Weirdo - Jughead Jones

18: Small World

The bad dream didn't return that night. It was as if his closeness kept it away.

I awoke to see a wall. Sunlight was shining on it and I could see the bundle that was my shadow. Our shadows. I felt something and looked down to see two arms hooked around me tightly, and my arm was laid on the one that was resting around my waist. Our legs were tangled under the blanket.

The position we were in made my heart pound. My stomach made multiple flips. I don't think we fell asleep like this....

I felt Jughead stir behind me and his arms tightened their hold a little. My neck tingled when his breath huffed against it. I had never felt as safe as I did in that moment.

I was careful not to slip out of his arms as I turned to face him in the small space of his cot.

His eyes slowly opened and his lips tugged into a smile. "Hi," he said.

"Hi." I giggled. It was followed by a gasp as I looked him over.

His eyebrows crease in curiosity. "What?" He laughs.

"You have hair." I grinned at him. I reached up and ran my hand through it, smiling at the raven-colored mess.

"I do have hair," he said. "It's common among most beings."

"No," I laughed. "I mean you have more hair than the little tuft that sticks out of your hat."

"Oh. Well, yeah." Jughead smirks at my mocked astonishment. He looked up at my hand in his hair and scrunched up his nose.

I laughed and lowered my hand, resting it in between us. He kept one arm around me but pulled the other away so that he could hold my hand. "I'm sorry I got so emotional," I told him after a while.

"Don't be sorry," Jug replied. "I'm glad that you could trust me when you needed to get it off your chest." He tightened his arm and held me closer. "Is this... too soon?" He asked after a moment.

"Is what too soon?" He looked down at our hands, and then at his arm around me. "Oh," I said. We'd slept in the same bed, tangled up in each other on the third night of being together. We hadn't done anything sexual, but we were closer than we'd been so far. "Maybe some people would think it's soon. But I don't."

Jughead returned his gaze to me. "Okay. Good." He leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine. When the kiss was over I smiled and snuggled closer, closing my eyes.

*    *    *    *

"Where will you go? If you can't stay here." I asked.

Jughead was walking around the room and packing a few things into a backpack while I perched on the stool by the projector. Andrews Construction was scheduled to tear the place to the ground, unknowingly forcing Jug to move out. After zipping up the bag he set it down by the door and walked to me. "I'm not sure," he sighed, looking around at his small home. His eyes rested on my worried expression and he smiled. "But don't worry." He stepped closer and rested his hands on my legs. "I'll figure it out today."

"I wish I could have you stay at my house, but my mom...."

He raised a hand to my face and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "I know. It's okay. I wish I had a house where you could stay with me. I'm worried about you going back there."

"I'll be okay," I said, though I wasn't completely sure. "She said something a few nights ago...." I remembered. "About your dad being a Serpent?"

His expression became unreadable as his hand lowered to my shoulder. "Yeah, he is. Is that... is that a problem?"

"No," I said quickly. I held the side of his face in my hand. "Of course not. But it is to her. She said she didn't want me around you."

Jughead smirked. "Looks like you've been doing a great job."

I blushed when his hand that was still on my leg squeezed a little. "Jug, she said my dad was a Serpent, too."

He looked at me, silent as he processed this. "Parker," he almost whispered. "Wait. Is your dad James Parker?"

"Yeah. Did you know him?"

"He was practically my uncle," Jughead said. "He and my dad were really close."

I raised my eyebrows and chuckled in surprise. "Wow."

"Indeed." He nodded. "Okay. I need to do one more thing."

Jughead Jones wuz here

I watched as he spray painted a crown onto the outside of the projection booth, next to the words. He tossed the can of spray paint aside when he finished. The small action made him look pretty hot, and I tried to hold back.

Suddenly we heard a rumbling in the background. The sound of a group of motorcycles outside. Jughead looked up. "That's my dad." He frowned and sighed. He then looked at my nervous expression and gave a soft smile. "Meeting my dad. That's a step forward."

I nodded. "Can... can we ask him about....?"

"Of course," Jug said. He squeezed my shoulder. Then he closed the space between us and kissed me quickly.

When we turned away from the booth I saw a group of people in Serpent jackets a few yards away, perched on their bikes. One of them was walking toward us, and I assumed he was Jughead's dad. I stood by him as the Serpent approached. As he got closer he started to look familiar.

"Hey, Jug," he said when he reached us. "Miss." He nodded when he saw me standing next to his son. His eyes lingered; it seemed that he almost recognized me as well.

"Dad, this is Maddie," Jughead spoke up. He was tense before his father, his expression blank.

"Hold on, now." Jughead's dad looked at me again. "Parker?"

I nodded. I looked him over, trying to put a name to him. Then it all came back like a hit upside the head. "Un-Uncle FP?"

"It's good to see you, kid." He chuckled and pulled me in for a hug.

"You know each other?" Jughead asked.

I pulled away from FP and grinned. "He's my godfather."

"You met my boy," FP said. "Godson to James."

Jughead and I shared an incredulous look. We had been so close without even knowing each other.

"I heard what happened," my godfather continued. "You're father's a great man. He's our family. Our blood. That's why we're going to do whatever it takes to get him back." He met my eyes in assurance. "And in the meantime we're going to help you and your mom in any way we can."

"Thank you." I nodded. I didn't know what else to say.

"Dad," Jughead asked. "Do you know anything about his disappearance? Anything that would help?"

"No," FP replied. "No, I don't." He looked away and then back to me. "I'm sorry. All I know is that your dad stopped showing up at the Wyrm three months ago."

"The what?"

"The Whyte Wyrm," Jughead explained. "It's a biker joint where the Serpents like to hang out."

"Jay started working there once he moved back." FP nodded. "Hasn't shown up since summer."

It was then that I saw something flash in his eyes. They faltered for just a second. I thought about Jughead's hostility towards him. I could trust my godfather; that I knew. But was he hiding something?