He had been waiting to say it for what felt like months. But he couldn't say it now because the timing wasn't right.

"Well," said the other Jughead. "What does the S stand for?"

This universe's versions of Jughead and Veronica were staring across the table at him. But his eyes were not meeting theirs. Instead he was looking out the window.

Answers to questions would have to wait, he decided, because Jughead had seen someone outside who was approaching the glass doors.

"Hey, is that Archie?" he said, recognizing his best friend at once by the trademark red hair. He knew it wasn't the same Archie as the one from his universe, but he was keen to meet this version of Archie Andrews to find out just how much they differed. That would also have to wait.

The other two whirled around in their seats to see, and neither one looked particularly pleased with what they saw.

"Is that... all of them?" said other Jughead.

Veronica was biting her lip. This was not what she had planned either. Archie on his own would have been fine, but he had not arrived alone, for standing behind him was an entire crowd of party guests. It was difficult to tell just how many there were, but it was definitely more than had been invited to Jughead's party in the first place. And it was a noisy crowd. It was easier to hear them at this point than to see them.

"A bunch of people showed up after you left," Veronica explained. "They must have followed us here."

"Yeah, I almost passed them on the street," the other Jughead replied, grimacing.

Making a snap-assessment of the situation, Jughead decided the town of Riverdale was not yet ready to find their world was one of many, much less a group of rowdy 10th graders.

Both Jugheads could see Archie wasn't the only redhead among them. Cheryl Blossom was there as well. And wherever Cheryl went, trouble was bound to follow.

"I gotta... go to the bathroom," Jughead said, taking his cue to exit.

Before walking away, he gave an encouraging wink to the other guy. He would have preferred to depart as mutual loving friends, but seeing two Jugheads at the diner together was enough to have them asking questions. And if this universe was anything like the others, gossip spread quickly in this town.

A second later he turned his back and was halfway across the room by the time before Archie and the partygoers could burst in to take a closer look.

They would be too distracted to notice anyway. Half of them were already drunk. And most probably wouldn't notice there had been a third person until just now.

Over his shoulder, Jughead could hear a shout from this universe's version of Archie.

"Jug, I tried to stop them. They just—"

It was immediately drowned out by the crowd erupting in behind him and singing the words to a copyrighted birthday song.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" they droned, each of them singing it in a different key. Jughead avoided looking back at the other guy's reaction. He already knew it wasn't going to be positive.

Each line of the song was louder than the previous one. In the third line, most of them used the name Jughead, but a few crafty people managed to squeeze every syllable of FORSYTHE PENDLETON into the space of just two.

Jughead disappeared behind the bathroom door before the song was over. A few seconds later, he had disappeared completely.

He wasn't sure if he should just move on to a different universe or maybe hang around in this one a while longer. Since he might never find it again, he decided to stay here for now. Besides, he still had so much more to say to his counterpart. So for the next hour he would wait at the far end of the parking lot for the boy in the beanie to come out and find him.

In the end it took less than ten minutes for the other guy to discreetly leave the building. The look on his face suggested he was somehow even more tired than before.

"I thought you were in the bathroom," he said.

"I was."

Jughead knew the bathroom windows were not big enough to climb out of, and so did the other Jughead. Neither of them would mention this for now.

Together they walked for a while until out of sight of the diner, at which point the other Jughead spoke.

"So uh, what does the S stand for?"

"It's not an S." Jughead could help but grin as he said it. "On my planet, it means hope."

The other Jughead considered this for a moment, then put his face in his hand when he recognized the origin of that quote, which made Jughead laugh. And that made them both laugh.

"We are such dorks," Jughead said after a while.

"I'll be honest," said the other guy. "Not my favorite Superman movie."

"Nah, me neither,"

"Good, just checking. I mean, no big deal you do like it. For all I know, you might be from some weird alternate timeline where Man of Steel was released to rave reviews?"

"Nahh, it pretty much sucks in all timelines."

This raised another small chuckle from the other Jughead.

"Still it's kind of a shame though," he said. "That movie had such potential."

"It wasn't true to the comic books."

"Yeah. But neither was Smallville."

"You like that show?" Jughead said with a note of surprise.

"I enjoy it for what it is, which is to say it is angsty teenage fanfiction of a beloved comic book franchise."

"I couldn't have put it better myself."

Jughead smiled. Finally some common ground.

"Man, I could stay here all week talking about movies and TV shows," he continued.

"What, really?"

"Yeah! Maybe we could hang out after school at the drive-in and—"

"Yeahhh... They only just closed that down. And bulldozed it."

"Seriously? Then darn, maybe this is the darkest timeline."

"You don't have to tell me," said the other guy, scudding his shoe on the ground. "I have been watching the news for the last year."

"Oh, let me guess," said Jughead, folding his arms. "They elected George Bush's brother as president?"

"Worse."

"What could possibly be worse than— No, don't tell me. I think I'd rather not know."

"That's wise."

"Then gee, I guess I'd better leave quick before someone does tell me."

There was a long pause.

"So, um..."

"So... yeah?"

The other Jughead avoided eye contact until he couldn't hold it any longer.

"Listen," he said. "I've decided I am going to talk to Betty about this, y'know, ace-aro stuff."

"Cool," said Jughead.

