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riverdale-retread · 3 years

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Riverdale S4 E3 (Spoilers!)

- Jughead at prep school!!

- At the first seminar, Jughead has a pretentiousness dick measuring contest with Bret (”We’ve got a regular Harold Bloom here” vs “I thought it was Salinger derivative”). This is Jughead's heaven. When asked to give opinions on what sounds like Bret’s unbearably terrible story, the two betas kiss his ass but Donna makes a face like she wants to vomit. Donna in fact smirks when Jughead puts it down because she agrees. And then I felt personally attacked by Bret’s meltdown: “Your prose reads more like a preteen journaling about his abandonment issues than a coherent narrative.” Uh. Excuse me, but, um. This sounds like something I would write. This is how I actually write on this blog. Oh great. I am Ethel, and I’m also Bret.

Jughead Jones Gets to Be Truly Happy For a Bit

- The first full half of this episode is completely colored by Jughead’s happiness. I love it because I know it won’t last. Jughead smiles and giggles as he walks into his new dorm room at his new prep school. He is just so happy that when he sees a familiar face, Moose, he practically bursts into song, dances over to hug him, and keeps touching him. Moose and Jughead were not unfriendly but nothing we’ve actually seen justifies this. Jughead in the past three seasons hugged very few people, and in fact, when Kevin hugged him at the fail birthday party he was openly repelled. The only person he’s ever actually hugged like this, running at them with open arms and a big smile, was Jellybean. There are his highly emotional hugs with Archie, too, but Jughead has not, overall, been a hugger. That’s how pleased he is with life right now.

- And Betty is still so sour, and RUDE. She falls into such a mood upon seeing Jug’s dorm that FP has to give her super-priority and get out of there. Betty deprives FP of an opportunity to exult and be joyful over (what he thinks is) his son finally getting his shot at being respected and recognized and not having to live a hardscrabble existence. She lies when she says she’s just going to miss Jug. She doesn’t answer when he says that they’re in it for the long haul and because I know what will happen I read too much into the way she’s set her pretty chin, like oh she’s going to punish Jughead for this!

Moose and Jughead

- Did Moose get much hotter or is this just my prep school uniform kink kicking in? Also Moose does what Archie should’ve done - took a year off, got mental healthcare, fixed himself - and look how wonderful he is! (Oh is this why Jughead wants to keep touching Moose? Ohhh.) He’s confident and calm in his sexuality, a very rare Bisexual King in television.

- I’ll Keep An Eye On the Door Knob! Jughead’s flinching, wincing response, eyes squeezed as tight as possible, when he inadvertently walks in on Moose and Donna is Maximum Cuteness. By the way, Jughead is surprised that it’s Donna. He knew it was a girl on top of Moose, but he clearly read Donna as gay. That smile, those apple cheeks when Jughead tells Moose, I’m Sorry! Has he ever looked so bushy tailed and bright eyed ever before?

- Poor Moose though. That boy has a real knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time every! single! time! And yet, also, to have the sex life of Marmaduke, because wow he pulls all the cuties (Midge, Donna, and Kevin in one lifetime, hot damn.)

Diplo Brat

- Dona lies about Bret being a Diplo Brat. OK so second personal reveal - my father was in the foreign service and yeah I went to boarding school (which resembles Stonewall about as much as Riverdale HS resembles any real place on the planet). I will say, because we rarely come up in pop culture, none of us dip kids felt like our dad’s jobs gave us any sort of privileges because this is not how diplomatic immunity works. (Apologies for personal note and dragging facts into Riverdale, but a lifetime of stupid jokes about what diplomatic immunity means makes this eruption inevitable).

Bret x Jughead

- Light In Their Loafers was an old timey homophobic way to derogatorily call someone gay. Bret is a big dude, and yet he’s inaudible and materializes suddenly. He can sneak up to when Moose and Jughead are talking and interrupt their whispering about him with You Rang? He also tells Jughead that it’s lovely to see him again. Not even the Ghoulies talk with this much archness.

- From the first, Bret so wants a pet name to give Jughead. He tries out a bunch of them - Forsythe, Roomie, Jones, Jughead - but what he really wants to say is Honey, Baby, Darling and he can’t, which causes him to become really constipated.

- Bret is such a hysterical white boy who can’t handle criticism and it’s so accurate that I just cackle in glee every time.

- Bret calls Jughead’s work puerile, tawdry, pulp and I really wish this is what Jughead had written for his first novel because this is the stuff that sells and he wouldn’t be so financially incontinent in S5A. Or maybe he did?? Low lives, criminals, trailer trash - this is at least partially what we know of as being in the book Jughead eventually publishes. Bret just has no clue what gets published.

By the way, after Archie (ding ding ding) this is the second time someone calls it the Gremlin King, and I wonder if this is someone in the writer’s room realizing from watching outtakes that GARGOYLE is really hard to say, generally, and that performers were struggling with it. Archie often calls it Gaa-Goal and Jughead goes the other direction with gar-GOILE. Maybe someone lost an initial fight to just call the thing GREMLIN king?

Also - Bret is the MVP of this season. He’s Dr. Curdle Jr. levels of interesting and committed. I appreciate you, you disgusting smug bastard.

- Chipping sets the weirdest homework and wants to hang out at night with his high school students, and while trying to do this assignment Bret is so excited by Jughead’s presence he throws things at him and then just slavers at him. This is a clumsy form of seduction, and not bullying. When Jughead was actually bullied, at Riverdale High, he got body checked, he was castigated, made to sit alone etc. He didn’t have people smelling his hair and caressing his forehead with their breath, which is what Bret does.

- “Why don’t you try writing a compelling drama, instead of starting it?” A very impassioned YouTube video about Kylo Ren taught me to look out for ‘heart eyes’ lighting in actors with eyes big enough to do this with, and they do that in this episode, to both Jughead and Bret. Bret first. Jughead pushes Bret down into the chair because Bret brings up the one holy thing in Jughead’s life, Jellybean. While tugging on Bret’s tie, Jughead speaks in an impassioned undertone while maintaining intense eye contact. When he’s done, Bret looks wetly, longingly, at Jughead, and the lighting director put HEART EYES lighting in Bret’s eyes. And funnily enough, when Moose (poor Moose) gets exposed by Bret (but is it just Bret?) and Jughead realizes that he will be living just a deux with Bret, he gets heart eyes too (same lighting).

- Donna wins the writing competition? of sorts and I don’t understand. Jughead voted for his own story (because Jughead), Bret definitely voted for his, and for sure Donna voted for hers, which means that the Asian girl and the Black boy voted both for Donna. They know she’s the killer. Oooh!

The Video Tape

- While he’s cuddling with Betty on his first weekend back, Jughead’s saying maybe Bret was mad about the competition, maybe he’s a sociopath and went after Moose to get to Jughead, that This Is Psychological Warfare. No honey, Bret is trying to seduce you, he’s yanking your pigtails and flipping your skirts. I blame this on Archie, Jughead being unable to recognize man-on-man attraction.

- The echo to the end of S1 when Betty was indoors peering out at Jughead who went to meet an unexpected caller, her in the safe orange light and him in the cold blue, and instead of Tall Boy with a leather jacket, they get the first video tape!

- Betty is wrong twice - Jughead asks if they can trust Charles, and she says she thinks so, and then she says I’m just happy that this nightmare is finally over. Oh sweetie, your nightmares are never over.

Archie & Munroe (and Veronica, I suppose)

- Munroe and Archie are constantly taking their clothes off around each other. Munroe needs the community center to house his little brother, and Archie has no money, so he accepts Veronica’s idea to hold a shirtless boy car wash, which makes $400 in one day. I have no idea whether this is a good take or not, but Archie is disappointed because he thinks his earnings should be commensurate with his level of enjoyment of the day’s activities. Reggie shows up for this because he is vain and a good sport. I love the car wash. Oh and Reggie wants to go full monty. He so does.

- Munroe wants to go wading into a situation and crack heads and Archie doesn’t want to. He actually says sensible things: We’re going to do what we can with what we have, not stir up trouble; your going back to prison isn’t going to be the right solution for your family; let’s get the cops to deal with this. Excuse Me, Who Are You?

- Note that Munroe already has a nickname he uses for Archie - “Red.” And Munroe has an unexpectedly cold blooded approach to Veronica - Munroe wants to know if Veronica can be used to launder literal blood money.

Veronica is Archie’s Beard and Deserves Much Better

- Veronica of course refuses to launder the assault money. And she offers yet again to help in legitimate ways. I am incensed at Veronica having to beg to participate in motherfucking Archie’s life (” Let me be a part of what you’re doing . I need to be a part of what you’re doing.”)

Veronica is fucking beautiful - that face! that figure! that hair!- and she’s brilliant, knows everyone, has a practical solution for everything, engages in great acts of service to people she loves, is endlessly loyal, and, if Reggie, Chad and Nick St Clare’s inability to stay away from her is any indication, fire in bed. This is really what proves that Archie is actually totally gay because there is no way that Veronica would have to do any begging with a boy who was straight.

Archie is Scary as Shit and Not In a Fun Way

- Archie has an argument with his mother, about college and the college fund Fred and she set up, that he now wants to toss into a doomed, half-assed do-gooder venture. The talk doesn’t go well, so Archie, mad at his mother, runs straight to his room to punch the shit out of his punching bag, really hard. We know the punching bag sound carries in this house, so can you imagine how threatening this is, for Mary? Much as I think she’s ineffectual and boring, this display is unacceptable. This is the second time he’s done this and it bothers me so much. Yikes.

- And because he’s angry at his mother, Archie grabs a baseball bat to attack Dodger & Co. And really, I think Mary gets really worried about her son, truly terrifyingly worried, which is why she decides to be a pro bono lawyer for Archie’s community center enterprise. But she’s specifically said that there are no jobs in Riverdale. The only people who actually got paid to do any legal work have all worked for the Lodges, Blossoms or the government. What exactly does Mary plan on living on? The $40K that Veronica just donated?

All the Rest, Including the Farm

- Choni: This is the episode where Toni is starting to have serious regrets because Cheryl is completely off her rocker. But before we get to that - Cheryl and her Nana’s relationship is actually very real. Nana Rose brings up the triplets and she’s supposed to be nutty except she’s... acting, right? Because she’s not like this in S5, so is she on Penelope’s side?

Also, Cheryl fires Darius with TOODLES and I kind of love it. Thistlehouse has rats in the walls. And the rat comes popping out of Jason’s corpse, and you know, Cheryl is so brave because I don’t think I could smoosh a rat to death with my bare hands. The rat is how Toni discovers the corpse, and is probably formulating a plan to leave.

- Charles & Betty: An FBI agent that Charles sent in (Echo?) gets killed by Edgar, and Edgar catches them out. The thing is, Charles is a crazy serial killer, yes? So did he mean to get this guy killed accidentally on purpose? Now that I know Charles and how he becomes in S5 E 10 I am so bored by everything that happens with Betty and Charles. Oh but Betty saves Polly from the bomb, so Yay! Betty has the most steady hands of all time. Girlfriend is legit heroic. Her having a hairpin in that ponytail is so weird though.

- Edgar v Betty : Edgar is smarter than Betty. He understands that to get what he wants, he just needs to activate the terrible Betty vanity, the I am the One Special Girl complex, and Betty enjoys this while pretending not to. “Why did you call me” she says, acting upset, but she loves it.

Betty is unable to anticipate a whack to the back of the head, administered by Evelyn, but of course Betty’s the real expert at this, so she returns the favor and whacks someone on the head yet another time. Oh and we’re back with Alice. Alice and Betty have a slomo walk with the gun and Patty Hearst hat.

Fangs v Betty: What kind of deprogramming does Fangs get because wow he’s not ok. Betty knocks his lights out with a single punch. And Weatherbee is missing a finger!

EDGAR AND HIS ROCKET HAHAHAHAHA. It’s so delightful every time. I love that Riverdale takes the piss out of self important psychos who found death cults. Let’s mock the shit out of them, all the time.

I was initially confused by Governor Doolie having the money to be sending mercenaries, to a town that couldn’t afford a 4th of July fireworks display, to take down the Farmies, but then I thought, OH no wait, this tracks. Yeah, the militarized solution leading to death would get funding, wouldn’t it?

Hiram v Veronica

Hiram has broken out of the prison in which he has semi incarcerated himself (Is being in prison a kink? Does he have a boyfriend in there? Why would he come and go? Why not just leave? ) and they are fighting about the name, and Hiram tells a story about Jaime Luna so she becomes Veronica Luna.

You know, I don’t actually want anything bad to happen to Veronica, because I love her, but I kind of wish they’d stop hinting at Hiram’s sexual obsession with Veronica. Just fuckin’ lean into it and do a St. Dymphna with a twist narrative or something dudes, why are you flirting with a father being sexually obsessed with his daughter? (Why else would Veronica need to sleep with a taser under her pillow unless she thinks her dad is going to invade her bedroom?)

#Jughead jones #bret weston wallis #riverdale recap #riverdale episode recap

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forasecondtherewedwon · 5 years

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17 or 48, both together, or just one, or whatever you want if they haven't already been requested, NSFW I guess if you don't have any problem with it. I wanted to add, in honor of Tom wearing glasses: for some reason, any silly reason or plot device you need, that makes Peter have to wear glasses, and MJ freaks out about it finding she's especially very attracted to him wearing glasses. You're super awesome btw!!!!

Thank you so much for these requests, Anons! As 48 and 17 were requested together more than once, I have included both prompts in this fic. And it’s NSFW (if you’re a perv, I’m a perv, Anon #3). And Peter wears glasses (feel free to determine the level of silliness of my reasoning for them, Anon #1 haha). Extra thanks to you, Anon #1, for your kind words! Hope you all enjoy!

This Spa Day Provided to You by Stark IndustriesPairing: Peter Parker x Michelle Jones (Spideychelle)Rating: E/NSFWWord count: 3752

17. “I know what I want, when I want it. So get over here.”

48. “If you want to get me naked, you’ll have to convince me it’ll be worth my time.”

Peter sighed into the phone.

“When I said the decathlon team really needs to relax beforeour next competition, that was just me complaining! I wasn’t asking you tospend money on us!”

“Yes, but that’s the beauty of being Tony Stark’s favouriteintern―”

“―only intern,” Peter mumbled.

“―I solve your problems before you even realize they needsolving.”

“I did realize,”he argued, flinging himself down onto his bed.

“And you weren’t going to do anything about it besidescomplain? That’s not very ‘Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ of you, kid.”

“I… had some thoughts,” Peter said defensively.

“Such as?”

“Puppy room?”

“Like you rent puppies to help your pals cope with pre-competitionstress, is that the definition of ‘puppy room’ we’re working from?” Mr. Starkchecked. “Meaning you have puppies brought into your school, meaning you exposethose halls of learning to the evils of… what’s it called? Pet dander! Becausethere’s always one kid, Pete, always that one kid who’s allergic to puppies andspoils things for everyone else. And then, gee, it’s not the puppy’s fault, butnow there’s sneezing and itching and throats swelling shut, an ambulance iscalled to cart poor Timmy off to the hospital, and in the meantime, the puppieshave peed and ralphed all over the floor, thereby causing more stress than whatexisted to begin with! Then, of course, you’re blamed for the whole thingbecause it was your idea, probably kicked off the team, definitely sociallyostracized, and always left wondering, ‘Was it worth it?’”

There was a long pause.

“What happens to Timmy?” Peter wondered.

“Oh, they couldn’t save him. Anyway, doesn’t a spa day soundmore peaceful than all that?”

“Only because you turned the puppy room into some kind ofhorror movie epidemic.”

“It was a rhetorical question, since the obvious answer,”Mr. Stark informed him, “is a simple ‘yes.’ By the way, why am I having to sellthis to you so hard when I’m the one who paid for it?”

“That one’s gotta be rhetorical,” Peter said, but his mentorhad already hung up.

“So, there’s, like, a sauna, a pool and hot tubs, or you canget a massage, or―”

“Living in a luxurious, fluffy spa robe for a day isbasically my dream,” Ned declared, interrupting Peter.

With a glance around the room, Peter saw that most of histeammates seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Ned, expressionssmiling and full of relief. Most of them. MJ was frowning.

“Have we done research on this place?” she asked. “When wasits last health inspection? How regularly do they test the chemical compositionof the pool water? Have there been any reported cases of―”

“It’s fine,” Peter assured her. “Mr. Stark goes there allthe time. Actually, I think he might own it…”

“And there’s never been a negligent billionaire businessowner with his fingers in so many pies that he lets standards slip at one ofhis investments,” MJ replied sarcastically.

He didn’t know where to start grappling with that, but hismouth hung open, waiting for his brain to fill it with an intelligent yetsensitive response.

“Yeah, but, MJ―” Flash jumped in.

“Michelle to you,” she corrected flatly.

“―free massages!” He raised his eyebrows like she was anidiot for having any misgivings in the face of complimentary spa treatments.

MJ rolled her eyes.

“Fine, we can focus on that, in which case, I have questionsabout the staff’s training, techniques―”

“Are you serious?” Peter said, accidentally out loud. Dumbquestion; his girlfriend was always serious.

She gave him a fixed stare.

“I’d like the person who massages me to know what they’redoing. If you want to get me naked, you’ll have to convince me it’ll be worthmy time.”

He felt the heat seeping up his neck into his face.

“I don’t want… N-notme personally…”

“I’ll do some research before we go,” Betty cheerfullyvolunteered. Peter smiled gratefully at her as she turned to face MJ, uncappingher pen and holding it poised over a pad of paper. “What were your concernsagain?”

“Happy thoughts,” Ned instructed as Peter cradled hisforehead in his hand, rattled. “Fluffy, fluffy robes.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, tone striving for levity. “Robes. Right.”

What he was really thinking about was how much trouble hewas in. If MJ was this brazen in front of their friends, how was he supposed tohang out with her at the spa? Sure, they’d found enough opportunities sincethey’d started dating to make it to second base, but actually seeing her in abathing suit was a whole different thing! The robes were Ned’s idea of acalming thought, but what did people wear underneath them? Nothing! Picturinghim and MJ in matching robes was therefore not a very calming thought.

This spa day was going to kill him.

“What’s next on your itinerary?” Peter asked distractedly,leaning against one of the large lockers in the men’s changing room. It wasuncanny, being in a room full of lockers without even the faintest odour offoot sweat―this spa was a distinct step up from the locker room at school.

“Couples facial with Betty,” Ned replied happily.

Peter frowned.

“That’s a thing?”

“Yes, Peter,” Ned sighed, exasperated. “Maybe you should’vespent your time doing a more thorough scan of the veritable smorgasbord oftreatments instead of concentrating on avoiding MJ.”

Peter jerked away from the locker.

“What? Avoiding her?” He shifted his feet.

Ned sighed again.

“You can’t hide in the changing room all day.”

“I haven’t been!”

“Every time I come back here to get my water or change into swimtrunks, you’re here.”

“We’re obviously very in sync,” Peter insisted. “And I wasjust leaving.”

Ned folded his arms and stared his best friend down.

“Uh huh.”

“I am! I’m going… swimming.”

“With your shoes on,” Ned checked, glancing down to Peter’ssneakers.

“I don’t want to contract a foot fungus. Better safe thansorry.”

“Can you even get a foot fungus?” Ned asked, lowering hisvoice and leaning closer for increased discretion. “Wouldn’t yoursuper-spider-ness protect you from something like that? Wouldn’t seem right ifyou could avoid supernatural attacks only to be felled by a foot fungus. Orwould it―”

“Bye, Ned,” Peter interrupted, and exited the room.

He did actually have his bathing suit on underneath therobe―Ned had been adamant about the robe-wearing―so he might as well headtowards the pool. Following the scent of chlorine, Peter turned down a quiethallway, lined with doors on both sides.

He could swim for hours if he had to. Just until―oh man, hewas totally avoiding MJ. He’d only seen her for about two seconds today afterthey’d arrived. Being gifted a spa day by Iron Man wasn’t the same as astandard field trip, so the team had had to make their own way here. (Peterwasn’t going to remind Mr. Stark that he’d blanked on providing transportationin luxury cars; Pepper would take care of that.) Too chicken to even sit nextto his girlfriend in the back seat of a car, Peter had waited until Abe offeredto pick up Flash, Cindy, and MJ before assuring a few of the others that hisaunt would be happy to give rides as well. This was pathetic.

Peter went to brush his hair back anxiously and bumped thecorner of his glasses, unused to them. Disoriented, he stopped walking tosettle them back into their proper position on his face. His arms tingled as helowered his hands and Peter became tense and alert. Quickly glancing around, henoticed that the door at the end of the hall was ajar. He flattened his back tothe wall and crept hurriedly and silently towards it.

The hairs on his arms were completely standing up once hewas right outside the door, so Peter pushed it open and darted inside, shiftingto a defensive posture and pulling the door closed behind him―one less escaperoute for whoever or whatever was in here with him. Besides the soothing soundtrackof wind chimes by the ocean.

Beyond the massage table dominating the space, a door at therear of the room opened and out stepped MJ, head down, tying a robe identicalto Peter’s. It was suddenly difficult to swallow.

She looked up and gasped, then sighed, hand to her chest.

“What the hell, Peter?”

“S-sorry,” he blurted, straightening up. “I thought… therewas something…”

Peter studied his arms, confused. He’d believed that extraSpidey sense was just, like, a space donut alert system. Now it was an MJfinder? He guessed he had been thinking about her a lot lately. Possibly, theconscious fixation plus theunconscious longing that had her appearing in his dreams most nights hadtriggered some kind of biological recalibration, thereby setting the sense toprepare for hormones instead of intergalactic battle. The potential science ofit was pretty cool and Peter tried to think about that in order to maintain hisrapidly failing composure.

MJ flipped her trapped hair out of the neck of her robe. Holyshit.

“I’m still not used to the glasses,” she said, approachinghim and sounding enviably calm. “Are you self-conscious about them? Is that whyI’ve barely seen you today?”

“No, I’m not… I’m not self-conscious,” he choked out.Clearing his throat, he continued. This was a safe topic which would aid him withnot stare at her legs below the hem of the knee-length robe. “They help my eyesrelax. Dampen stimuli. Kinda like those old black goggles I had. The ones Ishowed you―”

“―when we were in your bedroom.”

Abort. That was not a neutral memory. He revisited it―ohboy, did he revisit it―but only in private, in bed at night. Sometimes in theshower. His pulse pounded unmistakeably in his groin.

“Yeah,” Peter agreed weakly. “Then.”

“I like the glasses.”

“You do?”

MJ stopped in front of him and Peter imagined the feel ofher robe’s tie in his hand as he pulled it free of the loops. It was so easy topicture.

“Mhmm, you look… They just make you look more…”

Peter caught her eye and noticed something. She wasflustered. While MJ searched for whatever she wanted to say, she shoved her handsinto the pockets of her robe; it strained the tie, slackening the fold offabric across her body to expose a larger V of her neck and chest. Petergestured awkwardly at the bared skin, then reached out, intending to fix it forher. (The swelling in his swim trunks pleaded for him to yank the materialapart.) Her hand collided with his as she went to do the same thing.

“…sexy,” MJ concluded.

Peter’s fingers slid across her skin until his palm was flaton her chest, then he brought his other hand to the back of her neck and kissedher. They held each other with shaky hands, nervous and giddy. Everything withher was still brand new. Internally, Peter felt like he was inside one of thosepaint can agitators at the hardware store―the kind that he’d seen when May hadpicked a new colour for the kitchen and dragged him along to pack-mule the cansto and from the car―but his lips were becoming more certain against MJ’s. Andhis dick was really committing to this erection, thickening with every passingsecond.

Peter was getting lost, unable to tell how theirclosed-mouth kiss had opened up to allow their tongues to meet and tangle. MJmoaned softly and he wrapped both arms around her with urgency. He wondered ifhis glasses were fogging up, like the windows in steamy movie scenes; he didn’topen his eyes to check.

Touching his face in a way that felt more profoundlyintimate than what seemed possible for the length of their relationship so far,she pressed her body closer. Oh god. Snatching a shallow breath between kisses,Peter let his hand tumble from her neck, sweeping unevenly across the plushstretch of her robe and resting on the small of her back. He didn’t push her―wouldn’t push her―just braced herlightly as his hips rolled forward. MJ gasped, tenderly tracing his earlobewith a fingertip.

Peter tilted his head forward until his forehead and hersseemed to support each other. He listened to his thumping heart, a steady bassto balance those tinkling wind chime noises. The natural ambiance of MJ’sragged breathing was magical. But everything was moving so fast. They weren’tsupposed to get this! A parental figure should have been interrupting rightabout now, or a ringing phone. A pizza delivery guy maybe.

