the town with darkness | bughead

ch. 13 | the cold light of day

Monday dawned bright and cold. Jughead hadn't stayed over at Archie's in years and he definitely wasn't used to the blinding morning light that beamed in through Archie's window. He groaned and rolled over just as Archie walked in with two steaming mugs of hot, black coffee.

"You up Jug?"

"Yeah, guess I am now," Jughead replied, turning to face Archie, his eyes immediately glued to the coffee in Archie's hands. "That coffee?"

"You know it."

"Fantastic," Jughead breathed. He pushed himself up to a seated position with only a few hisses of pain, not missing the concerned look on Archie's face as he placed the mugs on the bedside table and rushed to Jughead's side. "I'm fine, I'm fine," Jughead insisted, although he looked and felt far from it.

"Think you can manage school?" Archie asked.

"Suppose I don't have a choice really, do I?"

"Of course you do, Jug, it's just...Dad's totally fine with you staying indefinitely"-

"What did you tell him?" Jughead interrupted, frowning.

"Just that things weren't good at home, that FP was drinking again, no details," Archie said. "But I don't think he'll be super okay with letting you stay home from school if he doesn't know about...all of...this," Archie finished waving his hand vaguely in the direction of Jughead's bruised and beaten body.

"Gotcha," Jughead nodded. "Well I'm not gonna lie, that walk to school is going to feel like torture."

"Don't even worry about it, Betty's going to drive us, she borrowed her Mom's car."

"Oh thank god," Jughead breathed, relieved beyond belief.

"Want a shower?"

"Definitely," Jughead went to stand up but wavered on his feet. Archie grabbed the arm nearest to him which was unfortunately Jughead's right arm, pulling on his tender, bruised shoulder. Jughead gasped and jerked his arm out of Archie's grip. "Not that arm Arch," he said gently, reaching up with his left hand to softly massage his black and blue shoulder.

"Damn, sorry Jug," Archie said looking genuinely horrified at causing his friend pain. It didn't escape him that Jughead had said the exact same thing to him the previous night. "You right to get to the bathroom?"

"I'll be fine, Arch, really," Jughead promised him, gritting his teeth and standing up, slowly walking over to the bathroom.

The warm water felt wonderful on his skin and Jughead spent more time than he'd planned in the shower, forcing himself to get out, otherwise they'd be late for school. He got dressed, wincing as he pulled an S t-shirt on and then a shirt and jacket on over the top.

He took stock of his injuries as he was dressing - his back was still very sore and tender, the welts were red and angry looking but at least most of the cuts were on the way to healing, as long as he didn't get into anymore fights. His right shoulder was killing him, throbbing constantly with any movement he put it through and his bruised ribs were still making just breathing uncomfortable. He had pretty decent bruise on his cheekbone and a split lip - both of which were from his father. They didn't look too bad - considering what the rest of his body looked like - he could probably just pass them off as a result of roughhousing over the weekend.

"Ready to go?"

Jughead looked up and nodded at Archie. "As I'll ever be," he replied.

Archie texted Betty as they went downstairs, shooting concerned glances Jughead's way as he moved down the steps slowly, his right arm wrapped around his ribs.

"Hey boys, how'd you sleep - Jesus, what happened to your face Jug?" Fred asked, meeting them at the front door.

"He got jumped by a couple of assholes out at the trailer park," Archie supplied.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine in a bit," Jughead replied, keeping things sufficiently vague. "Thanks for letting me stay here Mr Andrews, I really appreciate it."

"Anytime, stay as long as you want," Fred said kindly. "Seriously, it's the least I can do."

"Thanks again."

"Betty's giving us a lift to school so we better get going," Archie said.

"Alright boys, well have a good day, stay out of trouble," Fred called as they were out the front door and down to the street.

"That's the plan!" Archie replied as Betty ran down the front walk of her place.

She ran up to Jughead and grasped his arms, studying his face. "How are you Juggie?"

"I'll be okay, Betty," Jughead replied, giving her a quick kiss on her forehead. She moved to hug him but he pulled back with a bitten back hiss of pain. "Maybe not right now, sorry Betty."

"Oh god, sorry Jughead, I just...I just had to make sure you were alright," she said.

"I will be, I promise."

"I just wish you could say you are alright. Not that you will be."

"I know," he said softly. "Me too." He turned to the car. "We going to school? It's freezing out here."

"Yeah we are," Betty said with a smile. She unlocked the car and opened the front passenger side door for him, noticing the way he bit his lip and flinched as he got in. Archie jumped in the back and they were off.

Jughead knew Betty was driving slower than usual on purpose and for that he was beyond thankful. Whilst he didn't have any broken bones - aside from maybe a cracked rib or two - his body had already suffered too much abuse for anything other than lying in bed to be painful. And, if he was being honest, it was hard to find a position lying in bed that wasn't painful. But Jughead knew he was in a better place. He wasn't at home with his father anymore, FP couldn't just hit him whenever he felt like it, whenever he needed an outlet. He was literally living right next door to the girl of his dreams.

It all came crashing down when he walked into the Blue and Gold's office to see Weatherbee and Sheriff Keller there, seemingly waiting for him. Both of them were studying the murder board he and Betty had set up and the turned to face him, expressions grim. He dropped his bag on the desk and swallowed nervously.

"H-hey," he said, worriedly flicking his gaze from the principal to the sheriff.

"Hey," Sheriff Keller said, studying the bruises on his cheekbone and his split lip. "You wanna tell me what happened to your face?"

"Uh...a couple guys jumped me in the trailer park on the weekend," Jughead said, but he knew he didn't sound overly convincing.

"You're gonna have to come down to the station," Keller said gruffly.

Jughead bit his lip and nodded, his hands already beginning to tremble. "Okay."