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“You could always rent a place with Jughead,” were Archie's words that started it all.
Or maybe not exactly. As much as he wanted to blame it all on the other young man, it was Reggie who brought up the topic of his own lodging, or rather lack thereof, in the first place. Quite foolishly, he let it slip that he, Reggie Mantle, all around well-known son of his parents, decided to move out and live on his own, without his family's help. If only he had the money – his salary as a journalist (yes, at his father's newspaper, after all he wanted to have his own place, not sever all ties with his family) wasn't exactly enough to let him rent something nice by himself.
Cue Archie's helpful advice, which made everyone sitting around the table in a booth at Pop's fall silent, and one Jughead Jones openly stare at Archie in astonishment. It was probably the most surprised Reggie had ever seen him in all those years they had known each other. But he wasn't the one to talk, since Reggie was pretty sure he himself looked more or less the same.
“Why would you think I was in need of a roommate?” It was Jughead who finally broke the silence. Veronica, Betty and Reggie all looked between him and Archie curiously.
“Well, isn't it what your parents keep on subtly suggesting? And by 'subtly' I mean actually telling you to finally move out every other day?”
For a moment Jughead looked ready to strangle Archie, like the other had insulted him somehow. But then he schooled his face into a well-known bored expression. “They do,” he finally agreed with reluctance.
Betty visibly perked up. “So it's a great chance! You and Reggie could rent something cheap together, I'm sure your parents would help you pay for it until you find a job...”
“I've already found a job.”
Reggie looked at him in surprise. From the looks on others' faces, he wasn't the only one who didn't expect to hear that. And for a good reason. After graduating college, Jughead, as well as Archie, Veronica, Betty and Reggie, all came back to Riverdale. Unlike his friends however, Jughead not only moved back in with his parents and seemed to be happy with the arrangement; he also didn't quite look like he even wanted to find a job. So it was understandable for them to be surprised. Especially Archie, who usually was the first one to know about Jughead's life. Or at least parts of it he decided to share with others.
“Really?” It was now Archie's turn to stare at his friend incredulously. “Why haven't you said anything?”
“I'm saying it now.” Jughead shrugged. Then he reached for Veronica's milkshake and slurped loudly. His own two milkshakes were already finished, so it was only to be expected he moved on to others' food. But this time it also looked like a way to avoid sharing information with his friends.
“So where do you work?” asked Veronica finally, when it became obvious Jughead wasn't about to share anything more than he already did without some prompting.
“I'm a prep cook at that new L'amour restaurant downtown,” said Jughead between more mouthfuls of shake.
“It's a perfect job for you!” exclaimed Betty, while putting a hand on Jughead's shoulder and squeezing it.
Jughead squirmed. “I guess.”
Reggie thought about the previous week. Jughead did seem to disappear suddenly, but they all decided he was probably too engrossed in one of his video games to realize he was missing out on one or two get-togethers at Pop's. Now Reggie felt just a little bit guilty for dismissing Jughead like that.
Archie on the other hand looked very guilty. He was watching Jughead with a weird mix of regret and disappointment, that Jughead tried to avoid looking at at all costs. He was surprisingly successful at that, but Reggie was sure he was up for an earful from Archie about trusting your friends and sharing your life achievements with them.
Finally, after a few long seconds Archie shook off the initial shock, as he went back to the previous topic of their conversation. “It doesn't change the fact, you guys could be living together.” He pointed first to Jughead, then to Reggie. “You are like the only ones still living with the parents.”
That was actually right. Just after coming back to Riverdale, Archie and Veronica moved into a small apartment on the outskirts of Riverdale, at the same time as Betty started to occupy a cozy one-room above a car repair shop she opened after graduation.
“Maybe it's not something you guys thought I'd be doing, but it does make me happy,” she answered when they all voiced their doubts.
Others fared rather good, too – Kevin moved to New York, and Midge followed Moose all the way to Chicago, where the man started what hopefully would turn into a long and successful sport career. Reggie refused to even think about Dilton and his scholarship.
Reggie and Jughead looked at each other apprehensively. Maybe it wasn't such a horrible idea, as far as Archie's plans went. Reggie did need a roommate, if he wanted to move out from his parents' home, and if Archie's words were true, Jughead would soon be needing a place of his own, too. It couldn't be that bad if they helped each other out.
Reggie blinked rapidly, surprised by his own thoughts. Was he actually considering that?
As it turned out, Reggie was totally considering sharing a flat with his friend. As was Jughead apparently, since two weeks later they were moving in together, into a small apartment on the outskirts. The building was old, and everything was ridiculously far for such a small town that Riverdale was.
“It's cheap at least,” mumbled Reggie under his breath as he heaved his baggages all the way up to the fourth floor.
Jughead was already all settled in, apparently owning entirety of one suitcase and a toaster. Of course he didn't even make an attempt to offer Reggie any help – he simply went to make himself what he called a 'second lunch', reasoning that some heavy lifting was much more up Reggie's alley than his.
