Hot Dog looked between Betty and Jughead, curled up on opposite ends of his favourite couch, and whimpered.

"I don't blame you, buddy," Jughead said, leaning down to scratch his ears. "Want to go for a walk?"

"God, yes," groaned Betty, unfurling her legs and standing up. "I thought you'd never ask."

Hot Dog pricked up his ear and tilted his head at her.

"What? Am I not invited?" she laughed, bending over to kiss his furry nose. "You're not the only one who can hear them."

Jughead grabbed Hot Dog's leash from its hook by the door. "Come on, guys. I can feel my brain leaking out through my ears."

"I should tell them we're going out," Betty said, hesitating by Jellybean's room.

"On your own head be it," warned Jughead. "You might be next."

She looked at him questioningly. "Why would I be? I'm not going. I don't need a dress."

"About that," he said, clipping the leash to Hot Dog's collar. "Actually, let's get out of here, then we'll talk."

"We're taking the dog for a walk, girls," Betty shouted and dashed for the hallway, clicking the front door shut behind her.

Jughead, waiting by the elevator with Hot Dog half-asleep at his feet, shot her an amused look. "Subtle."

She shrugged and hit the button for the ground floor. "You were the one that warned me off going in there."

"Don't let anybody ever say that I don't look out for your well-being. How many shades of purple can there possibly be?"

"The bigger question is where the hell does JB keep all those bolts of fabric?"

"Storage room. She doesn't use it much for photography, so it just gets cleared out when she has to do a shoot."

Betty nodded. "Makes sense. Veronica's pretty excited about this; she's been dying to wear one of JB's dresses."

"It's nothing compared to how excited Jellybean is to make it," he said, coaxing Hot Dog out of the elevator and through the lobby. "I swear she genuinely likes Veronica, but when she found out how visible Ron is, and how many events she goes to, she just about fainted. It's a designer's dream come true."

"High society glamour queen by night, eccentric scientist by day. If this gala makes the papers, you can bet that Veronica's picture will be front and centre."

He sighed and rubbed his hand across his face. "It will definitely make the papers, or at least the internet."

"That's bad?"

"Irritating. I don't care for publicity."

Betty held the front door open and waited while Hot Dog rested on the threshold. "I thought you weren't going."

"I know you said this dog was lazy, but wow," Jughead hedged, prodding the back end of the fluffy obstacle with his toe. "I wasn't going to go, but apparently I have to."

"On pain of...?"

"Endless nagging from my little sister, who takes after my beloved, razor-tongued Grandmother."

They finally made it out the door and Betty produced a small bag of treats from her pocket, holding it just out of Hot Dog's reach and walking backwards towards the beach. "Archie and Ron will be there as well. You can hide behind them, I'm sure."

"Actually, I was hoping you'd come, too," he said. "I can't promise it will be fun, and I'm pretty sure it will be the complete opposite, but I can promise you a JB Jones original gown."

"You want me there?" Betty asked with an odd catch in her voice, focusing all of her attention on the dog.

"Of course, I do," he said, surprised. "I mean, if you want to go. I know you're more into backyard barbeques, and trust me I get it, but you're fun and I think we'd have an okay time together."

"Well when you put it like that, Romeo," she teased. "How can a girl say no?"

He blushed slightly. "Betts," he said quietly, touching her wrist. "Did JB tell you that I like you?"

"Juggie, I was just bugging you, I didn't mean anything by it," Betty apologised. "She did, but I know she was just imagining it."

Stepping closer to her, he moved his hand to her shoulder. "She's right though. I asked you as a friend, but I do like you. A lot. Does that change things? If it's too weird, I'd understand."

"No," she smiled. "I'm kind of surprised you didn't notice, actually. I like you, too." She looked up at his dumbfounded face. "You really didn't know?"

"I had no idea."

Cocking her head at him and regarding him quizzically, she said "I know you don't have self-esteem issues, the way you go on with Veronica, and you're not stupid. How, exactly, have you maintained this state of blissful ignorance? I've been checking you out shamelessly for weeks."

He shrugged. "Lots of people check me out, but I never notice that. Looks aren't important. Don't get me wrong," he hastened to add. "I think you're gorgeous and I really like looking at you, but I never really thought of that as the basis for an actual crush."

"It's not, you're right," she agreed. "Still though. I don't drool over every hot guy I meet, there has to be something else."

"Is there? Something else?"

She shoved his shoulder playfully. "Don't make me stand here and stroke your ego, Jones. Obviously, there is, or I wouldn't have said anything. Now, ask me out properly."

Sidestepping Hot Dog, Jughead dropped to his knee in front of an astonished Betty and took her hand. "Miss Cooper, would you do me the honour of allowing me to escort you to the most over-hyped, pretentious event in the Canadian publishing world?"

"That's not what I meant, you goof," she giggled. "Get off your knees before some Good Samaritan takes a sneaky proposal picture and posts us online."

"I'm not getting up until you answer," he teased. "Tick tock, there are cameras everywhere."

"Of course I'll go with you," she said, dragging him to his feet. "But that dress had better have pockets."

