Chapter Text
“Juggie”
Betty moaned softly as Jughead peppered soft kisses down her neck and over her collarbone, undoing the final buttons on her blouse as he did so. Jughead’s Blue and Gold desk squeaked slightly underneath her as she moved her hands from around his neck to pull at the hem of his t-shirt.
“Wait a second” Jughead pulled back, breathless, looking deep into her eyes as she paused her movements. “You sure you want to do this here Bets? My bikes outside”
She considered the proposal for a second. His trailer would be a lot more secure and comfortable, it was also not technically a public space. Rationally it was the better option, but she was far too turned on then to listen to reason. “Fuck it, this is hot” Betty muttered, yanking his top over his head and throwing it on the floor to join her cardigan and ankle boots.
“Someone’s eager” Jughead chuckled lowly, the noise catching in his throat as she began palming him through his jeans “Fuck baby”
Betty smirked at his use of her favourite nickname. He didn’t call her baby often, but whenever he did it never failed to awaken the familiar butterflies in her stomach.
Jughead continued kissing her hard as he reached around to undo the clasp of her bra, growling when he couldn’t seem to find where one clasp ended and the other began. “I swear you need to be a fucking magician to get these things off”
Betty giggled, removing her hands from his hair to help him with the clasp, her smaller hands enclosing themselves over his to guide him.
Just as she felt the clasp unclip, there was a loud buzzing from her backpack, breaking the moment as Jughead leapt away from her, a reflex from their previous secrecy. “You’re fucking kidding me” Betty cursed under her breath, hopping down off the desk to retrieve her phone and answer whatever mood breaker had decided to ring.
Leaning down and rummaging in her bag, she felt two hands secure themselves on her shoulders, massaging her lightly. “Tell them that they have terrible timing and to leave you alone” Jughead whispered against her earlobe before biting it, sending a pleasurable shiver down her spine.
Betty pulled her phone out of the backpack, spilling half the contents on the floor to catch the caller id before it rang out.
She glanced at the screen and sighed. “What’s up Kev” Betty forced her voice to be calm as Jughead continued to massage her back gently, dropping kisses to her neck while she squirmed, trying her hardest to listen to Kevin on the other end of the line but failing miserably. “Sorry what was that?”
“Jesus H Christ Betty Cooper you are infuriating” Kevin scolded “What I was saying is me and J are going to be late to Pop’s tonight. I was letting you know to order without us tonight.”
“Uh huh… ok… fine, see you then” Betty chocked out as Jughead began to suck the spot on her neck that made her writhe under his touch.
“Umm, are you ok Betty. You sound a bit chocked” Kevin inquired, his interest peaking.
“Yeah it’s nothing… got to go though”
“I didn’t interrupt something I shouldn’t have, did I?” Kevin asked, and Betty could just imagine he was leaning forward and smirking at his intuition. “Not something with a certain dark haired lover boy-“
“Bye Kevin” Betty squealed, hanging up before he could embarrass her further. Jughead laughed into her neck before she spun around sharply to face him, grabbing his hair in her fists and leaning up so their mouths were grazing one another’s. She could feel his raged breaths as the smirk disappeared from his face, replaced by a look of pure, unadulterated lust.
“Well ‘lover boy’” Betty teased, pulling his hair lightly as Jughead moaned in response. “Where were we”
***
It was a little past 7 when the roar of Jughead’s motorcycle could be heard throughout Pop’s, the deafening noise turning heads as he pulled up into the familiar parking lot. A blonde Betty Cooper straddled the bike with her arms in a vice grip around his waist that didn’t falter until they came to an abrupt standstill.
They could feel the eyes on them as soon as they dismounted the bike. Jughead felt his hands get clammy as he worried what the Northside community would do to him, and even worse, Betty. He’d seen the lengths they’d gone to to exile her and it made him worry about her safety
“Juggie?” Betty asked cautiously. She looked as concerned as him, her lip pulled between her teeth.
Jughead sighed deeply and grasped her hand. “I’m fine Bets, let’s go inside”
“Are you sure Jug, cause your hands are really sweaty. We can go back to yours instead if you want?” Betty asked, turning so they were facing one another and holding both his hand under her chin. “You don’t have to do this for me, not if it’s going to make you uncomfortable or-”
Betty was cut off by Jugheads lips against hers, she let out a small sigh at the contact and pulled his hands further towards her.
He pulled away just far enough to whisper against her lips. “I love you and I’d do anything for you Betty Cooper. I’d even walk into a place full of assholes that hate me if it would make you happy.”
