Jughead smiled down at her, reaching out his long tattooed arms and pulling her small frame into a hug. She tensed up before relaxing and reaching her arms around his torso, he closed his eyes not even remotely ready to admit to himself how much he had longed to hold her and feel her safely in his arms. he rested his chin on the top of her head holding her like that silently probably for a beat too long. She finally started to pull away and he groaned in protest tightening his grip.
"Jug," She squeaked out, he finally released her leaning back a bit but keeping his arms draped loosely around her shoulders. She craned her neck looking up at his face, her features contorting in confusion as she undoubtedly noticed his stark purple bruise that covered his left eye and cheek bone, he watched as she wiggled out of his arms, her eyebrows knitted together as she reached up to touch his face. He let her thumb graze it lightly before grabbing her hand and pulling it away. "What happened?" She asked concerned.
"Just a misunderstanding," He shrugged "You look amazing," He smirked trying to change the subject.
"That looks like a pretty bad misunderstanding," She ignored him, examining his face more.
"Who are you getting all dressed up for," He eyed her suspiciously, not thinking about it before but jealousy spiked through him as he remembered where they were and he lifted his head looking around.
"I was just feeling edgy, now stop avoiding the subject," She scolded crossing her arms over her chest.
"I missed you," He looked down at her his eyes searching her face and smiling when she scrunched her nose in frustration.
"Stop it," she narrowed her eyes.
"You didn't miss me?" He raised his eyebrow playfully.
"Of course I did, probably too much…" She looked away blushing. He lifted his hand placing his finger gently under her chin and pulling her face to look back at him, his lip twitched wanting to kiss her but he wasn't sure what his boundaries were especially at her school. He looked away sensing eyes on them, and watched as Kevin and a black haired girl approached them, Betty immediately took a step back making Jug drop his hand to his side.
"Hey," Kevin smiled at him, the boy putting his hand on his hip and cocking his head to the side when he noticed the large bruise covering the left side of his face, Jug just gave him a head nod in acknowledgement. The black haired girl stopped next to Kevin and looked at Betty expectantly who was blushing so hard now her cheeks were almost red instead of pink.
"Umm Jug this is Veronica…" She started
"...Lodge, I know," He finished for her, not bothering to introduce, himself.
"Vee, this is Jughead," Betty looked to her forcing an awkward smile.
"Jones, I know," Veronica repeated his response smiling politely, "Nice to meet you," Jug just nodded in response. They all stood there in an awkward silence for a beat.
"Are we still going to pops?" Kevin asked looking at Betty.
"Actually I'm going to steal her for awhile," Jughead answered for her before realizing how he probably sounded. " If that's alright with you Betts," He finished looking at her.
"Umm yeah, I'll call you guys later," she shifted uncomfortably, pulling her arms around her waist.
"Sure, just don't forget about tomorrow," Veronica smiled pointedly, before linking her arm through Kevin's. They said their goodbyes and walked away, the air still feeling odd, but Jug brushed it off turning his attention to Betty.
"Sorry if I ruined your playdate," he apologized even though he was far from sorry.
"It's okay, it wasn't really a plan, we just usually go to Pop's after school on Friday's," Betty explained, before looking around seeming to remember where they were. "Can we get out of here?" She asked shyly.
"Sure, I was just trying to help you play up your new bad girl image," He shrugged, she just rolled her eyes and walked around the car to the passenger side, opening the door. He pulled his door open climbing in and turning the car on before turning to her "What's tomorrow?" He asked not forgetting what the Lodge girl had said.
"Just some party at our friend Cheryl's house," Betty shifted in her seat to face him better, her skirt dipping between her legs and making him tense his jaw as he forced himself not to get too distracted. "Do you maybe wanna go?" Betty asked her eyes trailing along his tensed jawline.
"That's a hard pass for me," He laughed, not missing the hurt in her eyes "Sorry Betts, I don't do High School parties," He looked at her sideways, pushing the car into drive and peeling away from the curb loudly, taking off down the street.
"I should have guessed that," Betty sighed knowingly.
