A lone newsie

I'm sorry

December 19th, 1900

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Jack smirked at his friend's response.

"Atta' boy." He said as he ruffled the shorter boy's hair.

Crutchie's face was white as snow for a few moments, then turned bright red as it dawned on him again that he liked (Y/N).

Jack noticed and laughed, squeezing him close to his side with glee - he finally had found a girl he was interested in.

"I'es has to apologize." Crutchie blurted out. "Jack, wheres my crutch?"

Jack gestured to literally right next to Crutchie. Seriously, was he blind?

Crutchie grabbed the crutch and pulled himself up at lightning speed, hoping (Y/N) would be in her room.

He did his best to run up the stairs, which, believe me, was hard with a crutch. Alas, he made do the best he could.

As he was running up those stairs, he smiled ear to ear, his face red. Just the thought of (Y/N) made him blush now - how had he been so blind before?

Once he was finally outside her door, he took a breath and straightened his posture. He dusted off his vest gently with his hand and took it upon himself to spit in his hand and rub it on his face to get any dirt off.

He knocked gently, once. When she didn't answer, he knocked again and spoke up.

"(Y/N)? Is yous in there?" He asked, leaning towards the door.

He heard a rustling sound from behind the door.

"(Y/N)?" He inquired once again, an eyebrow raised.

No noise for a solid ten seconds.

"(Y/N), are yous okay? I'es hear yous in there." Crutchie said again, to no noise.

He sighed.

"I'es coming in (Y/N), be ready!" He piped up, slowly opening the door. To his shock, all there was was Lilac, curled up on (Y/N)'s cot.

What was especially strange was the cold air coming from above him and the fact the cot was pushed to the middle of the room.

Then it hit him.

The vent was open!

He groaned, his eyes falling on the vent cover on the floor in front of him. How had he not noticed it beforehand?

That aside, it didn't take Crutchie long to realize that (Y/N) must've climbed onto the roof - you could get anywhere from the roof. Hell, she could be halfway across the city by now!

No, no negative thoughts. She was probably just sitting on the roof to get some fresh air like Jack did from time to time with Kathrine.

Never-mind that - he was forgetting his goal! He had come up here to apologize, and he would apologize - even if he had to go halfway across New York to do so.

You see, Crutchie couldn't stand guilt. It would eat him up inside, chewing away at his very soul. Just, the fact that you knew you hurt somebody was enough for him - but the longer he held it in, it got worse.

He had to apologize.

______

(Y/N) looked up at the sky above her, yawning. It was a nice night, no doubt. The moon was full and bright, and stars could be seen anywhere you looked. She could name all the constellations above her that night - Perseus, Gemini, Cancer, you name it.