"Dad?" Archie says, walking into the garage. Fred is there waiting for him, ready to get to work on the piece of junk Archie acquired over a month ago now. Things have been hectic lately, but they're finally getting the chance to work on it together, like Fred has always wanted. To be frank, Archie doesn't know if the pile of rust will ever run, but he knows that's not the point.
"What's up, son?" Fred says. He hands Archie a pair of safety goggles.
"I know this is meant to be our father-son bonding time," Archie says. "But I was thinking about it last night, and I was wondering if it would be okay with you if I asked Betty if she wants to help out."
Fred considers for a moment, and Archie quickly jumps in, before Fred can take his request as a rejection.
"It's not because I don't want to spend time with you," Archie says. "It's just, I know Betty and her dad used to work on cars together. Those memories are probably, you know—tainted for her now. Maybe we could replace them for her, so she doesn't spend forever hating the idea of opening up the hood of a car."
Fred smiles and gives a small nod. "Sure, son. Great idea. Betty is basically a part of the family anyway."
Archie grins and races next door to ask her. She's easier to convince than he would have expected. He doesn't even have to give her the whole speech he's prepared, similar to the one he'd given his dad. She follows him back to his garage, and she looks dubious when she sees the car they're supposed to be fixing up.
But instead of making a snarky comment about it, the way Veronica had, she just says, "This is going to be fun."
Archie agrees.
The three of them spend every Saturday morning working on the car, and most afternoons after school. Removing the rust, shining it up. Taking the whole thing apart. Finding the parts they need is always an adventure. Archie has to concede that Betty is much better at this than him. He likes cars, sure, and he knows a bit about them, but Betty gets cars. More than once, he finds himself being ganged up on by Betty and his dad as they tease him light-heartedly about his lack of car knowledge. He doesn't mind though. He can laugh at himself, and anyway a few jibes are a small price to pay to see both his dad and Betty so happy, despite everything.
"I'm glad your dad doesn't hate me," Betty says one morning. It's nearing lunch time, and Fred has gone inside to get them some drinks, while Betty and Archie sit on the floor of the garage.
They've finally got rid of all the rust and old paint, but it's still a long way from being anywhere near ready to drive.
"Why would he hate you?" Archie frowns.
"Hal did try to kill him," Betty points out. She's taken to calling her dad Hal, to distance herself from him.
"Come on, Betty," Archie says. "My dad would never blame you for that. He's always loved you."
"Still," Betty shrugs. "When I'm here with you guys my life almost feels normal. Like none of that stuff ever happened."
"I know what you mean," Archie agrees. The conversation halts when Fred brings them out a sandwich and a glass of lemonade each.
They eat their lunch in a circle on the ground, and then Betty skips off home to look after Juniper and Dagwood while Polly is out for the afternoon.
"I'm glad you asked Betty to help us," Fred says, once Betty is out of earshot.
"Oh yeah? Why's that?"
"She actually knows something about cars," Fred jokes. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding," he grins. "It's nice to see you two spending time together again. You seem happy."
"I am happy," Archie realises.
There's a silence before Fred changes the subject. "Veronica hasn't been around much lately," he notes.
"She's super busy with overseeing all the changes to Pop's," Archie says quickly. "With help from FP. And Jughead, actually."
"I see." Fred nods. He picks up the empty plates and glasses and carries them inside. It takes Archie a few minutes to realise maybe his dad hadn't changed the subject at all.
It's a few weeks later when Archie is rummaging around in the kitchen for a before bed snack, and he hears something coming from the garage. He's home alone, Fred is out on a date, so he grabs a baseball bat and makes his way to the garage door. He kicks the door open, ready to swing the bat at anyone who comes lunging at him. No one does. He lowers the bat.
Betty is bent over the hood of the car, fiddling with some part that apparently needs attention.
"Betty?"
She looks up. Her eyes are red and watery. She wipes her hands on the front of her overalls.
"Oh. Sorry. Did I wake you up?"
"I was just about to go to bed. What's wrong?"
