#he's genuinely in awe. he struggled so much since the murder was flawless and there was 0 proof

[columboscreens]

[velveetacrackncheese]

I remember you talking about Angel a little bit ago and how you didn't think he was as bad as everybody else was saying. What makes him appeal to you, I can't really get behind him in all honesty.

So I keep getting asks regarding to clarify my stance on Angel, and while I don’t mind this despite getting asks about it even now from HH fans and non-fans alike, receiving charitable and uncharitable asks and takes simultaneously from both, I might as well answer because I’m getting a bit tired of it. Not on here that often and every time there’s a new ask regarding it and I don’t understand why people want my take on this, despite me having already given one, or the clarification. That being said, my mind has changed a bit on the subject, and I kind of wanna give a small analysis on Angel and how I feel about him now, so here we are.

 Firstly, the debate surrounding Angel Dust is off-putting to me because while I seemingly see both sentiments, I also feel as though they’re both simultaneously wrong. The positions are usually “Angel Dust represents a harmful stereotype that contributes to our marginalization and is a literal walking sex joke and nothing else.” and “Angel Dust is a hooker. A sex worker, prostitute. He’s supposed to be in hell. He’s supposed to be bad and awful. Moron” and really, I dislike both of these takes for rather similar reasons. Reason being is that I feel that it’s addressing the wrong thing here, which is the characterization of Angel, and not really what the over-arching narrative and well, show itself has to say about Angel, and I also feel that the issue here isn’t homophobia as much as it involves vilifying sex work potentially.

My issue with the first take is that obviously, we’ve barely scratched the surface with this character. I will say that the way he was introduced in the pilot was left to be desired. Not that he was offensive or meant to be a major middle finger to the gay community, but simply because we typically see big, larger, main traits of a character in a pilot. In Angel, we primarily see him embodying those things that many of the “HH hate crowd” disliked about him. Upon first introduction, he genuinely does come off as a stereotype, something that was written solely for the purpose of being “the gay” and nothing else admittedly. While said analysis is probably inaccurate, I don’t blame anyone for initially feeling that way, and coming to their own conclusions. Recognize that everybody’s opinion on Angel is all pretty much based on first impressions, because we only have so much to say about him at the moment. There isn’t even a show. It’s the pilot. Things even now can still change greatly. However, Angel in the show, being a prostitute, and a sex worker, seem very much rooted in his character primarily because many of his own personal struggles also lie in the fact that he’s someone who’s also victim to sexual assault, exploitation, which obviously has connections to his occupation. We can say that many of his actions are rooted in not only his job, and experiences, but also the mask he wears to hide his pain. I feel like to simply look at that and say “Fuck Angel Dust, he’s harmful.” is simultaneously neglecting a silent minority in the gay community that genuinely deals with the hardships of sex work in real life. You don’t see that type of humanity brought to the forefront in regards to gay sex workers in media. They’re usually there to be mocked at, and while you could say Angel comes off that way initially, additional context in the comics and Addict suggests otherwise. He’s not Alastor. He doesn’t have all these special abilities aside from being able to manifest guns and bombs, and probably shoot webs out of his anus or something. Angel is in pain, and in a situation where he feels stuck. He feels like he’s on a leash and only copes in the way he knows how, that being hedonistic actions and such. As to what the general narrative and world of Hazbin might have to say? We don’t know, and that could vary. We don’t have a conclusion as to what the world of Hazbin has to say about Angel, and whether or not he needs to be “redeemed” which is an issue I take on its own. I will get into that shortly.

I take issue with the second take for similar reasons as previously stated, but it has less to do with the analysis coming from the people who say this sort of thing, and more about what it reveals about the people saying “He’s a prostitute. He’s supposed to be in hell. He’s baaaaad.” Because it shows a type of reactionary sentiment that justifies the villainizing of sex workers, and also goes to show that they probably appreciate Angel’s character for the same reason those who despise Angel, are critical of. They find him funny potentially because in their mind, Angel is something to be mocked. Because he’s a “freak” in the sense that he’s this awful, slutty monster, seemingly missing the intentions behind writing Angel the way he is, as a way of potentially showing a sign of sympathy towards the livelihoods of real life sex workers. Instead these people probably don’t think too highly of people who work in that industry and view them as a circus act, the same way they might view Angel as the funny token gay man, and it shows that people appreciate this character for very different reasons. Not to mention, this take is not a very good defense. Does someone being in hell necessarily necessitate them to be “offensive?” A very non-offensive, non-confrontational, seemingly polite person could be the most awful person when the optics of civility are stripped away... Like a politician.

