Jughead wasn't sure when, exactly, his sexual competition with Betty started.
Maybe 'competition' wasn't technically the right word. But in the years following their graduation from high school, the ex-couple turned casual lovers turned furious frenemies slowly descended into an emotional spiralling war of madness - their chosen weapons of mass destruction being their unrequited love for each other and their conflicting sexual escapades...
Once, when Jughead and his roommate were both celebrating the end of the semester over a shared bottle of Hennessy, he had mentioned that his life would be a lot less problematic if his father wasn't still shacked up with his ex-girlfriend's mother.
"That's rough, my guy." His roommate - Dean - had agreed, nodding in solemn confirmation as he took his next swig.
Jughead would never admit it out loud, but there was a minuscule, minute, very very small part of him (that he definitely never thought about) that was grateful for his father's relationship. It certainly gave Jughead a safe excuse to lay his eyes on his favourite golden blonde beauty.
In the first two years of college, Betty and Jughead mostly avoided each other any time their schedules happened to overlap and they found themselves face to face in the Jones/Cooper/Smith house. The pain of their mutual breakup never completely dulled, and the 'what ifs' kept Jughead awake some nights as he glared at the glossy white paint of the ceiling in his bedroom in the basement.
So they stayed civil, and aloof, and when their friends in Riverdale organised group events over the Winter, Spring and Summer breaks, they both attended. All the while they tried to pretend like they were nothing more than friends. Friends who just happened to date in high school.
For the most part, it worked. Except for the times they'd pass each other in the kitchen late at night, perhaps not entirely by accident, and instead of treating each other with stoney politeness they'd push each other up against the wall, or onto the plush couch, or on top of the counter, and were soon falling into Jughead's bed down in the basement.
Betty would always quietly leave before the night was over, and she'd come back downstairs for breakfast the next morning looking exactly like the good girl her mother had raised - and not at all like the debauched, wonton mess she'd been between Jughead's sheets.
Jughead ardently tried to squash his feelings for her. We didn't work out, he often reminded himself. Your schools are almost 20 hours apart. Your lives are going different directions. You tried long-distance in high school and you were fighting all the time. It's better this way. It's better that we ended things on good terms and with fond memories…
And yet, sometimes he'd look into Betty's eyes across the dinner table, when they were both amused by something one of their relatives said. He'd get a glimpse of that smile, and those emerald green irises, and there'd be a sharp jolt in his chest. A desire to reach out for her hand, or pull her into his arms, or even just to flip the entire table over and drop to his knees in front of her to beg her to take him back, right there in front of their whole family—
Stop. It didn't work out.
Of course, Betty wasn't immune to Jughead's charm either.
"You slept with him again?!" Kevin stage-whispered to her from across their booth at Pop's.
Betty groaned and leaned back against the shiny red seat. "I know. I know what you're going to say."
"Do you? Do you really? Because it doesn't seem to have absorbed into that genius brain I know you have hiding up there. You and Jughead broke up two years ago, B. This. Is. Not. Healthy. "
Betty was instantly defensive. "It was an accident."
"It always is." Kevin rolled his eyes.
"I didn't mean to… he was looking for water in the kitchen last night and he had no shirt on and his hair was all messed up and it just kind of… happened."
"Betty, please, no one accidentally falls onto their ex boyfriend's penis."
"Kev! "
Of course, no matter how much she tried to ignore Kevin's lectures (which seemed to be repeated during every vacation break she had from Yale) Betty had to admit he did have a point.
"You're not giving him the chance to move on from you." Kevin would say.
Okay, but Jughead wasn't exactly letting her move on either…
"You cheated on him with his best friend."
And Jughead, despite the tears, and the anger, and the heartbreak, had forgiven her when she'd fallen into bed with him, crying and confessing and begging him not to shut her out.
And things between them had stabilised, for a while, even though Betty could see the suspicion on his face any time she came home just a little too late from visiting her friends… but they still broke up before they left for college.
