Work Text:
It was early summer in Riverdale and Archie Andrews had been in somewhat of a funk ever since school had let out. He was grateful for the break, of course, but he missed seeing his friends every day. Worse yet, he hadn't seen Veronica in over a week as her family had left town for vacation, and he wasn't sure when she would return. To pass the time, Archie had tried his hand at a few different part-time jobs, though none lasted long, as usual, due to his unfortunate tendency to destroy everything he touched.
Still, he'd managed to save up a bit of cash for date nights and other fun activities, if only he had someone to accompany him. He didn't mind treating himself once in a while, but he always felt that his friends enhanced any occasion and it was less fun doing things on his own. Betty was also working and they tried to plan hangouts around their often-conflicting work schedules whenever possible, but he didn't get to see her as much as he wanted. That left Jughead, who, shockingly was not working for the summer, but he was equally as elusive due to his love of sleeping and hatred of putting on pants if he didn't have to. Archie either had to visit him at his house or lure him out with the promise of food.
On this day in particular, Archie found himself with nothing to do and he missed his best friend. He knew what he had to do, so he picked up his phone and began typing out a message:
Hey man, what are you up to today?
He waited patiently for an entire minute before typing:
You asleep?
It was the middle of the day, but Archie knew his friend well and therefore was never sure if Jughead's lack of response meant he was sleeping, eating, distracted by video games, or just pretending not to notice his messages. He tried again:
Was gonna go down to Pop's, wondered if you wanted to come...
This time, he got a response:
Jug: u buying??? :^)
Archie rolled his eyes, but smiled.
Yeah I guess. What time you wanna meet up?
Jughead's response was surprisingly quick, though it just said:
Jug: omw!!
“Ok, then,” Archie thought, pulling on his sneakers. He didn't really mind buying food for his friend, especially since Jughead was kind enough to always listen to his relationship problems despite his complete lack of interest in the subject. Besides, burgers were cheaper than counseling, and Jughead always cheered him up.
---
They picked their favorite booth at Pop's, ordered food, and chatted while they waited. Jughead picked up on Archie's mood right away and Archie wasted no time in telling him his troubles. Truthfully, he'd been in far worse situations, but the summertime loneliness had really been getting to him. He felt better just being in the presence of his best friend and even more so after talking about it. Jughead was a great listener, but then, it was hard to interrupt and shovel food into his mouth at the same time. Either way, Archie was able to talk through all the little things on his mind that had been bothering him and he felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He paused for a moment, then smiled. “Hey, thanks for listening, man. I really appreciate it.”
“Any time. Thank you for feeding me. This economy we're in, it's been impossible to finance my burger habit.”
“You could try, I dunno, getting a job?” Archie grinned playfully.
Jughead laughed, a little too long. “Oh, man. Have you ever considered a career standup comedy?”
“I think I fall down a little too often for that.” He tried to keep a straight face and failed, both of them laughing loudly and genuinely at this. When they finally stopped, Archie said, “No, really. I feel a lot better when I talk to you.”
Speaking openly about feelings was an abhorrent concept to Jughead most of the time, so he decided to shift the conversation in a different direction. “So, uh, do you work tomorrow?”
Archie pushed a few of his remaining fries around his plate and said, “I'm sort of, ah, in between jobs. Again.”
“Perfect.”
“Wait, what?”
“Well, that means you're free to hang out tonight, right? We can stay up late, play video games, maybe watch a movie or something.”
“You mean like a sleepover? Like when we were kids?”
“Yeah, sure.” Jughead snorted at the word “sleepover” coming out of his friend's mouth. “If you wanna call it that.”
Archie considered this. It did sound a bit silly. “Maybe we could call it, like... a bro-date.”
Jughead frowned. “That's even worse, Arch.”
Despite being unable to decide on a proper term for this sleepover/bro-date, they did decide that it was, in fact, just the thing to cheer Archie up, and while Jughead would be unlikely to say so out loud, he missed his best friend considerably as well.
---
Archie volunteered to host and the two of them walked back to his house. “Don't you wanna go home and grab some stuff?” He asked.
“Like what?”
“I dunno, pajamas?”
“Do you still wear pajamas?”
Archie did, in fact, own pajamas, but he chose not to answer this question. “A toothbrush?”
“Meh, I'll just use yours.”
“DUDE.”
Jughead laughed, “I'm joking. I think I can go a night without brushing my teeth, I'll just make up for it in the morning. Heck, maybe I'll even floss.”
They both laughed uproariously at this, as it was common knowledge that flossing was a myth and no one actually ever did that.
---
Of the many sleepovers and bro-dates they'd had over the course of their long friendship, they were determined to make this one a Bro-Date to Remember. The evening began with an epic video game battle. First, a button-masher in which the object was for the two players to beat the living crap out of each other until only one remained standing. This went on for a while until they moved onto a game which involved racing, karts, and oddly, dinosaurs.
Upon growing bored of this, they remembered an old favorite of theirs: prank phone calls. Except no one actually uses phones for talking anymore, so they came up with a fun new twist, which was prank texting.
“You don't have Reggie's number, do you?” Jughead asked.
“Why on earth would I?” Archie raised an eyebrow.
“I do. Let's mess with him.”
“How—Why do you--?”
“Don't worry about it,” Jughead smirked. “We'll text him from your phone and he won't know who it is.”
“Alright, I'm in.”
Archie copied Reggie's number into his phone and saved it as “Jerkface McBodyspray” before typing out a message.
Hey Reggie
Almost immediately, the response came:
Jerkface McBodyspray: who tf is this. How did u get this number???
