Always & Forever | Bughead Oneshots

An Unorthodox Cure

based on this au from instagram, but the watermark doesn't match the acc name anymore, so i have NO iDEA what the creator's @ is, i'm sorry!!

Agere

Jughead felt miserable; his head felt hot, his chest-- heavy. His muscles ached and he felt like everytime he took a breath in, it would lead to a coughing fit. He laid on the trailer's couch, where he'd been since 4:23a after waking up with the sick feeling.

It was his intent not to wake Betty, who was fast asleep cuddled in her sheets when he left, but ... since coming out to the living room (if trailers could even have living rooms), he couldn't get back to sleep.

So, he laid uncomfortably--indecisive on whether or not to drape a blanket over his lap--until 8:40a, when fuzzy socks shuffling along the carpet caught his attention. Jughead pulled his hand from his forehead, seeing his blonde with her bunny plushie as she made her way over.

"Now what's my little princess doing out of bed?" he asked with a soft tone, though his under-the-weather-ness made it raspier than usual. "I woke up and Daddy wasn't there!" Betty whined, sitting with her legs crossed on the floor, as it made her feel smaller physically when she regressed.

"Oh, I know, sweetheart; I'm sorry," he sympathized before clearing his throat. "Daddy's not feeling too good right now and I don't wanna get you sick, so I had to come out here, angel." Betty let her bunny sit in her lap as her arms extended and made grabby hands in his direction. 

"Cuddles?" she asked with hopeful eyes. He chuckled and shook his head slightly, saying, "Baby, the whole reason I came out here is so I don't get you sick," he explained as Betty looked at the plush in her lap.

She looked up with pleading eyes, pouting her lip and asking, "Please?" "Honey," he sighed before looking at the space between the coffee table and the couch. "Okay, how about this," he paused, taking the backing cushions from the couch and placing them on the floor.

"Can you do Daddy a favor and get all your favorite blankies from the bed?" he asked, looking up from the ground. Betty sprung up with a smile, her hair shaking as she nodded and early embraced her bunny.

She skipped back into his room with giggles and Jughead smiled, setting up her own little mini-couch on the ground so they could still be close. He planned on turning on a movie once everything was said and done but realized the coffee table would block the blonde's view.

With a sigh, he stood from the couch and went to the left side of the table, moving it away from the couch and settling back into the small bed he made on the sofa. Betty came back with nearly every blanket the Jones boy had, all bundled in her arms with the bunny sitting on top of the pile.

She dropped them all besides the couch and gasped when she saw the coffee table had moved. "Daddy, the table over here now!" she exclaimed in her broken English. "Mhmm," he replied with a smile, entertaining her small headspace. "You know how?"

Betty shook her head and Jughead raised both eyebrows, replying, "Magic." The blonde giggled before being waved over to sit on the cushions next to the couch. Betty cuddled up in the blankets as one of Jughead's hands reached for the remote and the other tucked her in slightly.

"What do you wanna watch?" he asked, looking down at the blonde, who was cuddling her bunny closely. She shrugged her shoulders and Jughead's arms came over his mouth, coughing into his elbow.

Betty, growing worried, looked over at her caregiver with a sad look. "Daddy, What's wrong?" she asked, concerned. "I'm sure it's just a cold, bubs. Nothing you need to worry about," he answered, wishing he didn't feel like he did.

"C'mere," he said, sitting up on his forearm as the blonde sat up in her spot. He kissed the top of her head and she giggled before laying back down. "Now, c'mon, princess, what do you wanna watch?" he asked as the TV turned on.

"I dunno," she replied before looking up at the boy, who was browsing different apps and channels. "I worried about Daddy." "Oh, sweetheart, it's okay," he said softly, his hand reaching down to hold hers. 

"Daddy's gonna be just fine, pumpkin. Promise," Jughead said before Betty was reaching for the remote that sat atop Jughead's sole blanket. He handed it to her with a chuckle, watching her go straight for where she watched The Powerpuff Girls.

Betty didn't watch cartoons much anymore in her little space, usually going for a princess movie, but she couldn't think of anything she wanted to watch, so she settled for the fallback. Jughead smiled as he noticed her pattern facial expressions-- cringing at Buttercup, smiling at Bubbles, and relaxing at Blossom.

With his sudden sickness, Jughead had lost a lot of sleep last night, and before he knew it, was out like a light; the sounds of Betty's giggles and the dramatized sounds of her early-morning show acting as white noise.

"Daddy, I'm hungry," she whined before turning to look at the boy, who was peacefully asleep on his forearm. The blonde's heart fluttered at the sight and she saw his other arm draped off the couch. With a smile, she turned off the TV and laid down on her makeshift bed. 

She kept her bunny under her arm and moved his hand to lay over her shoulder as she closed her eyes, dozing off just as he had done, whether intentional or not. "Goodnight, Daddy," Betty yawned quietly. "I love you."

It wasn't cuddling in the conventional sense, but the small girl could settle for it. 

The two didn't wake up until around noon, when Jughead started to feel a bit better-- he wasn't as hot and he found it easier to breathe before taking some medicine and fixing them both lunch.

By the next morning, the Jones boy's symptoms had all left as if they were never there; and although it sounded strange, he could have sworn that wouldn't be the case if he and his girl had stayed in separate rooms.