Archive of Our Own ^beta

The doorbell to Pop's diner jiggled. Archie walked in, looking through the menu when a new section popped up.

"New: Bubbletea" — in bubble letters.

"Hello, what can I get you?" A waiter asked, as he had approached him. Archie looked up, having to freeze as he found out that it was a new waiter. His ink black hair was slightly curled, though mostly covered by a knitted crown looking like beanie. His skin was a beautiful olive shade and his smile looked uncomfortable, if only a tiny bit.

"Uh..." Archie blinked, having to focus back on the menu and not the waiter "I would like a burger menu, with a chocolate milkshake and- uh what's with the Bubble Tea?"

"We have it from today on?" The waiter suggested "Do you want one?"

"Uh... sure, why not? Can you recommend one for me?"

"Depends on what you like" The other deadpanned.

"Well, uh, what options do I have?"

"Pops offers different kinds of bubble tea, you should start there. We offer milk tea, aromatic tea and fruit juice. What would you prefer there?"

"Then... I would take a milk tea, I think"

"Then that section is for you" The waiter said, pointing somewhere on the page to direct him. Archie didn't watch his finger though and instead continued to watch the waiter.

"I'd rather you recommend me"

The waiter huffed softly, though then nodded.

"Of course. You can have milk of various flavors, or you take our special. It's a brown sugar latte"

"That sounds nice. I will take that"

"Sure. I'll be right back with your order"

Ten minutes later, he had returned to the table, serving him food and the two drinks.

"There you go"

"Thank you" Archie said before taking a sip from the Bubble Tea. It really was new. It was probably a lot of sugar but who cared? He was the football captain, so he was allowed some sugar over the day.

He returned the next day, asking for a bubble tea, though this time another flavor. By the next month, he had gone through all the 25 different flavors — he liked the Green Tea/Watermelon combo the best. And even better, he got the name of this new waiter, aside from other information: Jughead. Given, Jughead was a weird name but who cared about a name if he looked fairly attractive?

It was another Friday when Archie entered the diner to get a new bubble tea, except that Jughead was not at the counter or anywhere else in the restaurant. Instead of the cute boy, he went to face a girl.

He nevertheless ordered his Bubble Tea but instead of walking right out, he stayed at the counter. By the time that he had finished his drink, there was still no Jughead in sight.

"Hey, uh... Where is Jughead? Usually, he's working right now, isn't he?" Archie suddenly asked when the waitress was just cleaning the counter as the diner was fairly empty. She stilled, giving him a once over.

"Who wants to know?"

"Archie"

"No, doesn't ring a bell" She didn't even blink.

"It doesn't really matter. Do you know why he is not here, or do you not?"

"I do. We switched shifts. That's all you'll need to know" She said briskly before continuing to clean. Archie huffed, not being satisfied with that answer.

"Can you give me something? Like... an address? Or at least a phone number? He's got to have something, so that I can contact him" She sighed softly, though nodded.

"I can ask if I can give you his number"

"Thank you!" She nodded and got out her phone in order to text someone, hopefully Jughead.

"Oooh, you're Bubbletea-boy, why didn't you just say that?" She said after a minutes and Archie paused, looking at her confused.

"Bubble- what?"

"Oh, just a nickname. Anyways, here's the number" She smiled softly before turning her phone display towards him. Archie quickly copied it before turning on his heels.

"Don't spam him, okay? He's got a lot on his plate right now, so don't bother him too"

"Okay, I won't, thank you again"

Jughead had gotten a message while he was still in some house on the Northside, tutoring some kid math. As he walked up to his motorcycle, he went to check said message.

Unknown: Hey, here's Archie
Unknown: Or Bubbletea boy, I guess. Your friend had said that you two called me that?
Unknown: Did you talk about me? 
Unknown: Sorry if I'm bothering you, I was told to not spam you
Unknown: Sorry, I'll stop now

"My God" Jughead couldn't help rolling his eyes as he chuckled softly. That boy was such a people pleaser. He pocketed his phone again, deciding to drive home first before answering him.

With a bag of chips, he jumped onto his bed, rolling in his blanket as he got out his phone again.

