Bughead One-shots | Riverdale

Precious

If someone had asked Jughead during high school on his thoughts about being a father, he would have completely sworn off of the idea. After his childhood trauma with his own father, Jughead was scared. He was scared he would end up as a horrible father just like his own dad was. It seemed like the Jones curse, almost. His grandfather had treated his father badly, and his father hadn't treated him well either. Even after his dad was back home and they were getting along, it was still something that scared him. Jughead aimed to be a lot of things when he was older, but a father was not one of them.
But nothing could even compare to the feeling of holding his little girl in his arms for the first time.

Juliet Elizabeth Jones had been born at quarter to eleven in the evening on the tenth of February. And since that moment she had Jughead wrapped around his little finger. He would do anything for his little girl; she had him entranced just as much as Betty did. Maybe even more so, being as small and vulnerable as she was. He had worried all through Betty's pregnancy about being a father, if he would do it right and give his child a good childhood - a much better one than he had went through. But almost a year after Juliet was born, Jughead couldn't wish for a better life. He was happy and proud to be a father.

On a usual day, Betty would be up and out of bed before Jughead was, making breakfast or taking care of Juliet to give him an extra few minutes of sleep in peace. Though on a rare day, Jughead would get up before her and take over on what she would usually do. Guilt often rested in his chest for Betty doing things in the morning, and although she assured him it was fine and she wanted him to sleep more, it still felt wrong to him. They were married and had a baby together, so he really didn't mind letting Betty get some more well needed rest.

His urge to be up and doing things before Betty could lead to him being stood in the kitchen with Juliet balanced on his hip, one arm supporting her body against him as he used his free hand to flip the bacon that was sizzling in the frying pan on the stove in front of him. One thing that he both adored and stressed over was that Juliet was extremely clingy. Of course, it was adorable at first. Jughead loved any time he got with his daughter, and the fact that she wanted to cuddle all of the time was just so precious to him. But when he was trying to do things like cook breakfast or work on his writing, it was harder to do so when having to hold his daughter. He had already tried putting her in her high-chair once before so he could have both hands free, but at the mere sight of his daughter's bottom lip quivering as her big round eyes filled with tears he lifted her up again and rocked her until she was content again.

One thing Jughead liked to do was constantly be entertaining Juliet in some way, even whilst he was holding her. When he had her with him when he was writing he would jog his leg every so often and make her giggle at the movement, when he was sat with her doing nothing of any particular importance he would tell her stories. But when he was trying to juggle cooking and holding her, which happened much more often than you would think, Jughead hummed to her. He couldn't sing well like Betty could (it melted his heart every time he watched his beautiful wife sing their daughter to sleep) but he could hum as good of a tune as anyone else could.

Juliet giggled into the crook of Jughead's neck as he moved around the kitchen, humming the tune of Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams as he moved around. He couldn't have said he was too big of a fan of theirs, but JB's everchanging taste in music ended up in many different records that she had gifted Jughead and Betty for Christmases and birthdays. The most recent album, American Idiot, was one he had actually enjoyed; in comparison to the album before that (a Taylor Swift one that Betty seemed to enjoy quite a lot) it was a lot better in his opinion.

A slightly louder laugh left his daughter as he gently pretended to drop her for a moment, a squeal of giggles filling the kitchen as she clutched onto the collar of his shirt tightly. His own lips curved into a fond smile as he pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head, her raven curls tickling his cheek for that moment.

"Please don't drop our daughter."

Jughead looked up and smiled a little more when he caught sight of his wife shuffling into the kitchen, visibly still half asleep. The upper half of her body was engulfed in one of his softer flannels that she ended up wearing more than him, and besides that the only other thing she was wearing was a pair of white fuzzy socks on her feet. Even though she still looked tired and her hair was a little messy, she was still beautiful to him. There had never been a moment where she wasn't. But she was more beautiful to him simply at knowing that she was his wife and the mother of his child.

Jughead kept supporting Juliet on his hip as he put the spatula down on the counter, holding out his arm for Betty to move into as she shuffled closer to him. Her arms moved around him to hold herself close as she mumbled a muffled "morning" into his shoulder, a kiss pressed to his exposed collarbone once she had spoken.

"Sleep okay?" Jughead smiled softly as he leaned down to drop a kiss to her hairline, watching as she reached up her hand to brush through Juliet's curly hair, the same colour as his own. Although she had his hair, he believed that the rest of her beauty was entirely Betty; from her wide green eyes and her rounder features. It was all her. Only she could make something so beautiful.

"Mhm." Betty hummed and nodded, leaning up on her tiptoes to gently press a kiss to his cheek before she pulled away from him to move across the kitchen to where the kettle was, grabbing two mugs for both herself and Jughead.

"I can do that." Jughead offered as he picked the spatula up again, though Betty just shook her head. Once she was doing something it was hard to get her to stop, being probably more stubborn than he was, though after years of being together Jughead still tried.

"It's fine, love. You have Julie." Betty smiled as she shook her head as she poured out a mug of coffee for Jughead, making herself a cup of tea instead.

"I think it's going to be a struggle to give her to Jellybean later." Jughead chuckled as he pressed a gentle kiss to the side of his daughter's head, who was still gently clutching the collar of his shirt in tiny fists, her head resting into the crook of his neck again.

"What time is she getting here, again?" Betty's voice came from behind him, and before he could protest she had taken the spatula out of his hand and took over on dishing up the bacon and eggs. Deciding to just let her take over he gently touched her lower back and moved past her to grab his coffee instead.

"In about an hour. Gives us enough time to get munchin ready." He lightly poked Juliet in her side and caused her to giggle as she squirmed a little in his grip, though didn't let go.

Jughead took a seat at their kitchen table just as Betty walked over with the plates and sat them down on the surface. Once he was seated he shifted Juliet to be sat in his lap facing the table, smiling softly as Betty placed a small plate of sliced banana in front of her; he'd been so occupied with Juliet he hadn't even seen her cut it.

"Are we still meeting your dad for lunch?" Betty asked as she sat down beside him, smiling fondly as she watched Juliet munch happily on her banana slices. It was something she had always said to Jughead ever since Juliet was born, that she had his appetite.

"Yeah, but I mean we don't have to tell him if you want to wait." Jughead smiled at her softly, reaching a hand out to place it on her thigh, gently squeezing as he moved his free hand to shovel some eggs into his mouth.

"No, I want to. We'll have the scan picture. Plus it'd be nice if he's the first to know." Betty smiled softly and nodded, placing her hand over her husband's as she took a sip of her tea, the cold band of her wedding ring resting over his knuckle.

"At least it'll distract him from his favourite not being there." Jughead chuckled and gestured towards Juliet.

Ever since Juliet was born, she had meant the world to everyone close to their small family, but she was the world to FP. He had been so excited to be a grandfather throughout all of Betty's pregnancy, maybe even more so than Alice was to be a grandmother. Every time FP was with Juliet it was hard to separate the two. It was like they both were each other's favourites.

"It is quite a big distraction." Betty giggled quietly and nodded her head.

Jughead gently moved her hand up from her thigh to her stomach, flattening the material of his flannel against it to reveal the small bump forming there. He lightly ran his thumb along it softly, before leaning over to press a gentle but loving kiss to Betty's lips, warmth pooling inside him when he felt her smile into it.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Juggie."