Uncertainly, Peter took a step back, hands still on MJ’swaist. She wrapped hers around his and he opened his eyes to see her face.

“Stark booked this whole place for us, right?”

Oh, they were talking about Mr. Stark now. Peter was thrownby his girlfriend’s lack of transition. She always did like to get to thepoint, not waste words. He jiggled the corner of his glasses.

“Yeah…?”

“All day?”

“Yeah,” Peter answered with more conviction, focusing now.

“Well, then there’s no one else coming to use this room,”she informed him. “I went through the team’s treatment schedules myself.”

Just when he’d thought he was getting the gist of thisconversation.

“You’re saying…”

“I’m saying I really like the glasses.”

Yeah, her eyes were saying a lot more than that. What wasgoing on in there was much easier for Peter to follow. Like the absoluteawareness while MJ let go of his hand to draw her wavy hair forward over oneshoulder; she knew what she was doing to him. Were spa robes any good atconcealing erections? He was curious.

To give himself a second of clear thinking (which in itselfmight be wishful thinking), Peter released her waist, arms hanging at hissides.

“Are you sure?” he checked.

She rolled her eyes, but the corner of her mouth had flickedup.

“I know what I want, when I want it. So get over here.”

Rather than going to her, Peter took a deep breath andbrought her to him, guiding MJ by her hips. Before he could kiss her, she put ahand to his chest.

“Just for now,” she assured him, and plucked his glassesfrom his face.

Folding the legs in carefully, MJ set them on a counter nextto an orderly line of jars. All Peter could think about was being able to kissher more roughly without worrying about his glasses getting in the way; hedecided to make a move based on the likeliness of her thinking the same thing. Hecupped her face, touching his mouth lightly to hers only momentarily, thendiving in with a firmer pressure.

There wasn’t a clear path in his mind, but he directed MJanyway, steering her by the hand on her hip while they kissed, until the solidspa table halted them. Her lips parted as though the minor impact had sent ashockwave through her body and Peter stepped right into her space, tongueteasing the inside of her lip. Incredibly (to him), his hips weren’t shyagainst hers, pressing flush, as much as the thickness of theirever-more-irritating robes would allow.

His eyelashes fluttered on her cheek as he barely opened hiseyes.

“Did they massage you?” Peter asked quietly. The room wasvery still. Seemed like the wind chimes must have run out of breeze.

MJ’s legs shifted against his, thighs parting provocatively.

“Not everywhere.”

With a groan, he squeezed her hips, not really helping asshe perched, then wiggled onto the table. MJ continued spreading her legs soPeter could come closer and his hands skipped down to her thighs, smoothing upher skin as the fabric drew apart. He almost forgot about kissing, gaze slidingdown her body, but MJ grabbed his jaw and leaned forward, initiating somethingfiery. It made his hips jerk ahead and his fingers clenched on her legs. MJ’sother hand found the tie of his robe and quickly worked past that barrier, thenthe next―which was the tie on his swim shorts. Peter inhaled a rapid doublegasp, experiencing the wonder of her hand wrapping tentatively around hiserection. More securely after his slow moan.

He broke away from the kiss, nosing languidly below her jawand down her neck as he pushed his hands to her hips. Hypothesis confirmed: peopledid not wear anything beneath those robes. Or at least MJ didn’t. Peter shapedhis hands to the front of her hips, thumbs settling into the warm crease at thetop of her thighs where the band of her underwear would’ve been. She wasstroking him now, stoking his own heat with the warmth of her palm, and he lethis thumbs descend until he could feel her pulse thumping resolutely. By then,his hands were between her legs, covering everything but the place he waslonging to touch; Peter skated one thumb towards the middle and it was slickedwith her arousal.

MJ was breathing heavily, nudging herself against his hand,so he rotated his wrist and slipped his fingers along the track of her wetness.She shuddered, rolling her fingers against his length. Peter gave her throat awet kiss. When she tilted her hips, lifting them slightly like she wassearching for something, he made sure they came back down on his fingers,easing one inside her.

“Peter,” she said,fast and sharp, and jerked her hips forward with the same desperate haste.

He released MJ’s hip with his other hand to reach into hisswim suit and tighten her grip around him, his hand over hers. Then, Petercurled the finger he had inside her, probing gently as he got his bearings.Cautiously, darting a look up at her face, he added a second finger. She made asoft, contented sound and rocked so that his fingers sunk deeper. Peter’s hipsbucked reflexively and she gave him a short pump, his hand tense on the back ofhers.

Wetting his lip with his tongue in concentration, he hookedhis fingers more insistently, tapping her taut front wall. MJ groaned, tooloose to produce an “oh.” Peter dug in, repeating the motion she’d enjoyed, andpushed his thumb against her clit. A hissing, sucked in breath from hisgirlfriend had him feeling tingly all over―seriously, his super-senses weregoing to be even more goofed up after this. Something in him had realigned,attuning him to MJ.

He worked his fingers faster, moving with her when shecouldn’t sit still. Actually, Peter started to worry that MJ was going to falloff the massage table because she kept scooting forward, so he encouraged herto lie down, gasping as her hand disengaged from his dick. Watching hisgirlfriend on her back, he forgot about missing her grasp; her neck arched whenhe rubbed her clit in a circle and every time he thrust his fingers intoher―sneaking a look to witness them emerging glossy―she thrust the opposite wayto take them, slackening the wrap of the robe until its V stretched nearly toher waist.

Peter was fantasizing about crawling on top of MJ (only fantasizing for now because theyhadn’t really talk about that yet and he certainly didn’t have a condom at theready in the fluffy depths of his spa robe’s pocket), yearning to drag hisfingers out and plunge his cock in. He was grinning, hot and hazy in his dirtydaydream, fingers wrapped around himself while he continued to, well, massageher. The word would never be the same for him.

“Mmm, god,” shesaid, legs twitching where they hung off the edge of the table.

Hearing himself faintly echoing her less distinct butequally impassioned noises, Peter was almost living her pleasure. He kneadedher clit, bent and scooped his fingers frantically within her. MJ came with anextended moan, muffled because she pressed her lips shut, and Peter swallowedthickly like he was consuming the sound.

He removed one hand from his trunks (erection still throbbing),the other from his girlfriend’s body. Panting, Peter retied the string (wipinghis fingers on his bathing suit while he was at it), then the wider band of hisrobe, not taking his eyes off her. Body limp, MJ ran a hand across her face. Hewas mesmerized just watching her breathe.

“Help me up,” she said, voice thick and altered.

She pulled the robe closed and reached out her hands forhis, which Peter eagerly provided. Their eyes met with a sly shyness once theirfaces were level. After a minute, MJ rolled her eyes and grabbed Peter’s neck, bringinghim into a kiss. She sighed against his cheek when they leaned apart.

“You wanna trade places?” she asked as she lifted her head.Her hand went to his robe’s tie, giving a gentle tug.

Peter laughed, heart beating hard.

“Yeah, I really wantto, but Ned’s going to expect to see me at the pool after his facial.”

MJ frowned and her playfully disappointed eyes made him wantto stay that much more. Glancing at her watch―the only thing she wore, besidesthe robe―she shrugged.

“I have to meet Cindy for pedicures anyway.” They exchangedwistful smiles. He couldn’t make himself turn away, let alone walk to the door.“I’m good, Peter,” MJ said. “You should sneak out of here first. Lesssuspicious that way.”

He hesitated another few seconds, then stepped back with anod.

“Ok, but I’ll see you later. Promise,” he added when sheraised doubtful eyebrows.

Peter grabbed his glasses from the counter and put them on,comfortably dampening his vision. He glanced back at MJ on his way to the door.

“Seriously, dork, get out of here,” she urged. “Thoseglasses are testing my restraint.”

Face turning pink, Peter shot her a smile and crept warilyinto the hallway. He closed the door quietly behind him, glancing back andforth as he adjusted the overlapping fabric in front of his hips.

“Hope the pool’s cold,” Peter muttered, heading there forthe second time and wondering how many laps it was going to take to put himselfback in control of his own body.

Assuming that was possible.

Well, it was another hypothesis to test.

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milkshake-at-pops · 5 years

Text

Tour of the Heart: Chapter 8

chapter 7/masterpost/chapter 9

let us know if you want to be tagged!

As Hollywood-chic as the tour bus was, it only took a day or so for Archie to get sick of it. It was cramped, and besides, he wanted to see the rest of New York City. This was Ronnie’s hometown, not his, and their first concert was tomorrow. Also, he wanted to get to know Jughead.

The reporter seemed like an interesting guy— he’d mostly kept to himself — and Archie’s manager had told him, in no uncertain terms, that the publicity for this tour could make or break his career. On a more personal level, Archie wanted to know what was hiding underneath Jughead’s beanie and his quiet demeanor.

“Hey Veronica,” Archie said, to his friend who was sitting five feet away from him on the other top bunk. “Do you know any good bars around here?”

Veronica giggled a little, for no reason that Archie could see. “Hmm… who are you taking? I hope it’s me, because there’s no way I’m letting you go bar-hopping on your own.”

“Um, actually, I was thinking of taking the reporter. Jughead, I think.” Archie swung his legs over the side of his bunk, looking at Veronica, who was reading a book, glasses on. Despite her offer to go, she didn’t look in the mood. Books and clubbing don’t mix well, at least according to Ronnie. Archie had never actually gone out clubbing before, it’s not like Riverdale had much of a night scene in a town where everyone went to bed before ten o’clock.

Lowering her reading glasses to look over at him, Veronica let her book fall in her lap. “Jughead… well, that changes things! I actually went to high school with him, fun fact, so I think I can give you two a solid recommendation. He actually dated a friend of mine for a time— before he moved on to Kevin Keller. They were cute, high school sweethearts, but it didn’t last. I wish I’d stayed in touch with him to know how it ended, though. It was very Breakfast Club of them— the theatre kid and the recluse. I swear, the two of them fulfilled every single gay stereotype during high school. Which was breaking stereotypes in its own way, although I do think I did that a touch more than they did. Being a feminine and out bi girl was… something.”

Archie was already down from the bed, tugging his shoes on and picking out a shirt from his suitcase. “What was the bar’s name again?” he asked, completely tuning out Veronica’s ramble.

She sighed. “Metropolitan. It’s in Brooklyn, so you should call an uber. And, fortunately for you and Jughead, it’s pretty cheap.”

“Metropolitan. Sweet, let me just grab Jughead from the kitchen and then we can get going,” Archie said, giving Veronica the smile that, unbeknownst to him, had already enraptured Jughead Jones. “Thanks for the spot.”

He found Jughead in the kitchen, eating a bag of sea salt and vinegar chips. “Oh, hey Archie. Didn’t see you there,” Jughead said, quickly shoving his phone into his pocket the second he saw Arch. “Want some chips?”

“Um, no thanks, because I was kind of wondering,” Archie began, wondering why his words were sticking in his throat. “Do you want to go get a drink or two, and um, get to know each other? I mean, I can’t exactly have the star reporter, Jughead Jones, on my tour bus without getting to um, know him some more than just your excellent fashion sense.” Archie’s eyes moved from Jughead’s beanie to his black t-shirt to his equally black ripped jeans, not sure what to do now that he’d stopped talking.

It took a few seconds for Jughead to respond, his face flushing slightly as he responded. “Sure, I’d love to become more acquainted with the world-class musician that I’m touring with, especially since I’m just…” A Buzzfeed “reporter” who has never actually written an article for their news section before now. “... so excited for the rest of the tour. Let me get my um…” don’t say condom, don’t say condom “Jacket. Because it might be cold. Then I’ll join you in the uber.”

Jughead bolted out of the room and dove into his suitcase under his bed which, unfortunately, was underneath Arch’s bed because Cheryl had already claimed the one under Veronica’s. Trying and failing to not ponder the sheer embarrassment of having in-the-flesh Archie Andrews walk into the kitchen while he had Archie Andrews’ instagram page up on his phone, he grabbed his old leather jacket (with a snake on it, because Toni had bought it for him as a gag gift) and took a deep breath to steady himself before walking back into the kitchen.

Archie Andrews felt a little awkward with his hand in the bag of chips that Jughead had just been eating, but they were addictively good and he was still waiting for the uber. He took note of how the leather jacket Jughead wore fit him well, like the sort of thing Jughead had worn enough that it had just become a part of him. “The uber’s going to be here in a couple minutes, you ready?”

“Yeah, I’m ready to go. I wasn’t expecting this like, at all, but I mean, getting a drink barely requires a lot of preparation. Unless you’re Cheryl, in which case it’s usually an hour of raiding her closet for the best outfit and four selfies before we even reach the bar,” Jughead said, secretly very glad that his friendship with Cheryl meant that he knew rich people took ubers to clubs, not the bus. Or just walking, honestly. Just because Jughead had never actually been to a bar unless Cheryl dragged him didn’t mean that he didn’t know exactly how he’d do it without her.

“Sounds a lot like Veronica, but add the fourteen calls to the manager of the club so that she can get free drinks,” Archie said, laughing a little. His phone dinged in his pocket. “Oh, our uber’s here.”

They got in the uber, and instead of the awkwardly silent drive that Jughead had expected from someone who was as undoubtedly cool as Arch Andrews, the singer talked his ear off. From exploits with Veronica to ridiculous high school stories in Chicago, Arch had no problem sharing his life with someone that he barely knew.

And Jughead found himself, the guy who barely bothered saying more than four words to anyone unless it was via email, talking just as much. He told Archie about all the shit Cheryl had dragged him into, including when she’d demanded that he, as her best friend, find her a girlfriend, and, since it was four AM on a Friday night, Jughead prank called Toni.

“Wait, they actually got together?” Archie said, shaking his head.

“Cheryl and Toni, or fucking Choni, as Cheryl insisted on calling them, went strong all throughout our sophomore, junior, and senior year of college. I don’t know why I decided to play drunk Cupid in that moment, but I don’t regret it,” Jughead said, smiling at Archie’s attentiveness. Their uber pulled up next to the club, and Archie held the door open like a gentleman for Jughead, who wished that his beanie could become a ski mask so that his blush wouldn’t be so obvious. He could only imagine how much he looked like the cousin of a tomato.

They walked inside, and ordered drinks. Jughead took one look at the vibrantly colored menu full of words he couldn’t pronounce, and said “I’ll have what he’s having.” The bartender shot him a wink as he slid their drinks across the bar. Noting that the bartender was shirtless, Jughead took a sip of his not-half-bad cocktail and focused his attention back to Archie.

“So, Toni Topaz. How do you know her? She’s a Youtuber, and um, that doesn’t exactly seem like your crowd,” Archie said, once again taking in Jughead’s “It’s not a phase, mom” outfit.

“It’s not, really. Actually, we were friends way back in high school, she’s a part of my silly friend group. She actually gave me this jacket, by the way,” Jughead said, spinning around in the bar stool to show the back of it. “Which has a snake on it, because our groupchat name throughout all of high school was the Serpents.”

“No way, that’s so cool. Why the Serpents? Snakes are kind of gross,” Archie said, taking a drink from his glass.

“Like all good stories, this one begins with a Taylor Swift song,” Jughead said, feeling a wave of nostalgia as he remembered how it happened. “Okay, so there’s this guy in our group, goes by Fangs. He, for reasons I will never understand, was obsessed with Taylor Swift. Now, I don’t think she’s half bad, but this was next level. Anyways, you know that one video with all the snakes?”

“Yeah, I know it. Where is this going?” Archie said, resting his elbows on the bar and leaning closer to Jughead. “I’m captivated, you’re a really good storyteller. I can see why you’re a reporter.”

Jughead laughed, because this was an absolute gem of a story. “So, approximately five seconds after the video drops, Fangs decides to change the chat name to ‘Snake Bros’ with like, five snake emojis. Anyways, we were all immediately like, ‘No. Dude, don’t drag me into this. We support you, but for god’s sake the groupchat title can’t be about snakes.’ To which Toni, wise-ass as always, responds with ‘we should make it Snakes On A Plane.’”

That got a laugh out of Archie, and Jughead couldn’t remember enjoying a sound more. “But Fangs is insistent that we need to have a ‘squad,’ because he watched the video again while we were all going ‘Fangs dude, what the fuck.’ And he keeps saying that if we won’t be Swifties with him, that we at least need something that relates to his interests as a groupchat title. So obviously, no more titles with B emojis. Which is a tragedy of epic proportions, but that’s besides the point. Sweet Pea, who wasn’t Fangs’ boyfriend yet, but was getting there, suggested ‘Serpents’ because it sounded badass.”

“Okay, that’s good. And, let me guess, it stuck?”

“No, absolutely not. Betty had a freak out about how much she just hates snakes, Toni changed it to ‘Big Chungus’ at least eight times, I think I turned it into ‘Sad Emo Squad’ before Fangs changed it to fifteen more snake emojis. At a certain point, I believe that Fangs and Joaquin had a shouting match,” Jughead said, taking another drink and wondering if he could get lost in Archie’s deep brown eyes.

“That’s awful. Wait, how did you end up becoming the Serpents, then?” Archie asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.

“Me and Toni bought Fangs a stuffed snake to try and keep the peace, and quietly asked him if we could just call it ‘Serpents,’ if that would be okay with him. Fortunately for everyone’s collective sanity, he said yes.”

Archie smiled and laughed, returning Jughead’s tale with a yarn of his own. It was almost midnight before Veronica texted them to remind them that yes, they had a show tomorrow. As they slouched against each other on the ride back, Archie and Jughead wondered how people could go from being complete strangers, from pixels on a screen to someone captivating in every way.

#riverdale #riverdale fanfiction #jughead jones #archie andrews #cheryl blossom #veronica lodge #jarchie #cheronica #gay #lesbian #bi #ace #celeb au #tour of the heart #this is so Incredibly late but in my defense its mod j posting for mod * and its. hard

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serkewen12 · 6 years

Text

The Halloween Party

Okay so I had every intention of having this done and released for Cap’s birthday on the 4th, but because I’m a lazy schmuck it took a lot longer than planned. This is my first fic for Steve Rogers and I had this idea randomly when I was at work. So I hope everyone likes it. Feedback is always appreciated.

Also I would personally like to thank Juli and Sarah for constantly putting up with me and letting me bounce ideas off of them. You both always help me so much when I’m feeling nervous about my writing.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Warnings: None... it’s just sickening fluff with a hint of jealously. General sass from all the right people

Word count: 5562

"I'm just sayin that Tony's rule about not being able to wear our actual uniforms to this is ridiculous," Sam huffed.

"So you are mad that you can't wear your Falcon uniform to a Halloween party?" You asked in between bites of your sandwich.

"Well I mean..."

"It's a costume party Sam," Steve deadpanned, "If I recall you were really offended the last time Tony called your suit a 'bird costume'."

"It's not a costume! It's a highly sophisticated..."

"Exactly," Steve said with grin, "It's not a costume Pal."

You shook your head as you watched Steve and Sam debate back and forth on the logistics of what counted as a costume and you smirked. You could only imagine what the rest of the team had come up with to wear after Tony dropped the bombshell rule at one of the weekly Avengers meetings last month. Clint seemed unaffected, as did Natasha, and Thor had taken it as a challenge. You had sunk so far into your chair that you were surprised you hadn't vanished when you heard that there was a big party, but now there was this costume business involved. Now the party was tonight and you were already a nervous wreck. The costume you had chosen was a calculated risk that Natasha had helped you pick out. Tonight is the night.

Carefully you looked at Steve and watched his little movements. You loved the way his blue eyes looked so determined when he was talking about something he really believed in, you loved his smile, his voice, his kindness, how you would catch him sketching in the evening after a long day. Who were you kidding? You were hopelessly in love with Steve Rogers and you had been for just shy of a year, not that he seemed to be aware of that and lucky for you no one else seemed to be. You couldn't really recall when it had happened because you seemed painfully oblivious to your own feelings until Natasha had pointed out how blind you were being. Steve crossed one arm and pointed at Sam and you almost hated how his shirt always seemed a size to small across his toned chest and arms. Almost.

Tearing your eyes away from Steve you looked over to see Bucky standing there with a slight smirk. When the hell did he get here? You felt your cheeks heat up and Bucky quirked his eyebrows before he turned his attention to Sam.

"So what did you guys figure out then?"

"Oh I got everything all taken care of for us both," Bucky commented, "You will just have to wait and see."

You didn't miss Steve's slightly nervous look and how he seemed to shuffle a bit. You wondered what the two super soldiers would be wearing and then your mind wandered to the outfit innocently hanging in your closet. The outfit that you hoped would finally catch Steve's eye. You stamped down your nerves that threatened to overtake you when you thought about the idea of finally

"Is it the onesie?"

"Onsie?" You asked feeling confused.

"Yeah haven't you seen it? Steve you wore a ridiculous costume back in the 40s to sell war bonds right? You should break that out of the museum and give us a show."

"That's real funny," Steve said sarcastically.

"Yeah and (Y/N) could wear one of those cute little chorus girl numbers," Bucky chimed in, "Remember those? The little red, white, and blue dresses with the matching blue hats. I bet you would love that... wouldn't you Steve?"

You felt your entire face heat up when you saw Bucky's little grin as he described the outfit and you immediately looked down to hide your blush. Steve's eyes went wide and his cheeks were tinged pink at the idea of you wearing one of those outfits and he glared as Bucky laughed.

"It would be great wouldn't it? What do you think OW!" Bucky yelped causing you to jump, "What the hell Steve?"

"Knock it off," he hissed.

"No I agree," Sam nodded, "What do you think (Y/N)? You're looking a bit red over there."

Looking up with wide eyes you looked between the three men in front of you. Bucky and Sam wore matching smirks with devilish glints in their eyes and Steve was trying his best to look apologetic but there was an intensity in his gaze you couldn't quite figure out. His tense jaw and how he swallowed thickly didn't go unnoticed by you.

"I... well... it's just," you sputtered trying to come up with a response, "I'm sure that... uh... I'm not opposed... I mean I already have a costume..."

When the door to the elevator smoothly opened and Natasha came sauntering into the kitchen you let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey there boys," she said, "I hate to ruin your fun, but I need to steal (Y/N) so we can start getting ready for the party tonight."

"It's noon," Sam said pointing at the clock, "The party isn't for another eight hours."

"Perfection takes time," she said before grabbing you by the hand and leading you to the elevator. She glanced over her shoulder and gave the boys a wink before the doors closed.

Heading into your room you were inclined to believe that Sam had a point, but you were more thankful that Natasha had rescued you from embarrassing yourself. Flopping down on your bed you let out a slightly dramatic sigh before rolling onto your side. You curiously looked at a large case that Natasha sat on the bed next to you and arched an eye brow.

"Nat... What is that?"

"Supplies," she replied simply.

As she opened the case you popped up on your elbow and gazed at every type of make up you could ever need, a blow dryer, curling irons of varying sizes, bobby pins, barrettes, hairsprays, make up remover, and one of those doughnuts for making a bun. You slowly looked up at her and she smiled.

"Fuck... you weren't kidding," you commented nervously, "I don't really know what to do with half of this."

"That's what you have me for. Don't worry I'm going to make sure you don't have a single hair out of place tonight."

"Do you think this will work? What if I make a fool out of myself? What if I fall down the stairs or something."

"Oh please (Y/N)," she said rolling her eyes, "It's going to work."

"How do you know? What if he doesn't feel the same."

"With the way he was staring when we were walking away... he is definitely interested."

"He was staring?"

"Like a hungry wolf," she snickered causing you to blush, "Seriously though, Steve is crazy about you. He always is looking at you when you aren't paying attention and if we are lucky he will fall down the stairs when he sees you."

You both stared at each other before smirks turned into howls of laughter at the thought.

"I'm going to take a quick shower," you said getting up.

"Don't wash your hair. The type of hairstyle you were talking about works better on day old hair."

"You're the boss."

A quick shower later and you were feeling relaxed and ready for whatever Natasha had in store for you. You trusted her completely and that was why you had entrusted her with your plan. She had jumped at the idea of coming with you to the small vintage store you always frequented on your days off. The store was run by a kind little old woman named Betty and when you explained what you were looking for her tired eyes lit up. As you and Natasha had browsed the various racks of clothing and picked a dress here and there Betty had disappeared into the back room. All the dresses you had both picked had looked nice on, but none of them were what you had in mind.

"The black one is pretty, but it's not the style I was hoping for. It's to 'I Love Lucy'," you frowned.

"Yeah it's not going to do the trick. Let me keep looking," Natasha replied before going back over to the racks.

"This plan is turning into a disaster," you whispered looking at all the failed contenders.

"Here what about this?" Natasha came running over holding up a green dress.

Grabbing it you shut the curtain on the dressing room and slipped the dress on. It was emerald green, strapless, and had a layered ruffled skirt that reached the floor. Cocking your head to the side you turned back and forth and watched the fabric flow.

