it had been a couple of days since archie and jughead had had their last encounter and for both of those days, jughead could not stop thinking about archie. he wanted to know more about the shy but not so shy boy, but for some reason he was too nervous to go to his apartment and talk to him. which is unusual for jughead because he's always confident and talking to people comes so naturally for him, but archie was a different story.
jughead sat on his couch, contemplating whether he should go over to archie's apartment and what he would say if he did. he was deep in thought when a large crash was heard from the direction of archie's apartment with a loud "ow!" following it. jughead took this as a sign and the perfect opportunity to go talk to archie and see if he was ok so he walked next door and knocked gently on archie's apartment door.
"who is it?" archie calls from inside.
"it's jughead, i heard something break and wanted to come check on you." jughead replies.
"come in, it's unlocked!" archie yells so that jughead could hear him through the door.
jughead walked into the very tidy and aesthetically decorated apartment that belonged to archie. there were plants and paintings everywhere and the color scheme of the apartment was very soft and summery. after taking in the apartment's decorations jughead made his way to the kitchen where a bleeding archie was sweeping up bits of broken glass.
"hey, hey, hey! stop, you're bleeding." jughead exclaims as he catches sight of archie's bloody foot.
"i know, i know. i just wanted to get the glass cleaned up before i got a band aid." archie says, still sweeping.
"sit down, i'll do it." jughead says, attempting to take the broom away but archie refuses to let him.
"no, i got it." archie argues.
"your foot is bleeding, please just sit down. i'll take care of it." jughead urges.
archie sighs and hands jughead the broom, taking a seat at the kitchen island.
"how'd you do this anyway?" jughead asks.
"i was gonna make cookies with the new glass mixing bowl that i got but, i guess my hands were kinda slippery and i dropped it." archie answers.
"clumsy huh sweetheart?" jughead teases as he continues to sweep up the glass.
"seriously, stop calling me that." archie says sternly.
"fine, fine. i'm sorry. it's all swept up now." jughead apologizes while putting the glass pieces in the trash.
"thank you, you can go now." archie says.
"nuh uh, you're not getting rid of me that fast. you need to get that cut cleaned and bandaged first." jughead says, gesturing to archie's foot.
"ok? i can do that myself."
"and why would i let you do that? my mom's a nurse so she's always giving me first aid kits but they're not just ordinary first aid kits. they're top notch, a1, nothing like anything you've seen before first aid kits." jughead says.
"oh really?" archie questions sarcastically.
"if you don't believe me, i'll just have to prove it. come with me to my apartment, i'll get you fixed up." jughead smiles. archie just rolls his eyes and tries to get up from the seat he was sitting in but almost falls in the process.
"ahh, it hurts too much to stand on." archie winces.
"alright then i'll carry you." jughead responds.
"what no, no jughead stop. stop, please put me down right now." archie huffs as jughead begins picking him up bridal style.
"do you want me to fix your foot or not?" jughead asks.
"ugh, ok fine. carry me." archie sighs and jughead does as told, carrying archie over to his apartment door before setting him down gently so he could open the door.
"do you think you could walk over to the couch or should i carry you again?" jughead questions.
"i got it." archie says before limping over to the couch, trying to avoid stepping on the cut parts of his foot yet still wincing with every step.
"are you sure? i can help-"
"i got it." archie cuts him off and continues limping.
"alright." jughead chuckles. "well i'll be right back with the first aid kit." he finishes and goes to his bathroom to find the kit. once he finds it, he grabs it and makes his way back to the living room of his apartment where archie is waiting patiently.
"ok, put your foot on my lap." jughead orders archie after sitting next to him on the couch. archie turns his body so that he is facing jughead and does as told.
"in any other situation that sentence would've sounded terrible." archie laughs.
"get your mind out of the gutter." jughead laughs too before grabbing archie's foot to examine it but almost immediately archie yanks it away and starts laughing.
"sorry, i'm ticklish." he apologizes.
"it's ok." jughead chuckles. "just try and be still."
archie nods his head and watches as jughead starts doing his thing. jughead begins by cleaning the wound which makes archie wince in pain
"you good?" jughead asks softly.
"yeah, keep going." archie replies.
"well at first glance the cut looks pretty deep, but it's not deep enough for stitches. so i'll just use this special band aid right here that kind of works like a stitch and i'll give you a couple to take home. make sure you clean the cut and replace the band aid everyday, it'll heal faster that way." jughead explains, all while carefully placing the band aid over the cut and wrapping gauze around it.
"thank you, you're very helpful. maybe you should follow in your mom's footsteps and become a nurse." archie says.
"maybe huh? i don't know. but yeah, there you go. all better." jughead deflects the subject.
"right well, thank you again. i should probably get back to my place and finish some things i need to work on." archie says.
"do you want me to walk you back?" jughead asks.
"it's not a far walk jughead, but sure." archie laughs.
the two walk the short walk down the hall to archie's apartment before pausing at his door. archie opens it and turns to face jughead.
"i uhh, really appreciate you helping me." archie says breaking the awkward silence that had started to build.
"of course. whenever you need it, you know where i am." jughead smiles.
the two maintain eye contact for awhile before archie finally gives in and kisses jughead softly. it was a short kiss, but it was what both of them had secretly wanted since the day they met.
"there, payment in exchange for your service." archie says, gesturing to his foot. "see you later jughead." he finishes before closing the door, not even letting jughead say a word.
"a tease, always a tease." jughead mumbles as he walks away smiling.
a/n: i haven't updated this in FOREVER so i hope you guys enjoy. should i make this into another part or just let it end there? let me know :)
