Disclaimer: I do not own Archie comics or Riverdale characters!
Jughead Jones had been staying at the Andrew's household for about a week now, and things were going better than expected. No looks of pity, no prolonged awkwardness, no hard questioning. Fred Andrews was a simple man in that respect. He treated Jughead like a son, and only expected him to be realistic about the way things were. He wanted Jug to feel comfortable, and he did. Especially since it was a House he frequented growing up.
It took a few days for Jughead to get used to waking up without feeling instant dread washing over him. The dread still came, but had started to kick in shortly after he woke , but that was an improvement. He used to be forever on edge when he was technically homeless, but he told himself not to get too familiar with this temporary situation. He always had to be prepared. But it was nice to let himself enjoy what he had for the moment. He had a roof over his head, food to eat, his best friend Archie, and his.. well, he had the amazing angel that was Betty Cooper close by.
Jughead sprang out of his seated position on Archie's bed. "Hey dude, I'm going to go for a walk down to the gas station. You want anything?"
"Nah man, I'm good." Archie's eyes never left his guitar. He was deeply focused on tuning it and had been so for the past fifteen minutes.
Jughead nodded curtly and left him to it, headed out on his journey to a place chocked full of wonderful snacks and delicious beverage choices. Trying to decide what he would splurge some of his reserved dollars for, he exited the house and walked into the night. It was slightly chilly, so as per usual, Jughead had about three layers on to keep himself warm. It was well into the evening, around ten o'clock on a Saturday night. The moon and stars were already shining brightly down on the darkened town that was Riverdale, slightly mesmerizing in appearance to Jughead. They reminded him of the sparkle of Betty's eyes had, even in the darkest of situations, and he acknowledged how cheesy that thought was.
He was at the end of the driveway when he realized his thoughts went from a full 180, from food to Betty in the matter of seconds. Hah. Of course.. she would do that to him. Jughead knew he had hardened walls up when it came to Him vs People. Only a handful of people got to peel back his layers at all so far in life, but there was only one who got further than anyone had.
He couldn't deny his feelings for Betty at this point. At all. He had always felt strongly for his Mother and Jellybean when it came to females in his life, but Betty was the first female friend outside of family he ever really had. She always regarded Jughead with extreme kindness, and always looked him in the eye. She always talked TO him, instead of at him or ignore him like a lot of people seemed to do. And now.. Betty was starting to dominate his heart with feelings of lust like he had never imagined, desire.. wanting her to be okay, needing to be close to her at times, finding out things about Jason's murder with her.. she truly had been a puzzle piece that actually fit into a piece of him.
Jughead always knew he had a soft spot for Betty. She was the first girl he had trusted with a secret(that he accidentally ran over Jellybean's favorite teddy bear with his bicycle when she was only 2, destroying the bear and had to bury it so his Father wouldn't get too upset at him), she was the first girl who ever made his heart feel like it was going to explode out of his chest. She was the first, and he wondered if she would be the last. He never thought he would fall into.. well, have feelings for anyone. But here he was.. Truth be told, he hadn't seen Betty as often as he had before they found Polly. Mostly they caught each other at school the past few days. He was estatic for Betty too, seeing her immense relief at having secured Polly a safe place for now. She had been very bubbly, bright and very.. Betty the times he had caught up with her, and found himself missing her when she wasn't around.
Jughead was making his way down the pavement towards the store when his phone buzzed in his pocket. Pulling the device out, he saw he had a text from the girl occupying his thoughts. 'Where are you venturing off into the night, Romeo?' It read. He smirked at her nickname for him, his body coming to a stop. He felt his stomach do a small flip, imagining maybe Betty was replaying thoughts of the day he climbed a ladder up to her window, entered her room, calmed her down and kissed her. He texted her back, 'Food.', and looked over his shoulder back at the Andrew's residence, and beyond that, the Cooper's. Betty's bedroom window glowed against an otherwise unlit house. His eyes found the silhouette of her drifting in her window, and before he knew it, he was arriving underneath her window as she was opening it to talk to him.
"Hi." She called out, leaning out of her window and gazing down at him, slightly biting her lower lip and trying not to smile too much. She looked absolutely radiant to him as usual.. her shiny golden hair was actually let down tonight, her soft curls cascading over his shoulders as she leaned out over him.