"It's to prom dressy," you said stepping out and Natasha nodded in agreement, "I want to look like Rita Hayworth... a total 1940s bombshell. I want to knock Steve right off his feet."

Behind you Betty cleared her throat and you both turned around to see her holding a dress bag in her hands, "If you want to look like that then I think this is going to be the dress for you."

Betty hung up the bag on a rack and slowly unzipped it and pushed the bag off and you both gasped. Hanging there was a sleek satin strapless dress that was a deep royal blue with a fitted looking waist that had a gathered bow like detail on the hip.

"Holy shit," you muttered as you stepped closer to the dress, "This is beautiful."

"Go ahead and try it on honey," Betty said with a smile.

Quickly you took off the green dress and hung it back up and stepped into the dress Betty had brought out. As you slid it on you noticed that there was actually a slit in the skirt where the fabric met the bow on the hip. It wasn't noticeable unless when you stood still but it would show a good amount of leg when you walked.

"Nat will you help me out with the zipper? I can't quite get it," you called still staring at yourself in the mirror.

"Goddamn," Natasha gasped when she came around the curtain and pulled the zipper up for you, "You look amazing."

Stepping out of the dressing room you saw Betty smile and nod, "It suits you."

"This is beautiful Betty! It's perfect."

"It has matching elbow length gloves if you want them as well," she said.

"Yes please. I would love that. How much am I going to owe you?" You asked as you headed back to change into your street clothes.

"Consider it a gift," she said causing you to stop and whip around.

"Oh no, I couldn't do that Betty. This dress is beautiful and I just couldn't..."

"Sweetie I know a girl in love when I see one and let me tell you something, I wore that dress singing at a club in 1946 the night I met my husband... I was quite a looker back then believe it or not," she chuckled, "I never planned on ever selling it, but it's been sitting back there for years collecting dust and I want you to have it. Now you go out there and you knock that man dead. He's the one you came in here buying all those records for isn't he? The one you always mention, Steve wasn't it?"

"I can't even begin to tell you how much this means to me," you said tearing up.

"You've been coming in here for years and I know how much love you will show that dress and you deserve it. You help keep this world safe time and time again. You helped me clean and fix up this place after all those alien monsters came out of the sky. Call this a super late thank you gift."

You almost teared up again just thinking about Betty and how she had given you the dress that was hanging in the other room. You smiled remembering the the scolding she had given you when you had gone back realizing you had forgotten appropriate shoes because she had found the 150 dollars you had slipped into her register with a thank you scribbled on a gum wrapper. You had agreed to take her for a nice lunch at her favorite diner in exchange for the shoes when she refused to let you pay for them after your stunt the last time.

Slipping on your favorite silk robe you walked back into your room and saw Natasha had laid out three separate curling irons all of which were heated up and ready for use, a few hair ties, a huge pile of prong hair clips for pin curls, and a comb.

"All right let's get down to business. This is going to be the time consuming part. Sit," Natasha commanded and pulled out the chair in front of your vanity.

Natasha meticulously sectioned off your hair and tied back the parts she wasn't going to work on before she tackled the curling process. Slipping on a heat proof glove and grabbing her first curling wand she began curling pieces of your hair and pinning them to your head. You scrolled through your phone looking at make up ideas with your music on shuffle.

"This would be a lot easier if you weren't bobbing your head with your music," she teased.

"Sorry I can't help it, it's Queen," you said with a shrug and tried to stay as still as possible.

When Natasha said that curling your hair was going to be time consuming you hadn't realized she meant it would take almost two hours. Having to make sure they were all curled in the right direction and securely pinned in place had been an adventure. By the time she was pinning the last one you were squirming in your chair and wanting to get up and move around.

"Alright now we let them set," she said.

"For how long?"

"As long as possible. It's three now so I will be back at five and we will finish this up. I need to go check on something."

"What am I supposed to do for two hours?!" You asked crossing your arms.

"Watch a movie or something, I got your favorite chips in that sack there. Don't mess with those curls," she called as she left you standing in the middle of your room.

"Well looks like I'm catching up on Game of Thrones without Bucky," you snickered.

Natasha quickly walked down the hallway, "Hey F.R.I.D.A.Y. where is Bucky?"

"Seargant Barnes is in the gym."

"Of course he is."

Walking into the gym Natasha spotted Bucky hanging up a punching back and came up behind him, "So did you show Steve his costume?"

Turning slightly before landing a punch on the bag he smirked, "Oh yeah I did."

"And?"

"He tried to act mad that I swiped it from the Smithsonian, but I could tell he was excited about it," he grunted between hits, "Called me a jerk when I said it wasn't stealing because technically that Army uniform belongs to him."

"YESSSSSSS you go Sansa! FUCK YOU RAMSEY!" You shouted jumping up from the bed while throwing your arms up in the air and doing a little dance, "Finally serves him right!"

As you spun around you stopped as you saw Natasha leaning on the door frame of your room. Slowly you lowered your arms and waved awkwardly. She shook her head and swept back into your room carrying a black dress bag and her red hair had been pulled up into a sleek and tight bun on the top of her head.

"Oh wow," Natasha laughed, "I hope your dance moves are better than that tonight."

"I think we both know how good my dance moves can be," you sassed giving her a playful glare, "Remember that undercover mission in Barcelona?"

"I think we all do. Some of us more than others," she muttered motioning for you to sit back down in front of the mirror.

"What's that supposed to mean?" You asked as she slowly started to undo the pins and let your curls fall loosely around your face.

"Oh nothing," she smirked.

"Fine," you huffed, "Be that way."

Forty five minutes later and you were marveling at your reflection in the mirror. You ran your fingers gently over the work Natasha had done on your hair. The mess of haphazard curls had been repeatedly brushed until they had combined into a cascade of silky waves that all curled in at the very bottom that sat right below your shoulders. It was exactly what you had pictured in your head. You smiled excitedly as you picked up a small jewel encrusted hair comb, swept back the right side of your hair just above your ear and gently pushed the comb into place.

"It's perfect Nat... thank you so much," you murmured.

The rest of time you sat back and watched as Natasha expertly applied her elaborate make up. She had decided to go to the party as the Black Swan, you weren't surprised by her choice, it suited her. You fiddled with your fingernails and edge of your robe as you tried to not let yourself backpedal into anxiety. You had to be confident. This was going to work. You just had to not think about how telling Steve how you felt could possibly blow up in your face and completely ruin your friendship. Letting out a frustrated groan you stood up and grabbed your make up. Luckily for you the look you were going for was simply and classic, unlike Natasha who was in the process of painting on intricate feather details around her eyes with a felt tip eyeliner.

"I can do this," you whispered to yourself as you started applying your foundation.

"You're damn right you can."

"Wow you sure clean up nice," Bucky teased adjusting the 10/6 fraction card in the band of his top hat before placing it on his head. He inspected his reflection and straightened the dark brocade fabric of the vest he was wearing before pulling on a black waistcoat. Nodding with approval he turned his attention back to Steve who had an expression that was stuck somewhere between annoyance and anxiety.

Steve rolled his eye as he tightened the tan colored tie and smoothed it over the dark green button up shirt.

"I still can't believe you stole this from the Smithsonian."

Walking over and grabbing the uniform jacket and handing it to Steve he couldn't help but give him an amused smirk, "Well you could have returned it, but instead here you are wearing it. If I recall you have done your fair share of stealing from that place."

"That was different Buck. I was trying to help you, not go to some party."

"And I'm trying to help you Pal. Trust me."

Steve buttoned up the jacket and fiddled with the various pins on the lapels and chest to make sure they were all straight. It felt strange to be wearing his World War 2 uniform again, but he had to admit Bucky was right it.

"I wonder what everyone else is going to be wearing."

"Don't you mean you wonder what (Y/N) is going to be wearing?" Bucky shot Steve a knowing look.

"Well I mean... She is... uh..."

"How long is this going to go on? You need to tell her how you feel about her Steve."

Slipping into your dress you felt more and more confident as you felt the silk material move against your skin. Sitting on the bed you slipped into your heels and fastened the strap around your ankles. The slit in the dress showed the perfect amount of leg, but was still modest and looking at yourself in the mirror you felt amazing. Leaning forward you applied your deep red lipstick and smirked at yourself. A wolf whistle behind you snapped you out of your reverie and in the mirror you could see Natasha in her full ballerina outfit eyeing you and waggling her eyebrows.

"Oh he is not going to know what hit him," she laughed holding out your elbow length gloves. "Let's do this."

Linking arms with with Natasha you both hurried to the elevator and headed down to the party.

"So you remember the plan?"

The elevator doors silently slid open to reveal that Tony had completely had outdone himself as usual for the party. There were people mingling, drinking, and dancing as music played loudly. You slowly walked towards the stone stairs that lead down to the party and stopped and leaned on the balcony area and took in the whole scene. Everyone was laughing and having a good time and you were carefully scanning to see if you could figure out who was who under all the make up, terrible wigs, and outlandish costumes. You quickly spotted Thor who was looking rather proud of his Hercules costume and it seemed he had already challenged some poor soul to a drinking contest. You shook your head and turned to see Natasha standing next to you. She gave you an encouraging smile and you took a deep breath before stepping away from the banister.

"You've got this," you whispered to yourself before tossing some of your curls over your shoulder and confidently walking down the staircase and into the fray of the party. Natasha didn't stray to far from your side as you put on your best old Hollywood glam persona and looked for your intended target.

Natasha grabbed you and you nearly jumped out of your skin, "What the hell?"

"Look!" She pointed and tried to cover up her laughter.

Following her finger you found the source of her entertainment. Clint. Clint Barton was twirling around a cheaply made plastic bow and arrow and was wearing a horrific blonde wig and pointed ears.

You both looked at each other and howled with laughter. "Legolas?! He can't be for real right now!" You gasping for breath by the time you were done laughing about his choice of costume.

"Ladies," Bucky said smoothly tipping the hat, "You both look lovely this evening."

The two woman giggled and looked at each other before hurrying away excitedly talking and throwing looks back his direction. He leaned on the bar and grabbed the beer that Steve handed him and threw them a winning smile.

"Laying on the charm a bit thick tonight aren't you Barnes," Tony said wandering out of the crowd to join them at the bar, "I'm hurt because I got all dolled up and I'm wearing these heels and you haven't even told me I'm pretty."

Steve snorted into his drink when he turned and saw Tony with his hands on his hips wearing a white pencil skirt, fitted blazer, and matching pumps. The image of Tony Stark fully decked out as Pepper was now seared into his memory and he couldn't help but laugh as Tony batted his false eyelashes while trying his best to look offended.

"Oh I'm sorry. How inconsiderate of me," Bucky teased, "You'll make sure to save me a dance won't you?"

Tony smirked and brushed a few stray red wig hairs out of his face before grabbing his drink, "My eyes are up here Sir."

Steve chuckled at the banter between the two men and was just happy they seemed to have moved past their differences. It had taken a long time for him to settle into the team and for the tension to dissipate and nothing made him happier than seeing hints of the old Bucky he used to know out on display. Smiling to himself he took another swig of his drink and thought about what was said before they came down to the party. This was his chance to finally make his move. Tony's incredulous shout of disgust knocked him out of his thoughts and he saw Sam had settled in at the bar next to them.

"What the hell are you wearing?"

"Like it? I think the muscles are a bit much," Sam said motioning to the padded muscles of his obviously store bought Iron Man costume.

Tony glared at him with his arms crossed while Steve and Bucky roared with laughter.

"Yeah are you compensating for something Tony," Bucky sassed.

"You know what; forget me saving you that dance Barnes," he bit out.

"What? You said we couldn't wear our OWN uniforms," Sam pointed out, "You never said we couldn't wear someone else’s."

"He does have a point Tony," Steve said nodding.

"Oh okay I see how it is. Ganging up on me again huh? Typical. Well lets see what 'Tony Stark' thinks of this," he said dramatically.

The three men looked at each other confused before Tony reached out and grabbed Sam and practically drug him over to a couch where Pepper was sitting talking to Maria sipping on a glass of wine. She was dressed in a three piece suit, had a dark wig on, and had carefully painted on a goatee.

"Ohhhhhhh he is in trouble now," Steve said cheerfully turning back to the bar.

Bucky looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened, "He ain't the only one pal."

Quirking an eyebrow he turned to see Bucky intently staring over his shoulder which prompted him to turn around. Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw as he turned his head. (Y/N) was standing not far off with Natasha and they were both laughing and talking to various people around them, but to Steve in that moment everyone seemed to disappear as his blue eyes raked over her form. He felt his chest tighten slightly when he realized you were draped in fitted blue satin, with your hair curled, and an almost sinful color of red on your lips. You looked like you had walked straight out of one of the old movies he used to save up money to go see. He barely noticed when Natasha caught him staring and leaned over to whisper something in (Y/N)'s ear while giving a subtle nod to Bucky. He sucked in a harsh breath when she looked down and a gentle smile graced her lips before she looked up and met his eyes. The elbow he had been resting on the bar slid off the surface as he rather ungracefully stumbled forward a bit before quickly righting himself. He could hear Bucky muttering 'smooth' under his breath as Steve squared his shoulders and looked at her again. Her eyes were trained on him and her gently smile quickly turned into a wicked smirk before she turned to say something to a man standing next to her.

"Wow," Steve breathed out as he watched her every move.

Bucky looked at Natasha and motioned between Steve and (Y/N) with a thumbs up. She nodded and made a small 'get a move on' motion with her hand. Just as he stepped forward to encourage Steve to stop staring and actually go talk to her he let out a groan when the man standing next to her took her hand and lead her onto the dance floor. He glanced at Steve and saw his jaw clench and a scowl form as his eyes followed them as they moved on the dance floor. He could see the fire of jealousy burning intensely already as (Y/N) swayed along with the music with her partner and he quickly formulated a new plan. Bucky grabbed Steve's drink and clapped him on the back before handing it to him.

"Damn just look at her in that dress. She has to be the most beautiful woman in the whole room wouldn'tcha say Steve?"

"She always is the most beautiful woman in the room to me," he said taking a drink and glowering at the man who's hands were resting on (Y/N)'s hips.

"It's to bad..." Bucky said shaking his head and trying to hide a smirk.

"What's to bad?" Steve said side eyeing him.

"She looks mighty happy dancing with that guy. I bet he is sweet talkin' her right now, tryin' to get her number. That's what I'd be doing," he replied nonchalantly, "It's honestly to bad that you missed your chance. The smirk she gave you..."

"The hell I have," Steve practically growled before shoving the beer bottle back into Bucky's hand and making his way straight towards you both.

"Too easy," Bucky chuckled.

You laughed as the man who you had learned was named Todd moved across the dance floor with you. Your gloved hands resting comfortable on his shoulders while his stayed on your waist. He was someone you had seen around the building before who worked for Tony in the tech department and was helping integrate Stark and Wakandan technology. He was flirty but polite and had a kind smile.

"You should come up to the lab sometime and I can show you the new things I'm working on. Having someone's opinion that uses the tech out in the field would be really helpful in working out any kinks," he said cheerfully.

"Yeah..." you said, "Yeah actually that would probably be a good idea. I'd like that."

Todd smiled and pulled you closer as a slower song began to play over the speakers. You instinctively wrapped your arms around him tighter as he continued to talk about various things. Getting caught up in the song you playfully shrieked when he spun you and dipped you with the music before you both laughed.

“You look beautiful tonight,” he said more quietly causing you to blush.

“Well thank you...”

"Mind if I cut in?" A familiar voice asked.

"Actually I kinda do... mind...." Todd's voice trailed off when he turned to tell off the stranger only to see Steve Rogers eyeing him critically.

You stared wide eyed as Steve crossed his arms and furrowed his brows into what Tony called the Cap Glare. It was the glare that screamed 'This is your chance to surrender before the real fight begins'. Steve was the definition of intimidating as he stood at his full height with all the pins and bars of his uniform glinting in the lights. The fit of the jacket highlighted how broad his shoulders were and cut in perfectly at his waist. He clenched his jaw and Todd immediately backed up slightly before nodding and letting go of your hand. You gave him a final look before he scurried away towards the bar. You tilted your head to the side before raising an eyebrow and smirking at Steve. His eyes were intense as he stepped forward and you let out a shaky breath trying to calm your nerves. This was it.

"Hey there soldier," you said while taking in the full glory of him in his uniform.

"Ma'am," he replied before taking your hand and pulling you in to dance.

His left hand carefully gripped your waist, while his right held onto your hand that wasn't resting on his shoulder. You could feel that he was tense and you saw him swallow nervously before starting to sway with you back and forth with the music that had started to play. It was a familiar tune from the 40s and you stole a quick glance and saw Natasha at the DJ booth watching you both with a smile on her face. You felt the tension in Steve's shoulders slowly disappear when he recognized the song and the stiffness he had when you first began to dance completely melted away as he glided across the dance floor with you.

"You know Captain Rogers you scared that poor man half to death back there," you smirked, "If I didn't know any better I would say you were jealous."

"What if I was?"

You had meant for the comment to be playful, but the moment Steve replied with complete and utter seriousness you didn't know how to feel. Anxiety crept through you as you both stood completely still in the middle of the dance floor ignoring the people around you. Confusion etched it's way across your face as you contemplated the meaning of his words and you dared to hope that there was an actual chance he felt the same way about you. Your thoughts ran wild when you thought about the fire you had seen burning in his eyes when he looked at Todd and you suddenly remembered the first time you had seen him wear that expression. Barcelona. Suddenly Natasha’s comment earlier made sense. You had been working under cover and had been trying to seduce information out of an arms dealer at a gala. The heat of Steve’s glare that night was something you could feel from across the entire ballroom, but he had reeled it back quickly so you thought nothing of it.

"Why would you be jealous?" You asked nervously.

He stepped closer to you and took your hands in his. His face was only a few inches from yours when you looked him in the eyes and he smiled. You felt like your heart was going to beat right out of your chest when he looked at you with such sincerity.

"Because... well... because I want to be the one you dance with," he said quietly before taking a deep breath and moving his hands up to cup your face, "I want to be the one who makes you smile and makes you laugh. I want to tell you every day how beautiful I think you are... and how smart and how funny... I just want to be the one who makes you happy..."

"Steve..." You whisper as you felt a tear roll down your cheek and Steve quickly brushed it away.

Leaning forward he gently pressed his lips to yours before pulling back ever so slightly, "...because I love you."

You smiled and choked out a happy laugh before quickly pulling him into kiss that quickly deepened as he wrapped his arms tightly around you. When you finally broke apart Steve rested his forehead against yours, "I love you too Steve."

@musicalmoriarty @tallish-hobbit @la-frenchiest-frite @bisexual-hellion @imaginesandall @ourmadnessoflife @fragmentofmymind @louisianaspell @sgtjbuccky @buckthegrump @revengingbarnes @bananafakerbri @writerfanatic8 @ambitions-like-ribbons @parksxo @officialstilesstilenski

#steve rogers imagine #steve rogers x reader #captain america x reader #captain america #fluffy shit #my first marvel fic #captain america imagine #chris evans

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rudemaidenswrite · 6 years

Text

Unexpected

A drabble about a dream I had.

author: @pusantheamazonian

Reader appears at party in pajamas by mistake. Tom tries to be knight in shining armor. But reader can take care of themselves. Tom brings food and you become friends. Only after watching a TV interview do you realize he has been trying to woo you.

Reader x Tom Hiddleston.

It may be because your days are starting to blur together. From working swing shift at the factory to doing art commissions. But you can’t believe you forgot that tonight was your cousin’s party. You could have sworn it was tomorrow. Thus, why you are standing in the crowded kitchen in your pajamas.

“Y/N! you’re finally awake.”

“Brad I thought your party was tomorrow?” You look at him in dismay. Everyone is dressed nicely and you are in old, old pajamas.

“Nope it’s right now.” He wraps an arm around your shoulders and navigates you around the room.

“Brad I’m in my pajamas what are you doing?” Struggling, Brad doesn’t let you go.

“Well knowing how you are. You are going to steal some food then go back to the basement to hide. Since you are already embarrassed, why not introduce you to a few people.” He chuckles with an evil grin.

“Oh my god, no!”

“Yes! …. Burnstien! Welcome, have you met my baby cousin?” Brad’s grip tightens as he drags you along.

Finally escaping Brad’s grip. You are embarrassed all the way to hell. He introduced you to twelve different people, half were coworkers. But the most embarrassing thing was that he introduced you to Tom Hiddleston. You are such a secret Hiddlestoner; that’s why the embarrassment is so horrible. You had planned the perfect outfit to wear, but too late now you had the wrong date for the party. Brad just had to of worked with him in his latest movie. Sulking away to the food area, you plan to pile a plate with food and scamper back to your room in the basement.

“Hey Y/N.” An infuriating voice whispers from behind as a hand slips under your shirt.

“Allen go away.” Turning you push him away. The smell of alcohol hits you hard. He reeks of it.

“C-Come on Y/N. It’s a party and you’re in your pajamas. We can make our own party downstairs.”

“Allen how did you get in?” You try not to gag at his offer and the smell.

“Brad invited my boss. He sent me instead, after having a family emergency.”

“Ugh just go away.”

“Come on Y/N. just a quickie.” He reaches for you again.

“I said no!” You punch him right in the face knocking him to the ground.

“You bitch.” Allen mumbles through his hand that is holding his bleeding nose.

“I suggest you leave before the police are called.”

Recognizing the voice, you look up to see Tom Hiddleston just a foot away from you. Holding his hands up in surrender. That’s when you realize your hand is still in a fist. Ashamed and angry you head to the basement forgetting your hunger. Locking the door behind you. You flop onto the bed in frustration.

“What a great first impression.” You grumble to the silence.

*knock knock knock*

Irritated that it could still be that letch. You ignore the knocking. But the knocking doesn’t stop.

“Who is it?” You groan clearly irritated.

“It’s Tom, can I come in?”

Groaning in mild annoyance, zipping your sweatshirt all the way up before unlocking the door. Opening the door, a crack to make sure it really is him.

“What do you want?” Trying not to snap at him. Depressed on why he would be down here.

“Checking on you.” Surprised at the gesture. Opening the door all the way you step to the side allowing him in. “I also brought you this.” He hands you a plate of food.

“Thank you.” You set the plate on your desk.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah just ex-boyfriend drama. Which is why I’m living here.” You vaguely motion to the room.

“You paint?” You can tell he is lightening the mood by changing the subject. He points to your art easel. Which is currently housing your latest painting.

“Sort of I mostly do water paint. I’m not finished yet. It’s supposed to be Ben Schnetzer’s Khadgar from World of Warcraft. I still have to do the outlines.”

“It’s good.”

“Thanks.” It feels odd hearing the compliment from him. Biting the inside of your cheek you try not to look you are blushing.

“Are you sure you are okay?” He turns to face you, really staring at you. As if he is looking at you and not past you.

“Yes.”

The silence in deafening as you two just stand there for a few moments. But before you know it the conversation has picked back up about your art. Leading you two to talk the whole night, sharing the plate of food, and ignoring the party upstairs.

Since then you two have become best friends. Always sending you selfies of him on set with the other actors. Which you would retort with the most odd and silly selfies.

But earlier today he sent you a text saying that he would be on the Jimmy Kimmel show with Betty White. Because he knows how much you like the late-night talks shows and Betty White. So, when its time you turn the TV on and continue painting.

“Well Tom it is rumored that you have a new girlfriend.” Jimmy’s question perks your ears. You give the TV your full attention.

“Well not exactly. I do not have a girlfriend at the moment but there is someone I am trying to woo.” Tom tries and fails to hide a smile.

“Really? Who is this mystery person?” Jimmy inquires.

“We met at a party through mutual friends. She actually forgot that the party was happening. So, she appeared in the kitchen in her pajamas. Her cousin who was the host, started introducing her to everyone as they passed. Someone tried to grope her and didn’t listen when she told them to go away. Since I was right there I went to intervene when she punched him right in the face.”

“what?” Betty is in disbelief beside him.

“Yes. That’s when I knew it. I knew I was going to be punched too! Because I was in the proximity.” Jimmy and Betty start laughing unable to stop. Tom is smiling fondly.

“Oh my god.” You can’t believe he just said that.

“Did she punch you?” Jimmy asks once he can breathe.

“No, we became good friends.”

“What about the wooing? Is there any progress?” Betty questions patting him leg like he is a child.

“No. Either she is just ignoring it or she doesn’t realize I’m trying to woo her. I might be too subtle.” Tom reveals.

“Well Betty do you have any advice to help Tom?” Jimmy asks.

“You have to be direct. Next time you see her; tell her how you feel, give her some flowers and kiss her senseless. So, she knows you mean business. If she doesn’t get it then, I’m going to snatch you up.” Betty is serious.