However, I end up pondering about what the narrative itself has to say about Angel needing to be redeemed. Because of the pilot’s highlight on his hypersexual manner, I end up asking myself what he needs to be redeemed from. His sex work and sexual nature certainly doesn’t make him a bad person. His violence probably does, but there’s so much emphasis on the sexual side of him and not the “gangster” side of him, and suggesting that people who are exploited by the industry they work in need to be “redeemed” almost insinuates like they’re doing something wrong. As if it potentially shares the same reactionary sentiment about sex workers that those who view Angel as a laughing stock do. Now, if “redemption” is a euphemism for “rehabilitation” then I would view this differently. However, in the pilot, the term “rehabilitation” and “redemption” are both used, seemingly interchangeably, despite both of these terms having different meanings. In terms of Hazbin, since we’re in hell, which is based on the Christian mythos (most likely also inspired by other cultural interpretations of a bad afterlife) “redemption” here is probably referring to the absolving of sins and what have you, although we don’t really know what Hazbin’s criteria for being worthy of Hell is, and said criteria is also never questioned. We just know that everybody there in hell is supposed to be bad as the latter say, and that’s that. They’re all “sinful”, all worthy of being considered bad people despite some clearly not being so... awful. Vaggie isn’t so awful. She’s a bit angry, but for a good reason. Why is she in hell with literal murderers, homophobes, gangsters, etc? Of course we don’t know much about her yet, but she seems substantially more innocent than say Alastor, who’s a literal serial killer. But according to fans, she’s in hell. So she’s bad. Bad people go to hell, and hell is where the bad people reside in, and all are in need of rehabilitation or “redemption” in order to achieve/attain heaven. (obligatory jojo reference heehee) Issue being that what’s good and bad is subjective, and despite nobody being morally perfect, they’re just in this place together with no real chance of redemption, while being told by the dominant structure and culture in hell that nobody really even wants to be “redeemed”, despite nobody wanting to be there, and probably housing some regret, only to be chained down by a culture of doubt, and many of these inhabitants probably not even really needing to be “redeemed.” There are people who are there for probably very irrational reasons, like stealing some stuff from a grocery store or something. Hell, even if someone is a murderer, what if they murdered in self-defense? Or trying to protect their family? Are they, a sinner, in need of being absolved, and to confess their sin of wanting to survive? Many “sinners” are probably people who come from unfortunate circumstances, and are forced to adapt to certain conditions that force them to do things that are considered “sinful.”

Of course, this is all very assumptive. For all we know, Hazbin could very well go into detail about this type of thing, and I’d be all for it. I feel like a lot of the former critique I’ve mentioned would be cleared away and people would be able to actually make a formed opinion on characters like Angel instead of the typical surface level takes I usually see. I’d be highly disappointed if the writers of Hazbin didn’t go down this route and question the very nature of this Heaven and Hell dichotomy and the moral code and structure presented. I have to clarify though. I’m not “behind” Angel. I acknowledge his character and how he’s written, and honestly thought the way he was shown initially was sub-par, and still believe that. My irritation revolves around fans and non-fans alike thinking they have a finalized idea of what Angel is, when they don’t, and then you have Youtubers making videos pretending it’s flawless while making statements about how stereotypes are apparently not harmful at all while making the assumption that every harsh criticism is a result of people wanting to ALL destroy Vivienne’s career when that’s just as reductive as saying that Viv is evil for shit she did years ago.

Aside from this, there’s still other things about Hazbin too. Vaggie even now I still can’t really see how she’s in anyway offensive or purposely off-putting. She’s angry because she has to react to a world who wants to take advantage of her, and her girlfriend. I’d be pissed too. She isn’t angry because she’s written to be the angry latina (despite Viv’s dumb tweet about “I’M A FIERY LATINA TOO WEE”). Alastor is a subject of discussion too because of the whole voodoo thing despite him passing as very, very caucasian and white, while also claims of cultural appropriation due to the certain iconography used when Alastor exhibits his power while playing into that “spooky voodoo” stereotype. I don’t have much to say on this because I’m simply not that familiar the religious practice aside from it having origins in Western Africa, and the Caribbean. Some say Alastor is biracial but that isn’t confirmed I don’t think. Some people say Hazbin is bad because of a Jeffery Dahmer joke, and saying that Katie Killjoy is proof of homophobia despite her being pointed out as an actual piece of shit with zero standards.