"Can I touch you now?" He asked, not meaning for his voice to be as raspy as it came out. He watched her for a second as he slowed at a red light next to the railroad tracks, She just nodded her eyes not leaving his. He reached his hand out intertwining his fingers with hers and pulling her to him across the seat. She fell slightly against him and he stole the opportunity to snake his other hand to the back of her neck pulling her face to him and kissing her hard, she let out a surprised gasp before melting into him. He opened his mouth against hers, his shoulders relaxing as the tension left his body, he kissed her slowly, loving the way she felt against him. A loud honk sounded and he knew the light had turned green, she tried to pull away, put he pulled her back kissing her again playfully, another longer honk sounded.
"Jug!" she pulled away breathlessly looking through the back window and back to him.
"They can wait," He narrowed his eyes smiling at her hungrily, She looked back again nervously.
"Just go! You don't need another black eye," She glared at him.
"I dare them to try," He smiled wickedly, but he obeyed her pressing his foot on the gas as his car sped forward, just as the light turned yellow and left the other car stuck at another red light, he watched in his rear view mirror smiling cockily.
"You're an asshole," Betty huffed, but a faint smile played at her lips.
"They would do the same thing if they had been going through withdrawls all week," He shrugged nonchalantly. She looked away blushing.
"Where are we going?" Betty asked watching out the window as the streets shifted to the southside.
"I thought I could make you dinner tonight, and maybe we could watch a movie, just stay in," He explained matter of factly, her gaze moved to him and he could feel her watching him.
"But this isn't the way to the Wyrm," She said after she watched their surroundings for awhile.
"We aren't going there, I'm sick of being out at bars," He kept his eyes on the road but her eyes were burning a hole in the side of his head.
"Is that what you do out there?" She asked, the suspicion in her voice obvious.
"It's a lot of what I do, yeah… Gotta keep up appearances," He explained vaguely. He pulled his car into Sunnyside trailer park, and pulled around to his family trailer, doing his best to ignore Betty's curious stare. He pulled the car into a parking spot and killed the engine, shifting in his seat pulling his arm up over the back of her seat. "Go ahead ask," He watched her look around and back at him.
"What are we doing here?" She tilted her head to the side.
"This is where I grew up, it's my childhood home… well trailer," He chuckled lightly, she searched his face her eyes going wide.
"I thought you lived at the Wyrm," She blinked up at him, the confusion obvious on her face.
"I do, usually, but I come here sometimes too," He didn't really know what else to say, so he pulled the keys out of the ignition, and got out of the car walking around to open her door for her. He helped her out, and she stood straightening her skirt before bending over and grabbing her backpack. He leaned back enjoying the view, his hand itching to grab her again, she stood up noticing his stare and shoved her hand playfully into his chest. He caught her hand, pulling her against him, and dipping his head down his lips barely touching hers. "No one can honk at us here," He whispered against her skin, he felt her shiver against him, and he watched her close her eyes leaning into him expectantly. He smiled against her lips before pulling away teasing her, her features fell as she opened her eyes glaring at him. "Come on," He laughed grabbing her hand and pulling her with him to the small steps to the front door, he pushed the key in and unlocked it letting them in, she stepped in after him. He had gone there as soon as he had gotten back from New York and tidied up, before falling asleep in his old bed for awhile until he knew she would be getting out of school, so the trailer looked at least decent and not like the slum his drugged up mother usually lived in. He had found a note on the fridge from Gladys saying she was staying at her new boyfriends place for awhile, Jug had no idea how long ago she had written it but he assumed it was fairly new seeing as Sweet Pea had just been with her here last weekend. He walked to the small couch in the living room that doubled as a dining room and sat down watching Betty as she looked around setting her backpack down by the front door. She walked to the wall looking at the photos that were haphazardly nailed there, Jug kept his eyes trained on her as she looked from one photo to the next. His gut twisted uncomfortably but he tried to ignore it, this was the first time he had ever brought anyone to his trailer that wasn't a Serpent, it was oddly vulnerable to him and her silence was suddenly killing him. He stood up closing the distance to her and pressing himself to her back, wrapping an arm around her waist, he dipped his head down burying it in her neck, she leaned her head to the side, tilting to look at him from the corner of her eye. He wanted to say something but nothing was coming to his mind so he stayed silent, she went back to looking at one photo, reaching her hand up and touching the glass over his young 4 year old face staring back at them.
