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Veronica knows Jughead’s incredibly dedicated to the Serpents, she loves that about him. What she does not love is her boyfriend walking to his living room at one in the morning with all kinds of scrapes and bruises on his body.
“Jesus Christ, what happened to your face?” she said as she scrambled up to him, lightly brushing one of the cuts on his lip.
Jughead rolled his eyes, “yeah, hello to you too,” he walked over to the couch she was sitting on and flopped onto it.
She leaned back on a wall near the TV and studied him for a minute. The way he shut his eyes and took off his beanie as if it was the least he could do to block out the distractions. When he opens his eyes, they dart around the room as he tries his best to not meet her eye line. But Veronica can see right through him.
“When you said you had to go do Serpent stuff, I didn’t think you meant getting beat up,” she picked up some bandages and ointment from a cabinet in the kitchen and made her way over to him.
Jughead sat up, “Yeah, me either.”
She smiled softly and sat on his lap, legs wrapped around his waist. “Wanna tell me what happened?”
Some loose strands of hair fell into her eye, and he automatically tucked them behind her ear. A minute of silence later, during which Veronica was opening lotions and taking wrappers off of bottles, he said, “some dumb Ghoulies picked a fight with Sweet Pea and Fangs and it got pretty heated. Toni called and said to come help, keep peace, or something,” he groaned silently, leaning his head back, “I guess they wanted a piece of me too. So here I am.”
“Well I’m sure everything’s alright now,” Veronica took a cotton ball and dipped it in the bottle of antiseptic next to her. She reached up to a cut on his cheek and dabbed there lightly.
“Ow.”
“Sorry. Stay still.”
“Ow”
“Jug, just keep still”
“I can do it later. By myself.”
“As if.”
“How sweet of you, Veronica.”
“Maybe we wouldn’t have to do this if you had just stayed here with me,” Veronica mumbled, “scratch that, it definitely would not have happened.”
Jughead sighed “Really? That’s petty.”
“I’m just saying,” she shrugged, and continued to apply the ointment to his injuries, “do you have to go every time some minor inconvenience happens? Sweet Pea and Fangs and Toni and all the Serpents can all handle themselves, can’t they? They wouldn’t be in a gang if they couldn’t. And you promised me that you wouldn’t get into any trouble.”
“Come on, Ronnie,” he began, “I’m supposed to lead them. I have to be there. You know that.”
Veronica snapped suddenly, “It doesn’t mean you have to go off to god knows where in the middle of the night and come back looking like this!”
They were quiet for a while, as though they’d run out of words to say. A rare occasion, truly.
“Sorry,” she murmured, “I just don’t want you getting hurt. We’ve been through enough.”
“Hey, I know. And I’m sorry too,” he said, reaching up to stroke her cheek tenderly, “I’ll make it up to you, okay? ”
“Pfft, good luck with that.” she scoffed.
“I’m serious!” he kissed her neck, making her giggle quietly despite her irked exterior. He had that effect on her. “Whatever you want, I swear.”
She pulled her hand from the bruise on his collar bone she was treating and a cheeky smile escaped her lips, “Whatever I want?”
“Oh yeah, I regret this already,” Jughead grumbled.
Veronica laughed, “Wait! I’ll make it tolerable for you, I swear,” she looped her arms around his neck.
Jughead stared at her for a beat and muttered a “fine”, trying to hide the smile in his voice.
“I take you shopping.” She offered.
“Nope, not even close to tolerable.”
“I figured,” Veronica racked her brain for ideas, and all of a sudden it hit her, her whole face lighting up. Jughead didn’t think he’d ever get tired of that, “We have an Audrey Hepburn marathon.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Not even close,” she mocked him and picked up the bandages and cotton balls, and resumed poking at his bruise.
He huffed, “Well I guess I can endure a few hours of Hepburn, but never again, please. I can only watch Breakfast at Tiffany’s so many times.”
She grinned, “I think that should do it. Luckily, these cuts aren’t too deep so they should heal fast enough.”
“I have you to thank for that,” he said before he rolled over and laid her down on the couch.
Veronica kissed him firmly and whispered to his lips, “I should go, it’s getting late.”
Jughead whined, “Do you have to? Come on, you can stay here with me.”
“I leave here all the time-“
“I know, I hate it.”
“Me too, but it’s a school day.”
“Since when has our resident ice queen cared about school? Besides, it’s like two o’clock, it’s too dark right now.”
She glared at him, “I’m perfectly capable, and since you’re so worried, why don't you drop me off?”
“I don't think your dad would appreciate that,” he nuzzled into her neck.
Veronica sighed, “You’re probably right. I’ll stay, but only because if you keep asking, you’ll probably wake up the whole town.”
His face lit up against his will, “thank you, Ron. Honestly, it’s been kind of boring around here, the lack of mysteries and all.”
She opened her mouth, “Jughead Jones, don’t tell me you take pleasure from the suffering of Riverdale.”
“You say that like you care.”
“Of course I do!” she smacked his arm, “My best friends live here. My boyfriend lives here,” Veronica kissed his cheek, then his lips, making his heart involuntarily flutter.
He hummed against her lips, “Hey, what movie were we gonna watch today?”
“Parasite, I think.”
“Again?”
“First of all, rude, and second of all, I’m too tired to argue with you right now, Torombolo.”
“Yeah? Well, we can sleep right here.”
“Oh, really? Wouldn’t our Serpent king prefer to sleep in a real bed?” she giggled, tracing patterns on the skin of his jaw.
“Nah,” he wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed a spot near her temple, “this is fine.”
(FP found them the next morning curled up into each other, fast asleep. Jughead’s arm over her waist and Veronica’s hands clutching his own. They held each other as if the mere thought of loosening their grip would cause them to float away from each other. As if that’d be happening anytime soon.)