"You're not going to grow from this relationship if you don't see who else is out there."
Maybe, but she still hadn't met another man who even slightly compared to Jughead.
"You can't keep comparing men to Jughead."
Why not? He was the best man she'd ever known, it's not her fault he wanted to go to a university so far away from her… maybe if he'd wanted to go to Southern Connecticut State University then they wouldn't have even broken up. They could be living together right now, in New Haven, and all the problems of their past and their present would disappear, paving the way for their future together.
Although, Kevin wouldn't even need to comment on that last thought. They both knew she would never have stopped Jughead from going to the University of Iowa - it had the best writing program in the country, and if he had any chance of reaching his full literary potential, it would happen in Iowa.
She couldn't hold him back from that. Not when they'd first graduated high school, and not now. Even though the essence of her entire soul yearned for him. Even though she'd secretly applied for colleges closer to Iowa than Yale was. In the end, she couldn't reasonably justify choosing a different educational institute, not when she'd been given the only opportunity she might have to go to her dream school.
And after Yale, she'd be aiming for the FBI training academy in Boston. And Jughead… well, Jughead didn't know what he'd be doing after college. But he probably wouldn't be in Boston.
And so they were locked, for several years, in a dangerous cycle; one of pretending that they shared no feelings, that it was just sex between exes who were still friendly. And really, it was smart of them to be sleeping with someone they trusted - you could never be too careful with your sexual health, after all - all the while hoping that some miraculous idea would strike either of them and bring them back into each other's arms. For good this time.
And then, the unthinkable happened, and their dangerous but familiar cycle fell apart.
Jughead got a phone call from Betty a few weeks into Semester Two of his Junior Year at Iowa. It was really late; he knew this because even Dean, a man who rivled only Jughead in his ability to stay awake all hours of the night, had gone to bed for the evening.
His instinctual reaction to seeing her name on his screen was one of joy - but it was quickly replaced with a sinking fear. Why would Betty be calling me this late…?
Whenever they met in person, they didn't outright ignore each other. But they never talked. 'Casual' sex was one thing… but talking? They couldn't talk. If they talked, really talked, they'd want to keep talking… and then the pain of being apart would come rushing back to the surface of the deep pool of denial they were submerged in.
If Betty was calling Jughead… something must have happened. Something bad.
His fears were confirmed when he heard her distraught voice. "Jug? Did… I wake you?"
"No." He lied instantly. "I'm usually awake at…" he checked the time on his phone. "Betts, it's Four AM."
"Five AM for me." She responded.
Jughead sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"
She sniffed quietly, and Jughead felt a pang of sadness when he realised she was crying. "No… Jug, I'm not okay… I-" She let out a gasp, then cleared her throat. "I think I might be… pregnant."
Jughead was suddenly and completely awake. "Are you sure?"
"I don't know." She admitted. Betty's distress threatened to squeeze Jughead's heart until it stopped completely. "I have four positive pregnancy tests in front of me…"
"That's, ahh… not leaving a lot of room for technical error." Jughead's head was starting to spin. Was there any chance he could be dreaming?
"I don't know what to do." Her voice broke, and so did part of Jughead's heart. "But Juggie… I need you."
Juggie. The old nickname hit him hard, and was all it took before he was out of his bed and searching for his jeans.
On the long, long drive to New Haven, Jughead had plenty of time to think.
He didn't question whether or not he was the father. Betty wasn't that cruel - she wouldn't have called him at Four AM, or told him she needed him, if it wasn't even his baby. And in any case, he didn't think she'd even been with anyone else in that way. Jughead certainly hadn't.
He didn't question how it happened. He was sure Betty had a detailed explanation involving conception dates and ineffective birth control - but in the end, it happened because they were having sex.
But he agonised over what on Earth they were going to do for several hours, until he finally turned his focus onto the road, and tried to remain calm as he rode his motorbike along the freeways.
