"Betty! When is your friend getting here again?" Veronica yells across the room, trying to determine the best position for the throw pillows on Betty's sofa.

"Uh," she hears Betty start, "I think around three o'clock. Why?"

Veronica rolls her eyes in fond exasperation. "Because we need to make sure your apartment is ready."

"V, trust me, Jughead isn't going to care about throw pillows or fresh flowers," Betty says, walking into the room and sitting down on the sofa Veronica had just arranged.

Squawking in outrage, she thumps Betty on the shoulder with a soft pillow, making her move to the chair across from the sofa so she can rearrange everything again.

"Veronica," Betty says firmly, "Jughead is going to be more worried about where to get a burger than if the pillows have the perfect feng shui."

Huffing, Veronica flops on the sofa. "Fine. But if your friend can't sleep on the couch, tell him it's the bad juju of the pillow placement."

Laughing at her, Betty gives her hand a affectionate squeeze. "I will absolutely tell Jughead that his lack of sleep has nothing to do with his coffee habit, his staying up at all hours to write, or his need to finish books at two in the morning. It was all me and my lack of proper pillow usage."

"Good. See that you do," Veronica tells her with a smile, slapping her hands on her thighs as she stands up. "Now, did you want to run to the grocery store before he gets here or what?"

"Sure, V," Betty replies, following her through the very short hallway to the door, grabbing her purse on the way out and locking the door behind them.

Veronica Lodge has spent many years learning not to be judgmental. It's not her natural state of being and each time she stops herself from making a snap judgment about someone she's a little proud of herself.

So, it's with some amount of pride that she refrains from the snark desperate to pour out of her mouth when she sees Jughead Jones for the first time. She supposes there could be some appeal if you were into flannel and sarcasm topped off with a wool beanie.

She'd always thought the infamous Jughead that Betty constantly talks about would be somehow-more. Veronica had assumed he'd have to be to be able to keep Betty on her toes over the last few years, that the gravitational pull he's got on her should be plain to Veronica, but it's not.

She gets why Jughead would like Betty, everyone likes Betty. Her sunshine and sweetness wrapped up in steel is very appealing while also making you feel both safe and strong. Why Betty would like Jughead is where she gets confused.

Watching them laugh and hug like they've never been apart stings slightly as she realizes she doesn't have that past with anyone, and the soft smile Jughead keeps smiling at Betty makes her antennae go on alert. She's been worried that history was going to repeat itself but at his smile, she thinks it's not an if situation, it's a when one.

Betty has Jughead by the arm, looking like they've done it a thousand times before when she throws him a Cooper smile before turning to look back at Veronica. "V, this is Jughead. Juggie, this is Veronica Lodge."

Juggie? Veronica tucks that away for later.

Sticking her hand out politely, she says, "Nice to meet you, Jughead. Any friend of Betty's and all that."

He raises an eyebrow at her, looking both amused and wary before shaking her hand in just one up and down motion before dropping it and stepping back into Betty slightly. "Nice to meet you, Veronica. Betty's told me all about you."

Pursing her lips, she offers him a stiff smile. "I...wish I could say the same."

Jughead stiffens.

Betty scoffs quietly and narrows her eyes at her. "Jug, Veronica is just messing with you, of course I told her all about you."

He huffs out a strained laugh. "I'm not sure which scenario is worse, Betts."

Betts?

Suddenly feeling like she's intruding, Veronica claps her hands together and says a little too loudly, "So, back to yours, Betty?"

Nodding, Betty gestures in the right direction so they can leave the train station. Picking up the bag he had set by his feet to hug Betty, he smiles at her one last time before tugging on her ponytail and following them up the stairs and onto the street. Each step is starting to feel a little heavier as she listens to Betty as she points out landmarks to Jughead and telling him about the burgers she's found across the city she thinks he'd like.

Taking a deep breath, Veronica tries to put her reservations to rest and starts to ask him questions about himself. "So, Jughead, Betty tells me you're writing a book?"

"Yeah, it's about the insidiousness of small town crime," he responds, his hands shoved in his pockets as he walks next to Betty. "I have a meeting with a publisher while I'm here."

"Jug!" Betty exclaims, dropping her hand and throwing her arms around him. "That's fantastic, why didn't you tell me?!"

Her eyes narrow as she sees Jughead's hands come out of his pockets and press into Betty's back, holding her to him. Glancing at his face, she sees his eyes are closed with another soft smile crossing his face as he holds her against him.

"I wanted it to be a surprise."

Betty is bouncing on her toes and clapping. "It is. It's a great surprise!"

"It means I would have to move here," he tells her softly.

