A Snake In Cop's Clothing | Riverdale AU

i.

The buzz of the coffee machine lit up the dim office kitchen, the green light blinking on the powerpoint cutting through the early morning darkness. A mop of dark hair plopped in front of the man's dark eyes, shadowed by the lack of sleep at this god forsaken job. The bitter scent of instant coffee greeted his nostrils as he opened a fresh packet of the foul powder. He would have much prefered to go down to the coffee shop a few blocks away but he knew he wouldn't have the time. He had at least 6 cases to file that day, none of them belonged to him, but in this precinct no one gave a shit who did who's work. Tucking a strand of unruly hair behind his ear, he stepped out of the small kitchen to flick a switch on the wall. Bright ceiling lights sputtered into existence making Jughead blink incessantly. He walked slowly over to his desk, as usual he was the only officer in the building at this time, of course he wasn't the only person there. Actually- he might well be, the cleaning staff usually cleared out about 3, which was when Jughead usually arrived.

He leaned back in his desk chair, the back creaking slightly. The whirr and them click of the machine sounded from the small kitchen room. Getting back up slowly, Jughead walked back over to the machine to fill himself a cup of boiling coffee.

He looked up from the machine when he heard footsteps echoing from the corridor leading to the office.

His eyes looked up, catching a glimpse of pointy toed black boots, and a ring of keys swinging merrily from a studded belt. His goofy smile heralded the arrival of Toni Topaz, Jughead's long time friend and business partner. Her father was the chief at the precinct, even though they didn't really have too much contact with him.

Toni reached her arms behind her head, pulling her hair into a loose bun, a few stray strands of radically coloured hair falling into her face. She blew them nonchalantly out of her face and sauntered over to lean on jughead's desk. "Geez Jug, how many files are you working on here?" she lifted the hefty stack with her arm, letting the files flop back onto the desk, raising a cloud of dust. "Who are these even for?"

"Mostly Fangs," Jughead admits. The officer had been at home recuperating from a particularly nasty clash with a couple of delinquents. They had shot him just outside one of jughead's favourite coffee shops, the barista who'd rushed out had regrettably not been fast enough to stop the attack, not that he really could have done anything. Toni sighed, she couldn't really argue against jughead on that one.

"Shouldn't Sweetpea be doing that? He is his partner." Jughead shrugged, Sweetpea was often out on field jobs and didn't often have the time to do paperwork. Plus, Jughead didn't mind too much about the extra files.

The office door opened again for the second time that morning. The tall figure who entered wore a simple blue button down dress shirt and suit pants. He held a cardboard tray of coffee mugs, each with differing designs. "Joaquine!" Toni greeted jovially. Waving over the coffee bearing man.

"Coffee from Jug's favourite shop." Joaquine said with a small wink. The whole precinct couldn't stop teasing Jughead about his inability to go to any other diner; Jughead just liked it there, he couldn't believe the others saw some other ulterior motive.

Grabbing his mug from the tray he turned to face his computer screen sullenly. He really didn't have that much work to do.

A few hours later, jughead had just finished sending the files to the archive room, he leaned back in his chair and turned around to see if anyone was around. Most of the squad where at their desks, Sweet Pea in the corner by the window and toni across from him, Joaquine was sitting in his desk by the half-wall door, Fang's empty seat sat across from him.

The alarm on Toni's phone chimed. "Alright people! That's your shift over, get out of here!" the mildly annoyed yell came from the receptionist's desk behind the half wall. their receptionist Cheryl looked up irritably, her iconic red lipstick freshly applied and bright against her pale face. Toni gave her a wink and blew her a kiss as they filed out of the office. It had been a tiring day and Jughead was ready to call it one and head home.

"Hey Jug! Everyone's going to go get something to eat at the diner down the block, you want to come with?" At Toni's request Jughead felt something die inside him, he couldn't not go. Jug nodded meekly, trailing after the rest of the team as they chattered about cases and other work related things.

After about ten minutes of walking, they reached a small shop, the benches outside had hanging plans over them interlaced with fairy lights. Small tea lights shone on the tables beyond the wide glass windows. There was a pleasant bustle of movement inside, but not too much; and when they entered they were greeted with the sweet smell of fresh bread and pastries. They found a booth near the corner and seated themselves. Shortly after they were seated a tall ginger man came up to them, he wore an apron and held a stack of menus. He seemed vaguely familiar to jughead but he couldn't put his finger on it. He smiled at the congregation and everyone pretty much responded as brightly. Everyone but sweetpea. He only curled his lips slightly and nodded curtly to the man.

Once the waiter had left to let them look over their orders Joaquine piped up from his seat across from sweetpea. "What was that all about man? He seemed nice enough, no need to ice him like that." Sweetpea just shook his head, "He was one of the people who interfered with the shootout, he could have gotten himself hurt and I'm half certain he was the one who tackled fangs' shooter." his voice became a little choked up as he mentioned his boyfriends name, turning his face away in shame. Toni patted his shoulder sympathetically, "I'm sure he only wanted to help."

"Well he didn't."

"I know, but we can't hold grudges, that's not what we're here for. Do you know what you want to order?" he nodded his head quietly. Toni signalled the waiter over, "Hey! I think we're good to order!"

He nodded his head and took out his small waiter's notebook, "So, what're we having tonight?"

They all ordered their respective meals, a burger for Jughead, salad for Joaquine and Sweetpea and a serve of fries for Toni, her excuse being "I'm dieting!"

They wait for a few minutes before a different employee comes over with their meals, she has deep blue eyes and blonde hair tied back into a high ponytail, she smiles and winks at the group before sliding their meals across the table to them. "Make sure to rate the restaurant on yelp!"

They finish their meals, Jughead tipping generously as they pay. The food was excellent and the environment was really nice there, he'd definitely have to come back there. He split ways with Sweet Pea when he got off the bus they both took to change to a train. The underground was pretty empty, only a few people walking around and the occasional homeless person sleeping against the walls. Jug caught his train and relaxed into the rough cushioned seat, preparing for the long ride ahead. He lived just on the outskirts of town by an abandoned railway line and a small forest. It was a weird thing to think that somewhere the suburban neighbourhood ended and you came out into countryside after a bit of driving.

Jughead got off the train, picking up his old bike that he had parked at the front, it growled to life and it's one milky yellow light illuminated the ground before him. He rode carefully along the road, the nighttime dew was already beginning to settle and he'd heard horror stories about accidents in remote places where help didn't come fast enough. Sometimes he wished he didn't live so far from his workplace, other times he found it perfectly fine, his opinion changed day to day, right now he was really considering just moving to the centre of town, Toni had mentioned that there was a small semi that had just got a "for sale" sign the other day. Maybe it would be in his price range... He shook his head, it was a dumb idea to even think about, he was perfectly happy in the house he was in currently.

He parker his bike and unlocked his door with the silver key amongst all the others on his busy keychain, he opened the door and turned on the light, relaxing his back against the door frame before he got up again to put the kettle on for tea. He was just pouring the water when his phone began vibrating violently in his pocket. He set down the kettle and picked up the phone, lifting it to his ear, the voice on the other end was Toni's but what she said made his blood turn to ice, "I'll be at the precinct as soon as possible."