There’s something truly horrifying about the sight of a dead -- okay, maybe not really dead but petrified -- body.
The last time he saw Ethel was earlier today when he was on his way to Divination. He had spent a little too much time flying between classes and was running late. He had rushed through the hallways, barely realizing that she and Ava Prewett were waving furiously at him, trying to catch his attention. Apologizing quickly, he had dashed off to class. She looked healthy then -- her red curls bouncing around her face and her brown eyes wide and ecstatic at seeing him.
It was such a menial interaction that he really didn’t think much of it. He didn’t realize then that he would later in the evening, after seeing her petrified body, replay this scene over and over in his head as he compared the way Ethel was to how she looks now.
Read more here. Start from Part 1 here.
Ahhhhh!! Cat is trying to kill me with this GORGEOUS header. Thanks @bettycooper!! You’re the best!!!
When he goes back out front, Betty’s standing there with the phone in her hands, “Your dad should be here in five minutes.” and then her mouth twitches with concern, “You can’t go into Pop’s like that.”
Jughead glances down at his shirt. There are six holes in the front, blood rimming all of them, but only slightly.
“Shit.” He says, but this isn’t the first time he’s had to handle this particular problem. The flannel wrapped around his waist will work just fine. He unties it and puts it on, buttoning it almost all the way up to avoid revealing any of his destroyed t-shirt.
Betty laughs. “I’ve never seen you wear it like that before.”
He can’t help but smile. It’s true. He often just wears it unbuttoned and loose.
Summary: Oneshot based off of the Bughead cuddle shown in the 2x04 promo (which I’m super excited for btw). Enjoy!
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It had been weeks since Riverdale's very own black-hooded criminal had taken his first cold-blooded shot. Weeks since Fred Andrews had narrowly escaped death at the fault of the harsh metal bullet. And months since anyone in Riverdale last felt safety in their once-beloved, strawberry milkshake town. The events that had taken place snatched away their hopes of a newfound safety after Betty Cooper's grand speech at the mayor's jubilee. Events like the shooting of Fred Andrews, the killing of Geraldine Grundy and the shooting of Moose and almost, Midge. No one felt safe. Especially Betty Cooper.
Betty laid on the floor of Archie's bedroom, staring up at the blue ceiling which was now darkened by the absence of light. It seemed everywhere had a great absence of light nowadays, literally and metaphorically. Thoughts ran around the blonde's head, trying to escape her cascading, loose strands of dimmed, golden hair, preventing her from sleep. She sighed deeply and turned her head to the side.
Jughead's sleeping face came into her line of view, causing a small smile to stretch onto her strawberry lips. His hat remained glued to his head, as it always did, a few black curls escaping the front. Betty mentally traced his multiple moles in a game of dot-to-dot on the boy's slightly tanned face. She felt Jughead move his arm in his sleep and subconsciously wrap it around the front of his girlfriend's waist, gently pulling her closer to his body. The simple action made Betty's smile stretch even further in affection at Jughead's attachment to her, even during his slumber. However, the smile soon faded as she remembered earlier on in the day, and how she shouldn't feel this way in his embrace. Even with his strong, toned arm around her, keeping her close, she still felt... unsafe. Unsafe of the unknown.
Blinking the thoughts away, Betty looked towards Archie's bed to find her two best friends intertwined with each other. Veronica's shiny black hair splayed across the pillow as her and Archie faced each other. Their limbs were tangled together in a web of comfort and intimacy. Betty felt a sense of happiness inside her heart at the fact that they'd found each other. They'd all found each other. Betty couldn't say for sure if Archie and Veronica were each others soulmates, but she knew Jughead was hers.
They were all sleeping at Archie's house that night, none of them wanting to be alone in the dark. Not after Jughead was jumped at Southside High, or Riverdale's students were all being terrorised by some ruthless killer with a gun, or Betty's receiving of an unnerving message from the killer himself. Granted the higher fraction of those problems were being kept as secrets by Riverdale's sweethearts, they still made them feel unsafe.
It had been earlier that day when Betty had seen the thin brown parcel on her doorstep. She'd seen one almost identical to the present one when the killer sent the letter to her parents to print in their newspaper, along with Fred Andrews' blood-soaked wallet and Miss Grundy's discarded heart-shaped sunglasses. Except this one wasn't labelled 'Cooper' in block capital letters. It was labelled 'Betty'.
Inside the parcel was a single piece of paper. The paper was some sort of message, but she didn't know exactly what the message was. Single numbers and intricate shapes scattered the page, and those formal rows had been haunting her all day.
