Week's End
By: AndiKaneUnderwood
I had too. I'm really emotional and as I write this, I feel nothing but pain for the Southside boy who's going through so much and still standing.
Written for S.1 E.13 "Chapter Thirteen: The Sweet Hereafter"
"He'll be in a new home by the week's end."
Archie's only thought was to gauge Jughead's reaction to this because God knew that the Southside boy wasn't handling everything else very well.
Archie could only wonder why Lady Fate had her mind set on hurting Jughead so much, but as he watched Jughead breath in deeply and close his eyes to allow this to process, Archie thought that it'd be better if he never met her because it was likely he'd kill her for hurting Jughead so much.
As Jughead met Archie's eyes, Archie saw the hurt reflecting back at him and he knew what to do. "Right. Sure, we'll just go on upstairs."
Jughead saw the words for what they were and immediately made his escape.
The lady, Ms. Weiss Archie remembered, tried to grab Jughead's sleeve, but Fred gently took her shoulder and asked to go over some more things.
While the bitch was distracted, Fred nodded to Archie and the redhead rushed up the stairs to join Jughead and try and repair the damage the bitchy woman had undoubtedly done.
Jughead was curled up on Archie's bed trying not to cry when Archie entered.
Archie slowly made his way over and sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm not gonna let her take you, Jughead." he promised.
Jughead shook his head and slowly sat up, green eyes glowing as tears streamed despite his efforts to stop them. "How? How can you stop her, Archie? The paperwork's already gone through and by the end of the week I'll be gone."
Archie set his hand on Jughead's cheek and brushed away the tears, then pulled the poor boy into a tight hug. "Don't worry about how," he murmured into Jughead's ear, "just trust me. I'll take care of it, Jughead. I promised I'd fix it and I will."
Just like that, the dam broke and Jughead's tears came to light. He cried into Archie's shirt, sobs tearing themselves from his throat.
Archie simply held him tighter, not once pulling back. He murmured softly into Jughead's ears, mostly soothing words that his father had once said to him after his mother left. He thought a bit, thinking that Jughead's father had better be happy for what he'd done to Jughead and that the social worker had better not come up here.
If she did, Archie held no doubts that he'd likely slam the door in her face or curse at her or (he was all too happy to admit) tell her to get the fuck out of his house.
Because Archie's little brother was sitting here crying because of what that woman had told he and Archie wouldn't let that slide.
An hour later, after Jughead's tears had turned to whimpers and eventually to soft snores, Archie gently laid his brother down on the bed and pulled him away from the flannel around his waist and his jacket. Archie considered taking off the beanie, then decided that Jughead needed it to stay a bit longer since Archie didn't know if he'd be back before Jughead woke up.
(He probably would since Jughead slept heavier than usual when he cried himself to sleep, but that was beside the point.)
Archie walked down the stairs with a washcloth to use the sink, an excuse to see if the woman was gone yet because he didn't think he could handle her being in the house any longer than the next hours if she wasn't.
He looked around and spotted his father and the woman arguing in the kitchen.
Archie walked to the kitchen door and his father spotted him. The woman, Archie didn't care to recall her name, spun around when she noticed she no longer had Fred's attention and noticed Archie standing there.
"Oh, good. Where's Jughead?" She asked.
Archie made a split-second decision and told the woman the truth, hoping to rattle her enough that she'd leave as soon as she heard it. "He's asleep. He cried himself to sleep." Archie stepped around both of the adult and turned on the warm water.
"Is he alright?" Fred asked, concern coloring his voice, because no matter how he'd felt those few nights ago, he still loved Jughead like the Southside boy was his own son and didn't want to see him hurt.
"He's okay, just tired." Archie replied.
"Well, please wake him up and inform him to pack up." The lady said.
Archie looked over his shoulder with a scathing glare. "He doesn't have to leave until the end of the week. I think six days is enough time to pack."
"Right." The woman looked down and gathered her papers. She looked at Archie. "Is he happy to be leaving?" she inquired.
Archie nearly laughed at the thought, Jughead happy to be leaving the only place he's ever felt safe? Yeah that's a good one, tell it again.
"In case you missed the look on his face when you told him, he's not by any means happy to be leaving." Archie snarled, squeezing out the excess water from the cloth and turning to face the social worker.
"Archie," his dad warned.
"He sat up there crying for an hour because he doesn't want to leave." Archie continued as if his Dad hadn't spoken.
He gestured up the stairs. "Jughead's entire life is here in Riverdale and now you want him to leave it because you don't think Dad can provide for us? That is the saddest bullshit I've ever heard in my life!" Archie growled, watching the woman turn from angry to understanding. "Jughead is perfectly safe and happy here and he'll be provided for just fine because in case you didn't notice, he's still alive after living her for six months. So, no, Miss Weiss, he's not happy to be leaving and believe me when I tell you, he won't thank you for this. Now, I have to get back up there. I'll ask you to, please, reconsider your thoughts on taking Jughead away. Excuse me."
Archie brushed past his father and the woman, stepping quietly up the stairs and closing the door just as softly.
Jughead, thankfully, was still sleeping.
Archie sighed, taking the washcloth and gently cleaning away the evidence of tears on Jughead's pale face.
If this stress continued on much longer, Jughead was likely to end up sick. Archie sighed again and tried not to think about what would happen next.
Five minutes later, a knock came from the door. Archie hoped it was his father, but as he opened the door, he discovered that Lady Luck was against him too.
Ms. Weiss stood in the door way. "Hello, Archie." she said softly.
"Hi." Archie said warily.
"I'd like to tell you that I'm going to reconsider. I'm going to try and get the courts to turn custody over to your father. It's been made clear to me that no one will be able to provide for Jughead as well as you and your father can." Ms. Weiss smiled a bit as Archie let that sink in.
"Thank you." Archie breathed, hugging the woman hard.
Ms. Weiss chuckled softly. "Don't worry about it. I'll take my leave now." Archie let her go and watched as she walked down the stairs.
He closed the door back and returned to Jughead's side.
He didn't know what would happen at the day's end.
Hopefully, it wouldn't matter either.
But whatever happened, Archie wouldn't let Jughead walk out of his life again.
He'd promised Jughead he'd fix it.
And that was exactly what he intended to do.