Panic Room || Jughead Jones

Hereditary // Part One

"I keep thinking I should be breaking the Baxter Brothers novels down like scientifically, or something."

Fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I nodded. "That could work, but you could also... kiss your girlfriend."

Jughead's hand slapped the table as a teasing smile spread across his face. "I'm sorry." The barrier between us was awkward, but Jughead's rings were cool against my skin as his lips feverishly met mine. It was a peaceful moment before Veronica's call of "Enough PDA you two!" rang through the room.

We continued to talk into the early hours of the morning before Veronica finally tapped us out with an apology and a brief reminder that we had a meeting with our parents in the morning. I waited until she was in her car before turning to Jug with a soft smile. "Sorry about her."

"To be fair, it is 2 AM. I think we overstayed our welcome by a smidge," He joked as his hands grabbed my waist. "Thank you, for meeting me. It was the inspiration I needed."

With a nod, I leaned forward to kiss him softly. "That's my job, Jones."

--

When my alarm began going off at 8 AM, I only slightly regretted our late-night escapade, but once I had a coffee in my hand, it was a little more bearable. The sunlight streaming through the windows of the Pembrooke didn't help, however.

"Now that the trials are over, I think it's time to let bygones be bygones. I want us to move forward. No more secrets, no more lies," Hiram began as he sat at the head of the table.

"Speaking of secrets and lies," Veronica interrupted, "How many more secret children should we be expecting?"

Dad smiled at the snide comment. "Hermosa is your one and only half-sibling. I swear."

Mom twisted the glass of water in her hand. "If we did decide to move forward together... what exactly would that look like?"

"Well, now that the prison is bringing in a good income, I'd like to return to my true passion-"

"Extortion?" I blurted.

"Murder?" Veronica offered.

"Rum," Hermosa finished, "Papi's passion is rum."

Dad nodded at her statement. "Rum has been in our family for generations, and Hermosa, who runs our clubs in Miami, will be staying here in Riverdale to establish a rum outpost here. I also thought she could help out at the speakeasy."

Veronica hesitated for a moment before her lips turned up in a frown. "No. I don't need any more help at La Bonne Nuit. With the exception of my newest hostess, Mom. And seeing as how this is our house, you two can show yourselves out."

--

The late-night meetings continued for Jughead and me, yet this time we chose to cuddle up in my apartment to give Veronica an easy night. The entire Baxter Brother series was laid out on the table, pages and paragraphs highlighted to Jughead's jurisdiction as he explained his thought process.

"Now, I've gone and re-read the entire series and I noticed something strange. Where there is a hoarse voice and an overall tone, sure, you can tell when a new ghostwriter takes over," He said as he pointed to the highlighted sentences.

I nodded as I glanced at the book in my own hand. "Oh, yeah. A writer can't completely suppress their own style. They make it their own to represent a piece of themselves."

"Exactly. The verbiage, the phrasing, these things are like literary fingerprints. And when I went back to read the first book, its fingerprint is unlike any of the rest of them. It's raw, it's real. The characters have tension. There's political commentary woven throughout it. They mention the war, the boys have summer jobs, and none of the rest of them are this grounded."

"Meaning, what, exactly?" I asked.

"Well, allegedly, Mr. DuPont wrote the first five books before passing the series off. But after my analysis, the stylistic differences from book one to book two are too distinct to ignore. There's no way that whoever wrote the first novel wrote the following. There's just no way," Jughead explained.

I nodded in understanding. "Okay, well, who wrote it then?"

Jughead hesitated before responding. "This is gonna sound crazy, okay? What if it was my grandfather?"

"Jug, your conspiracies are usually... spot on, but after what your dad said the other day... I don't know. This one feels like a stretch."

He sighed, "I know. This is the one missing puzzle piece I have of my grandfather. Think about it, Sav. He sent me a first edition, first Baxter Brothers book. And if that's not coincidental enough, he wrote inside... 'Never let them take anything from you'. Does that not imply that something was stolen from him?"

"Implies, yes. Proves? Not so much. You're on the track, though, Jug. You need proof."

He looked defeated by the statement. "Yeah, you're right. I'll get proof. I know I'm onto something. I know it." He grabbed my hand that was resting on the couch to intertwine our fingers. "Meanwhile, how're things at the Pembrooke?"

I winced, "Uh... a little dicey. Could be worse, but apparently, Dad and Hermosa are here to stay. I say it's only a matter of time before Mom caves back into him, but I definitely will not be walking in there anytime soon, that's for certain. Everything's up in the air right now, but it'll work out. Hopefully."

"What about you?" He specified as his thumb ran over my knuckles.

"Missing you," I answered honestly. "I'm starting to get a little used to these quick moments together, Jones."

Jughead smiled. "Yeah, me too. But I guess that means we'll just have to do it a little more often, huh?"

I nodded and leaned my head against his shoulder as we abandoned the research of the night and settled in for some quality sleep next to each other, savoring every moment we had together.

--

"You guys don't have any spare arcade games lying around, do you?"

Archie's question was so random, it caught me off guard before I had a chance to think it through. I almost gave him a weird look but refrained when I remembered it was probably for the community center.

"What's this now, Archiekins?" Veronica asked from her spot on the couch.

Archie sighed before sitting up to explain. "I'm trying to get these kids away from Dodger's arcade. Step one, give them another option."

"What you're doing at that gym is really inspiring, Archie, but not enough people know about it," Veronica said.

Betty nodded in agreement. "I can write about the center in the Blue and Gold."

"I can ask my vendors to see if they can help rustle up some arcade games," Ronnie offered with a shrug.

"For now, though, I have plenty of board games if those will help?" I suggested. "Just until you get anything further."

The PA crackled to life, successfully interrupting Archie's response. "Will Cheryl Blossom please report to the principal's office? Cheryl Blossom to the principal's office."

Archie looked back at us with a grateful nod. "Thanks, guys. I really appreciate your help."

--

sorry for this weird ending, I don't like where it leaves off lol