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“Hey, you’re Jughead, right?”
Jughead startled from where he had been rummaging through his locker, trying to make space for his books among the absolute mess that had accumulated over the course of the school year. Jughead turned to come face to face with an arrogant looking boy who looked vaguely familiar.
“The one and only,” Jughead replied, still trying to remember where he knew the boy from.
The boy smirked at him. “You don’t really seem to recognize me. I don’t know how you don’t, I mean, I know I’m the new kid and all, but just about everyone knows who I am by now.”
Jughead resisted the intense urge to roll his eyes. Was this guy for real?
Then it clicked. That’s right, Jughead remembers now that this guy is the douchebag from his biology class. They’ve had a substitute all week and he and his group of lackeys have done nothing but mess with the poor old woman. Jughead couldn’t quite recall his name- something that started with a ‘W’?
Jughead settled for taking on a casual stance, leaning back against his lockers and raising his eyebrows defiantly. “Oh yes, I think I do remember you now. You’re that guy from my biology class that likes to terrorize geriatric substitute teachers. William, right? Tell me, does it make you feel superior when you pick on feeble old ladies?”
The guy’s smirk dropped instantly and he brought his face closer to Jughead’s threateningly. “The name’s Warren, fuckhead, and don’t you fucking forget it, or else you’re gonna have a lot more to worry about than my treatment of substitutes.”
Jughead did roll his eyes this time. It was gonna take a hell of a lot more than that to scare him. “Dude, whatever. Did you just come over here to antagonize me or did you actually need something, because I’ve got better things to do than deal with you.”
Still scowling, Warren backed off a bit and took a deep breath. “Alright, you’ve escaped a beating today, asshole, but only because I’ve got a couple questions for you concerning that girl Betty you’re always hanging around.”
Warren paused as if waiting for Jughead to respond, but he only raised an eyebrow and looked at Warren in silence.
Warren seemed to take that as an invitation to continue. “So, uh. You dating her?”
Jughead was a bit taken aback. He didn’t know what he expected, but it certainly wasn’t that. Now he was even more annoyed. He hated it when people assumed that he's dating someone just because he hangs out with them.
“No, I’m not. Betty doesn’t like me that way, and I never like anyone that way,” Jughead said impatiently. He hoped that that would be the end of this very unpleasant conversation, but apparently luck was not on Jughead's side that day.
“Great, then that means that I can-” Warren cut himself off mid-sentence, then furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, somehow managing to make even that look hostile. “The fuck do you mean, you don’t like anyone that way? You mean that you’re gay, or something?”
Jughead looked at him incredulously. That’s what he got out of that? “Um, no? I mean that I don’t like girls or boys. I don’t date anyone, I don’t get crushes on anyone, therefore I can’t be dating Betty.”
Jughead really isn’t sure why he’s volunteering all this information; he should’ve ditched this dickhead long ago. But he was feeling a little defensive- he could feel that Warren was probably going to be a dick about this.
Warren barked a derisive laugh. “Fuck off, you don’t get crushes. Everyone gets them. You trying to tell me that something’s broken in you? Or what, you like fucking dogs or some freaky shit?”
Jughead would’ve preferred it if Warren had just hit him. He was shocked, and despite the logical part of him knowing that Warren was just trying to get a rise out of him, Jughead still lost control of his emotions in a way that he hadn't in a long time.
“Are you serious? Do you hear yourself right now?” He stepped right up into Warren’s space, keeping his voice low. “That is some serious bullshit. How could you talk about something like that when you know nothing about it? I’m not broken, and no, I'm not a fucking zoophile. Christ, open your mind a little bit, would you?"
Jughead expected Warren to react aggressively and throw a punch at him for snapping at him like that, but to Jughead’s unpleasant surprise, Warren had a satisfied smirk on his face, which only served to further incense Jughead. Letting his emotions get to him this way has made him forget the most crucial rule of dealing with bullies: don't let them get to you, and if they did, don't let them know it.