Betty had sat there for hours in the Blue and Gold office, trying to figure out what it meant, but she couldn't. It wasn't as simple as she'd hoped. Something about the situation sent chills down her spine and made her blood run cold. Somehow, she was at the centre of these killings. Betty could feel it in her bones. Deep down, she knew this was personal. It was like this man was committing these crimes... for her.
All she could think about was the man with the mask, gun in hand, terrorising the people of her town. Terrorising her friends and family. Terrorising her.
The man ran around her brain, jumping from cell to cell. His green eyes burned through her skull, emphasising the holes in the mask. Figures of the code swarmed in the pools of her mind, blurring in and out of her vision. Betty's body shook with fear as the killer reached up and slowly tore his mask away. It revealed a blurry face with a sharp-toothed, taunting grin to match his depersonalised orbs. He stared at her, a predatory gleam radiating from his sockets. Suddenly, he lunged forward and-
Betty shot up, quietly panting in shock, with wide eyes and a confused look on her face. Relieved, she brought her hand up to her chest to try and slow her breathing as she realised she was still in Archie's room with her friends and boyfriend. Speaking of Jughead, he was now also awake from Betty's sudden jolt.
"Hey," he spoke tiredly, placing a tentative hand on her shoulder and sitting up. "You okay, Betty?"
"Um, yeah." Betty gulped, leaning into his touch, "it was just a nightmare. Sorry."
"It's okay. Don't apologise." Jughead began carefully rubbing her back, bringing his other hand to rub across her knee.
Betty grinned a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, continuing to look around. Logically, she knew the killer wasn't here, and that it was just the four of them in that room, and Mr Andrews in his own room. But a part of her, the shivering part, was consumed by fear and the possibility that maybe, just maybe, he'd got in there with them. Jughead noticed this.
"Betts."
Betty felt Jughead remove his hand from her knee and bring it up to her face, cupping the blonde's chin and making her look at him.
"It's okay, I'm here. You're okay. You're safe." He gently whispered, searching her eyes. Betty nodded timidly, giving him a relieved smile as she realised he was right. In that moment, she was safe.
Satisfied, Jughead wrapped his arm around her side and tenderly laid them back down on the mattress.
"Try to get some sleep, okay?" Jughead breathed, bringing them into a spooning position with his arm protectively locked around her. Betty nodded once again, feeling somewhat comforted by the Jones boy's actions this time.
But she couldn't sleep. She knew Jughead would die before he let anything bad happen to her. And that's what she was afraid of. He protected her. And she had to protect him. Which is why he couldn't know about the message. At least, not yet. Betty would keep him safe. She had to.
Betty gets drunk and Jughead comes to the rescue (with some help from the gang)!
Warnings: Drinking, swearing
He had been at the trailer working on his novel when he received a worried phone call from Veronica. She was at a party at Thornhill with Betty, Archie, Kevin and probably the rest of the student body. Jughead had not-so-politely declined the invitation when Betty had asked him.
Jughead didn't like parties and after the disaster that was his Birthday party, Betty wasn't about to force the issue. Seeing the sparkle in Betty's eye fade slightly when he had declined, however, Jughead had convinced her to go to the party with Ronnie, later telling Archie to keep an eye on her.
"Don't worry Jug, it's just a party!" Archie had replied. But Jughead shot his best friend a warning look and Archie had practically pinky promised to protect Betty at all costs.
Betty had promised that she would meet him at the trailer later and would tell him all about it. Jughead rolled his eyes and had kissed her, once on the lips and once on the forehead, hearing Betty squeak happily, making him chuckle.
When Jughead's phone had sounded, he was surprised, to say the least. No one ever phoned him, apart from Betty and Archie. On seeing Veronica's name pop up he had panicked "what's happened?" he had snapped as he answered.
Veronica was practically screaming down the phone, and Jughead could hear the thump of the music behind her shrieks. Eventually, he had understood that Betty was drunk, and Archie had gotten into a fight.
"Ok.. ok... yup... yeh, I'll be there soon." He placated his new friend. Standing up and pulling on his boots, jacket, and beanie.
He trudged up the long drive to Thornhill, not knowing what to expect. Why was Betty drunk? And who had Archie been fighting? It took a lot to get his best friend to lash out. Were the two connected? Walking a little faster, he pushed through the big wooden door and into the entrance.
He followed the sound of the music and saw the writhing, sweaty bodies of his classmates dancing to some god-awful pop song. Standing in the door he scanned the room and saw Kevin leaning against the far wall eyeing up Midge and Moose on the dance floor.
Fighting his way through the crowd, Jughead eventually made it to Kevin. "Where's Betty?" He asked.