Betty was far too wired to fall back to sleep after calling Jughead. So she spent the rest of the morning cleaning her dorm room so thoroughly that it could have been used as a magazine advertisement. She went to class, and focused on the information, but by the end of the day she couldn't take the waiting anymore.
Before she knew it she was taking a blood test at the local Planned Parenthood, grateful that her student health insurance was covering it and she wouldn't have to break the bank or call her mother. Jughead called her when he was two thirds of the way to New Haven and she told him she'd know for sure soon. It may have been a mistake to do so, however - because rather than ease her anxiety, waiting for the results only added to the stress of waiting for Jughead to arrive.
By the time he got to her dorm room it was past midnight.
He didn't even need to ask for the results. One look at her face and he knew.
Jughead messaged Dean on Instagram - because the lunatic didn't have a SIM card ("I don't want the government tracking me, man") and refused to download facebook messenger ("Zuckerberg is a lizard, Jughead, I'm telling you") - and asked him to give their professors a heads up that he wouldn't be in class that week. Betty was too worn out from crying into Jughead's shoulder all night to even consider going into her own lectures.
They spent the next day talking about what the hell they were going to do.
Neither of them were ready to be parents. They lived in different states. They weren't even together anymore. They were only twenty one and twenty. Betty couldn't even legally drink yet, and the universe wanted them to raise an entire human?
It would be crazy to think about anything except abortion.
Jughead couldn't understand how he felt about it. Relieved, mostly. But there was a deep seated anxiety inside him as he held Betty's hand in the waiting room of Planned Parenthood.
"I can't do this." Betty abruptly whispered as she wiped away the tears in her eyes, her face paler than Jughead had ever seen it.
He swallowed and looked down at her. "You don't have to."
Betty looked up into his eyes. "I do have to. We can't have a baby right now, Jug. What else are we meant to do?"
His heart was racing, thudding against his ribcage as he thought of what he could say to her. He settled on: "We can figure it out, okay? If you don't feel right about this, then we'll think of something else."
They walked out without making an appointment.
Adoption was something they seriously considered. But there were just so many evil people in the world that neither of them could confidently choose it as an option. What if they chose parents for their baby and then unknowingly handed it over to a serial killer? Or the parents were human traffickers, or they dropped the baby down a ravine, or they were Neo-Nazis, or they already had twelve kids and this baby was forgotten about?
Their back-and-forth started to get more and more ridiculous, and soon Jughead had Betty giggling over the potential scenarios as they sat across from each other on Betty's single bed.
His eyes went wide, and he clutched a pillow to his chest. "What if it can only walk upside down?"
Betty let out a sort. "Do you mean on its hands? Or with its feet on the ceiling?"
"Either." Jughead smirked, then asked in a fake-horrified voice: "What if it comes out with fingers for eyes and no-one can love it?"
Betty laughed, her smile going wide. The sight warmed Jughead. "I'll still love it no matter what it looks like." She said earnestly.
Jughead's smile faded slightly. "Yeah… you will. And… so will I." His voice came out raspy thanks to how tightly his throat had constricted. "I'll love him or her as much as I still love their mother…"
Jughead and Betty's eyes met and there was a long pause. Her breathing hitched, and he was suddenly very aware of the up-and-down movement of his shoulders. A magnetic pull seemed to be pushing him forward, but he dared not move an inch.
But then Betty was leaning in towards his face, and seconds later her lips touched his in a chaste peck.
Betty leaned back only slightly; her hot breath fanned Jughead's face for only a moment before his hands were on her cheeks and their lips were crashing together in a passionate dance. Almost instinctively he was leaning her back against the mattress and hovering above her. They removed layer after layer of their clothes, and then their bodies were connecting in a slow and tender embrace.
And it definitely wasn't just sex this time.
Afterwards, cuddled up in Betty's bed with her, still naked and warm and coming down from the emotional high that being with her gave him, Jughead felt truly and completely happy for the first time in years. There were plenty of other emotions inside him - fear, nervousness, and anxiety being the most prominent - but the happiness of having her in his arms, feeling closer to her than ever before was intoxicating. And relaxing. Being wrapped up with her made him more confident that they would be okay, no matter what happened.
