Betty had to put the patch on his jacket herself since the poor boy barely knew how to wash his own clothes. She had decided that it would rest on his right shoulder, like a distinctly Jughead version of a 'Mom' tattoo. He tried the jacket on to make sure that it sat at the proper spot and she was reminded for the millionth time that her boyfriend was the sexiest thing in Riverdale. He caught her staring, like he always did, and she quickly averted her eyes.
"Betty, Betty. Staring again?"
"Well, I can't really help it when you put that jacket on." She looked back up at him, meeting his eyes with her own, pupils large and lips parted. "God, especially when you smirk." He sauntered over to the bed where she was sitting, hovering over her for a moment before pushing her to lay back. Her eyes danced with excitement as he shed his heavy leather jacket and leaned down to place his lips over hers before climbing above her. She tangled her hand into the hairs at the nape of his neck, pressing him downwards and wrapping her leg around his. His tongue snaked into her mouth and he kneaded her breast through her shirt. She hummed her satisfaction against his lips and reached down from his hair to the bottom hem of his t-shirt and pulling it up and over his head, their lips separating only momentarily. He unbuttoned her shirt as quickly as he could, eventually settling for just ripping it when his fingers weren't steady enough. He slid his fingers under the waistband of her jeans and unbuttoned them, she shimmied free quickly and unfastened his pants. After he was out of them, he positioned himself above her again and ground his core into her, once again joining their lips. She bit his lip as he squeezed her hips and he moved his mouth to her neck, sucking hard as he put his fingers into Betty's mouth to wet them. He slid her underwear to the side and plunged his fingers deep within her head. "Fuck!" She groaned loudly and Jughead quickly moved his left hand to cover her mouth.
"Shh!" He paused as he whispered to her, "My dad is here." She hummed quietly instead, and squeezed his biceps so tightly he was sure that he was going to have a set of half moon shaped scars to match the ones on her palms. She bit her lip to keep more sounds from coming out, but as his thumb began to work as well she lost her slight control and a high pitched moan escaped. He hears a gasp but knows Betty's so well that he's acutely aware that it is not hers, and both of their eyes fly open and over to Jughead's doorway. There stands Archie, Veronica directly behind him, both of them with their mouths open in shock. Ronnie snaps her mouth shut quickly and yanks Archie out with her, slamming the door shut behind him.
"Oh, my god, wh- what do we do?" Betty stammered. She went quickly to Jughead's closet, where her clothing had been tossed, but her body was shaking in embarrassment so she couldn't hold her grip on her jeans as she tried to yank them over her hips. Jughead noticed her mortified, panicked movements and stood, calmly approaching her and placing a steadying hand on her waist. She froze and gazed up at him through her thick lashes, her vulnerability pooling in her waterline, threatening to spill over. He kissed the tip of her nose, feather light and completely full of love and comfort. She felt his tranquil kiss smooth over her skin and blinked, bewildered at his sweet actions in place of what she knew he would normally do: Make fun of her for being neurotic.
"It's only Veronica and Archie. I'm sure they know we do this kind of stuff, Betts. All of Riverdale knows we've been subjected to the torture of watching them suck face and drunkenly heavy-pet more times than they've even seen us hold hands. It's only the most fair kind of cosmic justice that they get the shock of walking straight into this from quick kisses."
"That started well, and then towards the end it went back to panicking me." Betty bit her bottom lip in worry.
"If you keep on biting that lip of yours then I'm not going to have an easy time leaving this room without finishing our previous task." He wiggled his eyebrows at her. She smacked him on the chest playfully, a small grin on her face - hard as she may try to stifle it.
"You better quit that, or I'm going to dig the guitar out from under your bed and run out there waving it around and raving about what I walked in on today." He scowled, apparently not finding that terribly funny.
"Another cosmic justice that you didn't get to finish after I forgot that you spied on me. Who knew the universe would be so fair to me today?" And with that, the scowl traveled from his face to hers, but she couldn't hold it for long and broke out laughing.
"I s'pose you're right. I deserve that one, don't I?" She handed her necklace to Jughead so that he would clasp it. A gift from her late grandmother, it was so delicate she had a hard time doing it on occasion. He smoothed her hair back over it once he was done. She pulled his beanie back over his head, tracing the rim of it, following the edge of his ear down his jawline and across to his chin. She kissed him sweetly. "How did I get so lucky?"
"I'd hardly call you lucky for landing yourself with me." He scoffed. "I know I am! I've got the closest real life thing to god damn Barbie."
"I've got the handsomest, most sarcastic, most devilishly sweet and divinely passionate man currently residing in Riverdale. Not to mention, he has the comfiest shirts." She smoothed her hands across the worn, soft fabric. He had almost forgotten her shirt was in need of some button repair, and he took a moment to note the adorable way it draped over her. "I'd say I'm pretty fortunate."
"Currently residing? What man from another century has comfier shirts than me? And why have you been putting them on?" She burst out laughing at his ridiculous antics and he chuckled as he hooked his hand into hers and headed for the door.
