Running up the stairs to Archie's room after leaving Betty's before her parents got home, Jughead was feeling pretty pleased with himself.
Even if he needed a shower and some sort of self control.
Opening the door to get himself some clean clothes he stops dead in his tracks. First, he's shocked. Then a little horrified. And then, he smiles to himself and pulls out his phone.
"What are you doing in here, Jughead?!" Veronica yells from Archie's bed.
"Winning twenty-bucks," he replies, still looking at his phone screen. "Kevin is gonna be pissed though."
"Out!" she shouts at him, throwing a pillow he easily dodges.
Jughead is laughing and typing. "After all the times you walked in on me and Betty, I think I get this one for free. Besides, Veronica, you're covered. By Archie's sheet, true, but still."
Archie is groaning, covering his face in what Jughead thinks is equal parts shame of being caught and relief it's not his dad who walked in when his phone goes off with a text from Betty.
Damn, I was so close too. Oh well.
"By the way, Betty thought you were going to hold out for a little longer, Veronica."
She's glaring at him from the bed when she takes a good look at him. "You're looking way too pleased with yourself. I take it you had a good time?"
"I'm sure you'll find out," he tells her with a roll of his eyes.
Smirking, Veronica says, "That's probably true. Now get out, Jughead, before I kick your ass."
Grabbing the clothes he originally came for, he turns to Archie, who is still pretending to melt into his mattress. "Betty ordered a pizza if you want to join us. But you gotta put clothes on first."
Laughing to himself he's heading to the door when he hears Veronica clear her throat and say, "Headed to the shower, are you? Oh, you must have had a really good time."
Without turning around to admit he's turning an embarrassing shade of horrified he just tosses her a salute with his hand over his shoulder as he leaves the room, listening to Veronica and Archie start to laugh.
Saturday Afternoon
"Archie?" he hears someone say and he turns his head to see Veronica walking towards them.
"Veronica?" is Archie's response.
He can't control the worry in his voice as he asks, "Betty?" when he sees his girlfriend directly behind Veronica.
"Jughead?" Betty responds to him in surprise.
He's moved between her and the Ghoulie he now knows is called Malachai he had been talking to before he's even realized he's done it. This is not a guy that she should be talking to, he's the kind of guy that has no problem getting physical with girls, especially ones like Betty and Veronica.
"Aw, look everyone, they know each other. Ladies, welcome to our humble abode, but I'll tell you what I told your boys, you're not getting anything from me," Malachai tells them, sauntering closer to them.
He steps further in the way of his access to Betty and tells him, "We're good." Turning and grabbing Betty by the hand he starts to walk out before anyone thinks to stop them. "Let's go."
Saturday Morning
"And just where are you going, Miss Betty Cooper?" she hears Veronica say as she's trying to quietly shut her front door.
"Shhhhh!" Betty whisper yells at her.
Making a face at her, Veronica follows her down the stairs and out onto the sidewalk. "What's going on?"
Betty looks back to make sure her mother isn't following her before she answers. "Kevin called me late last night after his date with Joaquin-"
"Oh, how did that go?" Veronica interrupts with a big smile.
"It was, according to Kevin, 'totally transcendent, who even is Moose Mason?'" Betty tells her. "That's not what he called about though. Turns out, Joaquin knows a lot about the Ghoulies since they're a rival gang to the Serpents. He got the general location of their little, uhm, headquarters? Wherever it is that gangs hang out."
"And this is, I assume, on the Southside?"
Betty nods at her, taking her arm as they start walking. "So I'm going to see what information I can find out on where the Jingle Jangle is coming from. We know it starts with Clifford Blossom, but there is no way he's dealing directly to gangs, that's too risky."
Veronica stops and looks at her. "You're going to the Southside? And planning to do it alone? Where is Jughead?"
Shrugging at her, she says, "I called and texted, he didn't answer. They're not home. Maybe they're helping Fred today at the SoDale thing. I don't really know."
"Why are we walking? Smithers is right over there."
"We?" Betty questions.
"Yes. I'm not letting you do this alone, B. I am going to, however, text Archiekins."
"We're not going to take Smithers because I don't think we need the attention of arriving with an actual driver."
Veronica rolls her eyes at her. "We can have him drive us close and drop him off. These heels were not made for long walks to the wrong side of the tracks."
