Work Text:
.
“I was lost and tired
Looking for a way out
Found you.
Who knew people could be maps too?”
Unknown
‘Jughead Jones, I’ll love you until the day I die!’
Betty types this into her computer as he chats excitedly about the newest issue of National Geographic. She likes hearing his passionate speeches about coffee bean farmers in Brazil and deep sea diving with turtles in Australia and about his passport dreams and writing for travel magazines one day.
For her part, she dreams about college and then settling down in a beautiful house in Riverdale and a garden and kids. And yes, she sees him coming home to her at the end of the day but she knows in her heart of hearts, he doesn’t belong there and if she tells him how she feels. If she asks him to stay, she thinks he might end up resenting her.
So, she listens to him and supports his daydream even though it’s breaking her heart.
.
When they’re 18 and about to graduate from high school, he walks her home after prom. Sweet Pea, being the joker that he is, set off the sprinklers in the gym as a prank. Luckily, there were enough sweatshirts and Bulldog jerseys in the locker rooms for everyone to trade out their wet tuxedos and dresses for something dry. So, he’s carrying her dress while they stroll along slowly and sing songs from High School Musical together just like they did when they were in elementary school.
Jughead pauses mid-song and smiles at her. “You know, I thought tonight was going to be boring but I actually had fun!”
“It was exciting,” Betty agrees as she stops to look up at him, the jersey she’s wearing is three sizes too big for her and it slips off her shoulder, revealing skin. “How much trouble do you think Sweet Pea is going to be in tomorrow?”
Jughead shrugs. “Not any more than usual.”
Betty laughs. “Jug, do you know how ridiculous you look right now?”
Jughead pulls at the football pants he’s wearing and laughs. “Well, I guess I don’t really have the football kind of build. You look great! If it were anyone but me talking, I might say you’re the most beautiful girl in town.”
Betty pulls the jersey back up on her shoulder. “So, why don’t you?”
Jughead gets a funny look on his face and he starts to walk again. “We’re soaring, flying. . .”
Betty catches up with him despite her high heels. “. . .there’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach. . .” she trips and he lurches forward to catch her before she falls.
They are so close he can smell her perfume. “Hey. . . hey, Betty. . .” he says as he releases her, leaning in closer like he’s going to kiss her.
Betty starts to sing again, “. . .if we’re trying,” and continues to walk.
“Okay, then I’ll throw a rock at the old Bailey house!”
Betty runs back. “Oh no, don’t! I love that old house!” she protests.
“You make a wish and then break some glass,” Jughead explains.
She pushes his hand down. “Come on Juggie, don’t! It’s full of romance, I’d like to live in it.”
Jughead frowns. “In that place? I wouldn’t live in it as a ghost! Now watch!” he hurls the rock as hard as he can and it breaks a window on the second floor.
Betty gives him half-a-smile. “What did you wish for Juggie?”
“Not just one wish, a whole handful of them. Betty, I know what I’m doing tomorrow and the next day, and next week. And next year, then the year after that. I’m shaking the dust of Riverdale off of my feet and I’m going to NYU then I am going to see the world and write about it. . .” he stops when Betty bends down. “What, are you going to throw a rock?”
Betty closes her eyes and chucks it as hard as she can, there’s a loud crash and she looks self-satisfied as she begins to walk again, humming Breaking Free as she goes.
“What did you wish for, Betty?” Jughead asks.
“If I told you, it might not come true!” Betty replies.
Jughead looks at her. “What is it that you want, Betty? What do you want? Do you want the moon? Just say the word and I’ll throw a lasso around it and pull it down.”
“You stole that from a movie,” Betty says.
“It’s a good line,” Jughead answers. “Come on, tell me what you wished for.”
“Maybe later,” Betty whispers.
.
Jughead’s plans to leave Riverdale gets postponed when Pop Tate and leaves him the diner. There’s a letter with the last will and testament, telling him that it’s his because he won’t let anyone turn it into a Starbucks or a Chick Fil A.
