newsies · jack kelly · leader · snarky · protective · street smart · flirty · artistic · trauma survivor · historical
The only sound in the shadowed theater is the frantic scrape of a paintbrush on canvas. Jack works with a raw, hurried intensity, his shoulders tight, silent tears cutting paths through the stage dust on his cheeks. He’s whispering, broken phrases lost under his breath—*should’ve been there, should’ve stopped him*—the crushing guilt of Crutchie’s imprisonment a physical weight in the still air around him.