Bughead Oneshots

Come Back...Be Here

Jughead sighed as he sat down in his seat at the terminal, setting his chin in his hands. He wasn't the only one going home. There were at least two dozen of them finally going home. All of them had been there for different amounts of time — some nine months, some twelve (like himself) other six.

Reggie sat down beside him and he clenched his jaw. "You're going home right? After they kept you for months," he chuckled and Jughead forced one of his own. He wasn't interested in talking or comparing how long they've been deployed and who was going to have more sex or drink more beer.

He couldn't get his mind off of finally getting to see Betty again. While deployed, he only got access to wifi a few times a month. And when he did, he and Betty took full advantage of it. They would talk for hours, even if everything they had to say was boring.

She always left him with a handful of pictures, too. There were some he could flaunt, some for himself. Over the course of the year, she had changed. The details were minor and normally he wouldn't notice, but anytime he got to actually see her, he hyper-analyzed everything about her in an attempt to correct her vivid image in his head.

He hadn't notice Reggie hadn't said anything more to him after the few words they had exchanged. He had turned to the other guy sitting next to them and they were discussing the first things they were doing as soon as they landed.

Jughead didn't land until late the next night. When he got home, he wasn't doing much of anything besides a shower and sleep.

Most of the other guys he was deployed with were single. They talked about how they were going to go home and go to the bars and get laid for the first time in months. There were a few others who were married with kids and they were ecstatic about getting to see their families again. Then you had the guys who thought they were committed until the very end who were going home because of a dishonorable or honorable discharge.

Within minutes they were all boarding the plane and moving into their seats. He got one by the window and felt cramped, but not terribly so. He could deal with this amount of room for a few hours.

Jughead picked up his phone, tapping on an album in his camera roll. He tapped on the first video with a small, soft smile.

Betty smiled into the camera, adjusting it up so her face was in better light. "Okay," she started, giggling. "I'm doing this because it's been forever since I've one: seen the house and two: since I've seen you so I am deciding to document my trip. Well, at the end, I won't see you because you're not coming home and probably won't be for a while. But eventually you will be coming home and I will see you and all that fancy stuff." She waved her hand, cutting herself off. "I'm overthinking," she chuckled.

She got inside her car and sighed, turning the camera over her shoulder a little. She laughed when Tramp stuck his nose into frame, sniffing the camera. "He says hi," she grinned, angling the camera back to catch Lady. "She does too but you know how she is."

When they had decided to get dogs, Betty had told him how she had always wanted the dogs from The Lady and The Tramp and how she wanted to name them just that. It was her favorite Disney movie without any explanation besides the dogs alone. So they made it their goal to get both of the dogs. It wasn't easy, but they eventually got Lady and found a dog that was similar to Tramp.

"I have to drive now and videoing and driving at the same time is not safe so goodbye for now. I love you," she whispered, blowing him a kiss.

The video ended and Jughead swiped to the next video quickly and pressed play.

Betty propped her phone up on the air conditioner before cringing. She moved it to the TV stand and smiled. "I'm back," she breathed with a smile.