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sweetsoundsofignorance · 3 years

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Currently running around bugging people and I want to know your thoughts on this: if you had full creative control of the show, how would you run season 5? You can pick and choose whatever leaks you want to include.

Thank you for the ask! 💕 A very fun exercise, and there has been some excellent speculation from the fandom. I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s takes on it that I’m almost inclined to create bingo cards out of everyone’s nuttier speculations and play Riverdale batshit bingo for the season, a la Cabin the Woods.

I should say Riverdale speculation and leaks can leave me feeling overwhelmed at times, so I drift in and out when they are circling. Therefore, this rant is limited to the leaks/speculation/trailer gifs I have seen or heard about because I have no self-control. I’ve also not seen 4x17 or 4x18 (though I feel like I have through a mishmash of so many GIFs and recaps and speculations). In my mind, 4x17 is just *insert gif of Betty standing in the middle of the woods holding a bloody rock* Atm, no one knows how we got there.

Given the beginning of season five will be the tail-end of season four, perhaps start there? This got away from me, so it’s under the cut.

I imagine they will close four with the reveal of the voyeur and Chic/Charles plotline (with Riverdale you never know where they’re going to be selectively sloppy). In that case, I have fully adopted the following speculation/serenity prayer: see @sullypants theory here. It’s the perfect level of batshit Riverdale and it’s consistent with the hypnosis (cannot keep a straight face just typing it) plotline. I know, consistent and Riverdale should never be in the same sentence without some negative participle in between. So, that “cleans up” the Bughead infidelity but leaves Varchie in the weeds (sigh). It would ex out Charles/Chic. The fallout would break up Falice, possibly.

FP gets busted for all the shady shit he’s done as sheriff and has to flee the country, so hi, Canada, but no wrestle mania with the grizzly bears this time. Or he gets eaten by a bear. I don’t care.

Veronica gains some self-agency and leaves for college. Though I want her to get out from under her father, loyalty to family is so engrained with the Lodges that I don’t see it happening. Maybe we’ll get lucky and Hiram’s terminal illness kills him. If Toni and Cheryl break up, Cheronica may happen through their rum business, which takes off. I would not be remiss if Cheryl and Veroncia were endgame, but I know it won’t shake out like that, so. Also, if it is hypnosis, I hope Veronica and Betty would still be friends long-distance.

Toni takes the reins for the Southside, ends the rampant Serpent misogyny, actually makes the neighborhood a safe space for the residents, and works to end the cycle of poverty. She manages the White Wyrm, and yes, there are still strippers because nothing wrong with that, but the Serpent Dance is barely a footnote. I am curious if they will shoot around Vanessa’s pregnancy, but if they incorporate it into the show, I would not be against Cheryl and Toni having a child together. If they did not break up.

For Jughead, he got his MFA at Iowa, but in true millennial fashion, never made it past that (for a great fic on the plight of the underemployed over-educated millennial see @imreallyloveleee head underwater). He might have written a first novel that was semi-popular, received a few good reviews but overall lambasted by the bigger names. Head canon is that it becomes a cult classic in later years, perhaps a screenplay. Hard forever no to him being an alcoholic, but I can see some Sideways-level angst dealing with trying to get over writer’s block (plus anxiety block based on the mediocre success of his first) for his next novel and some bitterness about his first novel, which may be the driving wedge between Jughead and whoever ends up being his SO in this scenario.

Jughead as an English teacher gels for me. I’ve written him as an English teacher. I like reading him as an English Teacher (*cough* *cough* @geekspen). Though they flopped with the Jug and Jellybean relationship in season four, I always imagined Jughead from season one and that brief moment in season three as a very present and considerate big brother type. Based on those brief interactions we have gotten, I would believe Jughead is good with kids, especially teenagers. He’s had experience dealing with dumbass adolescents, i.e. the Serpents, and (kind of) keeping them in line, mainly by out-extra-ing the morons (see declaring himself gamemaster by ordering Cheryl to shoot an arrow through a can on his head). I see him being that curmudgeonly teacher that gets along with those grab-bag students on the edge of committing a crime out of sheer boredom who linger in their English teacher’s classrooms during lunch and after school (that’s how we started our creative writing club in high school), and that leads me to a head-canon about him starting, yes, a creative writing club or running the Blue and Gold. I love full-circle shit like that. I think he would be an objectively bad teacher but a very good one in the context of Riverdale, if that makes sense.

Bughead long distance did not pan out, and Betty being Betty immersed herself in her career – degree in criminal psychology, BSU at the FBI, the whole shebang. Reports of a giant man with red eyes and wings seen in the vicinity of places where people are disappearing. FBI!Betty investigates these at her alma mater until one happens in Riverdale, which drags her investigation thattaway.

Veronica is unhappy with her SO for whatever reason (not exactly jazzed about her being with a douche but ok). She is successful but wistful. Her father dies. She uses it as an excuse to break up with her SO and return to Riverdale to help her mother manage the estate. Because Veronica is successful in her own right, most of the estate goes to her mother and Hermosa. She returns to Pop’s one night for nostalgia’s sake. She signed the diner back over to Tate years ago.

Jughead is there struggling to write after a fight with his SO.

Side note: I don’t like love triangles. Even less, I don’t like setups for more infidelity, even if it would lead to my ship ending up together. I understand that is often the reality (I’ve witnessed it), but I think it is bad writing. So, for any of the core four’s respective SOs, please no cheating on them. Break it off. Learn from your mistakes. Therefore, Jughead soon breaks up with his SO after meeting Veronica in Pop’s.

Veronica sits with him. Cue some reminiscing. Perhaps the mystery starts in the speakeasy, of which Veronica is still the partial owner. This connects Betty and Veronica down the road. Because Jughead witnessed it, Betty crosses paths with him.

Initially, Betty is reticent to let Jughead get involved with her investigation. However, Jughead is just as obsessed with the mystery (because he’s him), so they keep running into each other. He gets in the way a few times (more tension). Eventually, Jughead ends up discovering some important piece of evidence that Betty needs, so she gives in. Before he joins her investigation, he may be keeping his own personal murder board in the Blue and Gold at school after hours… Lots of sexual tension. I’d even be down for friends with benefits because *insert gif of Donna accusing Betty of being addicted to Jug’s vitamin D*. But Betty knows she isn’t going to stay in Riverdale and they’ve already tried and failed long-distance, so she keeps putting on the brakes. Jughead starts to get his writing mojo back, too, because I will never not believe Betty is his muse.

Archie. Oh Archie. Deployed overseas for a time, though I cannot stand the idea of giving this kid anymore PTSD. He returns, and for a while, spends most of his time alone at the old gym and in the Andrews home. His old army buddy shows up out of work. He works with Toni to create a real community center for the Southside youth because I enjoyed that poorly executed plotline in season four. This also gives his army buddy a job. His army buddy is from New Haven, so he ends up being a Mothman suspect, given it started at Betty’s alma mater.

Through his work with Toni, he gets dragged into Jughead’s orbit. Maybe they both try to reactivate the community center’s big brother program together. It’s just very difficult for me to imagine Jughead accepting/forgiving Archie, and though I cannot imagine how they would resolve it, I would like to see it.

#riverdale speculation #plot-hole ridden thoughts #arsenicpanda #asks

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roseinthenight · 3 years

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Back to town [Jughead x OC] - Chapter 2

[Summary] | [Ch1]

2| Old best friends

Later that day, around 6 pm, Archie knocked on the door of his sister’s room. April opened it rather quickly and looked up at the ginger boy.

”I was wondering if maybe you’d want to meet up with Betty, Jughead and Veronica at Pop’s?” Archie asked right away.

At the mention of Jughead April’s heart instantly started beating faster. She tried not to show too much interest, but honestly, she failed miserably.

”Yeah, sure,I’d love to! Buut... who’s Veronica exactly?” April tilted her head to the side as the question left her mouth.

”She’s new to the town, came from New York. I met her on the last day of the summer vacation.”

”I see. Well, why the hell not?” the girl shrugged. ”Just a sec,” she held up her index finger, singalling Archie to wait.

April looked at herself in the front camera of her phone. She wanted to look her best if she’s going to meet Jughead -and of course the others. After a few seconds, she put it in her back pocket, ran her fingers through her hair and turned back to her brother.

”Alright, I’m ready to go.”

----------

The red neon lights shined brightly in the warm August evening, bringing every bypasser’s attention to the diner coated in blue wooden panels. April could already see the familiar blonde ponytail and grey beanie from the window. She felt her palms beginning to sweat as she and Archie got closer and closer to the entrance. She fiddled with the hem of her flannel shirt nervously, not knowing at all what to expect from he best friends.

Finally, the bells above the door chimed, indicating that someone had entered. When the siblings turned towards their friends’ booth, Jughead was already on his feet, pacing towards them with disbelief in his eyes as he stared at April.

He didn’t change that much since April saw him the last time. He was wearing black boots, a gray pair of jeans, a darker grey T-shirt with an ’S’ on it and a thin black denim jacket. He also had a flannel shirt tied around his waist, and of course his signature beanie. Locks of his raven hair have lightly moved as he walked towards April.

She couldn’t help but let a huge grin appear on her face. She was so, so relieved to finally see her best friend (and crush, but that’s not really important, right?) again. Even Jughead seemed surprised at his own actions when he reached the girl; everyone knew that Jughead Jones was not a fan of PDA. Yet, he hugged the girl so tight and close to himself that you couldn’t even fit a piece of paper between them. April, of course, had nothing against this. She wrapped her arms around his waist and let her head rest on his chest. Jughead put his chin on the top of her head and just enjoyed the closeness of the smaller girl with closed eyes and not a word spoken between them.

They stood there, in the middle of the diner for what seemed like hours. The two girls who were still at the booth looked at them just as shocked as everyone else. The first to break the awkward silence, which seemed to have slipped the pair’s noce, was none other than Veronica Lodge.

”Excuse me for disturbing your cuddling,” she started with an edge in her tone, ”but you have your girlfriend right over here, Jughead.”

The mentioned boy lifted his head up from its previous position, but before he could even turn around and say something much likely rude as a response, Betty has already stood up for him.

”It’s okay, V,” she placed a hand on the black haired girl’s shoulder, a calming smile on her face showing that she really meant it.

”What? Are- are you fine with Jughead hugging another girl like his life depended on it?” Veronica asked with furrowed brows, not understanding the situation one bit.

”She isn’t just some girl, Veronica,” Jughead spat, every single word of his dripping with venom.

The raven boy looked at her like she had committed some kind of felony. He has now let go of April, but still stood close to her, their arms touching. His piercing eyes burned a hole on Veronica’s face. He unconsciously clenched his fists, which were slightly trembling with anger.

”Juggie, calm down,” April gently squeezed the boy’s shoulder. ”She doesn’t know me, remember?”

Jughead looked down at the girl, took a deep breath and slowly calmed down with April’s hand still on his shoulder. When it felt safe to leave his side, the brunette stepped in front of Veronica.

”Hi! I’m April Andrews, Archie’s sister. Jughead and I have been best friends literally since we can remember, so hugs like this aren’t really extraordinary. Plus, we haven’t seen each other for 2 years!”

While explaining the situation to the girl, April could feel Jughead stepping close behind her. She felt the warmth radiating off his body, his protective aura practically surrounding her. Even though she didn’t need any protection from a girl like Veronica, she wasn’t about to complain; she loved it.

”And I’ve already told you V, I’m okay with it,” Betty stood up from her spot and came over to April. ”Hi! I’m so glad you’re here again!” she smiled at the girl.

”It’s been so long, Betty,” April grinned and hugged the blonde, who returned the gesture.

When they let go, everyone sat in the booth, Jughead, Betty and April on one side and Veronica and Archie on the other. April saw that the ”new girl” still wasn’t really okay with her, but she did apologize and introduced herself as Veronica Lodge.

Pop Tate came over to their table to take their order.

”Well, well, what a surprise, little Andrews is back to town!” the man chuckled as he took his notepad in his hand.

”Hello!” she greeted him joyfully. ”Umm, I’ll have a strawberry milkshake please.”

The others also gave their order.

”So, April,” started Jughead when Pop Tate went away. ”What about your new style? I mean, you look cool, I’m just a little surprised.”

”Yeah, same here,” chimed in Betty.

”What could I say? Pinterest does wonders, especially when you have lots of freetime on your hands,” she replied with a soft giggle.

That was when the door opened again. April turned her head towards it, and saw the well-known faces of Riverdale High; the Bulldogs with Reggie in the middle. She wondered though, where could Jason be?

As Reggie scanned the place for an untaken booth, he noticed April and smirked at her, immediately starting her way.

”Wow, April Andrews,” he clicked his tongue. ”How come you’re back?”

”You know Reggie, there’s this thing called moving. Maybe you should try it,” April said. The distaste she felt for the boy was evident in her cold eyes and sarcastic tone, but her sickly sweet fake smile said otherwise.

The other people who sat at the table laughed quietly.

”Still the old brat, I see,” he laughed. ”If you change your mind, I could always take you on a ride,” he winked at the girl.

”Hey, watch it! You’re talking to my sister, for god’s sake!” Archie yelled protectively.

”Calm down, Andrews. I’m just sayin’,” with that he left and sat in a booth far away from April and her friends.

April shook her head while chuckling and didn’t notice that Pop brought them their drinks and food.

----------

It was about an hour later when April needed an escape from Betty and Jughead, so she excused herself and almost run to the bathroom. Until then, she could keep herself from feeling miserable and heartbroken, but it was just getting too much. They were stealing each other’s food, stealing kisses from one other and so on. It shattered April’s heart into pieces. She always thought she didn’t have a chance with Jughead, but there was at least a little bit of hope; now it only became clearer that she was never going to end up with her secret crush and she just needed to get over it. He was with Betty and April would never want to break them apart. They were so perfect together, she couldn’t even imagine how she could compete with someone like Betty. She was not an excellent student, she could never be as strong and pretty as Betty. April could go on and on about why she would never be enough for someone like Jughead, but she figured that she’ll have time for that when she gets home.

These thoughts didn’t help her hold back her tears, but at least she could keep down her sobs. After minutes of trying to dry her tears, she finally succeeded. After getting herself together, she left the restroom and went back to their table like nothing had happened.

----------

At 10:23 pm, April was laying in her bed, staring at the white ceiling and thinking about today’s events. Suddenly, a loud thud shook her up from daydreaming. She looked over to her window and cautiously walked over, to be greeted with Jughead’s face and a ladder leading up to her window. She stumbled back a bit, before sighing in relief and opening her window.

”You scared me, shithead,” April looked at him angrily, crossing her arms.

”Sorry,” he smirked, not at all looking apologetic. After climbing in, he casually walked over to her bed and sat down on it, April following him.

”Soo, what you doin’ here?” April asked him.

”I just happened to be walking around this part of the town, you know, like in the old times.”

”Mm-hmm,” she hummed, putting her head on his shoulder. ”Well, I’m sleepy, Jug.”

”Yeah, I can see that much,” he chuckled as he looked at her face, noticing how she could barely keep her eyes open. ”It must have been tiring, travelling for so long.”

April nodded, then put her head back to its original place. Neither of them talked for a while, just enjoying the calm quietness. In the end, Jughead broke the silence.

”I missed you, you know?”

”I missed you too, Juggie. There wasn’t a day when I didn’t think about you.”

”I can say the same. I also thought a lot about the old times. When we were still kids, with no real problems.”

”Yeah, those were nice times,” April agreed. ”Oh, by the way. What happened to Jason? I didn’t see him with the Bulldogs at Pop’s.”

”Uh... he- he was murdered. His body was found a few days ago,” Jughead thought it would be better to say it simply.

”O-Oh, I’m...” April couldn’t find the right words. She wasn’t really close to the Blossom boy, in fact, she never even talked to him, but it still scared her a little bit. But mostly, she felt sorry for Cheryl, she knew how close the twins were.

”I’m writing a novel about it,” Jughead stated casually.

”Oh, so you’re still into writing? I’d love to read it someday.”

”I guess I can show you,” Jughead grinned. ”But right now you should sleep. I’ll go, okay?”

April definitely did not want Jughead to leave, but she was just so tired and it wouldn’t be nice if her father or Archie met with Jughead in the morning in her room.

”Okay, but be careful. A murderer’s on the loose.”

”Sure thing,” he stood up and walked to the window. ”It’s good to have you back, princess,” he smiled genuinely at the blushing girl. April didn’t expect him to call her by her old nickname. Only Jughead had called him this.

”You too, Juggie,” she whispered, his words still repeating in her head.

It filled her with joy, knowing that Jughead remembered and still used it. She got this nickname when she was about 5 and Jughead was 6.

Archie, Jughead, April and some other kids were playing hide and seek and the girl hid in a small, unfamiliar wooden cabin. When she entered, she didn’t notice that the lock has slammed down. Soon, she could hear that they were about to start another round, loudly arguing about who the seeker should be. She panicked and tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. She shouted for Archie and Jughead, tears running down her red face.

Jughead rushed to the door first, but when he didn’t succeed in opening it, he went over to the side and broke in the window with a branch from the ground. He helped April climb out, then hugged the sobbing girl.

”It’s okay. You’re safe now,” he whispered.

After long moments of calming the girl down, he let go of her.

”You were like a princess from a tale,” Jughead laughed softly. ”And I saved you.”

That night, April fell asleep with Jughead’s words on repeat in her head.

”It’s good to have you back, princess.”

