The Sense Of Pain

Twenty Eight

The two cuddled the entire day while watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S whilst Alice gave them food and Archie was taking pictures of them and sending them to Veronica and Kevin. They were silent for most of the time but talked through their looks and expressions. Betty felt a little sad about how Trev didn't get a football scholarship because of her but was mostly stunned about everything he had told them. Jughead could feel Betty's sadness and just comforted her and let her know that he was there for her no matter what. His thoughts were mostly related to the pain he felt during their last night conversation. He was also thinking that whether or not he should be jealous about Trev and whether Betty would leave him for Trev but then gave up on thinking on that. Worst comes to worst, he'll get dumped by the only person he loved with his entire heart. 'Wait...that sounds horrible' thought Jughead.
Later in the evening, Jughead left the Cooper household and went back to his because he wanted to talk with his dad. He reached his house and so a car outside his house that didn't look like it belonged to his dad. He went in and looked at the dinner table and to his surprise he saw his dad and Toni talking. He walked up to them and the two noticed a presence beside them.
They looked at Jughead and Toni spoke up," Hey Jugface...where were you?"

" For the last time, my face isn't a Jug! And I was at Betty's."

" Ok then your head is a Jug and also what was lover boy doing at his lovers place?"

" All you nicknames for me are so bad it make my head hurt. Also that is one long story I don't wanna go into right now. It will require confirmation from Betty if I can share it with you guys. Anyways, I needed to talk to you dad and you can stay Toni cuz you will be surprised by what I am about to say."

Toni looked stunned already about him saying something surprising. That almost never happens. Jughead sat down next to FP and started explaining.

" Ok so Toni, remember when I fell from the busin middle school and got this huge hurt on both of my knee. You took me to the school clinic, and when they put ice on my leg it didn't one bit-"

Toni interrupted and said," You mean the weirdest and most interesting part of your life? Of course I remember it!"

Jughead smiled small at that and continued," Well ever since I noticed that, everytime I got hurt, I never felt any pain. Later on, by high school, I realized that I was oblivious the concept called pain and it actually didn't bother me much."

Jughead stopped for a while so that FP understood him. FP asked," So wait, you never had a sense of pain? What about heartbreaks? Like your first one. I mean those are emotional pain, maybe that hurts right?"

Jughead and Toni both laughed at that and FP got confused. Jughead said," Dad...I never had a girlfriend before Betty. I was a loner and weirdo who was called asexual or gay in our school."

FP was stunned at Jughead's answer as he was the exact opposite of Jughead back when he was in high school. He asked," So are you oblivious to emotional pain also or you never knew if you were or weren't?"

" Well um- when I came to high school I forced Mom to tell me why you weren't with us. She warned me that it may hurt to hear a bit but I really wanted to hear it. Now I am not gonna get into the details of what mom told me because you and I both know mom lied. Anyways, Jelly was with me and and she felt really sad and she told me later that it hurt to hear all of that. Whereas me on the other hand, I felt nothing. I mean yes I did hate you at that time but it didn't hurt to know what you did or who you were. And that's when I figured that maybe I am oblivious to emotional pain as well."

FP nodded at that signifying that he understands while still trying to process everything Jughead said. Toni asked then," What is the surprising part in this though?"

Jughead answered," Yesterday, Betty's ex boyfriend came back to town after years. We were at Pop's when he came there and we ran away from there so she didn't have to face him. Before we were dating she told me a little about her past with her ex and yesterday she told me the rest of it. When she was telling it to me, I felt a pain in my heart. Now I am not sure if it's something medical or...or um emotional pain...", he trailed off.

Toni was shocked for words to come out of her mouth. She spent more than 10 years knowing Jughead didn't know pain, and then this. FP was just as shocked , everything combined as they both say in silence, processing everything in the last 10 minutes.

A/N Finally! I came to the point of the name of this story...28 parts later😹