a prayer becomes a vow

i am a certified ao3 master, and as such i have consumed a good part of the javey fics on ao3. as such, i am here to present my personal favourites!! as a bit of a warning, I will say that these are my personal picks and nobody is entitled to agree with me! secondly, this isn’t really in any particular order. the first two are sort of my joint favourites and then the rest are somehow all second place, because they are all amazing, and i am indecisive. thirdly, i am super forgetful, and there is a large chance that i read a fic that i really liked and forgot to bookmark it, and there are plenty of other fics i really enjoyed that didn’t make it on the list. fourthly, (is that a word??) i’m not only recommending specific works, but also authors!! every single work by any one of these authors is peak!! go read them!!! finally, i’ve tried to put in the tumblr users i know, but obviously i don’t know some of them. if the tumblr account i linked is just a random person, then.. just let me know?? also if you’d like your fic or tumblr account taken down from this list, just let me know and i’d be happy to accommodate! i linked the tumblr accounts to this mainly because i knew that if somebody tagged me in a top fics list i’d probably ascend from happiness, but i understand that isn’t always the case, so just send me an ask or a message if you’re not happy being on here!!

remaking the world by naming it together by interpolations on ao3 @benafee

this fic was… incredible. i have read it multiple times all the way through and it is probably on par with some of the best books i’ve ever read. (which is a very high compliment seeing as i’ve sucked my way through a whole lot of books!) it’s a javey slow burn, and the author somehow manages to perfect the slow burn balance where we’re getting fed just enough to not lose interest, but to keep that tentative feeling and tension alive. the little moments, the hints, it’s… so well done. the newsies are amazingly characterised, sarah is her own character (the fic also comes with a satherine tag, despite it not coming into play yet) and the mayer family becomes people with struggles and character. also davey gets mercilessly bullied so this story makes for some good angst!!! also featuring historical accuracy (down to moon dates and accurate headlines and such.) and LATINO JACK KELLY. the only thing that i can say negatively about this fic is that it’s not finished and it ended on a cliffhanger :/ idk if the author is coming back to finish it i think they got hit by the ao3 curse… however long update times are in the norm, so let’s all form a prayer circle! perfect for: fans of slow burn, good characterization, world building, historical accuracy, david jacobs is extremely fucked up, david jacobs with a poorly concealed saviour complex… you name it, this fic’s got it!

2. Long I Stood by stillusesapencil @stillusesapencil

(also can’t link this one directly, so apologies!)

i love love loved this fic wowee thank you so much to the previous author’s bookmarks from whom I stole this from. this is a pumpkin farm au featuring the mayer family, (well-written) satherine (not a plot device) and an amazing romance between previously mentioned saviour complex david jacobs and farm boy jack kelly and ahhh it’s literally so good. it’s kind of slow burn but also not??? but again it is a fic where although the romance is the main dish, it is served alongside many other delicious plots, which i will not spoil.

perfect for: fans of good characterization, world-building, background satherine, satisfactory pumpkin farming, and eventual romance!!!

3. the what a pair javid 5+1 series by orphan_account on ao3

this is one of the top newsies series on ao3, for a good reason! I cannot pick my favourite out of the bunch so i’m just choosing the whole series. it happens to be an excellent mix of comedic, sweet and characterized, and there are not one, not two, but three pairings, including satherine, (again, not a plot device, but actually expanded upon with their very own getting together story!) sprace, and of course javey! each character has their own problems and issues, and they all come together to form a beautiful collection of oneshots!

perfect for: everything 4. who you are, who i am, everything that entails by MoreSonorous @more-sonorous on ao3

ok. so you will see that there are not one, not two but no less than four MoreSonorous fics listed here. that is because they are great and i love them. this fic specifically is my favourite of theirs because it’s just so… ahrhjdjwijwu. (in a slam the laptop down to stop the fluff overheating kind of moment). this fic specifically features autistic davey (which is one of my favourite tropes!) and latino jack (!!) and it’s just generally so sweet and so fluffy (as soon as they get their shit together.)

perfect for: fans of autistic david jacobs, david jacobs ultimately freaking out over something that never happened (we’ve all been there) and of course.. latino jack kelly! but seriously, i cannot express enough how amazing this fic is.

5. The Universe Hates David Jacobs by MoreSonorous on ao3

this one is probably one of my favourites, (maybe even ever???) and it’s david jacobs trying to ignore his feelings for his best friend and brother in law jack kelly, who of course is obviously in love with his sister. (or… is he???) featuring lavender relationships (i will not say more), satherine (i will not say more) saviour complex david jacobs (i will not say more), and of course our best friend, sexual tension! i have to say, this fic happens to simmer perfectly well, and i was absolutely internally squealing while reading this.

perfect for: fans of davey jacobs gets relentlessly tossed in the angst blender, sexual tension, lavender relationships, satherine and eventual romance! 6. run boy run by pigeonwit @pigeonwit on ao3

(for some reason I couldn’t link this, so my apologies!!)