“If you are fast enough, maybe there'll be still something on the plate. I make no promises though,” he yelled after Reggie, when he was walking down the stairs once again, to bring up another batch of things. Three such rounds later he was done. Of course there was no food to be found anywhere. He wasn't even sure how Jughead managed that in what felt like no more than fifteen minutes, but then again it was Jughead, so most probably he gorged on all the food as fast as possible, just so he wouldn't have to share.
Reggie found Jughead in his room – he was lying on the bed, playing Nintendo. The bed was small, just like the room itself, but Jughead said it was exactly what he needed. Reggie wasn't about to argue, especially if it meant he got the bigger room all to himself. After fully entering the cramped space, Reggie flopped down next to Jughead, barely fitting on the bed. Their shoulders brushed, but Jughead immediately moved as far away as he could, at the same time making more room for Reggie. Making himself more comfortable, Reggie punched Jughead's shoulder, successfully forcing him to lose the game. It earned him a mean glare.
“Not working today?” he asked.
“I start at three. You?” He expected Jughead to go back to his game, but instead his eyes remained focused on Reggie. As always, it was a little eerie to have the other man's undivided attention.
“Dad gave me a day off today,” said Reggie finally.
“Perks of being a part of family business.” Jughead didn't sound judgemental, so Reggie stayed silent, instead of trying to excuse his life decisions.
They stayed like this for some time. Jughead was watching him warily, obviously at a loss about what he should expect to happen next. Reggie however wasn't even sure what he wanted to do. He very often didn't know, when it came to Jughead. They were too different and most of the time needed the presence of others to make them comfortable around each other. Still, even back in high school, he considered both Jughead and Archie his best friends, and he was sure the other two liked him just fine. But still their friendship was rocky at best, something that was mostly his own fault, Reggie was well aware of that.
Now they were supposed to live together.
Finally Reggie decided to take a pity on both of them. “Wanna watch a movie?” he asked.
Jughead shrugged. “Why not.”
They moved to Reggie's new room and ended up watching a couple of Cutthroat Kitchen episodes. Reggie didn't mind and Jughead seemed to be enjoying himself all too much. He also looked more and more relaxed as the time passed. Reggie almost felt like maybe they wouldn't kill each other during the first week of that experiment they called an adult life.
After moving in together, the next couple of weeks went for Jughead and Reggie rather uneventfully – between their jobs, they had barely even seen each other. Whenever Reggie came back home from work, Jughead either was fast asleep, or out at the L'amour. Either way, sink was full of dishes and the fridge mostly empty.
“You really are a slacker, aren't you?” yelled Reggie at the closed door one of those days. “You could at least wash those dishes after using them.”
“And let you believe you live alone? No way!” was finally yelled back at him.
Reggie opened the door to the other's room and just barely stopped himself from storming in. “I can't even bring anyone home, it would be embarrassing if anyone saw our kitchen.
Jughead stared at him coldly from above his console. “Good. I like to keep my place romance-free.”
The other's statement made Reggie roll his eyes. “Don't worry, you're not gonna catch a romance, you're completely immune to it.”
“Doesn't mean I have to stare at it,” answered Jughead and went back to whatever he was playing. From the sound of it, it was Japanese and of very little interest to Reggie. But it did capture Jughead's complete attention, so seeing he was probably about to be ignored, Reggie shut the door and went to wash the dishes.
As he was scrubbing what looked like mustard off one of the plates, he cursed under his breath. He didn't want to live like this, even if it was temporary. Having lived his whole life with his parents, and then alone in a rented apartment during college, Reggie wasn't sure how he was going to make it now. Maybe it was a bad call, to reject his parents' money. Even worse was decision to live with Jughead, of all his friends. Reggie really shouldn't be surprised he wasn't the easiest to bunk with.
It wasn't all bad of course. More often than not, Reggie himself sought Jughead out, flopped next to him on the bed and bugged him just for the sake of bugging, until one of them fell asleep (if it was Reggie, Jughead would move to Reggie's room, just so he could sleep peacefully and alone ), or Jughead kicked Reggie out of his room. And despite his usually snotty attitude, Jughead was entertaining to talk with, so more often than not, Reggie found himself actually happy about this arrangement.
Unless he had to do Jughead's dishes of course. He cursed again and sped up with the cleaning. He still had plans for the evening, and he wasn't missing out on them because of a lazy roommate.
When he went back home again, exhausted after meeting with a couple of friends from work, it was almost dawn and he had something around two hours of sleep before he would have to leave for work. He planned to return earlier than that, but Marty from advertising looked surprisingly dashing, so they ended up fooling around at her place. As he climbed up the stairs to his and Jughead's apartment, he tried to ignore a surprising wave of regret – it felt like ages since the last time he had sex with no strings attached and he felt a little weird now, as it had finally happened. But graduation and beginning of an adult life didn't exactly agree with even very short and mostly physical relationships. He really needed to remember his younger self and how easy it was back then.
