Jughead's move into a school closet under some stairs was a private one. He knew he was worrying Betty by ignoring the fact that he was voluntarily homeless for the moment but he had no desires to be at home with a drunken father and the reminder that his mom took his little sister and ran off. Without him.

While he hates getting up earlier than he ever has before, he does like having access to a shower daily. That particular morning he sees his phone blowing up with texts and missed calls from Betty, one after the other, getting more insistent with each one.

Are you okay?

Call me

Where are you?

Jughead, I need you to text me back!

He has no idea why she's upset but he immediately texts her a quick I'm fine, what's going on? and gets a phone call full of worried Betty less than a minute later.

"Oh my god, Jug, you're okay, right?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine. What's up?"

"The Twilight, Jug. It burnt down last night! I didn't find out until my mom told me this morning and I assume I'm the only one who knew that's where you were staying? I almost told Archie, you had me so worried."

He feels like someone took all of the air out of the room and turned it sideways. "The Twilight?" he whispers to her. "It's gone?"

"It's gone, Juggie. I'm so sorry."

"Do they know what happened? Was it an accident?"

"They don't know yet, Kevin told me he overheard his dad saying it looks suspicious but that's all I know so far."

The feeling that someone had taken his childhood and burnt it to the ground keeps him silent, trying to figure out what to do, who could have done, who would have done it, why would anyone do it.

"Jug?"

"Yeah, sorry, Betty, I'm here."

"Where are you? You weren't at the Twilight, right?"

"No, look, can we talk about this when you get to school?"

"Sure, I'll see you later, Jug."

He finishes getting ready for the day, trying not to think about losing his favorite place and his income while trying to figure out who would want to burn the Twilight down. With no idea about the why he has nowhere to go on the who and it's frustrating him. He's in the middle of making a crime board in the Blue and Gold office when he sees Betty rushing towards him out of the corner of his eye.

She throws herself in his arms while telling him how worried she had been, she had thought he was still staying there, he would have told her if he had moved back home, right? The guilt of keeping where he was staying from her settles into him and he's avoiding her eyes while she's trying to talk to him.

"Jughead?"

"I haven't been staying at the Twilight for a few days now, I've been here."

"At the school? Where?"

He takes her by the hand to show her the closet he's been sleeping in and he can't stand the sight of her eyes watering in sympathy for him. It's why he didn't tell her in the first place.

"Look, Betty, it's not a big deal, it's temporary, I'll be fine," he tells her earnestly, rubbing the back of his neck and staring at the ground.

"Juggie, why didn't you tell me? I could have brought you blankets or food or pillows or-"

"Hey, it's fine," he interrupts her tirade with a hand to her cheek. "I know you would have done all of those things but I don't want to be one of your projects."

"You're not a project, you're my boyfriend! And friend. How would you react if I were the one sleeping in a closet? Or Archie? There's no need to punish yourself for problems you can't control!" she cries out, tears starting to escape her eyes.

"Okay, okay, you're right, I'm sorry," he murmurs into her hair after pulling her into his arms again. "Now we need to figure out who burned the Twilight down."

"I don't even know who would want to," she tells him as they head back to the Blue and Gold. When they enter the office they find Principal Weatherbee and Sheriff Keller waiting for them.

"Hey, what's up?" he asks, knowing this can't be good. He can see them looking at the start of the board he had been making, with little headway and he knows this is not going to go in his favor.

"We need to talk, Jughead. I'm going to need to take you down to the station," Sheriff Keller tells him with a serious look.

He can see Betty getting ready to let loose on them and he shakes his head at her not to. It's not going to make anything better. "Call my dad," is the only thing he says as he follows the sheriff and principal out of the door. Jughead sees her nodding, looking scared and angry at the same time.

"Where were you last night?" Sheriff Keller questions him.

"Not at the Twilight if that's what you're asking," Jughead answers, feeling condemned before he's even been accused.