"I was also wondering if you had any more advice for that."

"Oh, I dunno really. Be as honest as possible and don't expect it to be easy. Don't get me wrong though, it's still a million times easier than bottling it up forever. You can trust me on that one."

For a moment, this Jughead felt so much taller than the other one, but maybe that was just the difference in hats.

"Sure,"

"Oh and hey, I know you don't wanna talk about it. But in a sense, you already have," Jughead said, pointing at himself. "Because despite our differences, we are still very much the same person."

"Sure we are," said the other guy, not really sounding like he believed it at all.

"Don't you think so?"

"No offense, but I don't think we are the same in that respect. You just seem weirdly proud of the fact you can't be in a relationship."

"No offense to you too, but you're way too afraid to embrace your weirdness. Just embrace it!"

The other guy seemed to chew this over in his mind.

"But why though? The way I see it, I'm already pretty good at not fitting in. I mean in case you haven't noticed, I don't fit in. I don't want to fit in. Have you ever seem me without this stupid hat? That's weird!"

"You're one to talk about stupid hats," Jughead said, pointing proudly at the whoopee cap.

The other guy sighed.

"Maybe I just don't get this as a thing to be proud of. It's like being proud of your allergies."

Jughead took a deep breath. He'd been put on the spot, and this was finally the chance to explain.

"Yeah, but think of it my way: this identity is what gives me the freedom to not act like every other hormone-addled teen out there. And that, my friend, is something to be proud of. Listen, I know it might sound dumb, but I want other kids to be proud of it too. Like I was hoping when I get to senior year, there'd maybe be some aros and aces joining the school who'd look up to me. And that'd be awesome, and it would reassure them they don't have to fit into the mold and force themselves be someone who chases after girls like, um..."

"Archie Andrews?" the other guy offered.

"I was wondering if he was like that in this universe too."

"He sure is."

Jughead was a tiny bit disappointed. Part of him had been hoping at least one member of the Archie Gang was an aromantic ace in this universe.

"Yeah," he continued. "I mean, I love the guy and all, but sometimes I don't know if he's a hopeless romantic or just plain hopeless! Either way, you and I aren't like that, and that's okay. In fact it's better than okay. Embrace the weirdness! Will you just embrace it already?"

Jughead threw his arms open for a hug. And before he knew it, the other guy was hugging him back. When they broke from their awkward embrace, the other Jughead looked him in the eyes and nodded.

After a while, he broke the silence again.

"I guess I better get back to the party."

"Yeah. But it's been nice hanging with you."

"Likewise. And hey, aren't you gonna tell me how you escaped from that bathroom?"

Jughead hadn't been expecting to answer this, but he would gladly oblige. First he looked around to be sure they were alone. They were. Then he leaned in and whispered:

"I thought you'd never ask."

Then he whipped something shiny out of his coat pocket.

It looked a lot like a handheld barcode scanner, except for that it had a vial of glowing green stuff poking out of the top.

"It's the portal gun I use to travel between realities."

It was a very strange looking gun. The other Jughead couldn't seem to take his eyes off it. Up close, the green stuff it seemed to resemble the contents of a plasma ball. Other than that, the portal gun had few visible features apart from a small black dial near the handle, not even a trigger.

"Where the hell did you get that?" he said.

"Borrowed it from a lovely old man named Rick Sanchez. He doesn't mind me using it. He just... doesn't know who I am or the fact that I borrowed it."

"How does it work?"

"Like this."

Without even touching the dial, Jughead pointed it at the ground a few feet away from them. It fired a bolt of energy, which opened up into a swirling green vortex on contact with the tarmac. The portal looked somewhat 2-dimensional, yet it also seemed to go on forever. It was not fully touching the ground either. It looked as if it was part of some other reality, which was because it was.

Either the other Jughead was rendered completely speechless by the sudden appearance of an interdimensional portal in Riverdale, or his capacity to feel surprised this evening had long since been exhausted. Either way, he said nothing. He just stood there, looking tired.

Jughead decided that now would be the perfect time to make his grand exit.

"Look out below!" he cried, and promptly jumped in.

The portal closed behind him a few seconds later. The other Jughead stared for half a minute at the patch of ground where the portal had been. It had left no evidence of the encounter with his alternate self.

Before he began to question whether or not this had been a dream, he decided the least he could do was to remember it. He would write it down as soon as he got back to his computer. He briefly considered the option of walking home and not telling anyone, when he remembered that his home was Archie's house now, and his computer was still inside the diner, surrounded by party guests. He ran back in before someone else stole it.


AN: Gosh, has it been 3 months already? The start of a new Riverdale season is upon us and that is what finally motivated me to get this chapter out. Just so you know, there will probably be one or two more chapters after this, hopefully with less of a wait.

I know, I know, I've been busy. But at least some of that time has been spent with other writing projects, including my unfinished sci-fi novel, Lunar Olympics. And with the amount of time I've spent on it, you'd think I'd have finished it by now!

Also, did I just create a crossover with Rick and Morty? I think I did. It remains to be seen whether that gun came from C-137 or perhaps one of the other Ricks. Can portal guns be stolen? It seems like something that would happen, and I haven't seen anything in the show to say that they can't. Do let me know in the reviews if you've watched both shows. I know I have.