the town with darkness | bughead

ch. 10 | blood on her hands

Jughead spent the first few hours of that Saturday thinking. Wondering where he could go. He always knew he wouldn't be able to stay with Betty longterm - her parents would never allow it, not after Jason and Polly. There was no more Twilight Drive-In and it wasn't like he could actually sleep at Pop's. He knew of a few hidden places where he could set up camp at the high school but that idea just made him feel depressed.

The only reasonable place he could think of was Archie's. Things had been tense between them since the summer and the revelation of Archie's relationship with Ms Grundy. But they were getting better, they were patching things up. It could be an option.

He'd taken a shower at Betty's and she'd told him to stay in there for as long as he wanted and it was heaven. The warm water had initially stung the welts on his back but before long he'd desensitised to it and it felt lovely. His skin felt hot and tight afterwards but it subsided with a fresh shirt and a few hours lying face down on Betty's bed with her next to him stroking his hair absentmindedly while he dozed and she researched the same things her Mom was researching down at the Register's office. Last night had been so tumultuous, painful and just down right tiring that he slept peacefully for a good few hours on her bed before she woke him for lunch.

The two of them worked on research and eliminating suspects for the rest of the day then turned in early. Alice insisted that if he was going to sleep over it was going to be on a spare mattress on the floor. Betty protested but Jughead relented. He had a roof over his head and food in his belly. He wasn't going to complain in the slightest about anything right now.

Before they turned out the light, Betty sat down on the mattress with him to check on his back. Jughead was torn. While he knew there were risks with just ignoring the welts and hoping they'd heal on their own he also didn't want to expose Betty to his suffering quite so often. She had such a pure, giving heart. She gave so much and Jughead didn't want her giving up everything for him. But he gave in, pulling off his shirt so she could look.

"God Jughead, it looks worse," Betty said sadly. "If that's even possible."

She lightly touched one of the more prominent welts where the belt had broken the skin and a line of dark purple bruising was etched into his back. He flinched away from her touch.

"Sorry," he said quietly. "It always looks worse before it gets better. The bruising comes out in all kinds of delightful shades."

He turned around to face her. Betty looked miserable. "Please don't be sad," he said, cupping her face in his hands. "I'm okay. I'm going to be fine."

Betty just nodded and kissed him before turning off the overhead light.

The next morning they slept in again then breakfasted before chilling out in Betty's room again - something Jughead assumed he was supposed to be doing on the reg instead of getting beaten up by bikers or his father. He'd decided to ask Archie if he could stay at his place temporarily and mentioned it to Betty.

"I think that's a great idea," she said. "In fact, I thought maybe we could have dinner next door. I already texted Arch."

"Uh, sure," Jughead said. He was hoping to just turn up and pray that Archie would just let him stay. This dinner would mean Archie might ask questions.

"That's alright?"

"Yeah, it's fine, thank you," Jughead replied, not wanting to bite the hand that was currently feeding him.

At 6pm, he grabbed his back pack and made it swing it onto his shoulder but Betty clutched his arm.

"Let me take it, you might reopen some of those cuts," she said.