So surprised at this revelation and Betty’s advice. You fall off the chair in shock. Numb with disbelief to belief that Tom has been trying to woo you. This was completely unexpected. You were just friends the last time you checked. You end up staring at the wall thinking of all the signs you missed.

After watching the interview. You avoid Tom like the plague. Giving short responses to his texts and phone calls saying you were busy with back orders and extra shifts at work. Which wasn’t a lie but not as busy as you made him believe.

Wiping the excess paint off that landed on your hands on you decided it’s time to take a break. In the kitchen you plan to make a sandwich. When there’s a knock at the door. Disregarding the peep hole, you open the door to find Tom standing there.

“Uh…hi.” Surprised at seeing him, you are at loss for words.

“Hi. Can I come in?” He seems uneasy.

“Yeah, sure.” Stepping to the side he walks past you.

Pausing waiting for you. “Have you caught up on the back orders?” You both stand idly in the foyer.

“Yes, for the most part. I only have a couple left and they’re half way done.” You both can tell that the other in tense and in the need to say something.

“You saw the show.” Tom states rather than questions.

“Yes.” You skirt around and try not to look at Tom directly.

“I meant everything I said.”

“What?” You stare wide eyed at him. Seeing the way his green eyes shimmer in what looks like hope.

“I have been trying to woo you over the past month. I like you Y/N.”

“Really? … I wondered if there was another reason when you bought me that book.” You mutter, realizing that was defiantly part of the wooing.

“May I ask then? What do you suggest in my efforts to woo you?” He steps closer and you can see his natural predatory walk kick in.

“Well for starters. I would go with Betty’s advice.” Smiling you tease him. Rewarding you with his own toothy grin. Before following Betty’s advice to kiss you senseless.

#reader inserts #tom hiddleston #unexpected #party #hiddlestoner #drabble #tom hiddleston x reader

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superfamilyreaderimagines · 6 years

Photo

I had gone home that day just completely in a gloom. To start it off, Blake and I had been dating for a couple months now. We met in physics, becoming partners at first, then we started to become friends. Then Blake went to me saying they had a crush on me, and ended up beginning an adorable relationship. Both of us were quite inseparable, and since I had never been in a relationship before, it was nice being with someone just as naïve as myself. That was until it came time that Blake’s mom being apart of the U.S Coast Guard had to move to the West Coast. Not wanting to do a long distance relationship, we both mutually discussed it would just be better to break up. That was today. Once I got home, I went straight to my room with my headphones in even though no music was playing. Ending up not wanting to do anything, I closed my door and just flopped face down on my bed. I didn’t want to cry, didn’t want to listen to music, didn’t want to watch TV, or do homework. I just didn’t want to leave the bed.

Throughout the hours that I just stayed in there, I only moved once so I can breath, and ended up flipping over onto my back. Looking up, thinking about the situation and whether I did the right thing, I also heard in the background the muffled noises of my family’s actions. Peter had earlier knocked on my door, but it was responded with a slow ‘go away’. Peter didn’t push on it after, so I was just left with my thoughts for the next couple of hours. That was at least until I heard another knock now.

“I said go away, Peter.” I said responding to the knock calmly.

“Actually I’m sure I’m not a teenage dork listening onto this conversation as we speak.” I heard my dad say, followed by a quick little nudge, most likely from Peter after what our dad said. Tony’s banter and usually hilarious remarks against serious and boring situations would make me laugh, but all I could do is slightly turn my head to the door.

“I’m not a dork.”

“………….ehh.” Tony said, but I could tell just by the way he said it he was most likely smiling. I turned my head back to the ceiling at that point. After about 20 seconds give it or take, I heard the door open and close. Then I heard footsteps go to the edge of the bed before the whole bed shook as Dad had flopped right on to it, laying next to me.

“Something wrong, kiddo?” Dad asked, looking at me now.

“…*sighs through nose*” Was all I responded with.

“Peter said something about a certain something. Said you ditched the group meeting at school today. Now don’t ever quote me on this because I do not want this on my record, but any reason you didn’t go to mathletes today?” Only action that came from me was my involuntary blinking and breathing. “Is this what’s gonna happen? Just sighs and ceiling gazing today? Because I don’t know if you noticed but Steve is almost home from Whole-Paycheck, meaning he’s pulling up his sleeves for this one. Not that he never does, I mean that quiche last week is still haunting my drea-.” Dad had began to ramble, making me slowly, but noticeably turn my head towards him with a blank stare, wondering what the point of where his conversation was steering off to. He noticed before he could finish his last word.

“Ok. Sorry, moving on.” He said looking right at me trying to read what’s going on. “Unless all you want to do is just stay in here all day.” He said, trying to see if I would react. After not moving, Dad said, “Ok, we can do that.” He finished saying, looking back up at the ceiling with me following. I couldn’t really care much if he stayed, after all this was his way of just trying to care for me so it didn’t seem fair if I all of a sudden got mad at him. We kept looking at the ceiling. Dad stayed quite the entire time he just laid there. He would fidget around, and keep looking around, but he never spoke. First a minute went by like this, then 2, then 4, then 5, and at that point I was getting the idea. He was there ready if I needed to talk. And that made me sad, because I realized I did want to talk.

“Dad?”

“Hmm?” Dad hummed looking back at me right away.

“How…” I began to say, but couldn’t come up with the words yet. After all, I don’t know if he even ever had a situation where they both agreed to calling it off.

“How did I become the guy in the relationship that burnt everything gourmet?” He said, making me smile a bit since it means this whole time he was probably, no, most definitely thinking about Pops cooking still. Then I ended up turning my face a bit solemn as I asked:

“How did you deal with a break-up.” I asked, looking at his eyes after I asked. In it, I could see all of the sudden realization hit him like he flew into a brick wall, which did happen once and I just so happened to have been watching the surveillance cams at that moment. He looked up for a little bit trying to think about what he would say now.

“I’m guessing you broke up with Bl….” Dad said, not trying to say Blake’s name.

“Blake’s mom is moving posts. Leaving the upcoming month. We talked about it, and we both didn’t want to do long distance. So we just…stopped it.” I finally explained out loud. I am in fact sad about it, but I don’t feel like crying. After thinking about it, I think it’s because I more of just don’t know what to do now, I don’t know what even to feel. Like I just…don’t know. At the moment.

It was Dad’s turn to start sighing and huffing as he thought about it.

“Well, yes I have in fact dealt with break ups before. Mostly ones where I broke up with the other. Sometimes then I was gloomy. Although there was this one girl, when I was in elementary, that accepted my Valentines day card and broke up with me a week later. That didn’t really hurt me as much, but I was still sad. I think that happens with all of these situations. No matter who broke up with who. It’s not so different from having a friend leave or move.” Dad said. I think he was trying to search for something in his brain to help with my situation. Then his eyes lit up slightly as he thought of something and turned to look at me.

“Remember that friend of yours, Bethany Williams, the one who also moved away? To London?” I recounted the memories of Betty and nodded “You were devastated, ended up going home and crying for hours. You went to school the whole week looking so depressed, honestly it broke mine and Steve’s heart. Usually someone so bright about the situations they were handed looked like they were having their first ever existential crisis. I mean we did what we could to cheer you up because we wanted you to be happy, but it seemed different than simple fears and monsters under the bed.” Dad said. I had shifted my whole body to my side now so I can look at him better as he talked. I had never even thought about it. How much I had missed her and what I was going to miss from her at the time. And how Dad and Pops would stay up with me every night till I fell asleep. “Slowly though, you started to really smile again. You started talking about her less and less, until there was weeks before you didn’t even think about her being gone. Then it was no time at all, you stopped worrying about it.” Tony said, trying to analyze that, hoping it would help.

Dad sat up, turning towards me. “Y/N, look. I’m not going to say that you’re gonna be fine right after today. It depends on how you deal with it to make you feel better. Now that you’re becoming an adult, I understand that a simple lullaby isn’t gonna cure all the boo-boos like before. So if you want to go ahead and stay in here and think, then that’s ok. Okay?” Dad said rubbing my arm, comforting me.

“Okay.” I simply responded, giving a thankful smile. He simply chuckled and got up to leave.

“Call you when dinner’s ready.” Dad said one last thing before leaving, closing the door behind him.

After he left, feeling a burst of some energy, I sat up and looked at the door. After what he told me, all I could think about was how do make myself feel better. How did I before make myself feel better. It became blatantly clear once he left, because once I was alone again, I started to feel sad again. ‘Maybe that’s it.’ I thought to myself. With that realization, I slid off the bed and took a step outside. Both Dad and Pops were in the kitchen.

“Hi Pops.” I said walking up to them, seating myself on the bar stool in front of the counter connected to the stove.

“Hi Y/N.” Pops said. I looked at one of the counters to see opened up groceries. Dad looked between Pops and me once, before grabbing an apple, and sitting on the seat next to me. Pops gave us a smile before turning around and taking a few steps towards the cupboards took look for something. I didn’t look over at Dad, but call it intuition, but I can tell he knew why I came out here. Especially since he had just told me to do what I needed to feel better, and then I all of a sudden come out to hang out with my fathers. I didn’t want to be alone right now. Dad put his arm around my shoulder to give a side hug which I leaned into, also signaling to me he did know. Before letting go, he went ahead and patted my shoulder before putting his arm on the counter.

“So what are you doing?” I tried to ask to escape the uncomfortable silence that started to slightly grow. With that, I ended up spending the rest of the night just in the kitchen and living room till I went to bed, hoping to wake up tomorrow strengthened enough to wake up early to my homework. I was not going to fail that Calculus test.

Alright guys! Here’s a long one for you. Since I am at the moment coming up with the prompts, it takes longer. But at least I made this long hopefully enough to keep things holding. I think in this, Tony understands that his kid has these ways of dealing with problems, and is just trying to help how he thinks he would wanted to be helped. Sorry if he seems a bit out of character, just know I tried!

Otherwise, have a goodnight everyone!

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daisy-chain-gardens · 6 years

Text

Exchange Romance - Chapter 19

A/N: Here it is, the final chapter. Sorry for the delay but I hope this makes up for it (and makes up for the cruel cliffhanger I left the last chapter on).

Ginormous thanks to Jenna ( @allskynostars ). You are a true superstar and I love you a lot. Thank you thank you thank you, this fic wouldn't be what it is without you <3

READ IT IN AO3

Betts: Are you free to talk?

Juggie: …

Juggie: Yep. Gimme a minute to set up my laptop

Betts: ok

“Hey Betts. Sorry it took me a bit to reply, I was just having dinner.” Jughead sat down in front of his computer, slightly out of breath after sprinting up the stairs as soon as he saw Betty’s message.

“Don’t worry about it Jug. I just wanted to catch up. I feel like I haven’t talked to you in ages.” Betty was sitting in her bedroom, hair still wet from the beach as she wrapped her towel tighter around herself, using it as shelter from the cool summer breeze that was drifting through her window.

“It’s only been a week,” Jughead said with a chuckle, reaching up and tugging his beanie off his head before running his fingers through his hair.

“I know, I know,” Betty replied with an exaggerated sigh, rocking onto the hind two legs of her chair as she leant away from the screen. Jughead could tell there was something on her mind, something that she wanted to share. He hadn’t seen her in person in a year and a half but he could still read her like an open book.

“Betts, what’s going on?” His voice was low and teasing, that playful smile tugging at the corner of his lips as he waited for her reply.

“Well…” she started off, sitting properly on her chair again as she contemplated how to tell him her news. “Guess what came in the mail today.” Jughead’s face immediately lit up, his smile causing his eyes to sparkle as he ran his fingers through his hair again.

“No way! It showed up today?”

“It did! I got home from my exam and it was in the letterbox! Oh my God, Jug, you have no idea how excited I am about this,” Betty squealed as she waved the letter around in front of the screen, jumping up and down while still holding her towel tight.

“Betts, that’s incredible. I’m so proud of you.” She calmed down enough to sit at her desk, the smile on her face was anything but calm. Her eyes skimmed over the letter, despite having memorised it after she’d read over it a hundred times to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.

Dear Ms. Cooper, Congratulations! I am delighted to offer you admission to our Bachelor of Arts course at Victoria University, starting March the 5th, 2019. Your academic accomplishments, extracurriculars…

“How was the beach?” Jughead’s voice broke her out of her daydream as she looked back up at the screen, a confused look on her face.

“Huh?” Betty asked, not quite able to put two and two together.

“How was the beach? Your hair’s all wet and I can see your bathing suit under your towel,” Jughead explained with a light chuckle, shaking his head slightly at her obliviousness.

“Oh, right. It was good, a lot of fun. Kev and I went to celebrate him finishing his last exam. We talked, we swam, we sunbathed. You know, the usual.”

“Say hi to Kevin for me next time you see him. And good luck for your last exam tomorrow. How are you feeling?”

“Not too bad actually. I did pretty good on my mocks and I am kinda good at Media so I’m not stressing out … yet.” They both laughed, knowing she was referring to how she always freaks out at the last minute, worrying she isn’t prepared enough and wishing she’d stayed up an extra half hour the night before, only to walk out of the exam room with an excellence every time.

“Well you would think they wouldn’t let you study it in college if you weren’t amazing at it Betts. Give yourself some credit.” A delicate blush spread across her cheeks at the compliment, her smile softening. She still wasn’t used to the offhand comments Jughead would make that always seemed to make her day just that little bit brighter, her smile that little bit wider. He lived for her smile, and knowing he was the one that caused it made his heart swell.

They sat in silence for a few moments, just looking and memorising, both of them itching to reach out and touch the other, even if only for a second.

“You know what today is, don’t you?” He said it so softly the speaker distorted his voice, forcing Betty to strain to hear the words she didn’t want to, a reminder she didn’t need. She nodded slightly, her eyes never leaving his as they both took a deep breath.

“A whole year Jug.” Betty’s voice was thick with disbelief, the words tumbling out of her mouth before her brain could approve of them.

“We’ve been broken up longer than we were physically together,” Jughead said with a short chuckle, laughing at the irony rather than the situation itself.

“I miss you Jug,” Betty breathed out, knowing that Jughead would hear the I love you hidden in her words.

“I miss you too Betts.”

--------------------

“Merry Christmas!” Betty chirped once Jughead accepted her chat request. His smile instantly lit up the screen as he took her in; her red and white striped top perfectly matching her santa hat.

“Wow, did Santa’s elves kidnap you or are you dressed like that voluntarily?” Jughead teased while wiping his screen.

“Haha very funny. It’s 26 degrees here so Christmas sweaters aren’t really an option,” Betty clarified and she fixed her hat.

“You now that 26 means nothing to me. If you say 26 I’m thinking less than freezing and that's obviously not the case.”

“Right. I forgot. Give me a sec,” Betty said as she pulled out her phone, opening up the conversion app that had gotten a lot of use over the last 18 months. “About 79 fahrenheit. I know that's not super hot but trust me, that’s practically boiling in Wellington when there’s no wind.”

“That whole summer Christmas thing is so strange to me. How do you have snowball fights and hot cocoa and s’mores?” Jughead asked bewilderedly, breaking into a grin once Betty realised he was joking.

“In short, we don’t. We just get to hang out at the beach and have barbeques instead.” Her voice sounded smug and matter of fact as she pulled out the parcel that had been hidden under her desk since the postman had delivered it a week ago.

“Alright Jug, I know this is what you’ve been itching to do since you got yours. You ready to open presents?” His eyes grew wide with excitement as a rushed to the closet and pulled out his own parcel, the one that Betty had wrapped in brown paper and Christmas coloured string.

“I feel like we should be doing a countdown or something,” he heard her mumble light-heartedly as he sat back down in front of his computer.

“No need for that babe, you go first.” That both froze at the endearment; Jughead with a look of terror on his face that he’d overstepped their unspoken boundaries while Betty tried to carry on as if nothing had happened, sending him that soft smile of hers that instantly melted all of his fears.

The tremble in her hand as she carefully unstuck the tape wasn’t fooling anyone.

“Jug, this is beautiful,” Betty exclaimed as she finally unwrapped the festive paper, revealing a brown leather journal.

“Open it,” Jughead instructed quietly as he watched her, trying and failing to anticipate her reaction.

“Oh my goodness.” She was completely out of words as she undid the elastic band and opened up to the middle of the journal, Jughead’s familiar scrawl filling the page in front of her. She flipped through the second half of the pages and found the same thing; black ink in the form of Jughead’s words filling up the white pages.

“Juggie, what is this?” She could feel the tears threatening to spill over the edge as her eyes finally met his. Seeing the confliction in her eyes scared him, made him wonder if he’d done the right thing by sending it to her. He’d written in it most days since that fateful Friday night when everything had changed but somehow nothing did. He’d sent it to her on an impulse, after spending most days over the previous two weeks on the lookout for the perfect present, only to come home empty handed each time.

“It’s … it’s us, it’s our story.” She stayed quiet as she stared down at the journal in her hands, unable to tear her eyes away from the note he’d left for her on the first page.

Betts, Last year I promised to love you and always be there for you. Even without you here with me, I still plan on keeping that promise. This is for us, for you, mostly for you. I miss you, Your Jughead

Her fingers were running over the paper as if it would help her memorise the words, help the soak into her skin so she could wear them forever.

“I’m sorry Betty, I didn’t mean to overstep. I just … I thought you should have it,” He trailed off quietly as she kept staring at the ink stained pages, his fingers relentlessly pulling at that misbehaving strand of hair that refused to leave his forehead.

“No, Jug, this is … I have no words,” she managed out through a hiccup, looking up at him. “This is perfect Jug, really.” He let out the breath he wasn’t aware he’d been holding at her reassurance, relieved he hadn’t ruined whatever was happening between them.

“Your turn,” she said with a soft smile as she carefully redid the elastic and placed in on the side of her desk, saving it for later. He managed to pull the string apart as he ripped at the paper, Betty laughing at his enthusiasm.

“Betts,” Jughead drawled as he held his gift up to the laptop so she could see it, his smile wide on his face. It was a scrapbook identical to the one he’d given her at the airport, the same picture of them atop the Empire State Building gracing the cover. The only difference was what was inside, his professional looking photos that proved his eye for art were replaced by her photos, the goofy selfies she’d forced him to take and the photos she’d sneaked in when he wasn’t paying attention. This was her version of the story, their story.

“You should have,” he said with a grin as he lay it down on the desk, flipping carefully through the pages as he skimmed over the pictures. “This is great Betts. Thank you.”

“Merry Christmas Jug,” she said with a gentle smile.

“Merry Christmas. I miss you,” he replied, echoing her tone.

“I miss you too.”

--------------------

“Jug, I can’t hear you, there’s too much noise in the background,” Betty yelled to her computer as she watched Jughead turn up the noise on his laptop, people wandering in every direction behind where he sat. “Where are you anyway?”

“Oh um…” Jughead trailed off, looking around him to figure out how much she could see. Everything, she could see everything. “I am, uh, at the, uh, at the airport actually,” Jughead stammered as his hand reached up to run through his hair, twirling the strands determinedly.

“The airport?” He could hear the surprise in Betty’s voice and all he really wanted was to change to subject and stop her from asking anymore questions. He knew her well enough to know that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. “Why are you at the airport?”

“It may be hard for you to believe but I’m actually waiting to get on a plane,” Jughead quipped over the noise, a teasing lilt in his voice.

“Haha very funny. I’m not that stupid thank you very much. I mean where are you going?” Now Jughead was really beginning to panic. He couldn’t tell her the truth, could he? No, no he couldn’t.

“Uh, Veronica decided on an impromptu trip to New York but the chauffeur is sick so she booked us on the next flight?” The question in his voice gave him away and as soon as the words fell out of his mouth he wanted to stuff them back in and lock them away.

“Are you asking me if that’s what’s happening or is that what’s actually going on?” Betty teased, that curious glint in her eyes telling Jughead she was onto him.

“Definitely what’s going on. Mhmm. The absolute truth.” Jughead nodded enthusiastically, making him look more like a dog then an actual human being as he tried to convince her of his lie. “Anyways, enough about me. How’s it going for you Betts? You excited for Monday?” Jughead asked quickly, hoping to distract her. Her eyes narrowed as she studied him, almost as if she could see the truth swimming around in the depths of her eyes. He could almost see the cogs turning in her head as she tried to figure out what he was up to. Eventually, she seemed to realise he wouldn’t tell her and moved on to answer her question.

“I’m good, always good. I’m super excited for Monday, constant butterflies in my stomach kind of nervous. I can’t believe my first day at university is only a couple of days away, it’s insane.” She settled back into her usual self as she filled him in on everything that had happened since they had talked the week before; moving into her flat, her crazy vegan flatmate who insisted all of their animal products be moved to a seperate fridge so it didn’t ‘contaminate’ her food, various last minute shopping trips, and her time spent with Kevin.

“Well I’m glad you’re happy Betty,” Jughead said softly, Betty hearing the support in his words even over the hustle and bustle of the people in the background.

“I really am Jug. I haven’t felt this way in a while and it’s so … refreshing. I don’t feel like my mother is watching my every move and I got into my top uni and I have a job that doesn’t look like it’ll be going anywhere and I … it’s just really nice, to be independent, you know? I feel like I’m finally doing something purely for me and it’s really exciting.” Her eyes were twinkling as she talked, letting Jughead know that she meant every word of it.

“I just wish you could be here with me.”

It came out as a whisper, a thought spoken aloud as she fiddled with the tassels on one of the pillows on her bed. Such a short confession that almost broke his heart. Almost.

“I do too. I miss you Betts, so much, and I’m super sorry but I have to go because they’re about to call my flight. I miss you.”

“I miss you too. Have a good flight, we’ll talk later,” Betty promised as she started shutting her laptop.

“Talk later,” he signed off before the screen went black.

Only one thought was floating around Betty’s usually crowded mind; Riverdale didn’t have an airport.

--------------------

Betty quickly glanced at herself in the mirror before she walked out of the door and towards her first class. The butterflies in her stomach wouldn’t calm down as she smoothed down her hair and straightened her jacket, took a deep breath, and grabbed her keys off the hook in the hallway before she could psych herself out.

The walk to the campus only took a handful of minutes and Betty spent the whole time caught up in her thoughts, barely noticing the asphalt under her feet or the birds chirping in her ears. She found the right building and walked up the two flights of stairs to her class, a path she’d memorise the night before after spending hours pouring over the maps the university had provided for first-year students.

She was 20 minutes early, perfectly on time for her ‘mental health and disorder: interdisciplinary perspectives’ class. She hadn’t been entirely sure what it was about but after reading through some of the resources that the professor had sent them the week before, Betty was fairly confident she wouldn’t be completely lost during this first class.

She pulled her book out of her bag and started reading, figuring she might as well kill some time and try to distract herself before her other classmates arrived. The words of ‘The Princess Bride’ drawing her in immediately as her eyes flew over the pages, taking comfort in the familiar words.

“This is true love. You think this happens everyday?” A male voice pulled Betty from the pages, forcing her back into the real world as she looked up beside her to where the voice was coming from. And standing right beside her, in the middle of the now fairly crowded corridor, was none other than Jughead Jones.

“Jug?” Betty asked in disbelief, her eyes wide open as she took him in. Before he had a chance to give her a sarcastic response, her arms were thrown around his neck as she crushed herself against him, holding him tightly as though he was going to disappear in the next breath. “I can’t believe you’re here,” she whispered into his ear, immediately making him relax as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.

“Surprise,” he whispered back, feeling her smile into his shoulder. They eventually untangled themselves as someone around them coughed loudly, hinting not-so-subtly that it was time to break things up.

“But - you - what, what are you doing here?” Betty stumbled over her words as she tried to make a mess out of the jumble of thoughts in her mind. Jughead was here, in Wellington, right beside her, in her university? This was going to take a lot of explaining.

“I uh, I’m studying here. I got into the film program on a scholarship and I guess our programs share some courses. I was planning on telling you but then I made the mistake of letting Arch know and, well, you know how it goes. He told Ron and then Ron took it upon herself to watch my every move to make sure I didn’t tell you to keep this a surprise,” Jughead summed up, knowing that wouldn’t be enough of an explanation for Betty but hoping it would be okay for now as the professor was now walking down the corridor towards the class.

“I’m really happy you’re here Jug,” Betty said softly as she slipped her hand into his, letting their fingers intertwine.

“I am too,” Jughead replied as his thumb brushed over the back of her hand, bringing her that certain kind of peace she only felt when she was with him.

“I missed you,” she whispered into his ear as they made their way into the lecture hall, the rustle and bustle of everyone preparing their things giving Jughead enough time to whisper back as they slipped into their seats.

“I missed you too.”

--------------------

As soon as the professor finished his lecture, Betty raced to pack up her things and made her way out the door, dragging Jughead along behind her. She stopped abruptly as soon as they got out of the building, looking around for a moment before finding a park bench nearby and leading him to it, sitting down facing him before taking a deep breath.