And as they lay together, they started talking.
Talking about things that had happened throughout the years, and the things they were passionate about in their classes. She told him all about the addiction study she'd just finished reading, and he explained the photography and writings of Claude Cahun. Then they moved on to the new friends they'd made, and funny memes JB sent, and weird things the twins had done, and anything and everything that popped into their heads.
Betty was thrilled that they hadn't lost the ability to just talk to each other.
Of course, none of it mattered, because by the end of the week it was all over.
"I'm not seeing a heartbeat." The doctor said in voice detached from all emotion.
Betty couldn't process his words, so Jughead tried to keep his voice from shaking as he said: "So does that mean… it's dead?"
Betty flinched at Jughead's words, and the doctor looked at them both apologetically. "I'm very sorry for your loss."
The doctor went on to explain that sometimes these things just happen, they didn't do anything wrong, and it could have been a sign of birth defects or incompatibility with life. He explained what would happen, and that if Betty's miscarriage didn't begin naturally they'd need to surgically remove the 'tissue'.
All the warmth Jughead felt was replaced with an icy cold. His confidence faded, and his body lost all motivation. But he still held Betty as she cried, and kept saying she was sorry, and told him how guilty she felt that she hadn't even wanted it and now it was dead. And she'd do anything to bring it back.
Jughead resolved to stay in New Haven a little longer just to be there for her over the weekend when the bleeding started. He'd never seen her look so miserable.
A few of Betty's worried classmates had dropped by to check on her. She peeked out of the barely-opened door and told them she had a contagious stomach virus, which got rid of them effectively. Dean emailed Jughead the lecture notes he'd missed out on, and they both tried to focus on catching up on the week's workload, and distracting each other from their mutual melancholy.
Neither of them breathed a word about the baby.
Not until Betty told Jughead he should go back to Iowa.
"I'm not leaving you like this." He'd protested.
"I think… I think it's over." Betty tried to uphold a cool mask of composure, but Jughead could see right through it. "You shouldn't miss any more school. I don't want this to affect your grades."
"Screw my grades, Betty." He reached out for her hand, but she crossed her arms over her chest.
"We both need to move on with our lives, and go back to what we were doing before this whole mess. We can't be depressed over it forever. And we can't go back and change what happened." No matter how much we might want to, she thought, but dared not say out loud.
"So we should just, what, forget about it?" Jughead shook his head. "I can't just pretend nothing happened." He took a cautious step towards her. "Betty… please. Don't push me away."
Betty's eyes looked like glistening emeralds as tears built up. "Nothing should have happened, Juggie. We shouldn't have been sleeping with each other in the first place. No matter what we feel for each other… we broke up. It's not fair on either of us to keep going on like this."
It was the first time either of them had spoken about their weird 'exes with benefits' dynamic to each other. And Jughead realised with a startling jolt what she was implying. "So… you're saying…" but he couldn't say the words out loud. It was too final. Too painful.
"We have to stop." Her voice cracked as she said it out loud.
Jughead felt a surge of panic and defiance that willed him to grab onto Betty with everything he had. "Betty, please, I don't want to lose you. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me." He reached out to her again and his hands found her elbows. "I'll transfer to somewhere closer. I don't need to be in Iowa to write."
But Betty was already turning away from him, her arms ripped from his grasp. "I don't want you to give up your education, Jug. What we're doing with each other… it's toxic. We need to move on and focus on ourselves."
Nothing he said changed her mind. It took him a lot longer to drive back to from New Haven than it had to get there, because he had to pull over twice to emotionally fall apart.
Because Jughead didn't want to believe for a second that his and Betty's story was over. It couldn't be, this couldn't be the end…
Over Spring break, they both returned to Riverdale. On the first night Betty gave Jughead one small, sad smile, at the dinner table when Alice chatted with Polly about the twins and their upcoming year of Kindergarten at Riverdale Elementary. Polly, too, was making headway in her own education, and planned to study social work at Riverdale Community College in the fall when her kids were embarking on their own educational adventures.
