Work Text:
Tabitha was sitting up in bed, furiously typing on her laptop. Jughead walked in wearing his pop's uniform, having just finished a shift at the diner.
"Hey," he said, as she continued to look at the laptop screen without looking up. "Working on Operation Save Pop's?"
"Yeah," she said, still not looking up. "I've realized I need to give up on saving the location. But I still can save the restaurant… the essence. All the important things."
Jughead sat down on the bed beside her. "Makes sense," he said. "So much history in that building. But I guess the location doesn't matter, and it's probably best to keep it away from Percival's Train of Doom."
"Exactly," she said, finally looking up from the laptop. "Hey," she added, softly.
"Hi," he said, leaning over to kiss her. She pulled the laptop off her lap and leaned forward to close their gap and capture his lips.
"I missed you," she said, between kisses.
"I missed you too, so much," replied Jughead, leaning his forehead against hers. "You have no idea. This town sucks without you in it."
Tabitha chuckled. "Thanks for holding down the fort while I was away on my failed mission. I'm sorry we've still barely been able to see each other since I got back."
"Same," he replied. Sitting back up and grabbing her hand. "I know you've got important work to do."
"And you've got your graphic novel to work on," she said. "How's that going?"
Jughead hesitated. "Okay," he said. "I wish I had gotten more done while you were away. I don't know. Things have been weird lately with my ability and everything and I've felt really… blocked. Like I can't get into the right headspace."
"Aww, I'm sorry," Tabitha said, squeezing his hand. "Well, I'm going to get my plan in motion tomorrow to move Pop's. So you'll have some more time to write."
"Do you need help with that?"
"No, no, don't worry about it, Jug." Tabitha replied quickly, shaking her head. "I want you to work on your novel. That's important. Plus, I was going to ask Archie, anyway."
"Yeah, he's a lot more useful than I am when it comes to the heavy lifting," Jughead said, with a cheeky smile.
"You're a lot more useful in many other departments, don't worry," said Tabitha with a wink, pulling him in again to kiss her.
Jughead entered their apartment around 10PM. Tabitha was sitting on the couch with a beer in hand.
"Hey," he said, hanging up his coat. Tabitha drank occasionally, but rarely at home since, for his benefit, they usually didn't keep alcohol in the house. "You okay?"
Tabitha continued staring straight ahead. "Not really," she said, taking a sip of the beer. "Percival is already trying to sabotage me. Archie got together a whole crew of workers and Percival comes by and offers all of them higher paying jobs working on the new train."
Jughead sat down beside her. "Diabolical. That man has no shame."
"I know," she said, "I just feel like he's always right on my tail. It's so frustrating. I'm sorry I'm drinking, I just was so wound up–"
"It's okay," he said, "beer was never my vice, anyway."
She stood up and put the beer on the counter, and then got a glass of water and took a big gulp, swishing it around in her mouth. She always did this after drinking if Jughead was around, to make sure she didn't have alcohol on her breath.
"Where were you, anyway?" she asked.
"Uhhh," Jughead hesitated. "I… kinda got another job."
Tabitha's eyes widened. "You did?"
"Yeah," he said. "A magic act at the casino."
Tabitha smiled. "Magic? Let me guess, this has something to do with your mind reading ability?"
"Yeah," he replied. "It was Veronica's idea. She needed a new act to bring in some money and to be honest… I could use the money. We could use the money."
"Okay," she said, walking back over to the couch with her glass of water in hand. "How do you feel about the ethics of it? Sort of taking advantage of being able to get in people's minds without them knowing about it?"
Jughead sighed. "I'm not sure. But the agreement is that we're getting people's verbal consent before reading their minds. I guess consent is questionable though, when they don't know the extent of my powers? They just think it's a trick. But honestly, it's harmless. Today we had people writing down numbers and then I had to guess what the numbers were. It was such easy money. Check it out." He pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket.
"Holy shit," said Tabitha, "this was just from tonight?"
He handed it over to her and she started counting it.
"Yeah, first night! And it went really well. I think it'll only get better."
"There's, what, a thousand bucks here?"
"Nine hundred and eighty."
Tabitha whistled. "Well that's a solid day's work! But… I still think you should be working on your novel. Are you gonna have time for that?"
"Oh, sure," said Jughead. "Yes. But this beats staring at the wall while I battle writer's block."
"Alright, well now look who's bringing home the bacon," she smiled, leaning over and kissing him.
Jughead got home after doing the act at the casino and found Tabitha leafing through his book on mind reading, which had been open to the pages about mind erasure.
"Hey," he said, feeling instantly guarded as he hung up his coat.
"What's all this?" she asked, looking up at him.
"You're going through my stuff?"
Tabitha raised an eyebrow at him. "No, it was all just out here on the table. Mind erasure? What's this all about? Is this something you can do?"
Jughead sighed and sat at the table across from her. "Yeah. Full disclosure. I tried it today. It seems like it worked."
Jughead told her the whole story, how Veronica came over, what she revealed to him, and what she asked him to do to Reggie. And how they tried it tonight, and it seems to have worked.
Tabitha frowned. "Jughead, you're already not feeling great about the ethics of mind reading, I know. Then you go and read Alice's mind without her consent, because Betty asked you to. And now you're erasing people's minds? At Veronica's request, of all people? I thought you two didn't even get along?"
