A 2.05 fix it fic bc I needed to write it.

How Jughead knew that Archie was lying (aka, how I would have written the breakup).

After an argument about how the front porch wasn't going to be dangerous to Betty, Alice finally let her daughter go to the door to say goodbye to her boyfriend. Jughead turned around to face Betty before descending the stairs to leave and said, "You know none of this is your fault right? The Black Hood - whoever he is - is a psychopath. Whatever he's doing, it's not because of you."

She nodded, furiously blinking back tears again. She felt exhausted from everything that had happened and was so glad Jughead was here. He noticed her tears and instinctively pulled her into a hug.

"If something like this happens again, call me okay? I don't care if I don't pick up on the first ring - for whatever stupid reason - I want you to keep trying until I do."

"Okay," she said and slowly he let her go, wiping away one fallen tear with his thumb before leaning in and kissing her.

They stood forehead to forehead after breaking the kiss and Betty said, "Jug, if anything… happens to me or, worse, to you, we should have a code word."

"A code word?"

"Yeah."

"Like what?" He asked and she glanced around until her eyes came to rest on the wet beanie he was holding.

"Like… beanie," she said and he couldn't help the smile that appeared. Betty smiled too and he nodded before squeezing her hand once.

"Goodnight, Betty."

"Bye, Jughead."

"I came here to tell you to stay away from Betty. She doesn't want to see you anymore," Archie said and Jughead felt like he had been slapped. He stared at his best friend in disbelief. He tried arguing about how he had just seen her, only then realising how completely broken she had seemed when they had met. How desperate her kiss had been when he walked in.

"She's been wanting to break up with you for weeks."

Another slap.

"She saw where you were headed, Jughead. We all did. And she knows you can't be with them and with her. And come on, man! You know it, too," Archie finished and Jughead stared at him, trying to read this as a lie. But all he could see was disgust at what he was planning to do. He wished Betty had done this herself. He wished he could explain why he was doing this - he just wanted to keep her safe.

"She also sent me to return this," Archie said, stuffing a beanie into Jughead's hands. The amount of finality the beanie carried only made his heart sink futher.

Beanie.

Jughead did everything in his power not to smile. The last time he had felt this surge of relief, Cheryl had lied on the witness stand. Crumpling the beanie in his fist, he looked Archie in the eye and, putting on his signature, unreadable expression, said, "Tell Betty I got the message."

Archie pushed past him and left. Jughead sighed, glancing down at the beanie in his hand again. Now, he was left to stew in worry about what the hell was going on with his girlfriend.