Her lower lips trembles and she shakes her head. "Jughead…"
Archie steps forward and she falls into his arms, burying her head into his chest.
"What did he do?" Archie growls, ready for a fight. If Jughead has done something to hurt Betty, Archie is going to kill him.
"Nothing," Betty mumbles. "He just broke up with me."
The news stuns Archie. He had thought their relationship was stronger than ever. Unlike his dwindling relationship with Veronica.
"I'm sorry," he whispers.
"It's not like I didn't see it coming. We barely see each other except for at school. He's always busy with the Serpents or helping FP and Veronica with Pop's. I think I see FP more regularly."
Archie doesn't know what else to say, so he just says, "I'm here for you."
Betty pulls away and wipes her wet cheeks with her fingers. "Pass me a wrench, will you?" she says.
Betty's break up with Jughead triggers something in Archie, and he realises his relationship with Veronica is over. They don't make time for each other anymore, and honestly? Archie can't be bothered trying.
So he ends it after school one day, after agonising how best to do it, how to phrase it, when and where he should do it. And then Veronica just accepts it. She seems neither surprised nor upset, though she does give him a regretful smile and a kiss on the cheek.
"It was great while it lasted, Archiekins," she says, and then she's gone, and Archie wonders if it was him that broke up with her, or the other way around.
When Betty walks into his garage the next day, a smile on her face, in her grease stained overalls, her blonde hair piled messily on top of her head, it finally dawns on Archie why his relationship with Veronica had stopped feeling right. He feels like an idiot for not realising it sooner.
He feels like even more of an idiot a few seconds later when his dad waves his hand in front of his face.
"Earth to Archie," Fred says. Archie swallows and turns to his dad.
"What?" he says dumbly.
"I said I found that part we've been looking for," Fred says. He's smirking a little too knowingly for Archie's liking.
"Great," Archie says. He looks back to Betty. "Awesome."
After that, the three of them still spend hours working together on the car every week, but Archie swears his dad is around less and less, always making excuses to go inside or go off and find some part that Archie's pretty sure they already have.
Not that Archie minds. He's perfectly happy to spend hours alone with Betty. But the car takes much longer to finish, often sitting there forgotten while he and Betty get in a paint fight or a deep conversation. They'll be dancing to some old song on the radio, but Archie feels like they're dancing towards something else, like any day one of them might step over that invisible line. But there's still Veronica and Jughead to consider. He's not sure how much time has to pass before it's acceptable to make a move.
Still, he kind of enjoys the tension building between him and Betty. The butterflies in his stomach every time he sees her. The way his skin tingles wherever she touches him. The times he almost kisses her, but somehow manages to stop himself. The way he's sure she feels the same way, but at the same time there's a reckless uncertainty to it all.
"Is Betty gone already?" Fred asks, getting back from one of his little adventures. He's empty handed.
"You've been gone three hours," Archie says from where he's slouched on the sofa.
"Time must have gotten away from me," Fred says.
"I know what you're doing, you know," Archie says.
"Is that right?" Fred muses.
"I can take care of my own love life."
"Yet you're still single."
"Hey, I'm giving it time," Archie pouts.
"Whatever you say, son," Fred throws his hands up. "Let me know when you finally get the guts to tell her how you feel."
The car is finally done. It feels strange to finish it without Betty there, but apparently she's hanging out with Veronica on this particular Saturday morning. He messages her to tell her it's done and to come over when Veronica leaves so they can take it for a spin.
"Don't forget to fill it up before you go anywhere else," Fred reminds Archie. "I've put a bit of gas in it, but it won't get you too far."
Betty texts him an hour later to tell him she's coming over. He meets her in the car.
"Hey," he grins as Betty slides into the passenger seat. "What do you think?"
"It looks good," she says shortly.
"Everything okay?" Archie asks, realising something is wrong.
"Just drive please," Betty says. Archie obeys.
He worries as he drives. He's not sure if Betty is mad at him, or something else, but she's not speaking, and Archie isn't sure what to say to find out. He figures she'll say something when she's ready to let him in on whatever is bothering her.