"That's you?" She said in a quiet voice, more of a statement than a question.
"Mhmm…" He mumbled into her skin, "What gave it away?" He quipped sarcastically.
"The beanie," She laughed "And I vaguely remember you looking like that when we were kids," She smiled softly. "Are those your parents?" She asked running her fingers along the glass over his dad's face.
"Yeah… " He sighed examining the photo with her, looking at their happy smiles, Jughead standing between them grinning widely his slightly curly black hair messily framing his face under his grey beanie.
"You look just like your dad," Betty mused. Jug studied the mans face that did happen to resemble his own, an almost uncanny amount. He wasn't exactly offended at her words, but they still made his chest constrict in an odd way. When he didn't respond she continued "Your mom is beautiful," She whispered a smile in her voice.
"She was," Jug nodded, "When she was younger… and sober," he said flatly, Betty tensed in his arms and turned to him, her eyes impossibly sad. She reached up grabbing his face gently, her eyes staring into him. Every instinct he had told him to pull away from her grasp, and change the subject, to put that wall back up as quickly as he could, he felt himself fighting it with every fiber of his being. He looked down at her searching her eyes and taking a deep calculated breath. She seemed to sense his internal struggle and just leaned up on her toes placing a soft sweet kiss on his lips, before pulling away.
"So, What are you making for dinner?" She asked changing the subject for him, he blinked a few times watching her affectionately, feeling oddly moved that she was being so understanding and sensitive towards his blatant personality flaws.
"I have no idea, I was just gonna wing it," He laughed walking into the open kitchen and pulling open a cabinet. She didn't follow him right away, but after a minute she was behind him in the kitchen. She thrust out her hand and it took him a second to realize that she was handing him his beanie, he took it, running his hand through his hair, before silently shrugging and putting it on the bar-like counter that was an open window to the living room. It wasn't lost on him however that this meant she had it on her without knowing she would see him, he wanted to ask her if she kept it with her all the time, but he decided against putting her on the spot.
"Well what are we watching?" she asked pulling herself up on the counter and crossing one leg over the other.
"Also winging it," He squinted apologetically "Sorry, I literally got home, slept, and went to get you...I'm not exactly good at the whole romance thing," He pulled his lips to the side.
"I think it's romantic," She shrugged, "I was the first thing you thought of after coming home…" she trailed off. Jughead, walked over to her letting his hand trail down her bare thigh, resting his palm on her knee.
"You were the only thing I thought of, even when I was gone," He said in a hushed voice, staring at her meaningfully. She blushed deeply, and he knew she wanted to look away, he could feel her shyness but she seemed to fight it keeping her gaze on him.
"How was New York?" She asked her eyes trailing to his black eye he had almost forgot he had.
"It was fine, just work," He said in a clipped tone, she looked away at that point her brow furrowed, her nostril flaring slightly. "You're mad.." He noted lifting her chin to him with his finger.
"No," she huffed, letting out a deep breath "I just… I don't like feeling like you won't tell me stuff," She said honestly, the anger melting from her face slightly.
"I thought we talked about this, I wanna keep you away from that stuff," He tried, tilting his head to the side willing her to understand.
"I know… but you can't just come home to me battered and bruised and expect me to just ignore it," She explained confidently, her voice strong, he studied her enjoying and also hating this challenging side of her. He took a deep breath, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth in contemplation.
"It was a warning," He finally sighed.
"A warning for what?" She asked, obviously not going to let it go any time soon.
"That I do what I'm supposed to, and a show of power that I better stay in line," He watched her face, waiting for it to give away how she felt about his answer, she just kept her gaze strong and level.
"Why would anyone think they can do that to you?" She shook her head. "Well I would hate to see the other guy," She smiled sweetly at him.
"No you wouldn't, Castle is a dangerous man Betty," He said in a sharper tone than he meant to, she flinched at his words her eyebrows pulling together.
"You didn't fight back?" She asked, pausing after her words and reaching for his shoulder. "I didn't mean it like that…" She trailed off, but his masculinity wasn't that fragile, he genuinely took no offense in her question.
"No you don't fight back against a guy like that," He said matter of factly.