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Word count: 2162

#riverdale #riverdale fanfiction #riverdale fandom #riverdale archie #riverdale jughead #riverdale betty #riverdale veronica #veronica lodge #betty cooper #jughead jones #archie andrews #romance #fluff #original character #jughead x oc #jughead fanfiction #jughead imagine #pop's #pop's chock'lit shoppe

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beesmygod · 5 years

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this is what riverdale is about (part 3)

part 1

part 2

first, i have to start this description of the first season by begging you to stay with me for all 3 seasons; the first season is hilariously quaint in hindsight to whatever the fuck i just watched in season 3. the first season does deal with some weirdly heavy subjects for a comic that was at one point about getting a malt down at the shop with your best girl (for example, a plot point in season 1 is a predatory teacher/student relationship) but the third season is freaked out on pcp comparatively. the descent into madness this show demonstrates as time goes on should act as a warning to all who desire to write fanfiction: there but for the grace of god goes YOU.

anyway, my approach to doing this is that i will describe each episode of the season briefly. in some episodes, nothing of major consequence happens. in some, i will describe interactions i found especially bizarre or accidentally funny or iconic. you may want to keep the list of characters handy but i will try to explain the new, incidental ones as they pop up.

an odd side note: you will notice many of the episode titles are taken from movie titles. “riverdale” LOVES making references to movies. i mean hell, so do i, but you will notice some of the references are............on the nose.

images are from the riverdale wiki

SEASON ONE (PART 1):

the river’s edge: jughead, as the series narrator, describes a july 4th boating incident that led to the death of jason blossom, cheryl’s twin brother. cheryl is found by some off-brand boy scouts on the riverbank looking like a fabulous drowned rat. when the town comes to gawk at the spectacle, betty’s mother is hella pumped at the idea of jason being dead because he broke up with betty’s sister, polly (betty’s mom is later revealed to be prejudiced against all redheads, including archie). jason’s body is not recovered.

veronica and her mother arrive at riverdale to stay in a 5 star hotel that inexplicably exists in this podunk little shithole of a town. they discuss her father’s recent arrest for various financial crimes and decide to get a burger. betty, across town, is thinking the same thing...but love is on her mind...

betty wants to confess her feelings to archie, who she watches dress from the house next door. he is huge and beefy, having worked on his dad’s construction site during the summer. betty on the other hand, organized a toni morrison release party (?!), which she describes to archie as they catch up over a burger. archie wants to make music now. music is the ONLY thing that gives his life meaning (spoilers: he only feels this way for about half a season), except for football. betty is about to confess her feelings but veronica busts the door open and ruins everything.

there is an insane scene here where veronica meets kevin at school the next day and “concludes” he’s gay using her powers of deduction and also the fact that he talked to her about a gay bar in town (i cannot believe the riverdale gay bar has never come up again wtf). based on this information alone, she wants to be best friends. great stuff.

archie tries to join the pussycats and they tell him to fuck right off. josie gets a weird monologue about her cat ears. archie makes weird eye contact with the music teacher at riverdale high, ms. grundy (who is like 22 years old and hot now, instead of ancient and withered), who is revealed to have had a VERY uncomfortable sexual relationship with him. the visual coding of the flashback scene is bananas; she’s wearing the heart-shaped pink “lolita” glasses from the kubrick movie.

through a flashback scene, it is revealed that one of archie and grundy’s sexual trysts that took place on the date and location jason died was interrupted by a gunshot. meanwhile, betty and veronica gay kiss to try to get on the cheerleading team but cheryl is unimpressed, commenting that it is SO 1990s. nevertheless, they make the team.

at the semi-formal, betty confesses to archie, who reacts like she handed him a dead fish wrapped in newspaper. cheryl thinks this is hella funny and sets up a scenario at her after party that gets veronica and archie together for a round of “7 minutes in heaven”. betty flees. jughead writes his novel in pop tate’s chocklit shoppe. kevin and moose (a closeted football player) try to fuck down by the murder river but the mood is ruined by jason’s body floating to the shore.

OKAY that’s the longest one. we had to establish a bunch of shit. stick with me now.

a touch of evil: archie confronts grundy about the gunshot they heard, now that it is certain that jason was killed by a gunshot to the head. betty and archie make up and become friends again, beginning the cycle of riverdale drama that wraps itself up in less than 12 hours. cheryl uses the school p.a. system to demand the killer reveal himself so they can put him in the chair. alice cooper pays off the mortician for information about jason’s corpse so she can run an expose about the murder in the front page of the local newspaper. jughead witnesses archie sharing a way too intimate hug with grundy. veronica’s mom works at pop tate’s and meets archie for the first time at work, commenting on how handsome he is, like his father. archie andrews is certified milf-bait for whatever reason.

betty invites cheryl to her house for mani-pedis to spite veronica. cheryl uses the opportunity to accuse betty’s sister of killing jason. betty responds by telling cheryl to get out or she’ll fucking kill her. normal stuff. meanwhile, jughead confronts archie about grundy and finds out pretty much everything, from the inappropriate relationship to the gunshot. he urges archie to go to the cops but archie won’t do it because *~what he and grundy has is sPeCiAl~*. jughead tells archie he’s a fucking idiot and brushes off archie’s attempts to threaten him.

betty asks about her sister, who is revealed to be in a mental hospital in a catatonic state as a result of the relationship breakdown between her and jason.

jughead gets brutally owned by jocks who call him “donnie darko” and “suicide squad” while implying he fucked jason’s corpse. archie defends jughead and they make up right before the pep rally. the heartless bastards at riverdale high inexplicably gave archie jason’s football jersey instead of retiring it and cheryl has a real meltdown about her brother’s death, fleeing into the girl’s locker room to sob her heart out. she confesses to veronica, the only person who goes to comfort her, that jason was supposed to come back.

the next day, the cops arrest cheryl in the middle of class and handcuff her. it turns out jason didn’t die july 4th, but a week after.

body double: despite confessing to being guilty at the end of the last ep, cheryl starts this ep by saying “let me clarify what i meant by guilty” which is the first of many times riverdale immediately recons its own writing for no apparent reason. cheryl confesses she lied about what happened the day of his disappearance; they weren’t simply having a little boat ride, but trying to facilitate jason’s escape to a farm away from the clutches of his family. he was supposed to contact cheryl once he got somewhere safe, but he didn’t. meanwhile, betty’s mom apparently didn’t get the “not guilty” memo and publishes a sensational article about jason accusing cheryl of being the murderer. through this, it is revealed to the audience that betty’s mom and dad own and operate the local newspaper. just them. no one else. cool.

archie finally tells the sheriff about the gunshot but lies about grundy’s existence. kevin comments offhandedly that everyone should re-watch “making a murderer” on netflix, making this what i think is the first plug of an irl property/brand in the show. from here on out they get more brazen and batshit. veronica reveals she has a date with the football coach’s son, chuck clayton, but everyone warns her he’s a player. betty re-opens the school newspaper to compete with her parents and get the REAL story out. she hires jughead to interview the kids who found cheryl the day jason disappeared.

okay, dear readers, please listen to me attempt to explain the next part of this episode. veronica goes on a chaste date with chuck which ends in some light making out. the next day, it is all over social media that chuck gave her a “sticky maple” which is, as far as i can tell, some maple syrup photoshopped onto a photo of her to replicate cum. this is impossible to explain via text, so please look at this helpful screencap.

the theme of this episode suddenly sidewinds from “we must solve jasons murder” to “we must avenge veronica being slut-shamed”. they consider going to the authorities briefly but decide to storm into the boys locker room which accomplishes nothing. this story line is briefly put on hold so jughead can unsuccessfully interview some not-boy scouts and cheryl can repay archie’s attempt to clear her name by setting him up with music lessons from josie and the pussycats.

ethel muggs, a slightly more unpopular and more dowdy girl who pops up from time to time in the plot over the course of the three seasons, reveals that she is one of chuck’s victims too. she tells of a “playbook” kept by chuck that details sex acts the football team engages in (presumably with girls and not each other).

jughead successfully squeezes a not-boy scout into revealing that the scoutmaster (who is like a 15 year old boy) fired the shot everyone heard at the river, but he was just practicing on targets he set up. the scoutmaster is a hardcore survivalist (a fact that becomes vital in later seasons). so ultimately the gunshot meant nothing.

archie offers to write songs for the pussycats and josie tells him to shut the fuck up, white boy.

kevin, betty, veronica and ethel break into the school after hours to find the playbook. cheryl inexplicably shows up wearing red thigh high boots to help them. no one except for me, the audience, is excited about this development. the book they find reveals that jason had a sexual relationship with betty’s sister, implying a sort of pump and dump situation between the two. betty goes apeshit and pledges revenge against chuck.

okay. just. stay with me now.

betty puts on red lipstick and somehow successfully convinces chuck to have sex with her at ethel’s house while ethel and her parents are out of town. when chuck arrives, veronica is there, claiming that she and betty want to “share” chuck. i cannot believe he falls for this for real. betty then comes out wearing a uma thurman “pulp fiction” wig and lingerie.

betty then roofies chuck, who wakes up handcuffed to the hot tub. while veronica records the scene, betty threatens to boil him alive in the hot tub and waterboards him with maple syrup unless he confesses to his crimes, the crimes of jason and for “destroying her”. after torturing him for an uncomfortable amount of time, they take their evidence to the principal. why they didn’t just do this in the first place i’ll never know. anyway chuck leaves the school and cheryl says, out loud, “#justiceforethel”.

meanwhile, archie gets a soundproof place in the garage to practice his music after spending the episode arguing with his dad. dilton doiley, the scoutmaster, tells jughead and betty he saw grundy’s car at the river the day of jason disappearance. episode END.

this turned out to be so much longer than i thought it would be, so i’m splitting it here. these are so long im sorry. god bless you and im sorry you had to read this. we still have like 10 eps left. i didnt know it would be like this but i need you to understand and believe how insane this series is.

thanks for readin

#riverdale

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redhairdontcare732 · 5 years

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SweetPea x Reader: Riot Night from Hell, Part 1

Author's Note: This one shot will be split into two parts. I just fell in love with this storyline, and the finished product turned out to be way longer than I had anticipated. There will be flashbacks interwoven throughout the story, and they're distinguished by the use of italics.

On another note, if you are enjoying my fics, please do me a solid and either favorite or comment on them so I know that someone (other than me) is interested in them. I'm a new writer, and even the simplest comment, like, or even private message would mean so much for my budding confidence!

Reader POV:

As I stood on the roof of Pop's, I internally questioned how my life had turned so far sideways in the course of just one day. Riverdale was in complete fucking chaos. My best friend was just shot and I had no idea if he was alive or dead, I had no clue where my boyfriend was, and the cherry on the top of this nightmarish day was that I was now stuck at Pop’s Diner, of all fucking places, with Archie Andrews, of all goddamned people, while Ghoulies patrolled the exterior, screaming my name. So on my list of top days, this was at the literal bottom.

The day had started out decently, I was with Sweets all day preparing for what would happen once Fangs was finally released. Sweet Pea and I had been dating for almost 5 years now, and we'd both spent the day doing everything we could to get our friend out of jail. Thing had really gotten fucked up when we went to the sheriff's office to escort Fangs out in one piece. I shivered internally as I recalled the events of today.

“IN UNITY THERE IS STRENGTH”, we shouted in unison, locking arms shoulder to shoulder. Everyone pulled away as we mentally prepared ourselves to usher Fangs out of the jail amongst the vengeful protestors. Sweet Pea was the only one who didn't pull away from me; rather, he pulled me closer into his arms and I naturally fell into his broad chest; I took a deep inhale of his familiar, comforting scent of worn leather, light cologne, and fresh soap. My hands found their way to the inside of his serpent jacket, hugging myself closer to him and shivering. Though it wasn't cold in the Sheriff's office I had these ominous chills that had racked my body ever since we'd entered. His thumbs brushed gently against the exposed skin between my ripped jeans and my white t shirt, soothing me in a way I didn't even know I needed. I sighed in contentment, briefly pulled from the swirl of anxious, dark thoughts that had plagued my mind since Fangs was arrested.

“I'm not gonna lie Y/N/N, I get why you have to come out with us, but I'm not thrilled with the idea of you out there with all those insane Northside assholes babydoll”, he murmured into my hair after a few moments. I chuckled lightly against him, tightening my arms around the handsome boy in reassurance.

“I'm not exactly thrilled that you are either Pea, but we both know that we aren't about to let Fangs go through this alone”, I replied quietly. Sweets pulled back slightly, bringing his large hands to rest against the sides of my face. His rough thumbs rubbed delicately across my cheek as he stared deeply into my eyes; I knew in that moment just how scared Pea really was. In times of stress Sweet Pea had the habit of taking my face into his hands, gently cradling my cheeks with the pads of his fingers and his eyes boring deeply into mine. I'd never really given it much thought at first; Sweets had done this since we were kids, and eventually when I pressed about it he had told me that he felt like he just ‘needed to know I was safe’. It somehow comforted him when he was able to see with his own eyes and feel with his own hands that I was indeed still with him. I brought my hands up to cover his gently. We stood like this for an indiscernible amount of time until he sighed in resolve. He brought my face closer to his with his hands and kissed me deeply. Normally, despite his tough exterior, Pea gave the sweetest kisses. His lips, though plump and rough were typically gentle and teasing against mine; Sweets preferred to initiate soft kisses until I moaned or deepened things myself. I think he began this habit when we were young and first together because he was nervous about my reciprocation, but he continues now because he just loved to watch the reaction he still had on me. And while the soft way Pea usually kissed me was one of my favorite things about him, I was surprised to find this kiss was very different. His lips were immediately needy against mine, tongue entering my mouth without warning. It was a kiss of desperation, of longing. Our mouths danced together as we both poured all of the emotions that our voices could not do justice to into our embrace. I was just as needy as him, but before too long we pulled back, foreheads resting against one another's. With one last peck to his swollen lips I nodded in resolve. Sweet Pea laced his warm fingers through mine, fitting together like pieces in a puzzle, and we headed out to the fray, hands locking us together.

I recalled how I’d gotten separated from the rest of the young serpents after Fangs was shot all because of the protesters and general pandemonium of it all. I had desperately searched amongst the crowd for the sight of the tall boy to no avail. My phone was dead, so I'd decided to search elsewhere. I ended up hopping on my bike and heading to the hospital, hoping to God that Sweets and Fangs would both be there and be okay. Adding to my growing fear and unease, it was only FP I found there, who broke the news that Fangs was in surgery.

“It's...ah... it's pretty bad kid”, FP drawled out while rubbing the back of his neck in nervousness. I felt my heart drop into the bottom of my feet. My eyes teared up at the prospect of losing my best friend. Fangs was so sweet and goofy; he should have never been in this position in the first place. My mind was flooded with picture perfect memories of summer days spent by the Quarry and late nights in Pea's trailer, surrounded by Fangs’ contagious laugh and ridiculous jokes. These memories ended abruptly as I recalled the way he'd slowly fallen to the ground, the red spot on his stomach spreading achingly fast. I remembered the sound of the gun above the screaming protestors. But most of all, I remembered Fangs’ face as he fell-- his soft features riddled with disbelief and pain as he slowly lost consciousness. He didn't deserve to go through this, and my heart felt like it was breaking into pieces because there was nothing I could do to help him. I wiped my tears with the sleeve of my shirt and steadied myself; with a deep breath, I reminded myself of my main goal at the moment. I needed to find Pea.

Despite FP’s best efforts towards the contrary, I'd left the hospital to try and find Sweet Pea. I knew that the whole town was in the middle of a full-on, apocalyptic riot, but I was determined to reconnect with my boyfriend and ensure that he was okay. Or as okay as he could be in this scenario, I guess. Knowing him for as long as I had, I knew that he was more likely than not spirling at the prospect of losing his best friend. And when Sweets spiraled, he spiraled hard and with violence. I was the only one with any chance of talking him off the ledge before he did something that he would regret later, and, honestly, I had also wanted to find him for completely selfish reasons. Even now, as I stood on the roof of our favorite diner, I desperately needed my boyfriend’s strong arms wrapped around me, his comforting scent surrounding me, and his deep voice in my ear telling me that everything was going to be okay.

So, I'd fought my way through Riverdale on my motorcycle, Mad Max style, trying to search anywhere I thought Sweets might be. I ended up at Pop's, hoping that either Pea would be there or Jughead would be and would know where he was. Pop's was an extremely important spot in our relationship; it was where he asked me out on our first date when we were 11 years old, it's where we shared our first kiss at 13, and it was in one of the booths near the back where Sweet Pea had told me he loved me for the first time. To this day the neon glow of Pop's never failed to make me happy or to give me hope.

However, the neon sign seemed dull and lifeless as I found, to my utter disappointment, he was not there. But not long after I showed up, Penny fucking Peabody and the Ghoulies arrived.

I was sitting with my head in my hands, having just been informed by Pop Tate that he hadn't seen Sweet Pea all day. The older man had his hand on my shoulders comfortingly, attempting to sooth my increasing level of anxiety. I glanced up at the kind, wrinkled face of Pop Tate and asked tiredly,

“Pop, you think I could use your phone?”. He nodded and handed me the receiver.

“ ‘Course sweetie”.

I dialed the number I'd long since memorized, praying that Pea would answer. Who knows what kind if trouble he could be in out there? My anxiety only increased as the line went dead, signaling that he hadn't answered. I slammed the phone down in frustration, returning to my previous position. Not seconds after, a giant crash hit my ears, and I heard the taunting voices that could only belong to Malachi and his Ghoulies.

“Oh Y/NNNNNNN, come out and playyyyyy”, Penny Peabody's sickening voice called out in a sing-song manner. “You and I have unfinished business DollFace”.

Penny as and I had never been on the best of terms; it was her and her snake charming ways that had nearly gotten my father released from prison, a thought which terrified me to my very core. Thankfully, the court system recognized the grave danger that would place me in and decided on a maximum life sentence. I thought that was the end of Penny and me, but unfortunately Jughead had to go and get himself tangled up with her when FP was locked up. I had taken my pseudo-brother's place in the deal he made, and once he came up with the plan to get rid of Penny I was all too eager to help. I knew she hated me, but I really thought she was gone for good.

“Okay we should be fine as long as-”, Archie started.

Another thunderous crash echoed through the small diner as one of the windows shattered.

“EVERYBODY STAY AWAY FROM THE WINDOWS”, I ordered as the burglar alarm blared.

“STAY DOWN”, someone shouted.

I ducked behind the counter, finding Archie Andrews down there as well.

“Pop do you have as gun in here?”, he asked tensely. The old man's soft face dropped.

“No. Had my fill of gunfire in the war. But I did learn a trick in the riots of ‘79. I have some liquor left over from Mr. Lodge's poker night”, he said tensely. “And if you can get to the roof from the crawlspace…”,

“I like how you're thinking Pop”, Archie interrupted. I nodded and shared a knowing look with my unlikely Northside ally.

I'd helped Archie Andrews board up the windows, and that's how I now found myself on the roof of Pop's with the ginger, liquor bottles in hand ready to fight the clinically insane gang below.

“Come on Y/N, you had to know that this moment was coming”, Penny shouted upwards at me, pulling me out of my trance. “It’s time to pay the price dollie”.

Malachai laughed, swinging his bat around teasingly. I glowered in response, choosing to stay silent. I felt Archie’s strong hand on my shoulder, offering support that I didn’t expect from the ginger boy. We'd been somewhat close as kids (friends through Jughead, my honorary self-proclaimed twin brother) but we hadn't spoken in a year or so. I wasn't overly fond of him as of late, ever since he ditched Jug for his Bulldog buddies and especially not since he'd waved a gun in Sweet's face and started his stupid Red Circle.

“Get the fuck out of here Penny, Y/N isn’t coming down and you’re not taking her any place”, he practically growled. I nodded.

“Last chance Ghoulie scum. Leave, or suffer the consequences”, I spat. Penny and Malachai scoffed.

“DO YOUR WORST! COME ON, HIT ME!”, Malachai shouted, a crazy look in his eye. Well, crazier than the usual insane look he wore. Steadying myself, I prepared the bottle. Lighting it quickly, I launched it as well as I could and managed to hit one of the ghoulies’ bikes dead on. The bike erupted in flames. This did nothing to faze the group below, and Archie lit his second bottle and prepared to throw it.

Before he could chuck the bottle, the Sheriff’s cruiser came bursting into the fray of Ghoulies, sirens blaring. Sheriff Keller and Fred Andrews came out of the car, Keller with a shotgun. He shot his shotgun in the air in warning and the Ghoulies scattered.