He didn't see Betty smiling the rest of the break.
By Summer, Jughead was musing over the fact that this would be his final Summer Vacation period. He was about to enter his Senior year of study, earn his Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and Literature, then figure out what the hell to do with it. His dad happily reminded him of this fact, and his obvious pride in Jughead left him feeling warm inside.
Betty was in a marginally better mood than she'd been when he last saw her, but her few smiles didn't quite reach her eyes. Her hair was longer, and when he watched through the kitchen window as she sat reading in a chair in their backyard, the Summer Sun beaming down upon her like an ethereal glaze from heaven itself, she looked so beautiful that it took Jughead's breath away. But still, Jughead tried to keep a distance. The last thing either of them needed right now was to accidentally end up back in bed together.
He probably didn't need to worry, he assumed, since she'd firmly broken off their unspoken arrangement. Still, one could never be too careful.
Two weeks into Summer, FP and Alice organised a Pop's take-out night for their whole family. Jughead was excited until he realised they had obvious hidden agendas, and none of their kids were going to fall for it.
"What's the occasion, Mom?" Polly had asked as she wrangled her five year old twins through the doorway.
Alice sounded too enthusiastic when she replied with: "Oh, we just wanted to get you all together before Jellybean leaves for Toledo!"
The feisty sixteen year old was set to head on a road trip to visit her mother the next day, as she did every Summer. This would be the first year she could drive there on her own, a fact that had FP on edge with worry. He'd had her motorbike checked over no less than three times since her sixteenth birthday - the same day the bike had been mysteriously dropped off by one of Gladys' Riverdale associates.
Jellybean had barely gotten off the thing ever since.
Jughead wasn't buying that this was the only reason for their parents' sudden need to have all their kids in the same room (well, most of them, since Charles was still locked up in Hiram's prison for illegally recording the Voyeur Tapes and 'harassing' members of the town of Riverdale with remakes of their darkest memories with the help of his Online Gigolo associates), but it wasn't until the twins were settled down in the living room with their child-friendly educational game tablets (a gift from their Aunt Cheryl) that they finally revealed their ulterior motives.
Jughead, Polly, and Betty were all seated at the dinner table, quietly sipping glasses of wine while Jellybean enthusiastically explained her plans to stop at various landmarks for photography opportunities on her solo road trip. There was a pause in the conversation, and FP and Alice approached from the kitchen to drop their bombshells on their children.
"So," Alice began as she and FP sat down at the dinner table, "we have some exciting news to share with you all."
The four 'kids' all stared at the pair in nervous anticipation. Betty clutched her wine glass to her chest.
"We wanted to tell you all together." FP said, his face softening into a hopeful expression as he looked between Jughead and Jellybean. "Me and Alice are…" he looked towards her in encouragement.
Alice beamed brightly. "We're getting married." She announced, and there was an excitement in her voice that was so genuine even Jughead couldn't help but smile.
They were happy for their parents. Sure, sometimes the relationship was a little weird for them all, but FP and Gladys' divorce was well and truly finalised. And if the not-quite step-siblings were all being honest, most of them had expected news like this years earlier.
There was hugging and congratulating, and for a moment Betty was particularly relieved that this was the news her mother had to share.
Until…
"We're going to do it on the last Saturday of the Summer vacation. Nothing too fancy, we just want our family there." Alice said as she let go of Polly's embrace. "But by then you'll be home, JB. And, well, we want… we're really hoping that…" She bit her lip and looked up at FP with an expectant expression.
His happy face turned to one of nerves. "We want Charles to be there." He said confidently. "Mrs Andrews says it's looking like he'll be eligible for parole in a few weeks… he should be out of Lodge's hell-hole very soon."
There were mixed reactions to that tidbit of news.
