FREAKS - jughead jones imagines

001. stay with me

pairing: Jughead x Y/n Andrews

( Y/n's pov )

Being neighbors with your best friend, has it's perks. Like being able to sleep over and not have to worry about having your parents pick you up. Like last night, when I slept over Betty Cooper- my best neighbor-friend's house. Now it wasn't even 11 am and we were already listening to music and conversating up in her room. The two of us had been friends since elementary school, and were somehow still close as ever.

"So Y/n..." Betty trailed off, turning down the music and giving me a slightly excited grin. I rolled my eyes, having a slight idea where this was going. It happened every year, she'd try to convince me to go to our school's dance, or prom, or whatever kind of social event they were having. I never enjoyed myself at those type of things, so I preferred not to go and waste money on some fancy outfit, just for a night out that I didn't want to go to.

"Homecoming is in a few weeks... So are you-" She was cut off by the aggravating ringing of my phone, since I couldn't figure out how to change the ringtone, I was stuck with it. "Hold on, it's Archie" I whispered as I picked up the phone.

"What do you want?" I asked, giving him my usual sibling attitude. However I wasn't met with Archie's usual snarky tone. Instead, I was met with someone who wasn't even Archie. "Y/n, it's Veronica." I went blank for a second, the shaking of her voice catching me off guard.

"Is Archie alright?" I asked in a slightly panicked tone, my mind immediately going to worse-case scenarios of things that might have happened to my brother. I hardly spoke to Veronica as it was, so I doubted she'd call me from Archie's phone to chit-chat.

"It's not that, something else happened. Y/n, can you get down to the hospital? It's an emergency" I couldn't even bring myself to answer, instead I ended the call, feeling a singular tear run down my cheek. I wiped it away before Betty could see, not wanting to send her into an equal amount of panic. "Can you drive me to the hospital?"

As soon as the car was safely parked in front of the large, town hospital, I bolted to the door, not able to contain myself anymore. I walked to the front desk, prepared to ask the nurse if she'd seen my brother. But there was no need. Instead, I found him sitting in the waiting room, his letterman jacket covered in blood, with Veronica rubbing his back as he ran his hands through his hair, clearly distraught.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked loudly, trying to cover the fear in my voice as I spoke. His head shot up as our eyes met, which sent a shiver down my spine. Whatever happened was bad, and I honestly didn't want an answer to my previous question.

Archie looked to the ground and began to speak, trying his best not to stumble over his words "Dad, he asked me to meet him for breakfast early this morning and after we ordered, I went to wash my hands-" He began, speaking far to slowly for my liking

"Archie! What. Happened." I repeated myself, feeling instantly bad for snapping at him. I didn't mean to, but everyone responds to conflict differently. Personally, I tend to get irritable and angry.

"I came back and there was a guy, in a black hooded ski mask, with a gun pointed at Pop Tate. Dad- He told me not to come out, not to draw attention to myself. He sacrificed himself for me, he got shot, for me." There was no appropriate response to that. It felt as if I went completely deaf in that moment, for anything said to me, I didn't hear. There was one thing I wanted, one thing that could make me feel better in a time like this.

"Did anyone call Jug? Does he know yet?" I asked, blinking away the tears forming in my eyes, not wanting anyone to actually see me cry. "I called him. He's on his way" Veronica said, looking at me sympathetically, although I refused to meet her eyes.

Betty sat with me as we waited, her arm not leaving my shoulders until she saw who had just walked in. "Y/n," She whispered to me, motioning to the boy walking through the door. I watched as he gave Archie the biggest hug I've ever seen Archie let anyone give him. Betty walked me over to him as he released his grip on my brother and gave me the same treatment- wrapping his long arms around my torso and holding on tight.

I don't know how long we stayed like that. But I didn't mind. I wanted to say something, anything, to let him know that I was hurting. I felt heartless- I wasn't even crying, even though my own father, whom I love more than anyone, might potentially die. It was almost as if Jughead could read minds, as he whispered "Hey- It's alright. I'm here." Against my head, his breath heating up my scalp.

He then brought me over to an unoccupied chair and sat me down, taking the chair next to mine. He wrapped his arms around me once again, speaking no words, but holding me in his arms. All I could do in that moment was lay my head on his shoulder, and hope for the best

Hours went by, without a word on how he was doing. I was growing inpatient, though there was nothing any of us could do to help. A hand reached over and stopped the anxious bouncing of my leg. I looked up to meet Jug's eyes, and all I saw was sadness and sympathy, which made me feel worse considering I knew I didn't look the same. "How are you doing?" He asked quietly, his thumb rubbing circles on my knee. 

"My dad got shot, how do you think I'm doing?" I snapped, instantly regretting it when I saw how taken aback he was. I knew he was just trying to help, which made it that much worse. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you. It's not your fault." 

The clicking of Veronica's heels approached us as she began speaking, "Y/n, he just got out of surgery. He's ok. But we can't see him until tomorrow, so I figured we could all go home and get some rest." I looked to Archie, who nodded, backing up her offer.

"I think I'll stay for a while." I said to the group. I didn't mind if nobody else wanted to stay. I couldn't leave. Not now. "Y/n, there's nothing more we can do-" Archie said, trying to get me to go with him.

"I still wanna stay." He nodded, accepting that he couldn't change my mind. I turned to Jug who was still sitting silently next to me. "Will you stay with me?" I asked, as I could see everyone packing up their things and getting ready to leave.

"Always" He smiled, kissing the top of my head and pulling me back into his arms. I closed my eyes, for the first time that day, finally feeling okay again.