Betty huffs. "Fine. But on the way, I want the details of how you ended up in Archie's bed last night. You were pretty vague about it when we were talking."
Avoiding eye contact, Veronica turns her around and leads her back to where Smithers is waiting. Once inside the car, she turns to her and starts talking. "As you know, I had him take me to a movie."
Nodding, Betty gestures for her to continue.
"And after, I don't know, we went back to his place and suddenly there I was in his bedroom, riding the ginger stallion like I'd waited my whole life just to get on a pony."
Giggling, Betty can't control herself. "Oh my god, please call him a ginger stallion in front of Jughead, he will never let that go."
"It's bad enough he walked in on us, B! I am not giving him more ammunition."
"You were already done, right?" Betty asks and at Veronica's nod she continues, "Which is better than how you've caught me and Jug on more than one occasion. And you owe me for letting him know what I told you-in confidence!"
"Fine. But you can't tell me things like that and expect me not to mess with him over it. It was too good to leave alone."
Betty just gives her a look that Veronica laughs at while she tries to reach Archie on her own phone.
They spend the rest of the drive planning how they're going to find the Ghoulie's, if they even can. With plans to ask around the area that Kevin told her about Betty knows Jughead is going to be mad at her when he figures out what she's done. There are times when you need to jump on a lead as soon as you can.
"Jughead is going to kill me for this, Veronica," Betty declares as she slumps further down into the seat of the car.
"And me. Archie is not going to be thrilled either. I threw an absolute tantrum at both of them about keeping you out of this and here I am, doing it with you."
"If it helps, you did actually catch me in the act, so really, they might be less mad at you than me," she laments.
Veronica raises her eyebrows at her. "Are you serious? Has Jughead ever actually been truly angry with you?"
Shrugging, Betty tells her, "A few times, but it never really lasts long. This time, though, he's going to be pissed."
"So why are you doing it?"
"I want Polly home. Or at least to be able to talk to her when I want to. I want my parents to stop the Stepford routine, which is their normal, but this is like ten times worse than usual. And, to be fair, I'm not leaving him out, he didn't answer the two phone calls or the three texts-"
"Justifying this for yourself in that last part, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I know. He's totally going to make that face at me, you know the one where he looks like he just told you he was hungry then watched as you ate a burger right in front of him-"
"He totally makes that face! It's like he's mad, disappointed, and offended all in one facial expression," Veronica exclaims.
Betty sighs and tilts her head back on the seat of the car. "And then he's going to cross his arms and stand there all self righteous and convinced he's right. Only he really will be right this time so that's a problem."
"Distract him," Veronica tells her simply.
"With what?"
Smirking at her, Veronica just says, "You'll figure it out, I'm sure."
Finally reaching their destination they get out of the car and walk the few blocks to the shadiest side of town hoping to get their information and get out quickly. Volunteering to ask around Veronica is back within five minutes, making Betty breathe in relief.
"This way," she tells her, grabbing her hand to lead them down an alley.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," she says, reaching for a door and knocking. "This is definitely where the guy showed me."
Flirting with the guy who opens the door, Veronica has him leading them into a large room with a pool table and too many tacky decorations when she feels Veronica stop short and gasp. "Archie?"
Betty knows that means Jughead is here. She hears Archie respond and then she hears Jughead say her name. And he sounds mad.
This isn't going to end well, she's sure.
Saturday Afternoon
"What were you thinking, Elizabeth?!" Jughead yells at Betty, pacing across the room, trying to calm himself down.
Betty is standing, facing him with her hands on her hips. "What were you thinking, Forsythe?!"
He can hear a small laugh from Veronica. Oh right, he thinks, no one told her his real name yet. Great. "Do you know how badly hurt you could have gotten?"
"Do you know how badly hurt you could have gotten?" Betty volleys back at him with a you wanna go, let's go look in her eyes.
Archie's been quiet but Jughead knows he's just as mad. Archie looks to Veronica with an irritated look. "Didn't you just give Betty a big speech about putting herself in danger?"
Veronica is fidgeting, being called out is obviously not her favorite thing. "Archiekins, I just-" she hesitates with a look at Betty, "-okay fine. I caught Betty about to do it alone so I insisted on going with her."
"Veronica!" she shouts, betrayal in her tone.
