Panic Room || Jughead Jones

The Ice Storm // Part One

"Beat the storm right on time," I said as I tossed my bag to the floor. I pulled my coat off, listening as his fingers still typed against the keys without hesitation. With a roll of my eyes, I grabbed the back of his chair. "Jug. Hit 'save'."

"I know, I'm sorry," He apologized as he glanced back at me. "I'm almost done with my first chapter."

I pursed my lips in fake consideration before biting my lip. "Yeah, and I can't wait to read it, and to help you sleuth," I continued as I walked to his side before throwing my leg across his lap to sit down. "But right now, we have some catching up to do."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Shut up and kiss me, Jones."

--

I definitely missed the comfort of my California King bed but at the end of the day, nothing compared to being in Jughead's arms. I had made sure to pack extra blankets, especially in wake of the ice storm but they proved unnecessary when I had the bare skin of my boyfriend against mine.

"I missed you," Jughead mumbled against my hair, his lips pressed to my head.

"I missed you, too," I whispered back, my fingers tracing a scar across his chest from no doubt, Penny and the Ghoulies that night a while back. Jughead caught my hand and entangled our fingers together to stop my wandering thoughts as he set our hands against his chest so I could feel his heartbeat.

"I was thinking about Mr. Chipping again-"

"-Oh, this is the best post-sex talk we've had in a while."

"Come on, Sav." He rolled his eyes playfully. "I was thinking about how he died just after he went to talk to DuPont, about my grandpa. I think Mr. DuPont threatened or blackmailed him into killing himself."

I frowned at the suddenly darkened mood and pushed the blankets aside as I sat up, my boyfriend's shirt pooling at my waist with the action. "That's a drastic assumption, Jug. What's the motive?"

"Well the Baxter Brothers franchise is worth something like $200 million. That's a compelling motive for Mr. DuPont not to want his fraud exposed."

I shook my head. "Yeah, but what leverage would DuPont have over Chipping to make him kill himself?"

"This is where it gets interesting," Jughead commented as he hopped out of bed in his pajama pants. "How do you get someone to do something they don't want to do? Blackmail, right? Look at these yearbook photos I printed out of Mr. DuPont and Chipping." I took the papers from his outstretched hand to look over while he continued, "These are decades apart. Do you notice anything?"

"Is that the same tiepin?" I asked as I pulled the papers closer to my face. The quality of the images was low which didn't help in my deciphering.

Jughead nodded and took the pages back. "Yes. Apparently, that is the mark of Quill and Skull. It's one of Stonewall's oldest secret societies. And like so many secret societies, what if their initiation has something to do with you revealing your deepest and darkest secrets?"

I pushed myself off the bed to stand on the cold floor. "Well, then DuPont may have used Chipping's blackmail material to coerce him into suicide."

"That's exactly what I was thinking. Then maybe some of my current classmates are part of the same society. I mean, I checked Bret's side of the room, but so far, there is no sign of a telltale tiepin."

I ran my hands over my bare arms that weren't covered by Jug's t-shirt. "Is it getting colder in here?"

"Yeah," He agreed before looking at the wall, "The radiator's on, just barely. Is this the part where we freeze and starve to death?"

I shook my head as I grabbed an extra blanket from my bag before curling it around my shoulders and walking forward to tuck myself into his arms. "No, this is the part where we get back in bed and order Chinese food."

--

Jughead groaned loudly and hung up his phone as he sat up in bed. "That's strike three," He huffed, "Nowhere is going to be delivering because of this ice storm."

I whined at the idea of missing out on quality fried rice. "I knew I should've stopped and grabbed Pop's on the way here."

"How about I just raid the vending machine?" Jughead suggested.

I shrugged. "I mean it's either that or starve. I'll have Stonewall's finest chocolate chip cookies, chips, soda, and some candy. Please." Jug rolled his eyes and grabbed his shoes from under the bed before heading towards the door. "Get yourself something too!" I called after him.

The building was oddly silent, and I hated the door just sitting open totally exposed Jughead's dorm to the dangers of the hallway. My nerves only got worse when someone ran past, someone that definitely wasn't my boyfriend.

I hopped off the bed as quickly, yet quietly as I could. I scanned the room for anything before snatching one of Bret's probably-expensive golf clubs from his side of the room. I tiptoed across the rug covered hallway to where the vending machine was and spotted someone wearing a bunny mask with an ax in hand standing in front of Jughead.

"What the hell do you want?" I took a deep breath and swung the club, knocking the mystery person to the ground with a grunt. My boyfriend looked over at me in shock. "Sav?"

"I saw him sneak past the door," I said as I kept my distance from the person on the floor.

"What the hell, you guys?" Another voice came from behind me as a girl wearing a mask stopped in the hallway. I froze against the wall as she ran forward, pulling her mask off in the meantime to reveal Donna. "What did you do to him?"

Jughead scoffed as he crouched down to roll the person over, "Donna, what did we do? What're you guys doing here? And why are you wearing bunny masks? And carrying an ax?" He huffed as he pulled the mask from the other individual to reveal Bret.

"We were just trying to scare you, Jones. Have a little fun," She replied as if it were obvious.

I laughed, "Alright, well now your friend is bleeding and I'm sure this place's infirmary is locked up really tight so yeah, that's fun. Let's get him up."

I was beginning to think maybe spending Thanksgiving here wasn't such a good idea after all.

--