#also. thank you for calling me reggie actually that actually supplied me with like twenty years of life

[reggies-eyeliner]

HI REGGIE I WATCHED JWCT AND IT WAS FUCKING INSANE I THINK I WENT THROGH EVERY EMOTION EVER WHILE WATCHING IT IDK HOWIM ALIVE RIGHT NOW

OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH IT'S HAPPENING GUYS HELLO HELLO I AM SO GLAD YOU ENJOYED IT HELSLCOSCBHCBS THANK YOU SO SUPER MUCH FOR HOPPING BY MY INBOX TO RAMBLE ABOUT IT???? CRYING LOUDLY HELLO ALSO PLEAS ETELL ME ALL OF YOUR THOUGHTS EVER OMG WAIT I AM SO CURIOUS HELLO who is/are your favorite character(s)? ships? dynamics HELLO I AM SO SUPER CURIOUS PLEASE TELL ME AS MUCH AS YOU WANT

[writing-essence]

Switch Flipped - Sweet Pea

Chapter Two: Sober

Pairing: Sweet Pea x Andrews!Reader, Reggie Mantle x Andrews!Reader

Warnings: Riverdale being wack 🤷🏻‍♀️ also language

Summary: After your dad was shot by the black hood, Archie has gone off the deep end, little did you expect yourself to question your northside loyalties

Author’s Note: Slow burn with Sweet Pea. Slight relationship with Reggie. There’s lots more Sweet Pea in this one, I swear. Let me know if you want to be tagged! -Milla

Word Count: 2,608 (oops?)

A few days had passed since the night of the rumble. Archie made an official apology video per Weatherbee's request and disbanded the red circle. Fred Andrews was relieved his fiery son blew out the flame. It wasn't easily spotted on the surface, but you could tell Archie still harbored hot coals in the pit of his stomach. This was most apparent by his grumbling about a certain Nick St. Clair over the blasts of his punching bag.

Reggie had time to cool down as well. The boy would never fail to jump at the chance to show off his athletism and masculinity in the name of dawning school spirit, so it wasn't a shock when he walked out your door that night. The next morning school had been suspiciously quiet due to the hushed details of Dilton Doiley's "mugging." When Reggie walked to your locker ready to lament his actions and announce the fall of the red circle, you didn't give him a chance. The scratches littering his face, the star of the show being a split lip, was enough to bury yourself back into the warmth of his chest. The gesture continued until the grating pitch of the bell rang through the halls bringing you back to the reality of linoleum floors. For a moment you thought the madness was over. It hadn't even started.

Currently, you were sitting in your room studying for a math test you knew was hopeless. Watching the tree outside your window sway in the harsh November breeze, you were surprising thankful your stress would be coming from the angles of triangles and not a circle tonight. The sun was beginning to set causing an orange tinge to flood your room. Basking in the momentary warmth, you decided to call Reggie for geometry advice. Maybe not actual advice, mostly reassurance you couldn't possibly do worse than he had in the same class the year before.

One ring

Two rings

Three rings

Four rings

Reggie always answered his phone, especially after what happened with Jason. He would never admit it, but he would sometimes panic if you didn't answer in the first three rings, even if he had dropped you off at home within the same hour. It took time for fear of losing people to trickle away. So why wasn't he answering? It could either be a sign of progress or a sign of something you couldn’t bear to think.  Hoping for the former you continued to struggle through the practice test your teacher had given you. A few hours had passed, and once again you were graced with four rings and no Reggie. Fighting the nervous jolt in your stomach, you texted Midge instead who you were convinced could anyone off a ledge. Her comforting words lulled you to sleep.

 A rude awakening prompted by none other than Alice Cooper, would answer why Reggie's trend of silence continued. An extravagant, to Riverdale standard, party. With jingle-jangle supplied by your supposedly out of business boyfriend. Your chest tightened as your lungs grew three times their size trying to catch up with your frantic breathing. Slowly you backed away from the cracked window at the side of the Cooper house you crouched behind while snooping. Bushes hugged your shins as you ran back to your yard. The next time you saw Reggie, it was over.

Not only had he been continuously lying about his possession of jingle-jangle but he did something you never thought him capable of. You built it in your mind Reggie was better than them than Jason, Chuck, or any other bulldog who wrote the worth of women on lists. He wasn't perfect by any means but not once did you think he would ever cheat. Archie tried his best to comfort you the days following the break. You knew he was there at the party and knew about Reggie and Josie. You didn't know whether you wanted to curse him out for not telling you or hug him for attempting to protect his little sister's heart.

