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On Valentine’s Day, Jughead was fed up, and Archie could tell.
His shoulders were tensely held in a slouch as he gave the death stare to any pink or red item within his line of sight. The whole day he raged on and on about how fake, how commercialized, and just how downright cheesy the whole day was. Archie new that he couldn’t get away with doing anything for Jughead on Valentine’s, but he had a plan for the next day.
-
It’s the day after Valentine’s and Jughead is happy to be rid of the whole damn thing. The unnecessary commotion is gone, the singles are no longer looking longingly at their coupled friends, and he is even going to be hanging out with Archie tonight.
It’s a great day.
Archie drives Jughead back to his house after football practice (Archie) and writing for the Blue and Gold (Jughead). They wave hi to Fred before Archie begins to lead them to the garage.
Jughead stops in his tracks, “No stopping at the kitchen first?” he asks, raising his eyebrows in questions.
Archie smiles and shakes his head, “No Jug, but I’ll grab something for you if you wait for me in the garage, I have a song to show you,” he runs off towards the kitchen, leaving Jughead to supposedly walk to the garage.
Jughead looks towards Fred, who shrugs back at him, then sighs and walks to the garage.
He sits on a fold-out chair that has a table between it and another, and takes in the new soundproofing. Archie’s guitar is lying out on the other chair, and Jughead hears the door open behind him.
He turns to see Archie holding a massive plate of sliders in one hand – the miniature hamburgers stacked on top of each other in a pyramid – and in the other hand, a party size bag of chips.
He can feel himself begin to salivate.
“Arch,” he says as the man himself walks over to sit across from him, “you know I love these,” Archie places the plate in front of him.
“Because with mini-burgers you can eat more,” Archie finishes for him with a smile, knowing Jughead is loving this.
Jughead begins to stuff the sliders in his mouth as Archie starts strumming a new tune on his guitar. He slows his chewing to listen as the redhead sang.
Since we were young ones
Playing out in the sun ones
You always had my back
Making up for what I lack
It was just us two
Inside jokes only we knew
Didn’t need other friends
Together ‘til the end
And I know that you are…
Always there
You know that I care
Always there
Us two a great pair
It doesn’t matter where we go
As long as you know
That I’m here for you
Just like you would do
Jughead can feel himself nearly getting emotional from the song and thinks about how cheesy this is, then backtracks in his mind.
He watches Archie as he finishes the song, squints at him, and puts 2 and 2 together. He looks from his slider, to Archie, to the guitar, to the chips and back at Archie.
“So?” Archie says, waiting for Jughead’s reaction.
Jughead leans back in his chair, “’twas lovely,” he deadpans, and watches as Archie realizes that Jughead has caught him.
“I just wanted to do something nice for you!” Archie exclaims, face starting to fall and Jughead nods.
“Sure,” he stuffs another slider in his mouth, “you got away with it this time Arch,” he cracks open the chips, hope showing on Archie’s face. He continues, “I want a copy of that song,” pointing to the guitar in Archie’s lap and the ginger has broken into a smile, “and I’m finishing these so go get yourself something,” he says, grabbing the plate and Archie stands. He grips the plate tighter.
“Alright,” Archie gets up and claps Jug on the shoulder, “I’ll grab my own snack,” he walks over and opens the garage door that lead to the house, “but I’m giving you a hug later!” he yells over his shoulder as he leaves.
“Fine!” Jughead shouts back before the door closes.
He looks at the plate of burgers in his lap and thinks of his own little metaphor.
“Might be cheesy,” he picks up a slider, talking to himself, “but that doesn’t mean it’s not good,” he says, then attempts to but the whole burger in his mouth at once.