"Charles is getting out early?" Jellybean asked, confusion and shock on her face.
Alice nodded, her smile not wavering. "Well, he's shown some real improvement, has stayed out of trouble, and it's really only a year early." She nodded, both happily and defiantly. "It's good timing; we don't want to get married without all our kids present."
Polly was, interestingly, the most accepting of the news. Jellybean came in at a close second, acknowledging that it would be good for them to have their one shared child present on their wedding day, even if he was 'a little crazy'. Alice's eyes had tightened at that comment, but she didn't retaliate.
Betty and Jughead had… the strongest reactions.
"You can't be serious Mom." Betty said incredulously.
"Betty…" Polly said in warning.
"No, for real." Jughead responded. "Dad, there's a reason he got sent to prison."
"I know, Jug." FP said solemnly. "But in case you've forgotten, I've been put away before, and you seem to have been able to get past that."
Jughead just stared at him with wide-eyes, totally lost for words.
"Mom, he wasted FBI resources to send me and Jughead on a wild goose chase." Betty said, frustration rising in her tone. "It was creepy, what he did."
"And illegal." Jughead added. Betty looked towards him in solidarity, and Jughead couldn't help the happy little twinge he felt in his heart.
"I'm not excusing his actions. But he has paid for them." Alice said defiantly. "And he did that for you, for all of us. He just wanted to be closer to his family, Betty. Surely you can understand that."
Jughead and Betty gave each other horrified looks before turning their expressions back to their parents. "Mom, you can't seriously trust him…"
"He's our son, Betty." FP interjected.
"We can't just give up on him. Not when it's my fault he had such an awful upbringing. And we know he went about it in the wrong way… but he just wanted an excuse to get to know us. And keeping the FBI in Riverdale with a fake mystery was the only way he knew how."
"And we don't blame him for that. His intentions weren't bad, it was his actions that were wrong." FP nodded in assent. "When you have kids, maybe you'll understand."
Betty stiffened, and Jughead was instantly in tune with her. He knew what she was thinking, what she was feeling… because Betty having a kid - his kid - was something that had haunted his dreams for months now. He wanted to reach out to her, to give her some kind of comfort, but he mournfully resisted.
"I know this might not be the best time to bring this up, but…" Alice said, and she took a breath to steady herself. "But there is something else that we wanted to share with you all. This might come as a bit of a shock, and believe me, it was a surprise for us too…"
"That's for sure." FP said, and let out a single laugh.
Jughead had a sick feeling that he knew where this was going.
Jellybean, it appeared, had the same idea. "Oh God, you're not going to tell us you're pregnant, are you?"
Jughead's heart almost stopped while he waited for the answer.
Alice nodded, a shy smile coming up to her lips. "Yes, JB. Your father and I are having a baby."
None of them reacted at first. Silence invaded their home, and four grown children gaped at their expecting parents.
Eventually, Jellybean cleared her throat. "Is, ahh… is that even safe… at your age?"
"Jellybean." FP chastised her and gave Alice an apologetic look.
Alice waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry, FP. It's only natural that they'd have questions. Honestly, it is risky, but Dr Patel is keeping an eye on me and it seems like the pregnancy is progressing well."
"Well… congratulations are in order." Polly said weakly, giving Betty a quick look before stepping forward to hug her mother again. "I guess the twins will have a new playmate… although it is a bit odd that their aunt or uncle will be five years younger than them." She let out a small laugh, and some of the tension seemed to disappear from FP's body.
Jughead felt sick. He was filled, suddenly, with wistful regret. All at once the memories of the momentary happiness he felt when he and Betty made tentative plans in her dorm room in the few short days they'd believed that they'd created life came crashing down on his heart. Betty's glow of happiness when they were wrapped up together, the relief he felt at being back by her side, taunted him. The hope that filled him, before it quickly turned to sadness and despair… it washed over him again, and it took everything he had not to show it on his face.
Betty, it appeared… couldn't hold it all back.