Jughead is going to die. She's going to kill him. His heart is going to give out, he can feel it happening. And right after trying to remember the statistics of strokes in people under twenty he explodes, "For the actual sake of fuck, Betty!"
Betty's face is shocked at the volume and tone of his voice. "Listen here, Jughead-"
"Oh no, I will absolutely not 'listen here', not about this-"
"Is there a reason you're pretending you weren't there with Archie-"
"Do you know what kind of people deal drugs, Betty-"
"Are you telling me that grandmothers who just want to knit aren't the ones selling drugs, I am shocked-"
"Jesus christ, Betty, why are you so difficult-"
"I'm the one that's difficult?" Betty finally screeches at him in interruption. "You, Forsythe Pendleton Jones, the Third, are an asshole."
He closes his eyes in frustration. He knows, he knows, that he is being ridiculous. For every reason he has to be mad, she has the same one. Truth be told, yes, Veronica and Betty together are smarter than he and Archie but physically? He and Archie are the better choices by far.
Aside from their physical size, two attractive girls walking around the Southside, looking too expensive to be there? It's a bad idea. And if he's got to be an asshole to get that message across, then so be it.
"You lied to me, Betty," he states, irritation lacing his tone. "We agreed you wouldn't do this sort of thing alone."
She's standing her ground. "You weren't available!"
"Is there a particular reason you are trying to make it harder for me to keep you safe?" he asks, arms falling from their crossed position. "What, exactly, is your idea of subtle? Because I have to tell you, you're about as subtle as a brick to the face sometimes."
He can hear Archie snickering at that and Betty whips her head around to stare at him. He immediately goes quiet but it still very obviously amused.
"I had a lead and needed to take it and I couldn't get a hold of you, so, I went. Veronica found me and offered to help-"
"Really Veronica? You didn't think to call me or Archie?" Jughead interrupts to ask her.
Veronica raises her eyebrow at him and shrugs. "Like she said, you both were seemingly indisposed. Turns out, you were ignoring our calls to do the exact same thing we were."
Taking a deep breath, he tries to relax his shoulders and let some of his anger go. "Do you both not understand what happens to girls that look like the two of you on the bad side of town or is it some sort of willful ignorance on your part?"
"Excuse me?" comes from both girls at the same time. He hears Archie suck in a breath and knows this is going to get worse before it gets better.
"Betty, listen to me, you are smarter than me in almost every conceivable way but you cannot go there looking like the Sandy to some Ghoulie's Danny, okay? I went with Archie to keep you from having to go there, ever."
She's staring at him like she's going to take his head off. "What did I do, Jughead, that makes you think I'm incapable of taking care of myself?"
"And how were you going to protect yourself?" he asks her, standing his ground in the Andrews living room, thanking everything he can think of that Fred has been working six days a week to get the SoDale project back on schedule. "Did you have pepper spray? A taser? I don't remember you taking karate lessons when you were younger, so tell me, Betty, just how you were going to protect yourself."
Betty wilts right in front of him. He knows she knows it was a bad move but she wants to be stubborn about it. And oh, she doesn't disappoint.
Standing up straighter than before she levels him with a glare. "You don't own me, Jughead."
Sighing, he adjusts the hat on his head. "I know that, Betty. But you cannot seriously tell me that I don't have a point. It's not right and it's not fair but criminals do not care about the rights of pretty girls who cross their path. Do you get that?"
"That was...quite possibly the most condescending thing you've ever said to me," she responds, her face a mask of anger.
He knows she might have a point but he rarely thinks straight when he thinks Betty might be hurt. Veronica and Archie are both still sitting on the sofa with frustrated expressions on their faces. They're both obviously mad at the other but seem to be waiting to have it out in private. Which is fine with Jughead, he can only handle so much in one day.
Standing there, he thinks about how they got here.
Saturday Morning
"Hey Arch," Jughead says as he shakes Archie's shoulder to wake him up. He's not used to being awake before him.
Grumbling at him, he pulls the pillow over his face. "Leave me alone, Jug."
"No can do, we have something we need to get done."
"Unless it's sleeping, I don't want any part of it."
Jughead smirks. "Are you a little more exerted than usual, pal?"
Groaning, Archie tells him, "It's too early for words like that, Juggie. Go away. Go eat or something."
"Nope. Get up, man. We're taking a field trip."