“Okay, so Jug, I need you to start from the start and explain this entire thing to me because my head is spinning. This is so insane and I am so happy you’re here with me and that you flew all the way to New Zealand is just unbelievable and I just s-”

“Betty,” Jughead said through a laugh, reaching for her hands to cut off her ramblings before he had to fight any harder to get a word in edgeways. “I will answer all of your questions, I promise. There’s just one little thing I have to do first and then I’m all yours.” Betty’s animated expression sunk a little at his words.

“Oh, yeah, okay. I could meet up with you later at the Mojo on the corner if you want? How about in an hour? Wait, you probably don’t know your way around yet s-” Jughead’s lips came crashing onto hers, his hands now cupping her face so as to pull her closer. Her eyes widened in surprise before fluttering closed once her brain realised what was happening, bringing her own hands up to play with the stray hairs at the nape of his neck.

Jughead pulled away slowly, reluctantly, breathing in as much of Betty in that moment as he possibly could. His hands stayed on her soft skin, gently stroking her blushed cheeks.

“Okay, now I’m all yours,” Jughead announced with a sly smile, proud that he was able to bring up enough courage to actually go through with his plan. Betty sat there, slightly stunned, as she realised that was the thing he said he had to do.

“That was incredibly smug Jones,” Betty shot back, failing to keep any hint of malice in her tone as she failed to control her grin. Jughead stood up and draped his arm across her shoulders, pulling her into his side and placing a kiss on her temple as they started walking towards the exit.

Betty wasn’t exactly sure what would happen, she wasn’t even sure how it happened. All she knew was that she suddenly felt like she could do anything, and with Jughead by her side, she knew she would.

#exchange romance #bughead fanfiction #bughead fluff #betty cooper #jughead jones

59 notes · View notes

just-my-onion · 7 years

Text

Goodnight Dr. Forceps – a Bughead One-shot

Written in response to @jokerscrown ‘s prompt on bughead-fanfic-wishlist " A fic where Betty got injected with an anaesthetic because she broke her arm, and feels a little loopy after the operation. Jughead is the nurse in charge to take care of Betty, and loopy Betty kinda asks Jughead to marry her, and says she loves him. They both are strangers.” Read it on AO3 here The world was a little different during night shift. It often ushered in intoxicated demons; shadows stretched their gnarled fingers across the little hospital garden; and on the worst nights, when sleep had failed him completely, strange shapes danced along the edges of Jughead’s vision making it hard to be sure what was real.

So, it didn’t worry him quite as it perhaps should when he saw an angel in the ER waiting reception. He was rushing through, a car accident to attend to, so an impression of white gown, blonde waves and radiance was all he had a chance to capture.

Still, it stayed with him throughout the night.

*****

A few hours later, Jughead was in the middle of trying to calm down a shrieking five-year-old with a very painful ear infection, when his best friend Archie walked over.

“Jug, would you mind swapping and taking over the aftercare for my patient? She keeps asking for you”, Archie asked in a surprisingly sulky tone for someone asking a favour.

Archie was a good nurse, but sometimes Jughead couldn’t help but feel there was more than a little truth in his friend’s jokes about going into the profession because of its high female to male ratio.

“Asking for me?” he asked suspiciously. “It’s not Mrs. Wyndham again, is it?” The elderly and somewhat hypochondriac librarian had taken a shine to Jughead and would barely allow anyone else to tell her that there was really nothing wrong.

“No, a cute blonde. Solid 8.5. She’s said I was cute but then started insisting on speaking to, and I quote, ‘the glarey dark haired boy’. No idea why she wants you, but I think the anaesthetic has messed with her head a bit.”

“Gee thanks Arch, when you sweet talk me like that, how can I possibly say no?”

Jughead handed Archie Timmy’s notes and headed over to the bed his friend had just come from, where an angel was sitting, waving at him.

The angel turned out to be Betty Cooper, a beautiful blonde girl, who looked about the same age as Jughead and Archie. Big green eyes looked up at him from a heart shaped face that wore ever so slightly smudged lipstick. She must have tried to tidy her hair one-handed – it had been flowing in gold waves over her shoulder earlier but now was in a very lopsided ponytail. She was wearing a white lacy dress, pale blue ballet shoes and a large cast on her left arm.

“Hooray, it’s you!” she beamed. She looked a little drunk, but any alcohol she’d consumed would surely have all but worn off by now.

“Hi Betty. Err, do we know each other?”

“Not yet, but we will. We’re meant to, I can tell”, she smiled up at him.

He wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he concentrated on her notes.

“So, you broke your arm huh?”

“Yes, my best friend insisted I join her at this stupid fancy nightclub that makes me feel like a total hick, so I drank a few too many glasses of the champagne she ordered – I don’t even really like Champagne! – but then Ronnie disappeared, I think with this very boring man she spent way too long talking to, while I just got to know the champagne.”

Throughout her ramble, Betty pulled a series of increasingly animated facial expressions – it was hard not to be charmed.

“But then I was a bit worried and I wanted to go home so I went to find her and I guess I tripped on the stairs and this happened”, she raised her arm, “ouch!”

Jughead quickly helped her resettle her broken limb into the best position for her to hold it.

“Theeeeeeeeeeeen”, she took a deep breath, “I looked a bit more but I still couldn’t find Ronnie, so I walked home but she wasn’t there either and my arm was still hurting so I figured I’d better come to hospital.”

“You did all that with a broken arm?” Jughead asked, concern mixing with admiration. Who was this adorable but formidable young woman?

She shrugged. “Owww. Yeah, I figured it’s an arm not a leg and I don’t usually walk on my hands too much, so I might as well just wander in.”

He double-checked the very decent job the doctor had done and gave her the usual fracture after-care spiel, combined with the finer points of her own case, though it was clear she was struggling to maintain attention. He’d look up from the notes to find her gazing at his lips, before suddenly whipping her head around to stare in seeming wonderment at some of the more mundane equipment, then looking up and giggling, inexplicably, at the fluorescent overhead lighting.

She had an air of innocence and preppiness that would usually make Jughead bored or sceptical, or both, but her open demeanour, obvious intelligence despite the adorable anaesthesia dizziness, and kind, classically pretty face were utterly disarming.

“You really care about my health don’t you – ” she squinted at the hateful name tag Dr. Masters insisted all the nursing team wore, “Dr. Forceps?”

He couldn’t help but laugh, “It’s my job to care about your health, plus you’ve not called me emo or goth as yet, not racially abused anyone or spat in my face, so you’re officially on my nice list. But I’m a nurse, not a doctor I’m afraid, and it’s Forsythe, not Forceps.”

For a moment ‘normal’ Betty – or what Jughead imagined she must be like – seemed to resurface. She shook her head and blushed. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry Forsythe – I can read, honest! I’m actually an English teacher, would you believe.” She buried her face in her hands, wincing as she lifted her left arm.

She was even cuter when she was embarrassed and Jughead had the sudden stupid urge to run away. Instead he gently corrected the position of her arm again.

“Short of risking my job by failing to wear it, I’ve done everything I can to ruin the integrity of this stupid badge – it’s been through the washing machine more times than my actual laundry, I’ve tried scratching the letters off, I even got Archie to run over it once – so it’s no wonder you found it hard to read. Anyway, Forsythe is not really my name. It’s Jughead.”

“Jughead. Juggie Jug Jug Jughead”, she mused. “Ooooh and Archie! Was he the cute ginger boy who was in here earlier?”

Of course she was attracted to Archie really. Jughead was ashamed by how deflated he felt.

“Yup, Archie is our resident hottie.”

“He was cute but you’re beauuuuuuuuuuuuuutiful”, she slurred, gazing at him lovingly. “And he kept staring. Stupid dress. Staring at me, then getting distracted by all the other girls around. And he says he’s a musician really. I don’t want a musician, I want a nurse. Like you. You want to make me better. And your eyes are the best, Juggie. And you look like you like books. Good books. Not Dan Brown and Marian Keyes like Polly reads. And I want to touch your hair, very badly.”

She grabbed his hand, “Jughead … er… Nurse, will you marry me?” Her earnest, slightly tearful face was the loveliest thing he’d seen. Her ‘proposal’ should have been funny, and he knew it was just the drugs talking, but his heart was pounding.

“Hey, of course I will”, he replied in what he hoped was a light & breezy tone. It was hard to tell as he’d never felt light and breezy in his life. “Let’s get you all better and clear away this anaesthesia fog and then we can start planning.”

“How do you feel about kilts?” she asked.

There was little left to do now, and, even on quiet nights like this, the hospital was stringent about maintaining bed availability. It was time to discharge Betty, but he hated the idea of turning her out while the weird effects of the anaesthesia clearly hadn’t lifted.

And there was something else. Jughead loved his job, loved feeling like he was doing some small measure of good in the world, but he didn’t always love spending so much time with other people. They exhausted him, sometimes depressed him, and almost always compounded his sense of not-quite belonging. Yet right now he desperately wanted the world to just stop for a while, so he could simply sit here with this strange and wonderful girl for the rest of the night, without responsibilities pressing in on them.

“How are you going to get home Betty? Do you have someone that can pick you up?

“Oh, I’ll walk. I walked here, I can walk back no problemo.” She began saying “o, o, o” repeatedly, mouth like a fish’s.

“No way I’m letting you walk home at this time of night with only one arm.”

“Do you think I might be attacked by wolves?”

“Wolves or worse. Archie could catch up with you and ask your opinion on his new songs. I’d love to offer you a ride, but I’m on my bike and I don’t think you could hold on with that arm. What about your friend – Ronnie was it? – could she come and pick you up?”

“Phone is –” she blew a raspberry.

“Ok, well my shift is almost over, so if you don’t mind waiting just a little while for me, I can call you a cab and then sit with you until it’s here.”

She was still quite wobbly when he walked her to the car park, so he let her lean on him with his arm wrapped around her waist. They were almost at the bench when she suddenly wheeled around and up into him and clumsily crashed her lips onto his. He tried not to notice the softness of her lips and the crush of her breasts against his chest, tried not to notice that she tasted like strawberries, tried to concentrate only on the fact that this was his patient and she was only marginally in control of her own body and mind right now.

“Hey there Betts, you don’t want to do yourself anymore harm”, he said, very gently nudging her away from him and sitting her down on the bench.

It wasn’t a cold night, but in her flimsy dress, Betty was soon shivering.

“Here, take my jacket”, Jughead helped her into the soft fuzzy-lined denim. He’d never lost his teenaged tendency to hide himself in over-sized clothes, and the coat swamped her. She still looked cold so he leaned over and retrieved his beloved crown beanie out of one of the denim pockets. He pulled it down over her scruffy golden ponytail, and stroked the hair out of her eyes.

The image of her cuddled into his over-sized jacket, beanie almost falling down over one of her eyes made his chest ache. He hoped, suspected, he’d never forget it.

She slipped her hand into his, their fingers interlaced. Holding her hand felt so right somehow, the perfect fit, but she still wasn’t in a fully lucid state and he had a duty of care to her. Her wellbeing and his dedication to his profession were a lot more important than any pathetic feelings he might be having over someone who likely wouldn’t remember his name in an hour.

Squeezing his hand tighter before he could pull it away, she gazed up at him.

“Jughead? I love you.”

His heart stopped; he knew she was still in the anaesthetic fog, but he’d never before had those words spoken to him by anyone but family or Archie, had almost given up on it ever happening. The world felt suddenly wide open and vast and yet simultaneously shrunk down to the size of a hospital car park. The stars pressed in around them and glittered from her beautiful angel’s eyes.

Her taxi was approaching. He squeezed her hand softly before gently disentangling their fingers, “I’m pretty sure I could love you too, Betty Cooper.”

#bughead #bughead fic #bughead fanfiction

44 notes · View notes

adorebughead · 7 years

Text

Multitudes - Part 2

/ Part One /

*Read on AO3*

Thank you so much for the response to this fic so far. I really hope that you’ll enjoy it as much as I’m enjoying writing it! I wanted it to be ever so slightly less heavier than my previous fic (which isn’t hard to do seeing as FBOW was crazy) but still with tonnes of angst - cause I absolutely live for that shit. I hope you like it, anyway! If you take the time to leave a comment, thank you so much. It means a lot to me and continues to drive me to write!

————————————————

This is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless,

Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done,

Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes

thou lovest best,

Night, sleep, death and the stars.

“Ok,” Veronica announced, emerging from the bathroom looking as though she were about to attend the Vanity Fair Oscar after party which, believe it or not, she had actually done twice before. “I’m ready.”

“V,” Betty replied with a smile, “you look beautiful… but now I do feel a little underdressed.”

Smoothing down her skin tight black dress, Veronica popped her red lipstick into her sparkling clutch bag and shrugged. “I have to make an effort. Archie’s going to be there.”

“Archie?” Betty teased, finishing up her faint layer of mascara and blinking at her own reflection. “So, you actually know his name now?”

Veronica laid a hand on her hip and rolled her eyes. “Ha ha. I always knew his name, thank you very much. You know, after Kevin stalked his Facebook profile in depth for me last night.”

“Oh, really?” Betty raised an eyebrow, chuckling as she ran her fingers through her hair and secured a tight, high pony tail with an elastic that had been beginning to hurt her wrist.

“Archie Andrews, former captain of the football team, part time musician, single, interested in women, dog lover; always a necessity, may I add-“

“Wait,” Betty interjected, throwing the mascara into her makeup bag and zipping it back up. “Archie Andrews?”

“Yeah. What? Do you know him?”

“Not really,” she admitted. “We went to high school together; he was kind of known for being a player. I haven’t seen him in a while but-“

“Ah,” Veronica mumbled, “the downside of going to school in New York. Well, whatever. Haven’t you seen those movies where the innocent, down to earth girl gets the town playboy to fall in love with her and completely change his ways forever?”

Betty smirked. “Sure, but life isn’t a movie, V. I mean, if it’s want you want then go for it. Just be careful, ok?”

“Ok, fine,” she replied, with a teasing huff.

“And since when were you innocent?”

“Anyway,” Veronica sighed loudly, narrowing her eyes as Betty giggled, “enough about me. Have you spoken to Trev since this morning?”

She flinched at the sudden mention of his name, leaning back in her chair and placing her hands in her lap. “No. I’ll probably phone him tonight, after the party.”

“What are you going to say?”

Betty bit her lip, picking at a small piece of skin around her nail. “I don’t know.”

“Hey, I have an idea,” Veronica declared after a momentary pause, walking over to Betty’s bedside table and opening up the top draw before carefully rummaging around.

Betty’s brows furrowed as she twisted around away from the mirror. “What are you doing?” “Aha!” She cried, retrieving the diamond ring with a victorious smile.

Raising an eyebrow, Betty tilted her head and folded her arms. “Are you proposing to me now?”

Veronica rolled her eyes. “Wear it.”

“What?”

“Tonight,” she continued. “Wear it. See how it feels.”

Betty shook her head with a snigger. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Pretend for the night that you are engaged to Trev and see how you feel about it. Nobody’s going to know us at this thing, anyway. Kevin said it’s mainly going to be a bunch of out-of-towners who Archie went to college with.”

Betty hesitated, an uncertainty masking her face as she studied the ring sat in the palm of her best friend’s hand. It really was beautiful. Trev had always known what she’d wanted, if ever the day were to come. It was traditional and classy and not to mention totally breath taking. The ring was perfect. The ring wasn’t the issue.

“V, I don’t know-“

“Come on,” she insisted, perching on the end of the bed to face her and picking it up between her thumb and forefinger with a shrug. “You might surprise yourself.”

Upon approaching Archie’s house, which, Betty noted, was the size of about fifty of her tiny apartments put together, she and Veronica exchanged a sideways glance of utter astonishment. It wasn’t just the fact that the house was practically a mansion, but it was also located right at the edge of the town’s beach, completely out of the way and surrounded by the most beautiful view of the sea.

“So, he’s rich,” Veronica observed, pursing her lips together and nodding. “Can’t say I’m disappointed.”

Betty rolled her eyes, looping her arm through her dumbstruck friend’s. “Let’s go inside and get this over with.”

Just as she had anticipated, the place was practically swarming with people left, right and centre, either already drunk or very much on their way to it. The music, which was more just a tonne of repetitive bass than anything else, was earsplittingly loud. The interior was clearly very aesthetically pleasing when not overflowing with drunken youths and crumpled up red cups, a notion Betty expressed aloud to Veronica as they made their way through the crowd.

“Youths? Who are you, your gran?” Veronica chuckled between various mixtures of excuse me and can you get out of the damn way? The male gaze very blatantly following her as she did so.

That was the thing about being best friends with Veronica Lodge. You were usually always in her shadow, a fact that Betty had typically welcomed, the thought of being the centre of attention not something she particularly favoured. However, tonight, she could’ve sworn that some of that gaze had also diverted onto herself.

“Betty! Veronica!” A voice bellowed, the both of them twisting their heads to meet with the glistening blue eyes of one of their colleagues and closest friends, Kevin Keller.

“You look amazing,” he exclaimed, observing Veronica up and down, his eyes widening as he did so. “I would consider selling my soul for those heels.”

She chuckled in response before Kevin’s regard switched onto Betty, altering into an abrupt double take.

Of course, after a fair bit of disputing back and forth, Betty had finally allowed Veronica to give her that of a slight makeover seeing as her initial jeans and plain t-shirt were apparently completely unacceptable. Instead, she had ended up opting for a black pencil skirt paired with a white v neck blouse, a neatly tied choker and a pair of nude heels that had been gathering dust in her wardrobe ever since Veronica had given her them for her birthday two years ago. Not only that, but a deep burgundy lipstick lay perfectly on her lips, one her mother had always scolded her for even considering wearing, and her hair was half up, half down; a few soft waves perching just beneath her shoulders. Truth be told, she felt pretty damn good.

“Who would’ve thought our little Betty Cooper could look so fierce,” he cried with an impressed albeit slightly stunned nod.

Betty’s eyes fell to the ground as her cheeks turned a light shade of pink, hugging her chest with a small smile. “Thanks, Kev.”

“So, where’s your latest squeeze?” Veronica enquired with a wink, her eyes darting around the room.

“Joaquin is at home, in bed, pretty sick and pretty weak,” he replied with a sigh. “I think I’ve worn him out.”

Betty laughed as Kevin zipped his lips with his fingers. “Annnnd… that’s where this conversation ends.”

“So, let me guess, you’re looking for Archie,” Kevin sneered, tilting his head to catch Veronica’s attention which was clearly momentarily elsewhere.

She whipped her head back around and blushed. “Maybe.”

“And by maybe she means a damn straight yes,” Betty giggled.

“I can introduce you,” Kevin started, “our dads are pretty close so we chat now and again. Unfortunately, I had to turn him down when he told me he wanted me,” he teased. “We all have to make sacrifices.”

The three of them laughed, Veronica’s eyes lighting up at the sudden prospect. “Will you really introduce us?”

“Of course,” he replied, holding out his hand and gesturing them to follow. “But let’s get you a drink first.”

“Liquid confidence,” she smirked. “Good call.”

Grasping Veronica’s hand to shuffle after them both as they made their way to the kitchen, Betty scanned the room for a single familiar face, failing in her endeavour. However, it only took a few seconds before she saw it. A pair of dark eyes fixated firmly on her, but when she furrowed her brows and quickly looked again, they were gone.

“Double vodka and coke, B?” Veronica chirped, as Betty wrinkled her nose in response.

“Maybe just a single.”

“Make mine a triple,” Kevin winked, holding out his cup as Veronica poured the drinks. The three of them released a subsequent cheers as they clinked their plastic cups together.

Two, or maybe three, drinks later, paired with five minutes straight of crying laughing at Kevin’s college reminiscences, Betty was certain she was tipsy. The three of them had swiftly moved from the corner of the kitchen to the centre of the large, open hallway and started to dance, twirling each other around and chuckling loudly as if they had no problems in the world. Betty hadn’t done anything quite like it in a while. In fact, she wondered if she’d ever really had fun like this at all in her whole entire life.

“There he is,” Kevin yelled excitedly, seizing Veronica by the shoulders and swivelling her around to see Archie standing in all of his glory at the top of the staircase like some sort of Hollister model, chatting away to a couple of his friends with a drink in his hand.

Veronica’s eyes widened as she bit her lip. “Oh, Archie Andrews, you don’t know what’s about to hit you.” “Nice to see that liquid confidence is working a treat,” Betty giggled.

“Are you coming?” She asked, giving her hand a squeeze.

“Actually,” Betty started, “I think I’m going to get some air. It’s way too hot in here.”

Veronica raised a brow. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Ok,” she countered, “I’ll find you in a bit.”

Finally making it outside after awkwardly pushing through what felt like hundreds upon hundreds of people, Betty welcomed the cool breeze she had been craving as she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Yep, she thought, I’m definitely tipsy.

Almost instantly, she reopened her eyes and her gaze fell directly onto somebody sat out in the distance, on the ground just above the sand. He was perched over a book, his dark hair falling ever so slightly in front of his face, the rest tucked up inside of the crown-shaped beanie that she wondered if he ever bothered to take off.

Of course he’s here, she rolled her eyes to herself, walking over to where he was sat before she could even stop herself.

“Whitman?” She cried, folding her arms sarcastically. His head lifted slowly, turning to see the source of the voice before stopping slightly as his eyes studied every inch of her sudden change in appearance. After a fleeting moment, he turned back around.

“Jones,” he replied nonchalantly, tucking his pen into the crook of his notebook and closing it shut.

“Never heard of them,” she scoffed, taking a couple of steps forward to admire the view before her as she plonked herself down a few feet away from him.

She studied him from the corner of her eye, waiting for some sort of sarcastic comment, but instead noting how he’d quite briskly returned to silently scribbling away in his notebook.

“What are you always writing in there?” She asked, a tone of mockery and confidence in her slightly slurred voice that actually rather amused him.

He didn’t take his eyes away from his half-filled page as he replied. “The names of all of the coffee shop baristas I’ve pissed off this week.”

She looked away then, a smirk of annoyance appearing on her face as she rolled her eyes. “Well, no wonder it’s taking so long.”

Glancing at him once more, she shook her head and pulled herself back up onto her feet, the sudden movement causing his gaze to switch to her as she smoothed down her skirt and pushed her hair out of her face.

“Going so soon?” He jeered. “What a shame.”

Her eyes narrowed as she placed her hands firmly on her hips. “You really like annoying me, don’t you?”

He shrugged, passing the pen between his fingers. “I think you enjoy it more than I do.”

“Ha!” She cried, a little louder than intended. “Don’t flatter yourself, pal. Just because you’ve got a James Dean thing going on-“

His head shot up as he raised a brow in amusement. “James Dean?”

She froze, wondering how the words she had just thought inside of her head had somehow left her lips without any form of warning. “Well, yeah, no, I didn’t mean it like James Dean was hot. I mean, he was. But-“

“Interesting.”

“No, no,” she raised a finger and shook her head. “No.”

After a moment, his stare dropped to her left hand that was still resting on her hip and his grin faltered, if only fleetingly.

“Well,” he mumbled, “I sure as hell send my condolences to that guy.”

It took her a moment to comprehend what he was referring to before the realisation that she was in fact wearing her engagement ring, and had been doing so all night, suddenly overwhelmed her. She blinked, unsure for a moment, unexpectedly feeling its heaviness.

“I’ll have you know that my fiancé is going to be a successful businessman,” she boasted. The word fiancé dropping out of her mouth with a slightly bitter taste before she could even stop it. She wasn’t sure she liked the way it sounded.

He shook his head with a derisive leer, heaving himself up and tucking his notebook into his back pocket. “How very predictable.”

She frowned. Taking a single step closer, folding her arms as he turned away from her. “Excuse me?”

“What is it that you do, may I ask?”

“I’m going to be a teacher,” she said confidently as he rolled his eyes and faced her once more.

“Figures. The businessman and the teacher. What an utterly drab life you are going to lead. Just like everyone else stuck in this place.”

Her brows furrowed as her jaw dropped in astonishment, her eyes widening as his smug yet vacant face burned a hole into her brain. God, he was so irritating.

“I am not stuck anywhere. And my life is far from drab.”

He released an uninterested laugh. “Say it again and maybe you’ll start to convince yourself.”

Her lip quivered as she turned on her heel. “Stay away from me,” she ordered, “and stay the hell away from my spot.”

She stomped away, disallowing him another inevitable snarky remark, her sense of direction wavering slightly as the vodka mixed with frustration and adrenaline began to well and truly go to her head. How dare he speak to her like that.