Kevin rolled his eyes "why am I always designated Find my Friends?" he whined.
Jughead raised his eyebrow, jaw set in a firm line.
"First door on the left at the top of the stairs" Kevin helpfully informed not taking his eyes off of the dancing couple.
Jughead nodded and spun on his heel, heading back the way he came.
"Your welcome!" Kev shouted sarcastically.
Taking the steps two at a time, and using the banister to haul himself up, he flung himself around the corner and through the first door he came to.
Veronica shrieked in surprise at the door opening so violently. But relaxed as soon as she saw it was him.
"Thank God you're here." she sighed "There I was having a great time when Chuck started coming on to B and he wouldn't back down."
"Sorry man, I got there as quick as I could, but I was getting us drinks when Chuck must have started" Looking behind the bathroom door, Jughead saw Archie sitting on the floor leaning against the wall with a wet and slightly blood-stained towel pressed to his left eye.
He spun around again and saw His girl leaning against the toilet bowl with a sheen of sweat across her forehead, her eyes closed. "Fuck" he whispered and rushed to kneels down next to her. He lifted her head, leaning it back against his chest and supported her weight.
Betty groaned, her eyes fluttering open and smiling slightly as she saw her boyfriend. Then she groaned again and cradled the toilet bowl. Jughead gathered her loose curls into a make-shift ponytail using his hand instead of a hair tie.
"After Chuck left, I was helping Archie patch himself up when Cheryl walked in complaining about B stumbling around and screaming about her potentially throwing up on some piece of expensive furniture. She must have been drinking alone the whole time, God only knows where Kev was!" Veronica exclaimed, throwing her hand in the air.
Letting her hair fall loose, Jughead reached up behind him to the sink and grabbed a glass that was sitting on the side. Then he realized that Betty was still leaning on him, so he motioned for Veronica to take over. She took the glass and filled it with cold water before passing it back to him.
He positioned the glass carefully at Betty's lips and tilted it slightly, encouraging her to drink. Betty groaned, complaining that she had had enough to drink that night, making Jug roll his eyes.
Giving up on that idea, Jughead passed the glass back to Veronica, who placed it back on the counter. He shifted under Betty so that she was no longer leaning on him and moved into a crouching position. From that angle, he was able to hoist Betty up bridal style, and she nestled her head into his chest.
Archie stood quickly doubting his friend's strength. Jug chuckled, thinking of all the experience he has had recently of sweeping Betty off her feet, literally.
Instead of helping Jug to hold up his blonde friend, he settled for holding the door open. The four of them walked down the wide staircase together. Archie wrapping an arm around Ronnie's shoulder as she yawned and leaned into him. The night had not gone to plan.
Luckily the front door was already open and Jughead began the long walk down the drive. Archie shouted at him that he had driven Fred's truck here and Jughead thanked the Lord or whoever else was up there that he didn't have to walk all the way back. As much as he had been smug about exceeding Archie's expectations of his strength, he didn't fancy walking for half an hour in the dark with a sleeping beauty in his arms.
Jughead lay Betty in the back of the truck, resting her head on Veronica's lap. And rounded the front of the vehicle. When he saw Archie in the driver's seat he paused and eyed up his best friend.
"Yeh, probably not the best idea" Arch admitted, throwing Jughead the keys and sliding over to the passenger side, relieved that he hadn't had to argue about that.
Jughead started the truck and slowly drove to Archie's, dropping off the red-head and his girlfriend.
"You sure you're alright man?" Archie questioned.
"Yeh, I'm good, I've had enough practice" Jughead replied.
Archie's eyes dropped to the pavement in front of him, and then flicked up to meet Jughead's stormy ones. He cocked his head to the side, a concerned look plastered over his bruised features.
"Dude, we'll be fine, honestly... I'll bring the truck back in the morning" Jughead reassured, ushering the young couple into the house. Once the front door had closed behind them, Jughead started the engine and slowly drove back to Sunnyside. The Coopers were out of town but he didn't fancy breaking into Betty's house at this hour.
He carried her over the threshold and sat her on the kitchen counter. Her head lightly thudded against the cupboard behind her. "Well, this isn't as fun as the last time we were in this position" he mused out loud with a smirk.
Betty giggled, her eyes once again fluttering open. She smiled at him, still leaning her head back against the wood behind her. He had one hand on each side of her waist, holding her in place and he was standing between her legs, ensuring she wouldn't fall forward.
"Are you okay? What happened?" He asked gently.
