Jughead has Betty pressed up against the door of the Blue and Gold, tracing kisses across her jawline while she has her hands in his hair. They've been walking to school together and they agreed to leave early that morning to work on the paper.
So far they've made it into the office. They also managed to close the door but as soon as she did, he had her backed up against it, all thoughts of productivity forgotten. Just as she's sucked his bottom lip into her mouth and he gives her a satisfied groan in return the door opens and pushes her in the back startling her, causing her to bite down.
Jughead makes a strangled painful sound and Betty is too worried about his lip to notice who's walked into the room.
"Oh god, Jug, are you okay?" she asks him, reaching out to check the damage.
His lip is already swollen and a little bloody when he answers her with a wince. "We need to remember to lock doors, Betts."
It looks tender and she's thinking about where she can get some ice for him when she notices Veronica and Kevin standing in the doorway, both looking far too smug.
"Is this a kink, Betty? Because if it is, I'm ashamed you've never told me before," Kevin says to her. "If not, we can just tell everyone Jughead got into a fight and is very manly with his plushy mouth."
"Noticing my mouth, Kev?" Jughead remarks, reaching for a tissue from a box on one of the desks to help stop the bleeding.
"Don't flatter yourself, Jones. You're a guy, of course I looked at some point."
"As nice as it is to see men be objectified for a change, we're here for a reason my sweet B," Veronica tells her, pushing Kevin out of the way to get closer to Betty's side.
Betty hops on top of one of the desks, looking at her friend. "What's up, V?"
"Our mutual and adorably gullible friend, Archiekins, has been dating Val, yes?" Betty nods at this in confirmation. "But then, Cheryl Blossom, our stalwart yet angry ginger snap captain has somehow conned him into some sort of family tapping of maple trees and we need to make sure we get him back in the condition she takes him in."
"Okay. But why is it imperative, if Archie chooses to go, then that's on him, right?"
"The bribery has started, B! She's making promises about his music, gifting him guitars-"
"Oh yeah, I was there for that-" Jughead interrupts.
"And you didn't say anything?" Veronica questions him with an unimpressed look.
"Sure, looking back I can see the possible issues of ignoring that but there are two facts we're missing here," he tells her seriously, "which is that there was an entire pizza in front of me and then there was the whole Betty in front of me thing, so really, it's not my fault."
"Are we put off by the Betty and pizza comparison?" Veronica whispers to Kevin.
Kevin looks intrigued and amused as he tells her, "No, trust me, to Jughead food is everything."
"Interesting. Carry on, then."
"Thank you. Anyhow, the only person that should be worried is Val, right? What does she think of this?"
"Archie says she's fine with it. Which is really very brave of her, to be honest. Archie's not known for resisting temptation and Cheryl's not known for respecting boundaries," Kevin adds, sitting in a chair and pulling out his phone to scroll through.
Betty is confused on why this is an issue. Is it smart? No. But it's not the end of the world, though it may be an opportunity for her and Jughead's investigation. "You know, Jug, Archie being on Blossom property could be very helpful, don't you think?"
He catches on fast, she thinks as he meets her eye and gives her a slight smile.
"Very helpful, indeed. Maybe we ask Archie to take a look around, see if he sees anything weird or unusual," he says.
"Okay, did you two just take our concern for Archiekins and turn it into a snooping mission?" Veronica interjects.
Betty feels a little sheepish but shrugs it off. "Yeah, I mean, he's going to do it anyway, knowing Archie the way I do, he feels obligated and he's getting something out of it, so he's definitely going to go. Cheryl knows something I need to know, I know she does so-"
"Take your chances where you get them," Jughead finishes for her.
"Oh sweet god, they're finishing sentences again," Kevin mutters, never having looked up from his phone.
"And they say small towns are boring," Veronica quips.
"Not boring, V. Quirky, perhaps."
Jughead raises an eyebrow at her, still messing with the lip she accidentally bit. "More like a hot bed for conspiracy and maple flavored crime."
Veronica rolls her eyes at him. "You really are devastated that your life isn't a noir crime drama, aren't you? Hey, at least you got yourself a Hitchcock blonde, good job on that at least."