Archie and Jughead giggled as they would have when they were younger, in the days of pranking people with actual phone calls.
Hey I have a question for you
Jerkface McBodyspray: What?? who are you???
Archie bit his lower lip to stifle his laughter, trying to contain himself long enough to type:
Do you have cotton balls?
Jerkface McBodyspray: WHAT. WHY.
Just answer the question ;D
There was a short pause before the reply came:
Jerkface McBodyspray: Yes. Why.
Shaking with suppressed laughter, Archie managed to type the words:
Does it tickle when you walk
Jughead, who had been looking over Archie's shoulder and reading the exchange, dissolved into a fit of giggles and had to lean over on the couch to steady himself. Archie finally gave in and exploded with laughter himself and the two of them only stopped when Archie's phone buzzed again.
Jerkface McBodyspray: WTF DOES THAT MEAN
Their laughter resumed.
Jerkface McBodyspray: WHO IS THIS???
Jerkface McBodyspray: ANSWER ME
Jerkface McBodyspray:I S2G WHEN I FIND OUT WHO THIS IS
Jerkface McBodyspray: I S2G MAN I'M GONNA
Archie and Jughead were practically crying from laughing so hard as Archie's phone buzzed repeatedly with each new response from Jerkface McBodyspray. Eventually, the buzzing stopped and they assumed Reggie probably passed out from all his rage. After catching their breath, they decided it was time to order a pizza and pick out a movie to watch.
They decided on a selection of several movies to watch in a specific order since they had the whole night ahead of them with no set bedtime. They watched one while gorging themselves on pizza, watched another, decided to break for popcorn and other snacks, and started another.
At this point, it was getting pretty late, or rather, early the next morning. They were exhausted, though neither would admit it. Archie was determined to make it through at least the end of this movie, but Jughead seemed to have given in to sleepiness. His chin drooped as he kept nodding off. He usually came to on his own but Archie had to elbow him a couple of times. “Dude, you're missing the best part!”
Jughead really tried to stay awake, as his love for his best friend easily rivaled that which he had for sleep (though it was anyone's guess where the two ranked next to food), but eventually he passed out hard and Archie felt bad elbowing him yet again. He decided to let his friend sleep and that he would join him as soon as the movie was over.
Archie was concentrating on what the actors were saying since it was difficult to hear over Jughead's soft snores, but he didn't want to turn the volume up any higher. He felt a sudden, gentle pressure on his shoulder and realized Jughead had leaned over in his sleep, still snoring. Archie had a feeling that was difficult to place, and after a while he remembered a time when he'd been visiting his aunt and her usually aloof cat had hopped onto his lap, curled up, and went to sleep. It was a feeling akin to pride, as though he'd been chosen—the cat had avoided his affections all day and he'd given up trying to befriend it, when finally the animal had deemed him worthy. “Hey,” then-Little Archie had exclaimed softly so as not to wake the kitty. “He likes me!”
“Yes,” his aunt had told him. “That means he trusts you.”
Archie had never questioned whether Jughead trusted him—it was an unspoken given, and yet, he knew his friend didn't care much for touching or physical affection. He'd tolerate it from select others, but wasn't one for giving it out. Though Jughead wasn't purposely cuddling him or anything, he still felt happy knowing his friend was comfortable in his presence enough to sleep on him. He then considered how odd it was that that made him happy, but he didn't question it. He didn't think there were many people in the world Jughead would be this comfortable with.
Archie slowly, delicately reached upward to pull a blanket down from the back of the couch where they sat. He pulled it over Jughead and across his own legs, trying not to wake his friend. Either he was successful in being gentle enough, or Jughead just slept like a rock (it was probably the latter). He went back to focusing on the movie.
After a while, Archie felt a new sensation on his shoulder that was rather... moist. He looked sideways and realized Jughead was drooling a bit. “Hm. Gross,” he thought. He debated whether or not to push Jughead off but decided this was a special moment and a bit of drool didn't bother him. He didn't think it was gross having a girl put her mouth on his, and mouths tended to be, well, spit-y. A little bit of friend-drool on his shoulder wasn't the end of the world.
Archie tried to focus on the movie, which was nearing its exciting conclusion, but he found it difficult as his shoulder continued to grow more and more damp. He pondered how far he was willing to let this go before the unpleasantness on his shoulder outweighed this precious moment and his concern for his friend's comfort. “Maybe until the end of the movie???” He thought, “This is getting a little out of hand, though...”
As soon as the credits appeared on the screen Archie knew what he had to do, but because he still didn't have the heart to wake Jughead, he had to do it carefully. He'd been plotting this for a while now, though, so he began to execute his plan.
He removed the blanket they were sharing from his legs, leaving it draped over Jughead. He'd been resting his arm on a throw pillow which he picked up and held awkwardly for a moment while he considered the best way to go about transferring his friend's head from his shoulder to the pillow without disturbing him. He inched his body away, holding out his arm to support his friend while tilting his head onto the pillow. Smoothly, gradually, he lowered the pillow and his friend onto the spot on the couch where he'd been sitting. It seemed to work. Archie sighed, feeling triumphant, as endeavors which required grace were not usually something he excelled in. Then again, he reminded himself, Jughead could probably fall out of a tree and not wake up. Still, he allowed himself to be proud of a job well done.
He took a moment to reflect upon how innocent Jughead looked when he wasn't making snarky remarks or devouring absurd amounts of food, before realizing how tired he really was. He got a spare blanket and pillow from the hall closet and flopped down in the oversized chair next to the couch where his friend slept. Today had turned out to be a great day after all.