Betty exhaled and closed her eyes. "He wassorrible" she slurred, screwing up her eyes at a memory. "Said I wassa slut like pol-ly" she sniffled. "He kept going on... and o-on"
She was crying. Jughead knew that alcohol drew out the emotional side in some people, but it was rare to see Betty Cooper so uninhibited. He wiped a tear away with his thumb and she leaned her head forward so her forehead was resting on his.
"And then Archie hit'im" she giggled. Jughead couldn't keep up with the sudden deluge of emotions coming from his girlfriend.
He closed the distance between their lips and kissed her sweetly. "I was so worried about you. When I got Veronica's phone call I panicked. I should have been there for you, with you"
"S'ok Juggie. I'm fine" she murmured, eyes closing as her forehead now rested on his shoulder.
Jughead chuckled. He recognized this stage from experience with FP; the pass-out drunk stage. Bending his knees he scooped Betty up, one arm under her knees and the other around her back.
He placed her down on his bed and began to unstrap her heels. How do girls walk in these things? He wondered. Looking up he considered removing the floaty dress that she was wearing, but decided to leave it on. It didn't look uncomfortable and he didn't want to wake her again. He brushed the hair out of her eyes and placed a kiss on her nose.
He kicked his own shoes and socks off and removed his jacket and jeans, leaving him in boxers and a t-shirt. Finding the laptop he had discarded in his earlier rush to rescue his girl, he climbed over her sleeping body and propped himself up against the wall next to her.
Leaning the laptop on his bent knees he continued to type. He should go to sleep, but he wanted to watch over Betty, she hadn't thrown up since they left Cheryl's and he didn't want her to throw up in her sleep.
She shifted beside him, and Jughead felt her head rest on the side of his thigh. He smiled and ran his fingers through her golden curls, reminding himself to thank Archie for protecting his Betty tonight, and Veronica for looking after her. He vowed that next time he would be there for her. Pushing his laptop away he slid down the bed and wrapped his arm around her middle, listening to her heavy, even breathing.
“You are not robbing the Smithsonian,” Betty said in a loud voice. Jughead didn’t even flinch at her tone and she couldn’t help but look back down, couldn’t help but feel excited.
Couldn’t help but plan.
She looked up and met his eyes and they were twinkling in such a way that she couldn’t help but get a little excited at the idea.
After another ten minutes of zooming in and out on the image on Jughead’s phone, Betty looked up again and sighed.
“When do we start?”
“Oh, baby,” he said smoothly. “We already have.”
*********
Betty Cooper thought that when she left the life of theft, robbery and deceit that she would never be roped back in. She thought she could move across the Atlantic and study English at Oxford (which, she conned her way into), and be a “normal” teenage girl with a larger than life backstory.
Except, the boy who she was initially running from shows up in her dorm at three o’clock in the morning, telling her that there was an emergency and only she could help.
The emergency was obviously a job.
Only it was the biggest job to ever fall into the hands of a few teenagers, and Betty had to wonder if they were all suicidal for deciding that they were going to rob the Smithsonian.
As in, one of the most heavily guarded museums in the world during it’s most high profile events, taking place only once a decade.
And they had less than two months.
Coming... soon? Yeah, soon. Because a new fic idea has taken over my brain and started pouring across a page.
Beauty Rich & Rare — Chapter One- Two Months, One Week: Oxfordshire, England
“What are you looking at?” she asked, choosing to ignore him completely and the butterflies that were now threatening to beat all the way out of her chest.
“You tell me,” he said.
“I don’t understand,” Betty said quietly, trying to hide the shock she was feeling. “Who could have gained access to these?” Betty asked, staring at the blueprints splayed across his screen.
“I mean you have been wondering why she needs you,” Jughead replied.
“Stole me,” she said without thinking.
“Well, angel,” he said and leaned forward, “that is what we do, isn’t it?”
Every ten years the Smithsonian hosted a fundraising masquerade ball to make its donors feel like royalty and open their pockets even more. Almost half a billion dollars was spent on creating an old-world, old-money feel in the great hall and there was always a decadent exclusive exhibit on display.
It was a thief’s dream.
“You are not robbing the Smithsonian,” Betty said in a loud voice. Jughead didn’t even flinch at her tone and she couldn’t help but look back down, couldn’t help but feel excited.
Couldn’t help but plan.
She looked up and met his eyes and they were twinkling in such a way that she couldn’t help but get a little excited at the idea.
After another ten minutes of zooming in and out on the image on Jughead’s phone, Betty looked up again and sighed.
“When do we start?”
“Oh, baby,” he said smoothly. “We already have.”
READ CHAPTER ONE HERE:
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