Jughead gives her a salute and a smirk in response.
"So, Bettykins, you're not worried about our red headed friend?"
"I am, don't get me wrong, it's a bad idea. He's going to piss off both Val and Cheryl, I almost guarantee it, but I also know he's going to do what he wants so if he can help me and Jug while he's at it, at least he'll have done something productive."
"Devious, B. I like it."
"How is our resident gigolo today?" Jughead asks Archie as he sits across from him at their designated lunch table.
"Are you going to say that each time you see me?"
"You know what, yes. Yes I am," Jughead answers, pulling the cookies he knows were the product of a Betty Cooper stress baking session out of his bag.
"Where did you get those?" Archie questions, nodding at the cookies in Jughead's hand.
He takes his time to answer, choosing to take a big bite out of one of them. His face is decidedly smug as he chews and Archie looks irritated. "Betty. Didn't she give you any?" He knows she didn't though, she gave him a bag to give to Archie but unfortunately he ate them before he found Archie that morning. Tragic, he supposes.
"You ate them again, didn't you? You're a real dick, Jug," Archie declares with a huff of indignation.
Jughead shrugs and continues to eat. "We agreed that whenever Betty gives me baked goods for you and I can't find you before school starts, you have to grant me amnesty if I eat your portion."
"Jughead, we live together. We came to school together. If Betty hadn't had been picked up by Veronica for some Vixen thing, she'd have walked with us. How exactly did you not find me before school started?"
He considers this for a moment before he decides to answer him. "Okay Arch. New parameters to our long standing agreement-"
"That I never agreed to, by the way, it was something you came up with when we were eleven and Betty gave you a cupcake and one to give to me but you dropped yours, ate mine, then declared you couldn't find me so you had rights to it," Archie interrupts.
"Anyway," Jughead continues, "I vote we just agree that unless Betty gives it to you herself, it's a toss up to whether you get it or not."
Archie looks at him, half amused, half annoyed. "I'm surprised you didn't call girlfriend rights on Betty's baked goods."
Jughead makes a face at him. "Nothing about that sentence sounded good. Too much innuendo and ownership-y wording."
"Very true," a new voice adds and he sees Veronica sitting herself down next to Archie as Betty seats herself next to him. "Where's Val, Archiekins?"
"Practicing with the Pussycats."
Betty bumps him with a shoulder and looks at the cookies he's still eating. "You kept them for yourself again, didn't you?"
"In my defense, Betty, you shouldn't have trusted me with them."
She laughs and hands him half of the big sandwich she can never finish on her own. "That's probably true."
He's contently eating his lunch as he listens in to the conversation around him. Veronica wants to know where Kevin is, Betty wants Archie to tell her about the tree tapping ceremony as soon as possible after it's over, Archie wants Betty to get Jughead to stop calling him a gigolo.
"Sorry, Archie. I think that one's on you. You totally let yourself be bought by the Blossoms," she tells Archie with a less than sympathetic face. "But maybe, if you find us some good intel, you can get him to stop on his own."
"They're not buying me, Betty! I'm doing Cheryl a favor and they're doing me a favor in return, it's that simple," Archie exclaims.
"Archiekins, your optimism is-" Veronica says with a pause while she finds the word she wants, "-refreshing. Simply refreshing."
"You're very quiet, Betty, did you know that?"
"What?"
"I'm not hearing the gossip I'd like to hear on the changing relationship between you and Jughead. Spill, please," Veronica implores, gesturing for her to sit next to her on one of the bleachers after River Vixen practice.
"What do you want to know?"
Veronica seems to be considering her which makes Betty a little nervous. Archie doesn't really want to gossip and Jughead will listen and make sarcastic comments but they often find other things to do over idle gossip. She has a tendency to keep certain things to herself when it comes to Kevin, he's likely to just let things slip to anyone if he thinks it's good enough to share.
"You don't want to share with the class what it was like when Jughead kissed you?" Veronica asks, leaning forward to keep the conversation quiet.
"He surprised me-"
"I bet he did."
"-but it was a good thing, unexpected," Betty continues, "but nice."
