morethanthegirlnextdoor-blog

[morethanthegirlnextdoor-blog]

obsessed with characters being saved against their will. being knocked unconscious and carried away from a danger they won't stop trying to fight. being shoved through a portal somewhere far away and safe right before it closes. trying to self-sacrifice only to have the exact person they're trying to save swap their places at the last second. getting the only cure to the disease or curse bc the person administering it loves them too much to give it to anyone else, including themselves. being thrown to safety right as they had accepted dying. someone else they thought had gotten to safety running back to drag them out of danger. it's so fucking tasty

[morethanthegirlnextdoor-blog]

Could you please reblog this if it is okay to ask you straight up if you want to ship?

[morethanthegirlnextdoor-blog]

Send "Don't push me away, you need me." for my character's response.

[morethanthegirlnextdoor-blog]

redcrownedboy

Okay the silence? Was definitely going to kill him. Granted silence couldn’t actually kill anyone because it wasn’t like it would stop your heart or- Okay, he was clearly thinking too much which meant the silence had definitely gone on way too long.

And there definitely was not  enough alcohol in his cup.

He watched Betty closely as she clearly took her time to answer his question and even when she made eye contact he had a feeling she was holding something back, not being exactly truth, but then that wasn’t hard considering she hadn’t actually answered his question.

“Easier yeah,” he agreed though internally he grimaced when he heard the crack in her voice, but he knew better than anyone that this needed to happen or they’d never ever deal with it and he needed to know if it had just been a heat of the moment thing. Especially as she’d pulled away so quickly and given him no chance to say or do anything. “But that isn’t what I asked.”

Betty glanced up at the clock, there was still almost twenty minutes to midnight. She clenched her teeth together as Archie challenged her. He never challenged her. He’d always just accepted what she’d said and moved on and that was what she’d been expecting this time. She knew they’d have to talk about it, but she’d been putting it off, avoiding Archie and she knew that he knew it.

But it was exhausting. She missed him. And it was her fault they were in this horrible limbo, stuck in a dance he wanted no part in. He’d made that abundantly clear not once, but twice, and Betty like a fool just had to go and make it a third.

She couldn’t hear him say it again. 

“But that’s the answer, isn’t it?” she responded. “It’s easier if you can brush it off as something that-” she cut herself off, flexed her fingers again and made herself relax her hands. She could feel her nails biting into her palm. Her jaw was starting to ache, her throat felt tight, so did her chest and her eyes were burning. 

This was not a fun party.

“Arch,” she said, tone almost pleading. “You and Veronica... You- you love her, right? And she loves you. She must have said it, considering you guys are back together.”

@redcrownedboy - What’re you doing New Year’s Eve?

[morethanthegirlnextdoor-blog]

redcrownedboy

Archie knew it was a risk to bring the kiss up but thought it was one worth taking especially as things between him and Betty had been weird ever since. She’d deny it but Archie knew things weren’t right, awkward and just… wrong.

He knew she was uncomfortable, he could see it in the way that she was stood and how she fiddled with the cup before placing it down and not making eye contact. He hated that he was making her feel that way but Archie knew it needed to be talked about. He definitely needed to talk about it, especially as he needed to know if it meant anything or it was just the heat of the moment.

Of course Betty voiced the fact he could just chalk it up to the moment and he flexed his hand around the cup. “So that’s all it was, heat of the moment?”

Maybe she was imagining it, but Betty saw Archie’s hand flex around the cup and she thought she heard something akin to hurt in his voice. Just slightly, hidden under the words but she knew him as well as he knew her. She wet her lower lip and looked up at him after not answering for a few long moments. The minutes stretched as she tried to work out how to answer him.

It had been easy before, in the offices of the Blue & Gold - a little part of me always thought that - she’d been able to interrupt him so quickly. We’re lucky, she told him, to have found the people that we belong with. Lucky that he found someone he didn’t feel was untouchable and not... whatever it was that she hadn't been at the time. That she would never be. 

She swallowed, balled her hands into fists, clenched and relaxed her fingers.