"Look, Jughead, I need you to work with me here. We know you have a record with arson-"

"Arson?" he interrupts, "I was playing with matches, I wasn't trying to burn anything down."

"And maybe you're mad that you'd be losing your job with the sale of the Twilight, maybe felt like you needed a little revenge," the sheriff continues without blinking.

"What? The Twilight's been sold? When? To who? Why?" Jughead wants to know. This is all news to him, no one had said a word about any of it to him.

"You're saying you didn't know?"

"No."

He can feel the judgment settling onto him no matter what he says or does. It shuts him down and he just wants to sleep until this whole mess is over.

"So can you tell me where you were last night?"

"I want a lawyer."

"I didn't do it, Betty, you have to believe me."

"Of course not, I know how much you loved the Twilight, you would never do this," she responds, grabbing his hands from across the table.

"I don't want to be their scapegoat," he tells her, finally letting some of the fear he's feeling into his face.

"I'm not going to let that happen."

"Is my dad here?"

"Mr. Andrews is here, we can't find your dad," she replies quietly, squeezing his hand for support.

Jughead isn't surprised in the least.

"Jughead is making this harder on himself than he needs to," Sheriff Keller tells Fred Andrews in the hallway of the police station. "He won't tell us where he was last night and that's not helping his case."

"He was with us last night," Fred answers instantly, "you know how boys are, they stay up too late with video games then just pass out where they're sitting."

"You sure about that?" the sheriff asks with suspicion in his voice.

"I'm sure," Fred says, "you know, he may not want to talk because he might have snuck out and over to Betty's, they started dating recently. I'd rather face you than Alice Cooper any day of the week, Tom. I bet Jug feels the same way."

"He's dating Betty?" Sheriff Keller asks Archie with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's new but it's been a long time coming," Archie responds with a shrug of his shoulders. "Kevin didn't tell you?"

"No, he hasn't said anything."

"You know how these kids are, Tom, they don't tell us anything that goes on with them after they hit puberty," Fred laughs out, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.

"Where's FP?" Tom wants to know.

"He didn't pick up but I'm sure he'll get the message soon."

He hasn't seen his dad in weeks and this isn't how he wants to see him for the first time since he left home. His dad is yelling, indignant, and going to make things worse in his not quite sober state.

The shame he feels hits him all over again, this is why he doesn't want people to know what's going on and where he's sleeping. He can't be home with his dad the way he is and he knows Fred will never let him continue sleeping in the closet at the school.

Telling his dad he believes him, that he knows he'll get his life together, he has faith in him is a lie that tastes bitter but part of him, that little part of him that will always idolize his father wants so much to believe him, to go home with him. He knows though, from experience, that the word of an alcoholic is almost always worth nothing. It's not that he doesn't believe his dad doesn't want to change, he knows he does, he also know where his dad's priorities are and they've never exactly been with him. Until his dad wants to change because he chooses it for himself, he's going to keep letting everyone down.

The truth of an addict is always balancing on the razor edge of their vice and the odds are rarely in their favor.

He feels Betty's hand on his face and he wraps an arm around her as the four of them walk away from the police station. He knows he's going to have to face some harsh truths about what's been going on but he thinks maybe it won't be so bad if at the end of the day is Betty is the one he's talking to.

"So, do you want to tell me where you really were last night and please tell me I won't have to keep Alice Cooper from killing you," Fred asks wearily, leaning against the island in the kitchen.

"No, no," Jughead denies. Even thinking about being caught by Betty's mom in theory is enough to raise his blood pressure. "I was staying at the Twilight over the summer but Betty found out-"

"Whipped that badly, Jug?" Archie jokes, smiling at him.

"And she reminded me it was going to get cold soon," Jughead continues with a glare in Archie's direction, "so I started staying in the school."

"Why didn't you come to me, Jug? You know I would have helped you," Archie asks him, going into the fridge and pulling out some sodas for them all.

"I was fine, Arch."

"What if you had been at the Twilight?"