“This isn’t over Y/N!”, Malachai vowed as he ran away. I saw FP hop off his bike and demand that the rest of the Ghoulies leave. I smiled slightly in relief, and Archie and I shared a brief hug before heading back down into the restaurant.

Once we reached the bottom, I brought FP into a bone crushing hug as my way of thanks. He returned my affection, seeming like he needed the reassurance almost as much as I did in the moment. FP had always been there for me, especially since my own dad had gotten carted off to prison when I was 6. I'd stayed with the Jones’ on and off throughout my childhood, and it wasn't a stretch to say that FP was more of a father to me than my own. He was always there for me, and much like Sweet Pea he always tried to keep me from the less savory sides of life as Serpent. He pulled back from the hug to search my face for injuries. I rolled my eyes.

“You really think I'd let the discount Insane Clown Posse trash this beautiful mug?”, I joked half-seriously. FP rolled his eyes and glared.

“Seriously Y/N? What were you thinking taking on all those Ghoulies alone? You could've been fucking killed!”, he scolded. I scoffed.

“Okay first of all, I was not alone; our dear Archiekins was with me on the roof”, I said gesturing to the aforementioned boy who looked more like a wounded little puppy than anyone who'd just been tossing out Molotov cocktails had the right to. “Secondly, did it seem like I had many other options? And thirdly, I'm fine, so it couldn't have been that bad of a plan”, I sassed. FP sighed and ran a hand through his dark locks, eyes looking more tired than I knew he'd like to admit.

“Heard Sweet Pea is going insane looking for you Y/N; why the hell aren’t you answering your phone kid?”, he asked. I felt my heart flutter at the mention of my partner. My tough demeanor dropped instantly, and I grabbed FP’s arm.

“So he’s okay? Tell me he’s okay. My phone is dead; I'd tried calling on Pop's but he didn't answer. Where is he?”, I demanded. FP grabbed my arms gently.

“Whoa whoa slow down Y/NN. He’s fine, he’s good. He’s with Jug at the Wyrm”, he soothed. “Here, use my phone, call the boy and tell him you’re alright”.

I grabbed his phone eagerly, fingers swiftly dialing the number I knew by heart once again. My heart hammered in my chest as I heard the distinct ringing of the call being placed. I needed reassurance that my tall, dark haired other half was okay. With each ring of the phone my anxiety increased tenfold, until I heard the one thing I’d been searching for all night. That smooth, deep voice that could simultaneously calm me and send delicious tingles up my spine all at once. My mind flooded with the low rumbling chuckles and sweet sounds that comforted me as I laid on his chest in more tender moments, heart signaling sweet reassurances into my ears with each beat. My favorite sound in the world, Sweet Pea's voice

“Hello? FP, what’s up?”, I heard Sweet's soothing bass answer. Even though he sounded tense, panicked even, I couldn't help but feel elated that he was safe and able to speak to me at all. I sighed in complete relief.

“Pea? It’s me”, I answered quickly.

“Y/N/N? Oh my god are you okay? Where are you? Why aren’t you answering your phone?”, he questioned in a state of near panic.

“Sweets, it's okay, I’m okay. My phone is dead, and I’m at Pop’s with FP looking for you”, I breathed. “Are you okay? What happened to you after the Sheriff’s station?”.

“It’s a long story babydoll, I’ll tell you later. Where did you say you were? Stay there I’m coming to get you”, he replied. I shook my head before realizing that he couldn’t see me.

“No, Pea it’s not safe out there right now, and honestly it’s not safe here either. I’ll go with FP back to the Wyrm and meet you there”, I reasoned. He was silent for a beat, contemplating my words. I heard shuffling on the other line.

“Sweetheart, I know it’s not safe, that’s why I don’t want you out there”, he murmured. I could tell that he’d moved away from the other serpents; his sweet side was coming out and he probably didn’t want them to hear. “I just... I need you with me. I need to see you, hold you in my arms and know that you’re okay”.

My heart lurched at his protectiveness, warmth flooding my body at his tender words. I could practically picture his face, eyes cast downward and deep brown irises swimming with that look that he had always saved just for me. His chiseled jaw was probably locked, twitching with unease. If I were there I would run my fingers up and down his cheeks in an attempt to sooth the tense muscles, loving the way he relaxed and leaned into my touch.

“Sweets, I know. Believe me love, I want you safe just as much, but I promise I’ll make it over to you before you know it. The Wyrm is a hell of a lot safer than Pop’s at the moment, and besides I’ve been Mad Maxing my way through this nightmare of a town all night. I've got this”, I stated confidently. No matter how protective Pea could be, I was not some damsel in distress that needed his saving. There was no way on this Earth that I was going to let him go out into the riot that I’d been facing all night. He thought he could be protective but his fierceness had nothing on mine. He sighed and the line went silent for what felt like forever as I waited for his response.

“I love you”, he vowed finally.

“I love you more handsome. And I'm going to see you very soon”, I assured before we both ended the call. I turned to FP, handing him his phone.

“You down to help me get to the Wyrm?”, I asked. He nodded.

“Of course kid. You ready to ride on the back of my bike like you did when you were a tot?”, he grinned. I smiled in nostalgia for a moment, my mind wandering back to the simpler times of my life when FP would take me for rides on his bike to help me escape from the realities of my homelife, if only for a moment. I remembered fondly the day when he finally taught me how to drive my own bike that he gifted me. He always helped me take care of her, and some of my only true family memories were of Jug, FP, and I fixing up our bikes together. Surely he didn't think there was any way that I was going to leave her here in the midst of this shitshow.

“You're kidding”, I deadpanned. There was no way FP was for real.

“Dead serious kiddo. You need a way to get around, and I don't want you roaming the Southside alone even if Sweet Pea or Jug are with you”, he replied. I marvelled at the motorbike in front of us, tracing the chrome detailing with the tips of my fingers gently. I felt tears well up in my eyes and I rushed forward and enveloped him in a tight hug.

“Thank you”, I whispered. FP hugged me back briefly before affectionately mussing up my hair.

“Don't thank me yet kiddo, she still needs a ton of work. If you're up for it I mean”, he countered. I smiled my truest, widest smile.

“I'm in”.

“Think she needs a name don't you?”, he continued, heading over to the bike with his tools.

“Mhm”, I agreed, grabbing a tool out of the box and crouching down alongside him.

“She looks like a Norma to me”, I mused.

“Norma huh?”, he answered, not looking as I grabbed a tool from the box and began working.

“Yeah, Norma Jean”.

“I’m not leaving Norma Jean out here in this fucking dumpster fire of a town”, I countered. “I’ll just follow behind you”.

“That’s not a great idea kid”, he grumbled. “Riverdale is a hellhole on the best of days, and this is clearly not the best of days”. I crossed my arms petulantly.

“I'm not leaving Norma Jean here”, I repeated stubbornly. He sighed and rubbed his stubble ridden chin in contemplation.

“Okay, but you stay on my ass the whole way”, he countered, pointing a finger at me. “I move, you move. I stop you stop. You got that kid?”. I raised my hand solemnly.

“Scouts honor”, I stated seriously. He nodded, and we headed out of Pop’s together to fire up our motorcycles and head out.

We were speeding through the trashed streets of Riverdale, swerving here or there to avoid the dangers that littered the town’s once clean roads. I stayed true to my word and stuck close to FP as we traversed the potential dangers. I did my best to follow him, but after some rioters ran out in front of Norma I was forced to skid to a stop in the middle of the street. Among the din of the riot, FP didn't hear and he continued on. I huffed and began to start Norma up again in attempt to follow once more. But as I revved the engine I felt a pain like none I'd ever felt on the back of my head and my entire world went dark.

Sweet Pea's POV:

“Where the hell are they? She should be here by now”, I practically growled. Jughead lifted his hands up as if in surrender.

“Don't look at me man. Knowing how protective dad is over Y/N, and knowing how stubborn Y/N is, they're probably still fighting over how to get here. He's not gonna want her to ride alone, and she's not going to want to leave her bike”, he reasoned calmly. “Chill out Sweet Pea it's only been like 15 minutes, I'm sure they'll be here soon”, he continued before accepting a call and walking swiftly out of the bar to answer.

I blew air out of my mouth tensely, chest constricting tighter with each breath I took. While I knew that Jughead's words made sense, a larger more irrational part of me was still screaming that I needed to go out and find Y/N. My head was a swirl of rage and fear; my best friend was at some hospital fighting for his life, and the love of my life was out in this godforsaken nightmare of a town. There was nothing more I could do for Fangs, but I refused to stop until I knew my Y/N/N was safe. The only way I would be convinced that she was alright was if I got to hold her small frame in my arms. And to be perfectly truthful, I needed her warm body pressed against mine, her soft hair tickling my face, the sweet fragrance of her shampoo in my nose, and her melodic voice in my ear with gentle reassurances today more than ever. I needed her to keep me sane and grounded on the best of days, and this was sure as shit not the best of days. Ever since we were kids, long before I was ever lucky enough to call her mine, she'd been there to calm the ever-growing darkness that lived within me. Even once we got together I still needed her unique brand of tough love to set me straight at times.

“Pea stop!”, I heard her musical voice from behind me. I turned to see her comparatively shorter legs nearly running to keep up. I turned forward and continued on, ignoring the nagging urge to stop and listen to her.

“PEA I SWEAR TO FUCK-”, she shouted. I whipped around abruptly, stopping and standing nearly toe to toe with Y/N.

“Look, there's nothing you can say to change my mind Y/N. I'm not going back and that's it. Not everyone is cut out for this education shit, alright? I'll hit up Tall Boy, he's always got something lined up for me”, I practically snarled. I recoiled just the slightest bit at her stone cold face; her usually sweet features were scowling at me, adorable nose scrunched tight and dark eyebrows knitted together in concern and irritation. Y/N wasn't usually one to show when she was frustrated. No that was me; when I was angry everyone in a ten mile radius would know. I was like a wildfire, burning bright and scorching anything and everything in my path in a wave of red destruction. Her brand of anger was more like a blue flame, dark and understated, but more intense than you could imagine. My girlfriend could be downright terrifying at times, and to see her frustration directed at me nearly made me reconsider. She crossed her arms stubbornly.

“Give it up Sweets, you can't fool me with your ‘too cool to care’ act. I know you, and I know that you don't really want to quit school”, she growled. I huffed and ran a hand through my hair, frustration reigniting.

“Maybe you don't know me as well as you thought”, I spat. “In fact, why don't you just fucking leave? Everyone else does”.

I turned once again, walking quickly down the steps and away from the shithole that was Southside High. For a few moments I could tell that Y/N was still standing there motionless, and I felt an overwhelming amount of guilt and self-loathing overtake me. Why did I always do this? I couldn't even fathom the idea of my life without Y/N in it, but here I was trying my damnedest to push her away. But to face facts, Y/N was too good for me. She always had been. Too many thoughts swirled in my head all at once, and I quickly grabbed the helmet to my bike so I could ride and forget about them all. But just before my fingertips grazed the shiny black plastic of my visor , I felt a hand on my shoulder yanking me back. Y/N threw her arms around my waist, hugging me fiercely.

“No.”, she stated firmly, the sound slightly muffled by my chest.

“No?”, I scoffed.

“No, I'm not leaving you Sweet Pea. Not now, not ever. Get that through your head”, she replied while lifting her head slightly from my body. My heart fluttered, and I sighed in disbelief and skepticism. I tried to pull back from her vice grip, but like a boa constrictor she simply responded by squeezing my middle tighter. My hands hovered over her waist for a second or two before sinking into her embrace, grasping her as tightly as she did me.

“Sure Y/NN”, I murmured into her Y/H/C hair, breathing in deeply her familiar, comforting in an attempt to slow my racing heart. She always smelled the same: lilac scented shampoo mixed with some cheap perfume I'd gotten her for her birthday one year and a hint of cigarette smell. Normally I hated the way stale smoke smelled, especially on women, but somehow the scent was so uniquely Y/N that I couldn't help but love it.

“I'm serious Pea. Nothing you could ever say or do would make me give up on you”, she swore softly while looking up from the confines of my arms. “I love you, all of you. Even when you're so god-damned frustrating that it makes me want to strangle you, even when you do stupid and dangerous things, and even when you are so broken that you try to push me away I will still be there, loving you. I. Will. Never. Leave.You.”.

Her y/e/c swam with a mix of emotions: love, determination, sadness, desperation. I reached hesitantly up to her cheeks to rest my calloused fingers against her soft face, needing to feel her with my own hands and see her with my own eyes. With every sweet moment like this it became easier, but I too often needed to remind myself that she was indeed here. She was real, and she wanted me. Her dark fan of black lashes fluttered closer together as she closed her eyes slowly, reaching her hands up to rest across mine while her fingers traced delicate patterns across the backs of my hands. I was overcome with a feeling that I wasn't sure I could even explain. I decided in that moment that I was never going to let anything ruin this, what we had. Not even if that thing was me.

“I love you Y/N/N. I love you so much babydoll”.

With every passing moment that she wasn't here with me I felt myself becoming more and more unhinged. I paced around for what felt like an eternity. Voices swirled around me, and I couldn't have even guessed what they were talking about. When I finally tuned in, I found that FP had shown up. I immediately rushed over to him, eyebrows raised.

“FP, where's Y/N?”, I asked quickly, hope bubbling up in my chest amongst the fear that still swirled. His tired, worried face told me all I needed to know, but still I found myself asking again, panic evident in my voice. He shook his head sorrowfully.

“I don't know what happened man, she was right behind me the whole time and then all of the sudden she wasn't. I circled back and searched over and over but I don't know where she went off to Sweet Pea”, he admitted. My shoulders dropped and the fear that had been slowly building up all day suddenly contorted itself into a rock that sank into the bottom of my stomach. FP clapped a hand on my shoulder, finger pointing in my face, a determined expression in his eyes.

“Don't worry SP, she's the toughest girl I've ever known. She gonna be fine. We're going to find her man, I promise”, he spoke tersely. He sounded sure on the outside, but I could tell that he was just about as scared as me. It made sense, Y/N was practically FP’s daughter at this point; he and Jughead were the closest thing that she'd ever had to a family, other than myself. It was for that reason, and that reason alone, that I forced the anger that was bubbling within me back down. FP's phone buzzed, and he turned away to answer.

“What do we do man? I've gotta find her!”, I shouted after him. Already 5 steps ahead, I grabbed my jacket and began to head for the door. I'd been patient enough; now it was time to go and search for my Y/N/N myself.

“SWEETPEA!”, I heard a female voice shout from behind me. I turned to find Toni weaving her way through the throng of serpents with that red headed Northside queen bee following closely behind. She reached me and grabbed my arm so tightly that it would have hurt if I were capable of focusing on anything else but Y/N.

“Topaz I really don't have time for this right now. Y/N is still out there and--”, I started before the small, pink haired serpent shook her head furiously.

“No, that's what I'm trying to tell you Pea! I was held hostage by the Ghoulies, and when Cheryl and I were leaving I saw one of them roll in on Norma Jean”, she exclaimed breathlessly, eyes slightly wild.

“It's true. We would have stopped, but I'd just saved TT from those Neanderthals and we didn't have the same element of surprise on our sides this time”, the Queen Bee replied. My hands clenched into tight fists.

“So you're telling me that those Ghoulie scum have my Y/N?”, I spat through my teeth, eyes squinting shut in fury. Toni nodded. I felt my body start to quiver in total rage. A small, buried part of me was terrified at the prospect of my girl being surrounded by those fuckers. Sure, Y/N was as tough as they come, but those Ghoulies were certifiably insane. And she was probably way out numbered. My mind refused to accept the possibilities of what could being happening to her at this very moment, and my entire being chose to ignored this fear in favor of blinding fury.

“You have to take me there Topaz. Now.”, I demanded. Her pink locks bobbed with her head as she nodded grimly.

“Toni, where were the Ghoulies keeping you?”, FP interrupted. His face was grim and his mouth drawn into a straight line.

“I'm bringing SP there now, they've got Y/N”, she replied quickly.

“I know. I think Jughead just went to go save her, and now they've got them both”, FP choked. My hands clenched and unclenched with unabashed anger.

“Well what the fuck are we waiting for? Let's go”, I nearly screamed as I pulled Toni out the door and to our rides.

#riverdale #archie comics #fanfic #fangs fogarty #fangs fogarty imagine #riverdaleimagine #southsideserpents #sweetpeaxoc #sweet #sweet pea #sweet pea imagine #sweet pea oneshot #sweet pea reader #sweet pea x oc #sweet pea x reader #sweet pea x you #fp jones #jugheadjones

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lonely-full-of-secrets · 5 years

Text

Mutual Friends (Archie x Jones!Reader)

Word Count: 3613

Warnings: none i think

Request: “If your taking request can you do an Archie Andrews x Reader where the reader is Jughead's twin sister and is secretly dating Archie behind her brother's back and when Jug finds out he and Archie fight and the reader has to stop them. If you do this thanks” -Anon

A/n: I really loved writing this so thank you so much for requesting it. It really got away from me with the word count, it was originally going to be much shorter. I also changed up the ending a bit but i still really hope you like it, I haven’t written in a while so i might be rusty. either way enjoy!

Masterlist Link in Bio

Every first Friday night of the month was movie night with you, your twin brother Jughead and his best friends Archie and Betty. They were your friends too but they were more Jughead’s friends. Besides, you had other friends as well so it didn’t bother you.

It had been like that for several years. Either the four of you would gather at the Twilight Drive In, huddled in a pile of blankets and pillows in the bed of Archie’s dad’s truck, or you would go to Betty’s house to watch movies where her mother could keep a watchful eye on her.

Sometimes others like Kevin or Reggie would join in as well but it was always the four of you there at the very least. Only now things are different. With Veronica moving to town and becoming best friend’s with Betty, the group dynamics have gotten scattered. Priorities have also changed. Especially since Betty and your brother started dating.

At first it was weird because they have been friends since forever and suddenly they had feelings for each other that were not there before. It often made you feel like a third wheel despite Archie being there too.

Archie didn’t seem to mind the change, he actually fit in with them quite well. He was happy for his two best friends. He did however try to keep you included in conversations and activities when you just didn’t know what to say or do. Archie was like that, such a sweetheart to everybody. It was nice since your brother certainly wasn’t doing anything to make you feel welcomed.

The thing with you and Jughead was that even though you were twins and were very much alike in so many ways, you were also very different. You both prefer to be alone, are extremely sarcastic, and have a knack for writing, but Jughead is stubborn and set in his ways much like your dad while you were more passive and logical. You know he loves you, you are his twin after all but he isn’t the most perceptive person around. He can often be inconsiderate, especially when it comes to other people’s feelings.

So when the day came in which Jughead and Betty never showed up to the drive in movie the four of you had planned on watching, it didn’t surprise you. It still pissed you off though. Archie had swung by your trailer to pick you up since Jughead had messaged you saying that he and Betty were going to go in her mom’s car.

