Work Text:
Forsythe Pendleton Jones II sighs as he walks up the steps to Pops diner. He’s glad to finally have some semblance of good news to share with the Serpents amongst all the mess with Fangs and Hiram. The Serpents need some sort of hope to hold on to. He needs some sort of hope to hold on to.
And right now, that hope comes from the delicious smell emerging from the partially closed red doors in front of him. He hasn’t had anything to eat in almost a day. The feeling of hunger took a backseat to the feeling of his heart being ripped out as he held his unconscious boy, bleeding out in his arms. Sure, Jughead is a little bitch, but he’s still FP’s little boy. FP didn’t even leave Jughead’s side until he woke up and FP was sure he was stable.
And that was the news he couldn’t wait to share with the Serpents in Pops. He opens the doors and steps from the darkness of the night into the red lighting of Pops. Dozens of heads immediately turn towards him. He feels their curious eyes assessing him, probably trying to figure out if he comes with good or bad news. Based on the solemn faces, they must’ve assumed the worst.
“Well?” Cheryl asks, breaking the stalemate. FP cracks a half grin at her. At least one person was able to find a new home in this flaming shit pile known as the last few weeks.
His smile widens when he says, “Jughead’s out of surgery and doin’ just fine.”
A chorus of cheers emerge, and the senior members hold up their beers in a toast. FP decides to skip the rounds of pity comments and goes straight for the food.
“Hey, Pops, can I get a cheeseburger and a heap of fries?” FP asks.
“Sure thing, Junior,” Pops replies. He’s probably the only person in this whole damn town that still calls him Junior…and is able to get away with it.
FP sits at the counter, right next to Toni.
She looks up at him with a solemn expression.
“I’m so sorry, FP.” She starts, “I tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen to reason. I’m so sorry…”
FP interrupts her, “Toni, if there’s one thing I know about my boy, it’s that listening to reason is definitely not his strong suit. He certainly has a mind of his own. I doubt there’s a single person that could change his mind about something.”
Sweet Pea grunts from a few seats over, “That's for damn sure.”
Pop slides a steaming hot plate in front of FP.
“Thanks, Pops.” FP nods, snatching the juicy burger from the plate.
“Glad to hear your boy’s okay.” Pops says and pats FP once on his back. FP nods in thanks once again, this time with a mouthful of burger. He’s not exactly the best with these sorrowful emotions. Luckily, no one so far seems to be trying to pry into those emotions.
“So, did Betty tell you?” Toni asks. She’s probably talking about the weird phone call Jughead left before he started his dumbass “heroic sacrifice”.
FP manages a chuckle, “Yeah, that was a pretty cringey phone call.”
Toni looks puzzled, “What?”
“The message Jughead left for Betty. Like geez, you would’ve thought they were a couple who were splitting up after dating for a few decades, not a few months.”
“I highly doubt Jughead left Betty a message about her father being the Black Hood.”
“The fuck?” FP sputters, choking on his burger.
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Cheryl rolls her eyes at his choking, “it was so obvious that Hal was the Black Hood. I predicted that months ago. And I was right…as per usual.” Cheryl whacks the choking FP on his back. A chunk of burger is sent flying across the counter.
FP takes a swig of water before demanding, “Did I hear you right? Hal Cooper is the Black Hood? Hal Cooper, the person who's as useful as a flimsy ham sandwich, is the Black Hood?”
“Yeah, it’s all over the news,” Toni replies, “I can’t believe you haven’t seen it yet. And he completely lost it, like he was trying to pull off a double homicide-murder. Completely off the deep end.”
“Are Betty and Alice okay?” FP asks, panicked. When Betty visited the hospital, she hadn’t said a word about this. All she did was sink to her knees and weep next to his body. It was very…over the top, to say the least. He finally had to intervene when she started to kiss his unconscious body. Teens are weird.
“They’re fine. But Alice seems a bit shaken up. She completely went off on all the reporters.”
“But that’s also typical Alice Cooper behavior.” Cheryl adds, plopping the cherry from Toni’s milkshake into her mouth.
FP can’t seem to hear any other comments after that. His head begins to spin, with only one thought circling: Alice needs him. They may not be on the most solid ground right now, but she needs him. There’s no other person who knows how to calm down Alice; he’s the only person who really knows her and knows how to help her. They left things off in a weird place and FP would be lying if he said he doesn’t still feel a pang of hurt whenever he thinks about Alice. Thinks about…their son. His son. His son he didn’t know he had until a few weeks ago. His son with Alice. With Alice who right now is probably in shock as the foundation of her life is crumbling underneath her.
