Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to the TV show or comic books. I am merely borrowing the characters. All I own is my imagination and the laptop I wrote this on.

A/N: I had this in my head and had to get it out, turn it into a story, before the upcoming episode tonight. I find a lot of enjoyment in all the amazing Bughead stories on here, so I hope you'll enjoy this one.

Heartfelt

There's no place I'd rather be than catching lightning in a bottle & building castles in the sky with you.

For once Jughead did as his father told him and turned back around, inching up the steps as he gathered up as many of his scattered thoughts as he could before walking back into the house. Going against the stream of people that were in the midst of vacating the premises, he was careful to avoid the accidental shoulder brushes. Conveniently the kitchen had cleared out completely, although it was also absent of the one person he was hoping to find. Betty hadn't waited around for him to come to his senses and he couldn't really blame her. He had been thoughtless and selfish with the words he had flung at her. He slammed one fist against the counter while reaching for his cell phone – an outdated model Archie had found in a drawer somewhere – with his other hand.

Meet me at Pop's?

He stared at the screen as he waited for her reply, one that came just as swiftly as it always did. Yet he instantaneously noted the lack of silly emoticon that usually accompanied one of her texts.

Give me 30 minutes.

There was nothing triumphant about the small victory. It was just the kind of person Betty was.

Jughead made his way over to Pop's and waited for exactly half an hour for her to show up. She hesitantly approached the booth he had occupied, the one near the back because he liked his privacy, whether it was to work on his novel or to smooth things over with his girlfriend. Public displays were a thing he tended to avoid at all costs, partly because he had never gotten over the feeling of having eyes on him wherever he went. It was as if the entire town had taken on the responsibility of keeping an eye on him, stepping in as a custodian after his mother had left him and his father had failed him.

Jughead looked up at Betty. She had already washed her face, removing all the make-up, and dressed down, the sweater with the crown replaced by a pair of black leggings, an oversized sweatshirt, and white sneakers. But his favorite part was her hair that she now wore down so she could hide her gaze from him whenever she wanted to. It was a defense mechanism just as his cynicism acted as a shield of his own.

He scooted over, not giving her the option of sitting across from him; he wanted her next to him.

Betty met his sea-green eyes with her own, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear before sliding into the spot beside him. She kept her body from angling towards his no matter how much she wanted to, drawn to the familiarity and comfort. She hated this feeling of not knowing where they stood, of not granting herself the simple act of reaching out and touching him the way she was used to doing because he was hers and she was his. But the fight and hurtful words left her with a feeling of misery.

It was the feeling of heartache.

She dropped her hands into her lap as she finally shifted in her seat so she could really look at him. Her eyes landed on what would surely be a black eye by morning. "Are you okay?"

His lips twisted up into a slight grimace. "I would say you should see the other guy, but I'm ashamed to admit that my dad intervened before I could do any real damage. Or the other way around," he added with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I'm glad he stepped in." Betty lifted her hand as if to bring it up to his face, but reconsidered the act. "I hate that you got hurt." There was a short silence that ambled between them. Jughead had too many things he wanted to say, but she offered up a starting point as she continued. "I didn't expect you to do anything when Chuck said what he did, you know. I didn't need you to defend me."

"Well, I wanted to," Jughead countered easily, tempering the current of anger and jealousy that were still dangerously close to the surface and had yet to ebb away. "I couldn't let Archie be the lone ranger and get all the credit. Especially since I am the one who is your boyfriend."

Uncertainty temporarily dimmed the look in Betty's eyes. "Are you, still my boyfriend? Because after—"

"I regretted the words as soon as I said them," he broke her train of thought with fervor. He leaned into her just enough so he felt like he was getting his point across. "I was lashing out. Projecting even. What you did was nice, Betty. Regrettably, I don't know how to handle that. My upbringing prepared me for a life of disappointment, people who let me down."

"I did, let you down." He saw the slight quiver of her bottom lip before she sunk her teeth into it. She was punishing herself despite his words. It was just who she was, the fall-out of her own childhood. "I shouldn't have thrown the party. I should've listened to Archie. I won't ever throw you a party again if that's what you want, but I didn't want the day to just pass without acknowledging it."

He nodded, the ghost of a smile visible. "It was a nice thought, innocent enough. Until Cheryl showed up with her army of jocks and cheerleaders, transporting us into a teenage romcom where everyone just bros out and sluts it up whilst creating unnecessary drama by playing absurd party games," he ended while shaking his head.

Betty squeezed her hands together in her lap while her eyes darted over Jughead's face nervously. "What Chuck said was true," she confessed. "All of it. I did do all of those things he accused me of."

Jughead didn't allow the surprise to register in his features or body language. Instead, he kept his expression calm and gaze amiable as it remained fastened on her.

"I told you about that list of his and how my sister was on there. They were keeping track of all the girls they- it's disgusting."

"Agreed," Jughead said with a nod of his head, not hesitating to show her that he was on her side.

"I couldn't just stand by and let them get away with that. So, Veronica and I devised this plan to dupe Chuck, reel him in so he would admit to everything and stop. And I did dress up more promiscuously than I normally would and I might have lost it a little by the time Ronnie and I had lured him into the hot tub."

"Hot tub?" Jughead repeated the words. He looked away momentarily to blow out a breath before focusing on Betty once more. "And what exactly were you wearing?" He touched his fingers to his forehead as he asked her the question while silently debating whether he even wanted to know the answer. The jealousy was poorly timed, insignificant even, but he still wanted her to know that it affected him. Perhaps it even hurt to know that Chuck had seen more of Betty's bare skin than he even had the chance to yet.

