Jughead Jones, III (jugheadjonesiii) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2018-05-20 16:43:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !log, ~2018 may, ~25 points, ~~carlos de vil (luckiestgirl), ~~jughead jones (jugheadjonesiii) |
WHO Jughead Jones III & Carlos De Vil
WHAT Getting to know each other
WHEN Recently
WHERE Hinkles
WARNINGS none really
STATUS Closed | Gdoc | Incomplete
Jughead was pretty much either at Hinkles, school, or the place he shared with his dad. There wasn't a whole lot of variation to that unless someone was dragging him off to be social somewhere that wasn't the aforementioned places. His booth was pretty much permanently his these days and he was there with his laptop, typing away story after story about life in Madison Valley. His favorite story was the one that was documenting his relationship with Mal, but he tried not to get too far ahead of himself in that one. Mal was the sort who needed to go at her own pace and he understood and supported that.
This afternoon, he was working on an English paper when he caught sight of Carlos. The guy was one of Mal's friends so Jughead figured he should say hi. "Hey, Carlos!" he called from where he was seated in the back booth. They'd met each other in passing once or twice so Jug figured the other guy knew who he was. "Want to join me?"
Bertha gave him a look for shouting across the restaurant but he blew her a kiss, which caused her to chuckle and turn her attention to someone else.
***
It wasn’t very often that someone called Carlos over. His friends were pretty much exclusively the other VKs and if he wasn’t with them he probably wasn’t with anyone. People didn’t really reach out to Carlos. Jane had, he’d really liked her for that, was still really confused about what kind of like that was and if he really did want her to be his girlfriend. Probably not but who knew what his future would bring.
So when he entered Hinkles to get something to eat and someone did call out to him, first he just stalled in his tracks and blinked in surprise until he realized it was that guy Mal was seeing. She’d probably say she wasn’t, but he wasn’t stupid. And this provided a really good opportunity for Carlos to stand up for his family. If this bozo wasn’t good enough, they needed to know before Mal’s heart got broken.
He smiled, looked friendly as ever, and went to slide into the booth. “Hey. What’s up, man?”
***
It seemed like maybe not too many people yelled out Carlos' name across the room, but then he made his way over to the booth and slid into the opposite side. Jug closed the lid of his laptop in order to focus his attention on one of Mal's friends. He knew Evie and Jay pretty well by now, but he didn't have a good bead on Carlos so this was the perfect opportunity to try to get a read on him.
"Not too much. Got an English paper due next week that I'm trying to get ahead of," he explained. "I was overdue for a break. There's only so much Chaucer a man can take." Jug grinned, figuring Carlos would at least appreciate that school work wasn't his numero uno. He just preferred to get it out of the way so he could have more fun steadily.
"How about you? Starting to gear up for the end of the year?" Finals were always a bitch, especially when projects got added on top of the exams.
***
Carlos did appreciate and relate to school work not being a top priority. It wasn’t really his, either, but he did well despite that. In some subjects anyway. In others he was hopeless and didn’t really care to change that. He liked what he liked and that was it.
“No way. It’ll shake out however it shakes out. I’m pretty sure I’m going to fail English,” there was no coming back from his grades at this point unless he aced everything and did extra credit, “unless I hack in and change my grades.” Which he probably should not do. Probably wouldn’t do. He did try to be better than the Isle had taught him to be, just sometimes it took actually telling himself the same things Fairy Godmother had their first week at school.
“So I’m not really worrying about it.” He had other concerns anyway. A lot more personal stuff that really would affect the rest of his life.
***
"Not like it really matters anyway, right?" Jughead didn't mind playing along and doing his school work, but he wasn't taking it as seriously as he took it back home, and even that wasn't exactly described as 'serious'. The classes he liked, he excelled in. Anything else, it was just whether or not he felt like pushing through it. Usually, if he was hanging out with Archie, they did their school work and if he was hanging out with Mal, they were probably just hanging out.
"Got any plans for how you're going to spend the summer?" He knew there were some kids looking for summer jobs and Jughead wasn't opposed to finding something to help his dad out with the bills. Their apartment was provided for them, but everything else didn't exactly come cheap. Plus, he needed some income to take Mal out, too.
***
“Not really,” Carlos shrugged. “I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever had a real summer vacation or anything like that, you know?” Even when they’d been off school on the Isle, Carlos had always been hard at work doing things for his mother. People who were basically enslaved by their parents didn’t really get vacation days.
“What about you? Hanging out with Mal, mostly?”
Yes, he was fishing a little. Carlos wasn’t the one anyone would think of as being protective, or anything resembling a threat. He didn’t come across that way at all and that had always been an asset to him. Even on the Isle people were more likely to forget that he was actually one of them. Mostly. He always had been a little softer around the edges than most but that didn’t make him any less capable.
