Cingulomania

This is a work of fanfiction, no copyright infringement is intended. I own nothing pertaining to The Archie Comics/Riverdale universe.

A/N: I wanted to give you a song again. I just couldn't figure one out this time around. I keep hearing 'Screaming Infidelities' by Dashboard Confessional, and possibly a long since forgotten tune of my youth by Further Seems Forever circa '02/'03. Seeing as I'm old af, the title of the track is no longer in my good times bank.

Bare with me here. There is obvious chemistry between our Keanu Reeves meets Johnny Depp's Crybaby esque Sweet Pea and our darling Sandra Dee meets Allison Vernon-Williams esque Betty. I simply don't want to rush into anything that Betty herself would not do. Thank you for your kind words and piqued interest. I appreciate you dearly. ~S.C.~

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Chapter 3

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"Sweet Pea! Daddy issues?" Betty was nearly speechless. She'd been told she had control and trust issues, issues in general, but never had someone outright said she had Daddy Issues.

Now that she really thought about it, with the edges of reality beginning to glow, she kind of understood how she might have daddy issues. She had been prepared to defend herself, to explain that Mr. Jones was a handsome man who she happened to admire a great deal, yet she knew exactly why she'd bitten her lip. She had that sense of need within her, to watch the man walk away. She liked when he called her darlin', especially liked it when he winked at her. It was a different kind of attention than she was used to. She liked how FP thought she could handle herself. He encouraged her and made her feel good.

She could literally pinpoint when her view of the Serpent's leader had turned from caution to full blown affection. It was when her mom had thrown her dad out of the house, because he'd rather send his pregnant daughter away to give birth than to deal with his own problems head on. She had seen her dad so differently. Before then, she had a fairly strong bond with her father, fixing cars and drinking lemonade in the garage. Or so she thought. Then there was the case of her long lost brother, forget bringing up such things to her dad, he went off on a tangent. He was worse than the Blossom's.

FP on the other hand, was a fierce father and protector. Even when Jughead took off, FP was trying to protect him. He let Jughead be his own person, make his own choices and pull himself up when he fell flat on his behind. It was when they had dinner with her overbearing mother, when he was gracious and humorous when he was being maliciously attacked by Alice Cooper. FP would ask her how she was doing at school and in general, she would have died of shock if her dad ever asked something so personal, even before their lives started to fall apart.

"I think you know what I mean Betts." Their faces were literally inches from each other, when her name fell from Sweet Pea's lips, it set her heart racing. It was different coming from him than when Jughead would call her Betts in passing. Sweet Pea made it sound seductive and sexy.

"Yeah, I do know what you mean Sweet Pea." This time Betty was the first to touch, tangling her fingers into the straight inky strands of hair at the nape of Sweet Pea's neck; a shiver running down his spine. His lips parted slightly in anticipation, Betty bringing her own lips within millimeters of his. Taking the back of her head in his large palm, he closed the gap between them. Her lips soft, and yielding to his, he could taste the mixture of weed and whiskey on her tongue. He'd never wanted to taste someone's tongue so desperately in all his days, but he would gladly taste Betty until his last breath.

They were tangled in each other's limbs on the floor of FP's trailer, urgency passing between the two of them. They were so caught up in each other, they never heard the click of FP's door knob, or the creak of his leather jacket when he came bounding back down the hall. They never noticed when he stopped dead in his tracks hearing Betty moan into Sweet Pea's hungry mouth. Neither noticed when he shook his head, proceeded to leave the house. The sound of FP's Harley Davidson softail classic starting. The rev of the engine, or the sqweel of his tires on the pavement at the end of the dirt drive. All going unnoticed, too occupied with the feel of hands on exposed backs and hair being tugged on, leather sweeping against leather, pure ecstasy.

The confines of Sweet Pea's boxers were beginning to be too much to bare; he pulled away first to catch his breath. He dared to open his eyes to look at Betty, a gasping mess no doubt. She was flushed, cheeks crimson, pupils blown out with desire. She was the most beautiful he'd ever seen her.

"Why'd you stop?" She was still breathless, it made his erection jerk.

"I can't exactly corrupt you on FP's floor, when Jughead is sure to come home tonight. We could go to my place. I could let you try some other stuff. I could teach you some more." He was hopeful, he didn't want this night to end. He wanted to take Betty home with him, curl up under his blankets with her and never leave.

She had no idea what else she could learn tonight, but she didn't want to go home just yet. She wanted to lose herself in Sweet Pea's hands, and lips and tongue and teeth. She thought she could be addicted to his flavor, even to the way he made her feel.

"We can do anything. All I know is that I want to be with you."

Eyebrows arching in disbelief at what had come out of this girl's mouth. She seemed to catch the double entendre, and put her hand up to her mouth.

"I meant…" She was so embarrassed now she couldn't find the words.

"It's cool Betts, I want to be with you too." He wagged an eyebrow at her now, and she laughed. She couldn't help the full on chortle she was emitting. She felt the humor deep in her bones. She'd never laughed quite like this before. It made her stomach muscles sore and tears collect in the corners of her eyes.