It was just you and Archie in the bed of the truck sitting side by side. It wasn’t wierd or anything, the two of you were friends. You’ve sat next to Archie and joked with him plenty of times. Only now, it was just the two of you. You have never hung out with him on your own and for some reason you couldn’t shake this weird feeling in your gut.

The movie was about to start and neither Betty or Jughead had messaged to explain why they were late or to cancel. You were annoyed that they didn’t even send so much as an apology text. You huffed, “I didn’t even want to watch this stupid movie. Jughead is the one who picked it.”

Archie frowned, “Me neither. I haven’t had a chance to hang out with him in a while. Between being a Serpent, writing for the Blue and Gold and dating Betty, it doesn’t leave him very much free time.”

You understood exactly how he felt. You haven’t seen much of your brother either. Not even at home. He seems to be blowing you and Archie off a lot lately. “What an asshole” you mumble staring off ahead of you.

This makes Archie chuckle and you turn to look at him. “I’m so glad you said it. I didn’t want to make it weird incase you didn’t think so too.”

You smiled, “Well, at least we can agree on something.” After a moment of silence you add, “Can you take me home?” What was the point in being there if neither of you were interested in the movie? Of course there wasn’t one.

“Of course” he said and as you were about to get up he added, “or we can grab a bite to eat at Pop’s” he shrugged like it was no big deal. “I was planning on going after the movie anyway and I would hate to go in alone.” He had a hopeful smile on his face.

You thought about it for a second. There was nothing wrong with hanging out with your brother’s best friend, right? No of course not. He did just blow both of you off. Plus, you were hungry. “As long as you’re buying” you challenged.

His smile grew even wider. “Let’s go then.”

About fifteen minutes later you were situated in a booth across from Archie at Pop Tate’s Chock Lit Shoppe. While you waited for your food to arrive you talk about Jughead and all his odd quirks. It was quite amusing to be able to joke about them with someone who probably knew just about as much as you did about Jughead.

In the middle of eating and laughing you both receive messages from both Betty and Jughead saying they got caught up with an article at the Blue and Gold about the Serpents.

“Well at least we now know what happened to them.” Archie looked up at you from his phone to see you frowning. “Y/n?”

You sighed and looked him in the eye, “When we were kids, me and Juggie promised we would never join dad’s gang. As much as we love dad, it just wasn’t what we wanted for our futures, we wanted to get out of this town and make a living elsewhere but…” you looked down at your hands. You were still clearly upset by his choice. But that’s the thing, it was Jughead’s choice. He chose to go back on that promise and that hurt more than if your dad would have forced him into joining the Serpents.

“But he joined the Serpents anyway…” Archie finished for you and you nodded.

“Yeah, that sucked.” It was weird. You never shared that with anyone but with Archie, it just came out.

You watched as you swirled the straw in your cup around a few times before Archie spoke again. “I can only imagine how hard things have been for you since then.” He paused and you looked up from your cup and made eye contact with him. “Even though you know they didn’t mean to hurt you, you can’t help but feel betrayed.” Archie said with a sympathetic smile.

That was exactly how you felt, betrayed. You don’t know if Jughead even remembered making that promise but you sure did and it hurt so much when he broke it. “Is that how you felt when your parents got divorced?” you asked. You knew there must be a reason for him to understand exactly how you felt.

He nodded, “And when my mom left town. It was tough but I got through it thanks to Jughead.” He smiled to himself, “Maybe you just need a friend to be there for you. Have you talked to Betty lately?”

“Not as much since she started dating Jughead.”

He furrowed his eyebrows, “Why?”

You laugh dryly, “You mean besides the fact that I can’t even girl talk with Betty anymore since the guy she’s hooking up with is my brother?” You raise your eyebrows questioningly. He scrunched up his face as he thought about it from your perspective. “I’m glad she met Veronica. Now she has someone to talk about that with because I really don’t want to hear about it.”

The silence is awkward for a few seconds but soon you two find yourselves talking about random things again and laughing at each other’s jokes. You two get to know each other better and find that you actually have a lot in common. You never really thought about Archie and you being close but now you can’t help thinking that you want to learn more about him.

Archie knows you like to write, same as Jughead. But he doesn’t actually know what you write about. You are are always hesitant to let anyone read your writing. Especially Jughead. But for some reason when Archie brings it up, you can’t help but want Archie to read something you’ve written.

You are still hesitant but when Archie says that you don’t have to show him if it makes you uncomfortable, it pushes away any lingering doubt you had. He didn’t push you to show him like everybody else does. He respected your decision.

You pull out your phone and when you find something short that you are willing to share you hand Archie your phone and wait with bated breath for him to finish.

When he does he looks over to you with a blank expression. He didn’t say anything as he slid your phone back to you face down. You immediately started doubting your writing abilities. Maybe he didn’t like it?

Just before your mind went too far into that dark place Archie broke out into a huge grin. “Y/n that was incredible. I’ve never read anything quite like it. You have real talent, you really do.”

That comment makes your heart skip a beat. It really wasn’t the response you’d thought you’d get. “You scared me,” you say as you threw one of your french fries at him. It bounced off his chest and slid down and fell under the table.

He gives you a playful glare, “That was a perfectly good fry. What would Jughead say about you wasting food?”

This made you smile, “Well, Jughead’s not here is he? He won’t know unless you tell him. So…” you give him a challenging look, “are you going to tell him?” You picked up your glass and licked your lips before placing the straw in your mouth to take a sip of your drink.

Archie laughed, “I won’t tell him… if you help me finish writing one of my songs.”

You raised your eyebrows in disbelief. Archie Andrews asking for help, with his music no less. There is something you didn’t see coming. “Me?”

“Come on, you certainly have a way with words and I’ve been stuck on this song for weeks. Please?” He gave you his signature puppy dog look. How can anyone say no his bright pleading eyes?

You couldn’t help but feel your face heat up at his stare, yet you loved it, “Never pegged you as someone that would resort to blackmail Andrews.”

He leans into the table with his arms crossed and looks down. He was thinking about how to respond. “How about I show you the song and you can decide if you want to help me with it? How does that sound?”

Again, with those puppy dog eyes that just melted your heart. “Better.”

“Great” Archie says a bit too enthusiastically. “I can��t wait to show you my guitar.”

“Is that a euphemism?” you ask with a sly grin on your face.

Archie Andrews blushed, actually blushed. That was the first time you had ever seen it and you desperately wanted to see it again.

After Archie paid for dinner the two of you made your way to Archie’s house. You’d been there plenty of times as a kid with Jughead but never as a teenager and definitely never without your brother. Guess there are firsts for everything.

The ride over to his house was filled with flirty remarks and cute banter. Anything to get him to blush again. Although he did manage to get you flustered a couple of times too.

When you get there he takes you straight to his garage which his dad made into a makeshift music studio for Archie. You loved it, it was so inviting and cozy. He invited you to take a seat while he played for you.

The song started and right away you felt the emotions of it in your very soul. It was beautifully played, the lyrics were amazing as well but you could definitely hear where he needed the help as some of the lyrics didn’t flow as well with the rest of the song.

“Wow. Archie… that was” you clutch your chest with your hands above your heart, “that was beautiful. Where did,” as you were praising him on his song he surprises you by bringing his lips down to yours.

At first you were so shocked you didn’t know how to respond. He quickly backed off apologizing profusely. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”

You found yourself saying, “It’s okay.” You licked your lips and pressed them together. “But I am curious. Why did you kiss me?” Not that you minded. It felt good and more, you actually liked it.

He thought about it for a second, “I don’t know. I guess I got caught up in the moment. It just seemed like the right thing to do.” You hadn’t said anything yet. You were still processing it all. “Hearing this out loud now it just sounds wrong. Again, Y/n I'm so sorry.”

You stepped closer to him, “I told you it’s fine. I actually kind of liked it” you feel the heat rise in your cheeks at your admission.

He smiled shyly and asked, “Really?”

You nodded not trusting your voice.

Archie chuckled, “So do you think I can take you out sometime?”

You smirk. “I thought you just did.”

You stay over a bit longer and just chatted about music and whatever else you can think of.

After Archie pulls up to your place he asks if he can kiss you again. You smile and unbuckle your seatbelt and lean over and give him a soft chaste kiss. “I’ll be expecting that date real soon.”

“Goodnight Y/n”

“Night” you wink at him before you leave the truck. You wave him off then make your way inside once he’s gone, with a goofy smile on your face. Who would have ever thought, you and Archie liking each other? Certainly not you.

But your smile is quickly replaced by a yelp when you hear a gruff “Does Jughead know?”

It was your dad. He scared you, he wasn’t supposed to be home yet.

You gulped. What if Jughead doesn’t like the idea of his best friend and his sister? What if things don’t actually work out with you and Archie? You don’t want them to break up their friendship over something that is not a for sure thing yet. “No and please don’t tell him. I want to see where this goes first.”

He squinted his eyes at you considering his response carefully “Fine.” He pointed at you as he added, “But don’t be surprised when this blows up in your face. You know how Jughead is.”

You knew your dad was right. Jughead was way too protective of you and not to mention unpredictable. But surely he would trust his best friend enough to let him date you, right?

“Yes dad, I know.”

He shrugged and walked into the living room with a beer in hand.

You knew you should have told your brother sooner but you were just enjoying your time with just Archie. Your little love bubble. For the first time in a long time you were happy despite you both having to hide your relationship from Jughead. But he had to find out sooner or later. In this case, it was later.

After a few weeks, Jughead was growing suspicious. You were always smiling at your phone but refused to tell him what it was about. He also noticed that Archie was happier but he wouldn’t tell him anything either. It never occurred to him that you two were sneaking around with each other. Nope not possible, you would never do that to him.

Until one day Archie was supposed to pick you up for a date after Jughead left but little did you know that he forgot his wallet and was making his way back to your trailer to retrieve it.

So when Archie pulled up and got out of his truck Jughead didn't really think anything of it. But he still wondered what his best friend was doing there. Except, you came out of your home and made your way towards Archie. That was weird. You two aren't really friends. Jughead stopped his walk towards you in confusion.

But then you wrapped your arms around Archie’s neck and kissed him. The blood drained from his face. “What the hell...” This could not be happening. How dare Archie kiss his little sister. How did this happen? When did this happen?

After recovering from his confusion, Jughead’s anger slowing starting to simmer deep in his gut. It only got worse when Archie’s hands traveled down from your hips to squeeze your butt. That is when Jughead finally lost it.

One second you were kissing your boyfriend and giggling and the next you were forced apart by sheer force.

Oh shit you thought… the look on Jughead’s face was murderous. He didn’t even look at you. His rage was aimed at Archie.

“Really dude? My sister? That’s who you been sneaking around with?”

Archie looked guilty, as did you. You never wanted for Jughead to find out this way.

“Jughead please. I can explain” you plead but he just ignores you.

“Look, we knew you’d react this way. So we didn’t tell you right away” Archie defended himself, taking a step back when Jughead took a menacing step closer to him.

“Or at all.” Jughead seethed, “You don’t deserve her” the words that fell from Jughead’s lips quickly flipped the tables.

Archie got right up in Jughead’s face and shoved him back almost making him stumble with the unexpected force, “I don’t deserve her?” He pushed Jughead back with every sentence he spit out. “I spend time with her. I listen to her. I make her laugh when she’s feeling down. I give her the attention she deserves. When was the last time you’ve even bothered to have a decent conversation with her that wasn’t in passing?”

Jughead was still pissed, his chest visibly rising and falling with each breath. But he was stunned into silence. He was so caught up in his own life that he forgot all about is sister. His twin sister. He should have known something was more than just off with her. He hadn’t seen much of her in so long but he never questioned why.

He looked at you and walked towards you. Archie tried to step in front of you but with one look you nodded you head and he knew you’d be okay so he took a step back.

Much like any twins you’ve ever read about, you and Jughead didn’t need words to communicate. You two just always knew what the other was thinking. So you knew that as Jughead stood in front of you he having an internal debate with himself.

He didn’t know where to start but he swallowed his anger, “I’m sorry, Y/n.” He opened up his arms knowing you’d make up and hug. You quickly smiled back and accepted his embrace. You never could stay completely mad at him for very long.

Once you pull apart you say, “I know. I’m sorry too. We should have told you.”

“Better late than never I guess.”

You roll your eyes at your brother’s comment. “Now, I think there is someone else you need to apologize to.” You tilt your head in Archie’s direction.

“Right.” Jughead looked you right in the eye and whispered only to you, “Does he make you happy?”

You nodded and smiled happily, “Very.”

He sighed and finally turned to Archie while still keeping an arm over your shoulder. “I’m sorry Arch. I know I haven’t been a very good friend,” he looks down to you too, “to either of you. But I am glad you two were there for each other when I wasn’t.” He pulls Archie into his other arm.

“Well if I’m being honest, me and Y/n probably would never have gotten together if it wasn’t for you.”

You snort and see Jughead is trying to hide his grin. “Y/n please tell you boyfriend I can still kick his ass if I wanted to.”

You remove Jughead’s arm from your shoulders and go to hug Archie and pout, “No. That’s enough violence for one day. Plus we’re late for our date. So, if you don’t mind, we’re leaving” you say while sticking your tongue out at your brother and walk towards the truck.

Jughead yelled, “There’s always tomorrow.” You flipped him off and got into the truck.

Then before driving off you rolled the window down and shouted to your brother, “Don’t wait up” and Jughead’s smile quickly vanished.

You laughed and Archie took your hand in his, “That went better than we expected.” You hummed in agreement.

After a moment of silence Archie asked, “Do you really think he’ll kick my ass?” This was starting to become a real fear. Jughead might not be as strong as Archie but who knows what he’s capable of. That boy is a wildcard.

You smiled up at him, “No, he’s just playing up the protective brother thing.” Archie let out a breath in relief, he hadn’t realized he was holding one in. “But the moment he finds out we’ve slept together… he’s totally kicking your ass.”

#archie andrews #archie x reader #riverdale #archie andrews fic #archie andrews imagine #archie andrews x reader #archie fanfiction #archie andrews oneshot #archie fic #archie fanfication #archie andrews fluff #archie riverdale #riverdale fanfiction #archie oneshot #archie imagines #archie imagine #riverdale cw #lonely-full-of-secrets #mine

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A Blessing In Disguise Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – I Think I’m Gonna Like It Here

Theresa was hanging onto a huge boulder on top of a waterfall, looking up at a small group of people crowding around above her, with one young blonde-haired woman with bright blue eyes reaching out towards her.

“Hang on, Theresa!” she yelled. “Just hang on!”

“I’m trying!” Theresa yelled as she nearly lost her grip on the boulder and she tightened her grip even more, determined to not let go.

She looked down to see a much older stern-looking woman with dark black hair and blue eyes and an elderly man clinging to her legs. Theresa then mustered all of her strength to pull herself up to safety, but to no avail.

“I can’t! They’re too heavy!”

“Don’t worry, Theresa! Everything’s going to be just fine! Just focus and don’t let go!” a brown-haired man with a scruffy face and an average build bellowed as he also reached out to help her.

Theresa then looked into his eyes and felt herself freeze in astonishment. For some reason she wasn’t feeling particularly scared, worried or frightened. She actually felt… safe.

Safe?

How could she possibly be safe around this man? She doesn’t even know him, much less his name.

But before Theresa could entertain any more questions in her head, her fingers suddenly slipped and she was tumbling down rapidly towards the rushing and crashing water, screaming and flailing for her life along with her companions.

“Theresa!”

Theresa screamed out with pure and blood-chilling terror as she fell faster and faster to her doom.

Then before she knew it, everything went black.

Theresa shot up in her bed, panting and hyper-ventilating with her heart racing and throttling wildly in her chest and her body covered in sweat. She took a couple of deep, calming breaths and she briefly glanced over at her alarm clock.

2 a.m.

Theresa ran her hands through her face, exhaling sharply and massaging her temples. This was the third time this week that she had been having this nightmare, and she wasn’t exactly sure why.

At first Theresa rationalized that maybe it was just because she was mentally adjusting to her new surroundings and her anxiety was somehow manifesting into these weird and bizarrely vivid dreams. But now she wasn’t so sure anymore.

As far as she could tell, Tate seemed to be adjusting rather well to his new home, as well as any normal 2-year-old would be. Sure sometimes he would wake up in the middle of the night, crying and begging for Maggie and Victor and sometimes for his dad, which was perfectly normal considering how close he had been to all of them, especially his dad.

After all, it was Brady who had first suspected that Tate was his son, even before Theresa did, although she had nagging suspicions for a long time beforehand that something was horribly wrong after Kristen had her goons kidnap her and also arranged to have her baby stolen from her womb.

Theresa shook her thoughts out of her mind. Now was not the time to think about that. She had a whole new chapter in her life to build. Kristen DiMera was dead and she and Brady are responsible and mature parents now, and most importantly – sober. No one was going to take away the greatest joy of their entire lives from them, not even a deranged psychopath like her.

Theresa then fell onto her back again and closed her eyes, begging and praying for sleep to overtake her again.

The very next day, Theresa walked into General Hospital with Tate in the stroller as she sat down in the waiting room, waiting to be called up for her appointment.

While she was leafing through a local tabloid magazine, a young and attractive dark-haired woman appearing to be in her early to mid 30s and wearing a purple nurse’s outfit passed by her and then noticed her sitting there.

“Oh hey there, haven’t seen you around before. Are you visiting a relative here?”

“Actually no; I just moved here a couple of days ago,” Theresa answered, glancing up from her magazine.

“Oh really?” the woman smiled earnestly and then held out her hand. “I’m Elizabeth Webber. But everyone around here calls me Liz.”

“Theresa. Theresa Donovan,” Theresa replied, smiling and accepting her handshake. “I’m from Salem, Illinois. I’ve lived there for about 4 years before coming up here. But before that I was living in L.A.”

“Oh wow, sounds really amazing!” Liz exclaimed in astonishment. “Seems like that would’ve been a very cool place to live.”

“Yeah, it was… for a while anyway,” Theresa bit her lip, averting her gaze hesitantly. “My stepdad worked with a lot of famous and well known producers in Hollywood and some of them would even come over to my house sometimes for dinner. But that was a long time ago.”

“Oh…” Liz frowned, noticing Theresa’s reticence. “Sounds like you aren’t very comfortable talking about your childhood.”

“It wasn’t exactly the easiest or the happiest,” Theresa explained with a sigh, narrowing her eyes sullenly. “My parents split up right after I was born and I never got to see my dad very much because he was away working all the time.”

“My mom was also too preoccupied with her work as a child psychiatrist to take care of me and my brother Andrew properly and as a result we were left alone with Philip a lot. Suffice to say he wasn’t exactly the nicest or most pleasant person to be around.”

“Well, what happened with him?” Liz asked.

“He was a tyrant and a total asshole; he would often take out his rage on me when Mom wasn’t looking and blame me for a lot of crap that wasn’t even my fault. I was also angry at my mom for basically driving my dad away and for a long time I hated her for not only ignoring me and neglecting me but for also devoting so much time and attention towards Andrew. He was like the kid that could do absolutely no wrong in my parents’ eyes. It was pretty obvious as far as I was concerned who the real favorite was.”