That was something he kind of envied Jughead. The other man didn't have to worry about those things – he didn't mind being in his twenties and single, didn't have to deal with looking for someone to share his life with and, what was most important, wasn't jealous of his friends.
Bitterly Reggie thought about Veronica and Archie, Midge and Moose, even Kevin and his new boyfriend, who the Riverdale pack hadn't had a chance to meet just yet. He had been so sure that by the end of college he would have been just like them. Yet here he was, alone, conflicted and living with a friend, with little hope of it changing any time soon.
He fumbled with his keys clumsily, as he tried to open the door to his apartment. They fell to the ground with a clutter. It was both fatigue and alcohol, he knew that. Those were probably also the reason for his thoughts. He huffed in annoyance and was about to bend down, when the door suddenly opened, only to reveal Jughead.
He was standing there in shorts and a Nightwing t-shirt. His eyes were barely opened, as he rubbed furiously at one of them. His hair was even more tussled than usual.
“You are too loud,” he mumbled, as he moved to the side, making space for Reggie to step in.
“Sorry.”
“Just go to sleep, don't you have to wake up in like an hour?” Jughead was already on his way back to bed.
“Two hours,” Reggie answered without thinking.
“Same difference.” Jughead yawned. “Don't be too loud.” And with that he shuffled his legs back to his room, leaving Reggie standing alone in the hallway.
The next day was nothing short of hell. It wasn't as much alcohol, he really hadn't drunk a lot, as sleeping for less than two hours didn't do him any favours. That's why he welcomed the end of his shift with open arms and a heavy sigh. He wasn't exactly sure how he got home, he was too tired to pay attention, but when he finally stumbled into the apartment, Reggie went straight to his room, so very ready for his sleep, only to find Jughead dozing off in the armchair, with a plate of half-eaten hamburgers balancing on his lap.
“Why are you always in my armchair when I get back?” That was something that started happening some time back – instead of occupying his own room, Jughead would wait for Reggie in his lazy chair. Reggie still had to find out why.
“Because otherwise you try to fit on my bed and there's not enough space for the two of us.” That was a surprisingly straight-forward answer coming from Jughead. It made Reggie look at him in surprise, only to realize, that Jughead was not supposed to be here at all. It was Saturday after all, and he always worked double shift on Saturdays.
“Why aren't you at work anyway?”
Jughead stretched his arms and turned his half-closed eyes to Reggie. It was obvious he struggled with consciousness. Finally his eyes cleared a little, as he seemed to understand Reggie's question. “Oh. I don't work there any more.”
“What?” Reggie sat on the edge of his bed and stared at Jughead in surprise. “Since when?”
“Since today.” He picked up one of the hamburgers and finished it in few quick bites. Then he looked back to Reggie. “It doesn't make sense, to make food you can't even eat!” He waved his arms wildly to prove the gravity of his point, getting lettuce and a bit of tomato on the floor.
“So they fired you for eating food?”
“Don't be ridiculous, I'm not an idiot.” Jughead huffed in annoyance. “I gave it up myself.”
“So you don't have a job now?”
Jughead was chewing on another bit of a burger. He watched Reggie for the longest moment, obviously considering something, only to finally look to the side. “I don't know what to do. This adult thing is much harder than I thought it would be.” He scratched his head violently. “It's so mundane, how am I getting it wrong?”
“What do you mean?”
“Archie, Betty, Kevin, they all know what they want to do, and they do it. Or are on the way there. And during college, I thought I knew, too. But then I came back to Riverdale and nothing works out the way I want it to.” He glanced quickly at Reggie, only to look away again. “I don't know how I want to live my life. It was supposed to be easier than that, especially for me.”
“You mean because you're smarter than everyone else?” Reggie hoped that his voice sounded as teasing as he intended it to. It was weird, seeing this side of Jughead. He wasn't sure even Archie got to experience it a lot.
“Exactly.”
“I guess you are just like the rest of us simple people, after all.” He smirked, then winked at Jughead. It earned him an unhappy frown.
“I'm not like you.” Jughead scoffed. Reggie raised his eyebrow and cocked his head. “Maybe only a little bit.”
Instead of answering, Reggie sighed and stood up. He grabbed Jughead's hand and tugged, forcing the other man to stand beside him. Then, before Jughead had a chance to protest, he pulled him into a hug.
“Reggie...” Jughead tensed at the sudden contact, but he didn't move back. Reggie decided to take it for a sign of consent and strengthened his hold. Jughead was all bones and hard edges against Reggie's body, but he was also warm and slowly relaxing. “Whatever you are doing, you've got ten seconds to stop.”
“I'm hugging you.” He squeezed Jughead's shoulder for emphasis. “But sure, ten...”
