Never Quit Loving You

F O U R T E E N

Heyy! So, I'm like half-asleep right now... I don't know how this chapter came out, cause I'm certainly not fit to read it at the moment. I just wanna sleep, haha. Anyway, enjoy (I hope you do, though this could be a disaster, easily).

☆☆☆

The doorbell rang. Wesley looked up from the train he was pushing, toward the door, and then at Jughead, an excited smile on his face. The guy ruffled his son's curly hair and stood up.

"Mommy get it."

Jughead glanced back at the little boy before chuckling. "I can get it, bud, don't worry."

"Can't. Wesley no door."

"And Juggie's not Wesley," the guy said with the kind of soft voice he always talked to him in. The tiny boy's eyes lit up at that and he ran after Jughead, eager to see who had come to visit him this time.

Jughead opened the door, his hand a bit shaky at the fact that he even had the privilege to do that. He didn't live there, he was just helping Betty—who was currently in the shower, but he tried not to think about that—and spending time with his son who he had mostly figured out by now, and eternally loved.

The guy standing on the porch almost made his jaw drop. Slowly taking in his casual clothes, the lack of skin on display, and the absence of oil in his hair, yet a ton of it on his shirt, he could say he was pleasantly surprised. Yet, he just had to roll his eyes with a smirk when the guy flashed him his perfect smile.

"Jughead, my man!" he shouted and brought him into a tight hug.

"Easy there, Reg."

The men chuckled into the embrace and after patting each other's backs a few times, drew back.

"'ncle Veggie!"

Reggie lifted the little boy with ease, a proud grin on his face. "Hey, bud. Haven't seen you in a while, huh?"

Wesley said something that the two men shared a confused look over but nodded at the boy anyway as if they had just understood the words that probably only Betty would've comprehended.

"Jug!" The blonde called from upstairs. "Did you get the door?"

"Yeah! It's Reggie!"

The lack of answer made Jughead momentarily wonder about Betty's state of nakedness, before, thankfully (though cruelly), being saved from the fantasy by Reggie. "So, how are you, man? Betty's told me a little, and I know you wrote a bunch of books, successfully."

The guy grinned at Reggie and nodded, slightly uncomfortable. "Yeah. You ever read them?"

At the blank face he received, Jughead snorted before bursting out in a laugh. "'Course you didn't. I'm fine, really. Great as of right now."

"I'm glad. You deserve it."

Jughead gave him a tiny smile and a nod of thanks before nudging his chin toward him. "And yourself? Getting along with life?"

Reggie shrugged. "Yeah. The business's going great, and got a fair amount of customers as well if you know what I mean."

Jughead blinked at him once and then rolled his eyes with a shake of his head. "You looked like you'd changed, man."

Reggie laughed at that and then planted himself on the ground on Jughead's previous spot, giving Wesley his attention now, the little boy looking back and forth from the two guys. "Play fo'ball."

Jughead glanced out the window at the rainy day and dark clouds and had already opened his mouth when Betty walked into the room. "Sorry, baby. Mommy and Juggie have to go right now."