Theresa paused, breathing deeply to keep herself from shaking from the painful memories flashing in her head.

“But it’s okay. It’s not like he’s my real dad anyway. It’s old news and I’m not interested in hashing out all that old family drama again. And I’m just so glad that my parents are finally back together after all this time.”

“And the best part is that ever since I had my son Tate, our relationship has improved tenfold and we got even closer when I had my bout with breast cancer last year.”

“Well, congratulations, Theresa,” Liz beamed and she bent down to look at Tate with a disarming and sweet smile. “And he is such a cutie. You and your husband must be so proud.”

“Oh, well actually I’m not married,” Theresa flashed a sheepish grin at the comment. “Well, not anymore anyway. It’s… kind of a long story. You see, I had a very turbulent and complicated relationship with the father of my child and we were super knee deep into drugs and alcohol back then.”

“We were so screwed up mentally and psychologically that we even went to Vegas and got married on a whim. The day that we finally got our marriage annulled, we actually had one last romp in the sack and then… well you know the rest.”

Theresa then laughed nervously with a slow face-palm, gazing up at the ceiling with pure disbelief and incredulity.

“God, I was so selfish and narcissistic back then, thinking that I was so entitled to his love and money. We weren’t exactly good for each other, but at the same time, Tate was the absolute best thing that ever happened to us. When he came along, we had no choice but to clean up and get sober for our little boy. I always say to everybody that kid represents the very best part of us. My brains and his heart.”

“That is so sweet,” Liz replied and then breathed deeply while running her hand through her hair. “Well, I’m not exactly the best role model when it comes to healthy and long term relationships either. I have three boys with three different guys.”

“The father of my eldest son Cameron got killed in a horrible shoot-out with the police and the father of my youngest son Aiden just… ran off and disappeared one day. I haven’t really heard from him since and sometimes I don’t even know if he’s even alive anymore. At least you know where Tate’s dad is.”

“Well… I can do a hell lot worse,” Theresa shrugged. “I could’ve ended up with a total psycho for a dad like Cal Winters and I also could’ve ended up with an assassin for a dad who kills people for a living.”

“Well… my middle son Jake has a dad who is in a um… very similar profession,” Liz forced a nervous and uncomfortable smile as she says this.

Theresa let out a loud exhale with a small chuckle.

“Welp… Brady may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he’s one of the nicest and most compassionate and wonderful guys you’ll ever meet.”

“Great, so can I have his number?” Liz quipped.

Theresa laughed with a knowing glare. “I don’t think so, girlfriend. Brady is already spoken for.”

Liz then stepped back, holding up her hands defensively.

“Okay, chill. I was just asking.”

“Theresa Donovan?” an innocent and doe-eyed woman with a slender build, long, dark brown hair and wearing a doctor’s outfit appeared out of her office as she approached the two women.

“Oh hey,” Theresa greeted her as she stood up and shook her hand. “Dr. Kim Nero, right?”

“That’s right,” Kim nodded with a warm smile. “You must be Theresa Donovan. Welcome to Port Charles.”

“Oh thank you,” Theresa replied as she grabbed her stroller and turned to face Liz.

“It was really nice meeting you. Maybe we can set up a play date with our boys and hang out sometime.”

“I’d like that,” Liz nodded as she walked away. “I’ll leave you to it. Gotta get back to work.”

“Alright, bye,” Theresa grinned as she watched Liz disappear into a corner.

“Well, well, well, looks like you made a brand new friend,” Kim smiled as Theresa whipped around to face her. “You must be pretty popular.”

“Well, maybe a lot more now than when I was a kid,” Theresa shrugged.

“Come on into my office then,” Kim beckoned her as Theresa followed her into the examination room.

As soon as the two women entered the room, Theresa took a seat on a metal chair right near the door while Kim sauntered over to the counter and looked over her clipboard, examining its contents carefully.

Theresa glanced over at Kim with a thin line, looking very puzzled and befuddled. Kim then sensed that Theresa was watching her and turned around to face her.

“What is it?”

Theresa then let out a small, sheepish laugh, grinning bashfully.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that I could almost swear that you look a lot like someone that used to be in Salem.”

“Really? Who?” Kim asked.

Theresa grabbed the handlebar of the stroller, rocking it slowly back and forth with her right hand as Tate slept.

“My uncle Steve used to be involved with a woman named Ava Vitale a long time ago. She was really obsessed with him and she tried to break up his relationship with my aunt Kayla numerous times. They actually met during a period where everyone thought that Uncle Steve was dead and he didn’t even know who he was.”

“Wow, sounds insane,” Kim’s eyes widened in astonishment.

“Yep,” Theresa nodded. “You seem a lot nicer though.”

“I’m sure a lot of my friends and family can attest to that,” Kim chuckled as she turned back to her clipboard.

“Now then… your son’s name is Tate Donovan Black, correct?”

“That’s right.”

“And his birth date?”

Theresa flinched nervously. She and Brady were never really sure when exactly Tate was born, seeing as he was with Kristen in Italy at the time, but then they went to a doctor to try to determine how old he actually was. He then determined that Tate was anywhere from a couple days to a couple weeks old, so his parents concluded that he was probably born sometime in mid to late March.

“March 30th, 2015.”

“Okay, so he’s 2 years old,” Kim nodded. “What about his medical history?”

“Well…” Theresa frowned, tapping on her face thoughtfully. “He did have a congenital illness that required a bone marrow transplant. But other than that, he’s been perfectly fine. He’s been putting on weight and he’s hitting all his milestones like he’s supposed to.”

“Excellent!” Kim beamed as she then looked up right at Theresa. “I also see that his immunizations are all up to date and he’s due for another one very soon. Let me take a look at him.”

“Come on, kiddo,” Theresa urged as she unbuckled Tate from his stroller and handed him off to Kim.

Kim then brought him over to the examination table and checked out his ears and eyes first.

“Okay, now say aw,” Kim instructed and Tate opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue.

Kim then examined his throat with a light and studied it carefully, nodding with great interest.

“Uh huh… Uh huh…”

Kim then pivoted around to face Theresa with a solemn expression.

“He may be developing a little bit of a sore throat. You might want to get that taken care of as soon as possible.”

“Okay, sure,” Theresa nodded, a bit concerned and nervous.

Damn it, I’m such an idiot! Why the hell didn’t I notice that?!

Kim then listened to his heart for a few minutes and moved on to check his lungs.

“Okay, Tate, now I want you to breathe in and out deeply a couple of times.”

Tate nodded and did as he was told.

Kim then turned back towards Theresa with a satisfied smile.

��Well, his lungs and heart are both fine. It’s just that sore throat you need to worry about. I’ll write out a prescription for some medication just in case so we can nip this problem right in the bud. You can pick it up when you get to the pharmacy.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Theresa nodded gratefully as she went to pick up Tate from the examination table and placed him back into the stroller.

“Oh, and Theresa?” Kim interjected.

“Yeah?” Theresa raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her.

Kim smiled warmly with a compassionate and understanding gleam in her eyes.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. I know how difficult it can be raising a kid all by yourself sometimes.”

“Wait, you have a kid too?” Theresa questioned her suspiciously.

Kim averted her gaze with a wistful expression.

“Well, he’s not so little anymore. His name is Oscar and he’s in high school now. His father Drew came to town a while ago and now we’re both trying to do the absolute best we can with him.”

“Just like me and Brady,” Theresa murmured pensively.

She then glanced up at Kim again.

“So what’s Oscar like?”

“He is the most loving and sweetest boy that you’ll ever meet. He is also extremely thoughtful and intelligent and he does very well in school. I couldn’t ask for a better son.”

“I couldn’t ask for a more wonderful and amazing boy like my Tater Tot either,” Theresa gushed excitedly, overjoyed and thrilled that she got to brag about her offspring with a fellow single mom.

Kim then broke out into a short laugh, amused.

“That’s your nickname for Tate? That’s so adorable.”

“Yeah, I just started calling him that when I first brought him home and it has stuck ever since,” Theresa explained with a shrug. “I’m pretty sure that by the time he goes to high school though that he’s going to start hating me for that nickname but until then I’ll just be more than happy to keep using it without any shame or embarrassment.”

“All right then,” Kim nodded as Theresa got up and started heading out the door. “See you in six months?”

“Yeah,” Theresa replied and just as she was about to leave, a lanky and gawky brown-haired teenage boy walked right through the door.

“Oh, hey Mom,” the boy greeted Kim in a friendly and earnest voice.

“Hey, Oscar,” Kim beamed as she walked over to him and hugged him. “How was school?”

“Good,” Oscar nodded and then he stopped the moment he met eyes with Theresa. “Um, Mom, who is that?”

“Oh, this is one of my patients, Theresa Donovan,” Kim answered as she gestured over to her. “Theresa, this is my son Oscar.”

“Hey, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Theresa said.

“Likewise,” Oscar nodded.

He then turned to his mother. “Mom, I’m going over to Josslyn’s house to study with her. Is that okay?”

“Sure thing, honey,” Kim answered.

“Cool, thanks Mom!” Oscar grinned as he rushed out the door again.

Kim chuckled while shaking her head. “Aw, teenagers. Just wait till Tate becomes one, Theresa. Then you’re going to wish that he was a cute little munchkin again.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Theresa retorted in a sardonic and wry voice and she also headed out of the room. “See ya, Dr. Nero.”

“See ya,” Kim waved goodbye as she watched Theresa leave.

As Theresa was walking through the lobby of the hospital, she was full of smiles as she was mentally relieving her meetings with both Liz and Kim.

Wow, I never would’ve imagined that everyone would be so nice here. I honestly thought this town would be filled with nothing but assholes and creeps. Maybe Port Charles isn’t nearly as bad as New York City itself. I think I’m really gonna like it here-

But then Theresa was abruptly jolted out of her thoughts the minute she felt the stroller crash something and she nearly fell onto the handlebar. She glanced down just in time to see a much older woman bending down and frantically picking up a clipboard and a couple of loose papers. When the woman finally rose to her feet with her things, Theresa froze in horror and fear the minute she got a very good look at her.

She was very stern and severe looking with a long nose and sharp, intense blue eyes and her long, black hair was tied neatly into a bun. She was also wearing a white doctor’s outfit and had on a pair of black boots.

“You stupid girl, watch where you’re going!” the woman snarled in German with a curt sneer on her lips as Theresa suddenly stepped back with pure dread and terror in her eyes, clutching tightly onto her stroller. Tate began to whimper and sniffle with fearful tears seeping out of his eyes.

“Mommy!”

“Hey, Doctor!” a deep, brassy, female voice bellowed as a large, portly, middle-aged black woman charged right into the area and stared the other woman down fearlessly. “Leave that poor girl alone!”

The elderly German woman growled and stormed off, not wanting to have a confrontation right in the middle of the lobby.

Theresa then let out a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding and sighed in relief.

“Thank you so much, ma’am,” she informed the older black woman. “I got so scared; I didn’t know what to do. That strange lady literally came out of nowhere and just started raving and yelling at me in this really weird language…”

“Think nothing of it, child,” the older black woman waved her hand dismissively with a reassuring, disarming smile. “That was Dr. Obrecht. Don’t pay any mind to her.”

She then noticed that Tate was still shaking and crying and she bent down to pick him up and cradle him in her arms.

“Awww, you poor baby. Did that mean old lady scare you?” she cooed softly.

Tate nodded as he kept on sniffling and whimpering. The older black woman then pulled him into a hug and comforted him.

“It’s all right, little one. Auntie Epiphany is here. Nobody is gonna hurt you or your momma when she’s around.”

Tate then gradually began to calm down and relax as he buried his face on the crook of her shoulder, still trembling.

“Hey, I never got to ask you what your name is,” Theresa interjected.

“Just call me Epiphany. I’m an old friend of Liz’s,” Epiphany explained as she rubbed soothing circles on Tate’s back. “Any friend of hers is a friend of mine.”

“Theresa,” Theresa said with a confident yet self-restrained smile. “I’m Theresa Donovan.”

“Yeah, I know who you are,” Epiphany smirked. “Liz told me all about you.”

“She did?” Theresa quipped with a curious eyebrow.

“Yeah, she sure liked you enough,” Epiphany replied. “Listen, if you ever need anything or you just want somebody to talk to, you can come to me.”

She then handed Tate back to Theresa as she put him back into the stroller.

“Um, thanks, Epiphany. I’ll hold you to it.”

Theresa then rushed off with the stroller as she quickly made a mad dash out of the hospital.

“See ya!”

Later that evening, Theresa hired a babysitter to look after Tate while she went out to Charlie’s to unwind and have fun. She was sitting alone at a table, slowly sipping on a pink strawberry martini.

She saw a couple of people file into the bar and got their drinks as they sat down together and had a good laugh. Theresa nodded dumbly and just ignored them, continuing to sip on her drink.

Just then, a couple of young blonde women appearing to be in their early to mid 30s came over to Theresa’s table and sat down with her.

“Hey, what are you doing sitting here alone?” the younger of the two asked her.

Theresa shrugged weakly, not exactly in the mood to engage in any sort of conversation.

“Just chilling.”

“Just chilling?” the older of the two blonde women reiterated incredulously, narrowing her blue eyes and glancing briefly at her companion. “Don’t be silly. Lulu and I are not letting you sit here all by yourself.”

Theresa took another sip of her drink and pointed at them.

“So one of you is Lulu?”

“Yeah,” the latter nodded. “I’m Lulu and this is my best friend Maxie.”

Maxie grinned enthusiastically.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Theresa offered a weak smile. “I’m Theresa. My son and I just moved here.”

“So where is he?” Maxie asked.

“He’s with the babysitter,” Theresa mumbled, making a sudden and odd wave of the hand. “His name is Tate.”

“So are you married?” Lulu inquired.

“Lulu!” Maxie hissed, elbowing her sharply.

“You wish,” Theresa smirked sarcastically, taking more sips out of her martini.

Lulu then studied her intently, narrowing her eyes.

“Um, no offense, but you seriously look like hell.”

“Is it that obvious?” Theresa giggled, rolling her eyes. “Well, that’s because I’ve had a hell of a day. My son may be coming down with a sore throat, I’ve been having recurring and vivid nightmares for the last couple of days and I almost ran over an old German lady with my own son’s stroller.”

“Yeah that ‘old German lady’ is my mother-in-law,” Maxie retorted while exchanging weird and befuddled glances with Lulu.

Theresa nearly choked on her vodka as she coughed and gasped violently, pounding on her chest. After taking a couple of minute to catch her breath, she gawked at Maxie.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Yeah, her name is Liesl Obrecht. She’s one of the many doctors that work at GH,” Maxie explained.

“Oh my God…” Theresa groaned as she sank into her chair while slowly running her hand on her face. “I cannot fucking believe this.”

“What?” Lulu asked.

“Your mother-in-law scared the living daylights out of my son and she nearly ripped me to shreds!” Theresa yelled angrily, clutching her drink tightly. “She probably would have had me for lunch if Epiphany hadn’t stepped in!”

“Wow, I’m really sorry to hear that, Theresa,” Maxie frowned sympathetically. “But please don’t blame yourself. Liesl isn’t exactly the easiest person to live with, trust me. Just don’t take it too personally.”

“Well, all right then,” Theresa averted her eyes with a sullen glare. “I suppose you’re right.”

Just then a group of young people sauntered into the bar and sat down at another table. Theresa then looked up to see a dashing young man with boyishly good looks and short, cropped, dark black hair.

“Wow, who is that?” Theresa gawked in amazement upon noticing the young man sitting several feet away from her.

“Well um… That’s Michael Corinthos, Sonny and Carly’s son,” Maxie replied, glancing over to see him.

“Really?” Theresa smirked, her face suddenly brightening up and her posture straightening up dramatically. “Well, I better say hi to this gorgeous, sexy hunk then!”

She then bolted out of the table and confidentially sashayed over to where Michael was sitting.

Lulu and Maxie grimaced anxiously together with worried looks.

“You didn’t tell her that he already has a girlfriend, did you?”

“Nope.”

Michael was sitting around with his friends laughing and drinking beers when one of them noticed Theresa approaching their table with a huge bounce in her step.

“Hey, who is that girl?” Brad asked.

“I have no idea,” Lucas shrugged.

“Beats me,” Dante interjected.

Nathan just took a swig of his beer, smirking with pure amusement.

Once Theresa reached the table, she tapped Michael on the shoulder. Michael then stopped what he was doing and turned around to see her gushing and beaming at him with entranced eyes.

“Oh, hey, miss. What is your name?”

“My name is Theresa. What’s yours, sexy face?”

Dante then coughed to hold back a laugh with his fist covering his mouth. Lucas and Brad snickered and gave themselves a high five.

Michael just smiled politely, tickled pink that the new girl in town was taking such blatant interest in him.

“My name is Michael Corinthos III. But you call me Michael.”

“What brings you here then, Michael?” Theresa asked.

“Just hanging out with my buddies,” Michael replied, turning back to face the other men.

“Cool! Me too,” Theresa squealed, feeling extremely excited and giddy at getting the chance to speak with her new crush.

“You friends with Lulu and Maxie?” Lucas queried, beckoning over towards Maxie and Lulu.

Theresa glanced back at the two women and nodded.

“Uh-huh.”

“Well, why don’t you come and sit with us?” Nathan offered, pulling up another seat. “We’d really love to get to know you better.”

“Really?” Theresa’s eyes gleamed as she glanced back at Maxie and Lulu for reassurance and Maxie nodded.

Theresa then nodded and was about to join the men when suddenly Nelle came gliding through the door and flew over to Michael, swooping her arms around him.

“Hey, babe,” she said as she and Michael shared a kiss.

Theresa’s face then suddenly drained of color and she suddenly felt faint and dizzy, horrified and appalled that her latest chance at love had officially been shot to hell. Brad then noticed that Theresa was shivering and trembling with her eyes filled with sheer dismay and disbelief.

“Um, are you okay, Theresa?” Brad inquired concernedly.

“I uh… I gotta go!” Theresa exclaimed as she was now suddenly scrambling to exit out of Charlie’s.

But just when things couldn’t possibly get any worse, Obrecht walked right through the door and stopped right in her path, baffled and aghast that their paths have crossed again for the second time that day.

Theresa stopped and stared silently at the older German woman for a moment, not moving or reacting. But then within a matter of minutes her face quickly changed into an ugly and vicious snarl, her eyes flashing with a furious and evil gleam.

“You…”

Obrecht growled back, her fists clenching tightly.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded in a thick accent.

Theresa then let out an arrogant laugh. “So you actually do speak English.”

“You watch your tongue, you insolent little girl!” Obrecht snapped back.

“Little?!” Theresa shrieked, now showing up her fists and taking a step forward with a menacing stance. “I’ll show you little, you ugly old hag!”

“Ugly, old hag?!” Obrecht spat with a contemptuous glare. “You stupid kids have no respect and appreciation for your elders! I’ll show you respect!”

