"Good Job," Jughead squeezed her in a tight hug, "Now you get to go again," He released her and nudged her towards the table. She looked back at him timidly and he gave her a reassuring nod. He watched saunter over her small frame looking longer in her high heels, his jacket still dwarfing her slightly. She leaned over the table trying to hold the pool cue like he had showed her, striking the cue ball quickly and hitting a stripe but not landing in any pocket, she stood up straight visibly pouting and he couldn't help the chuckle that fell from his lips, she looked up glaring at him and he stifled another laugh studying her feisty expression and feeling an overwhelming sense of happiness, she flipped her blonde hair to the side and placed her hand on her hip, watching in extreme concentration at how Sweet Pea held his cue. Jug couldn't take his eyes off of her, not even beginning to be able to fathom how lucky he was to call her his.
They spent the rest of the night playing pool and drinking together, taking some breaks to sit and smoke the hookah or talk to other people who had showed up to wish him a happy Birthday, Jughead somehow actually staying out at his party for the whole time. The bar had significantly filtered out as 2am came up quickly, just some stragglers and most of the Serpents left. He watched Betty lean back on the window sill as she blinked up at him obviously intoxicated and he smiled at her, feeling a little buzz himself. He walked over to her pinning her to the wall and going to kiss her.
"I'm pretty drunk Juggie," she giggled into his lips.
"Ha, you don't know drunk until you black out for days in a row and can't feel your legs," he chuckled tapping his finger gently on her nose.
"That's not even remotely attractive you know?" She rolled her eyes watching him sassily.
"I have never tried to be attractive. Until you Betty Cooper," he swayed her in his arms, grinning down at her.
"You try to be attractive for me?" She narrowed her eyes playfully her words slightly slurred.
"Well I have to have a few redeeming qualities to keep you around. I can't just be all bad," he joked.
"I don't think you're bad," she mused thoughtfully, "you just have some rough edges, but there are plenty of things that keep me around," she laid her head on his chest taking a deep breath and sighing.
"It's my quick wit, isn't it? I'm just too charming," he leaned his head down kissing her cheek and moving down her jaw before moving his lips to her neck. She let out a breathless laugh her hands reaching up to grip the sides of his T-shirt and pull him closer to her.
"Sure Jug, you're charm… and maybe some other things," she whispered to him sliding her hand between them and grabbing his package playfully.
"Woah," he laughed pulling his head up "So I'm just a good fuck?" He pouted falsely.
"I mean... I'm definitely not complaining," she smiled warmly at him and he smirked back, enjoying that they could tease each other but also feeling a weird surge of confidence that she was satisfied with him.
"Jones!" He shook himself from his thoughts turning to where Gears had yelled for him from the security room, the urgency in the boys voice making him stand up straight, a strange instinctual feeling pricking at the back of his neck. Sweet Pea seemed to catch the tone of the boys voice sharing a confused look with Jughead before he set his pool cue down over the table where he was still playing and started walking away. Jughead pulled away from Betty giving her an apologetic look and beelined for Gears too.
"What's wrong?" Jughead asked seriously, walking around to the back of the computers.
"We have some unexpected guests," Gears said slowly leaning forward and resting his chin on his hands, getting closer to the screens. "Other crews." He clarified.
"Which one?" Sweet Pea inquired crossing his arms over his chest. Jug leaned forward too going to look at the screen, but stopped when Gears looked up at him his eyes wide and fearful. Jughead froze, fear gliding up his spine at the severity in the Serpents eyes.
"All of them," Gears gulped pointing to the screen that showed the front door.
"What the fuck," Jug whispered examining the screen, searching the crowd that was walking up to the front door, three japanese and a few russians together, he moved to the camera facing the side of the bar, two more yakuza and even some Irish.
"They are surrounding us," Gears watched his voice full of questions as he looked back up to Jughead. "And they are armed," Gears whispered in a low tone. Jughead stood straight looking to Sweet Pea.
"Get the guns," Jughead instructed trying to stay calm but his gut was twisting into knots. It felt like time froze as his mind tried to wrap around what was happening and what his next steps had to be.
"Jug, the windows!" Gears yelled, and without even having to look at the camera's he knew they were drawing their weapons. Betty. He jumped into motion grabbing the music cord and pulled it cutting any sound and rushed out the door.
"Get down!" He yelled, Sweet Pea rushed out behind him yelling to the other side of the bar and running to Toni, "Down!" Jughead bellowed loudly. He heard the first crack, seeing out of the corner of his eye a curtain fly into the air, the sound of glass breaking, and time seemed to swing back to normal as almost everyone who was still there ducked down. He bounded towards Betty grabbing her as she screamed and threw them under the pool table. The loud pops started coming in faster as he clutched her to his chest.
"Kev!" She screamed muffled by his shirt. She scrambled to a crouch trying to catch her bearing and he grabbed her hand not letting her leave. He heard yelling ring out around them as the serpents tried to make sure everyone was covered and he tried desperately to focus.
"Betts stay here!" He growled, looking her over to make sure she was okay.
"Kevin…" She sputtered out. He looked around, catching Gears eyes from the other room as he slid a gun across the floor, Jughead grabbed it quickly cocking it and holding it at his side. Glass cracked to the side of them and water started spilling over a table on their right, Jughead realized it was the hookah getting punctured and he searched the area sighing in relief when he looked under the table and saw Kevin crouching down as Joaquin held him with one arm the other one limply at his side, blood dripping down it.
"Shit, don't move," Jughead commanded to Betty, staying crouched as he quickly moved to their side, the loud cracks of gunfire starting to dwindle. He silently grabbed Joaquins arm looking at it, and realizing it was a scratch on the side of his shoulder.
