Title: Safety Pins and Raindrops
Fandom: Newsies
Characters: Blink and Skittery
Prompt: 87. Life
Word Count: 1496
Rating: Teen
Summary: Rain and a crossing of paths can change a life.
Author's Notes: This takes place in my "CSS" (Cobble Stone Street) universe which takes the Newsies and puts them in modern times. This isn't the "first" story, just the first one I've written out.
Disclaimer: Newsies (c) Disney, "Life" (c) Our Lady Peace and I did a small change to the lyrics.


087. Life
Rain sucked. Rain sucked a whole lot, especially when one’s car decided to die in the morning and left one walking to and from school. Blink’s school wasn’t too far away but all of his friends lived in the other direction so no one really wanted to drive him home. Thus it was cold and rainy but he was walking home. The worst was the bridge: it stood over the highway with thin metal railings and just enough room for someone to cross without getting run over. That didn’t mean, however, that you were safe from getting splashed by every single car that passed.


Usually he stuck around school after hours. It was better than home at any rate and teacher’s loved to have someone willing to run errands for a while. Skittery wasn’t much of a conversationalist but he didn’t complain. Today was different though, his breaking point had been reached over and over again. Once that last bell went off he was gone, headed straight for home even though the rain was pouring like Noah’s flood outside. It wasn’t necessarily his house, just anywhere but the school; anywhere that wasn’t around those people he had to deal with every single day.

The air was so cold Blink could see his breath turning into a pale vapor once it left his lips. Great. He was cold, wet, toppled with homework, stuck without a working car and had to cook dinner for his mom’s birthday. Today was not his day. The rain was so thick that he couldn’t really see anything but something caught the corner of his one good eye. Someone else on the bridge. Rarely did anyone else end up on this horrid path so it was odd to see anyone else stuck out in the cold. He turned to see who it was, maybe a kindred spirit stuck on his way home. From the back it just looked like another guy, no one he knew nor cared about. He was about to continue when his one brown eye wandered back.


The rain was cold and biting against his skin. His jeans were old and worn, as was his shirt and jacket so nothing kept the cold from assaulting him full on. Skittery didn’t care. He turned and ran once he was out in the rain. He didn’t make it home though. The bridge, one of the best places to people-watch, just seemed to keep him there. Instead of rushing through the torrent, he paused to look over the side and watch the cars several feet below as they endured the pelting rain as well. Even with his luck, or lack there-of, a fall from this height with all those cars would be deadly. It would all end.


Even with the rain water plastering everything against them like glue there was something familiar about the guy on the other side. It was the backpack that was sitting against the railing. It was an old red one with safety pins and duct tape holding it together. There was only one person with that backpack, a kid in his class he really didn’t know that got the brunt of a lot of jokes. Honestly, he didn’t even know the kid’s name, but if he remembered correctly most people called him something like Skittery. He was an odd kid with tall, awkward proportions: his height was in his legs which were sticks with bruises and discolorations from who knows what, his arms were also long and skinny with the same odd coloring and scratches, and his frame was skeleton-like that matched his pale skin and dead, grey eyes. Still, he was a classmate.

His fists clenched around the metal bar as his body started to shake. It wasn’t from the cold, but if anyone asked it was. This was it. No one would bother to ask, though, no ever had. His cheeks burned, he hadn’t cried in so long but he couldn’t stop now. No one could tell with all of the rain that coated him in a freezing chill. The racing cars below looked more and more tempting as the rain kept falling. He didn’t care who was around to see, no one would notice. No one ever had. He lived his life like a zombie and no one bothered to notice.

There was something about his classmate’s frame that he couldn’t take his eyes off of. His usual scrawny shape was hunched and broken, looking like a worn out toy that had seen way to many years of constant use. He was looking towards the ground so he couldn’t see the other boy’s face but he could guess what was there. Today had been a little over the top since someone had a speech on how the foster system may lead to mental disorders. It was pretty well known that Skittery was a foster kid. That was in first hour and the jokes lasted all day long. Blink knew because he had first and seventh hour with the grey-eyed kid.


This was it. He was seventeen years old but enough was enough. Skittery moved slowly and carefully, each movement planned only a moment before. He moved from the ground to the railing, relying only on his own balance to keep him from falling to a painful death. The wind and rain kept trying to knock him down, both literally and figuratively, but he stayed still. He thought over everything once more, he didn’t want to leave anything unfinished. He didn’t have any friends, his father liked the twins but hated him, his mother was more worried about the family’s reputation than anything and his teachers thought he didn’t care. Yep, nothing to leave behind that needed addressing. Now was as good a time as ever.


Blink’s world froze. Skittery moved from the safe pavement to the metal railing that was slick with water and being assaulted by wind. He was going to jump, there was no doubt about it. No motorist seemed to care; they just rushed by splashing water on both boys as they stayed on the bridge. Blink had seconds to act but he didn’t even need to think about it. He didn’t know the other boy well but that didn’t matter. He couldn’t die, he was just a kid. Even though traffic had no reason to stop he rushed across the street. Cars honked and squealed but he kept running. Once he was close enough, and just in time too, his hand wrapped around the grey hoodie and pulled, gravity taking control.

The sensation of falling is one thing, but when you plan to fall one way but something pulls your body the opposite way, well it does a number on your sense of balance. Skittery flailed some as he landed much faster than anticipated and on a much different surface. Instead of cold, unforgiving concrete or a metal plastic mix it was another body just as cold as his own. His head jerked back into the shoulder of the other boy but neither complained. No one had ever done anything like that before so Skittery just sat in shock. Arms held him in place, kept him from trying again as a pair of eyes looked over him. What a sorry sight.