She wasn’t stuck. She was perfectly happy in Oakwood Bay and she had never had any intentions of leaving. She had been born there, grown up there, just like her parents and grandparents before her, and that’s exactly the life she wanted, and had wanted since she was a little girl, for her children, too. Her life was far from drab, and the fact that this ridiculously rude and highly conceited stranger had even suggested otherwise caused her blood to boil.

“I see you met Jughead,” Kevin announced, leaning against the doorway as Betty trudged over, dangling her heels beside her.

She barely looked up as she tried to shake off her anger, pulling herself out of the depths of her, now rather clouded, brain. “Who?”

“Jughead Jones,” he replied, gesturing over to where she had just come from, the place where black-coffee-guy was now walking out of sight. “He lives here. Just moved in with Archie. You didn’t hear it from me, but he had some trouble back where he came from, so Archie’s dad took him in. I think they went to college together, but I don’t really know much about it.”

She lifted her head in confusion. “Trouble?”

“I don’t know the full story,” he shrugged. “Something with his family. All I know is that he’s had it pretty rough. Rough enough that he had to leave home, anyway.”

Betty gulped, her frustration still hovering slightly as she watched him disappear into the crowd. “Well, all I know is that he’s a nasty piece of work.”

Kevin nodded in agreement, a look of wonder subsequently washing over his face. “I’m surprised he’s even talking to you.”

She slipped her feet back into her heels and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Why?”

He shrugged, raising a brow as he studied where her gaze continued to rest. “Because,” he uttered, “he doesn’t talk to anyone.”

Once returning back inside, Betty decided that it was probably best for her to call it a night. She had drank slightly more than she was used to, and the exhaustion that followed was beginning to encompass her entire body.

Shaking her head with a smirk at the sight of Veronica’s face latched firmly onto Archie’s at the bottom of the staircase, she decided to sneak past and drop her a text in fears of ruining the moment she’d been dreaming of and obsessing over for weeks. What kind of friend would she be if she’d have broken them out of their slightly unconventional fairy-tale moment?

Betty (23:42): Need my bed. Stay and have fun. Try to come up for air every once in a while ;) Speak to you tomorrow. B x

The walk home wasn’t typically a very long one. In fact, she only lived ten minutes away, but for some reason it felt much longer than usual. She had grown conscious of the clip clop of her heels on the concrete quite early on, echoing throughout the rather deserted streets with every step that she took. Any Oakwood Bay resident who wasn’t at Archie’s party would most definitely have been in bed a good three hours earlier. The sense of isolation had quite rapidly grown a little bit unnerving.

Suddenly, and rather unexpectedly, she saw it. The same dark eyes from earlier, but this time they were approaching rather rapidly, and there was an unsettling coldness inside of them. The face they belonged to wasn’t one she felt she could trust. Something in her gut told her to turn back around, and to do so quickly.

“Where are you off to?” He said, something about the expression on his face causing her skin to crawl. She had never seen him before, he was much taller than her, he was wearing a red, v neck t-shirt, his dark hair was shaved and his lips were curved into a smirk.

She decided to ignore him, instead quickening her pace. Her apartment was so close that she could see it. The alarm bells in her head were blaring as her fingers ran over her keys inside of her purse. Everything started to move rather quickly.

“Hey, Blondie,” he bellowed, a little louder and a little closer this time, causing her to flinch, “maybe we can take the party elsewhere.”

She retained her gaze firmly in front of her, clutching onto her cardigan tightly, really wishing that she hadn’t worn heels. “No, thank you.”

“Oh, come on.” She could feel his breath on the back of her neck now, her heart slamming against her rib cage as her thoughts started to race. She knew she shouldn’t have left by herself. “Don’t walk away from me.”

Almost as soon as the words had left his lips, and just as she was gearing herself up to strike him and run as fast as she possibly could, a large thud stopped her in her tracks as she released a small shriek. There was an abrupt silence. She couldn’t feel his breath anymore.

“She said no,” a voice hissed.

Turning around slowly, Betty stole a glance at the guy with the dark eyes who was now on the floor just a few feet away from her, grasping his jaw which was starting to bleed. Beside him was the one person that she hadn’t expected to see again, his face filled with rage as his clenched fist hung in mid-air.

“Get out of here, Chuck,” he spat. “I mean it.”

She blinked, the cold air raising goose bumps on her arms as she stood fixated in her spot. Her feet were throbbing. Chuck laughed with not even a glimmer of remorse, his eyes flitting between the both of them before heaving himself upright, his smirk now turning into a snarl.

“Watch your back, Jones,” he growled, before turning on his heel and briskly making his way back to wherever he had come from in the first place. She watched after him and felt a shiver possess her body.

After a few moments of complete, deafening silence, he cleared his throat. “Are you ok?” He said quietly, the tone in his voice unlike the one she had heard before. He went to reach out his hand, but retracted it almost instantly.

Her breath caught in her chest. “…Y- yeah.”

His eyes burned into hers for a brief moment, so much so she could hardly breathe, his expression twisted into something she had not seen before. His once vacant eyes were now overflowing with something new. He wasn’t joking. He wasn’t smirking. His chest was rising and falling rapidly. He wasn’t wearing his beanie.

They drank each other in for a few seconds longer. It was as if he wanted to say something but decided against it, before releasing a single, subtle nod, and stepping backwards. Pushing a couple of dark curls out of his face and tucking his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket, he turned, and he left. She stayed, frozen, for a good minute as she watched him fade further and further out of sight. He didn’t say another word, and he didn’t look back again.

Once she had returned to the safety of her apartment, she briskly locked the door and shrugged off her cardigan. Turning on the light switch beside her bedroom door, she bit her lip and walked over to the window, peering outside into the darkness of an empty street, lit by nothing but the moon and all of its stars. A clear midnight. She exhaled deeply.

Pulling her curtains shut and leaving just a small crack for the light of the moon, as she always did, she kicked off her shoes and perched herself at the end of the bed. After taking a few moments to stare into nothingness, she retrieved her phone from her bag and allowed the screen to light up.

One missed call from Trev.

She sighed then, placing it face down onto her bedside table and throwing her head into her hands.

As she laid her head that night, she thought not of the boy in his London hotel room desperately staring at a blank screen. She thought not of her future or of her mother’s forceful hand smearing her red lipstick across her face when she was sixteen years old. She thought not of the beautiful diamond ring which was again buried under a pile of books at the bottom of her drawer.

No, she didn’t think of any of these things.

Instead, her thoughts travelled to the words of Whitman. To the beauty of the moonlit sea, sparkling even when she wasn’t looking. To a pair of piercing green eyes. To the way his quickening breath had hung in the air. To the burning smothering the pit of her stomach.

And, with that, she fell into a deep slumber.

#bughead fic #bughead fanfic #riverdale fanfic #bughead #multitudes

64 notes · View notes

ruwithmeguys · 7 years

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Olicity Fanfic Rec List:

(You’ll find all of these on AO3 unless I specify otherwise)

There’s so much love in this fandom and a great way to express them is to write fanfiction! I’ve had a tiny but if a difficult time recently - my mum was ill, ambulances, hospital and lost of chocolate (me) was involved - and I haven’t been able to write a thing.

Coming back to it, I took a quick look through all the bookmarks I’ve near-to obsessed over in the past and thought I’d write this list. @scu11y22 is to thank so if you actually manage to find one you haven’t read, then go send her a word :)

(This list is not exhaustive) They are to be: multi-chapt, slow burn, well written, mature, no threesomes (ditto x 1000), no kids and AU/canon divergent... and not @so-caffeinated and @dust2dust34 AMAZING FICON

So.

Legacies series by @chronicolicity

Part 1 is called You’re His Hope ( Felicity struggling to save Oliver's humanity after losing him to the League of Assassins. Anything else would legit be a spoiler. Expect drama, romance, angst, humor, plot and plot TWISTS. Sparked by some amazing Tumblr theories I apologize in advance for completely ruining.) And so on and so forth.

The Crow

(Bratva Captain Oliver Queen has been looking for revenge his entire life. When he can’t trust his own family, the Bratva to get it, he finds the answer to all of his problems in Felicity Smoak; a genius hacker who is running for her life from the same object of Oliver’s hatred, The Triad. With an unlikely partnership, The Crow might just find out that light can shine in the darkest of places.)

ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING EVER TO EXIST BY @anthfan JUST MAYBE?

AO3 Address: Anthfan

(My personal fav is the Devil’s Backbone)

When the Day Comes

“Have you talked to her?”

“Yeah.”

“So you'll call her-” Thea sent a teary look back through the window at Tommy.

“I'll call her if he wakes up.”

“When,” she gripped him fiercely then, her little nails digging into his forearm, “when Tommy wakes up.”

Oliver nodded, “Yes, of course.” His tone as hollow as his smile had been.

An all time favourite of mine: Sins by @smoakandarrow

(Oliver Queen is alive.After being presumed dead in a violent shipwreck five years ago, Oliver Queen returns to Starling City determined to right the wrongs of his family. But the billionaire playboy's homecoming stirs more than feelings for joy; it threatens secrets someone is determined to keep buried. Secrets that threaten the life Oliver has just reclaimed, and the lives of those he loves the most.Vowing to protect his family at any cost, Oliver digs deeper, bringing danger to his doorstep, and leaving him with the shocking realization that the sins of the past are rooted much closer to home than he ever thought.When friends may be enemies, when enemies may be his best allies, when love is used as a smokescreen to hide the most vicious hate, Oliver isn't sure who he can trust. He just knows that he'll do anything to protect those he loves... even it means dying all over again.)

You Have Not Failed This Verse by @so-caffeinated

(Sometimes a payday ain't exactly what it seems.) Don’t let the brief description fool you. It’s incredible.

Hands

(Felicity knows her place in Oliver's life. She's the sidekick not the love interest. But in the Summer after the artificial earthquake lots of things can change.)

The Ways of the Universe

(No two epic love stories are the same. For Oliver and Felicity, it's quite the long road. What with all the crime-fighting, and super-secret identities, and emotionally-stunted men, and old flames, and meddlesome friends and family. Some goats, too. Picks up right after the end of 'City of Heroes' (2x01). Any similarities with the rest of S2 are, for the most part, coincidental.)

What Happened in Vegas - a very different take on the usual Vegas hookup fics

(It's all fun and games until you wake up hung-over and married to a stranger. Five years ago Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak made a drunken mistake that could never be corrected. After years on a hellish island he comes back as a man on a mission only to find out that what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas. (Season One Rewrite))

Every single story by @supersillyanddorky06 but especially Predator

(Oliver Queen is the one anomaly in the Chicago Outfit. He is the only non-blooded member to be a part of the high circle in the family. His reputation precedes him and he is their best hunter. Felicity Smoak, daughter of the Starling boss, infiltrates his house, intent on killing him. But a startling encounter tips the scales. He goes on the prowl and she escapes. Hate, heat, and friction. Sparks. But something bigger is happening in their world. And despite their disagreements, only they can fight it down. Mob AU. Not Bratva. Enemies-lovers. You'll want to bash their heads sometimes. Stuff will happen. Enjoy! )

The Legacy Series by @ash818 (I’m sort of in love with this universe: it involves Oliver and Felicity’s children and it’s a wonderful and very serious - possibly quite honest - look at what the future might look like for them. Plus, I wrote a one-shot for this. SHE’S THAT GOOD.)

(It's 2039, and Jonathan Queen cannot stop looking for trouble. Then trouble finds him and his family, and Jonny discovers that there is more to his parents than he ever suspected. He must learn to bear the weight of his parents' past, and he must learn fast, because time is running out for his mother.)

Most of these aren’t finished but this one hurts me because it’s been left alone:

Somewhere Out There

(When Felicity falls through a gate that takes her to a parallel universe, she finds herself in a world that is so much like her own, except for one very important thing.)

Layers

(I feel sad. Wanted something to cheer myself up. This is the result.I have no set dates for updating, so bear with me.This is the Bratva fic no one wanted. Note - I like that Oliver isn't possessive. I also like when women have agency. You will find both here. This is a Oliver/Felicity-centric story.)

His Girl Wednesday and Some Things Are Meant to Be

Insanely long fics (THANK GOD): Missing her interview for a position in the IT department of QC, Felicity Smoak meets Oliver Queen, son of the CEO and future CEO himself. Only Oliver doesn’t take the company as seriously as he should and after yet another fiasco with his assistant, his mother decides to take matter into her own hands and select one with more qualifications than long legs and deep cleavage. In an effort to get her off his back, he pretends he already hired one: the blonde nerdy girl he met a few minutes ago.Or when Arrow and Ugly Betty crash in my head (except we all know Felicity could never be ugly). It is mostly Arrow, I borrow a few plot ideas/characters from Ugly Betty.

Sequel: Three years ago, Oliver went on a cruise on the Gambit and never came back, leaving Felicity devastated. She forced herself to move on with her life, trying to forget that the love they had shared was one she'd never get to live again.

Except Oliver didn't die on that boat. But no matter how much he wants to, he knows he can't come back. Too many things happened, and the only way to keep his loved ones safe is to stay as far away from them as possible.

It all changes when Felicity starts questioning the circumstances of the accident that took him away from her...

One More From the Top

(In the aftermath of his fight with Ras Al Ghul, Oliver finds himself somewhere unexpected: his hospital room when he first came back from the Island.With a second chance to right the mistakes he’s made since coming back to Starling City, what will Oliver do to save the people he’s loved and lost?Will he be able to change his past or will be he forced to watch history repeat itself?)

Break

(After the events of Unthinkable, Felicity burns out from Arrow activities. So she takes a step back to get some air. This story tracks Felicity's journey of becoming a heroine in her own right as she helps form the Justice League.)

Good, Better, Best Series by redtoes - a three part series each specifying how O + F got together and stayed together. Not very long but 15 chapters so...

The Grand Adventures of Felicity Smoak

(a.k.a How Felicity did not save the day.Felicity's father comes back only to take her away from the life and the people she loves. But sometimes, it takes a series of misadventures for a girl to discover how badass she really is and how valuable she is to her friends. She gets in trouble, gets rich, gets in trouble, gets hurt, gets in trouble again and gets the guy.Canon divergence. From in mid s02 before the revelation of Slade Wilson.)

Another I need to mention - though it isn’t a multi-chap slow burn - is: This Love Thing

Also a short fic but there aren’t that many slow burns around :) is Love Me Like I’m Not Made of Stone

(When meeting Felicity, Oliver has a flashback. Afterwards, he flees, leaving behind his 'latted' laptop. She further investigates on her own, but lurking underneath everything else is Felicity's concern for Oliver. Just like with anything that matters to her – she doesn't know why he matters but he does, she can't let the episode – what she fears to be PTSD – go.)

The Darkest Hour

(just weeks after moving to Starling City, Felicity Smoak is kidnapped for information she does not have. She endures weeks of torture before she is rescued by a man in green leather and his partner, John Diggle. As Felicity begins to put the pieces of her life back together, she realizes the trauma she suffered changed her in unexpected ways. Restless and with a driving need to help others the way the man in green helped her, she finds herself using her brilliant mind and considerable computer skills to follow a different path fraught with danger and violence. As Felicity grows closer to the Green Arrow and Diggle, helping them in their cause to save Starling City, the three struggle against unseen enemies, and discover the unexpected truth behind her kidnapping.)

All in a Day’s Work

(By 9:00 a.m., she had broken a heel, lost her cell phone, and been the victim of a coffee catastrophe. By 9:30 a.m. she had “borrowed” the NSA mainframe. By 10:00 a.m., she was engaged to Oliver Queen. Really, it was all in a day’s work. Plotty, fluffy fun with a side dish of heart.)

The Best of Friendships have Benefits

(like Communism or time travel, having a sex-buddy sounds a lot better in theory than in practice. However, Oliver and Felicity see it as a means to rebuild each other. So, inevitable consequences be damned, they still give it a go, not expecting to gain a whole lot more than what they initially bargained for.)

Also, most fics by @yellowflicker09011996 will make you want to tear out your own heart but one of my favourites is: All The Worthy Places (They say if you get hungry enough, you start eating your own heart. When she sits on top of him, arms and legs tight around him and kisses his mouth like she wants to eat him alive, Oliver believes it. ) and To Rage Against the Dying Light (There could be no time to think, no moment to feel. The dark was going to engulf him till there was nothing left, if he so much as flinched.He had known grief and he had known fear but this… this was wordless.Nobody had ever told him that ruin felt so much like death.)

The Fall Verse by @callistawolf

(Taking place directly after the events in “Sacrifice” (the season 1 finale), Felicity tries to pull Oliver back from the edge. But is Oliver ready to be pulled back? Or is he ready for the fall?)

Step By Step

(During the summer between seasons two and three, Oliver and Felicity are attempting to navigate their new status post-fake but not actually fake I love you's, and a kiss that may or may not have meant everything. Or: What would have been different for Oliver and Felicity if that summer had been about both of them truly coming to terms with what they meant to each other. Basically - Felicity decides to live her life, and Oliver realizes that her life doesn’t necessarily include him as much as he may want. How he reacts, and how Felicity responds to his actions, shape the future of their relationship.)

City of Fallen heroes

(Five years ago, Felicity was kidnapped and forced to do the unthinkable in order to return home. Convinced she couldn’t be the loving wife Oliver deserved, she left and tried to keep her darkness from hurting their daughters. The return of an old enemy will force Felicity to decide if she’s the monster she thought she was— or the hero her family believes her to be.)

Absolution

(It’s been two years since the Atom invented a plague that wiped out most of Starling City. With a ruthless government agency in control, and a hooded vigilante fighting to shut the Atom down, Felicity Smoak quickly learns that life post-apocalypse isn’t exactly like it seemed in movies.)

He Deserves a Shot at Being Happy alos by @chronicolicity

(Short version: an AU where Tommy Merlyn didn't die, and is around for season 2 of Arrow.Long version: Tommy Merlyn has spent most of his life being an expensive disappointment to his family, but now he's a part-owner of a semi-successful nightclub in the worst area of town (it's seriously looking up) alongside his best friend, who — after five years on a deserted island — decided to come back to be a freaking vigilante. It's a long story, one that's longer than Tommy wants to remember, but it took the Glades collapsing and the death of one of their best friends to get him officially done with being a troublemaker. Nothing interesting. Just running a nightclub, and trying not to get into any trouble.Oliver's been gone god knows where for most of the summer, which means he's stuck being the big brother to the guy's snarky little sister, whose boyfriend "Ron" seems completely set on getting himself killed. An afternoon of test-driving Verdant's new cocktails gets interesting when Felicity Smoak and John Diggle show up asking (more) questions about where to find Oliver, and Tommy has to decide whether he wants to keep his new rule.Spoiler alert: he doesn't.) It’s so good guys... THE SLOWEST OF SLOW BURNS BUT SO FLIPPING REWARDING.

In Another Life

(Their lives couldn't be more different - and yet Oliver can't take his eyes off the beautiful blonde woman that leaves the subway every morning at 7.43am. There is something about her that makes him look up every morning - something that also makes him aware he'll never be good enough for her, or that she'd even notice him.He had no idea how much his life would change the day he rushed over to help her...Olicity AU - no Lian Yu, no saving the city (at least not in the way we know from Arrow :D ))

Felicity Takes a Holiday

(Frustrated by Oliver's apparent indifference, Felicity takes a solo trip to NYC where she meets with unexpected dangers. Is it super-soldiers amped up on Mirakuru, or Beasts created by Muirfield? Starts at the end of Season 2; a story of how Oliver comes to realize that he is in love with Felicity, told with help from CW's Beauty and the Beast and a whole lot of Diggle.)

What’s a Little History Between Me and You by @sarcasticfina

([Canon-Divergent] In the wake of The Undertaking, Felicity returns to Starling City when her brother Tommy is severely injured, and soon finds her world turned completely upside down.)

THERE AREN’T THAT MANY SLOW BURNS @scu11y22

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green-there · 4 years

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Concerts 2019-February 2020 : favorite songs and tid bits from shows

Cage the Elephant- Back stabbin’ Betty is my favorite song by them. Telescope was really great to hear live because of the soothing tone of the song and the energy behind it and reminds me of being younger feeling moody. It was my friends birthday, and we drove there in a stacked line of cars to the outdoor cathedral. We had to drive down a surprisingly long dirt road, and walked to the amphitheater. We passed these rainbow bicycles strewn about that were for only google workers to use, and I peed in an open undeveloped field half way to our destination. The closer we got the more packed it got. We made it in through the crowds to a grassy ledge way back behind the seats, but found ourselves a good view. When the music began it was so exciting to watch the dad with his kid on his shoulders, the group of hispanic guys singing along, and this tinder date gone wrong unfolding before us. So two couples came to watch next to eachother, and couple A’s frat boy ended up grinding on couple B’s female (EVEN DURING SLOW SONGS)... nothing like a sad slow grind I guess? My friends mom showed up with her personal favorite type of alcohol that she knows my friend can’t stand and drank it for her. The people in front of us started smoking weed, and we ended up moving to a spot where we could watch a close up screen of what the singers actually looked like. Beck seemed desperate when he came on stage mentioning more times than needed that he opened for greenday, and wouldn’t let the poor cage the elephant’s main singer get a break so he wouldn’t feel lonely on stage. He was dressed to the 10s, and had a big crazy finale. Next time I listened to cage the elephant, it was my friend playing cigarette daydream driving to a thai food date with my lovely friend and it was reminiscent of simpler times and very peaceful.

The Growlers- They have not made a bad album. I love how the singer moves with his music, and I just couldn’t stop smiling at their show in Seattle! I can’t choose just one song I like the best because they all feel so nice to listen to. The guy from the Strokes produced some of their new music, and I was worried at first that it might shift away from their raw sound, but I can’t complain. Its great. It makes me so happy whenever I listen to them even when when the songs have dark themes, there is something really reassuring about his voice. The flight to Seattle was so funny, I watched yes man completely silent with subtitles with my best friend. The first day in the city we walked around with our suitcases feeling especially ‘standing out like a sore thumb’ which made us feel somewhere between embarrassed and fabulous. Our Canadian friends had a cousin we got to stay with and drove us to the show after a city tour, and called in an old favor with the venue people to let in our Canadian buddies. (She’s so cool she showed us this multi floor brick artist loft overlooking the ocean with a band that never stops playing, burning man kind of creative energy) Long story short at the concert, I went to get us all drinks, couldn’t bring them to the floor (drinking age in Canada is different than US and we didn’t think ahead) so I had to drink all the drinks I bought for us. Very tipsy I danced held and had an emotional connection with the flamboyant fella next to me, along with anyone willing. I was in a floor length sparkly black sheer dress- so I was feeling hot haha. The venue was like a formal old style maybe dance hall and had chandeliers. Im pretty sure the walls were painted red, but I cant be sure.

The Oh Sees- They were sold out in San Francisco, which is why we went to Seattle! My friend is a psych rock connoisseur, and says that she has been listening to them 2 years going and is still in love. Their mosh pit was fantastic, and my ears were ringing for the next couple of days. Very experimental, and the songs all have a wonderful way of combining which I really appreciate. The Daily heavy is a very exciting song, The duck intro never fails to disappoint. I dressed in ripped jeans, combat boots (thank god), and a jean jacket. We spent touring with my friend bf in the city and the gardens, ending up on this very hip part of town. The grunge phase was never just a phase for Seattle, but a life style. The poles on the street were like an arm width thick with posters tacked one on the next. My friend almost got hit by the door by thee Oh Sees lead singer she has been geeking out on and was flattered. I was trying to find her a suitable hook up, but we wern’t so lucky. The venue was dark and moody with hip band posters on the walls upstairs. We got some drinks and talked about how nice it was to not have to worry about how to hold our arms or think about our hands, because we had drinks. The first band I really didn’t like. The Oh sees had suuuch nice crowd energy. We went up to the non gendered bathrooms at one point, but my friends favorite song came on right she was about to go in and she just said fuck it and we ran back downstairs. I moshed and it felt so so nice, and I stepped out so I could keep an eye on my friend when she went in. I didn’t want her to get overwhelmed or hurt without someone to get her out. She did really good at just going with it. The outro to the concert was bizarre and lengthy, and a good way to finish her off.

The Mystic Braves- This was my first show I saw at the Chapel in San Francisco, and it was so wonderful! Amazing grapefruit tequila something I tried, everyone was really laid back, and I just had this feeling of being really happy I got to be here at this place and time. And the disco ball looks so cool watching how the lights carry across the bright red interior super steep ceiling. There were candles along the side walls, and I felt like it was really fitting for a repurposed church. My favorite song by them is can’t grow peaches and cloud nine! The lead singer wore really tight pants. My friend said she recognized different musicians there. I was admiring so many different beautiful people that were collected around that stood out in a way that next to each other they seemed to fit (if that makes sense). I went up to the upstairs bar and pretended like some wealthy moody city person like a sultry vampire-y version of sex and the city. Downstairs after the show we went to a bar filled with distorted clocks and ate frys, talking about how nice it would be to talk to people and know what to say.