Except, he's so concerned about Betty, he completely forgets to go and get gas, and just keeps driving out of town.
"How's Veronica?" Archie eventually asks, the silence getting to him after fifteen minutes of not talking. Betty snorts, and Archie gets the feeling her bad mood is indeed about Veronica.
"She's great, apparently," Betty says. She turns to Archie. "Did you know?"
"Know what?"
Betty studies him, as if trying to work out if he's being facetious or if he's genuinely in the dark. His confused expression is a dead giveaway.
The car starts to sputter and slow, and Archie's eyes dart to the fuel gauge.
"Shit," he mutters, pulling over to the side of the road. "We're out of gas." He looks to Betty, and she just shakes her head in exasperation. "What's your plan?" he asks.
Betty gets out of the car and starts walking back in the direction of Riverdale. Archie fumbles with his seatbelt and hurries to follow her.
"It's like ten miles back to town," Archie says, falling into step beside her. "We should just call my dad."
"The walk will do us good," Betty says.
"Betty," Archie says. Betty doesn't stop. "Betty," he grabs her arm. "Seriously, what's going on?"
She stops, spinning to face him. "Jughead and Veronica are together."
Archie stares at her blankly, sure he's misunderstood. "Jughead… and Veronica?"
Betty nods.
"Are you sure?"
"Veronica just told me."
Archie swallows, nodding, processing. The news is a shock, obviously. Jughead and Veronica are the last two people he would have imagined as a couple. But they have been spending a lot of time together lately. Honestly? He's happy for them. Betty, on the other hand, is clearly not.
"It bothers you?" Archie asks. The fact that Betty is upset about it bothers him more than the actual news. Because he'd thought there was something between him and Betty, that she felt the same as him. But her reaction to finding out about Jughead and Veronica can only mean one thing: she's still in love with Jughead. The realisation hits him like a freight train to the stomach.
"Of course it bothers me!" Betty cries. "How long have you and Veronica been broken up?"
"I don't know… about two months?"
"You know how long Veronica and Jughead have been together? One month and 29 days. They waited one day," Betty huffs.
"I'm sorry," Archie says.
"Aren't you annoyed?"
Archie shrugs. "Not really. I'm the one who broke up with Veronica. I can't blame her for moving on."
"She wanted you to break up with her though."
"What?"
"She knew that once Jughead dumped me it would only be a matter of time before you realised you didn't want to be with her anymore."
"How could she possibly know that?" Archie says, but it only takes him a second to realise. Veronica knew he had feelings for Betty long before he even knew it himself. He hurries to change the subject before Betty can make the same realisation. "I really am sorry, though. I didn't realise you still had feelings for Jughead."
Betty stares at him, frowning. "Jughead?" She shakes her head slowly. "You think I'm upset because I want to be with Jughead?"
"Well… isn't that the reason?"
"No, you idiot," she says, and she breaks out into a grin. "I was upset they didn't tell us right away, because I've been holding back, tiptoeing around so I wouldn't hurt their feelings, when we could have spent the last two months doing this," she says, and Archie has no time to react before she's kissing him.
His brain doesn't comprehend right away, but his lips do, and he kisses her back like he's been wanting to do for months now. His brain quickly catches up, and he finds himself smiling. She doesn't want to be with Jughead. She wants to be with him.
Betty pulls away, laughing. "Stop it, I can't kiss you properly when you're smiling like that."
"I'm sorry," Archie says, but he can't stop smiling. Betty laughs again, and Archie grins even wider. "You're not mad anymore, right?"
"Right."
"So we don't have to walk all the way back to Riverdale? We can just call my dad?"
"Yeah," Betty agrees. "I can't believe you forgot to put gas in it. I swear if you ever do that again, I'm confiscating the car."
"That's fair."
Betty looks over at the car. "It really does look amazing. I didn't appreciate it properly before."
"Well, you helped," Archie says. "So it's partly yours."
"So I can drive it whenever I want, right?"
"Right," Archie laughs.
"You wanna make out in the car until your dad gets here?" Betty asks.
"I definitely want to do that. I mean, that's what the car is really for anyway."