From @newsies-square-discord’s post

Inspiration: “I want to— get away from here”

Pairing: nothing specific, just Kloppmann being his wise self

Have another part of a wip that will most likely never see the light of day :)

Everything had gotten better though. Life had pretty much returned to normal, at least, as normal as it got. Everyone got up, they sold, had it out with the Delanceys more than a few times, went to the diner on occasion, and went to Medda’s.

There was a thing that did bug David a bit, and he couldn’t blame the guys for doing it, but he needed time to himself. Someone was always with him, most of the time it being Jack. The two of them were nearly inseparable yeah, but that was usually by choice. And when it wasn’t Jack, it was Race, and if not Race then Specs, or Mush, or Blink, or Albert—

He knew they were doing it because they cared; he’d been there for just about four months and he still woke up from nightmares about his father every so often. He still hadn’t seen him at all. He didn’t know if it was irrational or not, the fear he still held for the man, but he wanted some sort of confirmation about what was happening.

And he had no time to actually think when someone was with him. There were still a lot of things to wrap his head around, and he couldn’t do it if someone was there with him.

He’d tried to leave once, just to take a walk to clear his head.

“Ey Dave, where ya off to?”

“I’m— gonna take a walk. The cooling air feels nice.”

“Well shit I wanna come.”

“Wait where ya goin? I’ll come too.”

“We goin out? Lemme grab a shirt.”

Needless to say four people accompanied him. He didn’t have a bad time, as the sky grew darker their laughter got louder, but it wasn’t what David needed.

So he tried again.

It was a different day, earlier than before but still nearing the beginning of the night. The guys were all preoccupied with whatever, David himself was deep in a book. He’d been watching the sad clock out of the corner of his eye, wanting to get out and back within a reasonable time.

He set his book down, stretched, then got up and headed for the door.

“Where ya goin Davey?”

David internally sighed at Finch’s question. At least none of the other guys noticed. “I’m just gonna clarify something with Kloppmann real quick. I’ve been putting it off and I forgot about it.”

“Want me to come with? Mush says I’ve mastered the puppy dog eyes.”

“No, thank you though. I’ll definitely hit you up next time.”

Finch shrugged and went back to what he was doing. If Finch was on guard, he knew he wouldn’t be the next time.

In all fairness, it wasn’t a complete lie. David did go down to see Kloppmann, but he didn’t get to ask what he was going to, seeing as the older man beat him to it.

“Theys werein on ya.” He said, not looking up from his book when David approached. “Not havin a lick of time to yerself bound to drive ya crazy.”

“They’re not doing it intentionally… I know they’re just trying to help.” David ran his hand through his hair. “I just want— to get away from here. Just for a while.”

“Sometimes too much help is a bad thing.” Kloppmann looked at David and nodded towards the door. “I’ll give them some sorta excuse. Just be back before curfew.”

David gave the man a smile and thanked him.

(I made the reader Kloppmann’s daughter because I had an idea)

The first key step is prevention, so when one newsie gets sick you ensure they are on the bunk closest to the bathroom and make everyone thoroughly clean the lodge

All the newsies will try to work through the illness but will you let them? No

You’ve had to explain that if they keep working they’ll drag it out and make them lose more work at the end of the day

They all end up thankful that you got them to rest before they had to spend a ridiculous amount of money for a doctor

Jojo and Buttons help you make soup in flu season

Everyone loves your soup to the point that they all pitch in for ingredients because that soup will keep them full all day and night until the next batch is ready

You and your dad always make sure at least one of you are home to care for the sick ones