“What do you want me to say, Archie?” she asked finally, looking up at him, meeting his eyes properly and holding eye contact for the first time. Her lips were turned down slightly in the corners and she felt... she felt lost. “Isn’t it easier for you if it was? You said so yourself, everything was going back to normal. This,” she waved a hand, faint crescent marks in her palms, “this is normal for you. Isn’t it?” She hated that her voice cracked a little. 

@redcrownedboy - What’re you doing New Year’s Eve?

[morethanthegirlnextdoor-blog]

redcrownedboy

Archie immediately detoured from the beer he’d gone towards when Betty recommended he avoid those and go for the ones on the side.

“Yeah, let it never be said that Cheryl and Veronica don’t know how to throw a party,” he answered with a small smirk before he took a sip of beer.

Again, it felt… awkward. Heavy even. Archie blew out a breath, dropped his eyes, and proceeded to fiddle with his cup.

“We ever going to uh, you know, talk about what happened?” He asked, lifting his gaze to regard Betty through his lashes. “In the car that is.”

And there it was. Words spoken aloud that simultaneously lifted and tripled the weight that was in the air between them. The kiss. That stupid kiss that Betty had spent too long chastising herself over. She regretted it, she really did but not because she hadn’t wanted to kiss him. She did. She still did. But the timing had been awful and Archie… well, Archie had gone straight back to Veronica, hadn’t he.

So once again, she’d- Betty wondered if she’d ever learn or if Archie Andrews would always make her stupid.

“Do we have to?” she asked honestly, she didn’t want to but more than that… talking about it just hammered home how he’d gone back to Veronica so whatever it had meant to her, it clearly hadn’t meant the same to him. “Archie, it-”

She put the cup down, clenched her hands together behind her back and looked away from him.

“We don’t have to,” she settled on saying. “It- It happened and you can just… chalk it up to the intensity of the moment.” Though she wasn’t looking at him, she knew he’d see right through her if they made eye contact. He knew her well enough. “And then you can move on, and keep going back to your normal.” After all, he’d seemed perfectly comfortable on the dance floor with Veronica earlier, and on the porch on Christmas Day, and the handful of times she’d seen them outside his house since. And Betty? Well she’d work out a way of being okay with it all (again) somehow.

@redcrownedboy - What’re you doing New Year’s Eve?

[morethanthegirlnextdoor-blog]

redcrownedboy

Archie Andrews was a young man who enjoyed a good party and given everything that had happened recently it felt like the perfect remedy to ease his troubled mind. Besides, what kind of teenage boy would turn down free alcohol? A crazy one.

Besides Veronica wouldn’t let him get away with not attending, not when she was going to be there and “God forbid she turn up empty handed” or at least that’s what she had said which had him giving in and agreeing to attend the party.

He’d lost himself to the dancefloor not too long after arriving and it was honestly liberating, especially as he didn’t have to think as all he had to do was focus on the rhythm of the music and the exhilirating thrill of fingers in his hair and skin against skin. It was so very easy to lose himself and lose himself he did.

That was until Cheryl butted in and seemingly took great pleasure in announcing the arrival of Betty at which point Veronica kissed his cheek and hurried in the direction of the blonde that had been avoiding Archie like he was a carrier of the plague or something.  He blew out a breath, swept his hair back and then navigated the throngs of people in the quest for a drink.

Said quest took him into the kitchen and directly into the radius of Betty Cooper herself. “Hey,” he greeted with a warm smile as he stole a red solo cup from the nearby counter.

She should have known that after Veronica’s greeting – and subsequent gentle, but firm, telling off for not taking part in the festivities – it was only a matter of time before she ended up running into Archie. ArchieandVeronica, the reason she’d wanted to avoid the party in the first place. It had already been throw in her face once and when Archie turned up with a slight smudge of deep red lipstick on the curve of his jaw just underneath his ear it was unknowingly being thrown in her face again.

She flexed her fingers around the cup and wished – again – that there was something stronger in it. But she wasn’t like that, she wasn’t going to turn to alcohol to try and solve all of her problems. She wasn’t living in a teen drama, no matter how much it might have felt like it.

