Bughead Oneshots

||5 Days|| Part 2

Betty stirred the sugar in the tea before grabbing the cup and walking over to the couch. She put it down on the coffee table next to the couch before sitting down on the edge of it. She softly brushed some hair out of Jughead's face before caressing his cheek. The boy stirred, squinting through one eye.

"Betty...?" he whispered.

"Yeah, I'm here. How are you feeling? You passed out yesterday and slept through till now"

"My head hurts but yeah, I'm fine. Totally fine" he smiled loopy before groaning again.

"And your arms...?" she asked, voice tightening. He looked down at them, lifting his forearms.

"Did you wrap a new bandage around it?" she nodded "oh, thank you. Uhm... You didn't... didn't have to..."

"I know, but I wanted to because... You were bleeding a lot. It was messing up your sweater, which I washed, don't worry. I hope that was okay for you"

"Yeah... Yeah, it's okay. Actually thanks, for... doing this, I guess..."

"Do you want some tea? I made some, that's why I woke you up in the first place" he nodded, slowly sitting up and leaning on the couch pillow. Betty smiled softly and reached him the cup.

"Thanks..."

"Don't... feel attacked but... What did you take, Jughead?"

"Some sleeping pills, because of yesterday"

"That explains the passing out. How many did you take?"

"Apparently not enough to kill me" he mumbled, sipping on the tea "thanks between, for the tea. It's really good" he added, looking at her again. Though his eyes moved back to the tea when his arms started shaking. Betty noticed too.

"I can hold it for you, if you want" she suggested, already taking it from his hands. He swallowed but let her hold it, though he used one of his hands to guide it as well, this way they were touching one another. They had held hands before but that was when they were children. This made him get an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

"Oh look at you, you get your color back" Betty said, as Jughead brought the cup back to his lips.

"Why do you want me to stay...?" he asked after some time, reaching her the cup. Betty put it on the coffee table again.

"Because... You are my best friend, no matter how much time has passed. And best friends care for one another, don't they?"

"I guess so..."

"Do you want to eat something?" Betty said, suddenly changing the conversation. Jughead shook his head.

"No, I'm not really hungry, to be honest"

"Nevertheless you should eat... You look... skinny, Jug"

"No, really. I'm not hungry"

"Maybe a soup? I'm sure that it would be good for you. Or we also still have some leftovers of the lasagne from the weekend, if you'd rather have that or we could go to Pops, I don't care" 

"I'm not hungry, Betty"

"You have to eat something!"

"I'm not hungry!" he snapped, though then he took a deep but shaky breath "I'm sorry, for yelling. I didn't mean to. I'm just-" not able to get anything down. He had the urge to tell her but his tongue got stuck. He wanted to tell her that he didn't have the same relationship with food like she thought, that it had changed.

"You could just stay here on the couch, so that you don't have to strain yourself, and I'll just heat the lasagna for you"

"I'm really not hungry, Betty, really"

"You should still eat something. You need to get something in your body, especially after loosing so much blood yesterday" Jughead looked at her before dropping his gaze again. Betty nodded and headed off to the kitchen. Jughead heard noises but honestly didn't care enough to figure it out.

Betty called him skinny. He loved hearing that, five years ago. Five years ago when this whole thing started. Five years ago when he was proud to go two days without having to eat anything. Five years ago when he couldn't help but smile when he realized that he had lost more weight.

Now he was too skinny. People called him sick because of it. He knew that he was too skinny. He knew that it wasn't healthy, it had stopped being that years ago. He should start eating normally again, if that was even possible. His mind still kept on saying that it wasn't enough — that he needed to loose more weight.

Betty sat down on the couch again and reached him the plate.

"Can you hold it?" she asked.

"I think, I'll manage. Don't worry" Jughead said, flashing her a soft smile before grabbing the plate from her. Though he hesitated with the eating part. Betty took the chance to take it from him again and then just started to spoon feed him.

"You really don't-" he paused as she shook her head, giving him another portion "it's not-" another spoon "necessary, Betts" the nickname just slipped before he could stop it. Though Betty didn't seem to have heard it, or she just didn't mind it.

"How come you've become so skinny? Is FP not buying any food?" she asked, giving him another portion. Jughead felt lucky when his father was even home and didn't harm him in any way. The lasagna didn't seem that good anymore too.

"I'm tired" Jughead mumbled, rocking away from Betty before rolling on his side to curl up on himself.

"Oh... uh okay..." he heard shuffling behind him and waited till she was quiet again "did I do something wrong...?"

"No" he sighed, rolling on his back "no, you didn't do anything wrong. Sorry, that I just did this. I just- you know. Personal stuff"

"Because I asked about FP?"

"Yeah"

"Oh... I'm sorry. I won't mention him again then"

"Thank you"

"Anything else that I shouldn't mention?"

"Food" she hesitated but then nodded.

"Okay..." she inhaled, trying to smile again "I'm glad that we are talking again, Jug"

"Me too... Can we just stay here on the couch for today?"

"Sure. Mind if I turn on the TV though?"

"No, go ahead" Betty nodded and reached over to the coffee table to grab the remote before turning on the TV. In the end, they decided on some series on Netflix. Betty leaned back to lay on the couch and over time slowly scooted closer. Jughead eyed her, hesitating, though then he sat up properly before opening his arm for her. Betty smiled softly and then rested her head on his chest while he drew her closer.

That's how she fell asleep. Once Jughead noticed, he leaned forward carefully but only to turn off the TV. Then he leaned back and gave Betty a kiss on the forehead before closing his eyes, trying to fall asleep as well. He knew that all he wanted to do was leave the house, go back to the cliff and maybe get some more pills before he would end it, this time without her interrupting it. This time without Betty stopping him.

But he promised her five days.

And that was what he was giving her.

Five days.