"Just a graze," Joaquin said breathlessly in a panicked voice.
"As soon as it's clear, you take them upstairs and lock the door," He instructed in a low voice knowing Joaquin already knew who he meant. The boy nodded quickly as the gunshots stopped and Jughead held his breath, looking over to the pool table where Betty was watching him on her hands and knees. He waited not letting his eyes leave hers, and he pulled himself up to standing.
"Jug! No!" Betty cried going to stand up to and he held out his hand motioning for her to stop, he held his gun down at his side but kept his finger trained on the trigger. He walked slowly watching the windows carefully and looking around, his breathing ragged as he took in the scene. People obviously had to have gotten hit and he tried desperately to examine the bar seeing if anyone was down completely but by some miracle he didn't see any dead bodies yet but he could hear people still yelling to each other. He looked to the broken windows noting that the holes in the glass that hadn't broke were far too high, as if they were aiming upwards. They weren't aiming to kill, just send some kind of warning. He stood in the now empty center of the bar, his lips curing up in to a dangerous scowl. Sweet Pea found his place next to him, Happy and Ace rushing to his side too. Fangs crawled out from behind the bar and stood running over to them. Gears walked timidly up to them handing Sweet Pea a 47 and tossing him a clip. Happy somehow already had one strapped around him and Ace had a handgun. They stood in the center of the room waiting and watching as the front doors swung open. Tagomi walking in first. Jughead glared lifting his gun and pointing it at the man's head. A few other head guys walked in behind him, their guns held up in a standoff.
Jughead filtered through his options, they hadn't been here to kill anyone...yet. But his mind was stuck on the small blonde under the pool table, he knew he should be focused on the crew and the rest of the bar but all he could think about was her. He didn't want anymore shots fired until he knew she was out of harm's way but he couldn't risk looking back to make sure Joaquin had gotten them safely out of the room. He acted quickly dropping his gun and letting it dangle on his thumb as he held up his hands in surrender.
"Does anyone wanna fill me in on what the fuck is going on?" He yelled strongly, but tried to remain calm, keeping his hands lifted in front of him calculating their odds, there were maybe 10 guys, meaning that at that moment the Serpent's were out number in their fighting ranks.
"You are one manipulative bastard Jones," Tagomi spat, laughing menacingly.
"You and your little snake crew thought you could pull one over," Kruschev added in his heavy Russian accent.
"Look guys, as flattered as I am… I have no idea what you are talking about," Jughead shook his head stepping closer to them. Ace and Happy started stepping slowly to his right flanking the other crews while Fangs rounded on the left keeping somewhat of a formation. Sweet Pea stayed back but kept close to Jug. "Let's just talk this out, there has been some kind of mistake," He tried, feeling desperate to diffuse the situation.
"Don't play dumb," A younger Yakuza member yelled, stepping forward.
"I'm not," Jug growled "Listen to me, no one has to die tonight," He took another step closer "We can work this out," He nodded willing them to listen. "Tell me what's going on." Tagomi shot him a glare, lifting his gun and firing at the bar, Jugs head snapped to the side as it hit a bottle on the shelf and shattered the glass next to Toni's head as she ducked down shielding herself. "Hey!" He yelled, as Tagomi fired another one hitting another bottle. "Fuck it! I guess we are doing this," Jughead growled, he spun his gun effortlessly on his finger aiming it back up and firing quickly at the younger Yakuza's leg watching him drop "Disarm them, no bodies" He commanded to his crew that closed in on them quickly. The boys went at them in lightning speed, fists cracking and making sure they were too close for guns to even be a good weapon. Jughead didn't want anyone dying, he knew blood spilled would only make matters worse, Tagomi rushed him, and he braced himself grabbing the man's shoulder and swinging his fist at his face. He lifted his gun to Jughead but he grabbed his wrist pulling down hard and throwing up his knee, connecting it with man's elbow in a sickening crack. Tagomi cried out his hand releasing his gun that fell to the floor. Jug kicked it swiftly sliding it across the floor and away from them. "You don't wanna do this," Jughead tried again, listening carefully for any gunshot, feeling somewhat at ease that he hadn't hear any yet. The Yakuza grabbed him forcefully and slammed his head in to Jughead's jarring him completely as he blinked in pain, his body falling backwards and hitting the bar. "Fuck," Jug cursed squinting his eyes and trying to catch his bearings, he grabbed and empty bottle from the bar top slamming it on the edge and breaking the glass into jagged pieces.
He lunged at the man, who swiftly evaded him and used his own momentum against him shoving Jughead forward even further, he caught himself before falling and spun around just as Tagomi swung at him, Jug tried to block it with his arm, the bottle still in his hand as the glass sliced into the man's forearm, but the punch still landed hitting Jug across the face. Pain splintered through his head as his vision blacked out coming back slowly, he blinked trying to see through the blur.
"Jug!" Sweet Pea yelled and his vision cleared enough to see that Tagomi had gotten his gun and was pointing it straight for Jug's head. Before he could even react his second in command tackled the guy sending them both flying to the ground. Jughead wobbled on his feet going to clutch his head, freezing when he heard three shots ring out in a row, He snapped around noting that Sweet Pea was fine, the yakuza's gun on the other side of the bar now, he turned back to entrance where everyone seemed to be frozen to, the fight seemingly suspended as he searched for the rest of his crew, making sure they weren't hit. He looked at the entrance as the door swung open his heart stopping as he watched Castle walk through the doorway, holding a struggling Betty by the arm.
*Here we go... Just one more chapter.*