“I need to go.” FP says, suddenly snapping out of his spiraling thoughts. He drops the rest of his burger and rushes past surprised faces to the door.
“But, FP!” Sweet Pea calls out.
FP whips around to face him, now standing in the door way. “What is it?”
“Your fries.” Sweet Pea gestures to the pile of untouched fries.
FP sighs and rolls his eyes, “Yes, you can have them.” FP shuts the door on a grinning Sweet Pea shoving a handful of fries in his face.
FP pulls up to a dark Cooper house. It looks like it always does, no traces of the drama that went down in it just 24 hours ago. He hops off his motorcycle and runs up towards the door, trying to escape the impending storm that’s right around the corner. He knocks on the large door. Is Alice okay? No answer. He’s not surprised, it is 2a.m after all. But he’s determined. He knows it’s late and that she’s probably asleep, but he can’t think straight. His mind is filled with only thoughts about Alice, taking up the place in his brain where common sense would be. Is Alice okay?
FP walks around the house to the back where the roof is low enough to easily reach. The wind whips the start of the rain into his face as he jumps up to grab the roof, but he doesn’t even notice. IS ALICE OKAY? He pulls himself up on the slippery shingles. Thunder booms around him and lightning flashes. But all he can concentrate on is if Alice. IS ALICE OKAY? The rains hurls down at him as he stands up.
He knocks on Alice’s bedroom window, trying to be heard over the splattering of rain on the window. No answer once again. But he needs to know. IS ALICE OKAY? He holds his hand over his eyes and presses his face against the glass. A lightning flash helps to illuminate an empty room. He sighs in defeat. She’s not there. But she wouldn’t leave her house, not in the midst of family drama. Alice, just life FP, would never want to be around people who would try and pry into her life, giving her that pitying look. Through all their differences, they still seem to function just the same. But maybe she’s changed. Maybe he doesn’t know her. Maybe she’s not the same Alice he knew 25 years ago.
FP sighs, doubt now clouding his mind. It’s raining, he should get off this damn roof and go home. But he can’t seem to jump off; he needs to know. Now he doesn’t need to know just if Alice is okay, he also needs to know if he still knows her. It sounds weird to him if he thinks about it too much. But he just…he just wants to know if he’s still ~connected~ to her. Even if that connection’s as small as how they both handle trauma the same.
FP carefully inches his way around the side of the house, moving past Betty’s window. He reaches Polly’s window. His heart seems to jump in his throat when he sees the faint light glowing from a lamp in the room. For the first time since arriving at the Cooper household, he’s filled with hope. He knows Polly left Riverdale a while ago, it couldn’t be her.
He knocks on the window, loud enough to be heard over the rain. No answer. The silence wipes away his small ounce of hope he once had. She’s not here. He begins to walk to the end of the roof.
The rain’s sound pattern on the window changes. FP lifts his heavy head up to look. His eyes meet a familiar blue pair. She’s here. She’s here. He knew she was here.
“Why the fuck are you on my roof, FP?” Alice snaps, “Going from body dumper to cat burglar?”
“Alice.” FP whispers, too happy to even think of any witty comeback.
“You’re soaked.” Alice notes, pointing out the rather obvious.
“It is raining, Alice.” FP cracks a grin at her.
“Okay smart ass.” Alice snaps, “Since you seem to know everything, and I seem to be in the dark, please enlighten me. So, I ask once again; why is FP Jones standing on my roof at 2:13 in the morning in the pouring rain?”
“Are you okay?” FP asks quickly.
“Just peachy.” Alice glares, “Now get the hell off my roof.”
FP sticks his hand in her window before she can close it, “You’re not okay.”
“You’re crazy.” Alice mutters, trying to close the window.
“You’re crazy.” FP whispers, fighting to open the window. Alice groans and holds her hands up in defeat. She steps away from the window and sits down on the bed.
“Now I really know you’re crazy.” FP says, climbing in through the window. “The Alice I know would never give up a fight.”
“You’re dripping water all over the floor.” Alice complains, pointing at the puddle forming below FP’s feet.
“Well maybe if you would’ve let me in sooner, I wouldn’t have been as soaked from the rain.” FP suggests with a raised eyebrow.
Alice rolls her eyes and says, “Stay where you are. Don’t you dare track that water any father in this house.” She walks out of the door and comes back with two large baby blue bath towels. Of course they’re baby blue.
“Here.” She says and throws the towels at FP, “Clean this up.” He grins at her as he puts one towel on the ground and places the other on his shoulders.