"Come on darlin' let's go." Hoisting her up to her feet, Sweet Pea couldn't help but kiss the girl's forehead. He didn't say anything, just collected the pipe and lighter from the floor, laid them on the satchel FP kept his stash in then pulled her out of the door. He remembered to lock up this time. He didn't want his Pres up his ass about thieves in the night and what not. They took their familiar places on Sweet Pea's bike, speeding off to his apartment.

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The three of them had been out all night, dropping weed to every other shitty apartment and trailer park on the south side, things were looking up when the trio pulled up in front of Betty's house. Jughead was first to exit the beater that Toni drove around for drops. He needed the space from her, knowing that she'd been involved with almost everything that happened tonight.

"I know you hate my guts right now, but you kind of need to suck it up Jones. You can't be a little shit forever" She had the rolled brown bag in her hand when she slammed the door shut. Walking through the side yard to the wooden fence, she motioned for Fangs and Jughead to follow her. Lifting the handle on the door, it swung open to reveal Betty's back yard. The twinkle lights were still on, which meant that Alice was awake. She'd been cutting through the side yard for weeks now. She just didn't know what to expect tonight in particular.

"Is that you Toni?" Jugheads brow furrowed in confusion at hearing his Dad's voice in the Cooper's yard.

"Yeah, I have the boys with me. Whats poppin' FP?" She sauntered around the shrubbery before Jughead, sitting in a lawn chair next to him on the patio, handing him the rolled bag.

"It's been a long night. Got a call about an hour ago, came over as soon as I could. Alice couldn't sleep. Hal found out about the dance tonight, and about Alice being there. Fucking Tall Boy. It's Cooper vs. Cooper in the Riverdale Courts. You brought the blue cheese right? She needs to calm the hell down." FP's cigarette glowing in the dim light of the twinkle lights.

"Yeah, I got it. We had to swing by Sweet Pea's to get it, he wasn't in though." FP's eyes flashed with darkness, his gaze landing on his son, who was sitting stoney faced in the chair across from his dad.

"Yeah, he's busy tonight. Thanks for going out of your way. I appreciate it. I couldn't exactly leave her, or take her with me." Stubbing out the cigarette in his beer can, he met Jughead's imploring stare.

"Betty couldn't sit with her own mom while you went to get her drugs?" Jughead was a pouty little shit tonight and FP wasn't really in the mood for it.

"No, she couldn't because she was too busy learning your route. You refuse to pull your head out of your ass, then you drop Betty after she shows her alliance with us. You have some nerve to get attitude with me when I asked you to do something simple." Tucking the sack into his jacket pocket, he took a deep breath. "She said yes. No questions asked, no sardonic humor to make me feel more like a shitty father. I just got out of jail Jughead, I was supposed to leave this all behind, get your mom and Jellybean back. Now I have to make sure you don't crash and burn my club to the ground because you think you know better. I've been back and forth with you over all of this, it's final. You wear that patch on your back, that tattoo on your arm with honor and pride or hand it over right now, and I'll set you up for a cover up tonight!" His voice was booming in the silence of the night as he stood up from his seat, slamming his fist into the wooden table. He didn't mean to sound so harsh and forceful, but Jughead wasn't acting like a Serpent at all, hell he wasn't even acting like Jones, and FP was sick of babying him.

"I didn't just drop her Dad. I'm trying to keep her safe from Penny. I don't want Betty to go down for me, to get caught up in this shit over me. It's for her own good." Jughead tried to keep his emotions at bay, he had an audience after all.

"That sounds all too familiar. And fuck Penny." Alice had came out to see what the ruckus was about, overhearing the conversation between father and son.

"Aw jeez…" FP was flustered, he didn't need his ex and his son getting into politics over the club or past relationships now. He simply needed to roll the woman a joint or two and send her to bed when she'd smoked them. Alice, let's go inside."

"Will you stay if I cooperate? You won't just smoke me up then leave? You always make me smoke alone." Her eyes were swollen from crying. She hugged her sheer robe to her full breasts. Toni couldn't take her eyes off of the woman, she was beautiful, even with her tear stained cheeks and red eyes. She held herself together even through face of tragedy. A true Lady Serpent.

"Yeah Darlin', I'll stay. You need to be good tonight though. Can't be a hellcat all the time." He slung his arm around her. She sunk into him, closing her eyes in relief.

"Mrs. Cooper, I'll be by next Saturday night okay?" Toni called after her. "I'll bring the cookie dough." Then Toni got up and left the boys in the back yard to watch FP escort Alice Cooper in her nightgown, back inside the Cooper house.

"You're a pain the ass you know that?" Fangs finally spoke up, scooting the chair back, coming to standing position. "You find out that your girl's on board with you being in the club, then you bail on her. Then you get upset because she goes out on drops with the guy who was supposed to show you the ropes. She's done more for this club in the last four hours than you have in the last four weeks." He sparked his lighter, igniting the end of his cigarette. A faint puff of smoke coming from his mouth. "You gonna end this on a good note or you gonna wallow in your emo shit for the rest of the night?" Fangs was waiting for Jughead by the shrubs before the fence.

Feeling a bit like a scolded child, Jughead decided that going with Toni and Fangs was a better option than hanging around the Cooper house for his dad. He didn't want to chance running into Betty and Sweet Pea anyway. With one last look around the back yard, Jughead shoved his hands into his pockets and retreated into the darkness.

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