It was a quiet night, the crickets were singing softly, a fire dancing and blazing, stars glittering above the quiet forest and over four teenagers.
Archie was strumming aimlessly on his guitar, leaning against Veronica who was seated on a wooden bench. Opposite them, across the fire were Betty and Jughead. Betty cradled in his arms, her arms over the ones holding her against a strong chest.
The four were letting the quiet of the night wash over them. It had been a hard summer. A long summer. One spent worrying not about who wore what, or who kissed who by the river's edge. Instead, it was a summer spent full of worry over whether one would go to jail. Worry about where the other was going to take his serpents, how he was going to lead them in the aftermath of that tumultuous spring night.
They were not normal sixteen-year-olds looking forward to their junior year. Not if they couldn't all do it together.
They were, however, choosing to take this weekend to have the best time they could, together. Come Monday their world could be very different, but right now, for this one brief moment in time, it felt come and idyllic.
Archie pulled inspiration from the girl behind him, the couple across from him and began to play a song that he had written before that fateful riot night, before his world was turned upside down.
When the sun had left and the winter came
And the sky fall could only bring the rain
I sat in darkness, all broken hearted
I couldn't find a day I didn't feel alone
I never meant to cry, started losing hope
But somehow baby, you broke through and saved me
He had watched two of his best friends fall in love last year. Not in any sort of conventional way, but they fell nonetheless. Betty, in her pastel, Nancy Drew glory, had Jughead Jones, self-proclaimed weirdo turned Serpent wrapped around her finger. One smile, one touch and he were calmer, less prone to angst and anger.
Archie himself had fallen in love. A beautiful heiress swept in on a breeze from New York and gave this boring little town adventure and glamour and lights. She brought the city to him. One smile and he was sold, he fell in love with Veronica Lodge.
He watched Betty as he sang, lean back into Jughead's arms, smiling at whatever soft words the aspiring author murmured to the slow beat of Archie's song. He felt Ronnie run her hands through his hair.
Peace.
Tranquility.
Love.
It floated in the air with his words.
You're an angel, tell me you're never leaving
'Cause you're the first thing I know I can believe in
You're holy, holy, holy, holy
I'm high on loving you, high on loving you
You're holy, holy, holy, holy
I'm high on loving you, high on loving you
The girls were their own unique brand of light and dark. Betty, bright and pastel, blonde and cheerful, always with a smile. Veronica, black and purples, pearls and class, dry wit and story for any occasion. Of course, that wasn't all they were. Betty had her own darkness, her own demons, so did Veronica, but to the men staring adoringly at them in the glow of the fire, they were angels.
Archie knew that he would follow Veronica anywhere, it was what had gotten him into the situation he was in now, but he was unable to care when she turned those chocolate eyes on him and smiled that smile. He had, after al nearly killed a boy for her, landing him in the current unpleasant situation.
Similarly, Jughead would do anything for Betty, to comfort her, to calm her. He had been, all summer long. He was running a gang but that hadn't stopped the boy from continuing to show the girl next door how to deal with her darkness, letting her lean on him or supporting her wherever he could. He had after all, nearly died only to be brought back by her.
These two angels showed the boys their own lessons in grace.
Archie learned to have patience, to wait. The best things in life came to those who paused and considered. He learned to embrace and polish his thirst for adventure, for sparkle, thanks to one Veronica Lodge.
Betty had taught Jughead what it felt like to receive someone's undivided attention, their unbridled love. She had tempered his hotheadedness, soothed his worries and his fears. She had shouldered his burdens, making him feel less like Atlas, alone at the top of the world with its weight on his shoulders. She had taught him how to love, deeply and unconditionally.
You made the brightest days from the darkest nights
You're the river bank where I was baptized
Cleanse all the demons
That were killing my freedom
Let me lay you down, give me to ya
Get you singing babe, hallelujah
We'll be touching, we'll be touching heaven
All four people around that campfire had their own demons. Veronica had her father and her own dammned good intentions. Archie had the Red and Black Circles, Hiram Lodge, Geraldine Grundy, and the night that was haunting him now. Jughead had his drunk father, his broken home, a mother who didn't know how to show her love, a switchblade covered in Penny's blood and a phone call to Hiram Lodge that had nearly been his undoing. Betty had perfection and pressure, Chuck Clayton, Chic, and her father, a serial killer.
But here now, together, they felt pure again. They had walked through the flames of hell and come out stronger, bruised and maybe a little broken but stronger.
Betty and Jughead were King and Queen of Serpents, the gang looking to Jughead to fix their problems. Together they were shouldering every burden, stronger than they had ever been.
Archie and Veronica tried to take on the demons of her world together, and they had, but it had been too little too late. They had helped Hiram Lodge gain a foothold from which he had expanded to control the Southside of their beloved Riverdale and begin to unravel everything which had meant so much.