“Six.”
“Six more seconds.”
Reggie wasn't sure why he was doing that. Still, he kept Jughead in his arms for another six seconds, no more no less, gently rubbing his back. Then he released the other man and took a step back. They stood in awkward silence, refusing to meet each other's eyes.
“Thanks,” mumbled Jughead unsure.
“Nah, it's all right.” Reggie punched Jughead's arm, maybe just a little too hard. He finally looked at the other man seriously. “You will make it, you know.”
Jughead's eyes were considering as he stared back at Reggie. He seemed to be searching for something and whatever he had found, it made him answer with “You too, Reg. You'll make it, too.”
An idea struck Reggie the next day, while he was interviewing a local librarian, who possibly uncovered the great mystery of the first bakery in Riverdale. As soon as he was done, he almost ran back home and then to Jughead's room. Said man was lounging on his bed, a huge plate of almost eaten cake on his bedside table.
“You should be a critic!” exclaimed Reggie, before Jughead could voice his displeasure at his friend barging into his room without any warning.
“A critic?” Jughead licked the frosting off his fingers, but soon got them dirty again with another piece of cake.
“Culinary critic,” added Reggie.
“Oh?”
“Just think about it. You could be eating all the time and get paid for it.”
Jughead visibly perked up at that. It was obviously something he hadn't thought about, but was ready to consider. “That's actually not a bad idea.”
“Of course it isn't. It's mine after all.”
“You mean despite the fact it's yours,” said Jughead, but there was no real heat behind the jab.
“Very funny.” Reggie watched Jughead force another huge piece of cake into his mouth. “Where did you take this cake from anyway?”
“I baked it, obviously.”
That Reggie didn't expect. “You can bake?”
Jughead looked at him incredulously. “You did notice I worked at a restaurant as a cook, right?”
“Yeah, but still...”
“Let's just say that miss Crouton's culinary classes were quite enlightening,” said Jughead. “It does taste better for some reason, when you make it yourself.”
Reggie looked at the cake and Jughead must have noticed that for he asked, “Would you like some?”
Reggie tried not to frown as he looked at the mostly destroyed cake that had signs of Jughead's fingers all over it. “Nah, thanks. You go eat your fill. You worked hard for it after all.”
Starting a career was surprisingly easy, once Jughead put his mind to it. And with an additional motivation of working with food that he could actually eat, made wonders to his determination concerning finding a job. And so not even two weeks later Jughead came to Reggie's room with a plate full of cupcakes. He put them on the nightstand and flopped down on the armchair, that Reggie was starting to think of as Jughead's.
“Those are for you,” he said and then added, “I got a job.”
That got Reggie's whole attention. “Really? Where?”
“It's a cooking magazine. I'm gonna write for both the paper and on-line edition.”
Reggie looked at his friend in surprise. Despite pointing Jughead in that direction, Reggie really didn't expect it to work so well so fast. “That's actually really great.”
“Yeah, double so, since I'll be working from home.” Jughead actually looked really happy for once.
“So it's perfect for you.”
Jughead hesitated for a second. “The last one was supposed to be perfect, too.”
“Stop it.” Reggie reached out to one of Jughead's bony knees and squeezed it. “This one's even better, so just enjoy it.”
“So what it's like, being married to Jughead?” Archie asked and immediately after laughed at Jughead's scandalized expression. It was Sunday and they were all lazing around in the park, so of course they quickly abandoned usual boring topics of conversation, and instead progressed to teasing each other mercilessly.
“Surprisingly, it's not half as bad,” said Reggie, and smirked when Jughead glared at him. “Jughead's actually a pretty good housewife.” That earned him a hit on the shoulder he knew he fully deserved.
“See if I let you touch even one bit of my food. I've been way too generous with you anyway.”
Reggie couldn't really deny that. After Jughead landed his new job and started spending more time at home, he filled most of it with cooking. Not only that, but he also shared the food with Reggie. Sure, he still made a mess Reggie had to clean afterwards, but now it was only fair, since everyday after finishing his job Reggie got back home to a delicious meal, so there was nothing to complain about.
“Come on, Juggie. You can't deny Reg the food you're cooking especially for him,” said Archie.
“Arch, I'm not cooking it for him, I cook it because of my job, and Reggie simply gets leftovers.”
Reggie snickered. Jughead glared at him half-heartedly. It was partially true, what he had just said – Jughead really did prepare all that food to write about it later in his articles. But the fact was also that everyday Reggie got a full plate of delicious dinner, sometimes with dessert, and Jughead was a fool if even for a second he believed he could call it leftovers and get away with it.
Everyday Jughead made extra effort to be sure Reggie was well fed, they both knew it very well.
And judging from Veronica's amused expression, they weren't the only ones. “Don't listen to Archiekins, Jughead, make Reg work for it.”
“I'm already providing Jug with my dashing presence.”