…

Archie sat comfortably on the sofa with Veronica perched on his knee, playing with his hair and chattering happily away about her dress. He nodded along, a look of good-natured incomprehension on his face.

"Ronnie," he finally said, putting a finger to her lips and bumping his forehead into hers. "You're speaking a foreign language, here. I have no idea what eggplants and trumpets have to do with clothes, and I don't even know what organza is."

"It all adds up to a fabulous dress," she laughed. "I hope you'll like it."

"If you're wearing it, I'll love it," he said, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips. 'You make all of your clothes look good. Even the fuzzy pyjamas."

Veronica laughed, shaking her head. "God, I still can't believe you didn't turn tail and run when you saw me in that."

"Are you joking? One of my favourite things about you is the way you stomped out of that tent looking the way you did and took me and Jug three times around the dance floor like you were the Queen of the Nile. Scared the hell out of me at the time, but looking back it was amazing."

"Well as long as you got there in the end. Speaking of Jug, where are they?"

Archie shrugged. "I have no idea, all three of them were gone when I came home. Didn't they say anything to you?"

"No. Well, Betty shouted something about taking the dog for a walk, but that was over an hour ago. There's no way Hot Dog would put up with being out and about for this long."

"I think he's only half sheep dog and the other half carpet, honestly. I tried to take him out with me for a run one day and I don't think he's forgiven me yet."

The front door opened just then and Betty came in, followed by Jughead, flushed and staggering under the weight of a sleeping Hot Dog.

"We should have brought chairs with us, Betts. I swear to God, stop for two minutes and this animal goes into a coma," Jughead groused, depositing Hot Dog on the couch and flopping down after him.

"How far did you have to carry him?" Veronica asked incredulously. "He must weigh forty kilos!"

Jughead looked at her blankly. "What's that in old money?"

"About ninety pounds, I think."

"Sounds about right. Six blocks. It's not the weight though, it's trying to hold on to what is essentially fur and legs."

Veronica reached over and plucked at his sleeve. "Slippery leather probably didn't help. You should invest in a Velcro jacket."

"I'll get right on that," he said dryly. "You two look comfortable; are we interrupting something scandalous?"

"No, just Archie waxing poetic about the day we met," Veronica smiled.

Archie squeezed her waist playfully. "I'm sitting right here. If you're going to make fun of me, at least wait until I leave the room."

"That's not her style," Betty said. "Veronica says what she means to your face, every time."

"You know, I hadn't noticed that," Jughead laughed.

"I wasn't making fun of you, Archiekins," Veronica chided. "I was bragging."

"Oh. Well that's different," Archie grinned. "Carry on."

Jughead rolled his eyes at Betty. "What have we done?" he mouthed.

She bit back a giggle and shrugged. "So," she said, clearing her throat. "Where's Jellybean? I was promised a dress with pockets."

Veronica turned on Archie's lap to look at Betty. "Oh really? And why, pray tell, do you need a dress all of a sudden?"

"Even Cinderella got a dress to go to the ball, Ronnie. I'm not going to show up in greasy coveralls."

Veronica whipped around to stare at Jughead. "You're going?" she demanded.

"I am."

"And you asked Betty to go with you?" she asked, getting up and walking over to him.

"I did," he said warily, leaning further into the cushions.

Veronica bent over and put her nose an inch from his, glaring at him. "Are your intentions towards my friend honourable, Jones?"

He barked out a short laugh. "Are your intentions towards my friend honourable, Lodge?"

She frowned, pursing her lips. "Alright, I'll hold my peace if you stop asking impertinent questions," she conceded.

Betty winked at Archie. "Well if you're both done with the interrogations, and are satisfied that Archie's virtue and mine are safe, perhaps we could return to the question of JB's whereabouts?"

"She's in her room," Veronica answered. "She works like greased lightning; she's already tacking together my dress."

"I'll let her know that she's got another victim," Jughead said, standing up. "Save you the shrill shrieking that's sure to follow the announcement." He walked down the hall to Jellybean's room
and stopping to tap lightly on the door before entering.

"Soooo," Archie said with a delighted smirk. "He finally asked you?"

"Obviously," Betty said with a blush. "Can we not make a big deal out of this?"

"Depends on the circumstances, B," Veronica said, pulling Betty down to sit next to her on the couch.

Betty laughed and shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh you know, we went to the beach, he got down on one knee. It was very romantic."

Veronica stared at her. "I don't even know if you're being serious."

"My guess is yes," Archie said. "That sounds like something he would do; over the top gestures to mask what he's really thinking."

"Insightful, Arch," Jughead drawled, coming back into the room. "Don't give away all my secrets. Betts," he added, looking at her, "JB has concluded her solo and would like to see you if you'd be so kind."

Betty nodded and hastened down the hall, clicking JB's door shut behind her.

"You got down on one knee?" Veronica laughed. "Seriously?"

"She told me to ask her properly," he shrugged, taking Betty's vacant seat.

"You guys are the biggest pair of dorks I've ever met in my life," Veronica said, nodding conclusively. "Hands down."

…

"I knew it!" JB squealed, pouncing on Betty as soon as she came into the room. "Oh, I love being right so, so much."

