Never Quit Loving You

T E N

"Cher, I'm scared."

"Stop it," the redhead groaned on the other side of the phone and Betty imagined her rolling her eyes. "It's gonna be great. I'm sure Wes will like him."

"Yeah but..."

Cheryl sighed when Betty trailed off to wander into her own world as always. "Betty," the woman said. "It's gonna be okay."

"No, but—"

"Stop worrying."

"—I don't know what to tell him."

"Who are we talking about right now? Wesley? Or Jughead?"

Betty let her eyes fall shut and her head sink further into the warm pillow. "Wesley. Should I tell him it's his daddy? Or just my friend? Should I let Jughead say it?"

When the blonde fell silent, Cheryl didn't even breathe on the other end. She obviously had no idea what to do either. "Whatever you think is the best, B, I support you."

The bare whisper of her friend brought tears to Betty's eyes and she only nodded as an answer, fully aware the redhead couldn't see it. "Thank you."

"You have a what!?" Toni screeched and Jughead winced, frowning at the loud voice so early in the morning.

"Oh my god," Joaquin whispered, eyes wide and full of terror as he stared at his friend. "Jug, what the fuck?"

"I know," he mumbled.

"You know what? She didn't fucking tell you about him on the first day you saw each other!?"

"No, but—" he was cut off with a loud groan from Toni.

"Fuck. That's why she's not accepting me on Insta."

"Toni," Joaquin murmured and once he had his friend's attention, shook his head.

Jughead's head was in his hands, staring at the ground with wide eyes. "What am I supposed to do?" he whispered, voice quivering. He didn't receive an answer. "He's so beautiful."

Joaquin and Toni shared a glance before the girl stepped closer to the raven-haired guy and squatted down in front of him. "Jug..."

"I wanna be his dad," he whispered, horrified by his own thoughts.

"Then be his dad, dude." Joaquin took a few steps closer to the two as well. "How old is he?"

"Gonna be three at the begging of August."

All of them fell silent and Jughead looked up at his friends a few moments later, hands still framing his face. "He looks just like me."

The two couldn't help but smile which created an unwanted stupid grin on Jughead's lips as well as he groaned and hid his face into his hands.

"He's your son, Jug. And if Betty has offered you to get to know him, do it."

Toni's words flew around his head for a while before actually registering them. Jughead frowned, thinking about it over and over just to press his eyes shut and confess one of the two things about the plan that scared him. "My dad sucks."

The two snorted in front of him almost in unison and he looked up, eyebrows arched. "What?"

"We know," Toni stated.

"I went to see him. He said Betty had been to him when she was expecting. And he said he'll kill my son and her and me when he has the chance."

Everyone fell silent at that statement, eyes fixated on the ground. That was until Jughead's phone buzzed on his bed and Toni reached to pass it to him. The guy sighed and unlocked it, freezing momentarily when he saw who it was from.