"Hello, lovely." He surprised himself with that, but kept his cool and stuffed his hands in his pockets, smirking up at her. and he couldn't quite help his failure at words when it came to talking to Betty. He tried incorporating his intellect and vast knowledge of words into his spoken words to her, because she deserved the best, but somehow found himself spitting out the most random things. She also seemed to push away all of the dread and apathy he had for the World around him away whenever she entered the picture, and it was easier for him to get caught up on feeling good.
He couldn't quite see the blush that immediately crossed Betty's face at his words, but he saw her face draw back slightly into a shy, coy smile. That's her "blush face", he recognized. She only made that cute expression on her face when she was blushing at something. "I.. I just got home from Veronica's about half an hour ago! Her, Polly and I did each other's hair.. it felt nice to be like that with them. Polly is starting to come out of her broken shell. I… think she's trying to put herself back together." She was smiling happily now, obviously recalling the good times they had tonight and he felt a surge of happiness crash over his heart for her.
"That's amazing, Betty. You guys deserve to bond and be together, and heal.." He started to shuffle underneath her, and looked around to make sure he wasn't being too loud.
"Thank you Juggie.. Oh! Don't worry, my Parent's aren't home. They have been busy at work all night getting things ready for Sunday's paper. "
"Oh, that's good.. " Jughead started to wonder what he should do next. Should he continue to the store? Maybe take this chance to ask Betty to spend some time with him? Maybe she would want to be alone after spending all day with her girls?
"Want to come up?" Her voice broke his train of thought.
"Ye- yeah.. " He choked out, suddenly a bit nervous and looked back towards Archie's house. He didn't want to stay away too long so he wouldn't raise any concerns, but he didn't want to miss this chance to be around Betty. She had disappeared from the window and within a few moments he heard her unlocking the front door, and he crossed over the lawn to meet her.
Suddenly he was inside the Cooper's dark home, and Betty immediately sought out Jughead's hand with her own, and started to lead him upstairs to her bedroom. He felt a bit dizzy all of the sudden. Just being around her was elating to him.. she attracted several his senses immediately. Her hand was soft and warm, compared to his slightly cold skin, and he got a whiff of her delicate vanilla perfume. Her hair bounced around as she guided him. Some of the soft tendtrils flew up and tickled his face as he followed her footsteps up into the den of the fair Maiden.
Upon entering her room, she let go of his hand and spun around to flash a soft smile in his direction. "Actually, wait here for me? I'll be right back!" She flew past him, reaching out to touch his arm as she left.
Jughead stood there in the middle of her room, looking around. How quickly he found himself here, when minutes ago he was on his way to the store, bewildered him. The only light that was on in her room was her lamp next to her bed, emitting a soft glow that screamed Betty. That was what she was like, he realized. A warm glow emitting from the twilight. He shook his head immediately, telling himself to drop the super gushy romantic thoughts. But hell, she did make his system start to go haywire.. he was already missing her touch from when their hands were just joined. And with that she re-appeared with a plate full of delicious looking cupcakes.
She crossed her room and set the plate down on her desk, gesturing to them. "We also baked some sweets tonight!" she said as she left the cupcakes to walk over to close her window , drawing the curtains closed. "I guess you left the den to go hunting for your prey in the night, but until you venture back into the wild, you're welcome to as many as you- " She had turned around and Jughead was already finishing off a cupcake with a deer in headlights look across his face as he licked the frosting off his fingers. "..want." She stared at him for a second for dramatic effect, then burst out into laughter.
He shook his head, laughing with her. The way her voice rang through out the air sounded melodic to his ears. Her shoulders didn't look quite so tense as they had the past month, and she seemed a bit relaxed. She sauntered over to him, and he noticed a look of contemplation displayed across her features as she came to a stop in front of him. "These are yummy, Betts. And you guys made chocolate ones AND vanilla ones! Did Veronica actually contribute to these? " He asked, reaching for another and the two settled into a comfortable exchange of conversation.
"I let her mix up the batter. It's about the only thing I trusted her to do since it didn't involve steps and she wouldn't have been as willing otherwise. Polly is actually the best when it comes to baking.. she's a natural at it. These probably wouldn't have been as good if not for her!" She reached out to the side of them and grabbed a cupcake from the plate. "Veronica showed us the best way of consuming a cupcake tonight. Wanna see?"