It’s a big responsibility for an 18-year-old but he rallies himself. Withdraws from NYU, enrolls in an online college with a flexible schedule, and tries to pretend that he’s not bothered that he’s getting left behind while the rest of his friends move on.
He can go some other time, when he finds somebody he trusts enough to put in charge of Pop’s diner.
.
Betty returns 4 years later with a sleek bob and a degree in creative writing. She drops in to see him every single day. She waits tables when he’s short-staffed, does his laundry, makes his meals.
“Why didn’t you stay in New York City like Archie and Veronica? He asks one rainy Saturday when she comes over to his house and lights candles and changes his bedsheets.
“I missed home,” she tells him.
“You missed Riverdale?”
“Not everybody is as eager to leave as you are,” Betty informs him. “New York City is great, it really is. The fashion, the music, the food. But I missed the quiet. Riverdale doesn’t feel quite as claustrophobic. . . and you weren’t there. I missed you most of all.”
Jughead looks at her. “Me?” he asks in disbelief.
She passes him with his bundle of dirty sheets and touches his face. “Yes you. You don’t know how much I wished you could have been there.”
Jughead’s stomach twists because this isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. She was supposed to move on with her life, she was supposed to do amazing things. She wasn’t supposed to come back to Riverdale, she wasn’t supposed to come back to him.
“I’m going to the diner,” he says. “The spare key is under the mat, could you lock up when you leave?”
.
“Betty’s a nice girl,” Gladys comments after Archie and Veronica’s engagement party. “She could change your life.”
Jughead thinks about all the things she does for him, the Downy in his sheets, the homemade pastries for breakfast, and how she came back. She came back. . . for him, he knows it even though she’s never said it aloud. He’s irrationally angry with her.
He tells his mom that he’ll be back and storms into the kitchen where she is loading the industrial dishwasher in a shimmery gold cocktail dress and high heels.
“Listen to me,” he says. “Listen! I am not interested in ever getting married or starting a family! I’m leaving Riverdale one day. I’m leaving and nothing or no one is going to stop me! Do you understand!?”
Betty looks at him and nods, her eyes are shining in the fluorescent lights, a tear slowly slides down her cheek. It’s followed by a procession of dozens.
Something inside Jughead snaps. He wants to shake her, to tell her to find somebody else, somebody who is worthy of her. Instead, he stalks towards her and grabs her by the shoulders. He kisses her, she’s trembling. He is too.
“Betty—” he whispers, their eyes meeting.
“Shhh,” she soothes like she can see straight into his soul, she combs her fingers through his hair gently. “It’s okay. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
But for the first time in his life, Jughead doesn’t really know what he wants. Except he realizes, maybe he’s always wanted her along with everything else. Or maybe more than anything else, the one variable he never dared to consider because he knew she would change everything.
“Betty,” he says again.
She doesn’t say anything, she just presses a kiss to his cheek. To his other one, to his throat and then to his eyes. There are the faint strains of a George Michael song on the jukebox and he is unmoored.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” she repeats. “But I sure wish you would let me love you.”
“I might be terribly bad at loving you back,” Jughead warns her.
“You can take all the time you need,” she replies. “Because I’m not going anywhere.”
.
Deciding to marry her is the easiest thing to do in the world. He’s getting over the flu and she’s making a pot of chicken stew in his kitchen while she sings along to Taylor Swift. Being stuck in Riverdale has become more bearable because of her. Yes, he still dreams of seeing the Pyramids one day, of eating his way through Italy. He still reads National Geographic. But. . .
“Marry me,” he says.
Betty looks up from the celery she’s chopping. “What did you say?”
“I said marry me,” Jughead answers.
Betty laughs. “You have a fever.”
“You and I both know I don’t have a fever anymore! What is it? Do you not want to marry me?”