“You’re really cheesy, you know that right?” Betty asked giggling. Her eyes darted over his face before falling to his hands that were still held in hers against her. Smirking she brought them up to her mouth and kissed each knuckle lightly. “I love you so much Juggie. You’re it for me, so I want to do these kinds of things together. It’s important to me that you become part of my life, my boring, normal life anyway”
“Whatever you say”
The bell rang above the door rang as the two polar opposites entered. Their hands were intertwined tightly as they walked through the door before an abrupt silence engulphed the diner. Hushed whispers were shared between friends as the two looked at one another fearfully. Strangers who would usually cower in the presence of a Serpent were intrigued at the caring, even vulnerable expression he wore as his glanced down at the girl beside him.
Betty regained her composure first and began to pull Jughead toward the only empty booth as she began chatting animatedly about the milkshakes. It was a sight to see the small, shy Betty Cooper who was usually bubble gum and sunshine so happy with the dark and brooding gang member; only the two of them knowing they had more similarities than differences.
Jughead slumped down next to Betty and slung his arm around her slender frame as she continued to chat about the diner he had never been permitted to visit - unless it was for business - before. Betty leant into him as she educated him on the history of Pop’s chock lit Shoppe under the florescent lights from outside.
“The family have owned Pop’s for over 80 years and it’s barely changed since the 1940’s” Betty gestured rapidly as she fired off facts to Jughead who was staring down at her like she hung the moon and stars. Their adoration for each other was obvious to anyone who glanced their way, but it didn’t make the situation any more acceptable in their smallminded eyes.
“Hey kids, you ready to order?”
They both jumped and turned to see Pop’s standing beside their booth with a notebook in hand and a wary expression on his face.
“Hey Pop” Betty greeted as he smiled at the perky blonde who was still tucked under the arm of someone he would never have imagined stepping foot inside his diner. “I’ll have my usual please and… what do you want Jug?”
“Uhm what have you got here?” Jughead asked awkwardly, shuffling slightly under the older man’s suspicious gaze. Betty could sense both their unease with the situation. She knew Jughead’s jacket held a certain stereotype that he would be an intimidating gangbanger, but she knew he was the opposite and he deserved the same treatment she received.
“Hey, Pop” Betty began, playing with Jugheads sleeve as the man pulled his eyes over to her. “You don’t have to worry about Jughead, he’s only here because I forced him to come. Also, he may be a serpent, but I promise you Juggie’s a teddy bear at heart.”
Pop’s chuckled, significantly more relaxed with the boy who had the affirmation of Betty Cooper and handed Jughead a menu. “Well then young man, we have everything you would expect. I can come back in a minute when you’ve decided and-“
“I’ll have two burgers with extra-large fries and a vanilla milkshake” Jughead interrupted, reading off the menu hungrily before looking back up at an amused Pop. “Oh, sorry, please”
“Hungry are we” Pop’s laughed, scribbling down Jughead hefty order.
“He always is” Betty smiled up at her boyfriend, ruffling his hair with her free hand. “He could eat half your daily takings in one sitting if he tried.”
“She’s not wrong” Jughead grinned slightly as he recovered from the awkwardness they'd felt before.
“Well then, don’t be a stranger.” Pop’s offered, smiling warmly at the couple. “If Betty says you’re trustworthy, then who am I to argue. I’ll get your food and milkshakes out asap, two vanilla right”
“As always, thanks Pop” Betty replied, an impossibly large smile on her face as she eyed Jughead’s surprised expression.
Pop left the two alone and Jughead let out a large sigh. “Damn, that was unexpected”
“At least we have another ally on the Northside, that’s good right?” Betty asked eagerly, grin faltering slightly as she looked at Jughead’s unreadable expression.
“Definitely”
"So, vanilla?" Betty asked raising her eyebrows and biting her lip.
"You know better than anyone that vanilla's my favourite"
***
Kevin and Joaquin arrived just after their food did, entering the diner and receiving the same suspitious looks Betty and Jughead did. The only difference was they seemed to embrace it.
“Betty. Jughead. This is my scrumptious boyfriend Joaquin” Kevin began as soon as he approached their booth, dragging a smirking dark haired boy behind him . “Although, I’ve been lead to believe you two have already met” He continued, glancing between the two Serpents.
“We’ve crossed paths before” Jughead grinned at the quiet boy behind his preppy friend. “What’s up Joaquin, finally found a guy who isn’t repulsed by you?” He asked, pronouncing his old friends name jock-quin.
“There he is!” Joaquin laughed, leaning down to bro-hug Jughead. “Long time no see Jug. Do my eye deceive me or have you found a girlfriend!”
