Betty took a deep breath and pulled her pony tail tighter before she walked through the door of the White Wyrm, if Jughead Jones thought that she could be dissuaded so easily he had another thing coming. The text message had been the last straw.
He had been putting distance between them for weeks. No longer coming to Pop's, declining her invitations to meet at the Register to write. Even when she was with him he was distant, he no longer sought comfort in her touch, and she knew he was keeping secrets from her. It had all started as soon as he put that damn jacket on. She had been afraid for him, what it would mean for them once he was part of the Serpents. He had promised her that it was just undercover, that he wasn't about to make the same mistakes that his father had, and she wanted so badly to believe him. She wanted to be his partner in this just as she had been there for Jason Blossom's murder investigation and subsequent solving. Just as he had been there for her with Polly, the very start of their relationship.
She was determined that she was not going to lose him to the Southside, plus no-one, not even Jughead Jones was going to break up with her via text.
She could feel the atmosphere change as soon as she crossed over the threshold, suspicious eyes roving over her trying to figure out what one of 'them' was doing in a place like this.
"You are a very long way from home Blondie." A leather clad man with a long beard, greyed with age sneered at her. She noticed from the corner of her eye another member, a teen around her age had made his way from the table where he was seated. She continued to make her way towards the bar, ignoring the furious beating of her heart and the shaking in her hands. But as more and more of the gang members moved to surround her she could feel her confidence starting to give way. She straightened herself pulling herself up to her full height and continued on.
"Extremely far from the white picket fences of the Northside." He continued to chuckled unkindly.
"Did the boys get too boring for you over there. Wanted something a little more dangerous." The younger man said as he approached her his eyes roaming over her body, as she hugged her arms around herself suddenly self conscious of her tight sweater.
She turned around sharply looking for an escape but was now surrounded by the other patrons of the bar, other members of the notorious gang which currently was locked in a civil war with her own side. Well she was here now and there was no feasible escape so she might as well get what she came for.
"I'm looking for Jughead Jones." She said cursing the slight waver in her voice as she tried to command authority in her voice.
"Well girlie, you found us instead." The older man said as he placed an arm on her shoulder and as she moved to shrug him off he only gripped harder. Frightened she reached for the pepper spray that she had stolen from her mum's bag, grateful that she had had the forethought to do so. "And we don't take too kindly to your kind nosing around here."
Just as her fingers clasped around the cannister a tall figure pulled the man away from her, pressing him up against the bar, as she moved back stunned, free from his grasp.
"Back off Mongoose." A rough familiar voice threatened, and recognition washed over her. A beanie-less, leather jacket wearing Jughead Jones, had the Serpent pinned to the bar, twisting his arm behind his back, his tall imposing figure had the other members who had initially gone to help take a wider berth as soon as he glared at them.
Her heart was now racing out of something more than fear, seeing her Jughead defending her honour sent a heat spreading through her body and a flush to her cheeks. His hair was wild, waves falling over his eyes, as he glared at those around him. He leant closer to the man's ear whispering something that she couldn't quite hear and noticed a widening of Mongoose's eyes as he took in the information, before nodding eagerly.
Jughead released him and Betty watched as he nursed his arm as he moved to the back of the small crowd that had gathered when the commotion had started. None of the other serpents seemed to want to be near him as if he was tainted.
He turned to her next, his hand pushing back his hair from his face and his eyes captured hers with such an intensity that she felt her flush intensify, her sweater becoming too warm despite the coolness of the bar.
"You need to leave Betty." . His face an expression of something that she had only seen a few times, when he was held back by the orderlies at the Sisters of Quiet Mercy and when someone had covered her locker in pigs blood spelling out their hatred for her. There was a roughness and authority in his voice that made her go weak in the knees. Her protector, always.
When she didn't move, he let out a frustrated sigh and moved towards her. He was quick but she was quicker. This protective raw side of him always left her flustered and wanting it awakened the darker side of herself seeing his. She didn't just want him now she needed him.
She grabbed him by his jacket and pulled him to her millimetres from her face, she could already breathe in his scent, and it only fueled her desire. She saw the shock in his eyes, his questioning expression, her heart was drumming in her ears, urging her forward. Her eyes surveyed her environment instantly spotting the beat up sign for the restrooms. Perfect. As he instinctively leaned in to close the distance, she pulled him with her heading in the direction of the closest private space. He didn't have much choice as he was dragged along with her, she was strong despite her size. And he wasn't exactly an unwilling party.
She could hear in the background beneath the beat of her heart and the whooshing blood in her ears the whoops and hoots of the other serpents as their newest member was dragged off in the direction of the restrooms by the pastel pink, blonde haired girl. She pushed him inside the ladies room and shut the door behind her.