"Move here?" Betty squeals out, her happiness clear. "Veronica, did you hear that?"

Veronica's smile is as sincere as she can make it. "I did, Bettykins, it's...wonderful."

Jughead grimaces at her tone. Betty is too distracted to notice, thank god.

"Now if we can only get Archie here, it'll be like we always wanted when we were younger," Betty is saying as she starts walking again, pulling them both along with her.

With no desire to walk even longer in her heels than she has to, she pulls on Betty's hand. "B, let's get a cab, okay?"

Betty looks down at Veronica's shoes with a wince. "Sure."

Waving down a taxi, Veronica gets in first, letting Betty climb in the middle so Jughead is on her far side for the relatively short ride back to Betty's apartment. She lets out a breath and tilts her head back, the feeling of unease creeping up her spine as she listens to Betty whisper lowly to Jughead. She takes a deep breath trying not to think about all of the problems and pitfalls of their past that Betty's told her about. If it's never worked before, why it work now? she thinks, worrying about her best friend's emotional state of having the habit she could never shake within grabbing distance for the foreseeable future.

Wishing she felt more confident in that thought, she gazes out of the car window as they pull up to the curb outside Betty's building.

Jughead climbs out of the car first, offering a hand to help Betty out a he grips his duffle bag in one hand, slowly letting go as she gains her footing. Turning around to Veronica she offers her own hand with a smile, helping her step out of the cab as she turns down the money for the fare both Jughead and Betty try to offer her with a raised eyebrow and wave of her hand.

Shrugging and sticking his money back in his pocket and Betty tries to shove hers into Veronica's purse much even as she slaps at her hand as she leads Betty up the stairs and into her building, thanking the heavens there's an elevator in it and they won't have to climb multiple flights of stairs.

The ride up is almost awkward as Betty tries to make small talk between the three of them, Veronica and Jughead both trying hard to be friendly for her sake as her smile stayed plastered on and her enthusiasm was just a touch over the top in her need to have them become friends. Neither of them want to disappoint her, Veronica knows, so she smiles at her and asks Jughead more about his book and he pretends to care about her opinion as she pretends to care about his answers and they both smile at the relief on Betty's pretty face.

He's been sleeping on Betty's sofa for a month now. The longest and shortest of his life, he thinks. The meeting with a publisher had gone well and he'd been looking for apartments, with no luck so far. Well, with no luck for something safe and habitable in his price range he should say.

The need to get off of Betty's sofa and onto his own is mounting since he thinks he'd be happy and content to stay with Betty indefinitely. Which is a problem, he knows. If he gets one more suspicious side eye from Veronica Lodge he worries he might just start confessing all of his dirty thoughts and begging for Betty's forgiveness.

Denial of his feelings for Betty had been easy when they were younger, required even. Her infatuation with Archie helped him push them aside for a few years, then his bad choices helped him push her away before they collided again and again and again over the years. It had always been horribly complicated but simple between them, especially when she was in college, a place where he just couldn't follow.

He had wanted to. Oh god, how he had wanted to. That hadn't been in the cards for him and he let her go with only the idea that the memories they made was what was going to keep him warm at night. Betty had flourished in college away from her controlling parents and expectations, she had learned to let loose and have fun. He'd been happy for her.

Despite the fact that they couldn't manage to stay away from each other every time they were in the same town.

Admittedly, he'd been less happy when she tried dating after a particularly bad spring break. She had laid it out on the line and he, once more, told her he couldn't put her in that position. She ended up telling him that if he couldn't bring himself to date her then she'd damn well find someone who would.

There was a part of him that thought, maybe, once they were both older, when he was established and independent that possibly-

Not that whatshisname mattered anyway, it lasted only until she came home for the summer where they both ended up pretending they weren't going to see each other. That had lasted all of maybe three days before he was climbing up the side of the Cooper house, sneaking into Betty's bedroom, and crawling into her bed and wrapping her up in his arms.

It had been easier to stay away from each other after she'd graduated, her move in the city had kept her busy and he'd only seen her at the holidays. It made him realize how no matter what he told her, they'd essentially been dating, albeit long distance, from the first break of her freshman year to the last summer she spent at home before moving into the apartment he was currently standing in.

No point in dwelling, he tells himself while pouring a cup of coffee that morning, waiting for Betty to come out of her room, their routine that had been established had become the most important part of his day. Leaning against her counter, the steaming mug warming his hands while he waits in sweatpants and an undershirt, bare feet crossed at the ankles and un-brushed hair, he hears the front door open and his body tenses, knowing who he's about to see.