She then delivered a swift backhand to Theresa’s face, sending her reeling to the ground. Theresa then got up to her feet, still feeling the stinging impact of the blow on her face. After taking a couple of minutes to collect her bearings, she then charged right at Obrecht with a scream and gave her a swift kick to the face. Obrecht nearly recoiled from the blow as she held up her nose, which began to bleed profusely.

She removed her hand and saw that there was blood pooling in the palm of her hand. Everyone gasped with horror as they all realized that the fight was about to take a very ugly turn.

Obrecht then pounced her to the ground and began to assail her with several punches and uppercuts to the face and jaw. Theresa did her best to fend off the blows as she punched and slapped her repeatedly in the face. She then delivered another swift kick to the chin, forcing Obrecht to roll off her.

Just then, Julian, Dante and Nathan rushed over to the two women and Nathan and Dante helped Obrecht get up on her feet.

“Easy, Mother. You’re badly hurt,” Nathan shushed her gently as Obrecht whined in pain, her eyes black and blue and her nose all a bloody mess. Julian then grabbed Theresa and helped her up too.

“All right, you ladies out,” he ordered as the three men helped the women out of the bar.

It was over an hour later and Theresa was lying in a hospital bed fully bandaged up, as was Obrecht. The two women were now recuperating in separate rooms as Nathan and Maxie were staying with Obrecht and Lulu, Dante, Michael, Nelle, Brad, and Lucas were staying with Theresa.

Theresa groaned and sobbed in bed, lying weakly on her back.

“Mother, what the hell were you thinking?” Nathan demanded.

“She disrespected me,” Obrecht growled in exasperation and anger, wincing and grimacing. “And I needed to teach her a lesson.”

“Well that doesn’t mean that you get to beat up a defenseless, tiny girl in the middle of a frickin’ bar!” Maxie chastised her.

“She started it! And she broke my nose!” Obrecht protested.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Liesl,” Maxie crossed her arms sternly.

“Just get some rest, Mother. We’ll see you in the morning,” Nathan instructed her as he and Maxie left.

“Nathan…” Obrecht pouted as she turned to glare at Theresa.

“This is all your fault. If you only have kept your mouth shut…”

“Well maybe you should stop acting like a psychotic maniac and then perhaps you might have more friends around here,” Theresa snapped.

“I don’t need any friends. All I need is Nathan, Maxie, Nina and Franco,” Obrecht insisted.

“Okay, suit yourself,” Theresa rolled her eyes and closed her eyes to sleep.

Obrecht then rolled her eyes and also went to sleep.

When Theresa finally got discharged from the hospital, she spent the next several days recuperating at home. She was also banned from going to Charlie’s for at least a month for the bar fight with Obrecht.

As a matter of courtesy, Theresa called Maxie up to personally apologize to her for picking a fight with Obrecht in the first place. Maxie accepted the apology, but Obrecht still refused to forgive or even acknowledge her.

Then the day finally arrived for Theresa’s big interview with Crimson. She put on her best work clothes and makeup, hired a babysitter to watch Tate again, and drove off to meet with her prospective new boss.

Once Theresa arrived at the lobby of the Aurora Media building, she came across a beautiful and attractive brunette woman with a slender and thin build, accompanied by a muscular built man with dark brown hair and a scruffy face.

“Oh hey! I’m here for the Crimson interview. Do you know where it is?” Theresa asked.

“Yeah, it’s right upstairs,” the woman answered, gesturing towards the elevator.

She then offered a hand.

“By the way, I’m Sam McCall. This is my husband Drew McCain.”

“Hey,” Theresa beamed as she shook both of their hands.

“Hey, if you’re here for Nina, you can just wait in the office. She’ll be here soon,” Drew explained.

“Okay, thanks,” Theresa replied as she quickly raced for the elevator.

Just as she got there, another tall and lanky woman with long, blondish brown hair and an athletic build caught up to her as they both entered the elevator. Once the doors closed, they soon ascended up the floors as they were heading for their destination.

Theresa then glanced over to see who was standing right next to her and gave a polite smile.

“Hey, are you working for Crimson too? Because I’m heading there right now for an interview.”

“I’m Nina,” the woman announced, looking over at her.

Theresa jumped in surprise, not having expecting to run into her like this.

“Um… wow…” she stammered as she gave her a once over. “I wasn’t really expecting you to um…”

Theresa collapsed on the back of the elevator, feeling particularly overwhelmed and embarrassed.

“Jesus, I honestly thought you were going to be some old lady or something…”

Nina chuckled with a playful smirk. “Nope, I’m not quite there yet.”

“Okay,” Theresa laughed.

“So you’re Theresa, right?” Nina raised an eyebrow at her.

“Yeah,” Theresa nodded.

Nina then studied her carefully, eyeing her recent injuries.

“That a black eye you got there?”

“Yeah… that was from a bar fight from a couple of days ago,” Theresa answered nervously, feeling very uncomfortable.

“I’m guessing that was over a guy, right?” Nina quipped emphatically.

“Yeah…” Theresa’s eyes darted to and fro, feeling even more apprehensive. “Something like that.”

The elevator doors opened and Nina and Theresa stepped out as they headed for the Crimson office. Upon entering, Nina advanced towards her desk and took a seat. Theresa also sat down right in front of her, her resume in hand.

“All right then. Let’s get started,” Nina announced as she grabbed her resume and looked it over.

“Huh, interesting. Seems like you have quite the work history.”

“Yeah, I only have a high school education,” Theresa frowned. “I don’t even have a college degree to speak of. But I was able to hold down my job at human resources at the hospital back in Salem and I did build a brand new fashion house with my former partner Nicole Walker from the ground up.”

“Well, for someone with a high school education and with a history of drug addiction, that is extremely impressive,” Nina mused, continuing to read over her resume. “Not to mention that you were on parole for roughly two years too while you were in Salem.”

“Yeah, I had to get my act together,” Theresa shrugged. “I needed that good ol’ kick in the butt to straighten myself out. Although sometimes I kind of slip back into some pretty bad habits.”

“Like that bar fight with my Aunt Liesl?” Nina questioned her suspiciously.

“What?!” Theresa gawked with a start. “How in the blazes did you know about that?”

“Maxie told me,” Nina answered coolly. “She also works here, in case you didn’t know.”

“Oh…” Theresa inhaled sharply, feeling suddenly awkward and humiliated. “Well, she did tell me that she was her mother-in-law.”

“Yeah, well that’s because Nathan is also my brother,” Nina replied. “And he’s a cop.”

“Okay…” Theresa scratched the back of her head. “That would explain why he helped those other officers drag us out of Charlie’s the other night. But you see… that was totally not entirely my fault. Liesl was the one that came snapping at me unprovoked. I didn’t even do anything. I only just accidentally bumped into her with my stroller.”

“Wait, you have a kid?” Nina asked.

“Yeah,” Theresa answered. “A son – Tate. He’s 2-years-old. I’m currently sharing joint custody with his dad Brady, which coincidentally was also my ex-husband, and if you were to ask around any of my old friends and associates back in Salem, that was a relationship that probably shouldn’t even have happened in the first place.”

“And if I were to ask around your associates back in Salem about you, would they also tell me about your constant habit of getting into bar fights with little old ladies?” Nina queried, tapping on her finger on her desk.

“N-No!” Theresa shook her head with a sheepish smile. “N-Not usually.”

Nina then pursed her lips, gazing right at Theresa.

“Okay, your history of drug addiction and alcohol is extremely concerning and therefore I’m going to have to subject you to random drug tests every so often. Also as long as your activities outside of work don’t adversely interfere with Crimson business, your ability to work here won’t be affected. Your uncanny talent for creating all kinds of fashion-wear for all sizes and ages would be a great asset to this company and I am willing to utilize it to the fullest extent possible. So come to work on time, give your 110% effort and make some amazing fashion lines and you will have a bright future here. Congratulations.”

Theresa let out an excited cheer and threw her arms around her in a hug.

“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise you that you won’t regret it!”

“And Theresa?” Nina added.

“What?” Theresa frowned.

“Please do me a favor and do not antagonize my aunt anymore. I don’t want you to keep showing up with bruises and black eyes. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Theresa nodded and saluted.

Nina chuckled. “We’re going to get along just fine, kid.”

#days of our lives #general hospital #alternate universe #crossover

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dipulb3 · 4 years

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States say federal coronavirus help still falling short

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/states-say-federal-coronavirus-help-still-falling-short/

States say federal coronavirus help still falling short

Washington state’s attempts to order personal protective equipment are mostly going unfilled amid global competition.

In Ohio, doctors are unsure whether federal shipments of remdesivir — a drug that can help shorten the duration of coronavirus symptoms — will continue past June.

As states try to take the lead on the coronavirus response, many are still turning to the federal government to help shore up critical supply shortages, only to find the federal response hit-or-miss. The White House has dropped its daily briefings with health experts and announced no new initiatives to ramp up supply production, even as top administration officials acknowledge the shortfalls persist.

The haphazard federal response has not only left states wondering whether critical medical supplies will be available month-to-month, but it has also increased anxieties that the US could be once again caught flat-footed if the virus resurges in the fall.

“We have, as a nation, I think been behind the eight ball from the beginning,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told Appradab in an interview. “Testing, testing, testing is crucial and this supply chain issue remains a major problem.”

In Michigan, the state is struggling to hit its goal of running 25,000 coronavirus tests per day. The labs have the capacity to do so, but the state only has enough swabs to run about 15,000 tests per day, the Democratic governor said.

The federal government has responded to many of the state’s requests, but the deliveries often include different types of swabs than were requested — which can throw a wrench in the state’s testing strategy — and the timing of deliveries is often erratic.

“I know that the DPA (Defense Production Act) has been used, but we really need to use it, I think, more aggressively when it comes to PPE and additional production of swabs and reagents,” Whitmer said. “All of these are critical components to our ability to keep Covid-19 from growing exponentially again.”

A senior administration official said the Defense Production Act and other extraordinary measures were designed to address the peak of the coronavirus crisis and were never designed to be permanent.

“Many Americans would bristle at the notion of nationalizing production of large amounts of medical supplies in perpetuity,” the official said. Besides, the official said, “the private sector has risen to the challenge.”

A ‘complete lack of guidance’

While Vice President Mike Pence and some members of the coronavirus task force continue to hold calls with governors on the response, multiple state officials from both parties described it as increasingly useless, with some governors now skipping the calls.

Governors and staffers were shocked earlier this month when a conference call slated as a coronavirus check-in with President Donald Trump quickly devolved into a lengthy tirade from the President on how many of the governors were weak and needed to “dominate” and take back the streets during protests across the country over the killing of George Floyd.

This week, Pence — the head of the coronavirus task force — has insisted that increased testing is contributing to the appearance of new coronavirus spikes and has claimed the media is overblowing the problem. In fact, more testing helps identify and contain outbreaks. And it doesn’t account for the recent uptick in some states, according to health experts.

“It’s frustrating that the administration is not even acknowledging the increase in cases,” said Casey Katims, the director of federal and inter-state affairs for Washington Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee.

He described a “complete lack of guidance” on how states should be responding and added that public health experts don’t support the White House narrative that recent spikes are due to increased testing.

“Epidemiologists and public health experts reject that narrative,” Katims said. “It’s fair to say we are highly concerned.”

The spikes in some states are also coinciding with efforts to reopen economies across the country. The combination has added more demand for personal protective gear while underscoring the need for widespread testing.

On critical supply issues, governors have worked to bolster their own state stockpiles, partner with local manufacturers to shift production to medical supplies and form coalitions to purchase supplies as groups of states rather than individually. But even with those efforts, some state officials said they’re still not getting what they need.

Last week, Inslee sent a letter to Pence imploring the administration to use the Defense Production Act to ramp up PPE production. He noted the state has tried to independently order $400 million worth of protective gear but has received less than 10% of those supplies as states compete against one another, the federal government and foreign nations in the global scramble for PPE.

Rear Adm. John Polowczyk — who leads the administration’s supply chain task force — acknowledged in congressional testimony this month that the government has made strides to increase the production of N95 masks but is still working to stock up on supplies like gowns and gloves

“We’ve turned to our textile industry to make textile gowns, non-disposable gowns and so those are, you know, that’s 50% there but on a ramp to be there by the fall,” Polowczyk.

Some health officials — burned by the administration’s sluggish response at the outset of the pandemic — aren’t buying the promises of preparedness.

“We’re kidding ourselves if we don’t think we’re going to have a massive second wave of infections,” said Megan Ranney, an emergency room doctor who helped found the group GetUsPPE to facilitate donations to health care systems. “One of the things that really worries me is I don’t see anyone planning for the next phase.”

Doctors are still conserving and reusing protective equipment and GetUsPPE receives tens of thousands of requests each week from health care systems with less than a week of PPE on hand, Ranney said.

Doctors are also struggling with access to drugs that can help treat coronavirus patients. The federal government took the lead on distributing remdesivir, but doctors found it difficult to get clarity on who would get shipments and when supplies would be replenished.

“When that all runs out, the real question is when will we have it available in the future?” said Dr. Thomas File, who practices medicine in Akron, Ohio, and is the president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “It’s almost like right now, when we see patients and we want to use it, if I use it on a patient now does that mean we’ll have limited supplies when a patient comes in four to six weeks from now?”

Earlier this month, Dr. Robert Kadlec, a US Department of Health and Human Services official, told Appradab that the remdesivir supply would run out at the end of June.

Reluctant Republicans

For the most part, Republican governors — eager to stay on the President’s good side and preserve reputations as fiscal conservatives — have been less outspoken about the coronavirus challenges they continue to face. Some have downplayed spikes in their states and moved forward with reopening plans in spite of case increases.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, praised federal officials for their regular contact with governors in a recent press conference and made a veiled request for federal assistance commensurate with other emergency responses.

“As I look to the future in terms of the federal government’s role, I just want to make sure that the federal government continues to maintain their posture,” Reeves said. “Natural disasters have to be managed in the same way, and that is state managed, locally executed and federally supported.”

Democrat governors have been most blunt about the situation.

“Provide Covid money to the state government and local government so that we can function and not go bankrupt,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told Appradab’s Mark Morales. “All the studies, all the economists will tell you, you don’t get the economy back if you don’t fund state and local governments.”

Meanwhile, the National Governors Association has made it clear that governors from both sides of the aisle are at least privately pressing for additional assistance. High on its lists of asks for Congress is an assistance package that includes $500 billion in direct federal aid to states and territories to plug budget gaps.

In Arlington, Texas, the city is furloughing employees, dipping into cash reserves and reducing services across the board to make up for the budget strain from coronavirus.

“Without a doubt, the revenue loss that is being experienced by most cities is the direct result of the coronavirus,” said Jeff Williams, the city’s GOP mayor. “Cities are a major part of it. They can’t be left out.”

This story has been updated to include response from the Trump administration.

Mark Morales and Janine Mack contributed to this story.

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ahouseoflies · 4 years

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The Best Films of 2019, Part II

Part I is here. ENDEARING CURIOSITIES WITH BIG FLAWS

106. Alita: Battle Angel (Robert Rodriguez)- I'm not looking at a list of films with budgets over $175 million, but I guarantee this is the one with the lowest stakes. It concerns a cyborg who tries to uncover the identity that the audience knows she has all along, and it takes place on three sets. I was intrigued by the prospect of Robert Rodriguez directing a James Cameron production, since the former uses effects to be lazy and the latter uses effects to challenge himself. Alita is more of a Rodriguez movie in that regard. Although it looks slightly better than those pictures he used to make in his backyard, it ain't by much. 105. The Upside (Neil Burger)- As good enough as movies get, good enough right up to the childish screenwriting contrivances of the third act. ("I guess he knows about wheelchairs now, so he gets a job at a wheelchair factory? Or maybe it's his own factory? I don't know--I'm still spitballing in this production draft.") Queen Nicole is criminally underserved though. Have you read that story about how Keanu Reeves's friend forged his name onto the contract for The Watcher, but Keanu didn't want to go through a prolonged legal battle, so he just showed up despite the fraud? Surely it's got to be something like that. Or maybe she was under the impression her character was still being fleshed out, but she got there and saw that nothing has been changed since the last draft? It's just like, "Yvonne looks stern. More to be added." I know for sure that no one told one of the greatest actresses in the world about the part in which she's supposed to be a good dancer. She would have prepared. 104. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (Dean DeBlois)- HtTYD is still the most visually experimental animated franchise. For example, DeBlois hazes the image when a character is looking at another through a torch, there's a five-minute wordless sequence of dragons falling in love, and a lot of work has been put into crafting peach fuzz. I also appreciate that these films retain consequences. Hiccup has a prosthetic leg, and his dad is still dead. Narratively though, everything feels like a holding pattern, a brand extension that doesn't offer real stakes or real laughs. (Fishlegs has a beard now. That's his character development. That's it.) Even if The Hidden World offers an ending of sorts to the trilogy, it's a story of retreat/escape that can't help but feel like a sideways step from its already disappointing predecessor. My daughter tuned out and got really restless with about twenty minutes left. 103. Greta (Neil Jordan)- Such a boilerplate thriller that I was actually predicting the dialogue at points: "Miss, I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do if she's just standing there across the street. She's not breaking the law." There is one notable thing that happens though. In a scene at a church, Huppert makes the Sign of the Cross incorrectly. As an actress, kind of negligent. As a French person, pretty exquisite. 102. Anna (Luc Besson)- The timeline-jumping didn't work for me, but without it, I don't think there's much notable about the quadruple-crossing here at all. The awe-inspiring restaurant fight sequence is the film's saving grace; I'm awarding an extra half-star for its slashing-throats-with-plates viscera. 101. Captain Marvel (Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden)- Was I supposed to know what a Skrull was before this? Lee Pace and Djimon Hounsou show up playing Guardians characters, so I think I was supposed to connect more of the sci-fi dots of the first twenty minutes than I did. All of that inter-planetary stuff was tough sledding for me, and I preferred the Elastica music cue and Radio Shack jokes. As it turns out, especially in this genre, it's dramatically frustrating to go on a hero's journey with a character who doesn't know who she is. It was nice to see Samuel L. Jackson, with convincing de-aging effects, get a real arc in one of these movies, rather than just posing here and there. Brie Larson does enough posing for the both of them. 100. Frozen II (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee)- Frozen begins with sisters being separated after one injures the other. It plays for keeps from minute five. Frozen II, whose smaller stakes are felt in the one-or-so location, B-team songs, and forgettable new characters, never feels as real. 99. Aladdin (Guy Ritchie)- Even if the songs still bang and Nasim Pedrad is very funny, Aladdin feels as cynical and--don't say it, don't say it--unnecessary as all of these live-action remakes do. I'm looking forward to the animated remakes of the live-action remakes, which might figure out a way to reincarnate Robin Williams. One can dream, even cynically. 98. El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (Vince Gilligan)- Finally, the TV movie--and no shade, but this ending we didn't ask for is definitely part of the TV movie tradition--that answers a burning question for Breaking Bad fans: Was Jesse ever interesting by himself?

