Picnic || jarchie

four

Jughead sat up, his chest fell up and down sporadically. It was just a dream, is what he told himself. Just  stupid nightmare that was meant to scare him, it wasn't real. He was in Archie's room on the blow up mattress and it wasn't real. He let out a whine as he closed his eyes and saw the nightmare replay in his eyelids. Archie leaving him, everyone leaving him, the whole world forgot about Forsythe pendleton jones the Third. He wasn't ready for middle school. He was just a kid. He was just a 12  year old kid with a beanie and two best friends that were too good for him. He didn't know he was crying until he heard the click of a light and the soft pattern of Archie's feet as he got out of bed.

"Juggie?" Archie whispered as he slowly crawled over to where Jughead was in a pile of blankets on the floor. Jughead practically fell into Archie's familiar embrace and held on tightly to his pajamas shirt. Archie smelled like his new cologne that he had been so excited to spray and show Jughead. Dad had gotten it for him as a welcome to Middle school gift and Archie was all kinds of Cherry red and warm maroon at the idea of how mature  it made him.

Jughead shook as he slowly leaned away to wipe his eyes and look at Archie in the dimly lit room. Archie was growing, at a fast rate. He will always be one of the tallest boys in class, however he had grown out of his lanky phase. Archie had been working out all summer, running and doing push ups and lunges and all these Jughead didn't have the stamina for. He was only 13, but he was slowly becoming a real teenager. Jughead was still one of the shortest boys in his class (only an inch taller then Dilton Doiley but he'll take it.) and he had a baby face. He wasn't a teenager like Archie, and he hated that he was still a tween. He almost gagged at the thought before sighing, "I'm sorry i woke you, I had a nightmare."

Archie shook his head, "You're fine, Juggie, do you wanna talk about it?" Archie said as he ran a hand down  Jughead arm. Jughead shook his head and pulled away from his grip. He had to stop being a baby. They were starting at Riverdale Middle School tomorrow morning and he can't be a cry baby anymore. There were bigger things he had to think about. Like what teenager guys do, and why his face is oily all the time, and why he thinks Archie Andrews is the most handsome boy he's ever seen. Although maybe it'd be best if he ignored the last one for the time being.

"No, I'll just go back to sleep now. Big day tomorrow." He decided and slowly pulled the covers over himself and sniffled. Archie sighed as he got up and turned off the light. He slipped under his covers and stared at the ceiling. Jugheads soft breathing was heard from the other side of the room. Archie sighed softly, as he pulled the covers closer and tried to go back to sleep. He was reaching an in between grey area, where his body was almost asleep and his eyes were closed and his brain was turning off, when he heard footsteps.

"Archie," Jughead whispered, slowly fluttering his hand on the boy's shoulder. Archie hummed in response turning around to look at him, blinking away sleep to look at Jughead's blurry form. His hair was messed up and he was slowly twisting the bottom of his shirt into his thumb.

"Can I please sleep here tonight?"  Jughead spoke softly, almost as if he was ashamed of the question. Archie didn't answer with words, instead opting for sliding over to make room for the boy and lifting the covers. Jughead climbed into the bed. staring up at the ceiling as Archie pulled the covers over them both. He turned over to face the redhead, both of their faces  a mere few inches from each other.

"My nightmare was about tomorrow," Jughead started, keeping his voice low so that he wont wake Mr. Andrews. He didn't even know if Archie was awake but he just kept going.

"In it, you had gained a lot of popularity and everyone was all over you. 'Cause Archie Andrews smelled like honeydew cologne and had perfect hair and a perfect smile. You left me for Reggie mantle, because you both were picked for co-captains of the JV football team remember? In the dream I had a meltdown and you weren't there to save me, nobody was. The world was all navy blue and nobody cared about stupid crybaby Jughead Jones. Even Jellybean." He finished his ramble and sighed, holding back fresh hot tears. Archie slowly placed his arms on Jughead's waist and pulled the boy closer, placing his  head on his chest, and Jughead leaned into the touch . Archie ignored the cold toes touching his legs and instead focused on running one of his hands through Jugheads soft black curls.