When he hears the footsteps getting closer he tries to take a casual sip of his coffee when he hears, "Oh look, Betty's own little street urchin, up with the sun. How...suspect."

Wincing, he plasters a strained smile on his face as he turns to face Veronica. "Good morning, Veronica. Coffee?"

"Did you make it?"

Jughead sighs, setting his coffee mug on the counter. "Yes."

Veronica narrows her eyes at him. "Then no, no I don't. But thank you."

"I'm sure," he mutters to himself, facing the counter, busying himself with anything he can think of until Veronica is gone from the kitchen. "What are you doing here so early?"

"So, Jughead, have you found a place to live yet?" Veronica asks him, ignoring his question. He can feel the pointed stare even if he can't see it as he hears her pull out a chair at Betty's little kitchen table to sit in.

Taking a deep breath, he straightens up before turning to her. "No, I haven't. But I feel like you knew that."

Veronica shrugs. "I did know that. In fact, I told B last night that she should-"

"Good morning!" Betty announces with a sunny smile, breezing her way through the kitchen door, squeezing his arm as she reaches for a mug to pour coffee for herself. "Thanks for making this, Jug."

He can't help himself as he smugly smirks at Veronica over the rim of his own mug. She's glaring at him but he can't stop the satisfaction he feels over scoring that point. Tilting his cup to her in a mock toast, he winks at her while Betty is still distracted.

"So, Jug, what do you have planned today?" Betty asks him, walking over to Veronica and sitting down at the small table next to her.

"Apartment hunting, Betts," he replies, smiling at her. He sees Veronica roll her eyes. Catching on to her odd dislike of his childhood nickname for her, he's tried to use it as much as possible in her presence.

Taking a drink of her coffee, her soft sound of satisfaction sending memories up his spine, she's still all smiles as she talks about making dinner that night and asking Veronica what her plans are when he hears his name again.

"What was that?" he interrupts her, taking a step closer the table and pulling out the chair across from her before sitting down.

"I was asking if you and Veronica wanted eat here tonight," she clarifies, resting her chin on her hand as she stares at him.

Seeing and then promptly ignoring the barely concealed glare Veronica's shooting his way, he shrugs. "Sure, I don't see why not."

He hears Veronica's frustrated intake of air as he slides his mug back and forth between his hands on the wood of the table.

"Good," Betty tells them both before getting up and setting her mug in the sink, walking out of the kitchen while telling them what time she wants them both there that evening. Jughead rolls his eyes fondly, like he has anywhere else to be.

"You," Veronica hisses out at him, "need to stop being so obvious."

"Obvious about what?" he asks, knowing exactly what she's referring to.

"Look, Jughead. I get it, how you could have feelings for Betty all this time, especially with the history you share-"

"You know about that?" Jughead's jaw tenses and he grips the coffee mug in his hand hard.

"Ugh, the male ego, it's so-"

"This has nothing to do with ego! How would that-"

Veronica waves her hand in his face, shutting him up. "Jughead, Betty is my BFF, did you really think I didn't know about every time she went home? Each time you tried and failed to keep your hands off of each other?"

"Why must you be the way you are?"

"Do you mean fabulous?" Veronica asks with a smirk. "That's not the point, now is it? The point is that she's told me about all of it, and you, Jughead, are dangerous."

Furrowing his eyebrows at her, he asks, "Dangerous how, exactly?"

She rolls her eyes dramatically at him. "Oh please, you wrote your own version of some star crossed lovers who couldn't be together but managed to get in each other's pants every time you were in the same five mile radius of one another. That's not star crossed, Jughead, that's an excuse."

Glaring at her, he knows she's partially right. But also completely wrong. "You don't know what you're talking about."

Scoffing at him, she taps her fingernails on the table. "Spare me your dramatics. We both know that had you wanted to be together, you would have been. You can wrap it up in romantic wrapping paper all you want but we both know the only thing that stopped you from being with her? Was you."

"Veronica," he huffs out wearily, "as fun as this little tête-á-tête is, you staring at me like you want me dead every time we're in the same room is going to start stressing Betty out."

"Are you going to break her heart again, Jughead?" she asks, slumping back into her own chair, looking frustrated.

Jughead winces at the implication. "You say that as though I didn't destroy mine as well."

At an impasse, they just stare at one another.

Betty is walking down the hallway when she's thrown five years into the past as Jughead walks out of the bathroom and into the hallway in nothing but a towel.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asks her, gently running a thumb across her cheekbone.

Nodding at him, she shuffles closer to him on her knees, wobbling slightly as she moves across the mattress in his trailer. "I am, you know I am."

"We don't have to do this, Betty. It doesn't have to be this way," he whispers to her as she gets closer, pulling at the hem of his shirt.