"This Castle guy, he scares you…" Betty blinked back the obvious fear on her own face.
"He doesn't just scare me… I have to know my place. I'm not that reckless with my crew, the retaliation wouldn't be on me, it would be on people like… you," He spoke carefully, not being able to meet her piercing gaze.
"You want to fight back," She said reading his face in a way that made him shift uncomfortably.
"Like hell, but I know better, I might be loose cannon sometimes, but I'm smarter than that," He clenched his jaw remembering how the Collector had stood off to the side explaining in a menacing tone how he didn't appreciate liars and wouldn't tolerate anything less than the Serpent's full cooperation. He had told Jughead that they would find out what happened to Jason, and that because of his loss in sales they would discuss becoming his new contact. Jug had immediately shot down the request laughing at it, his hot headed nature getting the best of him. Castle had gotten quiet, telling his huge ass guard named Axel to show Jug why this request would be taken seriously. Right as Axel approached him and Jughead braced himself for a fight, the collector had reached up his hand to stop him, his other hand gripping Sweet Pea's shoulder as a warning to stay back and out of it.
"And tell Ms. Cooper, I'm sorry about your pretty face,"
At the mention of Betty's name Jug had almost snapped his vision going red, but he pulled himself back looking at Sweet Pea and silently telling him to stay put. He clenched his jaw hard, his body wanting so badly to pummel forward and take down Castle, but he stayed still bracing himself as Axel's large fist flew quickly at his face knocking him off balance. He hit the ground as pain exploded behind his eye, the guard kicked him hard in the ribs knocking the wind out of him, he had coughed out any air he could and tried to suck in a struggling breath as the man pulled him to his feet. Jug stood swaying slightly his legs not wanting to hold him up but he gritted his teeth forcing himself to still. Axel grabbed his left arm behind his back twisting it at horrible angle making his shoulder pop out of place, a cry bubbled in his throat but he bit it back down, staring sharply at the collector.
"Are we clear, Mr. Jones?" he had asked smiling wickedly.
"Crystal," Jug spat.
With that Axel pushed him forward causing Jughead to fall to his knees his arm dangingly at his side oddly. Sweet Pea had helped him pop it back into place as soon as the Collector had let go of his shoulder.
"Where did you go?" Betty's voice made him blink, pulling him back to reality, he looked at her hoping she never had to understand why he didn't fight back.
"No where," he sighed, as she reached her hand out again, holding his jaw, he tensed slightly but he let her rub her thumb underneath where he knew the dark purple color ended.
"Does it hurt?" She asked quietly. He shook his head debating on if he should share more with her, he knew she wanted to be let in, and even though his instinct was to keep her out, he knew why she wanted it. If it were reversed he wouldn't take no for an answer, not to mention that she would likely find out about it anyways. He took a deep breath stepping back from her and closing his eyes.
"No, but this does," He said hesitating for a minute, but he grabbed the neck of his grey T-shirt, pulling it swiftly over his head. He gripped the fabric in his hand, letting her look at his torso, the angry purple and red welt showing starkly against his pale skin over his ribcage. He hadn't even really looked at it yet but he knew it hurt like hell to even breath so he knew it wasn't gonna be pretty. He watched as her eyes went wide, she jumped off the counter getting closer to him, her small hand reaching out gingerly touching him, he winced in pain, but shook it off quickly. He looked down at himself examining the bruise with her, it was worse than he imagined, and he immediately regretted showing her. The purple and blue was covering a large part of his side, but the worst part was the obvious red blood that had pulled up bleeding under a few layers of skin, he knew just by looking at it that a few ribs were probably broken or at least cracked. It was only going to look more gruesome after a few days passed.
"Jug, this is bad," she looked up at him, and he couldn't help but notice the tears that filled her waterline.
"I'm okay," He smiled at her, trying to ease her worry.
"We should go to a hospital," She suddenly got a very determined look on her face.
"No it's okay, It will heal," He said matter of factly. She chewed on her bottom lip, obviously struggling with his refusal.
"Should we at least ice it? Those look broken, what if there is internal bleeding," He could hear the panic in her voice.