“Hey,” she returned with her own smile, a half-smile but a smile nonetheless. She couldn’t help how her eyes moved back to the lipstick mark before she dragged them away. “Having fun?” 

She added a moment later, “Oh- don’t take a beer from there. They’ve only just been put on ice. The ones over on that side are colder.”

@redcrownedboy - What’re you doing New Year’s Eve?

[morethanthegirlnextdoor-blog]

@redcrownedboy - What’re you doing New Year’s Eve?

The party was in full swing by the time Betty had arrived. Veronica and Cheryl had, in tandem, been harassing her via text message for the past few days to get her to agree to come even though honestly partying was the last thing she wanted to do.

Come on, Betty, Veronica had said to her over the phone earlier that day, a party’s just what you need to take your mind off everything that happened. Betty had refrained from pointing out that just because partying herself into oblivion and spending a small fortune on retail therapy helped Veronica, it wasn’t what she needed.

So eventually she’d relented but she hadn’t come completely of her own free will.

The party was being held at the Five Seasons and Veronica had booked out a large suite for them and arranged exclusive access so that they wouldn’t be bothered. The perks, Betty thought, of having money. As she walked in, she was immediately directed to where the party was as if she couldn’t hear the music already. 

She hadn’t made too much of an effort, not really bothering to dress up. She’d spoken with Polly earlier on in the evening, started trying to talk to her about everything that was going on, how she was feeling and what was bothing her but… but then she just couldn’t. She couldn’t put that on Polly any more than she should have put the Black Hood stuff on Archie. Look what it had done to him.

Inside, the music was blaring, lights were flashing different colours and bodies were crammed in as far as the eye could see. Sweaty teenagers pressed together in a prototypical display of adolescent mating behaviours and Betty couldn’t help the way that a cynical voice – that sounded like Jughead – passed an ironic, dry commentary akin to those found in a nature documentary.

She’d managed to avoid being greeted by Veronica, but Cheryl had found her not too long after she’d arrived and divested her of her coat, leaving it in a side room but not after pointing out Archie and Veronica dancing close on the floor, pressed together and looking for all the world like nothing else existed but them.

Betty needed a drink which was, an hour and a half in – and only half an hour before midnight – why she was nursing a red solo cup that should have been filled with beer but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. So she had a soda that was rapidly going flat because she kept swirling it around. She’d been abandoned by Cheryl – thankfully – who had called her a party-pooper and something else a little more colourful before going away to find joy in harassing someone else.

She was just waiting it out, she’d leave just after midnight and go home. If she stayed here, out of the way, she’d not have any awkward run ins. At least, that had been her plan.

[morethanthegirlnextdoor-blog]

SEND A SYMBOL FOR A CORRESPONDING PROMPT/STARTER.

[ ☎ ] my muse calls yours in tears.

[ ✪ ] our muses are stuck in an elevator together.

[ ◐ ] my muse is having a sleepover with your muse.

[ ✿ ] my muse attempts to cook dinner for your muse.

[ ◈ ] my muse makes a drunk confession to your muse.

[ ღ ] my muse makes an attempt to cheer your muse up.

[ ✦ ] my muse pushes yours out of frustration/anger.

[ ❢ ] my muse discovers yours all bloodied and bruised.

[ ➤ ] my muse accidentally punches your muse in the face.

[ ⌚ ] my muse recalls their favorite memory with your muse.

[ ✜ ] my muse collapses in front of yours, all bloodied and bruised.

[ ☯ ] my muse tells yours that they never want to see them again.

[ ✈ ] my muse asks yours to accompany them on a trip/mission/etc.

[ ● ] my muse catches yours snooping through their belongings.

[ ☻ ] my muse wakes up in your muse’s closet the night after a party.

[ ✌ ] my muse reaches out to yours after months of no communication.

[ ☢ ] the car broke down in an unfamiliar part of town, and our muses are lost.

[ ✠ ] it’s three in the morning and my muse unexpectedly arrives at your muse’s home.

[ ☁ ] the entire city is without power due to a storm, and our muses run into each other during a supply run.