It’s all crazy. I look forward to what the Hazbin crew do with Hazbin, Helluva Boss, and especially Zoophobia. My mind is still open.

[commentaryvorg]

Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 1.8

Be aware that this is not a blind playthrough! This will contain spoilers for the entire game, regardless of the part of the game I’m commenting on. A major focus of this commentary is to talk about all of the hints and foreshadowing of events that are going to happen and facts that are going to be revealed in the future of the story. It is emphatically not intended for someone experiencing the game for their first time.

Last time, in the second half of trial 1, there were seemingly-flawless arguments for both Shuichi and then Kaede being the culprit despite neither being the truth, Kaede encouraged Shuichi to finally face his fears and passed the protagonist baton onto him, Kaito was one of the last people to accept the truth despite being one of the first besides Shuichi to notice it, and Kaede insisted she was a horrible person but Shuichi was having none of it.

Now for the post-trial conclusion and everything being heartbreaking.

Monokuma:  “The blackened who killed Rantaro Amami is the Ultimate Pianist, Kaede Akamatsu!”

You big fucking liar, Monokuma.

Kaede:  “Good…”

Kaito:  “Wh-What…? Good? What do you mean, good!? Is this how you want it to end!?”

Kaede:  “Not really, but… it could have turned out a lot worse. So this is fine, too.”

Tenko:  “I-It’s not fine! This is super horrible! The worst ever!”

This is not going to be the only time that the culprit will come out of the vote smiling and relieved that everyone got it right, while everybody else freaks out and wonders how anything can be okay about the fact that their friend committed murder and is about to be executed. And I especially love that Kaito is one of the people freaking out over it this time, given where he’ll be standing the next time this happens.

Kaito:  “Yeah… I won’t be satisfied… Until I hear it straight from you…”

Look at Kaito desperately wanting to understand exactly what drove someone like Kaede to do something like this.

Kaede:  “Okay… Please allow me a few more moments of your time, then.”

Guh, the way Kaede says this super-politely, like she feels like she doesn’t deserve to be taking up their time after she did something so horrible, not even to explain her motives.

Kokichi:  “Oh, Kaede… it never dawned on you? As soon as that thought entered your head, Monokuma had you right where he wanted. Because what mattered most to Monokuma was that the killing game started.”

Kokichi being very perceptive again. He definitely understands Monokuma’s desires and intentions better than anyone else here. Which is appropriate, because his way of thinking is not entirely dissimilar to Monokuma, at least in terms of wanting to have fun by messing with people. The only difference is that Kokichi usually only likes to mess with people in relatively harmless, petty ways, but that’s still enough to put him on the same wavelength as Monokuma in a way nobody else is.

Kokichi:  “Regardless of your reasons, the moment you felt the urge to kill, you had already lost. You agreed to be part of this killing game when you allowed murder to fill your heart.”

This goes a long way to explain why, despite his selfishness and how much he secretly hates being part of this game, Kokichi never actually tries to commit a murder to escape it – because he already considers that as “losing” in the sense that he’d just be doing what Monokuma wants and playing the game.

(Mind you, what he actually ends up doing ends up serving Monokuma’s purposes even more, but since he’s not trying to purely become blackened and escape, he can tell himself he’s totally not playing the game even though he absolutely still is.)

Kokichi:  “That’s why I’m so… pissed off! Pissed off at myself for being so… so useless!”

This is far too genuine-seeming a reaction from Kokichi to be truly genuine, because he would never actually be this honest about how he feels. Even if there is a part of him which actually feels this way, on the surface he is telling himself that this is just a lie and he’s only pretending to feel like this and it’s not like he actually cares at all about the fact that Kaede’s about to die, right.

Shuichi:  “Kokichi… that’s enough. I can see through your act.”

Kokichi:  “…Whoops. That obvious, huh?”

And it certainly looks like he’s got everyone else fooled into thinking that any accidental outbursts rooted in genuine emotion from him are totally all just lies.

Kaede:  “I took an innocent life! I’m nothing but a horrible murderer! You should all hate, blame, and be disgusted by me!”

Gah, Kaede, not even expecting any kind of forgiveness or understanding for what she did despite her intentions being really quite reasonable given the awful circumstances.