"Hey, trust me, I'm gonna be fine," He reassured her. "It's a few broken ribs, nothing a little bit of rest and painkillers won't take care of," He smirked stepping closer to her, and grabbing her face in his hands.
"Did they hit you with a car?" She shook her head her eyes still impossibly wide.
"Ha, no, this was just one guy," Jug laughed running his hand through her hair and wincing again with the movement of his arm. He hadn't realized how bad it hurt until he had looked at the damage, but she wasn't wrong, it looked and felt pretty bad. His shoulder would probably start bruising soon too if it hadn't already. He sighed audibly knowing it would be awhile before he was healed.
"Can I do anything?" She finally asked, looking up at him.
"Just let me make you dinner, and stop looking at me like I'm made of glass," He laughed, she glared at him, pursing her lips out slightly.
"I'm allowed to be concerned, you look like a walking inkblot test," she chided sassily, making him smile.
"Oh yeah? Do you wanna tell me what you see? Maybe we can figure out why you are crazy enough to be with me," he raised his eyebrows playfully, she went to shove him back but froze her hand staying still on his chest. "You don't have to do that," He looked down at her hand.
"Do what?" She asked innocently.
"I already told you, you can be rough with me, I kind of have a thing for pain," He had meant to come off playful, but his words went to a deeper place instead. He gazed into her eyes the small yellow flecks in her iris glowing slightly in the kitchens lighting.
"I don't think I know how to do that," She looked away shyly.
"That's okay Betts, you don't have to do anything other than be you," He felt her insecurities pulsing off of her in waves, and he wanted desperately to calm them. "Go sit down, I'll make food," He tried, wanting to get away from any subject that made her uncomfortable. He pulled out his phone checking the time, it was a quarter to 5pm. It was kind of early still but he had to get a game plan of what he was even going to make and he still had no idea what time he had to have her home, if he could even let her leave. He had already decided he was going to do whatever he could to get her to stay, after the week he had all he wanted was to relax with her next to him, so his mind couldn't even go to worrying about her. He had also already decided that if she had to leave he would just sleep in his car outside her house to make sure, but with how badly his body hurt he was selfishly hoping he could sleep in a bed, if he could sleep at all. She looked like she was going to protest, but she sighed stepping around him and making her way back to the living room and plopping down on the couch.
"So what movie should we watch?" She asked looking at him through the open window, he shrugged turning and looking into the cabinet for food, he had no idea what food was left in the house, he had brought his mom groceries the week before, but hadn't really been back since, he found some pasta, that he could work with, moving to the fridge to see if he had anything to make a sauce, luckily his mom used heavy cream for coffee, so he could make some Alfredo, and he had gotten his mom chicken because her favorite thing to make him and the boys when they did come over was her famous fried chicken.
"Do you eat meat?" He asked leaning out of the fridge and looking at her realizing he had no idea about her dietary preference.
"Not really," she blushed. "I guess I'm kind of a pescatarian, but I don't like fish," She smiled sheepishly.
"So you are a vegetarian," He laughed at her explanation, raising his eyebrow.
"I like shrimp, so technically I can't say that, real vegetarian's get weirdly offended," She shrugged. He pulled open the freezer, rummaging through the bags of frozen food before finding a package of frozen shrimp.
"Bingo, Okay Shrimp Alfredo it is," He lifted his shoulder meaning to shrug proudly but closed his eyes hard. Pain broke out over his shoulder and up his neck, he flinched, dropping the bag on the counter.
"You okay?" Betty stood immediately as she watched him. He cursed under his breath realizing that somehow his shoulder had shifted slightly out of its socket again. He gritted his teeth, knowing he really only had one option.
"Can you turn away?" He asked looking at her hopefully. He walked to the wall, lifting his arm until it was straight in front of him, his palm pressed flat, he looked at her waiting, but she just continued to stare at him in confusion. "My shoulder is out of place, you don't wanna see," He explained bracing himself to push his weight forward, but waiting until she wasn't watching.
"Wait," She rushed out, walking to him quickly, he watched her carefully, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion, she stood behind him reaching for his left shoulder. "Drop your arm," He listened as he felt her fingers gingerly pressing into his skin, feeling around. She seemed to realize she couldn't do much with her height, so she spun around lifting herself back up on the counter, motioning with her hand for him to follow. He did, turning his back and leaning into her lap.
