It's a typical Friday night in the Smith/Peabody/Cooper household, or typical of any night really. Sweet Pea is on the edge of his seat, most likely having not blinked more than twice in the last hour, his best friend at his side as they battle it out on the ancient game console in the living room.
"Hey Betts," Jughead hollers, his eyes not once prying away from the screen as he attacks the paddle in his hands with lightning speed.
"Betty," he calls again, nudging Sweet Pea with his elbow.
"Elizabeth," Sweet Pea shouts twice as loud as Jughead had.
"Christ," Betty grumbles as she stomps inti the living room. "The fuck do you want?"
"Hey! Mouth," Sweet Pea scolds, earning an exaggerated eye roll.
"Yes my dearest, most wonderful brother who is too lazy to get off his ass. What ever do you want," she taunts.
"Cut the shit and brings us a couple of beers," Sweet Pea chuckles lightly. "Awe come on! You shot me in the fucking head."
Jughead laughs, earning a hard shove to the shoulder while Betty just rolls her eyes. She makes her way over to the fridge, retrieving two bottles of whatever cheap beer the Wyrm had discarded that week. She pops their tops, tossing the caps into the waste bin under the sink before climbing over the back of the couch to wedge herself between the boys. She holds a beer out either side of her and each of them take hurried swigs before placing them back in her hands to continue killing each other on screen.
"I have been reduced to a cup holder," she mouths.
Betty sighs, watching the screen with nothing better to do. This goes on for over an hour and regardless of her moaning about it, she can't think of anywhere else she'd rather be. Sure, her brother is an asshole, but he's her asshole and Jughead? Well, she'd hold a beer for him until her arm atrophied and fell off.
"I'm done," Jughead clips, tossing his controller onto the coffee table.
"Pussy," Sweet Pea taunts.
"Hey, whatever man," he shrugs, taking his nearly empty beer from Bettys hand and throwing his arm over the back of the couch behind her. "I can only die so many times before I want to break the TV."
Sweet Pea snorts through his nose, shaking his head as he gets up from the couch.
"Any chance you'll make us dinner," Jughead asks Betty. "I'm starved."
"You're always starved," she laughs. "There's not much to make. I need to go to the store tomorrow."
"There's a couple of eggs," Sweet Pea tells her as he rifles through the fridge for another beer.
Betty gets up from the couch to look for herself, finding there to be four eggs, a slightly questionable package of bacon (bacon doesn't go bad, right?), and two potatoes in the drawer. She quickly gets to work dicing the potatoes and tosses them in a pan with the remainder of the cooking oil and a little salt and pepper. While that cooks, she fries up the bacon and cooks the four eggs in the grease. She periodically glances over at the boys, enjoying their beers and watching some car show they've seen a million times before.
After plating up their food, Betty brings them over and takes her place back in the middle of the couch.
"Thanks princess," Jughead mumbles with a mouthful of bacon. "You gonna eat?"
"I'm good," she shakes her head, "big lunch."
Jughead doesn't buy it for a second and gets up to grab another plate. He transfers one of his two eggs and half of his potatoes onto her plate and brings it over to her. She smiles shyly as he retakes his seat and he returns it easily. Sweet Pea wordlessly drops a few pieces of his bacon onto her plate and she briefly rests her head on his shoulder in appreciation before eating her newly acquired portion.
Life has not been kind to the three teens on the couch, but they've learned to be kind to each other. Sweet Pea is a highly protective older brother, and determined to provide for his family where he and Betty's mother fails. He's always been that way, doing odd jobs wherever he could to put dinner on the table. As he got older and life got more difficult, those odd jobs became risky exchanges of illegal substances. By fourteen he'd gotten himself roped in with the Southside Serpents thanks to their mother's employment at their bar, the Whyte Wyrm. Betty had hated him for it when she'd found out, angry that he was throwing his life away and trapping himself for good in the vat of tar that is the Southside of Riverdale.
"How could you," she screamed.
"How could I," he scoffed, twice as loud. "How could I not? Do you want a roof over your head Betty? You want school clothes and food to eat? This is what I have to do to keep you safe!"
He was livid, screaming at her like never before as angry tears welled in his tired eyes.
"I have to keep you safe Betts," he'd told her in a whisper that held so much anguish it nearly shattered her heart to pieces.
She'd cried that night, and the night after that, so afraid of what might become of her brother if he fell in too deep.
After finishing her last bite, Betty gets up from the couch, collecting both boy's plates and brings them to the sink. Jughead follows her to the kitchen and helps with the cleanup.
