AU: Season 1. Joaquin never left town and wasn't involved in Jason's murder, he went to Riverdale High and him and Kevin aren't dating anymore.

TW: Implied drug abuse, but it's very brief

"Joaquin, where's your coat?"

The blue-eyed teen stopped walking to turn around and see Archie Andrews of all people standing behind him, a concerned look plastered onto his face.

Okay, this was a little unusual. First of all, the two of them barely knew each other. He'd seen Archie on, like, two different occasions. Both of them when he was still dating Kevin Keller. That had been pretty much a month ago now. And second, why did Archie even care that he wasn't wearing a coat?

Joaquin's parents had sorta used all their money to get him into Riverdale High, so there wasn't exactly much cash over for them to buy decent winter clothing for the whole family.

Ricky needed warm clothes more than Joaquin did, so if that meant he had to walk around in the cold wearing a thin sweater and a leather jacket, he'd take it. Unfortunately, this had to be one of the coldest days Joaquin ever had the displeasure of experiencing. Even Archie who usually just wore his Letterman jacket was now wrapped into a fuzzy-looking coat.

Whatever. Joaquin wasn't about to cry to this well-off jock over his financial status.

"None of your business, Archie. What's it to you, anyways?" Joaquin settled for, mildly glaring at the other teen.

Sure, maybe it wasn't fair of him to treat Archie like that, but Joaquin was a Southside Serpent. He had a reputation to uphold.

"Nothin'....... But it's really freaking cold Joaquin. It looks like you're gonna freeze to death any second now." Archie replied with a shrug.

"It's not that cold." Joaquin huffed, clenching his jaw as a cold wind struck the two of them.

"You're trembling on your legs." Archie pointed out, sounding a little arrogant in Joaquin's ears.

"Like I said, none of your business." Joaquin repeated, continuing his way to school.

And of course Archie quickly caught up to his pace, looking like he wasn't gonna leave Joaquin alone any time soon.

The ginger could only feel pity when he looked at Joaquin. His thin frame was obviously shaking through thin layers of clothing and he was completely red in the face from the cold. Before Archie could think about the way Joaquin's lips looked chapped and red, the question of why he was even looking at the other boy's lips struck him first.

"I'm just saying, Riverdale High's still a good 15 minutes away. And I don't wanna have you passing out in the snow or something......" Archie told the other, almost considering wrapping his arm around Joaquin's shoulders like he would've done with Jug or Betty.

"I'm not that weak, Andrews." Joaquin warned him, half-heartedly glaring at the taller male.

"I know......." Archie muttered, internally scolding himself for being so careless with his words.

Neither really exchanged words for a few minutes after that, but after Joaquin shivered for the fifth time already Archie couldn't take it anymore. He shrugged off his coat and offered it to Joaquin, who merely looked down at it with a blank face.

"What are you doing?" Joaquin moved his gaze to fixate on Archie's face instead.

"Uhm, giving you my coat? Look, I know you don't need my help or anything, but come on. There's no strings attached, just.....take it. At least 'till we get to school?" Archie pleaded, still holding out the soft material.

"........fine." Is all Joaquin had to say, putting on the coat.

Archie chuckled a bit at the way his coat's sleeves completely covered Joaquin's hands before buttoning up his jacket, shoving his hands into the pockets. Their walk to school was spend in a comfortable silence, although Joaquin was still a bit wary as though why Archie was being so nice to him.

He wasn't used to stuff like that. Not without the other person wanting something. But Archie......what did he want? He didn't look like he wanted anything from Joaquin. Not yet, at least. Maybe he'd want something from him later. Was accepting Archie's coat a bad idea after all?

Oh well. Joaquin couldn't really bring himself to care at the moment. Turned out a warm coat really did make a difference.

"You good?" Joaquin glanced up to see Archie smiling down at him, a single eyebrow raised.

This time the pink in Joaquin's face wasn't caused by the cold.

"........yeah."

Joaquin would've never in a million years thought he'd be dating Archie Andrews two months after that encounter. But yet here they were, hands intertwined as Joaquin led Archie towards his trailer.

This is merely the second time they went to Joaquin's place. But Joaquin thankfully never had to explain why he didn't like bringing Archie over. He's embarrassed by it, really. The place was a dump compared to Archie's cozy house. Another problem was, Joaquin's parents didn't know about him and Archie yet.

They didn't really care that he was gay, would've preferred that he liked girls though, but that wasn't the problem. If they found out he was dating a Northsider all hell would break loose.

