Flatline ((Jughead Jones)) 3

Prologue

We were going through a lot, everything getting on top of us. It wasn't fair that Jughead finally got to see his mom after years of her living away, but she turned out to be the new evil mastermind set at drinking all innocence from a town that three years ago was the most picturesque place to be. And everything that had happened seemed to fall on Jughead's shoulders, and right now he felt the weight of the world far more.

"Fine, we're damaged, really damaged but that does not make us wise." I tried to make him look at me, but he was leant forward, sat on the edge of his couch, not wanting to talk, but I knew I had to try. The musical was meant to bring us together but for him it just seemed like another thing on top of him. "We're no special, we're no different, we don't choose who lives or dies. Let's be normal, see bad movies, sneak a beer and watch TV." Over the course of our relationship we had never had a chance to be normal. We hadn't taken a breath since we took over the Serpents. "We'll bake brownies, or go bowling. Don't you want a life with me?"

I placed my hands over his clenched fists and he turned away, not wanting to look at me, or me to show this affection.
"Can't we be seventeen. That's all I want to do. If you could let me in, I could be good with you." As I looked at J, moving my hand to his cheek to pull his forehead on mine, I could see his shoulders relax more as he listened to me sing, ready to speak and let me in to what was going on in his head or just be a normal couple, even if it was just going to be for a few seconds.

"People hurt us." Jughead began, taking a deep breath before he spoke.
"Or they vanish." I added.
"And you're right that really blows." Jughead had gone through so much in his life time and I saw that now. Anyone could use what he had been through as an excuse or a reason not to carry on or a way to justify his misbehaviour. But Jughead didn't.
"But we let go." I urged, showing him that this was the cycle of how we would do things. We go through hard times and always come out on top.
"Take a deep breath."
"And go buy some summer clothes." I said making him turn to me and smile. Slowly, I stood up grabbing his hand and pulling him to stand with me.
"We'll go camping,"
"Play some poker."
"And we'll eat some chilli fries." I laughed at this, knowing that Jughead had found a love for Pop's chilli fries over the summer. He said that he liked the added heat and the new flavour, the fact that Pop's was expanding and reaching into different ingredients.
"Maybe prom night, maybe dancing. Don't stop looking in my eyes."

Once he was stood up, he pulled me closer to him, smiling as we continued to sing together, laughing in the surrounding darkness. Between Hiram, the farm, his mom, it was like we were surrounded and being attacked from all angles, but together we could be happy.

"Can't we be seventeen." We sang together, holding each other close and just being happy about the fact we were still young. Throughout everything we had ended up growing up more than we should have and sometimes we had to remember that we were just 17, that we weren't about to give up and let the evil collapse us, that we weren't about to flatline and give up on everything. "Is that so hard to do. Let us be seventeen, if we still got the right."

Maybe the world wanted us to just grow up. Maybe some higher being wanted us to grow up so that when we were older and our children wanted to grow up too fast we could show them that wasn't a good idea. We would be proof that growing up fast wasn't anything to look forward to or be happy with.
"I wanna be with you." I sang, my hands cupping his cheeks and bringing him closer, Jughead's arms wrapping around my waist and lifting me off the ground.
"Wanna be with you." He sang as he spun me round, causing me to laugh at his antics.

When he put me down, we were both a little out of breath, still happy and in love, but slowly realising what was ahead of us. Whatever events would come next, we would be ready for and we would face it together.
"Yeah, we're damaged." I stated, looking down at my leg, knowing the scars lying under my clothing.
"Badly damaged." Jughead replied, lifting my head up, my lips closer.
"But your love's too good to lose." We stated to each other. I knew I would be with Jughead for the rest of my life. There was no one else I would rather be with and there was no one else that would come close to treating me as well as Jughead.
"Can we be seventeen." Being the serpent King and Queen meant it would be unlikely we could act close to seventeen. We would be acting like adults in the adult world where teenagers act older than they should and adults make decisions like children. "If we still have the right."

J pulled me closer, pressing his lips to mine."You're the one I choose." We sang together, then melted into a kiss. It would be us against anything else. We would help Betty with the farm. We would try and repair the serpents. And we would stop his mother. We would do it together, as the Serpent King and Gamemaster, and the Serpent Queen and Angel of Death.