He was about to watch Betty eat a cupcake. While they were alone in her room. One of his favorite things, food, surrounded by another one of his favorite things, her soft, plump, perfectly pink tinted lips. He gulped. Why on Earth did that sound so amazing? He must be such a freak. "Uh.. sure, yeah. How many ways could there be?"
She grinned up at him and broke the bottom half of her cupcake off, and placed it on top of the icing, softly squishing it all together to form a .."ta-da, cupcake sandwich! " she said proudly, raising the 'cupcake sandwich' to her mouth. He watched her soft looking mouth open up, and her tongue escaped to lick up some frosting that spread out of the sides. It was so delicate, the way she used her tongue. She got a good amount of vanilla frosting, and ended up getting some on her mouth. He was dazed watching her drag her tongue slowly across her lips, making sure to get all the creamy goodness up. He hadn't realized his mouth was slightly hanging open and he was starting to breathe harder until she looked up and made eye contact with him.
"Juggie.." She breathed out, her eyes slowly searching his. What was on her mind? The air around them started to feel a little heavier, and he was caught up in the force that was created when you made eye contact with Betty Cooper. He could lock on her eyes for hours at a time he thought, and maybe more than that. Her beautiful blue eyes shined up at him, and he was reminded again of the brightness of the stars and moon outside. She still held her cupcake sandwich in her hand, and he reached his hand out to grab it from her. He took a bite and grinned down at her, never breaking the eye contact.
"Impressive. I like it, but I'll need you to construct all my cupcakes this way for me. I can't be bothered to waste the time doing it, I just focus on how many I can eat in one sitting. Can I hire you to be my cupcake sandwich maker?" He asked her, trying to ease the electricity in the air before he broke down. She was making him feel excited and lustful for her.
Betty softly laughed at that and chewed on her lip in a thoughtful way before answering. "You can count on me, Mr. Jones. I'm your girl."
He liked the sound of that. "There might be a problem as to what you earn in payment, though. I don't have a lot of money. What would you work for?"
She looked to be going over some things in her head before locking her eyes back onto his. She reached out and put her arm flat against his chest, leaning forward and stole a bite from the dessert in his hand. She was flirting with him, and hardcore. He knew that Betty liked him back, obviously, they were at the holding hand phase and had shared two kisses so far, but it never failed to amaze him that she wanted him back. "I'm sure you could think of something to give me." Betty had never sounded so sexy. Her voice even sounded a little different, more steady and sure and slightly lower than her previous, bubbly chatter. Holy shit, she was gonna fry his nerves with this kind of talk.
"I.. " He began in a wavering voice, but quickly ran out of words to say. He was stupefied. She took that as a victory and grinned, leaned more into his body, running her hand that she had placed over his chest to rest over his heart. He wondered if she could feel how hard his heart was thumping.
Drawing courage from within, he put the cupcake sandwich back down on the plate and placed his hand over hers, holding hers there. He reached his other arm out and slipped it around Betty's waist. "You have power over me, Betty. You know that don't you?"
She chose not to say anything to that and fell deeper into their embrace, closing gaps between their bodies quickly. He felt her body push towards his with need, so he responded by sliding his hand from her waist, up the side of her body and onto her shoulders, then moving to cup her face in his large hand. He ran his fingers lightly over her flushed cheek, and snapped his eyes to hers, his expression asking her for permission to dive in.
She gave a slight gasp when his hand reached her face, but her eyes flashed back at his, telling him what he needed to know. He brought his face down to hers as her eyes fluttered closed, and kissed her with the most passion he had ever felt in his entire life. Until then they had shared two sweet, innocent first kisses, but this one exploded straight into new territory for them. They collided with want, and the way they moved against each other told their story quite clearly. It had only been a few days void of alone moments between them, but their yearning for each other had definitely increased with each look, smile or conversation they had shared.
Jughead felt closer to Betty than ever this way, and was starting to feel a little dizzy with desire for her. Her lips were so perfect against his, and he realized he was locked in an intimate embrace, kissing the girl he grew up with. His stomach did a wonderful flip. This felt so unreal, and oh so good. She broke their kiss for a quick breath, and then proceeded to melt her mouth against his. She was grasping his arms her hands, leading them backwards, never breaking their lip lock. He followed suite, not wanting to lose the feeling of her. Within a few moments, the back of Betty's legs hit her mattress, and they found themselves tumbling into her bed, breaking their heavy kiss.