Jughead snickered. “That's a really lousy currency.”
“I've never heard you complaining,” he looked at Jughead and winked.
“Because you never hear anything, unless it's complements about your supposed good looks.”
“They are not 'supposed', it's a fact,” said Reggie.
“So you keep saying.” Jughead did not look too convinced.
“Jug, give him a break,” said Betty, laughing at their bickering. “His self-esteem's going to drop.”
Jughead looked at Reggie and smirked. Reggie smiled back. “That would actually do him a lot of good.”
After that the topic of conversation shifted and they all focused on Archie's position at Sawol Corporation, that he did his best to maintain, and was actually surprisingly successful at. But Reggie wasn't listening. He kept glancing at Jughead, walking right next to him. Even if they joked about it, so far they really did make a good pair of roommates, despite small bumps along the way. Jughead scoffed at something Archie had said and Reggie smiled. Maybe he didn't necessarily need for things in his life to get better than they were now.
Still it wouldn't hurt if his job was a little less crazy. He didn't want it to matter that his father was the owner of the newspaper, he preferred to put in the same amount of work as everybody else. Which meant that more often than he wanted, he had to deal with the readers who visited the newsroom to complain about anything and everything, hoping one of their worries would interest the journalist. Of course most of their stories were completely ludicrous, as was the case with the elderly woman who was now sitting in front of him.
“And just as I was about to cross the street, I felt a sudden pain. I almost fell to the ground, my head was hurting so much. I looked up and, can you imagine my boy, it was a jackdaw. A wild jackdaw attacked me in the middle of the street!” she said as she waved her hand, almost smacking Reggie in the face.
Reggie forced a disbelieving expression on his face, as he groaned internally. He wished he was anywhere but here. Preferably at home. Maybe with Jughead, watching Twin Peaks reruns and eating his pizza rolls. They did that the day before and it was one of the more relaxing days in his recent life. But instead he had to listen to this elderly lady's Hitchcockian story and feign interest.
“Are you listening to me?” asked the lady.
“Of course I am.” Reggie smiled his most charming smile. “So what did you say the jackdaw did afterwards?”
“You wanna go out, catch a movie or something?” Jughead was standing in the doorway, watching Reggie with an indifferent expression. He was also wearing a suspiciously familiar hoodie, way too big for his bony body.
“Is that mine?” asked Reggie as he pointed to the piece of clothing.
Jughead looked down at the hoodie like he was seeing it for he first time. “Possibly. So about that movie...”
Reggie shrugged and moved to stand up. “Yeah, why not.”
He inspected himself in the mirror. After the whole day of work and then a few hours of lazing around the apartment, he didn't look his best, to say the least. But he decided to not care about it at the moment. He quickly combed his hair with his fingers, grabbed his car keys and together with Jughead they went out.
They arrived at the theatre just in time to catch a Little Shop of Horrors evening screening.
“You like it?” Reggie asked.
“I guess. It doesn't really matter, let's just watch something,” said Jughead and walked over to the ticket counter. Reggie followed him and, not thinking much about what he was doing, paid for both their tickets. Jughead frowned at him, but then simply said, “I hope you're paying for the popcorn, too.”
Reggie did pay for the popcorn. For two servings of nachos, too. And liquorice candies. When they took their seats, Jughead was barely visible from behind all of the food he placed in his lap.
“That's you, this plant's totally like a nicer version of you,” said Reggie halfway throughout the movie.
“What do you mean nicer?” Jughead turned to look at him warningly.
“It at least asks for food, you usually simply take it.”
That actually made Jughead smile dreamily. “Me and food, it's destiny.”
Reggie couldn't deny what was true, so he went back to watching the screen. Weirdly engrossed in the movie, he almost jumped out of his seat, when he felt a poke to his shoulder. He glanced to his side, only to see Jughead still looking at the Audrey II with a weird kind of admiration. The box of popcorn was however obviously tilted towards Reggie. He reached over and grabbed a handful. He expected Jughead to yell at him and snatch away the treat, but nothing happened. For the first time since they had known each other, Reggie witnessed Jughead willingly share his popcorn with anyone. Reggie felt weirdly special.
The next day, while Reggie was at work, in the middle of proofreading the interview with the press officer of the Riverdale police, his phone suddenly started ringing furiously. He didn't have to look at the screen to know who it was. “Do you like strawberries?” asked Jughead as soon as Reggie received the call.
“Not really, I was always more of a blueberries person,” he answered without thinking. Then he frowned. “Why?”
“No reason,” answered Jughead and second later ended the call.
Reggie frowned at his cellphone. He had no idea what it was all about. But he decided now was not the time to think about it, and instead he should just go back to his work and ask Jughead about it later.
When he came back home, much later than he intended, there was no one home. He went to the kitchen, not at all surprised by the dishes waiting for him to be washed. What he didn't expect however, was the note stuck to the table, next to a deliciously looking blueberry cake, that was down a few pieces.