[morethanthegirlnextdoor-blog]

redcrownedboy

Archie was starting to get the message loud and clear and he did his best to push aside the hurt that came as a result of it because things were messy and complicated.

“Uh, just helping my dad out around the house,” Archie offered as he gestured. “Got a couple things we need to fix up around the place.” He cleared his throat. “But you know if you need any help with the snow or whatever just let me know.”

One of the things that made Archibald Andrews so... dear to her was that he wore his heart on his sleeve, for the most part. He looked like she’d kicked his puppy and Betty hated that she felt guilty. She felt guilt that she’d made him look like that. She felt guilty that she needed space - again - to sort herself out when he quite clearly didn’t need it. 

“I will, Arch,” she promised, reaching out and squeezing his cold fingers with her own. A traitorous part of her wanted to invite him inside so they could drink cocoa and watch the snow fall together but she didn’t. Things had changed between them and Archie had wanted ‘back to normal’. And Betty... Betty had lost sight of what normal was for her a long time ago.

Her smile was a touch sad. “Thanks for your help.” She offered before she carefully moved past the shovelled pile and headed towards the house, wrapping her arms around herself in a way that had nothing to do with the chill.

@redcrownedboy - Snow Fall

[morethanthegirlnextdoor-blog]

redcrownedboy

“It is pretty persistent,” Archie agreed with a nod of his head. “I mean I cleared our drive this morning and you wouldn’t be able to tell.” His dad was going to do it but Archie had beaten him to it.

He gave a bit of snow a last nudge with the toe of his Converse before looking at Betty again,

“So, uh, what you planning to do after this?”

Betty pressed her lips together and looked up at her house, desperately searching for something to say. She took a breath and shrugged her shoulders. She really had nothing to say and her mind was failing her in grabbing something she could lie about that would make her sound busy.

“Nothing much,” she settled on answering honestly. “Just warming up inside, I think. My mom and dad are busy at the paper, so I’ll put the fire on or something. What about you?”

@redcrownedboy - Snow Fall

[morethanthegirlnextdoor-blog]

redcrownedboy

Shovelling snow was hard work, really hard work. Archie much like Betty had flushed cheeks and his hair was slightly damp from where the snow had fallen and soaked into the red strands. He blew out a breath, turned his head to catch a look at Betty and that breath he just pushed out felt like it actually got caught because she looked, well, she looked… beautiful.

He was staring and realised he was staring so quickly caught himself, letting out a chuckle at her comment. “Yeah, I’m starting to get that feeling.” For every inch they cleared another one fell. “Maybe we should call it a day?” He offered that hesistantly because he wondered if they did that then maybe Betty would vanish back into her house and ignore him all over again.

“You?” He prompted as she didn’t finish her train of thought.

Betty looked around and pushed some hair off of her cheek. She felt uncomfortably hot considering how cold it was. Undoing the zipper on her jacket a little bit, she kicked the snow that was still to be cleared. Should they call it a day? Probably. That would mean she could go back inside and she wouldn’t have to look at him with his perfect face and flushed cheeks and that boyish charm that she couldn’t handle right now.

“I think that’s probably a good idea.” She poked the snow mound again. “I don’t think even our combined powers can beat the weather.”

@redcrownedboy - Snow Fall

[morethanthegirlnextdoor-blog]

redcrownedboy

Archie nodded his head. “Uh, yeah, it did. Definitely.” He was a lot of things and some people thought dumb but he could tell when maybe it was time to stop talking so he did, stabbing his shovel into another mound of snow.

He really hated that things felt so weird and awkward between him and Betty. Definitely wasn’t suposed to be this way, not with everything they’d been through together.

It didn’t help that he hadn’t stopped thinking about the kiss, definitely didn’t help.

They shovelled in silence for a while, clearing perhaps another quarter of the driveway before Betty stabbed her shovel into the large mound on the side and pulled off her beanie. Her cheeks were flushed, and the snowfall had picked up again, dusting them both with white flakes. 

She looked skyward, then at the driveway they’d just cleared, and huffed out a breath. It hung in the air in front of her face for a moment before being carried away by the gentle wind that accompanied the soft snowfall.