"Betty, honey…" Alice said, a worried look on her face as she took a step towards her youngest daughter. "I understand this probably isn't something you want, and I know it's not what any of us expected, but I promise everything is going to work out. And soon there'll be a new little family member in the house. Babies are such a joy to have."
A dark guilt filled Jughead's chest as he faced Betty. Her eyes were glassy, and her cheeks were turning a bright red. She took in a shaky breath and looked down, her whole face crumbling in stricken grief. "No, Mom, it's…" She coughed, and when she continued her voice was raspy and forlorn. "This is good news, Mom. I'm… I'm happy for you both." She said seriously, but her voice broke on the last word and she abruptly turned away from them all. "Excuse me." She said in a rush and within seconds she had hurried up upstairs. Jughead felt his heart breaking even further when he heard the faint sound of a sob before the door of her bedroom closed roughly.
Jughead moved to follow her, but Polly pushed her way in front of him. "No. I'll go." Her face held a glimmer of fury as she eyed him up and down. "Believe me, you are the last person on Earth who can make this better."
Jughead realised with an awful resignation that Betty must have told Polly about her miscarriage. It seemed that Betty's sister had kept the devastating news to herself if the sad and confused looks on Alice and FP's faces were anything to go by.
"So…" Jellybean said in an attempt to break the tension. "When are you due?"
Betty threw herself into a Summer job and was barely home long enough to eat dinner with the rest of them all. Jughead started freelance editing, and wrote out pages and pages of words on the typewriter Betty had gifted them when they were far too young to be dealing with the darkness this world seemed to keep throwing in their direction.
He wrote out his pain. His misery. His loneliness.
And he tried not to overthink the slowly growing bump in his soon-to-be step-mom's belly.
He made an effort to be civil the first time he saw Charles when he was released from prison. His brother had changed in his appearance - his hair was shorter, a beard of stubble made him look even older than his thirty years, and a maple leaf tattoo on his inner forearm shone proudly in red ink. He still had his cool and observant demeanour, but there was an openness to his eyes and a cheekiness to his smirks whenever Jellybean cracked an ill-timed joke that made Jughead think perhaps, one day, the two of them could even be friends.
The night before FP and Alice's wedding, Jughead couldn't sleep.
It wasn't that anything in particular was bothering him, but he couldn't get comfortable, and he tossed and turned between the sheets as the heat in the air left him feeling sweaty and annoyed. He got up and packed the small amount of belongings he intended to take with him back to Iowa, but his brain kept spinning in circles, unwilling to give him rest but giving him nothing to obsess over as he turned off all the lights and settled back under the covers.
He was still wide awake when the door to his basement bedroom opened… and Betty descended the short set of stairs.
She was holding a silk robe around her body, and her eyes had a sad emptiness to them as she walked towards the bed. He sat up straighter and watched her, her form just barely visible in the darkness.
"I could have been the mother of your child." She said, her voice barely above a whisper. "And tomorrow… I'm going to be your step-sister."
Jughead said nothing. He looked up into her eyes, his heart thudding as he waited for her to continue.
But she merely let the robe slide down off her shoulders, revealing her unclothed body. "Please… take my mind off it."
Jughead didn't hesitate as he reached out for her hands and pulled her down on top of him. He groaned into her mouth as their lips connected, and felt her clutching at his shoulders, and chest, and neck. Her nails dug into the skin of his back as they moved together, both chasing the physical, emotional and desperate release they craved.
When it was over, Betty stayed close beside him, her head resting on his chest as he rubbed circles into the soft skin of her arm. They stayed silent, but it wasn't awkward. And it wasn't tense. It was… peaceful.
Eventually she sat up slowly, and Jughead's stomach clenched tight as he waited for the inevitable end to their evening tryst. But rather than leave, she looked at his face for a long moment before she leaned back down and placed a soft kiss on his lips.
"I'll always love you…" she whispered into his ear.
And then, for now… she was gone.