"I hate you."
"That's fine, you can hate me all you want. But you still need to wake up."
Forty-five minutes later they're out the door and headed to the Southside.
"What, exactly, are we doing, Jug?"
"We know the Ghoulies are the ones supplying Reggie, right?" he tells him. "I figure the chances that my dad knows who they are is pretty high so we're going to my dad's trailer first."
"This isn't going to end well, man."
And it didn't. Reaching the trailer, his dad was wary but seemed happy enough to see him on a random weekend day. That was, until he told him what he wanted to know.
"Why do you even know that name, Jug?" his dad asks him, a disapproving look making him feel five years old all over again.
"They're selling drugs that are getting sold in Riverdale High, Dad."
"Okay, so tell the sheriff. Or Weatherbee. You don't need to go messing around with Ghoulies."
Jughead hesitates for a second before replying, "Are you saying you aren't going to help me?"
"Yeah, that's what I'm saying. You do not need to be anywhere near the Ghoulies. They're the worst sort of news."
Jughead just hitches a shoulder in the air, acting like it's no big deal. "Alright. I'll see you later, Dad."
"I mean it, boy. Leave it alone."
"I heard you."
Walking back through Sunnyside Archie asks, "You're not leaving it alone are you?"
With a face that must look like Jughead can't believe Archie actually thought that he answers, "Of course not."
His phone is going off again and he's not ignoring so much as delaying it, he steers them in the direction that takes them farther into the Southside.
"Is that Betty you're ignoring?" Archie wants to know.
"Ignoring? No. Avoiding? Yes," he tells him. "I don't want her on this side of town, Arch. She'd be like a neon sign, attracting all sorts of lowlifes."
"She's going to be pissed you know."
Jughead nods. "That she will. But she can be mad all she wants as long as she's mad and alive."
It takes a few terse conversations with people he never wants to talk to again to get the location of where to buy Jingle Jangle from the Ghoulies. Getting in the door is a little harder, he has to drop names he only learned that morning to even get someone to talk to him. He's in the middle of trying to figure out how he can possibly find out who supplies them when he hears Veronica then sees Betty.
And he's pissed.
Saturday Afternoon
"The worst part, Jug, is that you're standing there, mad, while having had no intentions of telling me about what you were doing. I, at least, tried to tell you."
Guilt eats away at him for a second. "Did you really think I wanted to take you along to the Southside, Betty? To a drug dealer?Really?"
She looks down at that. He knows she knows the answer to that was always going to be no. "And you think I want you to go talk to gang members? I don't. None of this is what I want. I-" she stops and tilts her head back in frustration. "You know what? I don't want to even deal with this anymore."
As Betty moves to walk out of the Andrews door, Jughead reacts quickly. He reaches her in two long strides and wraps his arm around her middle as he picks her up and walks back in the direction of the door leading to the garage.
He'd bet money that if he could see her face, Betty's expression would be a mixture of surprise and anger. Not thinking about what's going to happen when he sets her down he calls out to Archie, "Open the door for me, man."
Jumping up, Archie has a shocked face as he walks quickly to the door to open it for him. "Good luck, Jug."
Betty breaks the silence she's had since he picked her up. "He's gonna need it."
Once inside the garage, he sets her down before turning and locking the door so they can't be disturbed.
A seething Betty meets his eye as he finally looks at her. "I cannot believe you just did tha-"
Pushing her back up against the wall she was standing near he covers her mouth with his in an angry kiss. "Betty. Shut up. Just...shut up. I am so mad at you, you have no idea," he tells her when he pulls back to take a breath.
"I'm mad at you!" she cries, pulling his face back to hers to kiss him again.
He's threading his hands through her hair, dragging the band that holds her ponytail out so he can get a better grip on her hair. Her head falls back in a moan as he pushes his thigh between her legs so he can hold her still. "I don't think I've ever been this mad at you, Elizabeth."
"Oh really, Forsy-"
"Don't," he growls lowly into the skin of her neck. "Do you have any idea what -just the idea of you there, the very thought of it- I can't handle it."
"You don't own me, Jug," she repeats what she said to him earlier.
"You're right, I don't. And yet, you're mine just the same," he says into her ear before tugging her earlobe gently between his teeth. Her breath hitches and he pushes his leg higher into her, making her jerk up. Running a thumb across her jawline he turns her face back to him. "You are the strongest person I know but you are not invincible, Betty. Do you understand that?"