"What are you doing?" He asked watching her hand out of the corner of his eye, that was back on his shoulder, pressing around again.
"Relax your arm, pull it back and put your hand on my knee," She instructed, he balled his fist obeying her, gritting his teeth against the pain. She reached her hand over his shoulder pulling it towards her firmly, and in a quick motion she jerked up her leg forcing his arm up with it, a loud pop sounded and his pain seemed to ease significantly. He rolled his shoulder cracking his neck to side, he turned to face her, eyeing her questioningly. "Better?" She smiled proudly.
"Yeah," He said rolling his shoulder again, "Where did you learn that?" He asked still surprised at her.
"When we were younger and Archie started playing football he would dislocate his shoulder all the time," she shrugged nonchalantly.
"I'm going to pretend that's not how you learned that," He glared, not even hiding how much he hated that name, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't massively impressed by her. He rolled his left hand cracking his wrist, happy there wasn't as much pain.
"It's just going to suck letting it heal since you are left handed," she sighed ignoring his statement.
"How did you know that?" He laughed, tilting his head to the side.
"I watch you," She blushed "That's the hand you grab your keys with, it's the hand you held your gun with, and it's the hand you…." She trailed off, her blush deepening as she looked at the floor. She didn't have to finish, he already knew what she meant, his mind going there with her.
"I'm actually ambidextrous, but I definitely favor my left," He laughed, stepping into her lap and pushing his body between her legs. "I can show you that I use my right hand too if you want," He smirked flirtatiously, his face was the same height as hers even with her sitting on the counter,and he leaned forward his nose brushing against hers, as he pressed his lips to her, tilting his head up slightly. He kissed her softly at first, but that lasted about half a second, as he reached his hand back tangling it into her hair, opening his mouth against hers. She grabbed his shoulders, the soreness in his bones protesting slightly but he ignored it. She wrapped her legs around him instinctively pulling him closer to her, her knee pulling up slightly and connecting with his bruised rib cage.
"Fuck," he hissed out, pulling away from her lips.
"Oh no, I'm sorry," Betty huffed out breathlessly, her voice full of worry
"It's okay," He laughed pressing his forehead against hers, trying to take in a deep breath, his face contorting with the pain. "I did tell you I liked pain," he smiled at her closing his eyes, and taking small short breaths, "But Fuck, this shit hurts," He cringed. She let her hands move from his shoulders up his neck until she was holding his face.
"I'll be more careful," She nodded earnestly. He was struggling a little to get breath in and he didn't want her seeing him in any more pain so he kissed her forehead softly before pulling out of her grasp and going to work cooking. He pulled out a pot filling it with water and turning on the stove.
"So Fettuccine Alfredo is okay?" He asked over his shoulder.
"Yeah… you say that funny," She giggled at him.
"You mean correctly," he smirked.
"I guess… Why is that?" she asked curiously.
"My mom's side of the family is super Italian, I speak a little just from growing up around them," He answered.
"You're Italian?" She asked surprised, her voice not hiding the attraction in it.
"I am," He laughed "What? Did you think I was just full white trash?" He chuckled turning to her.
"Stop it," she narrowed her eyes playfully.
"I guess that explains the dark hair, you have your dads eyes though," she studied him as she spoke.
"Yeah, I take more after his side I guess," Jughead answered clenching his jaw and wanting a subject change.
"You don't like talking about him," She stated. He turned, going back to the boiling water and pouring the dry pasta in it.
"There just isn't much to say," He said flatly, trying not to shut her out too much.
"Do you see him? Talk to him?" She pressed carefully.
"No," He snapped slightly, starting to go to work on making the sauce. When Betty stayed silent he paused, guilt swelling in his gut. "I'm not great at talking about my family," he explained hoping he came off softer.
"I understand, I'm not either…" She said quietly, Jughead turned around leaning against the counter and watching her, realizing he had never really asked about her life, being too caught up in trying to hide his from her.
"Tell me…. About yourself," He said, she looked up at him blinking at his request "We always talk about me, and my life… I wanna know about yours," He explained. "Who is Betty Cooper?" He asked suddenly extremely curious.