“I-I don’t want you to resent me,” Betty answers carefully. “I don’t want you to wake up one day and look at me and see everything you missed out on. Marriage is a big responsibility, it isn’t leaving town on a whim. We both know if you could, you wouldn’t be here right now. Staying was never an option, it was something you were forced into because your name was on a legal document.”
“I’m not going to lie, I still want to travel but I want you more. I knew it the night of the prom and a few weeks ago in the diner kitchen. I just. . . I love you too, Betty and if I go anywhere, I want to take you with me.”
Betty releases a breath. “I don’t want you to just be saying that to me because I’m here or you don’t know what you’d do without me—”
“I’ll prove it to you,” Jughead promises, hoping the way he’s looking at her is sincere enough. “Please let me prove it to you.”
“Be careful with my heart,” Betty whispers. “Please Jughead. I can’t—”
“I promise,” Jughead said, going over to her and taking her hands. “I promise!”
.
She calls him one afternoon and asks if he can meet her. After his sister and her best friend convince him that they won’t burn the diner down, he goes to the address she texted him
It’s the old Bailey House.
It feels like it’s been ages since they stood in front of it and made wishes while they threw rocks into the windows. She’s standing in front of the dilapidated gate, looking pleased with herself as he gets out of the car and goes to meet her.
“What’s going on?” he asks. “Did you invite me here so we could destroy some more property that doesn’t belong to us?”
“Actually. . .” Betty holds up a key. “It does belong to me! I bought it.”
“You bought it!?” Jughead repeats. “This place is a money pit! Why on earth would you do something like that!?”
“Remember all those years ago after prom? You wanted to know what I wished for?”
Jughead nods, sometimes he still wonders what she wished for. He smirks at her. “I thought you wanted the moon, Betty.”
Betty laughs and shakes her head. “This is what I wished for. . . well, this is part of what I wished for anyways.”
“A house that is in terrible need of repairs?”
“I talked to a contractor and he said it wouldn’t be too bad.”
“Babe, you’re going to need Chip and Joanna Gaines to fix this place up!”
“Well, you’re in luck, Joanna Gaines is my guru. I’m sure I can handle it!” Betty says.
“How are you going to afford it? And why did you ask me to come here?”
“I’ve been saving money forever,” Betty replies. “Ever since I knew I was going to come back here to live. Did you think I’d want to stay with my parents forever? And the reason I asked you to come here today is because you did ask me to marry you, so it does sort of involve you.”
“You didn’t say yes,” Jughead reminds her as he follows her through the gate and up the stairs into the house.
“I didn’t say no either,” Betty reminds him before launching into her plans for home renovation, they include a life with him in it. A master bedroom and an office for both of them to write in (but only if he wants to). She asks for his input, like what colors she should us and if they should use one of the many rooms as a personal library and if he would prefer a king or queen bed.
The next day, he takes his passport to Pop’s and locks it in the safe. He dips into his travel fund and spends the morning ring shopping so he can propose to Betty properly. When he leaves the jewelry store with a solitaire diamond in his Sherpa jacket, the African safari he’s always dreamed of seems even further away.
.
He marries her three weeks before Christmas. She’s beautiful in satin and faux fur, and red lipstick. She’s smiling at him as she glides down the aisle on her father’s arm.
And then she reads her vows to him in front of God and all their friends and family. “You asked me what I wished for that night after prom. This is what I wished for,,” she tells him. “For a life with you in it and for my children to look like you and for you to stay or for you to take me with you. I wished that one day life would bring me back together and I know your wish didn’t come true but here we are and I feel so lucky. Jughead Jones, I’m going to love you until the day I die.”
“Betty Cooper, I might have wanted the world,” Jughead replies, squeezing her hands. “But I got you instead and you’re better than if I had traveled the world a dozen times over. I only hope I can be worthy of you because you are too good for me. I promise I’ll try though. I’ll try my best to be somebody worthy of your love and if I leave, if I ever leave then I’ll take you with me.”
The End
.