I noticed an anonymous request for one of the tumblers that I follow, but it was not a fic that the "requestee" was comfortable following up on. It was a sickfic request for Riverdale's FP3: Jughead Jones, after snowday mayhem, denial, and emotional whumpage. I recently got addicted to Riverdale, and this plot idea wouldn't leave me be. So, despite not being much of a writer, I give you:

Keeping up with the Joneses

Part 1

By KazeShumi

"Bless me again, and I'm gonna hurt you…"

Archie took in the sight of his dark haired friend with genuine concern. He knew this tone, the expression in Jughead's red-rimmed green eyes, and the all too familiar dark circles that were etched into smaller sophomore's face. The new addition to his friend's face was the startling hue of Jughead's nose; as insult was added to injury, in the form of its owner, scrubbing it against a denim jacket sleeve. The contrast was heightened by the fluorescent light of Riverdale High's hallways reflecting off of his already pale face, giving it a sallow appearance.

"Jug, we've been friends for how long?... I know you. You only sneeze like that when you're getting a cold."

Jughead steepled his hands over the lower half of his face and grudgingly released two harsh sneezes, rolling his eyes at the redhead's hypothesis afterwards. He stared pointedly at Archie Andrews, daring him to utter the two offending words for the 5th, no 6th, time this morning.

"Correction: when you have a cold," The taller boy accused.

"Leave it alone, Arch," was the warning issued.

"Look, tomorrow winter break starts; would it kill you to sleep for part of it? This is going to get worse… You look…"

"Like what…?" came the defensive retort, "I can handle it." He stifled a close-mouthed cough into his collar.

Archie inhaled, half-tempted to go off on his clever, if exceptionally stubborn, friend; but instead released the breath as an exasperated sigh, holding up his hands slightly in surrender. The raven haired boy nodded slightly in acknowledgment, satisfied that the lecture bubbling to the surface of the other boy's tongue, was subdued for the moment. But knowing that Archie would not be silent long, Jughead decided to give his oldest friend a little bit of an explanation, by way of changing the subject, as they walked.

"I heard from my mom…" The sentence trailed off, as ocean-colored eyes found chocolate, gauging their interest.

"That's good, right…?" was the uncertain reply. Conversations between Jughead and his mother in recent months went one of two ways. It ended with a Q&A session about Jughead's little sister, Jellybean, and a wistful smile on the dark-haired boy's face or Jughead swallowing the venom-filled diatribe aimed at his neglectful, alcohol-fueled father and visible agony that would be scarred into his face for days afterwards.

Jughead nodded, almost unaware of his own action,

"Yeah,..." He hesitated, seeming almost surprised himself that this had been the case, "Listen, Arch…I wouldn't be coming to you with this, but Jellybean talked my mom into letting her take a bus down for this weekend to come see me…"

"WHAT? Jughead, that's awesome!" Archie's face split into a wide grin at this unbelievably good news.

Jughead, infected by the red-head's enthusiasm, let a half-smile pull at the corner of his mouth,

"Yup… but the problem is my mom doesn't know about… this…" said the shorter boy pulling at his beanie awkwardly and nodding toward the closet that was no longer being used for cleaning supplies, but that had been his makeshift lodgings for a few months now.

Archie immediately replied to the unasked question,

"Yeah, that's no problem… My dad is gone all week to check the lumber and siding quality for the SoDale contract. You can both stay at our place."

A true smile, absent for so long, formed on the thin boy's face. The gratitude in his expression, was unspoken but heartfelt. The larger boy responded reassuringly, and rested his hand on his friend's shoulder; wishing, not for the first time, nor the last, that he could do more than this for Jughead Jones.

Jughead suddenly pitched away from Archie, with a violent "HEDZHSCCHH! Ugh..", cupping his face in his hands and twisting his entire frame to avoid spraying his companion. The disgusted sigh and sniffling that followed, completed the image of illness and exhaustion in Archie's mind. Worry sprang up again, and he started, "Jug,... I…"

But the smaller boy held up a hand to prevent another round of tête-à-tête about his declining health.

"Just led me have this weekedd…" said Jughead stuffily, "After thad you can lecture me all you wad."

"Fine. But you aren't staying here tonight… You have to sleep, actually sleep, if you are going to keep up with Jellybean on Saturday. When does she get in?"

"Friday dight at 6:20. Bus 415." The schedule and bus number came instantly to his lips as he had repeated them at least 100 times to himself while committing them to memory.

"Okay… I'll start getting stuff together after football practice… Does she still eat that god-awful pepperoni and pineapple pizza?" Archie winced at the memory of the youngest Jones's palate.

Jughead smiled again, in spite of a growing sinus headache, "You bed."

Archie groaned and walked beside his friend to Biology.

As the day wore on, Archie Andrews was forced to stand (or sit) by helplessly; listening to and watching his friend grow steadily worse. Each irrepressible volley of sneezes, made the red-haired boy cringe, even if Jughead had strategically sat himself in a location that afforded him a way to avoid the concerned stare of his closest friend. The raven-haired boy looked more vulnerable somehow, like a week old balloon that had started to lose its air a little bit at a time, drooping and deflated. A few times Archie had caught Jughead pinching the bridge of his nose to ward of another series of explosions, or pressing his fingertips against his forehead and swallowing a hiss of discomfort as the pressure in his sinuses changed.

