Author's note: For those of you that follow me on tumblr, you knew this was coming. I have nothing to say for myself at this point. I feel like it's fair at this point to be a bit honest with why I write so many stories and what not: Manic Bipolar II. We tend to be very divided on the idea of sleep and we tend to start a lot of projects at once. And, I'm not ashamed of my mental health in the slightest but if you're about the stigmatizing mental health life, kindly refrain. I am not here for that. Thanks. I will be deleting a few stories that I do know I won't ever go back to. I'm trying to figure out where to condense and what not but sorry if a story you liked – one that hasn't been worked on in at least several months – is deleted. Okay. Uh, here we go. I'm going to go write this chapter and feel vulnerable about admitting something about myself that I don't really talk all that much about. Okay. Bye.
Jughead sat at his favorite, quiet corner in one of the lower end coffee shops in the city as he typed away on his laptop. He had a deadline to meet for his pain in the ass editor who, somehow, he had both the fortune and misfortune to work under. Ethel Muggs was brutally honest when it came to his work, tearing into with a pen and harsh words the way one Betty Cooper used to. On the other hand, she was an exponentially amazing friend to have in his corner. Fought tooth and nail for the publishing company to read his first book of his crime series and then secured a trilogy contract with them that he was able to work around his schedule.
For the most part, it worked easy enough for Jughead. He didn't have anyone he had waiting for him at the end of the day – no one sharing a one-bedroom apartment with in the city that never sleeps. Of course, there could have been someone. Could have been the best someone, in his opinion. But Betty Cooper and himself were not the same people they were in high school; not the same young teenagers who promised each other forever. No fault was handed to either, it was just the way the cards fell. She got accepted to college in Boston and he got accepted to one in New York. They tried long distance at first – tried so extremely hard to make it work – but in the end, both of them were so tired of short weekends and even shorter holidays. The fights weren't awful per se, but he just knew they couldn't be fair to who they once were, so they split on amicable terms, both going their own way.
Of course, that didn't stop Jughead from trying to keep tabs on her from time to time. A quick look on her Facebook and Instagram pages showed she was still friends somewhat with Veronica and Archie, but oddly enough, the person she was hanging out with more often than not was Sweet Pea. He wasn't sure how thatfriendship came to be, but he did find pictures of him, Betty, and a third woman – perhaps a friend or girlfriend of Sweet Pea's. From the way they acted in their photos, Jughead didn't get the idea Sweet Pea and Betty were anything other than close friends. And, as loathe as he was to admit it, that idea soothed his jealousy – and, the fact that he was jealous in the first place made him so fucking mad. She wasn't his and he wasn't a possessive asshole. Much.
Sighing, he knocked back the rest of his coffee and shut his laptop. He had done enough writing for the night and it was already creeping into the early hours of the next morning, regardless. So, there really was no point in giving Ethel a reason to chew his ass out for staying up all night as the quote, "overachieving night owl with a penchant for death by caffeine overdose" man he tended to be. Did he mention she was ruthless with her words?
Picking his laptop up and sliding it into his messenger bag – still not cool even as an adult, Jughead – he made his way out of the coffee shop, headphones over his ears as he listened to Kurt Cobain and began making his way to the metro. He should really pick something up to eat that wasn't day old Chinese food, but he also didn't really want pizza at two in the morning after consuming as much coffee as he just had. Didn't sound that appealing. Making a mental note to order in something from the twenty-four-hour deli down the street from his apartment, he hurried down the stairs so he could catch his ride on time. Standing on the platform with the rest of the late-night people out at that hour, he kept to himself, not really addressing anyone. It wasn't until he saw a familiar figure and did a double take just to make sure, did he take off his headphones. "Sweet Pea?"
Sweet Pea turned around, scanning the crowd and Jughead watched as a shadow of apprehension flickered across the tall man's face before he schooled his expression into one of casualness. "Jughead Jones. Long time, man."
"Yeah, too long," he agreed, watching him. He had half a mind to – "I'm surprised Betty isn't hanging out with you, tonight."
Shit. Fuck. Way to be the biggest creep.
Sweet Pea folded his arms across his chest and leveled him with a look. "Betty?"
"Yeah," Jughead tried to backtrack, tried to get himself out of the grave he was slowly digging. "I-I mean I've just seen social media and you two…"
"You've seen her social media, you mean," Sweet Pea clarified. Jughead swallowed. "And, yeah, we're friends. Obviously, we weren't in high school or anything when we were in the Serpents, but I ended up at a trade school in New York and I crossed paths with Betty at a pizzeria one night."
"Betty is here? In New York City?" Jughead asked.
Sweet Pea seemed to be calculating how to continue the conversation. Finally, he settled on, "have you spoken to Alice?"
"You're on first-name basis with Alice Cooper? Didn't you kick her front door in?" Jughead asked, wondering if someone had spiked his coffee with something.
