Description: When Jughead Jones can't sleep and ends up furthering his investigation on the murder of Jason Blossom, he ends up having an unexpected night with an acquaintance.
Warnings: None I can think of
Word count: 1061
Lying in bed he looks at the clock on the small improvised bedside table. 1.17 am. He turns his eyes to the ceiling again. He's used to sleepless nights, but this in unlike any other. Too many questions left unanswered. Knowing he wouldn't be able to fall asleep, he decides to try and answer them.
He gets up with his destination settled: Sweet Water River. "There's gotta be something they missed", he thinks as his feet guide him automatically through the streets, letting his mind wander free, thinking up every scenario, every suspect.
He reaches the edge of the river, where Jason Blossom's body was found, getting down to his knee in order to get a closer look. He realizes the idea to look for clues in the dead of night may not have been the smartest one. His hand travels to his back pocket and draws his phone out to turn the flashlight on, hoping it would shed some light into the situation.
"You're not gonna find anything." He strangles a frightened scream and turns the light to whoever also had the brilliant idea to come to a murder scene in the middle of the night. "Y/N! What the hell? You almost scared me to death." He says panting and lowering the light from her face as he relievedly recognizes the girl in front of him. She puts her hands over her eyes and squints them shut, trying to block the light. "Sorry, Jughead. Should've removed my invisibility cloak before you walked right past me." she replied ironically. "We don't need another body in the morgue." He's not surprised by her wittiness.
Despite living in the same small town and attending the same pathetic school, they don't talk much, but he usually notices her quick responses every time Reggie is an ass. "What are you doing here?", he asks impulsively, not realizing she could have asked him that as well. "I'm not morbid or anything", she says defensively, crossing her arms. "I come here whenever I can't sleep. The river is soothing." He chuckles. "Yeah, there's something serene about the waters in which a teenager was found shot."
He realizes he made her uncomfortable. He's not sure if it's because he offended her or if she's sad about Jason. "Aren't you gonna ask me why I'm here?", he tries to minimize the damage. For some reason, he doesn't like the effect his words had on her.
She looks at him dead in the eye and walks closer. "I know why you're here: you're sleuthing. For your novel." She goes towards the very spot where Jason's body lied lifeless not too long before."How do you know?" He's perplexed. He hasn't told anyone. "I see you at Pop's." A deep silence follows.
"She sees me? Why would she?" "You won't find anything here", she says, snapping Jughead back to the topic. "Why not?", he asks suspiciously. "He wasn't killed here.", she remarks, making him believe even more that she could be involved in the crime. "What makes you so sur...", she cuts him off, vomiting the words. "His body was preserved. Week-old wounds looked fresh. It was dropped here."
Now he's having mixed thoughts."How could this girl hurt anyone, after all? But then again, how can she know so much?" Jughead suggests they head to Pop's, the only safe place to further discuss her theory at that time, way better than remaining in a crime scene knowing a killer is on the loose. She agrees kinda reluctantly.
After placing their order, they seat on the far corner booth, Jughead's usual. "Why should I trust the autopsy of a 16-year-old?", he shoots, making her express her contempt with a grimace. "Dammit! Why do I care if I'm rude at her? She may be a killer!" Y/N can see doubt in his eyes, mainly because she also has her own. "Why should I trust the detecting skills of a 15-year-old?" She shoots back. "Fair enough." "How does she know things about me? I'm the one who should have intel!"
Their chocolate milkshake and fries arrive with a smile from Pop. It's not the first time they are both in the diner at that hour, but they had never shared a meal before. Jughead is angry at himself for all the times he should've noticed her noticing him but he was too focused on his laptop to even look up.
"The real question is not where he died, but why." He doesn't make a sound, knowing she's right and rather annoyed he didn't come up with that. "Why then?" He's expecting she'll know the answer or maybe somehow confess. "I don't know. That's why you're here too, isn't it?" He starts to believe her innocence.
"You're suggesting we work together?" He gives her a smart look, because either way he's doing the right thing - if she's not involved, they can hang out; if she is, keep your enemies closer, right? "Yeah, maybe it's for the best. We'll get answers faster." Jughead would really love to be 100% sure she had nothing to do with the murder, but he barely reached a third of the way. "How do I know you didn't do it and you're just trying to lead me the other way?" She takes the last sip of her milkshake. "You don't." Y/N looks at the clock, getting up from the booth. "I should go." He doesn't want her to. Until she said she was leaving, he hadn't noticed how good it felt not being alone. "I'll walk you." He's desperately trying to keep her company for just a little longer. She refuses, but he uses the "There's a killer on the loose" card to make her change her mind.
After he drops her off at her doorstep, he goes back to the Drive-In, his thoughts wandering free once again, this time not about Jason Blossom, but about Y/N Y/L/N, clueless about the reason why he can't think of anything else but her. Before falling asleep, his lips formed a smile knowing he'd see her again the next day.
