Bughead & Friends Drabble Challenge | Day 6, Prompt: “Clean Up”
“Sit. Down.” Betty angrily pushed Jughead into a chair, adding “Dumbass” under her breath as she reached for the first aid kit on the table.
He rolled his eyes, but said nothing.
“What?” Betty challenged. “Now you have nothing to say?”
He just looked off to the side, but she could still feel the anger rolling off of him.
She poured some antiseptic on a cotton ball, rubbing it across the cut on his cheek—probably a little more forceful than necessary. He hissed out in pain, shooting her a dirty glare. “That’s what you get for picking a fight with Trev,” she muttered, drying the wound.
“I can’t believe you’re defending that asshole,” he scoffed, which pissed her off even more.
“I am not defending him!”
“Yet you are somehow so blind—you can’t even see that he was the one who started it.”
“Wha—” She was appalled; that’s not what happened. “You threw the first punch!”
“Yeah, well, he was asking for it,” Jughead replied angrily.
Frustrated, Betty grabbed his right hand, starting to clean his bleeding knuckles. She stayed silent until she was done cleaning. “So what was it, then?” she finally asked.
“What did he say?” Betty guessed Trev must’ve been spouting off some bullshit. She grabbed the roll of gauze, carefully starting to wrap his hand. “To piss you off this badly.”
She felt him stiffen, but he just said, “It doesn’t matter now.”
Betty pulled the gauze tight, frowning in response. Doesn’t he understand I care? “Well it matters to me, especially if this—” she gently grabbed his hand for emphasis, “is the result.”
He was quiet, so she busied herself with tying off the gauze, tucking it in neatly.
Jughead caught her off guard by grabbing her hand in his. She watched as he released a slow, tense breath, before looking at her to say, “He was just…threatening something that was mine, okay?
Now she was concerned. “What was he threatening...?”
(THIS IS A WHOLE FIC*! Check out the full story on AO3, Under the Radar!)
*fic in progress!