Out with Archie. Eat as much as you want. Jug, read the note.
Surprised, Reggie stared at the note for a long moment. Was something wrong with the cake? Had it turned out bad and even Jughead wasn't able to eat it? Sure they shared food almost everyday now, but Jughead always made sure that Reggie's part was significantly smaller than his. That's why the fact that Jughead left almost the whole cake for him to eat was worrying at best. Unsure, Reggie took a fork and tried the cake. A smile tugged at his lips. It was nothing short of delicious.
It was nice taking to her, thought Reggie as he sat opposite yet another girl he met at work. Sandy was pretty, too. And yet...
“You don't like the cake?” she asked, pointing to a mostly untouched piece of strawberry cake they were supposed to share. Sandy took a few bites, but then seeing Reggie wasn't too eager to help her, stopped.
“It's all right,” Reggie answered quickly. “I just keep thinking about a cake I had last week, it was really delicious,” he added.
“Oh.” Sandy suddenly straightened up and looked at him sharply. “Who were you eating it with?”
“What?” Reggie blinked in surprise at the sudden shift in the mood of the conversation. Then he understood. “Oh no, it wasn't a date. It's just my best friend, Juggie, he's a food critique, he bakes great cakes.”
“He made you a cake?”
“I guess you could say that. More like he left me the part he didn't eat,” said Reggie.
Sandy relaxed at that, but Reggie lost all interest in their meeting. He couldn't shake off the thoughts of Jughead and his cooking, and so failed at giving Sandy the same amount of attention as before. So it wasn't really a surprise, when not long after, they called it quits and went their separate ways. Still Reggie felt a little disappointed when as usual nothing came out of his date. He probably shouldn't be surprised, since it was exactly the same as every single one he's been on since moving back to Riverdale. It was getting frustrating. After all he was Reggie Mantle, he used to seduce whoever he wanted with his eyes closed. Yet now something had changed and he had no idea what.
That's why, when he finally arrived at his and Jughead's shared apartment, he passed his roommate without as much as a word and went straight to his bed.
Few hours later, sometime around midnight, the door to Reggie's room clicked open and Reggie heard the soft sound of steps, before Jughead joined him on his bed. He brought his own pillow and cover, which he was now wrapping securely around himself. Surprised by the unusual action, Reggie turned to him and waited for Jughead to offer some kind of explanation.
“Is everything all right?” asked his friend finally, when he settled down.
“Why wouldn't it be?” Reggie decided to play stupid.
“You are weird lately.”
For a long moment Reggie considered ignoring his friend, but in the end answered. “I guess I'm just not used to being alone,” he said.
Jughead shifted and somehow he was now even closer to Reggie. His face was illuminated by the street lights. He looked curious. “What do you mean?”
“I've been going on all those dates, but nothing's come out of it. It's almost like if I used up all the action during high school and college, so now I have to be alone, you know?”
Jughead huffed. “Don't be so dramatic, you can survive a couple of months without some girl clutching her pearls at the sight of your smouldering looks, or whatever it is you use on them.”
“It's easy for you to say, you don't need anyone. You were perfectly fine with living with your parents and slacking off all day.”
This time Jughead moved slightly away. He looked almost offended. “That's not true.” Reggie waited for him to continue, and finally Jughead did. “It's not that I wanted to live with them.” He rolled on his back and started tugging at his fingers. He also kept glancing at Reggie, but didn't seem to be able to hold his gaze. “I just wanted to live with someone. Maybe I don't want a relationship, but I don't want to be alone either. I tried that already during college and it didn't end well.”
Reggie thought back to their college days, a second year, if he remembered it well. There indeed was a time when no one heard much from Jughead, apart from short messages on Facebook. It lasted maybe two months, just after winter break, but before anyone could become seriously worried, it stopped and Jughead once again started hanging out with them.
“I tried being on my own, to see what it'll be like when you all find your significant others and leave to start your new families.”
Reggie looked at his friend in surprise. He had never thought about it like that. He had never even suspected that Jughead could worry about his own future and how it would affect their friendship. “Jughead...”
Jughead didn't let him finish. He pulled the cover all the way up, so only his hair and his nose were visible from underneath it.”Go to sleep Reggie. Worry about things tomorrow.”
Reggie didn't like the way Audrey kept clinging to him all throughout the movie. Even though after his midnight talk with Jughead he didn't feel like meeting with anyone, he had agreed for an outing earlier that week, and would feel guilty for cancelling it a day before. But now he sat next to Audrey and prayed for some breathing space. He didn't know how to make her let go of his arm, without making it look like he didn't enjoy his time with her. She didn't deserve that.
Only when the movie was finished and his arm was free, Reggie managed to say, “It was nice, but I don't think...”
She didn't let him finish. “Yeah, you did seem kinda tense,” she said wistfully.