He was so glad that her Parents weren't home, because he wanted to give into kissing Betty Cooper tonight. He didn't want any distractions. He hoped Archie wasn't wondering where he was. He was ready to pour his feelings for Betty that he had building up his whole life into this moment. This was so different than what he thought making out would really feel like. He couldn't get enough of her, and quickly dipped his form over her, trapping her underneath him while she squirmed with joy, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck and pulling his face back to hers.
Their lips met again with fevered want, and everything started to feel intensely hot. Jughead broke the kiss again momentarily, Betty whimpering at the loss, and he shed off his jacket and tossed it to the floor. "Sorry," he mumbled against her lips, before he decided to cup her face again, kissing her deeply. She of course, tasted like the buttercream frosting from the cupcakes. He loved the way she tasted, and the way she felt. His hands held the soft, delicate skin of her face, while he drove her crazy with his mouth. She moved around a lot, twisting around underneath him and moving her arms all over his body, his chest, his neck, his arms, against the mattress underneath them, everywhere. She was bursting with desire for him, he could tell by her body language, and the moans eliciting from her mouth as he decided to lick at her lips to open her up more for him. He dipped his tongue into her mouth and sought hers out.
Betty's classic ponytail was becoming messed up in the process of them becoming completely tangled together for the first time on her bed. Their tongues searched the others tentatively at first, then grew more daring as the time rolled on. They found a good grove, succumbing to one another, while moving their bodies together in several different ways. It was powerful, to say the least.. Jughead never imagined pressing his body this close to a girl for the first time would actually end up being with Betty, but he wouldn't lie to himself.. this was everything he could have ever dreamed. And he had dreamed.
The kisses they shared proved to make them quench for more quite easily, they found. Jughead eventually broke away from Betty's swollen mouth to lead a trail of kisses down her chin and against her throat. God, she felt so warm and soft, and yet he couldn't help himself, applying a strong pressure to her skin with his mouth. He wanted her to never forget the way his touch felt, and how powerful she made him feel. She gasped in pleasure at that, and leaned her head back against the bed, giving him more access. He felt emboldened by her willingness, and let himself taste more of her skin. Her shoulders were perfectly firm to grasp, yet soft to the touch. She held a slim frame, so it took no time for him to travel from one shoulder to the other. He let his tongue dart out against her collarbone, and heard delicious moans spill out her mouth at that. She was really seeming to enjoy this, Jughead thought wildly.
Betty's hands found their way into Jughead's hair, fingertips combing through his dark waves and grazing his scalp. It seemed she decided to test the waters and 'accidentally' knocked off his beloved beanie. Jughead stopped to look up at her, and she couldn't help but giggle at his blank expression, knowing she had removed a comfort for him. "Oops.." she breathed out and grasped a bunch of hair in one of her hands, giving it a good tug. Jughead's eyes widened at her bold move, her pulling his hair. It was an extreme turn on he decided, the feeling was sinful and he felt engulfed from the look of pure want she was giving him. Her eyes were slightly lidded, searching his, a bold, daring smile displayed at him. Just for him, he thought.
"Betty.." her name slipped out of him, dripping with want for her. She took this opportunity to push her body up, pushing his body back into a seated position. She crawled into his lap, throwing a leg over each side of his and settling into a nice, firm seat against his lap. This made his stomach burn with desire for her, but he was beginning to feel very anxious. She was going to push him over the edge and he was already growing harder inside his pants against her warmth and didn't want to cross any lines with her, but she was so intoxicating. His arms were already around her torso before he could help himself, and he was looking up at her with a dizzy expression on his face. "Be-Betty.. you're making me w-want.. you with.. everyth-thing.. "His words failed him, as he didn't quite know how to voice what he was feeling.
Betty seemed to understand, because she relaxed against himself slightly, pulling away a little. He immediately regretted it, but he kept a firm grasp on her body. The two breathing heavily, faces angled towards the others, Betty moved her hands to cup each side of Jughead's face, and she leaned forward to close the distance between them. This kiss was gentle, and most likely Betty's 'farewell' kiss. For the night, he told himself. There was more time for them to explore whatever it was they were doing.. he had a feeling he was going to stay on for the ride, no matter how crazy it got. On that note, he decided to ask her what he had so afraid to ask. "Betty, what are we doing?"