Jughead: Hey, Archie. In fact I have talked about one of my favorite customers to my best friend. I don't know what Toni told you but be sure that you're not bothering me. I just won't be able to always answer straight away, that's all

Archie had replied within two minutes.

Archie: Is everything okay? Why did you suddenly switch shifts with Toni?

Jughead: Just family reasons, no big deal

Archie: Alright, good to know
Archie: Do you think that we could meet up sometime, outside from Pops?

He couldn't help smiling at that.

Jughead: Sounds amazing. I'll text you when I have some time, okay?

Archie: Gotcha 👍

Jughead: Do you have time today? A student cancelled on me, so I would have a free time frame from 4-6, and possibly later too. You up for that?

Archie: Sounds good. Football practice finishes after 4 anyways, so I'm free from then on

Jughead: Should I just pick you up then? I'm with my motorcycle

Archie: I've never been on a motorcycle

Jughead: I'll teach you

Archie: Alright ;)
Archie: See you at 4pm then

After football practice, Archie seemed to be in quite a hurry. He didn't want to make it obvious but nobody watched him anyways.

"Oi, you in a hurry to get somewhere?" Reggie suddenly asked, arm wrapping around him. Archie sighed softly, trying to pull away.

"No, just meeting up with someone"

"You're not sharing your girl with us?"

"No. And it's not a girl"

"You gay or what?"

"No" Archie scoffed and pushed him away before just walking out of the changing rooms. He didn't wait for his call anymore and instead just walked out. Jughead was already leaned against his motorcycle in the parking lot, on his phone though.

"Jug!" He called and the boy looked up to see him. Upon finding him, he pocketed his phone while smiling softly.

"Am I late?" Archie asked once he had approached him and Jughead shook his head.

"No, I'm just early. You want to go?" Jughead asked, lifting up the helmet in order to reach it Archie. The redhead just looked at him confused.

"What?"

"This is a helmet, Archie, you put it on your head to protect it from worse injury, in case we have a motorcycle accident" When Jughead saw his eyes widening, he sighed softly "We won't have one but it's a precaution. I can say that I've never had a motorcycle accident before"

"With my luck, you will have your first one now" Archie mumbled and Jughead rolled his eyes, just putting the helmet on his head.

"We will be fine, Archie. You don't need to worry about this, really" He comforted and eventually, Archie nodded.

"Alright, I'm guessing that you've never been on a motorcycle then?" Jughead asked, getting another nod "Right, so here's the crash course: I'm going to be sitting there and you will be behind me. You can put your feet there and hold onto me. Just wrap your arms around my waist or so. Got it?"

"Uh... I guess so"

"Amazing. Let's go then"

During the next few months, the two had somehow gotten immensely closer.

Jughead: I'll pick you up at 3 tomorrow then?

Archie checked their messages another time, just to be sure. Yes, 3pm, today, that's what he had said. Still, Archie couldn't see the boy anywhere near the parking lot. He sighed softly, looking around another time.

Finally, he heard the motor of a motorcycle and then Jughead drove around the corner. He came to a stop right in front of him, smiling softly.

"Hey, sorry, I'm late, I know" He apologized, dismounting in order to greet Archie. It's amazing how three months were able to turn strangers into best friends, especially if they talked on the daily basis.

"I was already worried that you wouldn't show up anymore" Archie said as he hugged him back.

"Archie, what you doing with that snake scum??" Someone called, though the two just ignored that footballer.

"You ready to leave then?"

"More than ready. Please get me away from these morons" Archie requested, taking the helmet from Jughead's hands to put it on. The two sat on the motorcycle before Jughead started the motor again. Archie still held on too tight but he was more relaxed about the whole thing in general.

Barely thirty minutes later, Jughead parked the motorcycle in front of the trailer. He let Archie get off first before dismounting himself. Upon walking inside, Jughead went straight to the kitchen in order to look through the cabinets.

"Alright, we have eggs... a bit of toast, and it's only slightly moldy, so it's fine ... or more eggs" He listed off before leaning back to face Archie again. The redhead shrugged.