Hiram Lodge had tested their friendships, their love, and their loyalty. These four teens had struggled but in the end, they had shown him that their friendship was strong, their love a light in the dark. That their loyalty was to each other and their lovers. A lesson for which he was making them pay.
But here, now, this was heaven. Four people who loved each other, being together under glittering stars.
You're an angel, tell me you're never leaving
'Cause you're the first thing I know I can believe in
You're holy, holy, holy, holy
I'm high on loving you, high on loving you
You're holy, holy, holy, holy
I'm high on loving you, high on loving you
Jughead cradled the love of his life closer, breathing in her vanilla scent, for once no weighed down by where he was going, who he was leading, how he was surviving. At this moment, his friend's voice drifting through the night, all that mattered was these people and the girl in his arms who was the strongest person he knew. He watched his friend play, memories of their lives together playing through his mind. Their childhood innocence seeming more and more distant with each passing day. The new addition of Veronica Lodge rounding out their little group, smiling down at the boy and his guitar.
Veronica threaded her hands through the singing boys hair, forgetting for a moment that it was her father's fault that the boy she loved was facing prison rather than his junior year. She forgot about Pops, the speakeasy, the responsibilities she felt. Instead she focused on the bright red hair and broad shoulders she loved. Glancing occasionally at her best friend, looking relaxed and content in the arms of the Serpent King. Said King cradling the girl in his arms like she was precious, like he never wanted to be far away from her again.
Betty sighed and sank deeper into the hold of the boy she loved. She forgot gun wielding serial killer fathers, cultish sisters, distraught mothers, and court cases. Instead, she watched one of her oldest friends play guitar in a way he hadn't in ages, leaning against the legs of her best friend. Her friend, for once without worry and stress following her in a storm cloud above her head, seemed once again like the breath of fresh air from New York none of them had known they needed. Jug was behind her, whispering sweet things in her ear occasionally, content for once, no rioting or protesting, peace and ease making him radiate even more warmth than usual.
Archie felt the fingers in his hair, remembered standing in a closet in Cheryl Blossom's house, phone in hand, nerves flittering in his stomach. Then she had slipped her hands around his neck as they talked, pulling him closer to her body, her fingers toying with his hair and all he wanted, all he still wanted was to be able to hold her, to kiss her. Then she had kissed him and for those few perfect moments, his life had been perfect. At that moment he had needed nothing, wanted for nothing. He would only realize the significance of that moment for the pair of them far later than the couple across the fire, but he fell in love, hard and fast with the girl who gave his life inspiration with a little glitter and sparkle.
Jughead had figured his angel out much more quickly. Climbing that ladder had been both the hardest and the easiest thing he thought he would ever have to do. All he had wanted was to comfort her, in the eyes of the hurricane her world had become. He had told her one thing he sometimes wished he could have remembered many times in the months following those days- we aren't our families. Then, suddenly she was staring up at him, waiting for the rest of whatever he would have said, green eyes striking his verbose self, mute. He could think of, could do nothing more than lean in and kiss her, so he did, and from then on, even more than they had been before, they were a team. Sure there had been a few bumps in the road, but a team they had become.
I don't need the stars 'cause you shine for me
Like fire in my veins, you're my ecstasy
You're my ecstasy
You're holy, holy, holy, holy
I'm high on loving you, high on loving you
You're holy, holy, holy, holy
I'm high on loving you, high on loving you
The fire danced, casting a glow over a scene that would seem nothing more than a distant memory mere days after its occurrence. At that moment, however, it showed two boys, expressing their love the only way they knew how. Archie leaning against her legs singing it into the night, Jughead whispering it in soft words every now and then into the ear of the girl in his arms.
The girls expressing and receiving their love. Veronica, petting and stroking through his hair, rubbing his shoulders, admiring the fine line of his jaw. Her eyes dancing in the fire light and her mind floating on a cloud at his words. Betty, relaxing and admiring the shadows dancing across the forest, looking up occasionally to watch the same shadows dance across the face that she loved dearly. She sat idly tracing her eyes over the scene he created, blending in with the surrounding night while running her fingers in the same pattern, and infinity sign, on one of the arms cradling her against his chest.
This was their ecstasy.
This was their bliss.
The stars shone in the sky, an example of the large and waiting world, but none was focused on the future or the ugly parts of their past. Each as instead glowing in the presence of their angel, their soulmate, their friends that meant more to them then they knew how to express.
They were, if only for a night, learning how to heal.
You're the healing hands where it used to hurt
You're my saving grace, you're my kind of church
You're holy
Each felt as if they were experiencing something holy, and as Archie let the last cord, the last note hang in the air, each basked in the glory of what heaven was to them. The four people around that fire, exactly as they were.
They all knew, rationally and at the back of their minds, that in a few hours they would have to go back to the real world, to reality and all the ugly, scary things that they needed to deal with and overcome. But for now, they basked in heaven, in ecstasy.
They felt holy.