97. High Life (Claire Denis)- As uncool as it makes me, I have to admit that I just don't care for Claire Denis's aesthetic. Knowing nothing going in, I was captivated by the mysterious first half-hour, but once the film started to explain itself, it seemed like a B movie with more ponderous music. High Life is effectively claustrophobic, but I found myself "yes-anding" most of it. Yes, for example, space is lonely, as I've learned from every other movie about space.

96. Where’d You Go, Bernadette? (Richard Linklater)- From the get-go, this movie doesn't work--structurally, tonally--but the miscalculations of Linklater and Blanchett and especially the mawkish music don't have enough consequence for the film to even fail on a noteworthy level. It's not unpleasant. You just laugh sparingly and think, on the way out, "I don't think she loved her daughter as much as she said she did" or "Get to Antarctica twenty minutes earlier or twenty minutes later." Linklater, an inestimable talent, has added an entry to his filmography that might as well not exist. Making movies, especially adaptations of epistolary books, is hard. I'm being too understanding of that or not understanding enough. 95. Dumbo (Tim Burton)- Just as Dumbo begins to take chances--fashioning itself as an anti-corporate parable with Keaton playing a Disney-esque "architect of dreams"--it settles back down to its own low expectations. Expectations that come from the storytelling and characterization and not the production design, which seems grandly practical except for the CG [rolls up sleeves, adjusts glasses, tightens shoes] elephant in the room. Of the performances, Farrell comes out on top, displaying Movie Star confidence despite very little to work with. (Can a World War I veteran who lost his arm and his wife be allowed a bit more pain?) It gives me no pleasure to dunk on child actors, but both of the kids seem to be reading their lines, and their monotones nearly sink the movie at the beginning. 94. Echo in the Canyon (Andrew Slater)- A nice enough introduction to the scene, but Jakob Dylan's constant presence as an interviewer and performer turns it into a vanity project. The film shuffles among talking heads interviews, prep for an anniversary concert, and an anniversary concert, and I'll let you guess which one of those is interesting. The access that the filmmakers got is impressive, but if a person didn't participate (Carole King is the obvious one), the filmmakers just pretend he or she didn't exist. 93. Diamantino (Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt)- I like the notion of someone so specialized in his profession that he has a child-like understanding of the outside world, and Carloto Cotta sells the innocence of the title character. (The Donna Lewis needle-drop killed me too.) But too often this film feels as if it's focusing on sheer weirdness over satisfying narrative. Cult classics are fine, but you should try for the regular classic. 92. Ma (Tate Taylor)- There are some cool ideas here--the innocent entrees that technology provides, the way the movie earns its R rating. But the script needs a few more passes for everything to congeal past the silliness, especially with regard to the hammy flashbacks that attempt to provide motivation for the Ma figure. I respect the attempt to humanize a monster, but she would be more scary if left opaque. 91. Bombshell (Jay Roach)- The films that try explicitly to comment on our current social climate are never the most successful ones, especially if their internal politics are this muddled. The film takes great pleasure in implicating the toxic system of Fox News, taking shots at anyone who would participate. Then it starts to pick and choose who to like in that system, which is where it gets weird. Obviously, a Fox News employee who sexually harasses another employee is "worse" than an employee who gets harassed. But then the Charles Randolph screenplay starts to sort closeted lesbians and career-strivers, and it's not sure who the bad guys really are. The film moves quite swiftly in its first half, and Charlize Theron's mimicking of Megyn Kelly is eerie. But I don't think Jay Roach knows what he believes. The lurid, claustrophobic scene between Margot Robbie's composite Kayla and John Lithgow's breathy Roger Ailes is the transcendent moment. It teases out the humiliation slowly and powerfully. With a quite meta flourish, the scene makes you hate yourself if you've ever objectified one of the most objectified actresses in the world; she's that great at illustrating her discomfort.

90. Glass (M. Night Shyamalan)- 1. A great example of "story" vs. "things happening." A negative example, I'm afraid. 2. The Osaka Tower represents the literal and figurative highs that the film will literally and figuratively not reach. 3. Spencer Treat Clark back!!! 4. The flashbacks are actual deleted scenes from Unbreakable, which is amazing. 5. Not since Lost has there been a work that seems like obsessive fan service, but the fan in mind is the creator, not any member of the audience. We do not want your explanations about Jai the security guard's role in your universe, Night. 6. This is a sequel to Unbreakable and a sequel to Split, but it somehow does not feel like a third chapter of anything. 7. It makes sense that I watched this on the same day that I listened to Weezer's The Teal Album, their surprise collection of punctilious '80s covers. In both cases, there's an artist who was really important to me in formative years but who has used up the last of whatever capital he has accrued by giving in to his worst instincts. In Shyamalan's case though, at least it's a confident swing. The second act pretty much tells us that we were dumb to believe what he sold us on. Even though it's dramatically inert and completely stops halfway through, this is exactly the movie he wanted to make, which I stupidly still admire. 89. Five Feet Apart (Justin Baldoni)- I checked this out because I have the sneaking suspicion that Haley Lu Richardson is a Movie Star, and she is continuing to progress into that power/responsibility. Otherwise the movie is a by-the-numbers weepie that doesn't really have a new spin on anything but hits its marks adequately. I was surprised that Claire Forlani got neither a "with" nor an "and" card in the credits. How rude. 88. Pet Sematary (Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer)- I like the bleak dive the film takes following its second big twist, which is handled well, but there is a ceiling for an adaptation of one of King's least ambitious and most predetermined tales. 87. Wild Rose (Tom Harper)- So conventional that Jessie Buckley almost got nominated for a Golden Globe. 86. Judy (Rupert Goold)- Just as the leaves start to change, we get biopics like these: too earnest to be cliched, too safe to be original. I'm on the ground floor of the Zellwegerssaince, but Judy is a slog in stretches. 85. The King (David Michod)- Capable but superfluous. Animal Kingdom was nine years ago, so it's quite possible that David Michod, even when he has an imperious Ben Mendelsohn at his disposal, has lost the urgency. The reason that anyone should see this--at least until someone puts together a YouTube compilation of just his scenes--is for Robert Pattinson, whose take on The Dauphin is the frontrunner for Most On-One Performance of the Year. 84. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (J.J. Abrams)- There are just enough moments--the first Force battle between Kylo and Rey being one of them--that remind the viewer of the magic of Star Wars. Kylo Ren's arc concludes in a more satisfying way than I expected, Babu Frik is officially my dude, and Daisy Ridley's post-Star Wars career intrigues me. My Dolby seat was rumbling, and I was pretty charged up on candy. But, man, most of the business here feels compromised, undermined, and inessential. It's a rushed connect-the-dots compared to The Last Jedi. There's a scene in which the gang has to risk wiping C-3PO's memory to gain important information--they need a thing to get to another thing to get to another thing--and there appear to be stakes for just a second. Then, as if to reassure the audience that there will be ten more of these movies, Rey adds, "Doesn't R2 have a backup of your memory?" That's the whole movie in an expensive, nostalgic nutshell.

83. Queen & Slim (Melina Matsoukas)- Capable of tender moments but shot in the foot by its episodic nature, Queen & Slim is the most uneven picture of the year. The characters work well as foils to each other, but Jodie Turner-Smith's performance is overshadowed by Kaluuya's. I have no idea what Chloe Sevigny and Flea are trying to do in their brief time on screen, and I have no idea what the film is trying to do when it disturbs the point of view for a misguided protest sequence. 82. Hustlers (Lorene Scafaria)- It has been a long time since I was so surprised that a movie was over. The coda comes up telling us about, in real life, what kind of criminal slaps on the wrists the characters received, and I got pushed out of the theater wondering what it all amounted to. Yeah, that's the point. I know. Just as none of the 2008 bankers went to jail in the wake of their destruction, none of the women who drugged and exploited them did much time beyond "14 months of weekends" either. But should I applaud moral confusion? Can I be angry about the lack of consequences for both parties? If you want me to judge the film I watched instead of the film I wanted to watch, I can be more complimentary. Some of the most electric moments in 2019 cinema are here, rooted in 2008 strip club music. And saying 2008 strip club rap was good is like saying 1890 French Impressionism was good. Nearly every performance works, from Lili Reinhart's bashfulness to Wai Ching Ho's gratitude to Jennifer Lopez's intractable confidence. Also, I don't know if anyone has noticed this before, but J. Lo has a nice butt. 81. The Report (Scott Z. Burns)- There are some interesting things going on here. For example, this feedback loop: An hour or so in, protagonist Daniel Jones watches a fabricated news feature that explains what waterboarding is, and I had an instinct as an audience member to go, "Like we don't know by now. Don't hold my hand." But the only reason I know is because of news reports like that, informed by work that the real Daniel Jones did, dramatized in the events of the first half of this very movie. Still, this movie is a lot like one of those dishes in which every single element sounds like something you would like--"Ooh, pork belly, delicious. Oooh, lemongrass. Bet those would go well together"--but you take a bite, and it doesn't taste good. Is that your fault or the restaurant's?

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newmonk · 5 years

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UK TRIP

Day 1 // 18th July 2019

- Landed at London Gatwick —> Switched two trains to get to Waterloo —> Walked down Webber Street to figure out exactly where it is - 130, Webber Street: My home for the next two weeks! - Went to the supermarket, got basic supplies, beers & a local SIM - Walk around Union Street, found a chill park - Chose to have dinner at Bala Baya, instead of Gordon Ramsay’s Union Street, because I don’t do mainstream stuff. LOL, kidding. I found Bala Baya’s menu & aesthetic more attractive. - Shopped for more supplies from TESCO at Southwark - Walked back home - Didn’t do much, just trying to get a hang of the city & people

Day 2 // 19th July 2019

- Train from Waterloo —> John Wood's - Starts raining as I walk towards the coveted Lord’s Cricket Ground - Met Dudeja outside Lord’s & started our Lord’s tour - Went to the great hall, merchandise store, the dressing rooms - the place where Ganguly took off & flung his jersey during the Natwest 2002 finals - Bus from Lord’s —> Oxford Circus - Walked around Oxford Street, its a shopping freak show. Since I’m averse to shopping, I didn’t like this street, but the kind of consumerism that exists in London is intense - Went for lunch to The Chipping Forecast: Fish & Chips, Avocado salad & Guinness stout was consumed - Followed by desert at Chin Chin - Met Deep in the evening & we went to Soho Theatre to watch comedy show, which I didn’t know would go on to inspire me to such an extent: DEMI LARDNER - Walked around Piccadilly Circle, China Town, Leicester Square, the popular places of London. Too much fan-fare around these places, very commercial, whereas I prefer the quiet, quaint lanes. Anyway, I couldn’t go to London for the first time & not visit these places, they’re too iconic too skip! - Walked around the Soho again, had a very good beer while walking - Dinner at Japes Pizzeria with Simon, Dudeja & Deep. Their pizzas were amazing! - Train from Oxford Circus —> Waterloo —> Walked home

Day 3 // 20th July 2019

- Walk from home —> BFI IMAX Waterloo —> Walk down to Tate Modern - MIND EXPLODE at Tate Modern, must’ve spent 5 hours easily, just absorbing - Bus to Nando’s —> Walk to BFI IMAX Waterloo - Watched Lion King at BFI (UK’s largest IMAX screen) - Tried a Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream for the first time. It was nice, normal - Walk back home from BFI - Reached home, then stepped out again - Spotted Andrew Scott outside the Old Vic Theatre! O.M.G. YES - Met Sumit, Sam & Dudeja & The London Eye around midnight, their keys fell into a gutter outside the London Eye & we struggled to get it, Sam & Sumit wrote a note on paper which had their name and contact number & put it through the grill - We went to a supermarket to get magnets since we thought we'll use that to pull out the keys from the gutter, but the shop-owner(from the subcontinent) warned us not to do such stuff, since it would come across as extremely suspicious. - Walked with Dudeja around Union Street - We saw hordes of people line up outside a train bridge, figured there was some underground boxing match happening there. - Walk back home.

Day 4 // 21st July 2019

- Took a train to North Greenwhich, was sent back to Canary Wharf, cozy the observatory is closer from there - SRK’s 'Challa' was shot at Canary Wharf - Heron Qauy-DLR Walk - Got off at Cutty Stark - Walk in Greenwich was amazing, it's a beautiful area - Walked to the observatory, crossing Cafe Rouge, Greenwich theatre & the huge park - Touched and stood on the prime meridian line(EXACT vertical centre of the Earth) & walked around the observatory - Walked down to the National Maritime Museum and saw some cool naval stuff (I didn't know that museums would fascinate me so much!) - Walk through Cutty Stark, bought a couple of vinyl LPs for myself although I don't have a player -_- It's a long term plan, sometimes you get accessories for something that you don't have & that motivates you to get the actual product, right? *I hope it's not just me* - Walked the Thames underground tunnel, it was quite cold down there - Walked across multiple parks to reach Isle of Dogs, (the name of this area inspired Wes Anderson to create a fictional film) which was quite disappointing, since I was expecting some film references, alas, One shouldn't expect too much. I didn't even find a direction symbol or a milestone that read 'Isle of Dogs' - Train back to Canary Wharf --> Switch at Green Park --> Piccadilly Line --> Hyde Park Corner - Met Dudeja, Deep & Simon at Hyde Park - We had a couple of beers, spoke, played catch & frisbee'd - Took a bus to Original Lahore, we were joined by Upmanyu there for dinner - Mediocre food at Original Lahore - Upmanyu walked us around the area, it was the same area where he stayed during his previous visit - Walked to Baker Street & saw Sherlock Holmes house. 221B - Took the bus home.

Day 5 // 22nd July 2019

- Started the day late. Did laundry, dishes, following up with clients regarding work back in Bombay. I was glad I didn’t carry my laptop along! - Walk to Southwark - Train to Victoria Station - Oxford Tube bus from Victoria Coach - Chill bus ride, reached the majestic city of Oxford - Walked around Oxford University, Christ Church College, by the river that flows through the city - I think I ate the best burger that I've ever eaten at Oxford. It was a smoked beef burger at this restaurant 'Head to the River' - The bartender mocked me coz I said 'I want beer beer'. These two guys made a quick gag, and went on to ask me if I wanted any 'Food Food' 'Water Water' & later apologised for their behaviour by saying they're 'Sorry Sorry' and 'Immature Immature'. I liked the dry humor, that’s my thing too. - Long walk by the river - Slept under a tree at the park, saw ducks, kayaks - Walked around the city for about 2-3 hours - Gelato Ice cream at George & Co - Saw a man in a hat & suit entertaining a group of kids - The architecture here was different from London. - Went to Sainsbury, found lactose free milk - Caught the bus back home --> Oxford Tube --> Victoria Coach London --> Bus no #211 from Victoria to Waterloo - Walk home - Made a cheese sandwich & drank that lactose free milk - Spoke to Varun for long & slept.

Day 6 // 23rd July 2019

- Walk to Southwark --> Train to King's Cross --> Walk across the street to St. Pancras - Train to Brighton with Dudeja - Walk to Brighton Beach through the lanes of the city - Chill at the Brighton Pier - Ate fish & Chips + Calamari on the pier. - Walk down the pebble beach - We’d planned for this, so I was carrying a sheet, we spread it and soaked in the sun for a couple of hours - Took a couple of dips in the water(English Channel) - Beer + Truffle Chips at the beach - Sid played an FKJ playlist & we slept on the beach - Walked ahead to the Naturist Beach Park, saw a beautiful lady there! - Shot 'Otherside' pilot with Dudeja - Started walking to get water & stumbled upon a bunch of boys playing cricket; they were from Afghanistan. We were elated and ended up playing cricket with them for over an hour, made friends with them. One of those boys aped Bumrah’s action to the T, he was a fan! - Walked back on the Brighton promenade, saw the axe throwing booth - Back at Brighton station, we took the train to London - Got off at Southwark & walked home

Day 7 // 24th July 2019

- Walk to Borough Market - Ate pork wrap from Hobbs & gobbled an entire box of strawberries - Walk to London Bridge, walked the tower bridge - Bus to Potter Fields garden/park - Walk at Hay's Galleria (I think the architechture of Hiranandani in Powai is heavily inspired by this place) - London Bridge Underground station --> Train to Camden - Walked around the entirety of Camden - Found 'The World's End' pub and had their house beer 'The World's End Ale', one word: OUTSTANDING! The bartender & I spoke about Edgar Wright and his amazing films! - Bus to Shoreditch - Walked across the Grafiiti streets and reached a fine dine Burmese restaurant: Lahpet (with Dudeja - his reccomendation!) - Pork gravy + Rice with Prawn dim sums on the side - Walking beer from Shoreditch, walked around Shoreditch while sipping on the beer - Went to another restaurant 'Bird' and got Fried chicken parcelled - Bus to Tower Bridge - Walked tower bridge at night - Sat by the Thames and finished that fried chicken with blue cheese sauce! Blue Cheese FTW! - Walked back home through Borough Market.

Day 8 // 25th July 2019

- Saw a priesthood ceremony in a church - Walked to the Imperial War Museum, intensely intrigued by the history behind World War II & The Holocaust. What a museum, must visit! - Walk back home - Lunch at Borough Market (Pork Hot Dog) + Gelato (Pistachio) - Train to West Hampstead - Met Sumit Anand, Sam & Dudeja, we booked our tickets to Cardiff (Wales). I also booked my tickets to Edinburgh (Scotland) - Train back home - Chilled on the terrace, had a couple of drinks - Walked to Tower Bridge & by the Thames with Maitry - Chilling again on the terrace, even Dudeja joined, spoke about Indian politics, because... how could we not!

Day 9 // 26th July 2019

- Leave for London Victoria with Dudeja in the morning - Missed the bus by 2 minutes, had to book the next bus which was after an hour :( - Walked to Victoria Street for breakfast - Beautiful breakfast at Granger & Co. Oh my god, the scrambled egg there is heavenly - Got on to our bus, headed to Cardiff - Checked in to our hostel the Riverside, one of the better ones, recommend it! - We headed out, but the city seemed a bit slow that day - Pizza & Beer at The Gatekeeper - Walked around the city, deserted, empty vibe, we thought we chose wrongly - Went to the Roald Dahl park - Took a bus back to the hotel, played mini pool in the courtyard & then slept like logs

Day 10 // 27th July 2019 - Breakfast at the hostel, our locker with passports got locked, so we had to break the lock to get our stuff out! With the hostel’s permission of course, they only got us a bolt cutter - Checkout & walk to Bute Park - Experienced one of the fun-nest event ever, that too randomly, we stumbled upon it! The Homeless Football World Cup & loved the vibe of it! Saw the opening ceremony + 1st match Denmark beat Wales (Penalty Tie Breaker) The Homeless World Cup is a sporting event organised by Homeless World Cup Foundation, a social organization which advocates the end of homelessness through the sport of association football - Walk out to the castle short walk, went to Joke store, comic store, etc. - Walk through various arcades - Loved walking in the arcades - Cardiff Market - Local market walk. Had Cannabis lollipop, slightly buzzed - Walk in arcades, quick lunch at Gregs. - Very cool stores, vintage video game parlor, skateboarding shops, fun toy shops, our perception of Cardiff as compared to the previous day had completely changed, it was such a fun place! - Dinner + Red Beer at Corner House - Walk to Sophia Garden, board the bus to London Victoria

Day 11 // 28th July 2019 - Reached home late at night, ate basic stuff - Morning, wasn't feeling too well (bunch of things mentally + homesick). - Chilled at home, cleaned everything, kitchen, laundry, etc. - Went to the park near Webber St. for a walk - Ate a fruit, video called Akshita, she looked cute, was watching Kapoor & Sons - I went back home, packed my stuff for Scotland, spoke to Akshita again, we had an emotional moment. - I took the bus to Victoria & left for Edinburgh, that was a tough ride, I was very uncomfortable through the journey, won't forget that night for sometime man! Phewww!

