FicWad

Disclaimer: Newsies does not belong to Sita. At least, that's what her therapist says.

Warnings: None


Mothers Know These Things

David Jacobs stopped briefly in front of the mirror on his way towards the front door and carefully smoothed down the front of his shirt (blue, as usual. "It brings out the color of your eyes, dear," his mother loved to remind him). Satisfied, he jogged towards the apartment door with a smile on his face.

"David? Where are you going?" David stopped as his mother exited the kitchen, still absent-mindedly scrubbing a plate with her dish towel.

"Out." Esther rolled her eyes and smiled wryly.

"I realize that. I need some specifics."

"It's Skitt- erm, Jared's birthday," David stated, quickly remembering his mother's abhorrence of "those silly nicknames," as she referred to them. "We're having a little party for him down at Tibby's." Esther's forehead creased in thought.

"Jared? The tall, slightly gloomy one?" David smiled inwardly at Esther's stunningly accurate description of Skittery.

"That's him." Her face brightened.

"All right, David." The curly-haired boy breathed a sigh of relief as he headed towards the door. "Although..." Esther called, stopping her son in his tracks. "It is a bit strange." David turned back, a single eyebrow raised in a quizzical manner.

"What's strange?"

"Well, I thought that you boys just had a party for Jared last week."

David froze.

"I-I... well, that is.... I mean-" he stammered quickly. Esther smiled knowingly.

"Honey, you don't have to lie to me."

"L-L-Lie? I'm not lying!"

"I can tell when you're lying, David. Mothers know these things." Esther calmly took her dumbfounded son's arm and led him towards the sofa. She sat him down and daintily placed herself next to him. "You can tell me why you've really been going out so much lately."

David's mouth opened and closed silently.

"I... you see..."

"Is it a girl?" David blinked in surprised after a short pause. "Is it that pretty little thing that you met a few weeks back?"

"Marilyn?!" David sputtered. "Mother, I barely even talk to her!" Esther's smile remained intact, despite her son's obvious discomfort.

"All right," came Esther's simple reply. David nodded defiantly, pronouncing the conversation closed. He jumped to his feet and headed towards the door. "David?" David stopped and turned back around, clenching his teeth in agitation.

"/What/, Mother?"

"It's a boy, isn't it?"

David's jaw dropped to the floor as he began to choke. And Esther still smiled.

"M-M-MOTHER!"

"David, honey, you can't fool me. Mothers know these things."

"I can't believe you'd even think that!" David screeched. "I'm not! I mean, I couldn't... that is-"

"You can argue all you like, but it won't change what I know."

"What you think you know!" Esther smiled brightly, oblivious to the unnatural color of her son's face.

"I've seen how much time you spend with Jack." The dark-haired boy's eyes bugged out.

"JACK?!" Esther placed a comforting hand on David's shoulder.

"Sweetheart, you shouldn't be ashamed of what you are. Besides, Jack's a nice boy."

"I repeat, JACK?!" Esther smiled patted her son on the head.

"Ever since he and Sarah broke up, you two have been inseparable," she said calmly even as David developed a rather nasty eye twitch.

"Of course we're inseparable! We're /best friends/, Mother!"

"Oh, I know, David! And everyone always says that the best relationships start out as friends!" she cried gleefully, clapping her hands.

David sat silently, waiting patiently for his eye to stop twitching.

"... Jack... I can't believe you-" His mother patted his hand gently.

"I think it's probably best not to tell your sister that you've been seeing her ex-boyfriend." She gave him a conspiratorial wink. "It might shock her a bit. She might even be jealous. And I don't need another family feud on my hands. Trust me. Mothers know these things." Esther leaned forward and airily scrubbed a bit of dirt off of David's forehead. "And I think we'll leave Les and your father out of the loop for a little while, okay, dear? Les is a bit too young to understand this sort of thing, and I don't know how your father's going to react. So, for now, this will be between you and me. All right?"

David nodded mutely and twitched again.

"I'm glad we had this little talk." Esther smiled brightly and shooed her son towards the door. As she straightened his cuffs, the first signs of concern appeared on her face. "David, dear, maybe I should take you to the doctor. Have you been twitching like that for long?"

"It'll... go away..." The concern vanished and was replaced with a blythe smile.

"Okay, David! Have fun with Jack!" She immediately slapped a hand over her mouth and giggled. "Oh, I mean, at the party!" With one last giggle, she closed the door behind her son.

David stood like a statue, blinking off the rest of his convulsions.

"You okay?" He nodded quickly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," David told the boy on the stoop. "My mother was making far too many assumptions about who I'm romantically interested in." The boy bit his lip nervously.

"What'd she say?" David grinned.

"Don't worry," he said quietly as he pulled the other boy into a quick kiss. "She doesn't suspect a thing."

Mush's eyes lit up as they walked, hand in hand, down the street.

End


Author's Note: This was originally written the summer after my sophomore year in high school. Yech, have I really been iin this fandom for two years? Shocking. Anyway. It's fluffy and pointless and I don't particularly like David, but I like this fic anyway.