“You know this scene is bringing me back to high school.” FP says, trying to fight the silence that’s beginning to blanket the room.
“Is that really why you’re here at this ungodly hour?” Alice sighs. “To recreate some distant high school memory?”
“I think you know why I’m here.” FP says gently, stepping towards her.
Alice snorts, “I have no idea why you do half of the dumbass things you do.”
“I heard.” FP says, barely in a whisper. He reaches out to grab her hand.
Alice pulls away, feigning ignorance. “I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about.”
“Alice please, I just want to know how you’re doing.”
“How I’m doing? How I’m doing? How the fuck do you think I’m doing, FP!” Alice shouts, her breaths getting shorter and shorter. “My entire life is messed up. I just found out that my husband for over 20 years is a serial killer. That I built my life around a man who strangled a woman with a bow string. That I share two kids with a man who shot Fred Andrews in front of his son. That I ate breakfast every morning across from a man who mutilated a girl and posed her dead body for the whole town to see. That I slept in a bed for 20 years next to a man who tormented my daughter with phone calls and made her do his bidding. That this entire house, this entire life, is interwoven with a deranged criminal. And this all comes only a few weeks after I found out the son I thought I had was a fake and my real son is dead because of me. So, you want to know how I’m doing? Take a wild guess, FP. But it sure as hell isn’t peachy!” At this point she’s crying. Her sobs are only muffled by the fact that she’s gasping for breath. She can barely even stand and starts to stumble.
FP catches her, holding her in his arms. He can feel her sobs against his chest. He can feel her tears falling off her face onto his neck. His heart is breaking even more knowing now why she’s sleeping in Polly’s room: she can’t sleep in her own bed. She can’t sleep in the bed she shared with that despicable man. How dare that fucking piece of trash Ham hurt this beautiful queen.
Alice’s cries begin to fade to a small sniffle and he lifts her head from his chest, so that it’s eye level with him. She stays still as FP carefully wipes her tears away. He’s close enough to her face that he can see the blood shot red in her eyes and the bags under them. She looks so hurt and so tired. She doesn’t deserve this abuse that soggy meatball of a man put her through.
“Have you slept at all?” FP asks softly, brushing a few lose strands of golden blond hair behind her ears.
She shakes her head and murmurs, “I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep.” She can’t even feel safe in her own damn home. She’s constantly tormented. That fucking Ham Cooper. He was supposed to keep her safe. He was supposed to give Alice everything she deserved. He was not supposed to scar and abuse her.
FP is furious. At Ham. At the world. And then, at himself. If only he had wised up in high school. If only he would have chosen Alice over the Serpents. If only he could’ve given Alice everything she wanted. If only he fought harder to keep the love of his life. Then there would be no Ham. Alice would be able to sleep at night and feel safe in her own damn home. She would be safe in a home with her son Charles and far away from any disgusting Hams of the world.
Alice begins to stir and removes herself from his arms. He looks down at her to see big red marks on her neck. There’s only one person in all of Riverdale who could have ugly sausage fingers that large. Ham fucking Cooper.
“Alice,” he whispers, “What did he do to you?”
“It was his final attempt at shutting me up. But as always, he was unable to.” Alice tries for a laugh, but it comes out as more of a sad gasp.
“Alice, I’m so sorry.” FP whispers, tracing the marks with his hands.
“It’s not your fault.” Alice says softly.
“No, it’s all my fault. It’s all my fault.” FP repeats. He tries to hold off the choked sobs that are growing in his throat.
“What are you talking about?”
“I shouldn’t have been such a fucking idiot! I should’ve tried harder to give you the life you wanted! I shouldn’t have made all those dumbass mistakes in high school!” FP chokes out, but Alice can barely hear what he’s saying.
“FP, what the hell are you talking about?”
“It should have been us!” FP sobs, placing a kiss on Alice’s neck. “It should have been us. Us, not fucking Ham.” Alice jumps back slightly on the cool contact of FP’s lips on her skin, but slowly begins to lean in to his kissing.
“It should have been us.” FP mutters, his lips still pressed firmly of Alice’s neck.
“It’s okay.” Alice replies, wrapping her arms around him in a soft embrace. “It’s okay.” FP begins to calm down. His thoughts are now filled with the knowledge that just a few weeks ago these roles were switched. It was him who was reassuming a hurting Alice, she same way she’s that for him now.
They stay like that for a few more minutes, completely entranced by the closeness of the other.
