NOTE: I'm switching away from Newsies content (at least for a while) so I thought for those of you who want it I'd post this story I've had in my drafts for a while. Love y'all!!!!
Warnings: Nightmares, abuse.
Summary: You have a nightmare about your past but Albert is there to comfort you.
Prompts: (36) "It's okay. I'm here." (55) "Stay... Please." (62) "I don't wanna talk about it."
It wasn't an uncommon thing for you to have nightmares. It was why you had always refused to stay at the lodging house with the guys. It was why most nights you were left scrounging for some decent shelter after a heated poker match. Sometimes you were lucky enough to find a decent place to sleep, but very rarely. Still, you wanted to to make sure they boys never found out about your nightmares.
That's why it took you hours to fall asleep when you were forced to stay in the lodging house by Albert one night when it was storming outside. You had tried to convince him that you would be fine to "walk home" in the rain, but he hadn't listened to any of it.
It hadn't surprised you when the same terrors that plagued your dreams most nights showed up again to torment you.
"Stop please." You pleaded, ignoring the tears falling out of your eyes. You could barely form a full thought, let alone create enough words that made sense to come out of your mouth.
"You're a worthless brat you know that?" You dad spat, alcohol on his breath. He currently had you pinned down on the floor. Not in an inappropriate way, but in order for him to have easy access to your back, which he continued carving little marks into as he spoke.
"Your mom thought you were the most beautiful thing in the whole world. You should have died instead of her."
You knew that you shouldn't trust a single word coming out of your dads twisted, alcohol infested mouth, however you couldn't' help but start to believe the things you had heard him say so many times.
"Now where's my lighter Y/N? I know you hid it somewhere." Your dad accused, cutting multiple more little red marks into your back.
"I don't have it." You cried, feeling like you could hardly breath. You squirmed to get away from your dad as he made cut after cut on your back.
It hurt so bad.
"I don't have it I promise!" You pleases, crying harder now. You were absolutely hysterical at this point, feeling like every breath was a forced gasp of air.
"Y/N!" A familiar voice shouted, startling you awake. You flinched as you registered hands on your shoulders, but relaxed once you recognized it was Albert in front of you, eyes full of concern.
"Albert?" You asked, ignoring the way you sounded like a small child who had just seen a puppy get run over.
You could feel your bottom lip begin to quiver and your breath quicken as memories of your dad began to swarm in. You had never been an emotional person, so it was freaking you out.
"It's okay." He said, noticing your distress and pulling you into a hug. He sounded like the sight of emotions was something that absolutely terrified him, but still, he pulled you in tightly and let you bury your face in his shoulder. "It's okay. I'm here."
You didn't know how long the two of you stayed like that, but it was long enough for your quivering lip and few stray tears to turn to full on sobbing and your sobbing to turn into some quiet hiccups as you slowly began to calm down.
"What happened?" Albert asked eventually, his voice quiet so that he wouldn't wake up the others.
"Just a nightmare." You got out. "I'm fine. Sorry if I woke you up."
"I was already awake." He said, pulling away. You were both sitting on the opposite sides of the bottom bunk you were inhabiting for the night, leaning against the wooden poles that held up the top bed. "What was your nightmare about?" He asked, crossing his arms in a way that somehow wasn't at all threatening.
You paused for a moment, thinking about what you could say. None of the boys knew about your past. As far as they knew, you had just been orphaned at a young age and lived with your grandma until she died just a few years ago. When you joined the newsies. You couldn't tell Albert that you had been lying to him and everyone else for all of these years.
"I don't want to talk about it." You said quietly, looking away from him, and hoping her would leave it alone. You didn't want him to go away, but you didn't want him to keep asking questions. either.
"Okay." Albert responded. "That's fine. Um... come get me if you need anything." he added before walking away.
"Wait." You said, making him stop and turn around. You cringed at what you were about to say, but said it anyway. "Stay... please."
Albert looked like he wasn't sure what to do, but ultimately turned around and laid down next to you, letting out a soft "Okay."
(I know there's no sharing what actually happened but maybe I'll come back to it someday. Message me if you want to finish the story on your own)