Betty glanced up at him with her big baby blues, regret, concern and guilt all on display for him to take in. "It was all for show," she justified meekly. "I have better taste than that, Jug, trust me."

"Incontestably," he reciprocated, revealing half of a smirk. He didn't want her to dwell on an action that was representative of who she was. "What happened that made you lose control?" he pursued on a more serious note.

Betty shrugged. "I don't know." It was a feeble attempt at concealing the truth from him. He knew she was lying and she knew that he saw right through her. She was a bad liar and had plenty of tells, one of them being that she found it almost impossible to meet his eyes. "I just got too angry, not at Chuck but at Jason for treating my sister like that. At my parents for driving her away, at my mom for making me feel so insecure at times and…" She took a deep breath that rattled through her. "And at myself for reacting the way I do at times. I go dark sometimes, Juggy. It's like a switch that I flip and I become this other person who I really don't like. I can feel it coming and I try to keep myself present by..."

She felt the tears well up in her eyes, though she fought against them with all her might so she could focus on the task at hand. One thing at a time. Betty opened her hands to show Jughead the crescent-shaped marks in the palms of her hands. "I've been doing it for a while now." She finally looked up at him as she admitted the worst part of it all, "I can't stop."

The tears finally fell, blurring her vision and sliding down her cheeks. Jughead's reaction was instant and instinctive as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her up against his chest. He pressed his lips to the top of her head before clasping both of her wrists in his hand and lifting them up to his mouth. He touched his lips to each of the marks on her palms, taking his time as if he was savoring each time his lips made contact with her skin. His gentle and almost loving manner only made her cry even harder as she was overcome by everything that she had been keeping in.

"Betts," he said as he lifted his head back up, "I don't like it when you get like this. So sad." He leaned in to press his lips against her forehead while lacing his fingers with hers. "It'll be okay. We'll make it okay. I'll make it okay."

Her free hand rested against his chest, the steady beat of his heart soothing and consoling. "I don't want to need you like this. I want to be strong, fix myself on my own."

"Everyone has their demons."

"I just don't want you to stay around because you feel like you're obliged to." And there it was, she vocalized the one thing that the both of them were afraid of. She was only saying out loud what he couldn't.

With a newfound confidence and need to get this ridiculous notion out of her head, their heads, Jughead gently took a hold of her chin, tilting it upwards so she was looking at him. "I need you just as much as you need me, Betty, regardless of how it may seem at times. I care for you, no matter what label we put on one another." He brushed his lips against hers softly. "You're the strongest person I know. Imagine what an impenetrable force we are together." He let go of her chin. "We just need to talk about things and keep talking. And I'm aware that it's ironic coming from me, but tonight was only able to happen because of miscommunication, or non-communication on my part."

Betty used the sleeve of her sweatshirt to dab her face. "If I'm being honest, your party was a distraction, something for me to focus on, an escape from everything that's been going on with me." Her eyes landed on her hands, one of them still caught in Jughead's. "But my heart was in the right place," she defended herself. "I just wanted to make today memorable."

Jughead tightened his hold on her hand. "You don't have to convince me of that. I believe you. Wholeheartedly so."

"And inviting your dad was an afterthought. He declined at first, but I hounded him into him showing up despite his feelings and warning of how you don't do birthdays, let alone surprise birthday parties," she explained, placing the full blame on herself.

"Well, look at that, I guess he did pay some attention while I was growing up," Jughead joked self-deprecatingly.

"He loves you, Jughead," she said, ignoring the roll of his eyes. "Tonight was proof of that. He was the one to break up the party. And he stopped you from getting into a full-out brawl with Chuck," she reminded him. "Something I'm grateful for. I don't like seeing you hurt."

"Something we have in common," Jughead remarked. "I hurt you tonight too."

"Sticks and stones."

He scoffed. "I've always found that particular saying problematic." His eyes locked with hers once again. "So, now that the damage is done, is it repairable? Are we still, are you still my…."

Betty bit her lip, holding back a smile. "Girlfriend?" She nodded shyly.

He reached out and ran a thumb across her cheek, wiping away the final evidence of her tears. "I guess we weathered the storm then." He cracked a smile while tugging at a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. "I would buy you a milkshake but I'm really craving some of that cake. Did you happen to salvage any of it?"

"I made it you know," she absentmindedly replied. "It took me an entire afternoon."

The look in his eyes softened as he was overtaken by the feeling of awe, so impressed by her simple gesture because it had always been inadequate when it came to his father.

Betty chose not to address it, even though it did make her feel tingly in all the right places. "It's practically untouched. I put it in Mr. Andrews' fridge before I went home."

She slipped her hand in his and stood up, pulling him out of the booth with her as she was eager to salvage what she could. She started towards the door, but Jughead tugged her back and into him, wrapping his arms around her waist while pressing a kiss to the crown of her head. "I can't wait to spend my next birthday with you."

She looked up at him before pressing her lips against his, the execution still a little bashful and unpracticed. Jughead deepened the kiss after a few seconds, savoring the taste of her.

"Happy birthday, Juggy," she whispered against his lips before pulling back and continuing their trek to the door.

This time Jughead let Betty pull him along.

Please review? Your feedback always manages to inspire and stimulate me further, so please be kind and leave behind a few words. I'd really appreciate it. As always, If you know of an amazing Bughead story that I might have missed, leave behind the suggestion! :)