So, I had this idea and just needed to write it. It's pretty cheesy, kinda makes fun of the show and fanfiction in general. I also got lazy after a bit and kinda just did a quick ending. It's definitely not my best work, but it's far from being my worst. Figured I may as well share. Let me know what you guys think.
It was almost funny, he thought as he went flying through the air. Betty had told him over and over that he needed to get another helmet for his bike. He hadn't listened to her. Whenever she rode with him, she got the helmet and he wore nothing but his beanie.
And that brought them here. They were both flying through the air after getting tapped by a car making an illegal left turn. He was flying towards a tree and she was headed towards a puddle of water in the ditch.
He had a moment to be grateful that they weren't going very fast when they'd been hit and that Betty had the helmet before his skull slammed against the trunk of the tree and everything went black.
Jughead opened his eyes slowly, confused and sore. His head was throbbing dully. His mouth tasted like copper and felt fuzzy. He also had a concerning blank in his memory of how he'd ended up in the hospital.
He moved his head slightly and saw his dad slumped in a chair on his right, sleeping. That in itself was strange. His dad hadn't exactly been the perfect father lately, or, if Jughead was honest with himself, since he'd lost his job. Yet here his dad was, sober, shaved, and healthy.
Jughead looked to his left, ignoring the throbbing that was slowly increasing. Strangely enough, instead of the seat being empty, or perhaps having Archie, Betty was there, sleeping. She had a jacket bunched up behind her neck as a makeshift pillow. She also had a cast on her right wrist.
That stumped him. Betty and he were friends, sure, but it wasn't like they'd talked since she went to LA for her internship. For that matter, he was pretty sure she should have still been in LA for the internship. How had she gotten back? Why had she come back? Surely not just for him?
And it kind of hurt that Archie hadn't come, even if he didn't want to admit it to himself. He was still furious that his friend had bailed on their road trip, but he would have expected Archie to still come to see him, even if he knew Jughead was mad at him.
Jughead turned to look at his dad again, pushing all thoughts of Archie from his mind, and groaned. His head wasn't just starting to throb, it was starting to feel like someone was stabbing him repeatedly with a fork. The noise caused his dad to still and wake up, and Jughead could hear Betty start to move on his left.
"You alright, Jug?" his dad asked, scooting his chair closer to Jughead's bed. His dad's eyes were soft, and most definitely more kind than they'd been in a long time.
"Aside from a killer headache, yeah, I'm alright," he said. "What happened?"
"Juggie," Betty began. Juggie? Jughead turned to look at her. She'd apparently moved her chair closer while he was looking at his dad. She reached and interlocked her fingers with his, squeezing gently. "We were riding your motorcycle, remember? That car made an illegal left turn and hit us. We both went flying. I was wearing your helmet and hit the ditch. You hit a tree. You're lucky you've only got a concussion and a few scrapes." Betty shook her head. Tears were starting to prick at the corners of her eyes. He only had a moment to notice them before she buried her head into the space between his shoulder and head. "I told you that you needed to buy another helmet."
Her voice was suspiciously teary. This wasn't… Jughead didn't have a precedent for what was going on. Obviously, he was missing some more memory than they thought, especially if he apparently had a motorcycle and gave Betty rides on it.
"Oh," he managed to say eloquently.
"I'm just glad you're okay," Betty said, looking up. She was looking at his lips now. Jughead found himself frozen again. Slowly, she moved closer to him until their lips were touching and she was kissing him passionately.
Jughead had never kissed anyone (that he remember, at least), but his lips seemed to know what to do on their own. His mind went blank for a moment. How many times had he dreamed of this moment?
Luckily, he regained his senses a moment later and pushed her off of him.
"Jughead?" she asked, looking hurt. Or was it worried? It was hard to tell. "Are you okay? I didn't hurt you, did I?"
Ah, so that was her worried face.
Jughead shook his head violently. "No. But I think I may be missing more memory that you think."
Betty's mouth dropped into a perfect o.
"I'm going to get the doctor," his dad announced, standing up and walking out of the room quickly.
There was an awkward silence for a moment.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Betty asked quietly.
Jughead thought for a moment. "I started to write about Jason Blossom at Pop's. It was July."
Betty shook her head. "It's May. 2018."
"I feel like I'm missing a lot," Jughead said lamely.
Betty laughed wetly. "Kind of, yeah."