***
Jughead wasn’t surprised to hear that there wasn’t any ‘time off’ on the Isle. From what little he knew about Mal’s world and where she came from, that just didn’t surprise him. It wasn’t like there was any time off from being a Serpent either. He just didn’t have his crew here, except for his dad. Their being Serpents didn’t mean anything here.
“Yea, I get that. Guess there’s a first time for everything, huh?” He sort of half smirked at that and tried to figure out what Carlos was looking for, aside from the obvious. Jug hadn’t really thought Mal’s friends would go the subtle approach.
“Probably, or as much as we can. Think I might grab a part time job just to be able to take her out and stuff.” Plus he was thinking more and more about buying a motorcycle and that required a good bit of money saved up. Maybe by next summer he’d have enough for a down payment or something.
“Otherwise, I figure it’s better not to make too many plans in a place like this.” Madison was just too unpredictable so it was likely better to just sit back and enjoy the ride.
***
He wasn’t wrong. Carlos was pretty firmly on the side of not making too many plans too. He always had been, though. It wasn’t just that this place was unpredictable, it was that he’d never really known what the future was going to bring no matter where he was. He’d think a little ahead, enough that he didn’t just sit by and let everything happen around him, but it was mostly little stuff.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” He was completely right but Carlos hadn’t decided if he liked Jughead yet. Even if he did he might not be willing to admit to thinking he was right. “Mal likes a lot of things that you don’t need money for, though. You know? Picnics and stuff.”
Did this bozo even know anything about her?
***
Jughead hadn’t once thought that picnics would be something Mal was interested, though the surprise only registered slightly on his expression. “I know she would rather do stuff than have stuff,” he conceded with a slight inclination of his head. “I figure I still at least need the money to cover the supplies.” Although maybe he was going about that the wrong way.
“I know she loves strawberries, mischief, and you guys,” Jug added. He leaned back against the booth. “And purple.” That one was true even if he was saying it mostly as a joke. He didn’t want Carlos to think he was an idiot. “She’s...not like other people, and definitely not like the girls in Riverdale.” He looked curious as he asked, “Are all the girls in your world like that?”
***
Money wasn’t what was important to any of them. Not really. Sure they wanted it, Carlos couldn’t speak for the others but if someone wanted to splurge on him and pay to do nice things, he’d be really happy. But it wasn’t what was important. Someone caring about them, genuinely with no ulterior motives, was what mattered more.
“Mal’s special.” Evie was too. And Jane. A lot of girls were alike, on the Isle or in Auradon, but his friends were different. They were better, each in their own way.
Carlos’ expression didn’t shift in the least, still smiling and pleasant and non-threatening. Except the sharpness that suddenly touched his eyes. “Which is why if you hurt her, I’ll hurt you.”
He couldn’t leave any room for misinterpretation.
***
Jughead fully agreed that Mal was special. She did things her own way, to her own tune, and she kept his interest in ways not many people could. He was a little lost in thought about how special she was when he registered Carlos’ threat. Being threatened wasn’t something Jughead typically took laying down. It didn’t feel right, to just let it happen, but that was how this particular teenage situation played out.
“I don’t doubt it,” Jughead replied, unconcerned. “I’d deserve it.” Mal was that kind of person. If Carlos ever thought Jug wasn’t right for his friend, he expected the blonde to pipe up and make his complaints known, even if it was just to him. Jug knew he’d never try to change her, even when the dome messed with them or normal teenage drama bullshit happened.
“But before then, I figure it wouldn’t hurt to get to know you a little better.” The four of them sort of came as a group, just like Jug came with Archie. There were certain friendships that you’d have for life and that was just the way it was. Jug knew he’d never get anywhere with Mal if her friends didn’t like him.
***
It didn’t pass Carlos’ notice that Jughead didn’t seem to be taking him very seriously. Which was fine. It was better that way. He didn’t actually want to be that guy who was always looking over shoulders and keeping an eye on things and Mal was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Besides, if he wasn’t believed then if he did have to take action it wouldn’t be anticipated and it would be more effective.
It also didn’t pass his notice that Jughead was apparently interested in getting to know him.
And that was a lot more confusing than trying to threaten him was interesting.
“Why do you want to get to know me?” It wasn’t like Carlos was the one he was trying to date. Not even all around heroic good guy Ben had made any huge efforts to get to know him outside of sports and just hanging out with Mal.
***
Jug tilted his head at the question, confused as to why it was even being asked. It wasn't like it was outside the realm of possibility for them to be friends. He actually thought he'd get along well with all of Mal's people because they reminded him a lot of the Serpents. He was honestly a little unsure if maybe this was another test or something and he didn't want to give anyone a reason to lead Mal to pump the breaks on whatever it was they were doing.
"Well..." he began, drawing out the word as he popped a french fry in his mouth. "You're her friend. You're pretty cool, I mean obviously if Mal's hanging out with you. And we're going to school together. Got a couple classes together this year and probably will next year, too. So. Figured you might want to hang some time but it's cool if you don't want to." Jug wasn't going to try to force him into it or anything.