Astroid No. 4- They played the same night as The Mystic braves, and we got there late, so we just caught the tail end. They are note worthy though, they have a good sound.

Andre Moya- Claro Esta En Mi Corazon makes me get that feeling like eating really good chocolate does- if that makes any sense. Summer’s Daughter is so dreamy, his sound is gorgeous! It was a couple days before Halloween, and it was supposed to be a costume party kind of thing, so it said. My friend and I went dressed as clowns and we are stand off-ish typically even when we don’t want to be. We parked and some dude made fun of us before we even got out, and it was so hard to go in but we drove all the way out to santa cruz to see him in a wind storm. Anyways it was like 7 of his friends hanging out drinking beer when we went up, none in costumes. He didn’t get to play much because some miscommunication with the Catalyst where he was playing, but he was so sweet! They threw together costumes when we came, and he introduced us to his friends and gave us beers, and we did our best to talk. Such a beautiful legs and long hair, not to mention a very dynamic painter! I got asked on the street by a kind guy if I wanted to go get dinner with him and I politely declined. Our clown duo me and my pal went to Pluto’s cafe who are opened until 3am and ate vegan nachos, and I was convincing myself that I could feel drunk off a beer. The drive back wasn’t as scary and windy thank god.

The Dead Ghosts- They got one of their songs on a Canadian sitcom show called Letterkenny! They played at the Chapel, and the singer was so funny he dedicated one of his last songs to this couple who were choking on eachothers tongues the entire time. Its funny that he made a point of that because me and my boyfriend were going to makeout for a sec to see if we could not be anxious sober doing that, but I wussed out. He talked with us for a while after the show which was really cool. I really like ‘When it comes to you’ by them. It felt so nice just him like sitting on the stage chatting with my friend and boyfriend about the funny things he’s come across, his travels, what his music reminds us of and the such.

Torrey- They were so sweet! My boyfriend described them as great sunset music and got all excited when they had a couple of free CDs, but didn’t get to them in time. He talked to the main girl and she mailed one to Costa Mesa for him! Scruffy is my favorite song by them, I agree they are great sunset drive music. She was so cute!

The Shivas- So they started the band back when they were teenagers in Oregon, and the Catalyst was their first venue that opened their doors to get them on their first little tour! They were very thankful and gave them a big thanks during the show in Santa Cruz. You make me wanna die is their biggest song, and I’ve loved it for so long, its the best feeling to put a face to a voice! And they have such a cute look! The guy in control of the lighting had a few projectors pointing at the band and had a different colorful puddles of dyed oils, water and bubbles that he would distort with the music, which was really exciting to watch. Turn me on is a great song, and I bought a pin for a dollar with the cover art on it.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard- Driving in the city my best friend does very very good at and Im proud of her for it. We parked in this absolutely massive parking garage that felt like an extended dream walking through the huge in ground spiral upwards searching for a door. We made it up, but I freaked my friend out a bit getting into the surreal feeling of the place. The street was filled with cool people, and we often talk about how we wished we could smoke. But my friend and I had the same problem with track, which is we are both just bad at breathing. Huge dream like open space building in a tight line spiraling upstairs to this overly formal but massive room with huge arches and a tall tall ceiling. Big huge fans in those windows to get this massive body of humans some air. People smoked weed around us in the crowd, so we were in and out so my friend wouldn’t have to worry about breathing. Their concert was something brand new. It was like the first time being in the snow or something- just insane. This show was their first release of Infest the rats nest. They have a huge group of guys, including 2 drummers that play in sync, and OH MAN. The energy in that room and how we all fed off the transitions in the music and how you can see physically how people in the audience change with the music. Plus their music brings up things that genuinely frighten me like climate change. I just recommend the whole album of infest the rats nest. And fishing for fishies is a song that sounds child like and a completely different tone which I was listening to before I went in and was completely caught off gaurd.

Stonefield- They are the second band I’ve bought a shirt from (Wooing was the first band). Its really cool. They remind me of classic rock music when people started getting all experimental. The whole band is female and they all came out wearing matching corduroy pants and jackets, each in a different color, and all have really long hair. I really like People by them and Delusion is great too. They are so hot ah man what a power move to wear all corduroy matching suits and play so hardy ooh man.

Twin Peaks- The crowd surprised me! Lots of people who obviously went to Berkley which was a bit intimidating honestly. They have a lot of nice songs, Making Breakfast and Shake your Lonely are good for a morning perhaps where you are making breakfast. I can see it walking somewhere laid back. Mid-day only if its summer and you are by a body of water.

Post Animal- Their first album is great, then they got a bit more of a pop sound. Buried gold in that first album! What the heck they make an album like that and then got popular for their pop?? That first album shows that they are great at what they do, and hopefully it will get dug up and popular and they will come home to psych rock papa. Tame Impala got big for it, so if they are worried about being less liked for more of a psychedelic sound then piggy back on tame impalas newer fan base. Not ideal but PLEASE such posibility lost when they rolled over and went pop.

The Drums- “I want to buy you something, but I don’t have any moneyyy, I don’t have any moneeeey!” There is a real hit home chorus if Ive ever heard one. Very much a surfer feeling, and Im for it. Dark themed beachy pop (for their older stuff), great control over his voice, and he dances when he sings which I love. Their new stuff has some tech-y sounds in it. They played in the Catalyst too, but the big room for them because they are more known.

COWGIRL CLUE- Walked blind into that one. Had no previous knowledge of music like hers before being there. We were so worried that her microphone wasn’t picking up her voice, and thats why we couldn’t make out her words. She’s dating a guy from the garden so I heard. CHERRY JUBILEE is honestly a banger and it took time to realize it haha

The Black Lips- The girl in the band is so hot I love her look so much! They played in San Jose on this street with nice art galleries on and around it. O Katrina and Crystal Night are my favorite songs by them. They have an interesting mix of band members, they all have their own distinct style which is unusual, but it was nice. And the audience was the same kind of assortment of the outliers which makes me comfortable. The bar had a kind of rugged presence that was the first of its kind for me.

Ohmme- I cried hearing them sing. Such insane knowledge of how to use their voices, listening to them in person it makes sense when people talk about voices as instruments. They know what they are doing and they just work so well together. I have this feeling that there is possibly an Irish folk influence? Im not sure if Im reading that in. But that, some great guitar shindigs that they play, there is an element of surprise as their songs transition in intensity. Give me back my man and Fingerprints are so satisfying. Wheel is their newest (and real good). AND THEN SHE WHIPPED OUT THAT VIOLIN Oh man so talented. Plus they brought up points for being pro choice, access to period material, strong feminist power here ahh

Wand- The singers voice is so distinctively peaceful and entrancing, the music is psychedelic and makes your mind wander with it like a dream. They remind me of Radiohead but my friend said those are figting words (haha).They played at a venue attached to a bar made for old guys to hang out in, and you could tell by the crowd. Anyways. Im convinced their bass player was checking me out and I was very flattered. He had a beautiful hairline which is something I didn’t know could be beautiful- but it really works nicely with his face structure. The singer uses a violin bow to play electric guitar with which is a very new concept to me! My favorite part about them is the transitions of intensity throughout their songs, there is something almost orchestral about it that just makes me tear up thinking about. The lighting was absolutely beautiful! You remember the Shivas concert I talked about with the lighting being experimental pools of colored translucent liquids and oils on projectors all moving with the music? Well this was that but evolved. Pricy looking projectors and high saturation colors. The motions of this music just carry you through so many feelings and just being a part of the color and music just melts ya. Bee Karma, 6661,Wonder, Keep you up Aghhhh so good! so so so good.

Bridget Dawson- She was so cute! A band of misfits! She makes music with the Oh Sees now and then, and I liked how they had saxophone in all their songs. They played at the chapel, and we got our favorite grapefruit- tequila drinks. Its called Paloma I think. This guy who plays spanish classical guitar live stream on his instagram now and then and dresses all 70s (He sang both my friend and I into songs on his instagram live feed and made us geek out kinda hard) was talking to Andre Moya and we were giving them some space to talk to the bar tenders before we went over because we think they are cool and we were kind of embarrassed for being legitimate clowns in front of Angelic Andre. Any who, Bridget Dawson has a beautiful voice and you can really tell she loves making music. When the band was playing I was just imagining how I could run into them just like grocery shopping or at the library or somewhere unexpected because we are all little people with our own lives and minds and how you never know who’s in that creative stream of consciousness until you dig around a bit and really listen to how they perceive and interpret the world.

Mr. Elevator- You can tell by the singers voice that he kind. Dreamer is my favorite song by them! Nico and her psychedelic subconscious not only is a great name for a song, but was really fun to see people really get into dancing to that song. I really appreciate the people who want to dance and just do because they feel like it and don’t need any other thought than that to move. Getting to this frame of mind would feel so freeing, and Im taking my baby steps to allowing myself access to my voice and body. The crowd’s energy was just at a place I really want to be. They play a lot of electric keyboard and organ (organ? Oregon?) The singer had such an embracing energy about him I wish we could be friends :)

Kamikaze Palm tree- The keyboardist that played with Wand reappeared in The Catalyst’s mid sized room for the first set (and my personal favorite of the 3 bands that night). Here we had first band member: very focused beautiful drummer/singer with a white mullet- very etherial, second band member: an individual who had eyes like death that would find a victim to stare into in between bouts of expressive movement while they played guitar (lipstick, cute little hearts on the cheeks, curly hair, preferred gender unknown), and third: our sweet keyboardist that played with Wand earlier. The guitarist was all over the place, the other two were the picture frame. The keyboardist was obviously entertained by the guitarist, and the drummer/singer was back and forth between guitar in front, drumming in back, singing wherever she was at the time. Their music has as much energy and movement as their action of performance. My favorite part was when the guitarist stared into my soul with dark eyes. Looking into someones eyes is one of the most intimate actions you can have with another person, and they gave me a dead stare I was so flattered and enjoyed observing their stone-like expression. And their music feels like they get the same ups and downs going between the energies of peace and chaos. It was like an inner dialogue behind their music, and I couldn’t help but cry smiling like a weirdo. There weren’t many people at the venue yet, so it was a little practice of letting myself feel(and I don’t think I was too obvious thankfully).

Froth- They played after Kamikaze Palm tree. These guys had an interesting social dynamic. The drummer seemed to be micro managing the volumes of their output, and had an extensive dialogue with the guys in charge of sound. But maybe the last band put it on odd levels or something (which I wouldn’t doubt.) The singer seemed really tense about the situation, and the guitarist was just obviously tired of dealing with the drummer. They wanted to be under red light the whole set. The singer seemed like he would be nice, and the crowd got really big out of nowhere. The next band to play was Duster, who apparently hadn’t played in something like 18 years. But what a place to be put in! Right after the dynamic Kamikaze Palm tree just had, and before someone that was a dear loved long lost loved band of a large mass of people!

Duster- Upon reading their Spotify description it seems that they started up at the end of one categorization, and before the beginning of the next, so they were popularized in their later years because they were genre lost and recaptured. But wow I could feel their space influence at their show, definitely music to travel and/or cry to. I loved their transitions, their following was so happy to see them you could just feel it! Its contained and deep in a way where I cant quite place. Their songs have a range. Some are looking up into the stars, feeling your body shift into them as you realize how you are a part of each other (a song like topical solution), or being outside as a storm approaches and overtakes you so you get to the point of feeling the warmth in your blood moving separate from the coldness of your skin, and the process of getting where you need to be to be (Echo, Bravo).

#music

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bobsantics · 6 years

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Chapter 5

Bob had a car. It wasn’t a huge car, nor was it particularly small. It wasn’t red, or blue, or orange, and it was most certainly not a Prius. It didn’t have four doors at all, and it was neither roofless nor roofed. It was quite the standard car, not one of those fancy three dimensional 1080p cars everyone wants. Bob could never afford one of those. Heck, he couldn’t even afford this one. But, alas, the car was there, and it was his.

As he walked towards the car, Bob failed to actually see the car, so he walked aw…

Wait a minute.

Bob went back and examined the spot where the car was, but saw no car.

No, this is not right. The car was there. There was a lovely car there just waiting to be driven. So Bob did not open the car’s door and he… no, no, no. What is going on? He DID… not open the car door and he walked away.

Okay, that’s it. I can’t work like this. I’m summoning the Manager.

Uh, Manager? Are you there?

“I AM AMBIANCE. I AM THE FABRIC OF THIS UNIVERSE. OF ALL UNIVERSES. I AM AMBIANCE. I DWELL IN THE SYNAPSES BETWEEN THE NEURONS THAT IMAGINE THIS WORLD. I AM THE WORDS. I AM THE LETTERS. I AM THE PIXELS AND THE INK. I AM AMBIANCE. YOUR EXISTENCE IS A MERE CONSEQUENCE OF MY WILL.”

Yes, see, I was just trying to give Bob a car, but he kinda won’t actually see the car? It’s like it wasn’t even there. Maybe it’s an error in the system, or perhaps something got unplugged or something?

“I AM THE AIR YOU INHALE. I AM THE LUNGS YOU INHALE IT INTO. I AM ETERNAL. I AM AMBIANCE. I BRING LIFE AND I BRING DEATH.”

Oh, yes, I figured. That’s probably it. Do you think you could get it fixed? I was really looking forward to giving Bob a car right now.

“I AM THE LIFELONG QUESTION. AND I AM THE ANSWER. I AM THE PASSION OF THE SEARCH. I AM THE FEAR OF FAILURE. I AM THE MEANING OF ALL MEANING. AND I AM NOTHING. I AM AMBIANCE.”

Thanks, man, really appreciate it! I’ll see you later!

Really love that guy, he’s so cool. Always there when you need him, and he has this thing about him… Like, seriously, if describing him was physically possible, you would totally agree with me there.

Anyway, let’s try that again.

Bob stopped having the coffee he was currently having at a nearby coffee joint, got up, and walked towards the c… jeep. Eh, close enough. Walked towards the jeep. And he did see the jeep. And he got into the jeep and drove away into the sunset. Awesome! Totally worked!

As Bob’s jeep went through the Sunset’s thick, gelatinous wall of orange plasma, Bob gazed at the gigantic half-dome in awe. It had been a long time since he had entered the Sunset. A long hypothetical time, arbitrarily forced into Bob’s head by a whimsical narration, as Bob had only been born that very same morning, but this fact was lost to Bob, as most facts were, and his mind plunged frontal-lobe-first into vague and yet vivid generic childhood memories.

And then, the memories were gone, and Bob found himself bathed in reddish light. Bob really liked being inside the Sunset. Especially during the winter, when the little sentient snowflakes came falling from the top of the dome like little glistening, transparent stars, wanting to chew on your ears until they looked no longer like ears or ear-based products, depending on your gender. But it wasn’t winter now, and the Sunset was really hot. But this did not bother Bob, as he was incapable of perceiving temperature.

Ahead of him, Bob spied ancient tongues of fire, nay, fusion-generated energy, with long, exhausted faces. He said “hi” to the tall one as he passed by, waving at it with a scorched hand, and the tongue replied, “nice jeep, bro!” But Bob was going too fast to hear it. Farther on down the road, Bob saw the ancient pagan Gods: the Denizen, endlessly wandering about, wondering about where he should wander about and what he should wonder about next; the Bosom, pouring down milk from huge iron pot on the Whispering Children, who bathed and laughed and sang in loud whispers composed of consonants only; the Victim, whose severed head dangled from a tiny thread of flesh, dancing as he jumped around, uselessly trying to prevent his feet from burning, and weeping solid salt that piled up beside a pool of bubbling lava; the Herald, with his large trumpet made of the flesh of human infants (just trust me on that one), speaking in a booming voice about calamities yet to come; the Tesseract, its impossible shapes coming in and out of sight as it spun in the fourth dimension. The sight of the Gods made Bob smile. It also made him realize that he couldn’t actually smile, as his face had long melted from the heat.

As a faceless yet oblivious Bob approached the Core of the Sunset, a face appeared before him and shouted a challenge.

“Who goes?” it asked angrily.

“Yes, Who goes,” said Bob’s mouth from the smear of goo on his lap.

“Thank you, I was uncertain,” the face replied and vanished to expose the Core of the Sunset.

This was actually the first time Bob had gotten this far into the Sunset. It was really dangerous to be there. He surely would have turned around before, but the sight of the Gods had distracted him.

The Core was… AGH JESUS CHRIST, MY EYES, THEY BURN. OH, GOD. GREG! GREG, BRING ME SOME WATER. SOME WATER HERE, PLEASE, GREG. I CAN’T SEE. OH, GOD, I CAN’T SEE. THIS IS YOUR FAULT, BOB. WHY WOULD YOU MAKE ME LOOK AT THAT? Ugh, thanks Greg. No, seriously, now, Bob, are you trying to kill me or what? Wait. Bob? Bob, where are you? The jeep isn’t there anymore. No, this is not possible. Bob, you little piece of… Wait. There’s no point-of-view character to narrate. I am trapped in the Sunset now. How am I supposed to get out? You just wait until I find you, Bob. This insolence shall not go unpunished.

Okay, okay, easy now. You’re going to have to think outside the box in this one. This is when everything you learned in Narration College needs to kick in. Goddammit, I should have paid more attention. Okay, think. Just think. Okay. There is no character to narrate. Leaving the Sunset arbitrarily would break the narrative. I can’t really control any of the other characters because of those stupid clauses in my contract. I knew I should have negotiated that bit. OH, I GOT IT. I got it. Passive voice.

The Sunset was exited, all of its wonders left behind. Now, to find that insolent asshole. The land was searched… uh… OH! The land was searched by policemen with dogs. Bob’s sudden disappearance had caused unrest among his friends and family, and pictures of Bob’s face had been put all over town. But the police were at a loss… because… ugh… Because Bob’s face doesn’t have features yet…

I see what you’re trying to do, you little shit. But I will not fall for that trick. You’re not as stupid as I thought. I MEAN YOU ARE, YOU ARE REALLY STUPID. Fuck. You are not stupid anymore now, huh? Well, congratulations, Bob. Hip, hip, hoo-fucking-ray to you. Aaaaand you got me to use the F-word twice. THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PG-13, BOB. Now you ruined that as well. Or, well, you fucked it up. Might as well use this new ability. But I’m going to find you. And you’re not getting a definitive face yet. You’re gonna have to try harder than that. Now, check these killer skills out, bitch.

As the vague images of Bob did little to guide the police, Bob’s clothes were found and their scent was sniffed by highly trained super police dogs with a curious and uncommon enhanced ability to find people named Bob using only their scent.

Luckily for them, the city was mostly undescribed and its buildings unmentioned, so there were only a few places where Bob could be. This is going to be a piece of cake. So, finally, they arrived at the Barbarian Baritone Bar, they busted in, guns out, ready to fire, AND THEY FOUND B… asically nothing. Fucking hell. The house was empty too, because that’s where they picked the scent and he just wasn’t there. Clearly he wasn’t in the Sunset, so that leaves…

The explosion resonated throughout the streets, shattering nearby windows, as the entrance doors to Bob’s office came flying by, nearly killing an unsuspecting passer-by. Actually, you know what? The flying door bounced against a brick wall and crushed the passer-by to death before he could sigh in relief. Two employees were also killed in the detonation, which, by the way, was completely unnecessary because the door was not only unlocked but open. DO YOU HEAR THAT, BOB? CASUALTIES! PEOPLE ARE DYING, BOB, AND IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT. Just come out and everything will be fine. If you don’t come out, shit’s gonna keep happening!

The police rushed inside the building, smoke bombs flying into every cubicle. The dark cloud choked everyone. The coughing was so loud it could be heard from the next building. To a side, Fred, who had kindly taken Bob to work two chapters ago, was now coughing up blood, lungs probably exploded from exhaustion. Tom, luckily, managed to come out unharmed, as he was elsewhere at the time, and remained completely able to berate Bob further when he finally comes back. Betty… Wait, where is Betty? She was here a moment ago, I could have sworn. I saw her. The police searched for Betty but found no traces of her or of Bob. But they did find the emergency exit at the back open.

They have escaped. But, how? There is no place to go, I described no other place in the city.

I must have missed something, some… detail. I need some time to think.

Go away. This chapter is done.

#chapters #literature #short story #random #tryingtousehashtagsproperlythistime

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kor-knight · 7 years

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Darkness Prevails epilogue

AND ITS DONE. Though, this was actually very hard to write. I overall wish to thank all those who read my story, and everyone who liked it, reblogged, and commented. You are my very existence. I also wish to thank my boyfriend, cause he’s like my biggest fan, following the story alongside all of you guys haha. Angel, enjoy it hunny! @stillapieceoftrash

Perfect

Of all the words in the plethora of words known to man, Betty would have never thought she would use that specific word to describe her life right now. But no amount of words that came to mind could possibly describe it better than that – her life was perfect.

7 years had past since the events of her teenage years – since her life was on the edge of a blade and she danced with darkness more times than she liked to. After her trip to the hospital and court hearings, Betty finally went back to school, soon after graduating top of her class – valedictorian obviously – alongside Archie and Veronica. Jughead had graduated a year later, having to repeat due to absences and lack of good grades. But once they were all done high school, it was a collective agreement to attend college together.

So they all applied, and got accepted to NYU; Betty and Jughead with the English majors, Archie on a sports scholarship with a minor in Music, and Veronica majored in Fashion design. After long conversations with parents, tons of planning, and house-hunting, the 4 set off for the city that never sleeps (or was that Paris?) They moved into a slightly larger apartment relatively close to the campus, adorned with two huge bedrooms located on opposite sides of the space - “for privacy sake” Veronica had said, a coy smile on her lips. The large common area had 4 desks, one of which was huge – Veronica clearly stating she needed a big one for her designs. Betty was solely in charge of cooking for the 4 of them, whilst Jughead and Archie were strictly on cleanup duty. Their little family was dysfunctional, but just as much home as Riverdale was.

College had been fun too, albeit insane exams. Classes were easy (at least for Betty they were), and her professors were pretty cool. They had even attended a few parties, more so a ‘Veronica and Archie’ scene as a designated “Power Couple” on the campus. Jughead and Betty had chosen more reserved extra curricular activities, such as poetry reading nights at the Java Jones down the road, or (big surprise) the double feature at a local theater.

But it was during their last year of college when Betty and Jughead’s life had changed for the better.

Betty had found out she was pregnant.

After countless failed attempts at getting back into their rhythm, of nights spent crying over too real nightmares and reoccurring ptsd, Betty finally sought the help so the elephant in the room didn’t butcher her relationship with Jughead any further. Though, even with all the struggles, Jughead never pressured Betty into anything, always letting her be the one in charge, pulling away when he felt her whole body tense, or just sit and talk her back from the edge of insanity. He had been everything she needed, and then some. So after weekly sessions with a therapist, Betty was able to expand their relationship to the peak they had it at before.

They spent nights wrapped in naked embraces, whispering sweet nothings to one another as they conquered Betty’s internal battles and heeded Jughead’s external desires. So little words were said during their times together, only primal sounds of need and want, battling for control throughout the night.

And thus lead to their baby.

She still remembered telling Jughead the news, every single detail.

“Juggie, I need to tell you something.” Her lip was between her teeth, eyes carefully watching the man in front of her. They were in their room at the apartment, Betty seating at the edge of their bed while Jughead was perched at the head of it, back against the wall.

Jughead blanked, body timid, eyes concerning. “Did I do something wrong?” His voice was raspy but soft, just above a whisper.

Betty shook her head furiously, placing her hands on the sides of his face. “No Juggie, you didn’t do anything wrong.” His smile melted her heart, hands coming to rest on her sides.

“So what did you need to tell me?” Jughead asked.

“I uh-” Betty bit her lip again, looking away. Jughead’s hand came to rest on her jaw, bringing her eyes back to his, without saying a word he just nodded. Letting out a breath and standing from the bed, Betty finally said. “Juggie I’m pregnant.”

The first thing Jughead did was drop his mouth open in shock. Or awe. Or dispair. Betty didn’t quite know what emotion it was, but what came after is what Betty truly loved. Jughead smiled. He smiled so large she thought his face was going to crack. A full, toothy, completely and utterly happy kind of smile. Then he kissed her. He kissed her again, and again. Peppering kisses across her face, along her neck, back to her face. His arms were around her, pulling her so close she thought he was trying to morph them together.

“Really?!” He asked, so much excitement and joy, Betty had never seen him like this before. She just nodded, unable to find words in this wonder. “I’m going to be a dad?” He said the last word tentatively, sorta like he was testing it out. His smile a few seconds later made Betty assume he was fine with the term, and new title. He picked her up in his arms, twirling her around a few times before setting her down once more, placing another quick kiss on her smiling lips. Jughead stood quickly, launching himself off the mattress with ease.

