God of Death, thank you, that's his brother, Les, the young Lord of Thanatos) - he had the unfortunate luck (or so it seems) of drawing the short straw when the eldest gods decided their domains and is now drowning in bureaucracy and paperwork that is decades behind schedule (before you judge, you try registering 332,648 souls a day).

Jack, however, is not a god at all - at present, he is only a mortal, the adopted son of Medda (the Lady of Demeter). When a Muse found his paintings, they saw fit to bless him, and so he travels the world bringing new seasons - painting buds onto bare trees and flowers into bushes. This includes, much to David's chagrin, the realm of Hades. When Jack discovers just how much Pulitzer has been tipping the scales against David - slowly but surely ousting him from Olympus and preparing to strip him of his godly titles altogether - Jack decides to go on strike, hiding in Hades and leaving the world season-less.

Snippet:

When the Titans were defeated, the three eldest gods drew lots for their domains. It was Joseph’s idea – he was the one who pushed the Titans into Tartarus, who reclaimed their world, and it wouldn’t be right to go against him. Not so soon. The twins had expected he would simply declare the domains himself; Joseph had always preferred his own methods, after all. But it seemed Joseph was determined for a new era, an era of fairness for the gods and mortals of this plane. And so, they drew their lots.

Joseph inherited the domain of Zeus. Even now, he dwells within the sky, the clouds, the air within your lungs. Joseph is one who prefers things to be where they should be; and he will make sure that they are.

Sarah inherited the domain of Poseidon. She bowed her head and accepted her lot in this new world – but she is still determined to keep it her own, even when Joseph watches above. The ocean is a force unto itself; the clouds cannot control it, no matter how hard they try.

And that left David. David, who drew the short straw. David, who was cast into the one realm Joseph cannot see. David, whose privacy and suspicion left him cast out from Olympus, and made a prisoner in his own domain.

David, Lord of Hades.

oOo

In the darkest deaths of a place below the realms of mortal earth, there is shadow. Shadow deeper than time itself, stained into the fabric of reality. It is a darkness of its own design, its own – not life. Life is not the correct word. But of its own existence. It does not come easily – David learned that much when he first arrived here, in this dank and festering pit. It must not be forced – Death bows to no one, not even he who must reside over it. But David has learned over the centuries that Death can be coerced, if you treat it kindly enough.

This is why David can drape the shadows over himself like a cloak – why he can push it outwards in tendrils, like ink in water, smoking around himself as he spreads his arms wide.

“Who disturbs these realms of the dead,” he calls with a voice only half his own, as the spirits chitter and cower at the sight of him, “who pulls the slumbering to wake-”

“Oh – hey, Davey.”

For fucks sake.

“Jack!” David snaps, casting off his cloak of shadow - the spirits whimper at the sudden movement, clawing desperately at the cave walls to get away from him. “Oh, no-!” David winces. “No, I’m sorry, I’m sorry-”

His ears prick on quiet, stifled snickering, and David flushes to his neck. He whirls around, almost tripping over his robes, to face where Jack is giggling against the cave wall – the cave wall that is now dotted with pink.

“What are you doing?!” David grits out. “Mortals aren’t meant to be down here, Jack, it’s dangerous!”

“Aw, c’mon,” Jack rolls his eyes so cavalierly that it makes David want to choke him, or – other things. “What’s the danger? Cerberus? He’s a big teddy bear and you know it.”

David purses his lips and swallows back his retort, considering he was the one who trained Cerberus, a fact he was rather proud of until he met Jack for the first time, sitting astride the hound’s massive chest to give him belly-rubs.  

“You shouldn’t be here.” He echoes, weaker than the first, as echoes often are. “Time, it – it passes differently here, a few seconds turns into a few weeks and-”

“Davey, my ma’s a goddess, my brother’s a god, my friends are gods.” Jack says flatly – he’s still staring at the wall, feathering a few more strokes of his brush. “Ain’t no one gonna panic if I take off for a month or two. ‘Sides, m’almost done – you’ll like this one!”

