nobleswiftie

[nobleswiftie]

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[nobleswiftie]

‘This Is Your Home’ (A Bughead Poem)

"This is your home. You know that, right?"

"You are going to need to hold on tight."

"Besides, isn't that what, you know, what people like us, who have gone through what we've gone through, do?"

"I support you."

"You just called it a date. You literally said, 'It's a date.'"

"They're each other’s' soulmates."

"I'm weird. I'm a weirdo."

"Also..."

"You have something good here, with her."

"You're an enigma, Cooper."

"Everything around us was imploding, and I did it to protect you."

"It was the best I could do."

"Of course, I was with you, and I know who you are."

"The car!"

"We're all crazy."

"Just. Like. Me."

"Like Romeo and Juliet, but we live happily ever after instead."

"I believe you, Jughead."

"I think it's important for us. You know?"

"So don't, don't let go."

"Jughead, son of a Serpent. He's not worthy of your love."

"I'm not letting Riverdale's civil war split us apart, Jug."

"It's your story. It's your voice."

"You're so much stronger than all the white noise."

"And all this time, I thought you were a lover, not a fighter."

"I love you, Betty Cooper."

"Like 'Nancy Drew' meets 'Girl with a Dragon Tattoo.'"

"Jughead Jones, I love you."

[nobleswiftie]

Jughead gets Betty’s Christmas Gift (FanFic)

Betty Cooper rushed from the trailer, after hurriedly throwing her books into her bag. Jughead Jones stared back at the ceiling, lying unmoved on the couch from where they had passed out asleep together while trying to break the Black Hood’s cipher.

She had bolted, after her cell phone buzzed them awake. That was so like Betty. School would be starting in an hour. Her mom was definitely pissed (That gave Jughead a slight smile).

But he wished she hadn’t left, that she had stayed wrapped in his arms. Yeah, he was sitting with the South Side Serpents at lunch now, but he still felt out of place in his new school. He wasn’t one of them. And he still wasn’t sure he wanted to be. It was for his own protection — and hers.

If Betty had stayed just a bit longer and left The Red & Black’s office when he had the other night, she could have been caught in the pummel that the Ghoulies gave him. At least she would have known the truth.

Jughead sighed and turned his head to the side. Debris of failed cipher solutions and empty Chinese takeout boxes covered the floor. Then he saw a few books. Betty must have forgotten them in her dash out the door.

He sat up and stretched with a yawn, picking up the books. One was a notebook with a pretty covering. Another was a spiral-bound. The third was a novel. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Jughead’s eyes were drawn to the book’s corner: “Introduction by Toni Morrison.”

He flashbacked to the last night of summer vacation. He’d been there, typing away in Pop’s, when Archie and Betty had settled into a booth two away from his for their reunion after she’d been away all summer.

Organizing a book release party for Toni Morrison had been the highlight of her internship in Los Angeles, she’d said.

“At the end of the night, Toni Morrison, who is, as you know, my literary hero, says to me: ‘Don’t rush this time, Betty. It goes by so fast at your age. One summer can change everything.’”

It did for Riverdale.

He also heard Archie talking about his music, which Jughead had brushed off mostly when Archie had casually mentioned it this summer at Pop’s. He had sounded more serious about it with her.

He also heard Betty, when she was trying to tell Archie what was so painfully obvious to everyone except his obvlious friend, and he witnessed Veronica’s dramatic interruption, as Archie became utterly infatuated.

Jughead shook the memory from his mind. Betty later had lent him a copy of Morrison’s Beloved that she stole from Polly’s room, after he told her he’d never read it before on the bus ride to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy when they went to see her sister.

It was a Pultizer Prize winner. Well-written. Weird. Dark. At the time, it surprised Jughead a bit when Betty mentioned it being her favorite. He knew her better now.

Betty had said she felt like she missed out this summer when she did not have a copy of Beloved with her in L.A. for Morrison to sign.

“I wonder…” Jughead pondered aloud, as he reached for his laptop.

He plopped Betty’s books on the table in the kitchen and sat there, opening up his computer. It didn’t take long to find what for what he was searching online: a signed first-edition copy of Beloved. Then, he looked at the price. $400.

Jughead cursed. With the drive-in closed and his job gone, he was low on cash. He had money for gas in the motorcycle and his tab with Pop. The Serpents were helping to keep the lights on in the trailer. Other than that, Jughead probably had about $18 to his name. There was no way, unless…

He found a piece of paper and a pen and started writing. He wrote about Betty meeting Ms. Morrison, in hopes she might remember. He wrote about what they had been through together — growing up together, investigating Jason’s murder, fending off the Black Hood. He wrote about how he wanted to be a novelist and how felt about Betty, pulling from Morrison’s book:

“She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order.”

When Jughead signed his name, he took a deep breath. He found an envelope and stamp, planning to mail it on his way to school. He looked at the time. Jughead cursed again.

***

He returned to the trailer after school, having forgotten the letter on top of Betty’s books. He reached for the stack, but the notebook fell to the ground. As he picked it up, a folded note slid out from between the pages.

He grabbed the parchment. It looked like the paper on which the Black Hood’s cipher was written. Jughead unfolded it, read it, and then read it again. He swallowed hard. Jughead hurried out the door to Elm Street.

***

On his way home after he and Betty had decoded the cipher, cleared out the townhall meeting, and were interrogated by Sheriff Keller, Mayor McCoy, and Alice Cooper, Jughead thought about the Black Hood’s letter and how Betty looked scared as she had spoken about it. He hated that, thinking he couldn’t protect her.

He slid his hands into his jean jacket pockets. His fingers rubbed along the edge of the envelope he had stashed in there this morning. His head shot up, and he headed toward the post office before going home.

The book arrived just in time for Christmas.