"Don't you want to?" Her voice cracks with a wave of insecurity.

Jughead closes his eyes and runs a hand through his hair, pulling off his beanie and tossing it aside as he does it. "Betty-" He stops and takes a deep breath. "-there's nothing I want more right now."

"But?" she questions him, settling on her knees and looking up at him through her lashes.

"Fuck, Betty, don't look at me like that," he demands, putting both hands on her cheeks as he pulls her in and kisses her for the first time.

And it is the very first time. They'd never meant to cross all of the lines together at the same time but that's just how it seemed to work out.

Her breath catches at the feel of his lips on hers, her arms going around his back, gripping the fabric of his shirt. His hands slide lower and down her neck as the edge of his tongue runs across her lips as she opens her mouth him, sliding her tongue against his, a slight groan from him making her pull him tighter into her.

As one of his hands moves down to her lower back she's grabbing at his t-shirt trying to pull it off while still kissing him, making him laugh into her mouth.

"Betty-" he starts as he breaks away and leans back, letting her pull the shirt over his head.

Staring at his shoulders and his chest, she's running her hands across him, ignoring the piercing gaze she knows he's trying to pin her with.

"I know you don't want to date me, Juggie, but keeping this from me, all this time? It's unforgivable," she informs him, somewhat primly, as she trails her fingertips over his abdomen.

She can hear him sigh as he tilts her chin up with a finger to make her look at him. "Can't date you, Betty. Not that I don't want to. If I could, I would. In an instant. In a heartbeat. There's no one I'd rather date than you, Betty. You know that, right?"

Shrugging at him, she looks away.

"Betty." His voice is firm. "Look at me."

Stubborn as she is, she keeps her eyes focused on one of his old movie posters hanging on the wall.

"Now, Elizabeth," he commands and she can't help herself as her eyes fly towards his. "I'd date the hell out of you, Cooper."

"But you won't," she laments, pulling at a thread she sees loose on the waist of his jeans.

"You're leaving soon, Betty. And my choices are keeping me here and keeping me from being with you the way I want. I don't want you in this life with me, you're better than this whole town and you're going to go prove it," he tells her softly and she nods. Betty doesn't agree with him but she knows he's not going to give in. Not when it comes to this.

"We have really bad timing, Jug."

He exhales softly into her hair as he pulls her close to him, wrapping his arms around her tightly. "Yeah, but, you know what we do have?"

"What?"

"Each other, if only for tonight," he says, kissing the top of her head.

Betty tries to swallow the lump in her throat. "It's not enough."

"No," he agrees, pulling back and pushing her hair off of her face. "It's not."

"Betty?"

Startled out of her thoughts she notices Jughead right in front of her. "What's up, Jug?"

"What are you doing just standing in the hallway?" he asks, pulling his towel tighter around his waist, distracting her again.

"Reminiscing," she says, a small smile on her face.

Jughead smirks at her. "Yeah? About what?"

She wants to smack him as he pushes his wet hair back off of his forehead as he leans against the wall next to her bedroom.

"Ugh, you're so smug," she informs him, rolling her eyes. "I wasn't even thinking about that night, anyway."

He straightens up, looking at her intently. "Which one then?"

She shrugs lightly before meeting his eyes. "The first night, where we were supposed to but didn't."

"That's one of my favorites you know," he tells her, a genuine smile flitting across his face.

"Yeah," she says softly, passing him to walk into her bedroom, "me too."

Closing her door softly behind her, she makes her way to her bed, flopping down on it, the soft blankets seemingly swallowing her up as she looks at her cell, a text from Veronica waiting.

Be there soon, B!

With a sigh, she hugs her pillow to her as she closes her eyes tightly for a moment before grabbing her phone and dialing a well known number.

"Hey, Archie," Betty says quietly.

His immediate reply of, "What's wrong?" warms her heart, some things never change and she's glad for it.

"Archie," she starts, not wanting to talk about it but knowing she needs to.

"Betty," she hears, his exhale almost palpable through the line, "he's never not going to love you, you have to know that."

She feels the tears forming as she nods to the empty room. "I know."

"Then what's going on?"

"I'm worried we're never going to get past old habits," she admits, wiping a hand under her eyes to get rid of the tears she still fighting. "That I'll keep giving all of myself while he holds me at arms length."

"Do you really believe that, Betty? You know how much he loves you," Archie's voice is soft, concerned as he asks the question.