"Oh don't worry. I had lunch at school, I'm not hungry yet"

"You just don't want my delicious food" Jughead protested and the redhead chuckled.

"You've unlocked my secret"

"So you really just visit Pops for me, eh?" Jughead asked, walking back to Archie. Taking him by the wrist, he pulled him towards his room. The bed was definitely more comfortable than the couch — then again, the floor would be better than the couch.

"Exponential equations, right?" Jughead prompted, getting comfortable on the head side as he went to pull out his math book. Archie hummed, more or less happy that they were going to continue with homework right away. He really hoped that Jughead wasn’t so focused on school.

Five minutes in, he just prompted another topic to get Jughead off focus. Given, asking how his father was might have not been the right topic when Archie was well aware of the fact that he had been in the hospital for two weeks by now. They have told each other a lot of things and the topic family was hard to avoid, especially if one was dealing with the hospital and the other was dealing with divorce.

"Any news about your dad?" Jughead paused mid explanation, staring at the exercise for a moment to collect his thoughts before turning to look up at the redhead.

"Dad is... okay, I guess. He didn't really have a great day yesterday when I went to visit him, then again it was later than usually, so he might have just been tired" Jughead explained, shrugging.

"So... he's not getting worse?"

"Not for now anyways. They're trying to do whatever they can, though... well, there aren't many options anymore... so, uh... sooner or later it will be just waiting for the end and heavy painkillers left for him"

"Well, that's- it could be worse, right?"

"I mean, he could die right now, yes, but it doesn't really matter" He was eighteen, it really wouldn't matter anymore. He was his own adult and no one could get him out of the trailer. That was the worst worry he had had over the recent time — because he really didn’t want to deal with foster care and all that.

"Anyways, math. Don't try to distract me with the sob story called my life" Jughead suddenly added, opening Archie's book again. Archie sighed softly, though nodded.

He shouldn't have brought up that topic anyways. Jughead didn't like talking about his father, especially ever since he was at the hospital. Archie didn't like talking about his parents either, mostly because the two were getting really difficult during their divorce and he was between them, having to act as if everything was alright when it was far from it.

"Hold up a moment, I got to take this, it's the hospital" Jughead said, sitting up. He and Archie had laid in his bed, which was too small for two people but they didn't really care. Archie paused the movie, watching him get up from the bed before walking out of the room. After closing the laptop, Archie got up as well, slowly following Jughead.

"Mhm... yeah, I- I understand... I- will be right there" Jughead stammered, nibbling on the skin of his thumb as he tried to take deep breaths. Upon ending the call, he took a sharp breath, not turning around to face Archie right away.

"What happened?"

"That... uh... The treatments aren't working anymore... Dad..." Jughead bit his bottom lip, tears welling up in his eyes as he turned around to face Archie again.

"You gotta go. I gotta go. Uh... I need a backpack and- Dammit" Not stopping upon the call out, Jughead brushed past the redhead as he headed back into his room. He pulled his school bag from under the bed, unloading everything as he just turned it around before just grabbing the most important things: another set of clothes, a water bottle, his wallet and his phone charger.

"Jughead, what-"

"You have to go. I'm sorry. I can't drive you back home" He interrupted, already going to the front door. Just in time, Archie grabbed his wrist, forcefully pulling him back. Staggering, Jughead crashed into him, though Archie was able to hold them up.

"I'm not letting you drive the motorcycle like that"

"No, I gotta go, like right now, like yesterday"

"You're close to full on crying, so no. Either you calm down first or you won't drive. I'm not having you get into an accident"

"I got to go!"

"Then let me call my dad, okay? He's free right now. He'll drive you to the hospital" Archie suggested, still holding onto him. Jughead didn't know if he wanted him to feel safe or if he just wanted to prevent him from leaving.

"Let me call my dad. That's ten minutes until he's here and then we're off to the hospital, alright?" Archie suggested, still holding onto the other as he seemed torn between running out and leaning into the redhead. When he didn't get an answer, Archie just pulled him close, wrapping his arms around Jughead. He took a shaky breath, burying his head in Archie's hoodie as his hands grabbed for the fabric as well.

