Bughead: AU

12

Betty's POV:

Jughead showed up a couple of minutes later. When he arrived it started drizzling a bit. We both knew that it wouldn't last long so we weren't worried.

"Want to follow me, Betty?" He asked me.

I nodded and put my helmet back on. When he started up his car again I started up my motorcycle and he lead me to where he lives.

As soon as we got into his house it started pouring rain. Clearly, we had been wrong earlier.

"Betty, thank you for being here for me. I don't want to be alone right now." He said.

"Anything for you Jughead. By the way, nice place you got here." I replied.

"Thanks. It's just me living here now. My mom died when I was little so it was just me and my dad for a while. But since he's gone now..." He said.

I could see fresh tears forming in his eyes so I just pulled him in for a hug and let him cry on me.

I don't know how long we stood there but then he pulled away.

"Thanks, Betty. You don't deserve me unloading on you like this." He said.

"Hey. I want to be here for you. It's okay. I promise." I told him.

"Thank you." He said.

"Stop saying that," I said teasingly.

"Sorry." He apologized.

"No need to apologize Jughead," I said.

"Anyway, I was thinking that maybe we could start calling each other by nicknames. I could call you Betts, or Juliet or something." He told me.

"Oh, you think so?" I asked.

"Well sure. I love you, Betty." He told me.

"Well, I love you too Jughead. But we wouldn't use these nicknames in public right? Secret relationship remember?" I told him.

"Of course." He said.

"Well, then it's okay," I said.

"As long as I can call you Juggie if you call me Juliet and Betts," I explained

"You got a deal, Betts." He said.

We shook hands on it.

"What was your dad like Juggie?" I asked him.

"He was great. He would've loved you. He never believed that the Serpents were as bad as everyone said. I actually have some pictures of him if you want to see them." He told me.

"Only if you're okay with that Jug," I said.

He went upstairs and grabbed a big box of pictures. They must have had a lot of pictures from over the years.

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"You see this one? This is from when he married my mom. Before I was born. This is also before my mom found out that she had stage 4 breast cancer. I was 5 when she died." He said.

"Oh, Jug I'm so sorry," I said.

"Thanks. Oh, look at this one. This is from my 9th birthday. That's my dad right behind me. Oh, you see that redhead on my left? That's my best friend Archie. We've been friends since we were 8 years old." He laughed.

"How cute." I said.

"Wait a minute. Your dad looks familiar to me in this one. In this picture, he's facing away from you. He must be talking to someone. Look at the back of his jacket. It looks just like mine. It has the Southside Serpents on the back." I noticed.

"That's not possible. He always told me he grew up on the Northside. That he was a golden boy in high school. This can't be possible. There's no way he would have been a Serpent." He said. I could see that he was perplexed by the situation.

"Is there anything in this house that belonged to your dad? Something that might be able to connect him to the Southside? Anything?" I asked.

"I can look in his closet. I was never allowed to go into his closet growing up. Do you think this could be why?" He asked.

"Maybe. It's possible." I told him.

"I'll be right back." He said. He kissed me on the forehead and ran back upstairs.

A few minutes later he came back down slowly. Leather jacket in hand.

"I guess my dad really was a Serpent. Why didn't he ever tell me?" Jughead wondered.

"Maybe he wanted to protect you. It can be dangerous being a Serpent. Believe me. I know. Not only with all the attacks in the media. The Northsiders usually hate us and blame us for crimes we never committed." I told him.

"Do you think... Maybe you could tell me what growing up on the Southside is like? What being a Serpent is like? What do you guys do? I never really knew growing up. But somehow I knew you guys weren't as bad as the Northsiders say you are." He said.

"Why not?" I asked.

That's when I started telling him all about the Southside. I didn't leave out a single detail.