Betty couldn't hold back a smile. "I'll never doubt you again, wise one. Are you sure you feel like making two dresses, though? The event's in two weeks."

Jellybean scoffed. "Don't even worry about that. I can turn out a simple one in a day. Ron's will take a little longer but the one I have in mind for you is already half-finished. You wear a four, right?"

"How the hell do you know that?"

"Seriously?" Jellybean asked, grinning. "It's what I do dahling. How do you feel about red?"

Betty bit her lip. "I don't wear it much. Too showy. And this is Juggie's night, I don't want to take attention away from him."

"First of all, I guarantee that if he heard you say that, he'd climb up on a feminist soapbox and lecture you until you begged him to stop. Second, he will thank you profusely for taking any and all attention away from him and third, I think you'd look stunning in red so that's what you're wearing."

"Are you sure? My mother's voice is in my head calling me a scarlet woman right now."

"Well she sounds charming," Jellybean said, pulling a dressmaker's dummy out of a large closet. "But she's the devil, not a fashion designer. This is it, what do you think?"

The dress was a simple, claret-coloured satin column with thin straps and a low back. Betty reached out to touch the soft material carefully. "It's beautiful," she said. "Doesn't leave much to the imagination though, does it? My tattoo will show for sure. And, like, half of my chest."

"Don't worry about that; I'll build a bra into it. My dresses do not come with sideboob. You don't want your tattoo to show?"

"It clashes a bit, don't you think?"

"It's the twenty-first century," JB said with beautiful unconcern. "But it's your art. We can cover it if you want. I know a guy who does movie makeup and I'm sure he owes me a favour."

Betty looked at her in surprise. "How did you make that sound dirty?"

Jellybean winked. "It's a skill. He's my date for the gala, so he'll be here anyway. I'll just ask him to bring his makeup kit; it doesn't take long."

"You're a one-woman glam squad," Betty said in wonder.

"Glam dictator, really. I delegate a lot." Jellybean smiled benevolently. "Anyway, out of your clothes, please."

"You could at least buy me dinner first," Betty grumbled, shrugging out of her sweater and jeans.

Laughing, Jellybean started pinning Betty into the pieces of the red dress. "I can see why Jay's so crazy about you. You're almost as sarcastic as he is."

…

"You girls all look exhausted," Jughead said, amusement clashing with sympathy in his eyes. "Who know haute couture was so strenuous."

Betty, Veronica and Jellybean shot him identical looks of exasperation. "We're doing this for you, Forsythe. If you don't have anything constructive to say, kindly hold your tongue," Jellybean snipped.

"Forsythe?" Betty grinned. "That's your real name?"

"The F in FJ," he confirmed. "I don't answer to it."

"I'm Elizabeth."

"Funnily enough, I worked that out for myself, but thanks all the same," he said in a voice that sounded sincere but bordered on sarcastic. "Before Forsythia so rudely interrupted me, I was going to suggest taking you all out for dinner?"

"Forsythia?" Veronica asked in disbelief. "You have matching names?"

"I'm named after him," Jellybean sighed, dragging herself off the couch. "We all have our burdens. Dinner sounds great, Jay. What did you have in mind?"

Archie stood up, pulling Veronica to her feet. "I feel like a milkshake. Anyone else?"

"Always," Betty agreed. "Sophie's?"

"I'll never turn down a burger," Jughead shrugged. "Sophie's it is."

It was a mercifully clear evening with not a cloud in the sky, so the five-block stroll seemed rather pleasant than otherwise. Archie and Veronica loitered behind the others, their joined hands swinging between them.

"I don't want to wait two weeks to see you again," Archie said, "but my classes are going to be really demanding for the next little while. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to get out to SFU."

"Unacceptable, Archiekins," she said seriously. "I require that any and all suitors put me above their other priorities in every situation. Exceptions may be made for family emergencies."

"I..Ronnie...it's-"he faltered.

Her haughty expression cracked and she burst into laughter. "Oh my God, your face. You didn't believe that, did you? I'm a double major for crying out loud! I get it."

A look of clear relief spread across his face. "That was mean, Veronica," he said, digging his elbow into her side.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist," she said, twirling to stand in front of him. "Let me make it up to you. Give me a boost?" She reached up and slid her hands over his shoulders. Laughing, he gripped her waist and lifted her easily.

"Hi," he said, brushing his nose against hers.

"Hi," she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Don't drop me."

"Never." His arms tightened around her and she smiled, her eyes fluttering shut. He tilted his head and met the sweetness of her glossy lips with the warmth of his, one hand sliding up to weave through her hair.

They didn't see passersby pointing and cooing at the tall redhead and the tiny brunette in his arms, her knees bent to keep her shoes from falling off. They didn't hear the click of Jughead's cell phone camera, capturing the two of them in their own little world surrounded by the bustle of the city. Pulling apart slowly, they looked at each other and laughed quietly before she dropped her face to the crook of his neck.

"Hi," she breathed.

"Hi."

Notes:

One more after this, I think. I've already dragged this out quite a bit more than I'd intended and it's strayed pretty far from the original concept. Thanks for sticking with me though, and I hope you've enjoyed it!