“I dunno, sounds like some made up horse-shit to me. Is this what freaks like you come up with to make yourself feel special or something? Or an excuse you made up because nobody wants to fuck you? There’s no way that’s real, and if it is, you should really get that checked out, man. That’s fucked up.” Warren said this loudly enough that it garnered attention from the rest of the students in the hallway, stopping what they were doing to see what the commotion was about.
“Fuck you,” Jughead practically snarled. Shit, he was losing himself a little. But he couldn’t help it; he hated people like Warren, and as much as Jughead was usually confident in himself, he would be lying if he said there were never times that he felt a little bit insecure about not being able to experience something pretty much everyone else did. At that moment, it felt like Warren had found those small cracks in Jughead's armor only to chip away at them with every word he spoke until they grew in size and power over him. “Betty would never go out with a piece of shit like you. You’re nothing but a brainless low-life who’s gonna end up in prison just like all your other underlings. Better enjoy freedom while it lasts, asshole.”
That did it. The smirk had been wiped clean off Warren’s face by the end of Jughead’s rant and now he looked practically murderous. “That’s fucking it. You’ve asked for it now, freak-”
Warren had just enough time to grab Jughead’s arm and clench it painfully before Jughead heard a familiar voice say, “What the fuck is this?”
Jughead had barely registered who the voice belonged to before a hand grasped Warren’s shoulder and wrenched him off of Jughead so aggressively that Warren’s back ended up slamming against the lockers on the other side of the hall.
Jughead could see Warren’s shocked expression for only a split second before Reggie followed Warren to where he’d shoved him and grasped the front of Warren’s shirt, pushing his face close to Warren’s intimidatingly.
“You wanna explain what the fuck you were just doing?” Reggie growled.
Warren’s face paled. It seems he hadn’t anticipated Jughead having friends like Reggie Mantle. “I- I don’t- I was just-”
“You were just what? What were you gonna do?” Warren seemed at a loss for words, mouth opening and closing stupidly. Reggie shook him. “What the fuck were you doing to him?”
Jughead couldn’t see Reggie’s face from where he still stood with his back against the lockers, feeling paralyzed by the scene unfolding before him, but he could tell Reggie was fucking livid.
The longer Warren went without saying anything, the more impatient and pissed off Reggie seemed to become. “Fine, fucker, you don’t want to talk? I’ll talk, and you’d better listen real fucking closely.”
Warren stared, wide-eyed and looking like he was about to piss himself. Reggie pounded his fist on the locker next to Warren’s head, causing him to flinch. “Fucking nod if you heard me, you piece of shit!”
Warren nodded rapidly. “Listen here, shithead. You must be fucking new or some shit, or maybe you’re just fucking stupid- it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’ve messed with my friend here, and you see, I just can’t let that fucking fly,” Reggie said, voice threateningly low.
He leaned in close, right by Warren’s ear, and said, “You ever fucking touch a hair on his head again- no, if you fucking dare to even look at him, I’ll personally make sure you regret the day you were born. Got that?”
Warren nodded again, actually whimpering, before Reggie shoved him away from him. Warren took the hint and practically ran the fuck out of there, the few who’d been witnessing the drama watching him as he went.
Reggie looked around at them all, seeming to notice them for the first time. “The fuck are you all looking at? Fuck off!”
Nobody needed to be told twice, and the few that still lingered were sent scattering to leave altogether in fear of facing Reggie’s wrath.
Finally, Reggie turned around to see Jughead still standing in the same place. Reggie’s angry expression instantly softened, and Jughead finally felt his own body relax and his knees buckled, sliding down the locker to sit on the floor with his legs pulled up against his chest.
Reggie walked over and sat beside him, a carefully short distance between them so that they weren’t touching. “Hey, man, you alright?”
Jughead sighed, thunking his head back against the locker. “I think so. I was just… really angry, dude. I never… I’m not used to feeling like that.”
Reggie frowned. “The fuck did he say to you? I swear to god, if he hurt you-”
“No, no, he didn’t hurt me, don’t worry about it,” Jughead reassured. “And you know, I was handling it, you really didn’t have to step in.”