During the hug, Archie took out his phone in order to call his father. The man picked up at the third ring.

"Archie, what-"

"Hey, can you pick me up? I'm at the Southside and I need to get to Riverdale general asap"

"What? Why? Are you alright?"

"Yes yes, I'm fine. It's for a friend. So... could you come, please?"

"Uh... sure. I'm on my way. Where exactly are you?"

"I'm at the trailer park"

"Why are you there?"

"Because of my friend"

"Uhm... okay. I'm on my way"

"Thank you" Archie ended the call and send his location to his father before he pocketed his phone again. He pulled away slightly, though only to caress Jughead's face in order to pull him up. By then, his cheeks were already wet.

"My dad is coming, alright?" He said, thumb drawing circles on his cheek. Jughead hummed, taking a deep breath as he pulled away to wipe over his face.

"Thank you"

"No need to thank me, Jug"

Barely a half hour later, Fred parked the car in front of the hospital, ten minutes earlier than with the hospital. Archie grabbed Jughead's hand in order to pull him out of the car, the boy following him numbly. He thanked his father for driving them before steering Jughead towards the entrance.

"Where do we need to go?" He asked, once they were inside. Jughead stared at him for a moment, as if his brain had problems to register it, before nodding, leading Archie up to the elevator. They road up to the fourth floor before walking to the left to enter station 24. Jughead walked up to the front desk, shaky hands trying to find his ID. In the end, Archie got it out of his wallet with a soft smile.

"T-Thanks" Jughead took a shaky breath, handing over his ID before he got lead over to his father's room. Archie was about to stay in the hallway, though Jughead held onto his hand as he walked inside, tucking him along.

The man looked thin, face already sunken in. The skin seemed grey, just like his hair. The fingers that Jughead grasped were swollen and red.

"D-Dad...?" Jughead asked, voice cracking as new tears welled up. Archie pulled up a second chair, hand reaching up to rub his shoulder. He didn't want to invade his privacy but he also wanted him to know that he was there.

His father barely reacted, only a groan leaving his chapped lips. Jughead dropped his hand as he buried his face in his hands, a sob racking through his body.

"Jug-" Archie tried to comfort, leaning forward, though the other shrugged him off. The redhead still held onto his shoulder though, thumb continuing to draw circles.

Eventually, Jughead just leaned onto him, not finding any words. At first, he hang kind of awkwardly over the chair, arms around Archie's neck to cling onto the fabric as he hid his face in his hoodie. At some point, he climbed onto him because it was more comfortable. Archie just tried to comfort him, hands rubbing his back or upper arms.

At some point, he rolled around in order to still face his father, laying in that stupid hospital bed and breathing too damn slow. Jughead tried to breathe with him, though he needed twice as many breaths as his father. Archie had seemed to try it once or twice too, talking from the feeling of his chest rising, or not in that case.

At 4pm, a doctor walked inside the door, claiming that the new shift would start soon, so they would come back in a few minutes. Jughead didn't know why they would have to announce that but he couldn't care to ask either. At that point, his eyes were stinging, so even if he wouldn't be actively crying, he would probably still end up with more tears rolling down.

As the doctor arrived with two nurses, Jughead requested Archie to fetch him some water with a hoarse voice. Archie nodded, squeezing him harder for a second before letting go to walk out of the room.

When he returned, Jughead was alone in the room again, leaning over his father as he sobbed violently. The man was still breathing ever so slowly, saturation around the sixties, just like his blood pressure.

"What did they say...?" Archie asked, voice low as he held onto the water bottle. The other shook his head, crying just seeming to get worse.

"Jug" Archie called, hand reaching for his shoulder to pull him back. The boy just immediately curled up on himself, falling into Archie's arms, who caught him to pull him back in the chair.

"What did they say?" He asked again, after some time had passed and Jughead seemed to have calmed down.

"He's- He's not going to get better cause... cause his liver- and he's not getting, getting a transplant because it's the s-stupid alcohol that caused this, and so, so I'm supposed to think of- think of the next steps"

"The next steps...?"

"Killing him!"