"Would you fill me in?" he asked. "I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to, but I'd really like to know and I feel like you probably know a fair amount."
Just thinking about her kissing him, something he'd imagined since middle school, not that he'd admit it, was making him blush. He was sure his face was blotchy and red.
Betty still looked upset, but she managed a small smile.
"Sure, Jughead," she said. "I'll wait until after your dad gets back with the doctor and he looks at you."
With that, Betty stood up quickly and scurried out of the room.
Jughead was left alone until a moment later his dad returned with a doctor.
There was some conversation, mostly about what Jughead remembered, or more accurately, didn't. The doctor looked at him, and, because apparently while he'd been out they'd already run an MRI on him, determined that he was fine and the memories would most likely come back on their own with time.
After the doctor left and his dad was gone again, the door opened. Betty walked in, this time followed by a girl with dark hair and a pearl necklace and Kevin Keller.
"Um, hi?" he said.
"Jughead," the dark-haired girl greeted. "Betty hasn't told me much. All I know is she's upset. What did you do?"
Jughead furrowed his brow. "What?"
The dark-haired girl opened her mouth again, but Betty grabbed her arm.
"V, just let me explain, please. You didn't have to come and march in here. And bring Kevin."
"I resent that," Kevin said. "I'm here to support you, Betty. If Jughead did anything…"
He let that trail off, but Jughead wasn't sure he liked what this was implying.
"Besides, if my girl's calling me in tears and mentions her boyfriend's name, what am I supposed to assume?" the dark-haired girl - V? - asked rhetorically.
Wait…
"Boyfriend?" Jughead exclaimed. "What are you talking about?"
The dark haired girl turned to him again and frowned deeply.
"B, I think maybe I'll let you explain," she said finally.
Kevin, meanwhile, was looking back and forth at all of them, eyebrows pinched.
"Is this what I think it is?" he asked quietly, and somehow sounding strangely excited. "Because it's starting to feel like a rom-com where one of the people loses their memory and the other has to get them to fall in love all over again."
"Wha-" Jughead choked. He couldn't even finish his thought.
"I think you're right, Kevin," V said, sounding disturbingly excited too.
"Would someone please tell me what you're talking about," Jughead growled.
"Jughead, you and I are dating," Betty said simply.
Jughead blinked rapidly. The frankness of her words was slightly disturbing.
It wasn't that he'd never considered dating Betty. In fact, he'd probably considered it much more often than was appropriate for someone who didn't believe in social constructs. He'd never acted on anything though. He'd always thought that she and Archie were endgame, but no, apparently not. Unless she was just with him because Archie was too dumb to realize that Betty was perfect.
To be fair, it did sound like Archie. Then again, he doubted that Betty would actually date someone she didn't at least feel a little bit of attraction to. She was much too nice to lead someone on like that.
"Okay," he said slowly. "When did that start?"
"At the beginning of November," she said.
He was very aware of Kevin and the girl called V watching him like he was the newest reality show. Not a very pleasant feeling.
"Okay," he said again, slower.
"A, um, a lot happened. Maybe we could talk about it at Pop's? I heard you'll be getting discharged any time," Betty said.
"Sounds good," he agreed. This was starting to feel like a cliche fanfiction. And not a good one.
"Come'on, Kevin, Veronica," Betty said, grabbing both of them by the arms and dragging them out.
Jughead was only left alone for a few moments before his dad came in with a handful of clothes. He handed the clothes to Jughead with a quick word about being discharged and left again to let Jughead get dressed.
Jughead was quick to get out of the hospital gown and get his clothes on. In the process, however, he discovered a tattoo on his arm. A Southside Serpent gang tattoo.
His didn't look at his dad the whole drive to Pop's.
His dad stopped at the diner and parked the car. He didn't unlock the doors.
"Now look, son," his dad began. "I understand you're worried. Just, don't. Worry, I mean. You'll be able to walk to the trailer from here?"
Jughead nodded mutely, avoiding his dad's eyes. So he lived with him again? When had that started? And why?
His dad sighed and Jughead heard the truck's doors unlock. He jumped out and entered the diner quickly, spotting Betty sitting at a booth, his laptop next to her, open.
Jughead sat down across from her and saw the food sitting next to her and a second plate of food pushed to the side.
"I ordered you some," she said, smiling faintly. "Before we start, do you have any questions?"