Jughead has been a part of their lives for as long as she can remember. He lives just across the trailer park, but he prefers to spend his time here with her and Pea. His dad, FP, had become like a father to both she and Sweet Pea. After Betty's own father had beaten their mother within an inch of her life, he'd watched over them and taken care of them. Betty had only been eight years old at the time and Sweet Pea, ten. As much as Betty loves FP, she understands why Jughead doesn't like to go home. FP, while not a terrible parent, is an alcoholic and more often than not, Jughead finds it hard to put up with. So, he's become like family. When exactly, she doesn't really know. He just is.
"I'm out," Sweet Pea calls, slipping his Serpent jacket on at the door.
"You gonna be home tonight," Betty questions as she does every time he goes out on a run.
"Probably not," he shrugs. "Clients in Greendale."
Betty only nods, knowing that Greendale usually means Pea will be holed up in a shitty motel with mustang, feeding the junkies until dawn.
"Be safe," she mutters into the leather on his shoulder as she squeezes him tight.
He pats her on the back and kisses her on the head. "Always am," he nods. "Jug, watch the baby yea?"
"I'll be on baby duty all night," he salutes, he and Pea sharing a laugh as Betty rolls her eyes.
Betty watches him go, as she does every time he leaves, loathing the serpent on his back as he drives off on his bike.
"He'll be ok," Jughead assures her in the doorway. "He always is."
"Until he's not," she mutters, letting the storm door slam shut as she shuffles back to the couch.
Jughead sits down beside her and tugs her into his side. Her arms remain crossed over her chest but she closes her eyes as he soothes her with his thumb gently brushing her shoulder. She both loves and hates him for moments like these. They just make things more confusing but she craves them like nothing else. She loves Jughead in every sense of the word; as family, as a brother, but as so much more all at the same time. He loves her too, she knows he does, but she'll never be more than his pseudo kid sister. He loves her the way that Sweet Pea loves her and that is precisely why she hates moments like these.
It's well past midnight when Jughead startles from his almost asleep state. He glances down at Betty, her head in his lap and smiles lazily. Nights like these are both his most and least favorite. He hates to see her so worried, of course, she has every reason to be. The only good that comes from these kind of nights is that he gets to be here with her, just her, offering her comfort and making sure she doesn't have to feel so alone.
"Betts," he whispers. "Wake up princess."
Betty groans sleepily, lifting her head from his lap to wipe the drool at the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand.
"Come on," Jughead urges, "bed time."
Betty gets up slowly, stretching her back before following Jughead to her room. Once there, she plops down on the bed, her eyes heavy as she watches Jughead dig through her dresser. She only mildly registers that he's now in front of her, pulling her long sleeve shirt over her head to replace it with an oversized t-shirt. He then folds down her sheets, giving her thigh a couple of light taps as direction to get into bed. She scoots up to her pillows, kicking off her sweatpants as she goes. Jughead tugs them off her ankles and tucks her in once she's settled.
"Night Betts," he calls softly from the doorway.
"Night Juggy," she mumbles before the room is cast in darkness with the closing of her bedroom door.
Sometime around 3:00 am, Alice comes through the door, her eyeliner smudged and her crop top wreaking of booze. She enters the house as quietly as she can manage, kicking off her heels at the door and dropping her keys on the kitchen counter. She rifles through the fridge, finding nothing more than an almost empty carton of orange juice before closing it again. She goes to the sink, reaching into the cupboard above for a glass and turns on the tap. Sipping at her water, she glances around the darkened trailer and a choked out sob escapes her. Her elbows drop to the counter top, her head lowering between her arms and fingers clasping behind her head as she cries. She's startled by a hand on her shoulder, her head snapping up to meet Jughead's concerned expression with wide, glossy eyes. He pulls her in, hugging her tight around the shoulders and she covers her face in her hands, crying against his chest.
"Rough night," he questions, his voice raspy with sleep.
Alice only nods before pulling out if his arms to sniff up her tears, patting at the murky black streaks beneath her eyes with her fingertips.
"Go back to bed," she tells him softly.
Jughead hesitates, wishing there was something he could do to help before going back to the couch.
"I'm going to be up for a bit," she tells him as he tugs the throw blanket over his shoulder. "Got a few bills to figure out."
Jughead only nods, getting up from the couch and heading down the short hallway to the bedroom Betty and Sweet Pea have always shared. He opens the door quietly, the hinges giving a slight creak as he slips inside. He watches over Betty, snoring softly with her golden hair splayed wildly on her pillow as he pulls off his jeans. He tugs his t-shirt over his head and drops a kiss to her forehead before getting into Sweet Pea's bed along the opposite wall of the small room.
