A/N: So it's currently midnight at my house and I just finished writing this so I'm sorry if it sucks but I really wanted to write this.
The newsies were never really able to celebrate Christmas to its full extent. Occasionally the boys could raise enough money to buy a small turkey, but they were never really able to buy each other presents, or get any decorations. The only thing they really enjoyed about the Christmas season was that people seemed more generous to them than usual, and there were usually more tourists in New York during Christmas who wanted to know about the news. They had never even received a Christmas card before. Which is why Jack was surprised when Elmer came up to him with a card in his hand.
"Hey, Jack, I found this slipped under the door. No one was out there when I checked." He reported, handing the card to Jack. It was a post card with a picture of a black dog on it holding an envelope in its mouth on the front. Next to the dog were the words 'Best Christmas Wishes.' There was a space at the bottom for the sender to write their name, but of course it was empty. It hadn't even been mailed, just slipped under the door. Jack turned the card over to find writing on the back. 'Newsies', it read, 'We've noticed that you boys don't do much to celebrate Christmas, so we decided to give you this as a gift to you all, in order to spread a little more cheer. So, we hope you have a merry Christmas and happy new year.' Jack frowned. They had never gotten any christmas cards at all before, so he had no idea who sent this. Much less who the 'we' the note had kept mentioning was. He looked up to find all the other boys now gathered around him, clearly wondering what he was so focused on.
"Well, boys, looks like we got ourselves a Christmas card." He said. They each responded with confused looks. They all knew they'd never gotten one of those before.
"Who's it from?" Jojo piped up near the back of the room. Jack shrugged.
"I dunno." He read the words on the card again, out loud this time. When he finished, he looked up at the boys again. "Any of you know who sent this?" he asked them. The boys all shook their heads. "Well, I guess we'll just have to be okay with not knowing then." Jack placed the card on a shelf as the rest of the newsies slowly left, going back to their own activities. He sighed and looked at the card one more time. He wished he knew who gave it to them so he could thank them for making his boys even just a little happier.
oOo
The next morning, though it was Christmas day, went the same as always. Jack forcing everyone else up, sometimes using threats as they tried to make excuses to stay in bed, while he listened to their complaining.
"C'mon, let me sleep for five more minutes!"
"I can't find my shoes, and I've looked every place!"
"Romeo, give me back my glasses!"
"Jack, Albert stole my pants!"
"Get your lazy butt out of bed, Henry!"
"I still can't find my shoes!" Jack chuckled, listening to them bicker. They annoyed the hell out of him sometimes, but every Christmas with them was far better than any Christmas he could've had with a biological family. When everyone was finally ready, they headed to the circulation building, because of course Pulitzer hadn't been kind enough to let them have a day off for christmas, even though there were barely any people on the streets anyway, most of them were spending the day with their families. Nevertheless, the newsies sold their papers. As Jack was about to leave with his papers, Morris and Oscar Delancey came up to him. He clenched his jaw. He had hoped the would be a bit nicer on Christmas.
"What do you want?" he said before they could even open their mouths. Oscar put his hands up.
"Hey, calm down, Kelly. We don't want trouble."
"Then what do you want?" his toned was cold. The Delancey's always meant trouble. Oscar could tell the Jack was already getting frustrated, and he fed off of that.
"I'll tell you what I want, you little – " his brother yanked him back as he stepped closer to the newsie, cutting off his sentence.
"Oscar, stop." He warned his brother. "Look, Jack, we just wanted to ask how your Christmas was going so far." Jack noticed the look in Oscar's eyes soften, and he began growing more suspicious by the moment. They sounded genuine but they couldn't really mean it. Could they?
"It's been fine... got a Christmas card last night."
"Really?" Oscar now sounded somewhat happy.
"Yeah" he nodded. "Didn't say where it came from though." At that, Morris smiled knowingly.
"That's interesting." Jack suddenly knew what was going on. Or he thought he did anyway, so he smiled too.
"Wish I knew who it was from. I wanna thank them. It helped us have a better Christmas than we've had in a while." He made eye contact with Morris, and then Oscar, looking at them both pointedly. A broad smile appeared on Oscar's face.
"Good. We're both very glad to hear that Jack." He informed him, and then they both walked away as if nothing had ever happened. As Jack left to sell his papers, he smiled to himself. Maybe the Delancey's had some Christmas spirit after all.
A/N: If the ending was kinda confusing, the Delancey's were the ones that sent the card. This will be the last thing I write until after the holidays, so EVERYONE HAVE HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! Thank youuu!
