#pretliesmb

[southsidewrites]

PRETTY LIES || REGGIE MANTLE x OC 

Rating: Mature/Explicit

Pairings: Reggie Mantle/Lydia Boyd (OC); slight Moose Mason/Lydia Boyd (OC)

Word Count: 87,257

Warnings: explicit sexual content, language, teen drug and alcohol use, crude/misogynistic language and humor, abusive and neglectful parents, fighting/violence, religious themes (Specific warnings can be found at the beginning of each chapter)

Author’s Note: This fic originated when I thought to myself, why the heck doesn’t anyone seem to care Midge is dead? followed quickly by and how did Reggie get off scot-free for trying to kill Fangs? This fic was the answer to those questions.  Set during the summer after Season 2, this fic is an AU that explores how things might have gone had Riverdale given these poor kids some closure.

Thanks to @rivendell101 for the lovely graphic!

Summary:

Pastor’s daughter Lydia Boyd has been best friends with Midge Klump her whole life.  When her best friend is brutally murdered in front of her very eyes, she is forced to reconsider everything she’s ever known to be true.  Lydia used to think she had it all figured out, that life made sense, but a newfound relationship forged by grief with bad-boy jock Reggie Mantle makes her consider the possibility that the framework of her entire existence might be no more than a pretty lie.

Reggie Mantle knows he fucked up.  He’s made more mistakes than he can possibly count, and now the world is falling apart around him.  From an innocent crush, to a desire to belong, to the only friends he ever had, everything is being ripped away. He doesn’t know how things managed to spiral so far out of control, but he knows that she makes him feel safe.

In a year filled with grief, longing, mistakes, hatred, and doubt, Lydia and Reggie rediscover themselves and learn what it means not only to love unconditionally, but to allow yourself to be loved back.

Preview:

“Lydia,” Reggie asked, unsure if he could trust his eyes. “Is that wine?”

“Sure is,” she replied, unscrewing the top. “The finest off-brand communion wine.” Sighing she leaned back against the wall, her arm brushing against his. “Sometimes, when I feel like absolute shit, I snag some and come up here to get away.”

Reggie watched as she took the first sip of wine.  For a girl that was supposed to be the perfect little pastor’s daughter, she was sure full of surprises.  It wasn’t until she set the jug down and gave him a pointed look that Reggie realized he was staring.  Swallowing hard, he picked up the jug and downed a sip—it was possibly the cheapest wine he had ever tasted, but the effect it had on his headache was near-immediate. “What are you getting away from?”

“Mostly the crippling realization that my best friend is dead, but also my dad sometimes.”

Reggie’s eyes widened, and he attempted to sputter out a reply.  Before he could, though, she started laughing.

“Jeez, man, I was kidding.” She grabbed the wine and took another sip. “My parents are just a lot sometimes.”

“I get that.” Reggie exhaled slowly, running his hand through his hair and doing his best to keep his eyes fixed on the view instead of Lydia. “I really get that.”

“Want to talk about it?” She turned those piercing green eyes on him, and his heart started thudding. “You seem like the king of repressed issues.”

He scoffed, looking away before her eyes sucked him any deeper. “That may be true, but you’re definitely the queen.”

“Oooh, touché, you got me.” She passed him the wine, and her skin felt hot against his when he grabbed the jug. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

READ THE COMPLETED FIC ON A03 HERE

[southsidewrites]

Reggie yanked at the restraints, and the headboard creaked dangerously. They weren’t even naked yet, but he already felt like fire was coursing through his veins. “Lydia, please,” he begged, his breath ragged.

“Break my headboard, and I’ll kill you, Mantle,” she replied, dragging her fingertips down his abs lightly. She followed with her lips, tracing the curves of his smooth muscles as she gripped the waistband of his boxers.

“Lydia, I will buy you a million headboards if you stop being such a tease.”

All Tied Up (Reggie Mantle x Lydia Boyd)

Rating: explicit

Warnings: sex

Word Count: 3.6k

Summary: When Jubilee gives Lydia some ideas about how to spice up her sex life, Lydia works up the nerve to ask Reggie if he’d be interested.  She isn’t surprised when he eagerly says yes, and it turns out she just might like being in charge more than she would’ve thought.

READ ON A03 ABOVE

My Masterlist

[southsidewrites]

When I'm lonely, well I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who's lonely without you...

↳ Reggie Mantle, University of South Florida

[southsidewrites]

“Lydia, please, can we just talk about this?”

“I’m trying to, Reggie, but you just keep saying you don’t know.  What am I supposed to think?  I got drunk, and I ruined everything.  You can’t even look at me.”

Pretty Lies || Reggie Mantle x Lydia Boyd || Chapter 17

[southsidewrites]

…And when I’m dreaming, well I know I’m gonna dream, I’m gonna dream about the time when I’m with you.  

↳ Lydia Boyd, New York University

[southsidewrites]

I’m a fable, you’re an angel, is that why God sent you here?  ‘Cause I was drowning when you found me, and you tied and drew me near. Now I’m off course, but of course, I couldn’t move an inch. ‘Cause I don’t want to miss a single minute of this Baby, why’s it so damn easy to love you?

