Chapter 51 - "Welcome to Manhattan, Our Leader is an Idiot."

                                    

                                          
- Chapter 51 - Meetings (Pt. 2) -
Warnings: Mentions of anxiety, fear, warnings, and attacks, just kinda what's been happening recently lol
A/N, the title and that picture of top lol
Third Person POV
                          
Race sat in a room with all of Manhattan and Brooklyn's allied leaders, Seconds, and Thirds.
                          
"Alright," Match starts, looking around. "Does everyone have buddy-systems in place?" He asks.
                          
Multiple leaders nod.
                          
"Yep." Arrow leans back in his seat. "Wrote 'em myself." He states.
                          
Seeing an opportunity, Race smirks. "Are we sure it was a good idea to let you write your buddy pairs?" He asks Arrow.
                          
Arrow looks at him, narrowing his eyes at him. "Don't contradict me, Racer." He sticks his tongue out at him. 
                          
"That was a big word for you." Arrow's Second, Fists, mutters.
                          
Arrow chooses to ignore Fists' comment and Race and some others' snickers. "And yes, it's a great idea." Arrow states. "I bet you were the one to write Manhattan's, right?" He asks.
                          
Race nods.
                          
"And Brooklyn's." Spot mutters.
                          
Multiple leaders in the room chuckle.
                          
"That one doesn't shock me either." Arrow responds, looking at Spot.
                          
"Speaking of which," Match looks at Race. "You're in Brooklyn at the moment, are you not, Racer?" He asks him.
                          
Race nods.
                          
Confused, Brady looks at them. "Why?" He asks.
                          
Race inhales slowly. "Since I'm half Brooklyn," he cringes slightly saying it. "And know Scar and Impulse personally," he rolls his eyes. "Jack thinks it's a good idea for me to stay in Brooklyn for a bit because they can apparently protect me better." Race explains.
                          
Brady nods.
                          
"I'd say that was a good move, Kelly." Diamond- the leader of the Bowery, who was known for his purple eyes- states.
                          
Jack nods, looking over at Race.
                          
Race still looked slightly defeated, but he did seem happier, which was probably because he got to saw Jack and Blink.
                          
Jack sighs softly. I'm sorry, I'm just worried about you, he thinks to himself.
                          
"Have we heard anything from Revenge?" Match asks, looking around the room again.
                          
Craft frowns. "He sent me a warning letter." She whispers.
                          
Everyone looks over at her.
                          
"Saying what?" Pack asks softly, looking concerned.
                          
"Basically saying something bad will happen." Craft informs them.
                          
Match looks over at Diamond. "Stay alert and check up on Woodside." He tells him.
                          
Diamond nods.
                          
"Stay alert, Craft." Arrow tells her.
                          
Craft nods. "That's the reason I left my Second in Woodside today." She informs him. "I couldn't risk leaving my borough without a leader and a Second, even if it was just for a few hours." She states. 
                          
Arrow nods.
                          
Race frowns to himself, twirling his cigar in his hand. "I know Revenge wants power, but this is not worth it." He mumbles to himself.
                          
"I know, but he isn't clearly thinking straight." Match responds.
                          
"I'm glad you know that though." Arrow smirks at Race.
                          
Race rolls his eyes. "You're so annoying." He states. "Are you sure you aren't a Brookie?" He asks.
                          
"Ouch." Spot and Arrow say in unison.
                          
"That hurt us, too." Ace fake pouts at Race.
                          
Race smiles sarcastically at him. "It was supposed to." He responds.
                          
Ace rolls his eyes.
                          
Blink smiles wistfully to himself, looking up at the ceiling. "I missed this." He comments.
                          
Arrow looks at Blink. "His remarks?" He questions.
                          
Blink nods, looking across from him and at Arrow. "When you live with him for years and he suddenly isn't there with his remarks, laughs, and annoyingly good poker skills and good morning songs, you tend to miss it." He tells him. "I know it may seem silly, but I missed things I didn't know I could miss about him." 
                          
Race seemed to beam after Blink said that, him trying to hide it by looking at his lap and biting his lip.
                          
Jack smiles. "Blink's right." He tells Arrow.
                          
Arrow smiles.
                          
Some other people in the room seemed to smile as well.
                          
Match was also smiling. "As much as that was adorable and touching, we need to continue." He says.
                          
Jack, Blink, and Arrow nod.
                          
Match looks back at his clipboard (which he has because he's extra and it was a gift from Pack because he loves how confident Match is with a clipboard). "Has anyone heard anything from Harlem?" He asks.
                          
Harlem was a very closed off borough.
                          
Harlem didn't join the strike.
                          
Harlem didn't allow people on their turf and if you were on their turf, you barely saw any Newsies.
                          
Mush had only seen a glimpse of Snowflake, Harlem's leader, when he went to tell them about the strike.
                          
Patch shakes his head. "Harlem hasn't spoken to anyone for years, other than a Manhattan Newsie who told them about the strike." He informs Match.
                          
"And even then," Jack starts. "Mush only saw a glimpse of the leader and they barely let him say anything about the strike before they had two Newsies in cloaks grab him by his arms and drag him to the border." He adds.
                          
Match frowns.
                          
"What even is the Harlem leader's name?" Banner speaks up from next to his brother. "And gender?" He adds.
                          
"Snowflake." Spot answers. "Gender is unknown." He informs Banner.
                          
Banner nods.
                          
"Maybe that just means that Harlem isn't gonna get involved with this." Smokes suggests, trying to be positive. "They won't join our side and they won't join East Side." He says.
                          
Match nods. "Let's just hope it's that until we heard something else." He states.
                          
"If." Pack cuts in, glaring slightly at his boyfriend. "If we hear something else." He corrects him. "Don't say it like we know it's going to happen, this isn't something that's that predictable." Pack tells Match.
                          
Match nods. "Sorry, love." He presses a soft kiss to Pack's forehead.
                          
Pack blushes.
                          
Jack looks over at Race and Blink, who both sat to the right of him. "Predictable?" He whispers.
                          
Blink facepalms.
                          
Race rolls his eyes. "Able to be predicated, idiot." He responds.
                          
Jack nods, turning back to face Arrow, Pack, and Match.
                          
Spot, Ace, and Smokes- having been the only ones who could hear them- snicker quietly together.
                          
Race leans over to Blink. "I love Jack so much, but he can be so stupid sometimes." He tells him, his voice quiet.
                          
Blink nods. "Welcome to Manhattan," he starts in a monotone voice. "Our leader is an idiot." He declares quietly.
                          
Race giggles.
                          
Blink starts laughing quietly because of that.
                          
Race joins him.
                          
1070 Words