Flatline ((Jughead Jones)) 3

15

Gryphons and Gargoyles. Serpents and Ghoulies. Riverdale was a veritable jungle of mythological creatures, species jockeying for power and at the dark heart of it all...

Jughead moving woke me up the next day. We were both very much asleep when his mom brought us food. Jughead had a plate of cooked breakfast laid out on the bedside table, alongside orange juice, while I had toast.

Gladys was standing over us, smiling down at her son.
"It's way better than the normal breakfast." Jughead commented, causing me to look at him in shock. Whenever I stayed over here, I made sure to cook breakfast for the boys, and occasionally sort dinner out as well. Even when we were at mine, Jughead still got breakfast. Maybe it was the orange juice that I didn't do. I just expected he would get it himself or ask for a hot drink.

"I think you'll find that Queenie had us sorted, boy." FP said as he entered the room as well. His arm was around the back of his neck, trying to massage the pain away. I turned to Jughead with a triumphant look as he just kissed my nose, continuing with the breakfast while I thanked FP.
"Sleep on it wrong?" Gladys asked FP, whose eyes reflected the lack of sleep he had gotten while using the couch as a bed. He was in his Sheriff's uniform, and his presence alone meant that he hadn't gone into work early as I'd expected.
"There's no right way to sleep on a couch." At just that sentence, my mind thought of all the different ways you could sleep on a couch, going through every single one and seeing if there were ones that weren't painful. Then I realised that the couches I slept on when we would have sleepovers at Thornhill during my youth were lavish pieces of furniture and it was just like sleeping on a bed anyway.

After a small bicker back and forth, JB entered the room, rubbing her eyes as if she hadn't been awake an hour prior, gossiping with her mother.
"I need coffee." I knew that feeling. While FP was commenting on Gladys' parenting style, based on the fact that his young daughter was looking for the coffee, I got up, showing off Jughead's t-shirt that I was wearing, moving to the kitchen to help his sister. I had to admit, she played it very well. I took the coffee jar from the shelf, and put the kettle on, starting the process of making coffee.

As the small party of adults moved to the living room to talk, JB and I joined the group with our mugs of coffee in our hands. The Jones boys didn't have much cutlery, so when I started sleeping around here, I brought my special mug from home. JB held the deep red mug, with the logo of some designer brand on the front, and I saw Gladys' eyebrows raise at it. In my hand, I held a navy mug, with small sailing boats littering the porcelain. Jughead's.

"You need anything," FP pointed to Jughead, knowing that he was leaving him with his mother and sister, "You call me." It was me he pointed at with the instruction, knowing full well that JUghead wasn't about to interrupt his dad's day for anything. Typical Jughead.

I sat in the classroom that the Serpents used to meet in during school hours. At the front, sitting on the 'would be' teacher's desk was me, and in front of me were four Serpents. Rumours of another gang, full of girls, was sweeping around school and I had a hunch this was payback for Jughead cutting out two members. The boys were talking amongst themselves while I was doing some of my own stalking, scrolling through social media for anything I could find on the 'Pretty Poisons'.

"Where the hell is everyone else?" Jughead addressed the group as he entered, I didn't even lift my eyes from the screen as I read through the latest status of an ex serpent girl. 'Hisses to kisses' was the status, and I had a feeling she had jumped ship for a better offer.
"We're down another eight," I told Jughead, "All girls." Jughead asked where they were going and it was Sweet Pea who answered, telling Jug that Toni and Cheryl had started their own gang.
"The Pretty Poisons." Fangs seemed to roll his eyes with his words at the name. I had to give it to the girls, it was a good idea, but the name wasn't anything I wanted to be involved in.

Fangs asked what they had to do. And like a true king, he took all the blame. This was only started because the two girls got banished in the first place, even though it was perfectly reasonable. His view was that he could talk to Toni and then everything go back to the way it was before.