"Yeah, just one." He paused and lowered his voice. "Why do I have a Southside Serpent tattoo?"
"You're a Southside Serpent," Betty said. Her eyes widened. "It's not anything bad, I promise."
"Sure," he snorted.
Betty ignored him and pushed his laptop towards her. It was open to a document.
Jughead absently scanned the first few lines. Shockingly, he recognized them. It was what he'd started writing after Jason had been swept away in Sweetwater River.
"This is what you wrote about his death. It's kind of like your diary, I suppose. You've written about everything that's happened since then up to this day. I figured the best way to try and remember stuff and learn stuff would be to read it."
Betty bit her lip, eyes meeting his then darting away.
"That's a great idea, Betty," he said quietly, already a few paragraphs in.
He read and read. It was funny. He felt kind of like a time traveler. Without the Tardis though. Or the cool alien with two hearts. That was a major bummer.
He made it farther and farther, absently eating the food Betty had got him all the way. He ran out eventually and continued reading plot twist after plot twist.
Jason's murderer was discovered a lot faster than he would have expected, especially considering the length of the document left to read.
It was strange because, with everything he'd read about his dad, he could imagine being mad, furious like the him writing the book at the time was, but he wasn't now. Probably because he knew it couldn't be his dad who'd done it, what with him not being in jail and everything.
He had paused, briefly, at one part and looked at Betty.
"I said 'Hey there, Juliet'?" he asked, smirking slightly. "That has to be the cheesiest line I've ever heard or read anywhere. It really worked like that?"
Betty blushed prettily and looked away from him, nodding slightly.
Reading about making up with Archie was weird too. Especially considering Jughead was still mad at him, even now. After what must have been hours in a booth at Pop's, he finally arrived at the end of the document, closed his laptop, and took a deep breath.
"Archie being arrested for the murder of a person that you and Veronica met once and robbed us is highly unlikely. Except, well, the sheriff."
Betty sighed. "Yeah."
"And Cheryl is a Serpent now," he added. "Your dad was the Black Hood. Veronica owns Pop's and there is now a speakeasy being constructed in the basement. I lead the Southside Serpents. The Southside is pretty much gone. We, um…"
He didn't finish that last one. He had the feeling it wasn't exactly appropriate for Pop's. Like thinking it, something he'd pretty much wished for (not that he would admit it) years would happen had happened. More than once.
"Am I missing anything?"
"No," Betty said. "We were going to see Archie when you were driving the motorcycle. Obviously, we're not anymore."
Jughead nodded. "Probably a good choice. You know, it's weird to think I'm sixteen right now."
"So am I," Betty said.
"You're older than me though, Betty," he said. "That I'm more used to. It feels kind of like I've time traveled. And not in an amazing way."
"Oh," Betty said.
Jughead, being oblivious to many things, but not what he'd just implied, hurried to correct his mistake.
"I mean, Archie's being charged with murder. I'm in a gang with Cheryl. The Southside is being turned into a prison. Your dad ended up being crazy," he said casually. Betty breathed easier. "It's just a terrible situation. I feel like our lives are being written on a soap opera where they can't quite work out consistency."
Betty laughed. "It does feel like that, doesn't it?"
They don't stay much longer at Pop's. Betty has to get home to her mom and Jughead has to get to his dad. Also, he was starting to get another nasty headache. He followed Betty out of the diner and they shared a customary awkward goodbye. He thought maybe she might be used to being kissed goodbye, but Jughead wasn't, so he settled for waving to her. To her credit, she didn't look too heartbroken. Just a little sad.
He ate a dinner of mac-n-cheese with his dad and went to sleep. When he woke up, his head hurt more and he remembered something. Just something small. He remembered Betty asking him to join the Blue and Gold.
After that, the memories come back fast, and not necessarily in any sort of order. He would have one appear from three days ago and another from months ago. All of them arrived quickly. A fair amount had even appeared in his dreams and settled in.
By the time he left the trailer and started a walk to Betty's house, he was feeling much more like his regular self. When Betty answered the door, he saw her, sighed deeply, hugged her, then kissed her.
Right now it was only fragments missing instead of most of his memories, and even as seconds pass by they were reappearing.
In the end, Jughead decided not to write about his brief stint as an amnesiac. He had the feeling that adding that into his book might be a bit unbelievable.