Business at Pop’s had been slow since the first incident with the Black Hood.  Understandably so, a place that once emulated comfort through neon lights now had an ever presence of darkness. The counter in front of you glowed after being wiped clean for the countless time this afternoon. The cycle of texting Midge and cleaning suddenly broke by the chime of the door and laughter of boisterous teens. Glancing up from your phone your eyes trailed to the rambunctious rebels sporting serpents on their backs.  Hopefully, this encounter would be less dramatic than the last. You grabbed your notepad and headed toward the booth.

"I'm telling you guys the milkshakes are crazy good!"

"Ya know Topaz I'm not sure I trust any milkshake Jones introduced you to."

"Get over yourself Swe-"

"Hi, can I take your order?" You interrupted. Sitting before you was a petite girl sporting pink hair, and two uneasily familiar male faces. Your eyes widened as you examined the two boys sitting on the other side of the booth. The two serpents seemed to notice your saucer-sized eyes and realization seemingly struck them in the chest.

"Uh, guys?" The girl waved her hand in front of their frozen faces, "what's with the staring contest?"

"You're the northsider with the shit for brains brother," the statement came out more like a question from the taller serpent. You sucked in a breath and squeezed your pen tighter, the word, 'unfortunately,' escaped your lips during the exhale. "You know he ruined our drag race today-"

"Wait," the girl cut him off, the corners of her mouth curling up, "you're Archie's sister? Y/N right?" She finished as you turned to her. Your eyebrows furrowed. How would she know that? She seemed to be a mind reader when she continued, "Jughead mentioned you, I'm his friend Toni."

You had practically grown up with Jughead due to his friendship with Archie. He had grown to be one of your most trusted confidants especially during your party girl phase brought on by Reggie. You were forever grateful for Jughead's myriad of cover-ups, saving you weeks of being grounded to your room. You considered it retribution for the time he managed to spill an entire milkshake in your hair when he attempted a magician career during seventh grade. While the chocolate scent could have been worse, it quickly turned to spoiled milk even after the fourth washing. His affinity for being quick with words almost made up for that catastrophe. 

"Good to know he hasn't forgotten about me, not like I've known him since he had that dorky headgear," you jested at the girl sitting to your right.

"No way really?" For the first time, you saw a smile creep onto the larger boy's face. He elbowed his friend in the excitement of the humiliation of young Jughead Jones. Deciding not to ruin whatever reputation Jughead was building for himself on the south side you simply shrugged letting your smile twist into a smirk.

"So what can I get for you guys?" 

Minutes passed as you returned with their burgers and shakes. They politely thank you and returned to their conversation. For serpents, they weren't as intimidating as you suspected. They acted like regular teens, not thugs as many made them out to be. While they looked rougher around the edges in leather and ripped jeans, they were just goofy kids. Throughout the evening you stole glances at the wild crew, catching snippets of their amusing antics.

"Fangs if you blow one more straw wrapper in my hair I swear-"

"Chill out Toni-"

"Oh, I'll show you who needs to chill out-"

Needless to say that dispute ended with twenty wrappers covering Toni's side of the booth and a splatter of milkshake on his face. A chuckle slipped past your lips. You coughed in an attempt to cover up your eavesdropping, but the milkshake free boy wasn't fooled as he looked to your hunched form over the register. You avoided his gaze long enough for him to lose interest and turned back to his arguing friends. Once they had calmed, you decided it was a good time to ask if they were ready for the check. Closing was approaching quickly, and you weren't a fan of riding home alone in the dark.

"We can clean it up," Toni hurried. Your eyes scanned the disaster zone. Straw wrappers, ketchup drips, and milkshake splatters littered the once sparkling table. "Sorry," she smiled sheepishly then glared to the shorter boy who you assumed was Fangs.

"Don't worry about it," you shook your head returning the smile. After momentary consideration you sighed, "look I know my brother won't apologize for any trouble he's caused, I guess this is me saying sorry. I can clean it up its no problem. Afterall it is my job."

"I wouldn't say it's your job to clean up your brother's messes," the taller serpent responded crossing his arms.

"That's not what I meant," your smile faltered. 

You rang the trio up at the front after bussing their table. After a hushed argument about who should pay or how easy they could divide the bill into thirds, they decided on the classic game of rock, paper, scissors.  Fangs' rock lost to the other two's paper. Not before pining for a rematch he gave in, including a commendable tip. You tucked the money in the register and grabbed your washcloth and spray bottle, ready to charge the Mt. Everest of messes. Still wiping down the table you had noticed the group's failure to leave, they were staring back at you while whispering. Toni shrugged, Fangs tried to fist bump the giant next to him just to be met with a smack on the head from Toni. 

