Last December

Chapter 12: Presents

December 24th, 2022, 7:24pm.

Two humans get to know another.
They learn to like anther.
Two humans become one.
Two humans learn to love another.
They learn to loose.

"Zwei Menschen" (Two humans)
by Provinz (German indie pop band)

Today, the dinner was the biggest one yet. All six of them had gathered in the kitchen to prepare it, ended up burning half of it and then just ordered take out on top of the self made dinner that was still digestible.

Jughead sat next to Archie at the table, silently eating his mashed potatoes with sausages while Archie had his noodle pot.

When they all had finished, they cleaned up the dishes before getting out some games to play. Veronica had started to get a red wine out, handing Betty, Fangs and herself a glass. Sweat Pea had gotten up to fetch Archie and himself a beer while Jughead made himself a tea. After that, another few hours of games followed.

While playing a good old round of Monopoly, Archie's hand kept on going to rest on Jughead's thigh under the table, stroking it softly. With Sweat Pea, Fangs and Veronica sitting on the other side of the table and Betty on Veronica's lap, the two doubted that anyone would see that though.

It was such a sweet and innocent gesture too, Archie was really surprised when Jughead grabbed his hand after his turn and pulled it further up his thigh. Archie turned to eye him, though didn't show any other reaction and just continued this innocent gesture as they continued playing the board game as if nothing was happening right now.

In the end, was anything happening?

Eventually, Jughead leaned over to whisper in Archie's ear.

"Want to get out of here?"

"What?" Archie asked, leaning over to him as well, so the others wouldn't hear what they were saying. Jughead suddenly stood up, pushing back the chair.

"I can't believe you just said that!" He yelled before shaking his head and storming off. Archie froze, blinking as he looked after him.

"What did you tell him?" Sweat Pea asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Noth- I'm just... gonna go after him" Archie hesitantly got up and followed Jughead out of the room. He barely got outside the kitchen before Jughead pushed him against the door, cupping his face and kissing him.

"What's gotten into you?" Archie whispered between whispers.

"Need you, now" Was all that Jughead got out, starting to kiss his neck and grinding his hips against Archie's body. His fingers were already at the hem of Archie's sweater, ready to pull it off, when he got stopped.

"Everyone else is literally on the other side of that door" He whispered and Jughead paused, face turning red at the realisation. He nodded quickly, taking Archie's hand to take him to the bathroom.

Since when had he become this careless? Veronica and Betty, who would make fun of him all the time about his romantic life and would never let him live up to this, were right next to him, could walk out any moment. And Fangs and Sweat Pea were there too, who could hear them if they were just a bit too loud — even just one noise could be enough for them to walk out too.