[nobleswiftie]

Betty Tells Jughead the Truth About the Black Hood -- Riverdale 2x06 Missing Scene (AU/FanFic)

Betty Cooper sat in The Blue & Gold’s office looking over her list of clues on the man who called himself the Black Hood.

1. Male, white, well built

prob in his 30s or 40s

2. Green eyes

3. Was at the Jubilee…

Her eyes glazed over. What was it she had said to him again? You’re next, Black Hood. I’m breathing down your neck. Can you feel it? Can you feel me?

She dropped her reporter’s notepad down on the wooden desk in front of her, placed her hands behind her head, and tilted her head back, giving a deep sigh as she looked up at the ceiling.

She jumped, when he blew in like a hurricane. She sat up, startled, right as his palm slammed down on the desk, sandwiching that day’s issue of The Black & Gold.

“You didn’t tell me?” the loner weirdo from the wrong side of the tracks said angrily, looking down at her. “He was my own mentor, and you didn’t tell me?”

When Betty tilted her head up to look into his eyes, she expected to see a fire in him, rampant flames out to destroy anything in their path. He was right to feel that way. She broke up with him out of the blue — no, even worse, she had sent Archie, their mutual friend but her former crush, to break up with him on her behalf, and he had gotten carried away with the news about Jughead joining the South Side Serpents, even though she asked him to be gentle. Now, he just found out his newspaper adviser at his new school who encouraged him to investigate and pursue journalism was Riverdale’s very own drug lord. He should be angry.

Instead, though, Betty saw the love of her life look at her with the brokenness she saw in his face when they argued on his birthday. His dad was locked up in prison. His mom and sister were out of state. She had broken his heart, and now the mentor who had put faith and trust in him turned out to be a South Side scumbag. He felt alone, broken, and helpless — like she had each time her phone had played “Lollipop.”

Betty stood up, tugging on the edge of her Peter Pan-collared sweater, and crossed her arms like a hug. “There’s, there’s a lot I haven’t told you, Jug,” she said, as she walked to the side of the desk and leaned against it. “And it’s time I do.”

Jughead nodded, took a seat, and swallowed hard. He looked up at her. “Okay.”

“You know how I got that letter from the Black Hood?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“He didn’t stop there. He’s been…calling me.”

Jughead jumped from his chair. “He’s been call-”

“Let me explain,” Betty cut him off, and Jughead turned his head away, his hand covering his jaw. “He threatened Polly. He said I had to publish that exposé about my mom being a Serpent. He said I had to cut Veronica out of my life. And you, Jug. He said he’d hurt you, if I didn’t break up with you.”

Jughead took his hand from his face and sharply turned his head toward Betty as she said that last sentence. His face softened, as he looked at her wide-eyed. It was clear that what she had gone through was painful by the furrow of her eyebrows and the sag of her delicate mouth. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at him.

“I couldn’t do it, Jug,” she shook her head as her eyes watered and her nose began to run. “I couldn’t do it, Juggie. Not to you. Not to your face. I knew, I knew you wouldn’t believe me if I tried. I couldn’t take that risk.”

He sighed, physically melting as the guilt of his anger at her washed away. “That’s why you sent Archie.”

“He was the only one the Black Hood didn’t threaten.”

Jughead tilted his head sideways at the remark. A spark of curiosity ran across his face as he wagged his index finger at his side. “That’s interesting,” he nodded, his tongue pressing against the inside of his cheek, as he thought. “Remember, the Black Hood put a gun to Archie’s head in Pop’s, too, but he didn’t shoot him.”

“Yeah, but it didn’t matter that the Black Hood didn’t say his name,” Betty shook her head, and she got choked up again. “He threatened to kill Polly, unless I gave him another name.”

Jughead’s eyes widened, as he looked at the perfect girl next door. “Betty…you didn’t…”

“Nick St. Clair,” she whispered. “I had just seen Cheryl, who was explaining what he had done to her, and I panicked, and it just came out. I even told him where he was staying, Jug.” Betty took a deep breath. “I ran right over to the Five Seasons as soon as the words escaped my mouth. He was okay. The Black Hood, he said he wasn’t a ‘son of Riverdale,’ so…”

She trailed off, as Jughead put his right hand on her upper arm. The action made her smile slightly, reminding her of when he did so to comfort her before he kissed her for the first time.

“I’m sorry you had to go through this alone,” he said softly.

She looked into his beautiful blue eyes. “If it meant keeping you safe, Jug, then I would do it a thousand times over.”

Jughead hesitated as he looked into her peaceful green eyes. Toni. The guilt rushed over him, as he took a step back, placed his hand to his forehead, and turned slightly away. Just as his dad hid away a body to protect him from a crazy wig-wearing maple syrup farmer and heroine drug pin, Betty had acted to protect him from Riverdale’s serial killer. He repaid her by hooking up with another girl hours later. He felt sick.

“How-how does Mr. Phillips fit into this?”

Betty shrugged. “I think he was supposed to be his next victim. The Black Hood called, asking me to find the Sugarman and suggested I talk to Cheryl. And she got his name from her mom.”

“Then you published it in The Blue & Gold?”

 “And told Sheriff Keller, yeah,” she said. “The Black Hood called again after that, but I told him that it’s our game now, that I would find him.”

Jughead nodded. “I’m sorry…for everything. I should’ve known. I should’ve told you about the Serpents.”

“And I’m sorry,” Betty said, taking a step toward him, “for putting you through what I did.” She paused. “I love you, Jug.”

He turned to her and cupped her head in his hands and kissed her lightly, a gentle rekindling for two shaken souls. They touched their foreheads against each other for a moment. Betty smiled.

Jughead pulled away and rubbed his hands together. “Okay, Jill Johnson, come on. We have another killer to catch.”