“Kinda feels pointless, huh,” she muttered. It might not have been the large snowfall of before but behind them, a few white flakes were starting to litter the freshly cleared drive. She wanted to talk to him but for the first time in six months just didn’t know how. “I-” She bit the inside of her lower lip but didn’t finish. 

@redcrownedboy - Snow Fall

[morethanthegirlnextdoor-blog]

redcrownedboy

Archie rubbed the back of his neck, uneasily, and cleared his throat. “But not the kind my mom used to use. I ended up looking like a ghost, remember?” And he did because she would quite literally paint him in it.

He turned to regard the snow and took a further chunk out of it.

“Uh, I wanted to say, thank you,” he said as he turned to look at Betty. “For your gift that is. It’s really great.”

She thought about commenting on the sunscreen ghost he used to become whenever his mother let him play outside in the summer when they were kids but he kept talking, so she didn’t. 

Betty stabbed her shovel into the snow and had to bend slightly, shifting her grip to lift the pile to one side. She could see Archie out of the corner of her eye and she shrugged her shoulder. She was sure that the ‘bauble’ that Veronica had gotten him was a gift far superior to anything he’d gotten for Christmas. 

“You’re welcome,” she said after a moment of silence. “Figured it might help.” 

@redcrownedboy - Snow Fall

[morethanthegirlnextdoor-blog]

redcrownedboy

“Heeeey,” Archie said with a laugh as snow rather rapidly came his way courtesy of Betty and her shovel. “Pretty sure we’re supposed to be shovelling the snow not throwing it around.” He grinned a second later before returning the favour, just the right amount of snow, and it landed well on Betty’s right side because he did have really good hand eye co-ordination.

He snorted a second later before he dug his shovel into the snow to move a large amount to one side. “Maybe some board shorts as well.”

Betty shrieked a little as snow came flying towards her, hitting her coat. It stuck in small clumps to the crease of her elbow and in the folds of the edge of her outer wear. She laughed and brushed herself down, mock-glaring at Archie for covering her in snow. 

If she’d been feeling less self conscious, less unsure of the grounds of their friendship, she’d probably have given up shovelling and thrown a handful at him instead. That had happened before, yard work had devolved into leaf-throwing, water or snowball fights depending on the time of year. It all seemed like such a long time ago now.

“You’d need sunscreen,” she told him before she returned to shovelling. What had, a moment ago, felt easy now felt stilted. Or maybe it was just her. 

@redcrownedboy - Snow Fall

[morethanthegirlnextdoor-blog]

redcrownedboy

Honestly it would take some sort of natural or nuclear disaster to put Archie off, especially as the Andrews men were known for being particularly stubborn.

Archie happened to look over at Betty as her hair escaped her beanie and he felt his fingers itch with the desire to push them back her ears, especially as that was most definitely not what friends did and they were friends.

Best friends.

Yep.

Friends.

“Not warm?” He queried, giving his best genuinely puzzled expression. “Not sure what you mean, Betty.” He grinned and chuckled a moment later before he began shovelling close to her.

Betty rolled her eyes and flicked a small shovel-full of snow in Archie’s direction, smiling at him before she could help herself. She did, to her credit, duck her head and clear her throat to try and smother it. Whether or not she did a good enough job was entirely up for debate.

“Well, now you mention it,” she drawled, flicking him with snow again, “pretty sure this is the kind of weather you can walk around barefoot in.”

@redcrownedboy - Snow Fall

[morethanthegirlnextdoor-blog]

💬

“Have you got a package for me?” 

Betty tilted her head to the side a little as she stood in the doorway of the Andrews’ house. When she’d seen the note from the mailman that her parcel had been delivered next door she’d drawn in a deep breath and walked over. She hadn’t really spoken to Archie since… well, since all of the stuff with the Black Hood had ended, partly through self preservation and partly because she knew from Veronica that she and Archie had gotten back together and Betty just needed time to sort herself out. 

Time, apparently, she wasn’t allowed to get. The universe was against her.

“I got this,” she waved the paper at Archie and offered him a half-smile, lower lip caught between her teeth. “So unless the mailman got you and my other neighbours confused again…”