Fred Andrews already knew about them. It definitely surprised him at first, but mostly because he hadn't had a single clue his son might've been into guys as well. Joaquin was surprised as well, when he'd learned Archie played for both teams. Furthermore he'd also expected Fred to react more.....differently to their relationship. He merely expected that because there was no way Archie could have such a happy family, there had to be something wrong with either of his parents.

But there wasn't. Fred didn't mind that they were both guys, and neither did he care that Joaquin was a Serpent.

"Just keep 'im out of trouble, okay? Archie's always getting into these reckless situations." Fred had playfully told him, smile good-natured and warm.

In general, Joaquin didn't like having Archie over at his house. But there weren't many options today. Fred was having some of his friends over, and Joaquin's other alternate to make out with his boyfriend was usually at Fangs' place, but even he had too much on his plate today to lend out his trailer to them.

"Are you nervous or something? You look a little on edge." Archie commented, squeezing Joaquin's hand.

"M'fine." Joaquin quickly replied, unlocking the door.

They stepped inside the cold trailer, if Joaquin hadn't been wearing Archie's coat he would've undoubtedly shivered. Archie's eyes curiously darted around, just like they did the first time he got to see Joaquin's place. Last time however, he didn't have too much time to glance around. Archie's boyfriend had kept him too occupied to properly navigate the trailer.

So Joaquin decided to settle for that method once again, anything to keep Archie's bright eyes away from the few needles scattered across the floor. Archie huffed out a laugh when Joaquin crowded him against the door, looking down at the other with a mixture of excitement and amusement in his eyes.

Joaquin kissed him, hard, feeling Archie gasp against his lips. They kept going back and forth for a while, Archie pulling away playfully each time so that Joaquin would chase his lips again. His teeth were already snagging on Archie's lower lip when the ginger abruptly patted his back.

"No way, you're not gonna distract me this time around. Just let me look around! Please?" And goddamn it, there were those puppy dog eyes again.

"I'm embarrassed." is what Joaquin wanted to say, but instead out of his mouth came:

"Fine. You can look around, but don't go into my parents' room." Joaquin gave in, rolling his eyes rather annoyed.

Archie flashed him a grin, and started looking around the trailer like a police dog looking for evidence. The brown-eyed teen inspected the small kitchen, the even smaller bathroom and of course, Ricky's room.

"Your little brother's name is Ricky, right?" Archie suddenly spoke up, glancing around the rather bald room.

"Uh-huh." Joaquin watched as Archie nodded to himself, seemingly deep in thoughts.

Joaquin had no idea what Archie could possibly be so conflicted about in his mind. So what, Joaquin lived in a shitty trailer with a shower that on random days decided not to work. What was so complicated about that?

Then he got to Joaquin's room. Last time Archie had only managed to muster out one comment about the room, said in between breathy gasps and groans.

"You should lighten your room up a bit."

Joaquin had decided to take up on the advice. He'd borrowed some of Toni's blue Christmas lights and taped them to the wall. To Joaquin's genuine surprise, his room had actually felt less lonely.

"Hey, you used my advice!" Archie cheerfully stated, eyes lightening up when he noticed the lights on the wall.

"Don't get all worked up about it." Joaquin snorted, feeling a little giddy at Archie's happiness.

"Just sayin'." Archie smiled, shrugging off his jacket and carelessly tossing it besides Joaquin's bed.

Joaquin removed both Archie's coat and his Serpent jacket as Archie flopped down onto the bed.

"Your bed is cozy." Archie offered, shoving his face into a pillow.

"Guess it is." Joaquin shrugged, awkwardly standing beside his bed.

He shivered, again. Joaquin's complete lack of cold tolerance frustrated him to no end. Archie, as always, noticed and patted the spot beside him.

"Come on, get over here!"

"Alright, alright........" Joaquin easily gave in, crawling under the covers next to the red-headed Bulldog.

The way Archie's arms wrapped around his waist almost immediately had Joaquin on the edge of fucking giggling.

Ugh.

But Joaquin still appreciated the warm arms holding onto him, nuzzling back against Archie's chest as the other kissed the back of his neck.

"This is stupidly comfortable." Joaquin puffed out, smiling to himself.

"Tell me about it." Archie agreed.

Joaquin could probably fall asleep like that. But unfortunately his folks would be home in an hour or so, which meant he'd have to sneak Archie out through the window.

"I just wanna stay like this forever...... Cuddling rocks." Archie sleepily murmured, as if reading Joaquin's damn mind.

"Don't fall asleep on me, pretty boy. Also sex is way better than cuddling." Joaquin turned around to face his boyfriend, planting a kiss on Archie's forehead.

"That's debatable." Archie grinned as Joaquin slung his legs over Archie's body, settling down on top of him.

"Think I'll be able to change your mind 'bout that."