Last December

Chapter 17: Birthday surprises

October 2nd, 2024, 9:27pm.

Underneath the mistletoe,
I saw the face,
saw the glow last year.
This time
and now I'm stayin' home alone
and my house is not a home
without that man of mine.

"Christmas just ain't Christmas without you"
by Idina Menzel.

Archie had send him a message that morning.

Archie: Good morning to my birthday-boy!!!
Archie: *attachment*
Archie: I know that I can't see you eat that piece of cake (and I know that it looks really shitty but I tried my best) but I baked it anyways
Archie: Do you have time for a video call tonight?
Archie: I know that you got this cooperation thing right now but a ten minute frame must be there, right?
Archie: Or just two minutes. Two would work too
Archie: I just want to see you, that's all

It wasn't a first time that Archie had spammed him with a lot of messages. Jughead tried to answer them as quickly as he could but sometimes, when his day was packed with one thing after the other, Archie only got an answer once it was already dark. With the different time zones, it was working quite good though. Like today, when Jughead crashed in his bed at the motel at 9pm, it was barely 12 in California, a perfectly reasonable hour for a FaceTime call.

Jughead: Gonna go shower now. Call me in twenty?

Archie send a thumbs up right away.

Jughead couldn't help the small smile as he went to take a long shower. With the dirt and rain scrubbed off his body, he got out and pulled on his pajamas. He made himself a bowl of instant noodles before getting comfortable on the bed, under the covers. He got his laptop and went to text Archie that they could call now.

Within the next minute, Archie's face appeared on the screen. He smiled upon seeing Jughead, who covered his face because he was chewing on some of the noodles.

"Juggy"

"Hey"

"Had a busy day then?" He hummed, putting down his hand "Even on your birthday? What did you do?"

"Oh... uh... I went up that mountain with the team. It was raining so much that we slipped on the mud a lot, so I was really dirty" Jughead chuckled "and it was exhausting. I'm just glad to be in bed right now and to see you"

Oh, yes, things have changed. After New Years, Archie suddenly started texting Jughead — and for some reason Jughead started to text him back. Perhaps they had just taken the wrong start, perhaps they were too quick and probably skipped some steps of a relationship. They decided to stay with texting, back in January.

Come February, Jughead found himself in front of Archie's door, with a bouquet of flowers. He was back for the weekend, just before the next adventure awaited him, and he spend the total time with Archie. They still took things slow though, getting to know themselves before taking the next few steps. However, whenever Jughead was back home, the two spend at least half the time together, depending on how long they had.

"You still there?" Archie whispered. Jughead hummed, eyes fluttering open again.

"Mhm? Yeah, I'm still here, just tired" Jughead put the empty noodle cup on his nightstand before he curled up in the blanket. He rolled on his side, pushing the laptop a bit further away.

"Did you really bake the cake yourself?"

"Of course. I know that it's not much and it's really ugly but I really tried-" Jughead smiled softly.