The rain kept falling. Nature didn’t care if Skittery lived or died. He was just another person, even with his odd grey eyes and sob-story background. That day only one person saw to care. Blink saw something no one else ever would, the will to live hidden underneath years of being told otherwise. It was small, but it was enough. It was enough to start the spark of something that was less like friendship and more like survival. The survival of compassion.

Here's my table for fanfic100
Main stories
Background
What-if
Au/Movie-verse

001.	Beginnings.	002.	Middles.	003.	Ends.	004.	Insides.	005.	Outsides.
006.	Hours.	007.	Days.	008.	Weeks.	009.	Months.	010.	Years.
011.	Red.	012.	Orange.	013.	Yellow.	014.	Green.	015.	Blue.
016.	Purple.	017.	Brown.	018.	Black.	019.	White.	020.	Colourless.
021.	Friends.	022.	Enemies.	023.	Lovers.	024.	Family.	025.	Strangers.
026.	Teammates.	027.	Parents.	028.	Children.	029.	Birth.	030.	Death.
031.	Sunrise.	032.	Sunset.	033.	Too Much.	034.	Not Enough.	035.	Sixth Sense.
036.	Smell.	037.	Sound.	038.	Touch.	039.	Taste.	040.	Sight.
041.	Shapes.	042.	Triangle.	043.	Square.	044.	Circle.	045.	Moon.
046.	Star.	047.	Heart.	048.	Diamond.	049.	Club.	050.	Spade.
051.	Water.	052.	Fire.	053.	Earth.	054.	Air.	055.	Spirit.
056.	Breakfast.	057.	Lunch.	058.	Dinner.	059.	Food.	060.	Drink.
061.	Winter.	062.	Spring.	063.	Summer.	064.	Fall.	065.	Passing.
066.	Rain.	067.	Snow.	068.	Lightening.	069.	Thunder.	070.	Storm.
071.	Broken.	072.	Fixed.	073.	Light.	074.	Dark.	075.	Shade.
076.	Who?	077.	What?	078.	Where?	079.	When?	080.	Why?
081.	How?	082.	If.	083.	And.	084.	He.	085.	She.
086.	Choices.	087.	Life.	088.	School.	089.	Work.	090.	Home.
091.	Birthday.	092.	Christmas.	093.	Thanksgiving.	094.	Independence.	095.	New Year.
096.	Writer‘s Choice.	097.	Writer‘s Choice.	098.	Writer‘s Choice.	099.	Writer‘s Choice.	100.	Writer‘s Choice.

Sugggested Order:
Life

So, I'm working on a fanfiction 100 challenge at fanfic100
I'm doing "Newsies" as a group. I might be nice and write one for each
Probably not though
Anyway, I'll be using my "Modern Day" universe for most of them, but not all
Here's the words:
Got the table!

001.	Beginnings.	002.	Middles.	003.	Ends.	004.	Insides.	005.	Outsides.
006.	Hours.	007.	Days.	008.	Weeks.	009.	Months.	010.	Years.
011.	Red.	012.	Orange.	013.	Yellow.	014.	Green.	015.	Blue.
016.	Purple.	017.	Brown.	018.	Black.	019.	White.	020.	Colourless.
021.	Friends.	022.	Enemies.	023.	Lovers.	024.	Family.	025.	Strangers.
026.	Teammates.	027.	Parents.	028.	Children.	029.	Birth.	030.	Death.
031.	Sunrise.	032.	Sunset.	033.	Too Much.	034.	Not Enough.	035.	Sixth Sense.
036.	Smell.	037.	Sound.	038.	Touch.	039.	Taste.	040.	Sight.
041.	Shapes.	042.	Triangle.	043.	Square.	044.	Circle.	045.	Moon.
046.	Star.	047.	Heart.	048.	Diamond.	049.	Club.	050.	Spade.
051.	Water.	052.	Fire.	053.	Earth.	054.	Air.	055.	Spirit.
056.	Breakfast.	057.	Lunch.	058.	Dinner.	059.	Food.	060.	Drink.
061.	Winter.	062.	Spring.	063.	Summer.	064.	Fall.	065.	Passing.
066.	Rain.	067.	Snow.	068.	Lightening.	069.	Thunder.	070.	Storm.
071.	Broken.	072.	Fixed.	073.	Light.	074.	Dark.	075.	Shade.
076.	Who?	077.	What?	078.	Where?	079.	When?	080.	Why?
081.	How?	082.	If.	083.	And.	084.	He.	085.	She.
086.	Choices.	087.	Life.	088.	School.	089.	Work.	090.	Home.
091.	Birthday.	092.	Christmas.	093.	Thanksgiving.	094.	Independence.	095.	New Year.
096.	Writer‘s Choice.	097.	Writer‘s Choice.	098.	Writer‘s Choice.	099.	Writer‘s Choice.	100.	Writer‘s Choice.

There will be different sets of stories since most of them will be in the same universe. Most of them won't need to be in a particular order, but the "suggested order" will be up here
The first "set" will be background stories, which will have one major background story for each of my characters and maybe some minor stories too.
Then there will be the main stories and "other" which are not set in the main universe that I'm using. Also there might be a few "what-ifs" which are alternate "endings" that aren't in the main story but are in the same universe.
All Main stories will be in grey (my normal color)
Background stories will be in red
AU stories/movie-verse will be in green
What-Ifs will be in orange
The link for the story wil be in the number.
-Kanku