yeah, pretty sure this fic changed my life. one of the only fics featuring the uk cast (and therefore, my favourite actor ryan kopel whom i love, and therefore his gay autistic davey), a gay crisis, and in the words of the author, david ‘hot stuff’ jacobs, who is still oblivious to the fact that he is attractive. featuring absolutely beautiful writing, completely oblivious davey and bisexual disaster jack kelly! also featuring character studies, as if we weren’t fed enough! i’m gonna be so for real, right now. the writing in this fic is so utterly good that it felt like a tidal wave, sweeping me away and letting me feel the exact panicked emotional state that davey unfortunately wears for this fic. this fic is unfinished and hasn’t been updated for about 2 years, but i’m still holding out hope!!!

perfect for: fans of autistic davey jacobs, oblivious davey jacobs, repressed davey jacobs, the works! also uksies!!! yay!!! (we need more uksies fics!) and of course amazing writing :3 5. we’ll climb mountains together by seastruck on ao3

the one. the only. i would be surprised if any of you reading this that have spent more than a week in the newsies fandom have not read this. the og. with life or death scenarios, lots of gay panic and sexual tension, a kiss scene that brought me to my knees, and an eventual happy ending! also with great newsies characterization in my opinion! you know her, (using ship pronouns for this one) you love her, this gorgeous fic!

perfect for: literally everyone. read it now.

6. too many colors (enough to drive all of us insane) by scarlettroses @scarlettroses

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29232111/chapters/71777583

this fic was something i discovered a little later, after crawling through scarlettrose’s page, because to nobody‘s surprise, they keep releasing the peakest of works. it was genuinely a challenge trying to figure out which one of their fics i wanted on this list, because i’d much rather just recommend the author’s…. everything instead, but you can have this one because of several reasons. firstly, i’ve seen the token modern au ‘ah yes, i am clearly homophobic because i have feelings of jealousy towards my gay best friend and his ugly ass partner’ trope a hundred times, and this has to be the very best execution i’ve ever seen. alongside this, jack also has a tic disorder, which i thought was really well written. and of course, bisexual disaster jack kelly. also i thought in this fic davey was particularly sassy at times if i remember correctly and i love that!!! there are so many things I want to point out about this fic, but my fingers are getting tired of typing :/ anyway go read everything by scarlettroses they are very talented!!!

7. the bluestars and crimson series by MoreSonorous on ao3

and of course, the obligatory hanahaki fic. you know the drill, guys! david jacobs almost dying because he’s too stubborn and thinks jack does not like him (spoiler: he does) and oblivious jack who realises more than three quarters through the fic that wanting to be around your best friend every hour of every day is not normal. (with some help from kath because she’s a girlboss as usual.) beautiful writing, angst, fluff and of course pining so hard it kills. also a little sexual tension?? somehow?? like that’s basically impossible to do when one of their characters is literally on their deathbed so hats off to you!!!

8. being impulsive by MoreSonorous on ao3

another pining david jacobs modern au fic, except this time featuring an abusive relationship that is perfectly written. the way it’s portrayed, the manipulation, the emotional warfare, the threatening: all of it is so accurate and so well written, so kudos to the author. alongside that, i honestly love the portrayal of jack, and of course his relationship with dave. angst and fluff, the unholy duo, you have struck again.

9. dress you up, dress you down by LiveSincerely @livesincerely on ao3

(ok, figured out I can’t directly link locked fics! problem solved!!)

ok. so. i love love love LiveSincerely because their writing is so versatile!!! they have everything from fluff to smut, and i feel like a kid in a candy store (ominous heathers music plays) everytime I click onto their ao3. this happens to be my favourite, because of the godly mix of sexual tension and pining (on both sides), with a satisfying climax :) i love this fic a lot, and it’s super enjoyable to read!!! this one is definitely a kick your feet and squeal type read, and i will not say any more on that topic! (also.. girlboss kath and her friendship with davey, bevause of course it had to get better!)

10. There Jack Stayed by Claycastles on ao3

another favourite! this fic is a modern au with ghost jack and human david. i love the pettiness of jack in this fic, and i found the build of their relationship super satisfying! i have more to say about this fic but honestly there’s not a lot i can fujoshi about that won’t spoil the ending, so just take my word for it and go read it!!!

bonus ones include basically everything by we_are_inevitable @we-are-inevitable, absolutely everything from BagOfBees @bag-o-bees and WaitingForMy @waitingformy-fanfiction. their fics at of course very well known, because obviously they are amazing. the main reason i didn’t put one of their fics on this list specifically is because i couldn’t choose which one :/

and also everything by ArtemisRayne, @artemisrayne, especially their hunger games au!!! the reason this is not on this list is because my adhd kicked in and i remembered it just as i finished writing this. however, that series is amazing, and i literally cried while reading it. multiple times. it was amazing and i have no words left. so, my apologies, and this author has so much content, it feels like the library of alexandria. (minus the burning lol)

also my pookie @atthispointeverythingischaos and everything they’ve written <3 i love you twin <3