It’s FP who first pulls away. “It’s really late and you need to try to sleep.” He kisses her lightly on the top of her head. He walks over to the window.
“FP.” Alice calls out as his hand reaches for the window.
“Alice?”
“It’s still raining, and I don’t think your almighty Serpent jacket is sufficient enough to keep you from catching a cold.” Alice states coolly.
FP cocks another grin. “And do you happen to know of any solution to solve this problem?”
“Well you could stay hear until it passes…for health purposes.” Alice suggests innocently.
“Health purposes.” He repeats with the patented FP Smirk™.
“But you can’t go outside this room, your ungraceful walking and stomping large feet might wake up Betty.”
“Well that is a predicament. Whenever should I sleep then?”
“I guess you could share my bed if you really want.” Alice sighs.
“Only if you insist.” FP grins and flops down of the queen-sized bed. It’s so much more comfortable than that lumpy mattress he has in the trailer. He pats the empty space to the right of him. “Coming, Alice? I wouldn’t want to try and delay your sleep any longer.”
Alice places herself on the bed, filling up the empty space. FP wraps his arms around her as she begins to snuggle in close to him. She’s so close that he can feel her blond hair tickling his chin and hear the soft sound of her breathing.
The excitement of the day begins to take a toll of him. He feels his eyes becoming heavier by the second.
“You know it still can be.” Alice whispers right before FP falls asleep.
“Can be what?” He mumbles sleepily.
“It still can be us.” She says softly. And those are the last words FP hears before he falls asleep.
FP awakes to the shrill shouts of a certain ponytail wearing devil child.
“Mom!” Betty shouts, bursting into the room. “Where are the keys to the car? I need to see Jughead!” FP looks over at the
ever-graceful Alice sleeping angelically next to him. He feels a rush of happiness noting that she must’ve felt safe enough with him to finally fall asleep.
He would love to spend the morning with her finally getting the shut eye she deserves, but instead of cuddling with the incredibly cute sleeping Alice, FP begins to untangle his limbs from Alice’s in order to try and cover himself up. Something tells him Alice would rather not explain to her quite inquisitive daughter why FP Jones is sleeping next to her at 8 in the morning.
“Mom!” Betty shouts again when Alice doesn’t reply. FP really wants to yell at Betty to keep it down. Considering this is the first time Alice has slept in over two days, this seems more important than Betty seeing Jughead who she just saw not even half a day ago.
“Mom! Wake up!” Betty just seems to be getting louder and coming even closer. FP decides to softly nudge Alice awake. He lightly jostles her side and she rolls over with a soft moan.
“Alice.” FP whispers the loudest he can without Betty hearing, “Wake up.” He places a light kiss on her forehead.
The kiss is all it takes for her long eyelashes to flutter open, revealing her blue eyes no longer surrounded by the haunting red.
“Good morning.” She whispers with a full smile plastered across her face.
Before FP can even respond, Betty rips off the covers screaming, “Mom!”
“Betty!” Alice says completely shocked. She quickly glances over to the now exposed FP Jones next to her. Shit.
“What the hell?” Betty exclaims, jumping back in shock once she sees FP. She recoils as if she were burned. “Why is the boyfriend’s dad in your bed.”
“Oh hey, Betty, long time no see.” FP says, trying to get the heat from Alice.
“How dare you, mom!” Betty shouts before letting a frozen Alice explain anything. “Jughead’s dad was feeling sad and vulnerable since Jughead almost died. And how do you help? By taking advantage of him! I can’t believe this! I thought the comments you said to dad weren’t real. I thought they were just said to make him mad. This is so gross, I can’t even.”
“Elizabeth Cooper!” Alice exclaims after the initial shock wears off into anger from Betty’s comments, “I am you mother and that is no way to ever speak with me. Do you even hear yourself talk?”
“Don’t even try to lecture me, just give me the keys and I’ll leave.” Betty dismisses her and starts to look through the drawer in the nightstand for the keys.
“No. You are in no position to be making any demands here.” Alice shuts the drawer on a fuming Betty.
“I can’t believe this! You have the audacity to tell me that I can’t see my boyfriend!”
“You saw him yesterday. You’ll live. Now if you don’t march right up back to your room by the count of five, you’re going to be grounded for a week.” Alice is not playing.
“That’s so not fair!”
“One.” Once Alice starts counting, Betty’s anger turns into panic.
“This is ridiculous!”
“Two.”
“I’m a sophomore in high school!”
“Three.”
“I’m an adult.”
“Four.”