Pretty Lies // Reggie Mantle x Lydia Boyd

[southsidewrites]

“Let’s just take our time, relax, and see what happens, okay?”

“Okay.”

Pretty Lies || Reggie Mantle x Lydia Boyd

[southsidewrites]

Reggie Mantle x Lydia Boyd || only fools fall for you...

↳ a playlist for the sort of angsty final third of Pretty Lies

Idfc / blackbear Dazed & Confused / Ruel 8TEEN / Khalid Temporary Love / The Brinks Bad / Lennon Stella broken / lovelytheband Oh My Dear Lord / The Unlikely Candidates Feel so Good / Se-Noj, Lance Thompsom When We Were Young / Lost Kings, Norma Jean Martine Sanctuary / Allie X

[southsidewrites]

Reggie’s heart was racing as he shouldered his way through the crowd.  Everything was moving too fast—too chaotic.  Around him, everyone was shouting obscenities at the pack of Serpents trying to force their way through the crowd.

For Midge. He thought. You’re doing this for Midge.

Sticking his hand in his pocket, he felt the cool metal surface of the gun Hiram Lodge had given him

“I won’t tell you what to do with it, Reggie.  Just know that it’s untraceable.”

Everything was red.  He gripped the handle, pulling it slowly out of his pocket.

Remember what that monster did to Midge.  Don’t you dare lose your fucking nerve.

He lifted the gun, and suddenly he was being thrown to the ground, a gunshot bursting through the air.  Everything moved in slow motion, and for a moment, the world was silent aside from the ringing in his ears.  His eyebrows knitted together—the gun had been knocked out of his hands, or so he thought.  When he looked up, Fangs was on the ground, a red circle of blood expanding across his torso.

You shot him.  With a gun.  You just killed someone.

Archie was shouting now, yanking him off the ground and telling him to run.  Reggie couldn’t seem to think straight, but the movement of his feet came naturally, and he took off, shoving through the crown, the gun long-forgotten behind him.

Murderer.  Killer.  Dead.  Fangs is dead.

It hadn’t been worth it.  Not for the money, not for the acceptance, not for revenge.  None of it was worth it.  He reached the edge of the crowd, and his legs stretched into a familiar sprint.  His heart was beating so fast that he feared he’d pass out.  His whole body was hot, shaky, and his mouth tasted like blood.

There’s no coming back from this one, Reggie.

Pretty Lies || Reggie Mantle x Lydia Boyd

[southsidewrites]

Reggie Mantle x Lydia Boyd || damn easy (to love you)

↳ a soft Reggie & Lydia playlist

Samson / Regina Spektor I Get to Love You / Ruelle Turn the Lights Down / Cavalcade Carry You / Ruelle, Fluerie Hold Me / The Sweeplings Damn Easy / Tanner Azzinnaro, Natalie Madigan I Can’t Keep from Loving You / Andrew James All I Want / Kodaline Only Love / Ben Howard Mess is Mine / Vance Joy

[southsidewrites]

A scream pierced the air, cutting through the fog.  In seconds, the auditorium went from confused murmurs to shrieks of terror.  Midge.  My feet started moving faster than my brain, and I found myself rushing through the crowd to the stage.  Midge.  Arms out like Christ, blood dripping down the wall. Midge.  Screams were filling the room now, and everything sounded faint and hazy. Midge.  My best friend—knives sticking out of her chest.  Midge.  She couldn’t be dead.  She just couldn’t.  Flashes of red cut across my vision, and arms grabbed at me from all sides.  I was on the stage now, moving in the opposite direction of the crowd.  Midge.  A deathly wail cut through the terrified murmurs, and it took me a few seconds to realize it was me.  My knees hit the ground hard, but it didn’t hurt.  Nothing hurt.  Everything hurt.  I reached for her, but arms pulled me back.

“Lydia, no!”

It was Midge, her body riddled with knives that pinned her to the wall.  Her head was tilted on her shoulder, like she was asleep.  More like she was crucified.  Chaos was erupting on all sides, and none of it mattered.  Nothing mattered if she was dead.  Midge.  Dead.  The words didn’t belong together.  She was only sixteen.

“I am back from the dead.  All those who escaped me before will die.  B.H.”

It wasn’t possible.  It couldn’t be possible.

Midge couldn’t be dead.

Pretty Lies || Reggie Mantle x Lydia Boyd

[southsidewrites]

Reggie Mantle || Pretty Lies

“What can I say? I know what I’m good at, and I don’t really see any point in hiding it.”

[southsidewrites]

Reggie Mantle x Lydia Boyd || Pretty Lies

“I don’t think there’s much Reggie Mantle could do to hurt me more than life already does.”

“If there’s anyone who could, it’s him.”

[southsidewrites]

Lydia Boyd || Pretty Lies

“You’ve got a damn dark sense of humor, Boyd.”