She doesn't answer him as she grabs for him, to bring his mouth back to hers again.
"Do you understand that?"
Finally focusing on him she responds in a terse voice, "Yes, Juggie."
Lifting her again by the back of her thighs he carries her over to the sofa they had enjoyed so thoroughly on the night of the dance. He drops her onto the cushion and a surprised gasp comes out of her mouth as she lands.
She's agitated, he can tell.
Laying her out on the sofa, he crawls over her, putting more weight on her than he usually would. Burying his face into her neck and hair he whispers to her, "Do you know how much I love you? Because if you did, you wouldn't do things like this. You wouldn't be able to because you'd know that it would absolutely destroy me if something ever happened to you."
He feels something wet touch the cheek he has pressed to her face and lifts his head up to see her crying. "Don't cry, Betts." Wiping the tears off of her face with his hand he starts placing soft kisses all over her cheeks, making her giggle at him.
"I'm sorry, Jug. I knew it was wrong and I did it anyway. I just want my sister to come home," she tells him in a watery voice.
"I'm sorry too, I knew you'd be pissed and I still did it. I just want you to be happy," he replies, moving a lock of her hair off of her forehead.
She smiles at him and bites her lower lip before she timidly says, "I almost thought you were going to spank me or something."
"I still might," he threatens, tightening his hands in her hair again, making her head jerk back a little. "I think you make me crazy, Betty. I don't know what it is, I don't, but sometimes I want to hold you down and sometimes I want to…" he trails off, feeling like he shouldn't finish the sentence.
"You want to what?"
Sitting up, he pulls her with him so they're face to face. "Control. It's possessive and maybe it's twisted and maybe it's from years of wanting to touch you, I don't have an answer for it but it's the truth."
She doesn't say anything to him, she's not even looking at him. He's starting to worry when she reaches for his hands, putting them at the hem of her shirt. Getting the hint, he pulls it off of her, letting it fall on the floor. Moving until she ends up sliding to her knees between his legs she looks up at him as she reaches for the button on his jeans
He doesn't think he's breathing and he doesn't know what to do or how to handle this situation. Has he thought about it? Yes. So many times, it's almost disgusting to the rest of the world, he's sure. Betty is slowly undoing his pants, tugging at them and he helps her by shifting his hips up. Leaving them halfway down his thighs she runs her hand over him through the fabric of his boxers, looking at him through her lashes.
Scared to blink in case he misses a second of it he sees her reaching for his hands, putting them into her hair to control the movement of her head. His nerves explode into anticipation, his breath stuttering a bit as she starts to pull on the ends of his boxers, bringing them down to just above where she left his jeans on his legs.
Betty is running soft fingers over him, seemingly considering what she's going to do. He's trying to be patient but he unconsciously tightens his fingers in her hair, causing her eyes to jump to his. Moving up on her knees, she takes him in hand and at the first feel of her warm wet mouth on him, her soft tongue sliding along with her lips, his head falls back as a loud groan escapes him. He wants to watch her so he forces his head back up and opens his eyes to see her staring at him as she she moves back and forth on him. She's kept her hand on him, helping her cover all of him, tightening her grip at intervals, making him forget every reason he's alive that doesn't include this moment.
He knows he's not going to last, it's impossible, she's beautiful and her pink lips and tangled hair with her eyes on him is almost as good as the feeling of her wet mouth going up and down on him. Pulling on her hair a little, she closes her eyes and he almost loses it immediately, but he's trying to keep his hips steady and not thrust into her mouth. Choking the woman you love the first time she goes down on you is probably on a list of mistakes made by many a man and he doesn't want to be on it.
The pressure building low in his abdomen is intensifying with each pass and before he knows it the only thing he can do is moan out a low "Oh fuck, oh god, Betty."
By the time he comes back down and can focus he still thinks words are too much as he looks at her, with swollen lips and a flushed face, wiping at the edges of her mouth and the first thing he says is a soft and slow, "Jesus, baby, where did you learn to do that?"
Betty grins at him and just climbs up into his lap and settles herself into whispering into his ear, "Sometimes I want you to hold me down, too. I think it's because I trust you to make me feel safe."