“Oh J” Kevin chuckled, grabbing Betty’s milkshake as he sat on the opposite side of the booth and sipping it suggestively. “I think it’s time to get you caught up in the rom-com level romance that is Bughead.”
"Ok, what is Bughead?"
***
“Well” Jughead began as Betty snuggled in under his arm on the trailer couch. “That didn’t go as horribly as expected”
After his initial fears, their trip to Pop’s on couples night hadn’t been awful. He’d, dare he jinx himself, enjoyed it. Kevin and Joaquin had been great company, cracking jokes (mostly at Betty and Jughead's expense), showing some questionable PDA and blatantly flirting with any jocks that had a problem with their being there. Jughead had mentally noted it was a very effective way to get jocks and their toxic masculinity to run for the hills.
“Since your little rough up with Archie I would hope everyone knows to keep their distance from my man” Betty grinned as he leant down to kiss her deeply, savouring in the feeling of her lips on his. He was so engrossed in the kiss he barely noticed to door ease open and a guilty looking Jellybean enter, carrying her heels in one hand and a set of keys in the other. Glancing at the wall clock she saw it read past midnight and Jughead would be extremely pissed to know she’d been out this late. She’d almost reached her bedroom door when Jughead cleared his throat and she reluctantly turned to face him and Betty.
“Where were you all night? I thought you were in your room?” Jughead sat upright and stared Jellybean down as she went to sit in the armchair opposite.
“Nowhere”
“JB”
“Just on a date, nothing special” She mumbled, staring at the coffee table by her feet.
Betty ears pricked up at this, shaking Jughead’s arm from her shoulder and leaning forward on her hand excitedly. “No way, that’s great JB! Who was the lucky girl?”
Jellybean leaped at the opportunity to change the subject; even if this subject was also testy. “Just someone from school, but it was amazing. She took me to Greendale’s vintage cinema and uhh it was magical.”
“Aww JB, that sounds great. Me and Jug watched Rear Window there last week” Betty replied clasping her hand over her heart, so happy for the girl who was practically her sister had found someone. "What'd you see?"
“Wait, how’d you get all the way to Greendale? The buses don’t run this late” Jughead interrogated to a chorus of groans from Betty and Jellybean.
“Give the protective brother thing a rest for 5 minutes. We’re not putting JB on trial here.” Betty challenged him with an icy glare before adding “If JB quizzed you about every single one of our dates you wouldn’t like that, would you?” The tips of Jughead’s ears turned red and Betty turned back around triumphant.
“Don’t worry Betty, I’m used to it. But if you must know, she took me on her bike.” JB decided it would be better to just get it out there rather than keep it bottled up.
“Hold on. She has a bike!” Jughead questioned as sirens went off in his head. “How old is she?”
“Ok, first you have to promise me you won’t be mad” Jellybean began before Jughead cut her off
“I won't promise anything, how old?”
“Sorry, but I’m with Jughead on this JB. She’s not like an adult, right?” Betty asked fearfully, grabbing Jughead hand as it threated to ball up into a fist.
“Jesus Christ! No, no, well not really anyway” Jellybean backtracked as she tried to think of a way to explain her new romance. “She’s actually in your year at Riverdale High”
“What the fuck JB?” Betty asked incredulously. “Sorry, sorry. Didn’t mean to ask like that”
“Fine then, I will” Jughead said, directing his gaze back to his sister. “What the fuck JB!”
“Both of you calm down, it’s not that big of a deal.” Jellybean mumbled, playing with her sleeve to try and distract herself from the difficult conversation they were about to have.
“I won’t calm down, you’re 15 you can’t be dating someone who’s 17 or even fucking 18! Surely you understand that” Jughead queried.
“Yeah Jelly, this is bad. If you guys do anything, that’s like statutory rape right.” Betty whispered the last few words as Jughead squeezed her hand harder at her mention of somebody hurting his sister.
“Jeez were not even official yet I’m not going to go and sleep with her! Plus, I'll be 16 next year so it’s really not that big of a deal”
"Well that puts my mind completely at ease." Jughead exclaimed sarcastically, running his hands through his beanie less hair. "How do you know she's not, like, manipulating you"
"I'm not that gullible, plus I'm pretty sure you both know her" Jellybean admitted, eyes still focused on the coffee table.
“Who the fuck is it” Jughead’s stomach fell further as he thought of someone he knew hurting his kid sister.
“This time you have to promise me you won’t get mad and throw the lamp at me or anything”
“Jellybean, please, just tell us” Betty begged, sitting on the edge of her seat, her hand still firmly held in Jughead’s increasingly tense one.