“Ugh!” Betty storms off to her arm, slamming the door.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into her; she’s been so entitled lately.” Alice sighs and lets her tense body finally relax in FP’s arm’s.
“It’s probably just the shock of everything that’s been going on this month.” FP assures her, “But what I’m curious about are these comments about me that were apparently spoken.” FP tilts his eyebrow up, raising the corner of his lips up with it too.
“Oh that, it’s nothing.” Alice says embarrassed and rolls over on her other side.
“Hmm is that so?” FP whispers mischievously, “You forget, Alice, I know exactly how to find out all the information I want from you.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” Alice exclaims. She can only think of one thing that might be going through FP’s head right now. FP starts to reach out to her.
“Get away from me!” Alice squeals as she tries to get up and leave. But it’s too late. FP grabs her waist and pulls her back to the bed. Only he knows her greatest weakness: tickling. It’s the only weapon he has against Alice’s stubbornness…well, almost the only weapon.
“FP, stop! I’m not five! This isn’t how adults act” Alice manages to get out in-between laughs as he attacks her with his fingers.
But FP’s got a tight hold on her and he will not let up. “Nope, not until you tell me.”
Alice puts up a noble struggle, but eventually she gives in to FP. “Fine! I’ll tell you! But you need to stop right now so I can breathe.” FP lets go with satisfaction and flashes a dopey grin to Alice’s glare.
“So, I may have mentioned, more or less, to Hal that I um…” Alice trails off and averts her gaze from him as pink fills her cheeks, “’stepped out’ on him with you.”
FP bursts out a laugh. “Ha! Serves that dry cheeseburger of a man right. I wish I were there to see his dumbass face after that.”
“That’s not that only part.” Alice adds. Her increasingly red face now has a slight smirk on it. “I also told him that you’re a ‘real man’ in everyway that he’s not.” FP’s grin now reaches all the way across his face. She told Ham about them, and not only that, she rubbed it in his damn face. And she called him a Real Man™. She called him that even after he isolated her the next morning after their “stepping out”. He’s a Real Man™.
“I’m a real man am I, Alice?” FP teases her, who every second is becoming less embarrassed and more playful. “Now tell me, Alice, does it make me a real man if I do this?” He grabs her waist, pulling her closer so that there’s barely any room for Jesus. He then eliminates what little space there was with a kiss. Her lips are soft and salty, and he’s missed them, it’s been a full month since he’s last tasted them.
Alice wraps her arms around his neck, her fingers brushing lightly through his hair.
“Mom? Betty?” A distant voice shouts from downstairs, interrupting them. This time it doesn’t come from Betty, but Alice’s eldest daughter.
FP groans and says, “I should go. You probably don’t want to get a fight with another daughter today.”
“I forgot she was coming this morning.” Alice sighs, looking longingly at him.
“I’m not going to lie, I am disappointed, but I should probably get back to Jughead.” FP says as he rises from the bed. He suddenly feels cold from the lack of contact. He bends down for one last kiss on Alice’s forehead. “Goodbye, Alice. Get some sleep.”
After his lips pull away from the warm skin underneath them, he walks to the window.
“FP.” Alice calls out.
“Alice?” He asks, feeling some major déjà vu from last night.
“Sleep is important and if people don’t get a good amount of sleep, it’s not healthy.” Alice begins to ramble, and FP nods his head slowly, trying to see where she’s going with this. “And I wasn’t able to sleep without you here, and that’s not good because everybody needs sleep. So maybe you should come back tonight to help me sleep for…health purposes.”
“Health purposes.” The Real Man™ says with a grin. Now he knows she’s definitely giving a nod to last night. “Well you know I am a stickler for health. I guess I have no choice but to come back.” He smirks at her and steps out of the window onto the roof.
Alice smiles up at him and makes her way over to him. “And one more thing. Next time use the door. You’re going to break your damn neck on that roof.”
“Hmmm using the door, a concept for sure.” FP mumbles, “But doesn’t that seem a little too normal for us?”
Alice throws her head back and laughs her gorgeous contagious laugh. “We’re far from normal, FP.” She tilts her head back to FP and kisses him goodbye. FP’s able to enjoy this kiss even more, knowing that he’ll be getting more of them later.
When they finally pull away, Alice slowly closes the window and waves at him. FP sends her a wink before he lowers himself off the roof.
FP has the goofiest, widest smile as he walks to his motorcycle. Just yesterday his thoughts were swirling with panic and uncertainty, but now they’re swirling with just one thought: it can still be them. They can still have their ending. Yes, he and Alice will be just fine, peachy even, now that they have each other.