"Do you need a ride?" the tallest ask asked.

"Excuse me?" All you could do was blink as you stopped cleaning. Had you heard him right? Was he talking to you? Of course, he was talking to you; he was staring right at you.

"That's your bike out there right?" He pointed out the door's glass window to the bright yellow metal of your bike. You nodded. "It's getting late, and Jones is a serpent now. He talked about you like family, we take care of our own,” he shrugged with his hands in his jacket pockets.

Your eyes involuntarily squinted at his generous offer.  From squinting, they shifted between each serpent as if to decipher a secret code. From the sincere looks on the teen's faces, you decided they harbored no ill will. Your choices seemed slim, either bike home alone in the dark with the Black Hood lurking in the shadows or catch a ride from Jughead's mysterious serpent friend. Even if they looked genuine, you had to establish some form of protection in case of a disaster. You walked toward the group stopping in front of the boy who had asked you the question.

"Promise this isn't your master plan to murder me in Fox Forrest?" You held up your pinky to his chest. The boy's dark eyebrows nearly raised themselves off his forehead staring at your gesture. His eyes switched to look at his friends on either side.

"You're serious?" he asked incredulously, a laugh peaking through his inflection. Toni and Fangs had amused looks pointed towards their friend.

"Deadly," you answered unwaveringly back. He shook his head in defeat as his pinky hooked around yours. "I'll be out after I finish with your guys' table," you made your way back to the damp milkshake covered towel. An uncontrollable smile played upon your face. You had managed to get a Southside Serpent to agree to a pinky promise and lived to tell the tale; Midge wouldn't believe it.

After you finished cleaning and put away your supplies, you grabbed your jacket from under the front counter and headed out. The three teens were still there laughing about something Fangs had said. The poor boy had a bewildered look on his face asking what the big joke was. You grabbed your bike from the rack tucked by the front steps and wheeled it towards your temporary carpool buddy. He kindly tucked your bike in the back of his light green truck. You could tell it had been a fair amount of years since its last paint job. There were chips, scratches, a few dents here and there. You wouldn't have described it as run down, but well loved. 

"Um, thanks for the ride," you broke the minutes of silence since you both sat down.

"Don't worry about it," he dismissed.

You took in your surroundings. It wasn't messy like you would expect a vehicle of a teenage boy to be. The knob on the out of date radio had been knocked off, and the seats squeaked if you moved an inch. They squeaked a lot as you fidgeted in your place not knowing whether to look out the window, at the inside of the car, or towards the boy next to you. You decided on the last option. His eyes were transfixed on the road you assumed he traveled down the night of the rumble. A few rings decorated his hands that were draped lazily on the steering wheel. He had soft features which contrasted with his jet black hair. At this moment he didn't ooze an ounce of intimidation even with a snake dancing across his neck. The snake which was the symbol of a gang. A gang that your closest childhood friend got himself wrapped into.

"You good princess?" He glanced at your prying eyes.

"Uh yeah," you started caught off guard, "how's Jughead?"

"A tool," he deadpanned. You smiled at his look of distaste for your "quirky" friend.

"Yeah, you know he probably thinks the thing about you," you let out a light laugh. "Jughead's a lot sometimes, but he means well."

"Sure he does princess," he responded. Your nose scrunched up at the nickname. 

"I have a name you know," you insisted even going as far to point at the name tag on your uniform. Then you realized something. Toni had introduced herself, and you caught Fang's name from the straw wrapper war, but the name of who was sitting next to you was still a mystery.  "Speaking of which you're giving me a ride home, and I still have no idea what your name is"

"Quite the scandal for you huh northsider?" He taunted with a smile. You rolled your eyes crossing your arms sinking deeper in the stiff seat. "It's Sweet Pea."

"You're serious?" A breath of air puffed out of your chest. He had to be messing with you. You watched his face contort with a mischievous glint.

"Deadly," he smirked, repeating your words from Pop's.

"Right, well this is me," you said as he pulled up past the Cooper's to your smaller house. After unbuckling, you hopped down to the pavement and grabbed the door to close it, looking up at Sweet Pea.

"Need help with your bike?" He asked. You nodded mumbling a quick 'thanks.' He pulled your bike out the back, passing you the handlebars. After a more formal thank you, you started your up the walkway locking your bike up at the side of the house in the bushes. Before walking up to the porch, you turned back to Sweet Pea who was leaning against the side of his truck.

"See you around, princess," he concluded, a look of victory strewn across his face. You shook your head at the hopeless nickname but smiled nonetheless. 

"Night, Sweet Pea."

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