“As long as he promises he won’t get angry!” Jellybean said accusingly in Jughead's direction.
“Forsythia! Please” Jughead snapped, feeling immediately guilty as Jellybean looked at him with fury in her eyes at the petty use of her real name. “Jelly, I’m sorry-“
“Her names Toni, happy now?” Jellybean collapsed back rubbing her hands over her face. “I met her at photography club a couple weeks back and she said she knew you.”
“Toni? Toni Topaz?” Betty asked as Jellybean nodded, refusing to make eye contact with either of the shocked couple in front of her.
It was silent for a minute as they processed the information. Betty was still in shock when Jughead spoke.
“I’m gonna kill her.” Jughead stood and retrieved his phone from his back pocket to call Toni and tell her exactly what he thought of her. “She’s got some nerve moving onto my sister as soon as she realized I wasn’t available, and for what? Some petty kind of revenge?”
“Stop Juggie.” Betty demanded as she plucked his phone from his hand and stuffed it in her back pocket. “Look, we’re all tired and this is a big shock, but I think it would be better if we all just slept on this before making any rash decisions.”
“I'm all about rash decisions, you know that better than anyone. Now give me my phone Betty.” Jughead demanded, stepping closer so she could feel his breath on the shell of her ear when he spoke. “And don’t think I won’t just get it myself.”
Betty shivered but tore herself away from him in favour of grabbing her shoes and coat to pull on over her pyjamas. “Change of plan, I’m going to sleep at home tonight and give you two a chance to sort this out. It’s Polly’s last night anyway and I don’t want to miss her in the morning. Now sit, talk and I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Don’t do this Betty” Jughead pleaded, attempting to grasp her hand again but Betty pulled away from his advances.
“I love you both, but this is something you need to sort out. Alone.” Betty announced before she kissed Jughead’s cheek, gave Jellybean a bittersweet look and breezied out the door, leaving the two Jones siblings in silence.
“Jug, please- “
“Save it” Jughead interrupted as he stormed down the small corridor and into his room, slamming the door behind him and climbing into bed.
***
Jughead woke with a start. The sound of the trailer door slamming made his whole body stand on edge as he peeled back his covers silently to pad down the corridor and discover the source of the clattering sounds that now emanated from the kitchen. On his way, his way he grabbed a broom that leant against a nearby doorframe and crept into the living room where he saw a familiar flash of black hair in the adjoining room.
“Dad?” Jughead asked as he rounded the corner fully to see his father fall and slump against the stove mumbling incoherent slurs as the bottle in his hand hit the floor and shattered.
“Jesus Christ” Jughead sighed, utilising the broom still held firmly in his grip and began to sweep the shards into a pile in the corner. A tear slid down his cheek as he dragged the bristles across the worn tiles. It had been a good run of sobriety for his Dad in retrospect. Beside his relapse two weeks ago he’d been sober for almost a year. But of course, it was only a matter of time until he drowned his sorrows again and Jughead kicked himself for having thought he’d actually get his act together for good this time.
FP was practical asleep by the time the glass had been swept away, but he was still slurring words under his breath and Jughead couldn’t let him sleep there all night. He may be a shitty dad, but they still loved him.
“Hey… hey Dad, I’m going to lift you up in a second so work with me please” Jughead asked clearly as he manoeuvred FP’s arm around his shoulders. “Ready? 3,2,1 and up”
They stumbled together through the cramped trailer to Jughead’s room, knocking items off shelves on the way as FPs dead weight prove hard to carry alone. Jughead was sure Jellybean would be woken by all the noise, but after certain revelations he didn’t want to speak to her, let alone ask for her help.
Finally, they made it through the door and Jughead deposited him on the unmade bed and stretched out his back before leaning down and untying his father’s laces.
“Hey… Jug” FP’s voice was quiet but could be heard clear as day in the otherwise silent trailer. Tears formed in his eyes as he felt the wash of guilt overcome him; as it always did. “I’m sorry”
Jughead looked up, seeing him cry was some consolation that he felt some form of remorse or his actions, but that didn’t stop Jughead from being completely pissed with his dad. “It’s ok, just get some rest”
When Jughead next looked up at FP, he was dead to the word, snoring peacefully onto of the covers. Without a second thought, Jughead pulled him into the recovery position in case he was sick in the night, pulled out and asprin from his bedside draw and left him to sleep it off till morning.
Still not fully awake, Jughead grabbed a pillow and collapsed on to the couch to try and get some sleep before the dawn of a difficult morning rose.