"Betty what the…" He didn't get to finish his sentence as she was upon him. Her hands went immediately into his hair, running her fingers through his dark locks thinking about how much she had missed him, missed this.
Her lips locked on his, as she pushed him up against the opposite wall, and he groaned as his back hit it hard the rough bricks worn away in places digging into his back despite the thick leather jacket. He groaned as he returned her kiss unable to simply turn away. Betty was his drug of choice and it only took one hit for him to be addicted all over again. He had managed to keep her at arms length but should have known that she wouldn't let it go. Wouldn't let them go so easily.
The rational side of his brain told him to pull away, to maintain the distance that he had striven so hard to have created. But he found himself pushing his hands into her own hair, directing her to where he needed her so that he could properly claim her lips with her own. She seemed to respond to the roughness of his actions and let out a moan in appreciation.
He flipped their positions pushing her now against the wall as his fingers slipped underneath her sweater, tracing the skin of her hip, her flat stomach, up to her ribs, inches away from where he knew she was craving him. He moved his lips to her neck, licking and nipping harshly at her exposed skin, trailing over her throat her breaths sharp and ragged. Indicating that she was just as lost in this moment as he was.
"You shouldn't have come here Betts." He whispered into her neck as he moved further and further down, roughly pulling the neck of her sweater down so that he could access more of her pale skin. His tongue running along the dip of her collar bone, his other hand holding her hips steady against the wall, pushing her back when they bucked at the sensation of his teeth grazing her sensitive skin.
"You think you can scare me off that easily Jug." She brought a leg up to wrap around him and pull him closer to her, a delicious sound leaving her lips as his body came in full contact with her own. "You forget who I am."
"I can't be worried about you Betts. I can't have you involved in any of this. It's too dangerous." There he was again her stalwart protector unfortunately for him she was not a delicate little flower, a damsel in distress, never had been, never would.
"Maybe I like dangerous." She said looking up at him underneath her eyelashes, almost pouting, and he could already feel his resolve crumbling.
"Maybe, but I won't have you falling down this rabbit hole with me Betts. Not this time." He shook his head, avoiding eye contact, knowing that those big green eyes could convince him otherwise, would suck him back in.
"I'm coming with you, I am going to be here, with you no matter what." He knew she wasn't going to give up but he didn't want her to potentially sacrifice her future for this and if he was honest, for him.
"Betts." He sighed. She moved her hands to his face, holding it her hands directing him to look at her as she had done so many times before. She was his kryptonite, he knew it. He couldn't say no.
"I love you." There it was. The tipping point.
He returned his lips to hers, their tongues intertwined, she moved to push the jacket off his shoulders, it thudding loudly to the ground with it's weight. She made a move to pull her sweater off and he assisted her, his hands shaking giving away his need, instead moving to resettle on her hips, keeping him grounded, while she removed her own sweater, leaving her in a pink lacy bra, that pink lacy bra. Overwhelmed at the memory of their first time and her breathy moans as she twisted against him he lost himself completely.
They were a frenzied mess of hands, pushing, pulling, tongues clashing, teeth grazing and lips marking each other as their own.
He took her against the wall of a bathroom stall. Hurried actions and desperate kisses and a sense of urgency to re join together again. She screamed his name, when he entered her, murmured affirmations of her love for him as he claimed her body with his own.
She leaned the back of her head up against the wooden wall spent, trying to reclaim her breaths as she tried to let it sink in that she had just had sex in the restrooms of the White Wyrm with gang member of the Southside Serpents, her mother would be so proud.
He rested his forehead against hers his hands on the wall either side of her head, taking deep breaths. As the realisation of his actions sunk in. He pushed away from her running a hand through his hair as he proceeded to do up his jeans.
As he readjusted his clothing she left the bathroom stall picking up her sweater, pulling it over her head, eyeing the leather jacket which had been cast aside next to it before picking that up as well. She examined the snake insignia carefully before she shrugged her smaller frame into the worn leather and adjusted it to suit her, examining herself in the mirror. Reaching up she pulled out her skewed and messy pony tail completely allowing her golden waves to cascade over shoulders in sharp contrast to the black leather. She turned to face him, and seeing her swamped in his jacket sent a new wave of trepidation through him.
"Betts?" He choked out. His eyes desperate.
"Like I said Juggie, we're in this together."
A/N: This was a prompt fill for the amazing raptorlily, thank you for trusting me with this. Please let me know what you think by leaving a review, fave or follow. Thank you for reading :)