“Sorry about that.”
“It's all right.” She shrugged. An awkward silence fell over them.
Reggie scratched his head. “So... I can drive you home?”
“No.” She smiled a little forcefully. “Go home. I'll go to mine.”
With that they parted ways and Reggie hurried home, already thinking how he could spend his evening with Jughead.
“Admit it, you don't see anything wrong with eating that crap,” said Reggie, pointing to the leftovers that one of the contestant of the latest Cutthroat Kitchen episode was hesitantly poking at.
“Of course I don't, it's food, just not as fancy as you are used to,” Jughead sounded like he was stating the most obvious thing in the world.
“I don't eat fancy food only, I go to Pop's regularly.”
That got him a mean smack to the head. “Don't you dare insult that wonderful man.”
“I'll be sure to apologize the next time I see him,” joked Reggie, but Jughead seemed to take it deadly seriously.
“You better.”
They went back to watching the show. Reggie was getting more and more sleepy and at one point, without much thinking, moved to lie on his back, which resulted in his head landing on Jughead's lap. The other man tensed and looked at him in surprise.
“Don't mind me, keep watching,” mumbled Reggie, his eyes already closed, as he got more comfortable. He felt Jughead relax just a little.
He had to open his eyes however, when he suddenly felt Jughead's long fingers comb through his hair. Jughead was looking down at his face, his expression completely unreadable.
“You are a mess, Reg,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
Jughead didn't answer. He shook his head and moved his hand down Reggie's face, forcing him to close his eyes. Then he tangled them again in Reggie's hair. “Go to sleep,” he said.
Reggie did.
Seeing Midge was like taking a trip back to his high school days and the time of the horrible crush he harboured for her.
“Reggie,” she exclaimed upon meeting him on his way back from work, and Reggie felt that well-known furious beating of his heart come back with full force. He was sure it was more out of sentiment than actual attraction, but it still made him straighten his back and smirk, trying to cover his nervousness.
“Well isn't it my darling Midge?” He happily accepted a hug, that lasted maybe a little bit longer than either of them intended.
“So where did you lose Moose?” he asked.
“Where did you lose Jughead?” she shot back immediately.
Reggie frowned. “Sorry?”
“You two are roommates, right?” She laughed openly. Reggie felt like he was missing something important. “But answering your question, Moose is at his parents' place, helping with the dinner.” She held up her hand, showing off a simple golden engagement ring. “We want to make it official with the family.”
Reggie took her hand and looked at the ring with surprise. “You are engaged?”
“Yup. Moose proposed last week.”
Reggie felt something tug at his heart. It was a little bit of disappointment, a lot of wistfulness, but mostly some weird sort of jealousy at yet another part of his childhood growing up and leaving him behind.
“Listen, let's not stand here like idiots. Do you want to go eat something?” Midge asked cheerfully and Reggie really couldn't refuse. They went to a small diner and spent a couple of hours looking back at all the fun they used to have all those years ago.
“So are you and Moose happy together?” asked Reggie finally.
Midge smiled happily. “Yes. We really are.” Then she looked up straight at Reggie. “What about you? Are you happy?”
He took his time to consider his answer. He expected to be somehow conflicted, or downright pessimistic, but with a start he realized he couldn't think of even one thing that he wanted to change in his life. He actually really was happy.
He looked at Midge in surprise. “I am.”
She grinned and reached out to squeeze his hand. “You are.”
“I met Midge today,” was the first thing Reggie said when he came back home later that evening. After his small epiphany in the diner, he felt ridiculously giddy.
“Oh?” Jughead looked up from his plate full of hamburgers. He was sitting at the table in the kitchen, two plates full of food in front of him. He also didn't seem to share Reggie's optimism.
“We went out for dinner to catch up,” said Reggie. “She says hi.”
Jughead completely ignored that. Instead he glanced at the burgers. “So you are not hungry?”
“Not really, no.”
They stared at each other for a long silent moment. Jughead obviously tried to look indifferent, but there was something off... Reggie frowned and was about to ask the other man about it, but then Jughead looked away. “Okay then.”
He gathered all the burgers from both plates and almost ran to his room.
Reggie didn't understand it. He couldn't understand it even after thinking about his short conversation with Jughead the whole evening and most of the following morning, but he felt incredibly guilty. It was worrying, since he was mostly sure he did nothing wrong. His conscience however thought differently.
Finally, around lunchtime, when he had a chance to take a short break at work, he decided he needed assistance. So not thinking about it very much, just so he wouldn't bail at the last possible moment, he went to Betty's car repair shop.
“How can you tell that you're in a relationship with someone?” was the first thing he asked upon entering.
“Well, usually they do exactly that – tell you about it. Or you tell them, it can work either way.” She didn't even roll out from under the car, so Reggie couldn't really guess what her expression was like. But judging from her tone of voice, she couldn't exactly understand what Reggie's problem was.
