Work Text:
-x-
He is having breakfast with his father the morning he drops the bomb on him.
FP almost chokes on his cereal, “You sure this is a good idea?” he asks, sounding concerned.
Jughead sighs, eyeing the clock on the wall to make sure he is not late for school. “Dad, are you serious?” he tells him, “She has no where else to go,” Jughead specifies.
He watches the older man stumble, realizing that this was nothing new and yet, it was still going to change things around here. “I mean,” FP starts. “You see each other at school, then you see each other at home…plus you’re working on your campaign together,” he goes on to say. “It’s just a lot of time, son.”
Jughead understands where he’s coming from but, nonetheless, the young writer is as stubborn as ever. “I love her,” he states, as if it’s a song. “There’s no such thing as spending too much time with Betty Cooper,” he smirks.
FP Jones can’t help but roll his eyes. His son was nothing but a real sap.
“Alright,” he shrugs, “Whatever you say,” FP says, just as Betty’s getting out of the shower in nothing but a fluffy white towel.
(She smiles at him and offers him a kiss ‘good morning’. Jughead is already distracted in front of his dad and, somehow he’s already regretting his decision to let her stay).
-x-
She sleeps in his room while he’s on the living room air mattress.
Betty stares at the millions of things around her before falling asleep: old books, that ancient typewriter, vintage posters and records - it’s all so comforting. Because it’s all Jughead, it’s all Riverdale, it’s everything she loves about this place and more.
(And they think that FP is daft, that he doesn’t hear his son tip-toeing back there to be with her.
He doesn’t say much though, he’s been young and in love before, he knows what it’s like).
-x-
They lie next to each other and kiss under his sheets that smell like cologne and papyrus. She pulls him close and whispers sweet nothings in his ear and, oh god, it’s like it’s their first time together all over again.
He thinks he could really get used to having Betty in his bed.
-x-
The next morning, Jughead wakes up to her hair in his face.
She rolls to his side and he’s frowning but, she’s got the upper-hand, complaining about he’s been snoring in her ear all night. How he’s been holding her close all night, so close that she can’t even breathe sometimes.
He laughs.
She glares at him.
-x-
They’ve been together for long enough, but still, they’re learning new things about each other.
Jughead makes popcorn at midnight, doesn’t like eating alone at the table, uses a specific brand of sandalwood scented body lotion, doesn’t know how to use an oven…is constantly constantly looking out for her.
Betty is a mess in the bathroom - hair everywhere, products and curlers, make up stains and powder. She reads all his books and never puts them back in the same place she found them.
(She steals all the covers at night, while he shivers).
-x-
Dinner at the Jones’ house is always an ordeal. Betty’s not used to it, mostly because, dinner at her house is a broken disarray. It used to be perfect, with Polly and mom and dad. Then it was the three of them without Polly, and things we’re still just as good (not perfect, but good). Then dad left, and Chic came in -
And that was that.
However, Jughead’s family is completely different. Toni is playing Guitar Hero and riding up a storm while Cheryl cheers her on. Sweet Pea and Fangs are having a hot-dog eating contest, scarfing down food like animals. All the while, Jughead and his dad are laughing loud enough for all of Riverdale to hear.
With all this noise, Betty wonders how anyone here every gets any sleep.
Jughead catches her absentmindedly glancing at him and smiles. She quickly breaks their gaze, blushing.
-x-
Her mother calls her twice a day.
Mostly to check in on her daughter, and to complain. She asks if the Jones’ boys are feeding her properly, if they even know how to even cook anything or get passed the first page of the Chinese take-out menu.
Betty gives her very short and meek answers, but, she sounds the happiest she’s been in a long time.
She likes it here, away from the chaos and the drama that is the Cooper residence. She thinks she might extend her stay just a bit more.
-x-
And one morning, Jughead catches her in nothing but his Serpents jacket.
She freezes, almost immediately, like a deer in headlights.
“You look - ” he’s slow, everything slows. In the moments in-between the star-systems, the loss, and just how she’s fucking looking at him right now, begging to be touched.
“Silly,” she says instead, giggling.
“Sexy,” he corrects, pulling her by the hips.
Betty presses a knee to each of his sides as he’s sitting on his bed, looking up at her. Jughead leans back, wincing as the sun filters through his open window.
“I thought you’d be mad at me,” she whispers softly, through cherry flavored lips. “You don’t want me to be part of your world, remember?” Betty says.
“I don’t think I see things that way anymore,” he whispers back, hang caught in her delicate blonde curls. “My world is you, always always you,” he finally admits.
She kisses him with both hands cupping his face, and agrees.
-x-
They ride off on motorcycles in the middle of the night.
FP up ahead, leading them on with the rest of the Serpents not too far behind. Sweet Pea is screaming, while Fangs is howling. Toni and Cheryl ride together, laughing.
Betty holds on to Jughead for dear life - and finally lets go of her past.
-x-