"I waited, Archie! For years, I've waited and he kept putting me off, told me to move on, insisted I move on and I tried junior year, remember? Not that it lasted longer than a couple months but still..." Betty trails off angrily, sitting up in her bed, crossing her legs and holding onto a pillow in her lap. "Forgiving him for that was the easiest and hardest thing I've ever done."

"I know, Betty. He waited too, you know, he tried to get out," Archie says calmly. "He tried hard, Betty, but everything kept falling apart around him."

"I would have waited anyway!" Betty insists, frustrated. "And I could have helped him."

"He knows that, too."

"Ugh," she moans out, laying back down. "I thought I could have him here without falling back into bed with him. And I haven't! I've tried to be nothing more than his friend but we've never been just friends and everyone knows that. Why did he push me away, Arch? I just wanted to be with him-"

"Hey, come on, Betty. He knows all of this, I promise. But you know Jughead."

Betty finally laughs a little. "Yeah, that's half the problem."

"He loves you so much, Betty. He just wants you to be happy."

"I love him too," she says in a small, sad voice. "And that's the other half of the problem."

Jughead is standing in Betty Cooper's hallway, wrapped in a towel, softly banging his head against the wall next to her door as he listens to her half of the conversation with Archie.

He remembers the night he heard Betty had finally started dating someone new. Or, at least, part of it. Archie is always willing to fill in the blanks for him if he's feeling morose.

"Tell me I made the right choice, Archie," Jughead mumbles from his place on the floor.

Archie exhales a long suffering sigh. "You made the right choice, Jug."

Lifting his head, he squints as he tries to focus on Archie. "Are you lying to me, man?"

"Yes."

"You could at least lie to me about lying to me!" Jughead insists, throwing his hands over his head, letting them smack against the hard floor, making him wince at the impact.

"Fine," Archie says. "You made the right choice. Telling Betty, the only girl you've ever cared about, to move on and then acting like a first class asshole until she does what you wanted was absolutely the right thing to do and you laying here, miserable and drunk on the floor because you heard that Betty, the only girl you've ever wanted to be with, is dating someone new makes perfect sense to me."

"That didn't sound very sincere, man." Jughead feels the room starting to spin. "Wait, what do you think his name is? Probably something pretentious like Theodore or James Fancy Pants Williamsburg the Fifth"

Archie snorts. "Yeah, because there's nothing ridiculous about either Jughead or Forsythe Pendleton Jones the Third."

"Hey-"

"And his name is Jonathan," Archie interrupts.

Jughead moans and rolls over, laying on his face. "I can't compete with that, Archie! A regular guy with a regular guy name that starts with a J. It's like she's taunting me."

"You do know James starts with a J too, don't you? Jug-" Archie starts but Jughead cuts him off with another groan.

"I suddenly miss Theodore James Fancy the Fifth," he whines into the carpet, hearing Archie laughing from beside him.

"That's not even what you said."

"At least with Fancy James the Fifth, he would have been pretentious and you know how much Betty hates that." He turns his head so he can see Archie sitting cross legged on the floor. "I miss her, man."

Nodding solemnly at him, Archie lets out a quiet breath. "I know, Jug."

"Do you think-"

"Of course I do," Archie interrupts. "You know she still does too."

Lifting his head off the wall, he turns to finish changing when he sees Veronica standing at the end of the hall, looking thoughtfully at him.

"Jughead," she says, lifting her chin at him.

Trying to ignore the fact that he's almost naked he stands up straight. "Veronica."

"I take it by your fairly pathetic mope session next to Betty's door that she's in her bedroom?" she asks him, adjusting her purse on her arm.

Biting back a sharp retort he just nods and walks passed her, not meeting her eyes as he goes to get dressed. It's not until he hears the soft click of Betty's door close once more that he lets his shoulders slump.

"Hey," Betty hears Veronica say as she shuts her bedroom door behind her.

"Hi." Rolling over, she sits up on her bed to look over at Veronica. "How was your day?"

Veronica shrugs. "It was fine, not much happened out of the ordinary."

"That's good," Betty says, smiling at her.

Veronica must notice her red eyes and blotchy cheeks because she immediately asks, "What's wrong? Did Jughead do something?"

Betty looks taken aback. "What? No. Why would you think that?"

"Maybe because when I came in he was standing next to your door looking guilty?"

Eyes big, she stares at her with her mouth slightly open. "The door?"

Looking suddenly suspicious, Veronica nods.

"Ugh," Betty groans out quietly, falling back on her bed. "That little-"

"B-"

Jumping off the bed, Betty storms out of her room and down the hall, Veronica on her heels.

"Forsythe!"

A/N- Just dropping this and running, enjoy! Or don't, I don't know, I don't own y'all. But if you have a thought to spare my ears are open. Much love!