“And if you haven't talked about it at all?”
Finally she rolled out. She looked at him suspiciously. “Reggie, are you trying to tell me, you suspect you are in a relationship with someone, but you're not sure?”
“Yes.”
Betty sighed and tried to clean her hands with some dirty rag that was lying on the ground just next to her. She looked at him seriously. “You should just tell Jughead. He probably knows that already, anyway.”
“W-what? No, it's not...”
Betty just raised her eyebrow, then murmured something insulting under her breath, and once again crawled under the car. “Just tell him!” she shouted and Reggie knew their conversation was finished. He moved to the entrance, ready to leave, when Betty called his name again. Reggie stopped and turned back to look at her. She was watching him curiously.
“What brought it about anyway?” she asked.
“I think Jughead's angry with me,” he answered.
Betty frowned. “What did you do?”
Reggie hesitated, but finally said, “I met with Midge the other day.”
“What?!” Betty practically jumped to her feet and stomped closer to him.
“I met...”
“Yeah, I heard that.” She rolled her eyes. “But why would you do that?”
“Why wouldn't I?” Reggie felt like he was missing the thread of that conversation.
“Because you are with Jughead now!”
He opened his mouth to answer, but quickly closed it. Then after a few seconds he tried again. “First of all, I only now realized we might be in something resembling a relationship.” He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. “And secondly, I went on actual dates before and Jughead never minded.”
Betty rolled her eyes. “You are so stupid.”
“Hey!”
She held her hand up, silencing him before he could form a sentence. “Why would Jughead be jealous of some girls you meet once and then dump. Especially if you are not even officially together. Now Midge on the other hand, who you had a crush on since forever...”
Reggie blinked slowly as understanding downed on him. “Oh.”
He really needed to talk with Jughead.
Only because Betty told him to do something however, it didn't mean he was going to do that. He was Reggie Mantle, and he knew best how to deal with his relationships and problems surrounding them. Even if he had a small crisis of faith along the way and needed guidance. At least that was what he told himself. That's why when he came back home, the first thing he said was, “We are going out.”
Jughead looked at him sceptically. “We are?”
“Yes, we are.” Reggie smiled like a shark. He was not budging on that one, and he would drag Jughead out if he had to.
“Where to?” asked Jughead.
“That Korean restaurant you wanted to visit.” And with that Reggie knew he had won. There was no way Jughead would turn down such a chance, even if he decided to pretend otherwise. An interested glint in Jughead's eyes only confirmed that.
“It was a month ago.”
Reggie raised his eyebrow questioningly. “So?”
“So nothing.” Jughead was obviously lacking in good counterarguments and Reggie was already internally celebrating his success. “Also I didn't go there, because it was too expensive.”
“Good thing you're not paying then.”
“Why did you even bring me here?” Jughead was watching him curiously. His usually pale cheeks were flushed from the hot jjamppong. Reggie couldn't look away.
“I guess I just wanted to try some Korean food.”
“And so you decided to choose bibimbap?” He huffed and then fished out another piece of squid from his soup. He stuffed it in his mouth and said, “I could've made it for you at home.”
“Swallow before you speak.” Reggie kicked him under the table. “Also you already cook for me almost everyday.”
“You don't like it?”
“Are you kidding me? I come back home after work to a home-made dinner.” He reached for a piece of kimchi pancake. After he swallowed it, he looked at Jughead again. “I love it.”
Since he was looking at him, Reggie spotted the exact moment Jughead's eyes widened and a blush that was definitely not a result of his hot soup spread on his cheeks. He tried to hide it behind a mussel, but Reggie already knew it was there.
He watched in amusement as Jughead looked down at his bowl, trying to hide his face. He twirled the soup with his chopsticks, obviously searching for something. Finally he fished out a large piece of shrimp. He held it out to Reggie, stopping the chopsticks right in front of his face. “You should try it, it's really good.” Reggie obediently opened his mouth and Jughead immediately fed him the shrimp. It was almost unpleasantly hot, but he swallowed it anyway. Jughead smiled and reached out for a cube of pickled radish, then three pieces of kimbap. Reggie ate everything obediently.
By the time they were finished, it was already dark and chilly. Jughead was once again wearing Reggie's clothes, this time his leather jacket. The sleeves were too short for Jughead's ridiculously long arms, and so Reggie watched his pale wrists, as they remained uncovered. Before Jughead could step away from him, Reggie grabbed his hand and squeezed.
“Reg?” Jughead tried to yank his hand away, but Reggie only grabbed it harder and caressed the skin on the other's palm with his thumb.
“Five seconds more,” he said.
“Four,” answered Jughead. Then he squeezed back and moved a little closer. They stayed like this for exactly four seconds, and then Reggie let go, after caressing Jughead's skin one last time.
As they finally got to Reggie's car, they were both smiling silly.