#moreso for visibility vs this being Strictly uk bc. they r characters lmao

[jack-kellys]

Platonic sprace hurt/comfort plz and thank u (maybe in a modern au when one of them got bullied?)

tbh surprised i didn't put more hurt into it but we move

send me a request for smth short!

It’d taken forever for all the families to leave, and even longer for Race to force his own to wait for him back at home. Graduation had been much too emotional for his liking, his Mama crying tears as an official empty-nester while Jack had refused to let go of him for what felt like twenty whole minutes. Charlie had been calmer about it, since he’d only graduated high school the year before, but now all three of them had done it. His brothers had left it in the dust, but Race…

He bit his lip as he made his way over to the now-abandoned bleachers that occupied the asphalt city courtyard, plastic bottles and cups strewn underneath like old fallen snow. Only one girl sat on the highest row, back to him as he approached from behind. Her navy graduation gown sat beside her, fingers putting something to her lips. Race quickened his pace. 

“Took you long enough,” Spot scoffed as Race clambered his way next to her. The roasted, earthen smell of weed encased them both once he was close enough. “You were gone for like an hour.”

“You know how my family is,” he shrugged, grinning and wiggling his fingers for her blunt. “They just can’t get enough of me.” 

They passed it between them a few times, staring up at the northern outline of the city, backs to Spot’s home of Brooklyn. Race’s loose button down fluttered against the coming summer wind, and Spot’s red-and-black vertical striped jumper did the same. 

“You know,” she murmured, “I really did hate it here.” 

Race laughed, quieting when she turned to him with unamused blue eyes. 

“Uh, here?” he clarified. “Manhattan? Or…”

“This school. Come on.” It was her turn to laugh, though it wasn’t as bright as Race’s. “All those entitled bastards whining their way into colleges and through classes. It’s all done now, Racer, we can do what we want.”

Race frowned, leaning back onto his hands after passing her the blunt back. 

“I dunno,” he admitted. “Wasn’t all bad. I have a lot of good friends here, good sports. Good trouble, too.”

He nudged her side with a small smile, but Spot didn’t budge much. Instead she turned to him head on, swinging ones of her legs over the other side of the bench and looking at him. 

“High school sucked,” she stated, matter-of-factly. “Most of the people? Sucked. Teachers? Awful. Never any student support, ever.”

“..Okay, fine, got me there,” Race said, doing his best to chuckle. “The bar for a good high school experience’s pretty low, I thought. What, you think it was gonna be like the movies?”

“No,” Spot retorted, glancing away. Race watched her fight the urge to cross her arms, squaring her shoulders instead. “I thought it wasn’t supposed to be.”

Race felt his expression scrunch, confusion betraying him. Spot’s gaze flicked back to his, and her eyebrows raised.

“Oh, wow,” she snarked. “Racer, I didn’t pin you for that oblivious, just because the whole school loved you.”

“No they didn’t,” he laughed. How could they? He was this antsy, loud-mouthed, whiny–

“The funnyman charismatic outgoing sports guy is trying to tell me the school didn’t love him,” Spot muttered. “Isn’t the goal to grow up after graduation, Higgins?”

“Shut up,” he hissed, and Race felt heat rise to his cheeks. “That’s not who I am and you know it.”

“It’s who you were,” Spot shot back. “And I wasn’t. I was the.. the- the responsible, staying-in, talking-back Black girl who tagged along.”

“Spot, don’t-”

“Be hard on myself? Feel bad about it?” She shook her head. “Cause I don’t. I was myself through high school and people were assholes about it, just cause I wasn’t like you. And that’s fine, but it’s true, so high school sucked. Got it?”

Race pressed his lips together, wanting to argue.

Spot was the strongest person he knew. She protected her group of friends, always stuck to her beliefs, was never afraid to act tough, never afraid of anything, or at least refused to let it show. To him, she seemed impossible not to like, but… when she’d had to stand next to Race’s play-to-the-crowd attitude, the contrast of treatment made a disheartening amount of sense. 

He hoped one day she wouldn’t have to be so unmovable, unbreakable, that she could find a way to crumble and build back up again.

“My life would’ve been absolute shit if you were anything like me, but especially if you weren't anything like you. Do you got it?” Race finally mumbled.

“Yeah,” she said quietly, eyes on her shoes. “Lucky to have me, ain’t you.”

“Of course I am,” Race scoffed. “And I’m lucky to leave this all behind with you, too.”

Race sneakily pulled his friend into his side, Spot only squirming a few moments before chiseling herself just enough to allow her friend room in her rocky form to hold her. 

#high school grad core down to the jumper #hope u enjoy claire!!! #ANYWAY FIRST TIME WRITING HER>>> #newsies #fizz answers #newsies fics #spot conlon #racetrack higgins #tagging: #newsies uk #uksies #moreso for visibility vs this being Strictly uk bc. they r characters lmao #fizz writes #fizz freaks #:) #mutuals