David can feel his cheeks pinching with how hard he’s trying to refrain from frowning – but he can’t help but be curious by the little pink clusters Jack’s painting. He peers closer, hovering when he gets a bit too close to Jack’s shoulder – he’s so warm, it’s radiating off him like sunlight, so warm and bright and alive – it feels wrong to be so close to him. But as David looks closer, he can make out the little flutters in the pink dots, the soft shapes, the little white hearts at the centre and the angled brown lines that run like veins throughout-

“Flowers.” David says without thinking. “You brought… Flowers.”

“Figured you could use a li’l spring down here.” Jack says offhandedly. He dots a few black speckles into the flowers, something David just barely recognizes as seeds – he hasn’t seen seeds in decades. “Hope it don’t clash with your whole, y’know…” He wafts a hand in David’s general direction. “Angsty loner vibe.”

“I am not angsty.” David snaps. “I’m the Lord of Hades, and this is – entirely against regulations, Jack, Plutus is gonna fine me-!”

“I’ll have ma put in a good word for ya.”

“It could go on my record!”

“Record?” Jack frowns. “What record? You’re a god. You’re, like – the big three.”

David stares stubbornly at the floor.

“You need to go.”

“Davey.”

A sun-darkened hand rests against his shoulder, the warm touch burning through his robes. It’s enough to make David tremble. Jack stares at him, eyes like sun-baked clay.

“What record?”

David sighs.

“I… I’m off the council.” He mumbles. “Olympus, they – they took a vote and-”

“You’re off?!” Jack’s face is downright furious. “Wh- they can’t just do that!”

“Evidently, they can.” David snaps, dragging himself away from Jack’s burning touch.

“Well-!” Jack’s face twists as he tries to comprehend what he’s hearing, and David tries not to feel fond over it. It’s in Jack’s nature, to be so stunned that the world is unfair, despite knowing it so thoroughly. c’mon, Davey, didn’t’cha get a say or something?! They had to’ve let you plead your case, at least-!”

“I wasn’t there.” David mutters, and Jack looks like he’s frozen, his face twitching every so often as he tries to decide what expression to have. The painted petals thrash on the walls, billowed by invisible wind.

“They voted to take you off the council,” Jack seethes, “without the full council.”

“It was a conflict of interest-”

“David, that’s crap, and you know it-!”

“Jack!”

His voice booms through the cave like thunder, shadows leaping and clinging to the walls like spilled paint. David can feel something cold and slick on his skin, and grimaces as thick, black ooze drips down his skin. He shakes his arm, black globs falling from the skin and staining the ground with something darker than darkness – the spirits climb over each other with how desperately they try to get away from it, wailing and crying as they do. David winces. He so hates scaring the spirits. He turns his back to Jack – he can’t bare to see his face – and roots around in his robes and summons a pomegranate to his hands, which he proffers to the trembling spirits.

 “Here you go,” he murmurs softly as they inch closer to him, desperate for the promise of food. “You’ll like it, I promise – tastes just like a deep sleep.”

He peels away the skin and pours jewel-like seeds into their waiting hands – they eat their fill, licking red juice from their fingertips, and just like that, fade into shadowy mist. David stands, wipes his stained hands on his robes, and blinks – the shadows have receded slightly, allowing some light from the surface to flicker into the cave-mouth. He turns – his pale eyes meet Jack’s vibrant honey-brown. He’s still watching him. Mouth slightly parted, eyes wide – there are words just waiting below his tongue, waiting to yell and scream at all the wrongness that is David’s life.

David turns away. He can’t bring himself to hear it.

“Please leave.” He says quietly. “I have spirits to attend to, and I’m already behind schedule.”

“Davey-”

“It’s a good painting, Jack.” Is all he says before he disappears back into the shadows.