"Hey!" Betty said cheerfully once they reached Archie and Veronica who were leaning against the counters of the kitchen, deciding to completely ignore the situation for now, "Ready to head over to Pop's?" She plastered the widest smile she could muster across her face. Veronica seemed all too happy to ignore the insincerity of it for the time being, though Betty knew that later she would be cornered and hounded for answers. Answers and details, Betty Cooper!
"Most definitely. Let's go, Jughead's driving!" Veronica tugged Archie out the front door, Betty and Jughead laughing behind them on the way to his blue truck. The music on the way there was louder than it usually was, and most (if not all) of the conversation revolved around changing the station, turning it up further, or a laugh at a comment the DJ would make between songs. The tension seemed to thin slightly when they sat in their typical booth at Pop's. Something about the familiar, plasticy leather against their backs reminded them all of how close they really were, and how this small thing paled in comparison to most of the things they had been through together. Jughead groaned as Veronica pulled out a card. He eyed Betty and Archie.
"Which one of you told her?" He demanded.
"She made me-" Both Betty and Archie started at the same time, used to Jughead's disappointment at Veronica's all-knowing nature. He was extremely observant and earned his information by listening and making connections, whereas Veronica skips right over all the hard work and interrogates people with her intimidating eyebrows and overbearing personality, Jughead thought. He scowled at the both of them, relogging them from the "Kraken at Bay" half into the "Kraken Cracked" side of his Secret Keeping From Veronica, the Truth Kraken mental chart. They stopped when they realized that they had both begun to speak up and stared at each other with wide eyes and slightly parted mouths.
"My best friend and boyfriend love us both very much and they agreed with me that you need to get over your thing with birthdays and start enjoying them." Veronica interjected, saving them from attempting to solidly recover from their blunder, "I'm starting by getting you used to the idea that people fucking know that it's your birthday. Only me and Kevin know, but it's a step up from the two non-family members who knew last year." Jughead couldn't keep his eye from twitching. "Next thing is your aversion to gifts. Here you go, you buffoon, take it before I start shouting your secrets!" He snatched it out of her hand before she could get the first number of her countdown out. I'm sorry, Betty breathed. He pat her thigh to let her know that she wasn't totally in the dog house for telling on him. He knew Veronica could be very sneaky with her ways, asking turnabout questions to get the person to forget that they have information she doesn't know in the first place.
"So, how long have you and Betty been together?" Veronica appeared to come from nowhere most of the time, and this scenario was no exception.
"Where did you-"
"That doesn't sound like a length of time to me." She arched her right eyebrow and crossed her arms, leaning against the locker next to Jughead.
"I really have no clue what you're talking about, Veronica."
"Don't be shy about it, the way you've been Nancy and Ned-ing all around Riverdale recently is really precious."
"I'm still lost on what you're talking about, but, you'll have to excuse me. I need to get to third period."
"Come on, Juggiekins. You and I both know that you have a free period right now." She had stepped in front of him before he could walk away.
"Why do you know my schedule?" Veronica rolled her eyes.
"Why are you always so surprised about what I know? Wouldn't it just be easier to assume that I know everything and then you could be shocked with everyone else when I admit a lack of knowledge on something?"
"Who killed Jason?"
"Who taught you to be such a smartass?"
"You do realize that was the single most hypocritical statement that has been spoken in the history of the world, right?" She uncrossed her arms and sighed in exasperation. Jughead was one of the only people she had a hard time bamboozling into telling her the truth. She knew in order to get the really important, juicy information, she was going to have to give up some nonessential piece. Something that wasn't too critical to her ability to keep up her all-knowing appearances.
"Midge is a student aid for the lady at the front desk of the attendance office. She's kind enough to supply me with six schedules a month as long as I help her revise all her English papers."
"For christs sake, isn't that illegal or something?" Veronica snorted and gave him a condescending look, yet another thing she did all too often in Jughead's opinion.
"First of all, nobody's gonna find out."
"How do you know I'm not planning on going straight to the office after we finish this pointless conversation to tell all about your little arrangement?" Jug folded his arms and raised his brows at her.
"Because you're like me, Jughead. Whether you like it or not," She said in response to his disapproving look, "We both collect information and we like being the only ones who know it. If the principal came up behind you right now and asked you what we're over here talking about, you would rather stutter and hesitate like a reticent idiot than actually tell on me. That's not the whole point of this, anyway!" She shook her head lightly as if to reorganize her thoughts. "Are they really going to take legal action on a sweet girl like Midge for falling into the trap of a nasty girl like me over high school student schedules?" Jughead didn't say anything, Veronica soaked in the silence knowing that it meant she won their duel. Now for the really tricky part, making her next comment seem nonchalant enough that he wouldn't hesitate to answer it. "Maybe we're even more similar than we think, and that's why Betty picked us."
"Betty never picked you, you forced yourself on her." He'd framed it perfectly for her.