By the time lunch hit, Archie Andrews was pushing his friend towards the nurse's office, his mouth, a determined hard-set line. Jughead tried to resist futilely, trying to push back against the stronger boy or pull away, muttering denials and expletives. Archie steadfastly steered the ill boy and crammed him through the nurse's office doorway, causing them both to stumble forward slightly. As Jughead fought against his grasp, Archie tightened his grip, turning the smaller boy to face him and murmuring low enough that the nurse couldn't hear him,

"Stop it, Jug. Do you want to get Jellybean sick when she comes down?"

Jughead refused to meet his friend's searching eyes, bending his own on the the cracking linoleum. He flushed, half-humiliation, half-anger,

"Fine." was the resentful reply.

The nurse approached them, a resolute and commanding force in her own way, and launched into a litany of questions and admonishments regarding Jughead's lack of self-care. She took him firmly by the shoulder and guided him to one of the cots within, brandishing a thermometer and small otoscope. She looked over her shoulder, and acknowledged Archie's continued presence in her doorway with a clipped, "Thank you, Mr. Andrews. You should head back to lunch now, before the bell rings." Archie reluctantly nodded, and left a thoroughly frustrated and glaring Jughead to the nurse's care.

Jughead missed the rest of his classes that day. Archie was called back to the nurse's station after the last class of the day. She removed herself from the room and closed the door gently behind her, trying to avoid waking the boy sleeping fitfully within. She beckoned to Archie, requesting that he sit on the bench outside her office.

"Mr. Andrews: Mr. Jones tells me that he is staying with you and your father while his father is out of town?"

The tall boy, blinked in surprise at the fabrication, but agreed quickly.

"Yes, Ma'am. He is."

The nurse, pursed her lips, clearly not completely convinced, but allowed the comment to go unchallenged.

"I tried to reach Mr. Jones's father, but the number we have on file is disconnected. I understand you own father is also not here this weekend, so I called you down to the office to make sure he gets to your house okay."

"Is he alright?" questioned Archie, with no small amount of concern.

"At the moment, he has a nasty cold, but with rest and decent nutrition," She emphasized the later, having had ample time to see how thin the young man had become, "he should make a good recovery. He has no fever, and although he has some sinus pain, it hasn't become an infection… yet. If he does not sleep and eat regularly, this could get more complicated quickly." She looked at him imploringly, hoping that the advice would stick.

"I understand," said Archie, dozens of horrible versions of just how complicated this could get flew through his mind in a span of seconds before he shook his head briefly to dispel them and focused on the task at hand. "Can I see him?"

The nurse smiled slightly, "Of course, he's just inside."

Archie passed through the door and made his way back to the curtained off section where Jughead was. The dark haired boy frowned as he slept, whether from ailment or memories in the form of dreams come to haunt him, Archie couldn't tell. He reached down, hesitantly, to wake the smaller boy, wishing for all the world that teleportation existed; or at least that he had his driver's license by now, so that he could avoid waking his sick friend.

The redhead touched Jughead's shoulder softly, trying not to startle him, "Jug… Jughead, come on…"

Jughead opened his eyes, looking disoriented and more tired than he did earlier if that was possible. He winced as he pulled himself into an upright position, "Ow…" he muttered, clearly annoyed by the amount of pain his head was causing him at the moment. His eyes regained some focus and he recognized his friend standing next to his cot, "Archie…?"

"Yeah, Jug…" the bigger boy tried to smile, but it was thin and tinged with worry, "School's over… Let's get outta here." He extended his hand and helped bring Jughead to his feet.

Jughead nodded, swallowing hard as the vertigo-like sensation struck him from getting up so quickly. He used the red-haired boy shoulder to steady himself before exhaling slowly and making his way out of the nurse's office. Archie grabbed a few travel packs of kleenex on his way out.

Archie, knowing he wouldn't be making football today, had Jughead sit on the seats outside Coach Clayton's office while he excused himself from today's drills and explaining his absence to his coach. Coach Clayton raised his eyebrows skeptically, but hearing a loud staccato burst of sneezes from the ill boy outside his door assured him that Andrews was not just trying to miss out on post-season practice.

When Archie left the coach's office, he looked on miserably as Jughead was caught in the throes of another fit of body-wrenching sneezes.

"HEDZHSCCHHUH! Hetschhuhhh! HEHGSSSHuhh! HEH-HehGSHHUH! Heh… ughh...Damnit!" his shoulder sank from the unwanted exertion, his hands still covering his face, waiting for the explosions to subside.

Archie passed him one of the travel tissue packs he had swiped from the nurse's office. After his friend had cleaned himself up, he moved to help Jughead up. The raven haired boy resisted, pulling away. He glared at Archie,

"I'm good…"

"Sure," the red-haired boy quipped, "Let's just go.