#ough. i love them. #it's unfortunately creature-less jasper but i hope you like the fantasy elements and frienemies dynamic nonetheless!! #thanks so much king i have been waiting for an excuse to write this au again #jasperscringepit #ask #pigeon scribbles #javid #javey #newsies #uksies #west endsies #livesies #jack kelly #davey jacobs #david jacobs

[pigeonwit]

favourite part of seeing jasper art is watching the reblogs just roll in as everyone goes insane over it

#CORRECT!! YOU WILL APPRECIATE MY FRIENDS ART!! #YOU WILL BE ASTONISHED AT HIS TALENT!!! #im so glad we're all on the same page here #jasperscringepit

[walkman-cat]

Gonna bring the changes and ask about Race for the ask game :)

hello jasper!! how are you doing? Wbwb

Race!! My guy my bestfriend!!

one aspect about them I love:

I’ve gotta be real im so head empty about the characters I like but also. I love how abrasive? Rough around the edges? he is. He’s comic relief, but he’s also resorts very tough? I’m saying synonyms wbwb idk i like how he’s angry and ready to soak people but also he’s funny wbwb

one (or more) headcanons i have about this character:

race being the resident lodging house babysitter is soso funny to me. he doesn’t know how or when it happened but he will immediately drag himself out of bed if one of the smaller newsies is sick or is having nightmares, he teaches them card games and sleight of hand tricks.

he’s good at sleight of hand (not as good as albert, but good enough).

one character i love seeing them interact with:

Davey! The uksies race and davey dynamic is soso neat! I love it it’s genuinely one of my favourite dynamics in the show wbwbw!

one character i wish they would interact with/interact with more:

Katherine. I think their dynamic would be Interesting (I also wanna know how Kath convinced him to go through with the Childrens’ Charter)

one (or more) headcanons i have that involve them and another character:

he once gave les a piggyback ride and it was all les would talk about for days (which is to say, les thinks he’s supercool)

#gotta be real I’m very head empty about liking characters so I’m probably not gonna answer the “wish more people understood about them bit” #I’m also. So eepy so idk how coherent these are gonna be wbwbwb. #uksies race is my beloved so most of these thoughts are based on that wbwb #sorry! wbwbwb #answered #jasperscringepit #racetrack higgins #newsies

[walkman-cat]

HELLO ION!! 🎶

HELLO JASPER !!

you get: Famous Last Words by My Chemical Romance

my favourite line(s) is "Awake and unafraid/Asleep or dead" :]

#one of my favourite songs thankyou jasper #answered #jasperscringepit #i had to reshuffle approximately 5 times because i listen to way too much videogame music wbwbw

[pigeonwit]

5, 11 and 12 for the ask game? I'm sorry if you've already been asked these!! I hope u have a good holiday season pidge mwah!!

5. TV show of the year?

i'm so madly in love with the percy jackson show already BUT if we're asking for the show that defined my year. i started watching house md and i'm obsessed with this absolute trainwreck. really captured the crazy-bad crazy-fun crazy-stressful crazy year i've had :)

11. something you want to do again next year?

SEE BILLIE THE KID AND NEWSIES AGAIN GOD WILLING. but i also want to do more theatre-y things! going to this writing workshop (hopefully), seeing more shows (professional, amateur, local, far away) - if i can afford it all i mean. not too sure i will, but fingers crossed :)

12. talk about a new friend you made this year

jasper my fucking guy. how do i possibly go about how grateful i am to have you as a friend? can you believe we only met in mid-july? and i just posted a random thought i'd had in my head that day after scrolling tiktok for way too long and you went and drew my favourite piece of fanart ever? and in the four months since then you have become one of my closest friends? (four months, i still can't believe that. feels longer.) it is so incredible to just have someone you can TALK with. any little idea. spew it out there and put it into existence. it's so crazy to me that i know someone as kind, caring, hard-working and skilled as you, and it's crazy to me that you keep not giving yourself enough credit for that - but if i write about that we'll be here all day. i can't even express how grateful i am to have someone who fires me up, and who i hope i fire up back, until the ideas are just BLAZING out of us - it's unfathomable to me and i appreciate it so damn much. this is getting way too long and way too sappy but ily jasper, you're a wonderful friend and god willing we SHALL see billie the kid together one day. merry christmas bud! thanks for keeping me inspired :)

#MWAH MWAH MWAH ILY!!! #my BOY #this is my boy right here did you guys know that #happy new year jasper!!!!!! #ask #jasperscringepit #i love my friends yall