"B, 'nice' is carnations on your birthday, I want to know if it was fireworks on the Fourth of July!" Veronica exclaims, "I know you're not used to girl talk but I want the dirty details."
"It's weird, you know? I didn't expect it to happen but I'm glad it did. You know how butterflies feel in your stomach? When you're nervous and excited but anxious?" Veronica nods at her to continue. "When he kissed me it was like I'd had a million little caterpillars in their cocoons and they were just waiting for him to wake them up."
"You two are horribly cute, I hope you know that."
Betty turns her shoulder inward with a shy smile. "I've always given the ugliest parts of myself to Jughead to keep Archie from knowing about them, you know?" she says, looking at Veronica. "And he's been carrying them around like he's actually proud that I let him have all those cracked pieces and the more I think about it, the more I can't think of anyone else I'd ever let have them."
Veronica sighs and grabs Betty's hand. "That, Bettykins, is what we call endgame."
The next morning Betty is with Jughead in the Blue and Gold office talking to Archie about his night with the Blossom's when Veronica burst in.
"I know who bought the Twilight!" she exclaims, walking quickly to stand next to where Archie is sitting. "It's my dad. I don't know what for or how since he's in jail, but it was him."
Betty and Jughead share a look then look at Archie who had just told them that he overheard Clifford and Penelope Blossom talking about getting that land back, that it was originally theirs and the start of their empire.
"If," Jughead starts, "your dad bought it and the Blossoms want it, what are they willing to do to get it?" He walks over to their board and pins Hiram Lodge to it, it's a definite lead.
"I think there's a big project he wants to build on the land, I'm going to try and find out more."
"Are the Blossoms capable of setting the Twilight on fire to make the land unappealing to prospective investors or builders?" Betty wonders, looking between Archie and Veronica.
"Yes," Archie tells her. "If you had heard what I heard or seen what I did, you wouldn't even question that. And I actually feel bad for Cheryl, her parents are terrible, Betty."
"How was Cheryl?" Jughead asks. "Did she try and bring you into her web?"
Archie sighs, "Actually, yeah. And she wasn't pleased when I said no. Oh, and Val broke up with me."
"Dammit," Veronica curses as she reaches into her purse to hand Jughead five dollars. "I knew I shouldn't have bet you."
"Pleasure doing business with you, Veronica," Jughead says with a smile, sticking the money into his pocket.
"Anyway, aside from Archie's predictable crash and burn, what does all of this mean?" Betty adds, walking over to the board they've been working on for weeks. "What are the chances Polly or Jason are involved in, at the very least, the Blossom drama?"
"I don't know, Betty, that's a pretty big leap."
"Yeah, it is, but something is telling me none of this is adding up and it's all happening too close together to be coincidences. But maybe it is, I think I'm too biased to look at it objectively right now."
"What do we know for sure?" Jughead asks her, walking to her and putting a hand on her shoulder in comfort.
"We know that there is a new drug coming into the school, that football players are the likely dealers-"
"Wait, what?" Archie interrupts, shocked.
"Yeah, we need more proof but it seems like a pretty solid lead. So, after that we have Jason Blossom missing. Polly is also missing. The Blossoms want the Twilight land. Hiram Lodge bought it. It seems Clifford Blossom also sent your dad to jail, Veronica," Betty informs her.
"Where did you hear that?" Veronica wants to know, looking around at the other three people in the room.
"Archie overheard it at the Blossom's last night."
"This...is turning into a mess, you guys," Jughead says, shaking his head in confusion.
"Hey, remember freshman year when nothing like this was going on and we played video games and went to Pop's and our biggest obstacle was evading Alice Cooper?" Archie reminisces as they walk out of the Blue and Gold and into the hallway. "Those were the days."
Betty pulls Veronica aside before they part ways for their first classes. "Hey, V, are you okay after the Ethel thing from yesterday?"
"I hope so," Veronica replies, "I can't lie for Daddy anymore, I refuse to help him. That is not who I want to be."
"Have you talked to Ethel yet?"
"No, but I'm about to. Wish me luck."
"You'll be fine, Ethel is a good person, she won't hold your dad against you. I'll see you at lunch," she tells her as they continue on to their classes.