Jughead scoffed. "What is this, are you... jealous? Why does it matter who asked me?"
"No, it's not jealousy, it's–" Tabitha sighed and dropped her shoulders. "I just feel like you're being taken advantage of. You're going against your better judgement - I know where your ethical line lies - because other people are asking you to help them. It's not for yourself."
Jughead was silent for a few moments as he considered her words. "I guess you're right. I never really thought about it like that. I went so deep with Betty and although I was uncomfortable the whole time, it kind of felt - empowering - to develop my ability in that way, you know?"
"I know," Tabitha nodded, reaching her hand across the table. Jughead reached over and took it in his. "I've done a lot of practicing with mine as well. But it's not good to be messing with people. Unless they're inherently evil, of course."
Jughead smiled. "Okay. No more mind erasure. Unless it's Percival." He winked.
Tabitha smiled as he stroked her hand. "Jughead," she said, "I don't have any reason to be jealous, do I? Of Betty? Or… Veronica?" She rolled her eyes a little as she said Veronica's name.
Jughead chuckled. "No. Of course not. You know about my history with Betty… it couldn't be more over. And Veronica and I – well, okay. I haven't told you about this." He grimaced.
Tabitha pulled her hand from his and sat up straight.
"What? You and Veronica?"
He brought a hand to his eyes. "We hooked up once. In New York. It meant nothing. That's why I haven't already told you."
"Are you serious? You and Veronica have slept together? I'm seeing her all the time and you didn't feel the need to tell me this detail?"
Jughead put up his hands. "Like I said! It meant nothing. I barely even remember it… I was on a yet another break with Jessica. I was at the bar drinking my sorrows away. Veronica happened to come into the bar. I hadn't seen her since high school except a few Instagram 'likes' here and there. We started taking shots and reminiscing about being cheated on by our former partners and… one thing led to another and she ended up at my apartment." He wrinkled his nose and squeezed his eyes shut.
Tabitha sat there stone faced as he told this story.
"Wow," she said. "Anyone else in Riverdale you've slept with? Anyone else I'm interacting with on a daily basis?"
Jughead rolled his eyes. "No, just those two." Then he cringed. "Wait, Toni and I fooled around in sophomore year. We never had sex though. It's such ancient history I almost legitimately forgot."
Tabitha let out a burst of laughter and put up her hands. "Oh, my god."
"Why is this even an issue? You have exes, too. Have you told me everyone you've slept with?"
"Yes!" said Tabitha, "you know about Ryan. And then there's my high school boyfriend. Two people, before you. That's it."
She had told Jughead previously that she and Ryan had met in college and dated for 5 years, and then broke up shortly before she moved to Riverdale.
"That's it?" said Jughead. "No casual flings? No one night stands?"
Tabitha pursed her lips. "It's not like the opportunity has never come up. I'm just not a casual sex kind of person, you know?"
Jughead nodded. "I think I would say the same thing about myself if drugs and alcohol didn't interfere with my inhibitions for so many years." He rubbed his eyes with his hands. "I've had my fair share of casual sex but it's never meant anything. It was like I was trying to fill some kind of bottomless void. It never made me feel better. It usually made me feel worse."
He pulled his chair over to her so their knees were touching. "Tabs, you make me feel better. For the first time since… well, I don't even remember, I feel like that void is being filled up. I'm sorry that you have to see my exes, or whatever, around Riverdale. But I don't want them. I want you."
A tear fell down Tabitha's cheek. Jughead reached a hand up and wiped it away, keeping his hand on the side of her face.
"Oh, Jug," she said, leaning into his hand. "I'm so sorry. I've felt insecure about this thing with Betty ever since you told me she had been over here while I was away. I just kind of spiralled–"
"Betty really hurt me," interjected Jughead. "And I was in a bad place for a really long time after that break up. But there's nothing between us now, I swear. And I don't want there to be. Not to mention, she's now dating the guy she cheated on me with."
"Right," said Tabitha, pressing her lips together. "I'm sorry she hurt you."
"You know what? If she hadn't, I don't think I would be in this very place, right now, with you."
Tabitha smiled, and Jughead leaned in to kiss her.
"Come 'ere," he said, pulling her over and getting her to sit in his lap. He pulled her in and embraced her tightly, smelling her hair.
"So," said Tabitha, resting her head on his shoulder and rubbing her nose into his neck, "how much money did you make tonight?"
Jughead chuckled. "Tabitha Tate," he said, pulling out another wad of cash from his pocket. "Are you just with me for my money?"
Tabitha laughed. "Yeah, that's why I quit my high paying job in Chicago to move to a small town and run a diner. It's all about the cold hard cash for me." She flung a leg over so she was straddling him on the chair.
A sly smile came across Jughead's face as he looked up at her. "Yeah? How about this?" He started counting the money out loud in front of her, looking into her eyes as he did it.
"Ohhh, Jughead," she purred, shifting her position in his lap and putting her hands around his neck. "Those hundred dollar bills have me so hot and bothered," she said with a mock sexy voice. She grabbed the money out of his hands and put it on the table.
Jughead's eyes darkened. "Let's have some non-casual sex to solve that problem."
Tabitha nodded. "Next time, bring home that magician's hat," she said, raising an eyebrow, "and you won't be able to keep me off of you."
Jughead laughed, pulled her down to kiss him before he picked her up and carried her to the bed.