She gazed at him with a fond expression, her face relaxing from the amazing seductress she was moments ago. Then she moved closer again, wrapping her arms tightly around Jughead's neck and pulled him into a close embrace. "We're being together."
He was content with that answer, and laid his head into the groove of her neck while they embraced. It felt better than anything, he decided. To be close with another soul in this vast World, to lay your body upon another and feel just how much they cared about you seeping from their touch. They eventually released and got off her bed. They stared at each other for a few seconds before letting some laughs and giggles roll out onto the floor. "Come on, it's getting late, I'll walk you to the door. You should take the cupcakes, I've had so many tonight already!"
"Yeah, maybe I'll go show Archie how to make a 'cupcake sandwich,' He laughed as they made their way out of the sacred place that was Betty Cooper's bedroom. He wished he co "Honestly though, Betty. If you ever wanna make out like that again, I wouldn't be opposed if you brought along more of these sweets. " He managed to consume a whole other cake on the way down the stairs. She threw him an amused look, and even blushed at his words acknowledging their make out session. Betty's blushes sometimes spread down to her shoulders, and it was lovely. This time it definitely did, he noticed as they both stepped into the soft light she turned on right in front of her door.
"I think there's a pretty big chance of me wanting to make out again." She surprised him with her words, her voice soft but steady. He grinned at that and she reached for the door handle, opening it and exiting into the night. He was a bit confused for a second, but followed her into the night, closing the door behind him. "I thought you said you were walking me to the door?" She was heading to Archie's, and he sped up to fall in place next to her. "Hey..You didn't have to walk me home." He said, feeling some sort of déjà vu at his words.
She laughed out loud and turned her body towards him as they walked right up to the side of Archie's house."Uh.. there's a killer on the loose, remember?" It was coming back to him then. The night he walked her home, hand in hand, and she had kissed HIM. "Besides… isn't this what.. you know?" She was smirking at him. That little vixen. "What people like us, who have gone through what we've gone through.. do?" She had to do it.
"If I didn't know any better, Elizabeth Cooper, I would say you are crushing on me pretty hard."
"It's a good thing you know me, then, Forsythe." She cocked an eyebrow at him, and leaned up to plant a chaste kiss against his smiling lips. "Good night." She left in a flurry of blonde hair and vanilla scent. He turned to watch her disappear back into her own home, and caught her throwing a look of happiness back over her shoulder at him before she was gone.
He sighed happily, and shook his head at the situation he found himself. Helplessly falling for the golden girl-next-door. His life was full of troublesome things, but she definitely was igniting the fire in his heart, keeping all the bad things at bay most of the time. He entered the Andrew's household, and found Fred Andrews sleeping on the couch, passed out in front of the television after a hard day at work. He decided to leave the television on for some background noise, and went into the kitchen and sat the plate of cupcakes on the table, then crossing the floor to get himself something cold to drink. His nerves were on fire still. He was consumed in the passionate ways Betty made him feel, and decided he would use this fuel to work on his Novel.
He retrieved his laptop from Archie's room, seeing that Archie had succumbed to sleep himself and was grateful. He didn't want to have to deal with Archie facing Betty and him tonight in situation they all hadn't even talked about in depth yet. He left his room quietly and set up shop at the kitchen table, with a big cold glass of water and the plate of cupcakes. While his laptop was turning on, he stared at the desserts. There were four of them left. He sighed deeply and reached out to the plate, and started ripping the bottoms of the cupcakes off, and constructing the famous 'cupcake sandwich' out of them. He felt satisfied upon completion, even if it made them look a bit messy. He liked that.
He consumed the rest of the cupcakes that night as he worked on his novel, his fingers working wildly against the keyboard, the words spilling out of him with ease and fluidity. It was if Betty and Jughead also ignited determination and hope in each other, like she turned on a lightbulb inside his head. It seemed as if he had that effect on her as of late as well. Every time they had kissed, clarity was soon revealed to someone. He was rewording sentences in his Novel with great satisfaction, writing out new sentences too, well into the night. For once, in a very long time.. he felt extremely hopeful for the future.