"Just like you did last Thursday."
"I didn't force myself on her!"
"So she initiated?"
"No, but-"
"So that's when it all started! I knew she was acting funny when I called her that night! What did you say leading up to it? I'd ask Betty but she's up to her elbows in that mess with her family." Just like that, the spell was broken - The Truth Kraken had struck again. Jughead closed his eyes and let his head drop back, realizing his mistake.
"You sneaky, conniving-" Veronica had already disappeared when he opened his eyes, so he shut his locker and pursed his lips. He sighed and headed to the library to refresh his knowledge on interrogation resistance tactics. Clearly, he needed it.
"What is it?" Jughead asked her, fully expecting the card to spit glitter and confetti while shouting at him when he opened it.
"Relax, Jughead, it's not going to explode!"
"I'm not entirely convinced..." He eyed it suspiciously.
"Jug, the point of a gift is usually that it's a thoughtful surprise. How can it be a surprise if they tell you?" Archie chastised, looking at Jughead like a child who kept asking why? no matter how many times you would say 'because.'
"Alright, alright. I'll open it." He began opening it so slowly the rest of the table was bubbling with irritation.
"Jesus!" Veronica burst, startling the rest of the group and causing Jughead to flinch and quickly rip the rest of the envelope's seal. He glared at her and pulled the card out of the envelope.
"This feels thick, Veronica. I swear to all that is unholy if there is-"
"Just open it, Juggie." Betty pleaded softly beside him and he caved looking at her big, pleading, blue orbs. His hands quickly unfolded the cardstock after reading the Happy Fucking Birthday on the front. Out fell what looked like a couple of brochures, some tickets and some photographs.
"It's a couple's trip to New York over MEA!" Veronica clapped her hands together wildly, a bright grin spread widely across her face. "I'm letting you borrow my downtown loft in the upper east side, I got you some tickets and a full itinerary that includes the free things to do there: Hello, Central Park! Did I mention you're taking the jet?"
"Oh my gosh, V. It's Juggie's birthday, not mine!" Betty's eyes were wide and she held her hands up, prepared to tell Veronica thank you very much for your kindness but it's really too much and I can't accept and I'm sure Jughead doesn't really want to go because he hates people even before there are endless crowds of them surrounding him but Jughead hadn't missed her sharp intake of breath when Veronica mentioned New York. He'd never really talked to Betty about places he'd like to visit before, but New York definitely made the list even though he knew it was a totally overpopulated area. It seemed like a different kind of crowded, the kind where it's so full of people you're almost a piece of scenery if you're not making a statement of yourself, Jughead figured. And, he would be damned if he ignored the light that danced in his girlfriend's eyes when thinking about going on an all expenses paid trip to the Big Apple, basically the journalist capitol of the United States. Before Betty could articulate a kind enough rejection for Veronica's generous offer, Jughead spoke up.
"We'd love to go, Veronica." The entire table was gobsmacked, Betty especially. "It's really a wonderful gift. Sorry I've been such an ass about opening it."
"You've more than made up for it by accepting it so graciously for dear Betty here, who I'm sure was about to tell me to refund the tickets." Veronica recovered quicker than Archie and Betty. She was smiling brightly again, her teeth matching her signature strand of pearls stretched across her collar.
The group was left, bellies full of their choice of flavored milkshake. Betty paid for herself and Jughead first, and the pair headed out of the restaurant while Archie pulled out his wallet. Jughead could hear Pop asking how Archie's dad was doing with his recovery and if he was full circle as the door closed behind them. Betty leaned into Jughead and squeezed him tightly.
"You didn't have to say you'd go to New York, Juggie." She said quietly.
"I know." Jughead responded. Betty waited for further explanation, but he offered no more words.
"So," She continued, "Why did you?"
"I've always wanted to see New York." Jughead looked at the stars in the sky momentarily, trusting Betty to guide him properly while he spared a micro-thought for how dark it was at only 8 PM. "And I would have been absolutely blind to not see how excited you were at the prospect of going."
"Jughead, it's your birthday, not mine. Veronica could always take me for my birthday, you don't have to suffer for my sake." He looked back down from the sky to catch her turning her eyes from him. He squeezed her hand and she caught his gaze.
"Well, you'll be there so I won't really be suffering."
"Juggie, seriously."
"I am being serious, Betts. I love you and I'd be crazy to turn down a free vacation with you. Plus, I'm sure New York has an insane library!"
"There's your real reason!" Betty dropped his hand so she could point at him accusingly. He looked at her for a moment, trying to come up with a good rebuttal. He grabbed the back of her neck and kissed her fiercely against the side of his truck. He pulled away and Betty blinked at him, swollen lips slightly parted and her hot breath gently pushing between them.
"You're right, I'm hot for the books." He said, an impish grin on his face. Betty slugged him softly like when they were kids.
" Have fun fucking them!" She joked.
"Only if you promise you won't walk in." She hit him a little harder this time.