"Then maybe I'd know who set the fire!" Jughead exclaims, anger over the situation finally getting to him. "Betty's already upset, man, I don't need you adding to it."

Fred looks at him, silently considering the situation. "You know you're always welcome here, Jughead. You can bring the rest of your stuff over tomorrow, okay?"

"Thanks," Jughead says as Fred leaves the kitchen to order pizza for everyone.

Archie seems pensive while taking a drink. "So, Betty's upset?"

"Yeah, mostly about me not telling her I started staying at the school. I think she was just worried though."

"Sounds about right for Betty. Remember when we crashed both our bikes trying to use that ramp we built?"

Jughead laughs. "Yeah, where we went wrong was building it ourselves. She told us it was dangerous and not to do it but we did anyway."

"And then she was so mad, she totally yelled at us, then made us cookies but she was still mad-"

"Oh man, I forgot about the cookies, that was messed up," Jughead cuts him off, getting lost in the memory.

He can hear angry stomping up the stairs to Archie's bedroom where they're both laying in the bed playing video games, Jughead with his foot elevated and Archie with a wrapped wrist and big bandage on his knee.

His eyes go wide as he sees a twelve year old Betty in pink jeans and white top with a high ponytail with her hands on her hips and fire in her eyes.

"Hey, Betts," he says sheepishly.

"Don't you 'Hey' me Jughead Jones! I told you, I told the both of you, that the ramp was unsafe. You can't just stack stuff together and use a couple of nails and expect it not to fall over!"

Archie has smartly decided to keep his mouth shut. He's been on the end of a few Betty lectures and he knows it's best just to take it and then beg for forgiveness.

Jughead has yet to really be on this side of her anger, he's usually standing behind her making sympathetic faces to Archie as she yells, her anger always born from the worry she feels towards her best friends. "I'm sorry, Betty, really, but it seemed stable when we were testing it."

So close, Jughead thinks as he first watched her face soften then get angrier within just a few seconds.

"Why wouldn't you wait for me? I told you I knew how to make it stronger if you were going to insist you knew how to suddenly jump off ramps- which by the way you do not know how to jump off ramps- remember when you tried to jump off a rock and slid down the hill at the river, and that was with bare feet and suddenly you can do it on wheels?" Betty screeches out at them while they try not to wince.

The faint laughter of Mr. Andrews can be heard and they know he won't be saving them anytime soon. Both he and Mrs. Andrews were not happy about the whole ramp situation and had left them to their fate.

Both boys look contrite as they mumble their apologies. As fast as she's mad, she's over it, bouncing on the bed between them, taking the video game controller out of Jughead's hand, soundly beating the pants off of Archie before jumping back up and telling them she'll be back in a little while.

They've moved onto a movie by the time she gets back, a plate of cookies in her hand smiling at them.

"Chocolate chip? Awesome," Jughead says, happily grabbing one and handing another to Archie. They both take big bites while seeing the large smile Betty is wearing, clueing in quick to her amusement. "Betrayal by cookie, Betty? That's cold."

"Oh, I thought you liked oatmeal raisin cookies," she exclaims innocently.

"That one stung," Archie declares with Jughead nodding his agreement.

Sitting on an air mattress on the floor of Archie's room, Jughead thinks about what he's going to do next. He's going to need a job at some point, he wants to find who bought the Twilight since that probably leads to who burned it down. Polly is still missing. Jason Blossom is still missing. There's not enough brain power to think about it all as he goes to lay down for the night when he catches a glimpse of Betty through her window.

She must be able to feel his stare because she turns, standing there in cotton shorts and top, hair down and relaxed. He must look terribly dopey because she laughs and blows him a kiss before she closes her curtains. Laying back on the mattress he knows he's got a smile on his face and he hears Archie laugh and tell him, "So whipped, man."

Calm and comfortable for the first time in way too long he just responds with a whispered, "Yeah" as he falls asleep easily for the first time in months.