"I-I... I don't think that... you would be... killing him, to be honest..."

"But if I- if I sign to stop the... the..." Jughead shook his head, burying his face in his hands "He was fine! Just a week ago, he was fine and now he's supposed to just- No. I'm sorry but that's not fucking fair"

"Nobody says that it is"

"But they act like it's normal and I just-" Jughead shook his head, wiping over his burning red face again.

"I can't sign that, that paper"

"You don't have-"

"I do! Because that's what- that's what he deserves but I c-can't. How am I supposed to do so?"

"I-I don't know, Jughead..."

"W-What would you do?"

"Mhm?"

"What..." Jughead took a deep breath "What would you do? If... If Fred was in the hospital, what would you d-decide to do?"

"I... I don't think that you should base your decision on mine, b-because I'm like really not in a place where I feel what you feel, so I can't tell you what to do, even if I had wanted to" Archie explained and Jughead huffed, turning back around to face his father.

The doctor returned an hour later, asking if Jughead had already decided. He nodded, wiping over his face again as he pulled away from Archie.

"Yes, I... He shouldn't suffer anymore than he already has, so... so I'll sign t-those papers. He... He would have wanted that"

At least, he hoped so.

"Very well, I'll prepare the paperwork. Do you plan on staying here or rather not? It's understandable either way"

"I- I think I'll go, go home"

"Of course. Should we inform you once your father took his last breath?" Jughead sucked in a breath, though then nodded.

When the doctor left the room, Jughead crumbled for another time that day — and Archie was there to catch him.

"Can you give me five minutes to say goodbye?" Jughead whispered after a while, lifting his face.

"Of course. Yes, take all the time that you need. I'll wait outside for you, alright?" Archie said, getting up from the chair. He gave Jughead's shoulder another squeeze before quietly walking out of the room.

"I... I hope that... that I made the right d-decision for you. I don't want you to, to be in pain, so... I will be g-going now. Thank you for being my dad. I l..."

I love you.

Jughead never got himself to say it out loud that day. He just hoped that his father knew.

He must, right?

"If... If someone's up there, uh... p-please watch over him" He stammered before slowly walking out of the room. He really was the last person to believe in some entity living up there in the clouds but his father could use every help that there might be.

When Jughead approached Archie, he simply grasped his hand without saying anything. After signing the papers with blurry eyes, Jughead was on a pretty quick walk out of the hospital.

"Should I call my dad to-"

"We'll walk" Jughead interrupted, pulling on Archie as he quickened his pace. He only ever came to a stop in front of the Andrews' house.

"Oh, uh do you want to come inside? I'm sure that dad wouldn't mind you sleeping at mine" Archie suddenly said as Jughead paused in front of the door.

"I don't want to intrude-"

"No no, you aren't, I promise. I wouldn't want you to be alone tonight, to be honest" Archie said and Jughead paused, though then nodded. With a soft smile, Archie unlocked the door to get inside.

The evening was rather quiet. The two boys headed upstairs right away and Archie tucked Jughead with him into bed before starting a movie. Sometimes, when Archie would feel his arm getting wet another time, he would just comb through Jughead's hair and whisper that he would be alright until he eventually heard soft snoring again.

"Jug...?" Archie murmured, eyes opening as he felt around the mattress, coming back empty. He rolled around as he heard noises, finding Jughead standing in the middle of the room. His phone was still on, though he didn't move. Cautiously, he got up to approach him.

"Did the hospital call?" He asked, already reaching forward when he saw Jughead nodding, his legs giving in just a few seconds later.

"You will be okay" Archie comforted, even if Jughead shook his head "No, you will be, I'm sure. You're strong and independent and amazing. I'm sure that you'll be okay" Archie comforted, caressing his face again in order to wipe the tears away.

"Now please stop crying"

"My damn face feels on fire" Jughead mumbled, laughing softly as he started to cry anew.

"Let me fix it" Archie mumbled, just leaning forward to place his lips on top of Jughead's. It did nothing to fix the fire on his face — if, it only made things worse.

Perhaps he was going to be okay.

At least as long as Archie was with him.