Nameless ≫ Jarchie

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Jughead decided that he would never get drunk again. He also decided that it was terribly cliche of him to assume that, when in reality most people made the same mistake of getting drunk again after claiming not to ever again.

He woke up with a loud groan, stretching his arms out wildly and touching something soft.

"Can you get your hand out of my face please?" Archie groaned back, pushing the appendage away and tossing around in the bed. It was a struggle to get the boy into bed last night.

"I feel like shit," Jughead said blankly as he opened his eyes and squinted at the light coming in from the window.

"That's what happens when you get shitfaced. It's all in the name," Archie yawned.

"So what did I do this time? I could not have been as bad as I was in California," the boy mumbled as he sat up in bed. His head was pounding and he couldn't even see straight.

"Oh, I think this tops California."

"There is no way that is even possible," he snorted.

"You called your birth father, gave the phone to me, he guessed who I was, and then started crying. I think that is worse," Archie rolled his eyes as he sat up as well.

Jughead snapped his head up at that, probably too fast for his own good due to the dizziness that followed. "Are you joking?"

"Why would I joke about something like that?" Archie frowned, glancing at his boyfriend with the same guilt he felt last night.

"What did you do? What did you say? What did he say after that? Did he ask any questions?" Jughead began sprouting questions off frantically.

"He didn't say anything, Jughead. He cried and apologized for crying, then said goodnight."

"Wow," the boy frowned, turning away from Archie and staring straight ahead instead. He wasn't sure what he was expecting.

Since the first letter he sent, he'd sent two more. FP was fun to talk to. They had a system where Jughead would ask as many questions as he could and FP would answer as many questions as he could. He didn't like to talk about himself. He'd much rather hear about the adventures Jelly Bean and him used to go on or how his mom was doing. He always avoided answering questions about himself, and he especially avoided the topic of taking their relationship a step forwards whenever it was brought up. He kept telling himself he couldn't handle it. It would hurt too much, he reasoned, it would complicate things. He didn't want to complicate things. The past was the past and he was done wallowing in it.

But he had been wondering what FP's voice sounded like.

He'd also been wondering about what he looked like.

He was so curious that it destroyed him, but so afraid that he couldn't allow himself to take things further. He felt guilty for wanting to explore his past again. It seemed like things had gotten so much better when he neglected it.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I am fine," Jughead said blankly, lowering his eyes to his lap. This is exactly why he didn't want to complicate things, because it made grown men cry and teenagers feel guilty.

"You're not fine. If you really feel guilty for calling him you can always apologize," Archie suggested.

"Apologize for calling him by calling him?" Jughead snorted.

"Why not? You say you're not ready but I think those are excuses. I think you're just afraid. And it's perfectly fine to be afraid, don't get me wrong, but I think there's a difference between being afraid of something and being against something."