Day 12 // 29th July 2019

- Reached Edinburgh early in the morning. Walked down to the hostel. - Crashed in the hostel's (Baxter's Hostel) cafeteria since my check-in was 6 hours later. The people running that place were v sweet! 10/10 would recommend. - Got to my bed at 2 PM. Slept immediately. - Woke up at 5 PM, met Nimesh (Indian connect ftw, he was from Canada), he was gracious enough to lend me his hop on/hop off bus ticket, that was valid for the next day as well - Walked around Waverley Mall, ate a quick Chinese meal. Booked my ghost tour for 9 PM the same night, but reached the incorrect meeting point - Walked around the city & went back to the hostel by 10:30 PM, not a lonely walk, since the fringe setup/arrangements were on, Edinburgh was buzzing!

Day 13 // 30th July 2019 - Woke up late, fresh finally! Quick shower & out. - Bright sunny day (Thank god for that!). - Grabbed a subway & took the hop on - hop off bus - Reached the entry point to Arthur's seat. Trekked Arthur's seat. Beautiful. Spent an hour there, ate fruits while I chilled with myself. - Went to the Scottish Parliament - Took rounds of the city on the bus, got to know about the significance of Edinburgh in J.K.Rowling's life & the world of Harry freaking Potter. (Trivia: Rowling incepted Harry Potter in Edinburgh. She wrote The Sorcerer's Stone at a cafe 'The Elephant House' & the Deathly Hallows in suite 501 @ The Balmoral (Bang opposite Baxter Hostel)) - Walked the lovely Victoria Street, ate a heavy meal @ Nando's - Finally went for my Murder & Mystery walk at Victoria Street, too much fun! - Walk to the hostel, slept.

Day 14 // 31st July 2019 - Woke up late, breakfast @ McDonald's - Bus to Glasgow [ Wanted to visit another part of Scotland, since I hadn’t pre-booked my Highland’s tour :( ] - Wrote a couple of Thumb-stopper scripts on the way, kept me engaged & distracted - Reached Glasgow, walked around - Went to a Gurudwara, needed to visit an Indian place of worship, felt extreme comfort - Visited the Botanic Garden - Walked across the city, found the film+book+music store - Went to the riverside : Clyde River - Continued walking around the riverside, long walk, its a lonely city, it started drizzling, no one around - Didn't find anything interesting in Glasgow, quite low. Maybe I didn't go there on a good day, went back to Bus Station, phone got spoilt in the rain. Got a bus back to Edinburgh & bunked at the hostel

Day 15 // 1st August 2019 - Woke up early, had to meet Aditi & film The Otherside episode with her! There was a kick in my walk finally, after the last couple of days of gloom and Aditi's energy was so positive & happy, it just pulled me out of where my mind was looming. - Met & shot the episode with her at Assembly @ George Square, we ate some lovely crepes later. - Walked around Edinburgh, visited The Scottish Art Gallery, saw my favorite painter: Rembrandt’s original, authentic work!!! Saw his mentor Pieter Lastman’s work as well. Oh man! (I know I left Edinburgh the same day when the Fringe was beginning, it was mistimed... my trip there, didn’t plan it that way, so please don’t remind me that :( & anyway I had fun there) - Bus to airport ---> Flight to London Stansted ---> Train to Tottenham ---> Underground switch - Reached Southwark, picked up basic groceries from the supermarket - Home: Started packing, cleaning up, laundry stuff

Day 16 // 2nd August 2019

- It was a sunny day, had to do final packing, shopping & visit the places that were on the check list, all in the limited number of hours & considering that I wake up late, anyway, I think I managed to do a great job! - Kept all my bags ready & headed out after cooking myself a quick meal at home - Went straight up to Green Park, chilled for a while - Walked around Buckingham Palace - Went to Harrod’s, that’s a mind-boggling shopping space. Crazy! - Had to visit the iconic Abbey Road and click a picture of that street. There’s too much artistic history in London! What to do. - And I cannot thank Kunal Rao enough for recommending Hampstead Heath, it is the BEST park ever. What diverse experience. Yoga, silent open air disco, writers sitting in isolation & writing, young couples chilling, boys playing football, people having wine, some men fishing, while some swam, it was all happening there. Perfect example of Mutual Co-existence. Spent a couple of hours there, ate fruit, absorbed the air, my trip was coming to an end, what a bummer :( - Ran to Oxford Street, had to do all the shopping, then & there. - I shopped from LUSH, Sports Direct, Primark, Adidas, Marks & Spencer. You’d want to spend all your money on that street, it’s peak capitalism, but too attractive to not spend. Such dilemma for an existential person yaar. (Notice the change in me from day 2 to day 16?) - Reached home late in the night, bid adieu to this beautiful house in the heart of London, very grateful! - Picked luggage & left for Harsha Di’s place, saw a film shoot happening on the street when I left, now the person I am, I found that symbolic like: chalo beta it’s time to go back to films (Bombay), haha! - Got on a train to Wembley, met Harsha Di & jiju, went to their place, she’d made fresh indian food! Tasted a roti after 17 days, oh man, that is unmatchable, the hype is true! - Chilled with the two of them & crashed, had an early morning flight.

Day 17 // 3rd August 2019

- Woke up early, Harsha di & Alok jiju drove me to the Heathrow & the trip came to an end! What an experience man. Wow! I was amazed.

SPECIAL THANKS TO HRISHIT, SIDDHARTH & HARSHITA DI FOR THE MAKING SURE I HAD THE BEST TIME! AND TO KUNAL, ASHISH, VASANI & AKHIL FOR THE RECOMMENDATIONS AND AS ALWAYS, MOM (FOR EVERYTHING)

I also realised that I quite enjoy my own company & thoughts, so was able to spend almost 20 days by myself, of course I met friends, comics & stuff, but for the most time, I was alone & I think I did well. Took care of everything, from food, travel, laundry, mopping, grocery shopping, managing expenses while on a budget trip along with having an absolutely kickass time and enormous learnings.

Special Mention & MUST HAVE: ‘Citymapper’ App (It sorted my life from day 1. No other App is required if you have this App)

OVERALL TRIP AFTERTHOUGHT: I absolutely loved my time in U.K. It’s the culture, the architecture, the people who make the place, all of which were very good & the best part is that they have preserved and maintained their history, they hold it so dearly (even though most of the wealth is a result of imperialism & looted from other nations, they have cultivated a culture & market out of it) and that’s something that I think we lack as a nation. I recently read an article that said RK Studios in Chembur has been demolished since they were running losses and the land has been sold to a big real estate company for apartments to be made. All the memorabilia, the emotions, the films which were shot in that iconic studio gone! All at once. Somehow I feel, that in another country perhaps, it would have been valued more, art would be given much more respect.

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sicklylittlesnowflake · 7 years

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Hi! I was wondering if you could do a riverdale fic for me where jughead has a really bad migraine and has to be looked after by Kevin, Betty and Veronica as Archie is away at a football game? Thanks x

(Anon I feel like u can secretly read minds..bc I love writing the gang in a caretaking scenario!! Writing B, V and K are my soft spots bc they’re all too precious??This was hella fun!! Thanks for the prompt!)

Sometimes it was all a bit too much for Jughead.

Stress often lead to splitting migraines, and any sort of sensation seemed to be too much for him. A sensory overload, if you will. He couldn’t quite hang out with the gang by Sweetwater River because noise, and social interaction, and he couldn’t go back to the Andrews because Fred Andrews was watching a soccer game which Archie informed him before leaving was intense. Again, noise.

So Pops was the only other option he had. Jughead knew the schedule and the influx of customers by heart. It was always quiet on a Tuesday, 2pm.

Normally, Jughead would hide any ailments of course, but if he had to tell anyone, it was Archie. Who was away on a three day Away game for some of spring break. So Jughead opted to tell no one.

Sometimes he hated himself for it, because in a sense he was doing it to himself. He had friends who cared and valued him, but there was always that stupid part of himself when everything was just fine that told him otherwise. Perhaps it was the crippling fear of rejection, or perhaps despite priding himself in the fact that he was different, he secretly longed to be just like everyone else. Perhaps it was a part of him that thought he couldn’t be loved, that he didn’t deserve it.

However, despite all the bullshit in his life, so much so that Jughead was teetering close to completely giving up, there was always a small inkling of hope.

Whether that was a small smile, an invite to whatever, or the ever so generous Pop Tate.

“Headache, Jug?” Pop asked softly, an absolute godsend, knowing not to further agitate his ever growing migraine.

Jughead snapped back into reality, realising his slumped position over his very dim laptop, hands clutching his head protectively. He managed a very slight smile.

“Just a little bit,” Jughead managed to croak out.

The older man slid , as well as a nice cold glass of water.

“Here you go bud,” He said quietly, offering him a small smile.

“It must be that wonderful brain of yours, a minor setback to all the wonderful things it can do,” he cooed, hoping his kind words could somehow alleviate the pain he was sure the younger was feeling.

He didn’t even know how he grew fond of this kid–perhaps it started when he was only about 10 years old, bringing his much younger sister without any parents. He hadn’t said anything initially, just expecting they thought they were being cool kids by being there without parents, but when it kept happening Pop understood his diner was an escape. His sister was always happy–while her older brother just kept looking sadder as the time went on. Soon enough her older brother wasn’t a kid anymore, losing that childhood innocence far too soon. Perhaps it was the fact that Jughead had grown up too soon that made Pop slightly protective.

His concern grew further when Jughead started coming alone–no sister or no Archie Andrews, and then he started staying later, as long as he could before he would leave. On a few occasions, Pop would let him stay the night despite the protests. He couldn’t find the heart to kick him out, when he had the same kind of thing happen to him in his youth. He’d only hoped he could be there for the kid.

Jughead cracked a grin despite the pain, “You’re a godsend, Pop, really. Thank you so much.”

As he made his way back to behind the counter, he brought up his records and began making a phone call to the Keller household.

Kevin finished up with the last of the folding, making his way up to his room and putting his own clothes to their respective drawers, hanging up what had to be hung up in the closet. He then carried his father’s carefully folded clothes to his father’s bedroom, leaving the pile on the bed when the phone rang.

Kevin jumped slightly, running down the stairs to answer the mint coloured telephone.

“Hello, Keller household–”

“Hello Kevin? It’s Pop. I’ve got Jughead here who seems to be sick.”

Kevin let out a deep sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. Of course he wouldn’t tell them and he’d get to the point of Pop having to call them over.

“I’m on my way, thanks for letting me know,” Kevin said brightly, and said his goodbyes before putting down the phone. He pulled on his rubber shoes and pulled his phone out of pocket, shooting both Betty and Veronica a text.

Betty looked up from the book she was reading as her phone buzzed. She smiled, expecting some sort of weird meme from Veronica only to see it was a text from Kevin.

Kevin: pop told me that jugs sick and in need of our rescue meet up with me at pops in a bit pls?? xx

Betty jumped out of her bed and quickly stuck in a pretty pink bookmark Polly made for her in 6th grade art class and threw on a pastel purple sweater over her blue t shirt. She chucked on her converse and grabbed her keys, out of her room in seconds.

She giggled quietly to herself, this whole situation just a little bit funny because she felt as if she was some superhero ready to save the day. Like Jughead was some stupid damsel in distress who needed..tissues? head massages? throat lozenges? Kevin didn’t tell her what kind of sickness he had, but whatever he had, she was prepared for it!

Before walking down the stairs she made a short detour to the bathroom, wherein she opened one of the cupboards to pull out her signature pink caretaking bag, which was lovingly handcrafted and curated so she could care for her friends. When she got sick, her friends would all come to her house and take the same bag to take care of her. The bag was a gift given by God.

She rushed down the stairs and quickly yelled at her dad, telling him she was going to Pops with Kevin, which was no lie, and was out of her house before any sort of obligations were made.

Veronica was in the middle of testing out a new eyeshadow palette that Archie had gotten her for her birthday two weeks ago (with Betty and Kevin’s help, obviously) when she got the text. She was excited for what she presumed was a cute dorky text from Betty but was proved wrong by Kevin’s text.

Kevin: jughead’s dumb and he’s sick and we have to save him grab your weapons, the evil (germs?) is at pops

Veronica chuckled softly, and shot a response back before quickly finishing up her eyeshadow (she might as well finish it), and fluffed out her hair, before pulling on a pair of boots and her black jacket.

“Smithers? Will you tell mom if she gets back before me that I’ve gone off to save a dying friend at Pop’s if she wonders where I am??” Veronica laughed as she made her way out of the apartment.

They all arrived roughly at the same time, naturally Kevin was first with a head start, then come Betty and Veronica.

Veronica was ready to burst in and take Jughead by the ear and lightly scold him for not telling them, when Betty pulled her back.

“Wait, Veronica! We need to plan.”

“Plan?! For what?! We just gotta go in there and aggressively take care of him, beat the shit out of whatever’s wrong with him!”

Kevin smirked, “For being that tiny, you really are fuelled with rage.”

“I could end you in a second, you giant tree, and you know it,” Veronica hissed.

Betty shook her head, “No! Not like that. I meant that he’s going to try and deny it obviously, that’s going to happen, but if he’s got a headache, attacking him and being loud isn’t going to help!”

Kevin chuckled, “Sure, of course Betty, but he’s not a monster who will break if he accidentally push the wrong buttons. Let’s stop this and just help the poor guy, yeah?”

The three then made their way inside the diner, immediately spotting a grey beanie poking out from his usual booth.

Jughead was face down on the table, laptop pushed away from him, hands clutching his head protectively.

“Hey, Jughead? It’s Kevin..and uh, Betty and Veronica too,” Kevin said quietly.

Jughead tensed up immediately, sitting up, way too quickly, intensifying his already splitting migraine. He cracked a pained, forced smile as he leaned his head back against the booth cushion.

“Wow, I absolutely adore my fans. What can I do for you?” Jughead quipped, face scrunched up in pain. His voice was strained. He was completely pale, void of any colour. It made his blue eyes pop and look icy, but it also did the same for his bags which seemed even darker than they usually were.

Betty frowned, “No, what can we do for you? What’s wrong, Jug, you look awful.”

Jughead smirked, “That’s a real boost to the self esteem.”

Veronica sighed, “Jughead, you know that’s not what she meant. C'mon, enough with this edge lord emo ‘I don’t feel pain’ crap so we can get you better soon, yeah?”

Jughead shook his head, biting his lip, “Please you guys, I’m fine. Honestly, leave me be.”

The three watched in pity, not knowing how to get through to him.

Suddenly, a sudden wave of burning pain hit his head, and he couldn’t help the hiss and whimper that tore their way out of his throat, against his will. He hated looking so weak in front of his friends, but it hurt too much.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Jughead whimpered, voice cracking as eyes squeezed shut and teeth digging deep into his lip. He wasn’t really sure if he was talking to them or reassuring himself.

“Jughead, please, c'mon, what’s wrong?” Kevin pleaded quietly.

Jughead caved in, the pain too much to handle, “My head hurts so much.”

Betty frowned, “Awh, Jug..!”

Veronica smirked slightly, “Have you wrecked your brain trying to find better comebacks when I roast you?”

That little comment managed to make Jughead release a low chuckle, still strained but momentarily distracting him from the pain.

“No, it’s from trying to comprehend the fact that a human as strange and annoying as you can exist, I mean, you must be an anomaly of some sort,” Jughead replied, trying to be funny hoping it would somehow distract him.

Veronica chuckled, “That is the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Betty tried to hide her amusement, “Okay guys, real talk, how do we fix him up?”

Veronica and Betty sat on the seats in front of him, and took note of the aspirin and water in front of him. Betty suddenly got her bag out and pulled out a cold compress, and laid the compress on Jughead’s forehead.

“Betts, we’re in public!” Jughead said, slightly frantic.

“No ones here, Jug! Well, Dilton Doiley’s reading his zombie apocalypse comic but he’s not going to look up!” Betty protested, to which Jughead gave in to, having no energy to fight.

“Okay, you should drink more of that water, Jughead,” Veronica cooed.

Jughead sniffled lightly, and nodded to the best of his ability, pressing the glass to his lips and sipping the liquid.

“You must be really dehydrated,” Veronica frowned.

“Is this going to turn into a soft pastel stay hydrated speech or?” Jughead joked, through teeth gritted with pain.

“Okay now, enough jokes,” Betty chuckled.

Kevin took the seat next to Jughead, “Here, I can give you a massage that my mom taught me? I give them to my dad when he gets really stressed and I think it works?”

Jughead let out a noise of relief, and great gratitude, “Kevin, you are a godsend. A gift from the lord himself.”

Kevin chuckled softly, and pressed his fingers towards Jughead’s temples, lightly and gently rubbing them in little circles.

Jughead seemed to instantly relax, his pained expression slowly fading into a more neutral one, his muscles loosening up. He stopped squeezing his hands quite as hard and stopped gritting his teeth.

Kevin smiled in satisfaction, trying hard to not be too prideful of his talent in this particular field. His dad told him time and time again how great he was at destressing, but lowkey thought it was just because he was his dad. Knowing he was helping Jughead reassured him a little bit.

Jughead’s breathing steadied, not asleep but very much relaxed and at peace, although his head still wasn’t completely pain-free. If throbbed slightly, but the gentle and therapeutic movements of Kevin’s hands on his temples soothed it.

Betty giggled very softly, “Kevin! That’s amazing!”

Veronica sighed in relief, the image of her friend in so much pain very unsettling for her. She was glad he was getting better but of course she wouldn’t admit it.

“Now Jones, I hope this is a lesson that you should stop stressing yourself out too much. Get out of that massive brain of yours for two seconds and talk to us, I promise you it’s much better than the edge lord, 2007 emo lone wolf bullshit you’ve been doing,” Veronica said sternly, but her voice soft and kind.

Before Jughead couldn’t even reply, Betty was speaking too.

“Yeah Juggy, talk to us. Stop withdrawing into yourself and internalising everything. You don’t have to tell us everything, but you don’t have to keep hiding things. We’re your friends, we’re here for you to look after you,” Betty said warmly.

Jughead didn’t reply, but his small smile that he gave was enough.

#jughead jones #betty cooper #veronica lodge #kevin keller #riverdale #sickfic #prompts #headache

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