"Correction: we kicked her door in to help Betty and Alice," Sweet Pea said calmly as the metro approached. They hopped on and Sweet Pea opted to remain standing. "But, considering you didn't know, yeah Betty is in the city. She's living with me and my girlfriend."
Jughead couldn't make heads or tails of anything that Sweet Pea was saying. "Why isn't she living with Ronnie?"
"Veronica and Archie don't really – you should just come by to our apartment," he said. "I know it's late, but she'd be happy to see you."
Jughead nodded with only the tiniest amount of hesitation. Afterall, it had been a good five years since he had seen his beloved Nancy Drew. "Yeah, where are you guys living?"
"Greenwich Village," came the reply as Sweet Pea took out his phone and texted someone, presumably Betty. The rest of the ride was quiet minus a few words changed here or there.
Eventually, they reached the apartment building, and Sweet Pea stopped them outside the entrance, looking at Jughead. "I should let you know that she, at one point, was hunting down a lead on a drug factory near a plant building. There was an explosion. She got hurt but she's okay."
Before Jughead could process the words he had just heard or, more importantly, demand why he wasn't told, Sweet Pea was heading into the building and he hurried in after him. Following him up the stairs to the second floor, Jughead waited til he unlocked the door and followed him in after.
"She in her room?" Sweet Pea asked a pretty brunette.
She nodded. "I'm Claire. You're Jughead? Sweet Pea texted you'd be coming over."
Jughead nodded, accepting the handshake the woman – the Claire – offered him. Must be the girlfriend. To prove his theory, Sweet Pea dropped a chaste kiss against her lips before nodding at Jughead. "Come on, she'd rather see you in her room. It's a comfort thing."
Odd thing to say.
Hesitantly, more hesitance than he had about originally coming over, he followed Sweet Pea into her bedroom. He opened the door a crack, peeking his head in, before pushing it open all the way. Betty was sitting with her back facing them, typing on her own computer as she sipped what appeared to be tea. Jughead watched as Sweet Pea flicked her light switch on and off three times and Betty held up two fingers, before going back to typing. Maybe it's a code for them. She always was fascinated by morse code in the Nancy Drew books.
Eventually, she turned in her chair and faced them. She smiled at Jughead, which made him aware that she at least knew he was coming. Then, she did something that knocked the breath out of him. She signed to Sweet Pea, who immediately signed back, explaining what they were talking about to Jughead in the process.
"She says hello. Good to see you and you don't look a day over twenty-five," Sweet Pea said, voice fond.
Jughead swallowed, forcing a chuckle as he tried to wrap his mind around what he was witnessing. "Can-can she…uh, is lip reading…?"
"She can and she doesn't like people talking about her as if she can't," Sweet Pea advised and he looked back at Betty, who was watching him with a grin.
He didn't know if he should talk slowly or not and he, normally never one to feel ignorant, was feeling that way and, as much as he felt like a prick for hoping this, wished it were a joke of some sort. He knew it wasn't, however. Sweet Pea had mentioned an explosion at a plant she was hunting a lead down by. Fine my ass.
"Hey," he said finally, rather lamely, in his opinion.
"Hey," she replied, and the fact that he could hear her hearing impairment was what finally convinced him. Convinced him so many things had changed. And, yet, looking at the once familiar blonde – so many other things had stayed the same. Her hauntingly beautiful forest green doe-like eyes, for example. Her smile and the dimple pulling at her cheek when she was incredibly happy, which, he was being gifted with at the moment. He returned the same smile.
"Good to see you," he said, making sure to talk at his usual pace so he didn't make it seem like there was something wrong with her – something abnormal. There wasn't. And, all too soon, the old familiar feeling of wanting to protect her from people who judged her and threw harsh as knives words against her skin, intentions to wound, rose to the surface and he had to forcibly swallow them down. No one was an enemy in the apartment.
"Good to see you," she murmured, before signing to Sweet Pea and Jughead found himself wanting to know what they were talking about – to be let in on the conversation. He made a mental note to download a software that would teach him sign language so he could talk to her as well if it was her preferred method of communicating. Then, he realized he was making plans as if they were going to have a future friendship and he wasn't the only one who could want that. She needed to decide if she did to.
As if reading his thoughts, she smiled. "Coffee?" It was spoken and signed and Jughead wondered – perhaps selfishly – that she was making a conscious effort to sign in front of him because she too hoped for the same things he did. He nodded and after getting a time allotted for their catch-up date, Sweet Pea saw him out of the apartment and Jughead made his way back to his own, mind abuzz with questions by the plentiful.
Author's note: Layered note here: I have never, ever written anything of this nature before. I have known a few deaf people in my life and if this story proves to be something you guys want more of, I'll be doing extensive research as it is so far from my nature to want to offend anyone. I would love thoughts. I need to go now smoke cigarettes to calm my nerves.
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