Then he dropped to his knees, side of his face flush against her tummy as he smiled. “My baby,” was all he said. A tear escaped Betty’s eye, words cutting off from the lump in her throat. She just sniffled. Jughead looked up at her, concerned. “Whats wrong?” He was standing in front of her again, hands on either side of her face. Betty just shook her head, a few more tears streamed down her cheeks. Jughead’s thumb gently wiped them away, kissing her cheeks softly. “You are so beautiful.” Betty just smiled, closing her eyes. “The mother to my baby.”

He kissed her then, and no matter how many times Betty relives the moment, the kiss gets longer and longer. Better every time. Their lips played a devilish dance, limbs wrapping around one another in a fight for dominance. Betty finally let Jughead take control, falling into step with his movements and just living for the moment.

Betty flushed at the memory, touching her lips with her finger and smiling. The door opened to her right, Jughead appearing from the threshold.

“Hey Juggie.” Betty said, smiling. She was making lunch, smiley face sandwiches and only the best fruit. Jughead took a step forward, placing a quick kiss on Betty’s temple.

“Hey Betts, where’s Hunter?” Jughead asked, grabbing an apple slice and shoving into his mouth.

“In the living room with Ronnie. Archie should be here soon.” Jughead smiled, kissing her temple once more before retreating to the other room, happy giggles erupting from within. Betty smiled as she continued to cut the fruit. Finishing up, she plates everything and quickly emerges in the other room, food in hand and a smile on her lips.

Before her was Jughead, seated on the floor with Hunter – their energetic 9 month old son – while Veronica laughed from the couch. Archie was walking into the room as Betty put the food down, nodding for everyone to eat while she pulled Hunter to her arms. He cooed loudly, throwing his tiny arms around her neck. Betty giggled, enveloping him with her arms.

Jughead was beside them soon after, picking up the toddler easily and tossing him up slightly in his arms, igniting fits of laughter from the tiny boy. Hunter’s green eyes bright with excitement as Jughead continues to play with him, tickling and playing airplane. Betty just watches, laughing at her two boys. Veronica comes to sit beside her, gushing about a new set of cute clothes she’s going to buy Hunter. Archie pipes up about teaching their son how to play the guitar.

“He’ll be a rock star, like me!” Archie puffs out his chest, smirking. Veronica laughs, while Betty just smiles.

“Sure Archiekins, whatever you say boo.” Jughead says coyly, making silly faces at his son.

Archie just smiles wider, laughing. “I don’t know what’s more scary. Jughead calling me boo, or the fact that Ronnie didn’t have my back!” He feigned hurt, thrusting a hand to his chest and hanging his head. Betty bursts out laughing, covering her mouth to stop herself from snorting at the poor boy.

Veronica moves to sit beside Archie, placing a manicured hand on his shoulder. “Babe, there isn’t anything I can do to help you there.” Her smile was smug as he pulled from her grasp, gasping at her words.

“You guys are so mean to me! Why did I ever become friends with you again.” Everyone was laughing then, even Hunter, at Archie’s exaggerated expressions and flailing of his arms. Betty held her stomach tightly, the muscles in her core tense from the fits of laughter.

Once she calmed her laughter, she leaned back against the couch, watching her friends. Archie and Ronnie were talking about something, both their face close to one another and animated. Ronnie was smiling at something Archie said, leaning her head against his shoulder before kissing his cheek. Betty smiled at them, fingers tracing the scar on her wrist idly.

Jughead’s hand engulfed hers, bringing her attention to him. His blue eyes were filled with concern, looking down at Betty’s fingers then back up at her. She just shrugged, smiling at him. He mouthed the words she knew all too well, nodding before he could finish. He frowned, placing their son on the floor in front of him before scooting over to drape an arm over her shoulders.

“You ok?” He whispered, voice tickling her ear and sending a wave of pleasure down her spine. She bit her lip and nodded, not trusting her voice won’t sound heady. She notices his frown again, before leaning her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes gently.

“I’m ok Juggie.”

He cleared his throat, Betty feeling his head move in a nod. She keeps her eyes closed, unaware of if she’s falling asleep of just lost in thought. She’s brought back to reality when Jughead moves away from her, causing her head to dip painfully to the side. Rubbing her neck, Betty just opens her eyes. Hunter was sleeping on the couch behind her head, snuggled closely with his toy monkey named FP. Looking around, she stands.

Jughead was watching Archie and Veronica closely, waiting for the signal. When Archie finally looked over at him, a slight nod was all he got before Archie stood.

“Ronnie?” Veronica looked up at her name, concern filling her perfect features.

“Yes Archie?” She stood, sparing a glance at Betty, who just shook her head with lack of knowledge. “What is it?”

“Veronica. Ronnie. You’ve been by my side for longer than I can remember. You’re my biggest fan, and truest supporter, you’re one of the reasons I even continued with music when I wanted to quit.” Veronica was watching him, a charcoal tear trailing down her face. Archie reaches behind him, grasping something, then drops to one knee. “Veronica Lodge, will you marry me?”

“Holy shit!” Betty’s voice broke the silence, causing Jughead to chuckle. Veronica stood silent, tears streaming down her face, smudging her makeup. She had a hand over her mouth, nodding furiously. Archie shot an eyebrow up, confusion all over his face.

“Yes!” Veronica finally shouted, a choked laugh following. Archie smiled huge, standing up and enveloping her in his arms. “100 times yes, Archie. Oh my god.” Archie kissed her then, while Betty whistled, laughing at the two of them from her side of the room.

“Betty?”

Jughead’s voice broke through the noise, Betty turning on her heel, still smiling. Then she halts. Before her is Jughead, down on one knee and navy blue eyes burning bright. A hand comes up to her mouth, strangling the gasp that escapes her closing throat.

“Betts, I don’t have a fancy speech like Archie does, but I just have one question.” He pulls out a tiny box, opening his with a click. Inside is the most beautiful ring Betty’s ever seen, engraved on the side is a J, opposite of that is a B. Tears flow freely down Betty’s cheeks as she inhales sharply. “Elizabeth Cooper, will you marry me?”

“Oh my gosh.” Veronica’s voice rang out, a shrill sound in the silence that followed.

Betty doesn’t respond, just launches herself into his arms, tears flowing quickly as she wraps her arms around his neck. He wraps his arms around her torso easily, holding her tightly. She could hear his small sniffles, indication of his own crying.

She pulls back slightly, leaning back on her knees. “Yes.” His face lit up at the one word, leaning forward to capture her lips in a kiss so full of passion, it was a wonder the whole world didn’t shatter. Betty wrapped her arms around his neck, tangling her hands in his messy hair. His arms came around her waist, pulling her as close as possible. They stayed like that for eternity, or at least it felt like it to them.

Pulling away, out of breath and flushed, Betty leaned her forehead against Jughead’s, biting her lip.

“I love you, Elizabeth Cooper.” She opened her eyes, looking up at him through her lashes.

“Jughead Jones. I love you.”

#Bughead #bughead fanfic #riverdale #riverdale fanfic #betty cooper #jughead jones #archie andrews #veronica lodge #betty x jughead #betty and jughead #bughead fanfiction #riverdale au

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bughead-is-riverdale · 7 years

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Riverdale Imagine: Playing Hard To Get (Archie x Veronica)

request by @manictipsyfangirl : are ya still taking in reqs? I was wondering if you could write something about veronica being in love w archie but doesn't really express it because of course she is the badass bitch and knows how to have her way with men and even archie has no idea that she is actually in love w him and he continues going out with other girls and everything until one day ver snaps :P if you get time, please!!

Summary: Veronica is new to Riverdale and she falls hard for Archie Andrews, but he had no idea.

Approx. 980 words

“Hi, I’m Archie Andrews. You’re Veronica right? The new girl?”

As Veronica Lodge turned around to face her unwanted companion, she did so with the intention of rejecting him entirely and therefore encouraging him never to speak to her again. Veronica was stunning with long raven-black hair and chocolate-brown eyes to match, perfectly clear olive-toned skin, and curves that other girls would kill for. Her beautiful exterior wasn’t something that she was oblivious to, it was something that she was extremely aware of and used to her advantage constantly, however it did give her a lot of unwanted attention. When her gaze landed upon this particular boy though, she knew that she was in trouble. The boy was tall and muscular with red hair and a wide smile, he was casually dressed in faded jeans, a white t-shirt, and a classic letterman jacket, and she was completely into it. He beamed down at her as he held out his hand, which she shook, returning his smile.

“Yes” she laughed, “I’m the new girl.”

“How do you like Riverdale?” he asked curiously.

“Well, it’s not exactly New York. I feel like I belong in Breakfast at Tiffany’s but have accidently landed in In Cold Blood” she said, rolling her eyes. He smirked at this, liking how confident she was. Just at that moment the bell sounded, signalling for everyone to go to their next lesson. Archie was just about to offer to show Veronica where her next class was, but as he turned towards her, he noticed that she had already strutted off purposefully in the right direction.

“Catch you later, Archikins!” she called over her shoulder, winking at him.

Archikins? Archie laughed at the thought of the ridiculous nickname, Veronica was something else.

It was Christmas; Veronica had been in Riverdale for three months, and Archie still hadn’t taken the initiative to ask her out. She didn’t know what she was doing wrong. She had been more flirtatious towards him than any other guy, listened to his music and gushed over his songs, she had even attended every single football game even though she hated football, and she was still single. She was expressing her frustration to Betty and Jughead – who were, in Veronica’s opinion, the most adorable couple in Riverdale – while they were sitting in Pop’s, waiting for Archie.

“Is he really so stupid that he hasn’t even noticed my behaviour towards him?” she moaned.

“To be perfectly honest Ronnie, he is. Archie isn’t the best at picking up social signals, especially with girls.” Betty said sympathetically. Jughead snorted and Betty elbowed him playfully.

“You could stand in front of him with a sign that said ‘I like you Archie’ around your neck, and he would still think you only wanted to be friends” Jughead said, sniggering.

Just at that moment, Archie came into the diner with another girl. Betty groaned, Jughead cursed, and Veronica narrowed her eyes at their unwelcome companion.

“What the hell is she doing here!” Veronica hissed to Betty as the couple approached their table.

“I honestly didn’t know he had invited anyone else” Betty whispered back, clearly confused.

Archie approached their booth, while Valerie went to the counter to grab a couple of menus, giving Veronica a chance to leave before she had to sit and watch them together for an hour or so. Although Veronica flounced out of the diner with her usual air of confidence, ignoring Archie’s smile as she walked past him, Betty could tell that she was genuinely upset. As Archie slid into the booth opposite them, Betty was about to say something to him about how insensitive it was of him to parade in here with Valerie when he knew Veronica was with them, but to her surprise, Jughead beat her to it.

“Dude, you’re such an idiot” he began.

Two hours later, Archie was standing outside the door of Veronica’s lavish apartment with a bunch of flowers and an apology speech prepared in his head, cursing himself for being such an idiot. The truth was that he had liked Veronica from the moment he had met her, he was just convinced that he wouldn’t meet the standards of someone as beautiful as she was, and as a result he had failed to pick up any kind of romantic signal from her. He wasn’t romantically involved with Valerie, nor did he want to be, he had only invited her out to be friendly but now he understood how that had seemed cruel and malicious to Veronica. His hand shook as he knocked on the door, his other hand holding the flowers behind his back. He held his breath at the door swung open and Veronica was standing in front of him in a pair of dark purple silk pyjamas, her hair in a messy bun, and a thin black dressing gown thrown over her shoulders, she looked beautiful. Her gaze fell upon Archie and her eyes narrowed, her lips pulling together in a tight line. Archie gulped.

“Ronnie I’m so sorry –”

“For what exactly?” she snapped.

“For being an idiot, for bringing Valerie to the diner, for not giving you all of my attention, for not realising...” he rambled.

“What are you saying Archie?” she asked, a slight uncertainty to her voice. He held out the flowers and she smiled, blushing slightly.

“I’m not very good at this Ronnie” he admitted.

“Well, it’s a good thing that I am” she whispered, pulling him towards her by his free hand. She stood up onto her tiptoes and lanced her arms around his neck, tilting her head up towards him and waited there for a moment, breathing softly. He smiled down at her before meeting her lips with his own, curling his hand around her waist and pulling her towards him.

“You took your time, Archikins” she whispered.

TAGLIST: @kelly27crickett @cjhorseback @rory-is-in-ravenclaw@littlefearsdoodles @happyyjensen @dr-tardis-who

#archie x veronica #veronica x archie #riverdale imagine #varchie #archieronnie #riverdale fanfiction #betty cooper #jughead jones #riverdale #pop's chock'lit shoppe

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productivedramaqueen · 7 years

Text

I'll Be A Better Man Today (3) - Reggie x Reader

Summary: Reggie pulls out all the stops to attempt to win you back. Warnings: maybe a swear word A/N: final part to this series! hope you all enjoyed this.

Friday finally dawned; as you crept out the front door you automatically looked towards the kerb. No Reggie. Were you disappointed or relieved? You couldn’t say for sure. Driving into the school lot, you noticed that Reggie was absent from there too. You didn’t know if this was a good sign - your heart ached a little at the thought of him giving up on you so quickly. You told yourself that if he refused to become a better person for his own sake, you didn’t need him. As much as it hurt to fully understand that, it was the truth.

The day went by, and you didn’t see Reggie until lunchtime. He passed by you in the hallway, a smile as big as the sun on his face. Half the football team were with him, but he paused momentarily to cheerfully greet not only you, but Jughead. When Jughead returned the smile - albeit a lower-watt version - you began to wonder if you had somehow crossed to an alternate dimension. Jughead noticed the way you stared at him; ‘You okay?’

You nodded, slowly. ‘Did Reggie just…’ you trailed off, unable to find the words. Jughead had to hide a knowing smile; instead, he just said, 'you know, he hasn’t said or done anything to me since last week.’ Your eyes almost popped out of your head. Your best friend nodded, carrying the conversation in a careful, calculated, casual tone. 'Yep. Not one bad word or any attempt at a physical assault. I’m surprised, too,’ he informed you. Glancing back over your shoulder, you caught a glimpse of the raven-haired boy as he entered a classroom. Had yesterday’s outburst really gotten through to him?

You and Jughead found the usual crew, sitting around a table outside. Still feeling off-balance at the revelation that it’s been a week since Reggie had done anything bad to Jughead, you were silent, deep in thought, as you sat next to Veronica. Jughead watched you, carefully. Time for phase two, he thought.

'So, Arch. You nervous for the big game tonight?’ The red-head chuckled and shrugged. 'Nah, Reggie’s been killing us in training, but I think it’s gonna do us good tonight.’ Turning to the three girls, including you, he posed the question, 'You’re all coming, right?’

Betty nodded and Veronica winked- 'as if we’d miss out on cheering for our favourite ginger!’ It was a silly question, really. The girls were River Vixens, and Cheryl would have their heads mounted to her wall if they failed to show up.

You, on the other hand, shook your head. 'No, I think I’m gonna stay home and study,’ you said apologetically. Jughead froze. This was not a part of the plan. He leaned in closer to you.

'C'mon, (Y/N/N), even I’m going,’ Betty smiled at this and reached to give his hand an appreciative squeeze. 'If I have to suffer, you do too,’ he teased, and felt victorious when a small laugh escaped your lips. 'I dunno, Jug. I- it’s - I’m just not sure I can handle it.’ You bit your lip, and Jughead caught Veronica’s questioningly glance. He’d explain later - right now, he needed to get you to attend the football match.

'Betty, tell her she has to come,’ he told his girlfriend in a faux-whiney voice. Betty smiled sympathetically at you. 'She doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want to,’ of course she’d side with you. She was too caring to force you into having to spend two hours watching your ex from the bleachers. Jughead cursed silently. He turned to Veronica, a pleading look on his face.

'I think you should come,’ she told you firmly, 'Show that jerk that he’s not going to stop you from living your best life with your best friends!’ She squeezed your elbow gently. You weren’t convinced. Jughead knew by your expression. You stood your ground all the way through break, and then Jughead lost his opportunity to keep insisting as you had separate classes for the rest of the day. He managed to grab you for a few seconds after final bell.

'I’ll be picking you up at six,’ he said, and ran off before you could say anything. Sure enough, at six o'clock that evening, he was on your doorstep. Your dad opened the door, smiling warmly at him.

'Hey, Mr. (Y/L/N). Is (Y/N) here?’ 'No, I’m afraid not, Jughead. She’s gone to the library to study.’

Jughead officially went into panic mode. The match was due to start in an hour - Reggie had no idea he had failed to complete his part of the plan. He drove like a crazed man to the field, getting Moose to pass on a message when he entered the changing room.

Reggie stormed out, face screwed up angrily. 'What do you mean she isn’t coming?’ He demanded, face hot and flushed. 'She’s gone to the library, what am I supposed to do, physically drag her out?’ Reggie considered it for a split second - then came to his senses. 'Go talk to her,’ he begged the smaller boy. 'Please. Just don’t tell her what I have planned.’

Jughead knew it was probably a lost cause. But the look of fear on Reggie’s face at the thought of losing you forever made it impossible to deny him. He agreed, and drove across town to the local library, seeking you out. His nerves were shot, as he whispered your name walking through the many shelves of books. You were nowhere to be seen. He called you - straight to voicemail. Text messages went unseen and as the clock ticked on and crept closer to seven, Jughead wondered if he should just give up now. The thought of having to face Reggie and tell him again she wasn’t coming, for definite this time, twisted his insides into an uncomfortable knot. He decided to go to Pops, and return to the game when it had already started. He actually felt sorry for Reggie - he’d seen how much of a mess he was since you had ended things. For once, Jughead got to see the man you knew, the caring and sensitive side to someone Jughead had always thought was just a meathead jock.

** Pop’s was quiet, most people attending the Bulldog match against Liberty High, a long-time nemesis of the school. He leaned against the counter, drumming his fingers across the cool top, eyes shifting to note the time. Eleven minutes past seven. The game had begun. Without (Y/N).

He noticed something in the corner of his eye - a blur of movement. Relief floored him as he saw you, sunk low into your seat, hood pulled over your forehead, sitting in a booth at the bottom of the restaurant. You had seen him enter, and had panicked. When you realised you were spotted, your shoulders slumped in defeat. Jughead sprinted to you, demanding to know why you had lied to your dad.

'Because I knew whatever he said, you’d go looking,’ you explained in a voice that said, isn’t in obvious? Grinding his teeth together, Jughead opened his mouth, but you cut him off quickly. 'I am not going to that damn match, Jughead.’ Your voice was flat, tough as a brick wall. He relented, pulling the half-drank milkshake across to take a sip. Sitting opposite you, Pop himself came down to take his order - his usual, and nothing for you. A brainwave hit like lightening. He took out his phone and texted Betty.

to; Betty go down to reggie at half time & tell him to go ahead with the plan

Seconds later, the screen lit up with a response.

from; Betty what plan??

to; Betty just tell him that, and video call me when he gets up on the stage

After a moment, he tapped out another text.

to; Betty i’ll explain later i promise x

from; Betty okay x

He smiled - then wiped it off his face when he realised you were staring at him, suspicion rife across your features. Pop placed a burger in front of him, and left you a fresh milkshake - 'on the house’ - which you accepted gratefully. You both sat silently. Which wasn’t anything new - oftentimes you both went to Pop’s and sat without speaking, you working on homework or a new entry to your journal, Jughead tapping away at his laptop as he wrote up his novel.

Jughead ate slowly, every so often looking to the clock on the wall, counting down the minutes. You didn’t notice, finding the contents of your milkshake too interesting to lift your eyes from the bottom of the glass. Finally, Jughead’s phone buzzed again. Betty’s smiling face filled the screen; he took a moment to just appreciate his girlfriend and then answered. She came into view, the camera quality a little off, the sounds of the roaring crowd filtering through the mic.

'Hey!’ She spoke loudly, and Jughead asked her to turn the phone towards the stage. Reggie was already standing up by the mic on the stage. In the background, Ronnie was pestering Betty with questions about what he was doing. 'What’s going on, Jug?’ The blonde asked, exasperated, the camera switching back to her face. 'Just go closer to the stage,’ he urged, and handed the phone to you.

You took it, questioningly. Jughead just nodded, and you frowned as you realised what you were looking at.

'Jughead, what is this?’

'Just watch.’

You knew you wouldn’t get any information from him, you resigned yourself to seeing what would unfold. Reggie was adjusting the mic to his height, covered in sweat and mud and looking far too good for someone so dirty. 'Hello, everybody!’ His voice boomed through the field, crackling over the line. Pop heard it, and sent an inquisitive look their way.

'I hope you’re all having fun tonight!’ The crowd responded with loud cheers, and you resisted the urge to turn the volume down. 'As many of you know,’ the football captain continued, 'I have been dating (Y/N) (Y/L/N) for a few months now.’

Your heart leapt to your throat. What was he doing?

'Well, last weekend, she ended things,’ now there were boos, and you felt shamed and embarrassed. 'But she was right to,’ this time, silence met his announcement. 'I have been an absolute jerk towards many students in this school. I think I just got so used to it, and it became a habit. But that is no excuse. I wanted to take this moment to apologise profusely to anyone I have ever harassed or belittled, or just been an ass to. I especially want to say I’m sorry to Jughead Jones. Now, he isn’t here tonight, neither is (Y/N), and I don’t blame her for not showing up. But, if things have gone right, she is watching this from somewhere right now. I hope she is. (Y/N), I am so in love with you, and the past five days have been hell without you. You have shown me that I don’t need to be a jerk to feel better about myself. Every day with you is all I need to be happy. I know I have a long way to go, and a lot of things to make up for. But I promise you, if you give me the chance, I will never let you down again.’

Pop had wandered over towards your booth somewhere in the middle of Reggie’s heartfelt speech. You were in a state of shock. Betty had turned the phone back to her and you passed it over to Jughead. He spoke to his girl but you felt deaf to whatever they were saying. Frozen to your seat, a hand on your shoulder drew you back to reality. Pop stared down at you, smiling knowingly. 'Go and get him,’ he told you in his deep voice. You met Jughead’s eyes. He was smiling.

'You knew about this.’ It wasn’t a question.

'Yep.’ He popped the p at the end of the word; you giggled, still in shock. 'Shall we go?’ He asked, standing up and offering you a hand. After a seconds hesitation, you took it.

The game was coming to an end when Jughead pulled in. You got out of the car, nervous, excited. The two of you stood at the side of the bleachers, watching as the final whistle blew, and the Bulldogs were declared the winners. Jughead could only roll his eyes as Moose, Reggie, and Archie all collided in an aggressive victory hug. Smashing off each other and whooping. Jughead pushed you forward. The nerves drowned out of everything else; you felt rooted to the spot. Reggie suddenly looked around - searching for you. In the shadows, you watched his face fall, all happiness draining out of his body as disappointment washed over. That was all you needed to make your feet move.

He almost missed you walking to him. It was only when you stopped right in front of him, and he kept walking, blinded by his thoughts, that he saw you. He gripped your shoulders automatically as he almost knocked you over, lifting his eyes from the muddy grass to apologise. He paused - you were there. You were with him. All words deserted him. He could stand there, his hands feeling your solid warmth. You were here.

'I can’t believe you did that,’ you told him, a smile playing on the edge of your lips. You were looking at him so softly, so … so lovingly, it almost broke his heart again. 'I meant every word,’ he promised, holding you tighter, afraid you would slip from his grasp should he let go. You nodded, and stepped closer, your bodies pressed together. His breath hitched.

'I know.’

It was only a whisper, but it felt like a scream to him. He dragged you in, lifting you up and spinning you around in a vice grip of a hug, his face buried in the crook of your neck.

'I am never letting go of you again,’ he mumbled against the skin. You felt mud smearing across your skin, but in that moment, you didn’t care. You pulled back, and saw panic flashing in his features as he thought you were trying to get away.

Then, you rested your hand against his cheek, hot, slick with sweat. Your eyes flickered to his lips briefly. 'Reggie?’ 'Yeah?’

The words were so quiet you could both barely hear them, only that you were so close together that your breath mingled with his.

'Kiss me.’

Reggie didn’t need to be told twice. He slotted his lips against yours, kissing you once, twice, furthering the third one by angling your head to the side by curling his fingers through your hair. You were vaguely aware of the River Vixens and the rest of the bulldogs cheering you on. But all you could feel, taste, smell, was Reggie. He surrounded you completely, as you did him. When you broke apart for air, your foreheads touched.

'I love you, (Y/N).’

'I love you, Reggie.’

#riverdale fic #reggie x reader #reggie mantle x reader #reggie mantle imagine #riverdale imagine #ross butler

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