“Shut the fuck up, man. What was I gonna do, stand there and let that asshole hit you? I know you wouldn’t have hit back.” Jughead opened his mouth to protest, but promptly closed it, realizing Reggie was right. He may have been pissed, but a violent person he was not. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. And besides that, you’ve gotta learn to let your friends help you out, man. You’re always doing shit for us but you never seem to need us ‘cuz you’ve always got your shit together. So let me help you when you need it, alright?”
Jughead was a little stunned by Reggie’s heartfelt speech. This guy had really come a long way from the insecure bully he used to be, Jughead realized. So of course he couldn’t resist teasing him at least a little bit.
“Could it be? The Reggie Mantle, actually a gigantic softie? But what about your reputation?” Jughead said, feeling a smile creep onto his face.
“How about you shut the fuck up before I make you, asshole?” Reggie said, laughing.
Jughead found himself laughing too, already feeling a bit better. However, the wounds Warren had inflicted were still fresh, and Jughead soon felt a hollow feeling of hurt come over him, and though it was dulled by the presence of his friend, he still felt it acutely.
Reggie immediately noticed Jughead’s shift in moods. “Juggie. Seriously. What did he say to you?”
Jughead hesitated, and Reggie sighed. “Come on, man, I want you to tell me so that I know what to say for you to stop believing whatever the fuck he’s made you believe, and also so I know whether he needs a beatdown.”
Jughead smiled weakly. “No, don’t even bother, Reg. He’s not worth it.”
“No promises.”
Jughead sighed and looked away. “It’s not that I believe what he said. I know that it’s not true. It just sounded like some things that I can’t help but wonder about myself sometimes.”
“Jughead. What did he say?”
“... He said that because I’m asexual, then I must be some kind of freak. That I’m broken, that there’s something wrong with me. And I know it’s not true, I like being asexual and I like not wanting to date people. It’s just… why don’t I? Sometimes I just don’t get it. I’ve always got basically the entire world telling me that I’m missing out on something huge, and I usually know that’s bullshit, at least it is for me, but sometimes… sometimes I’m not so sure.”
Reggie was silent next to him for what can’t have been longer than 20 seconds but felt like an eternity. Airing out his insecurities like that made Jughead feel raw and exposed, just like he did with Warren, but different this time, because he knew that Reggie wouldn’t take advantage of that.
Reggie moved a bit closer, and Jughead jolted a bit when their sides pressed together and Reggie slid his arm around Jughead’s shoulders, but quickly relaxed. It was true that there were times that being touched so casually made Jughead feel a little uncomfortable, but this time he only felt comforted by the gesture. Jughead even leaned his head on Reggie’s shoulder and closed his eyes for a second. Anger really took it out of you.
Reggie’s tone was gentle when he started talking again. “Juggie, every goddamn word of what that piece of shit said to you was wrong. He can go fuck himself and so can everyone else with that shitty attitude. He doesn’t know anything. He was just trying to hit you where he knew it would hurt; I doubt he even actually gives a shit about you not wanting to fuck anyone. And you know what? You’re missing out on nothing, man. Romance ain’t nothing like it’s all cracked up to be, and I think there's nothing wrong with wanting fuck all to do with it. If anybody ever tells you otherwise I want you to tell me and I’ll beat some sense into their ignorant asses. I mean that.”
Objectively, Jughead already knew all of this, he really did, but hearing it from his friend made his heart swell and he almost instantly felt emotional- this time in a good way.
Jughead turned his head to bury his face in Reggie’s shoulder, willing himself not to cry. Since when was he so emotional? Jughead felt like he’d never felt so many different things in such a short amount of time.
“Jughead, are you crying?” Reggie asked incredulously, tightening his arm around Jughead’s shoulders.
“No, I have… allergies. Really bad,” Jughead said, sniffling.
Reggie huffed. “If you say so, man.” They were silent but for the soft sounds of Jughead’s occasional sniffling, and then Reggie broke the silence when he muttered, “I’m gonna fucking kill that asshole.”
Jughead’s laugh was muffled by Reggie’s sleeve, and right then, he felt on top of the world.