Kaede:  “I thought about ending this by confessing to you what I had done… But… I couldn’t. Because of Monokuma’s First Blood Perk.”

Ryoma:  “I see… If you’d confessed then and there, you would’ve been able to leave… But you decided you couldn’t leave this place by yourself, so you kept quiet.”

Exactly. She wouldn’t have just been able to leave – she’d have had to leave. And there’s no way Kaede would ever want to leave on her own and get off scot-free for the awful thing she just did while everyone else remains trapped and continues to struggle and suffer without her. She’s just far too selfless for that. The only thing she ever cared about was helping everyone else escape, not herself.

Kaede:  “If I did this for everyone, then instead of making things easier by confessing… I thought I should lie to you all, so it would motivate you to keep moving forward.”

So instead she did the only thing she could think of under the circumstances that would keep everyone else working together and turned herself into the villain.

Kaede:  “I never wanted to keep my crime a secret… I was going to tell you all eventually… But before I did, I wanted to expose the mastermind first… Then the killing game would’ve ended, and everyone but me would be saved.”

I’m not entirely sure why the thinks that if she caught the mastermind, she would still have been executed? But regardless, hearing her be so explicit about how she was only trying to save everyone else and didn’t care one bit about herself… aaaaa.

Shuichi:  “…This is my fault. I was wrong. There is no mastermind…”

Tsumugi:  “You were wrong…? But didn’t you say the mastermind was one of us?”

Pff, I like how Tsumugi is the first one to question that.

Shuichi:  “But even when the killer was about to be condemned, they remained hidden. That has to mean that the mastermind is not among us after all.”

This is awkwardly worded – based on the fact they’ve just been discussing the point when everyone was focused on Shuichi and then Kaede convinced him to explain that she did it, his “the killer was about to be condemned” probably actually means “I was about to be falsely voted as the culprit”. But even assuming that, it’s also a very flimsy argument. Why would the mastermind have wanted to stop people voting for Shuichi anyway? If people vote wrong, that’s just how the killing game goes. Shuichi has no reason to assume that actually the mastermind would want people to find the true culprit because they want a nice long entertaining killing game that doesn’t end at chapter 1.

Like, I can kind of understand why Shuichi drops the idea of there being a mastermind at this point because the fact that he assumed there was one in the first place was why Kaede did what she did, and he’s upset and blaming himself and lacking confidence and not thinking straight at all. But this particular supposedly-logical reason for it is frustratingly flimsy, and I wish the narrative gave more of a sense that it really is flimsy and that the real reason Shuichi is dropping the idea is simply because of his issues.

Shuichi:  “If I hadn’t been so stupid… If I never said anything about a mastermind to Kaede… Rantaro wouldn’t have died… and Kaede wouldn’t be a murderer! This is all my fault!”

At least we still do get plenty of Shuichi having issues and blaming himself.

Kaede:  “No, it’s not.”

Shuichi:  “…Kaede…?”

Kaede:  “I killed him. Not you. …Right? Didn’t I?”

Well, as a matter of fact, Kaede—

Okay but even that aside, just the very blunt way Kaede states this to try and bring Shuichi out of his self-loathing is adorable. She’s smiling as she says this.

Keebo:  “If your intent was to kill the mastermind, there was no reason for you to cover your tracks.”

Kaito:  “Isn’t it obvious? It’s because… she didn’t want Shuichi to know.”

Hee, of course this would be obvious to Kaito. Why would Kaede ever want to let Shuichi see that she’s not as much of a hero as she was trying to be?

Kaede:  “I said I wanted to escape this place with everyone. But you guys wouldn’t want to be friends with a girl who killed someone, would you?”

Oh, Kaede, still just hoping to be friends with everyone. I really, really get the feeling she didn’t have many meaningful friends in her memories because she was too much of a “Piano Freak”. But even if she had successfully killed the mastermind without anyone realising, that guilt and the feeling that she’s an awful person who doesn’t deserve to be their friend would have eaten her up inside nonetheless.

Gonta:  “Be… friends?”

Aww Gonta who also probably doesn’t have many friends and can absolutely understand that feeling!

Tenko:  “Kaede… put a lot of thought into this.”

Kokichi:  “She put so much thought into this, it drove her to commit murder like a lunatic…”

Yeah, since she committed murder she’s obviously a lunatic and a bad person and so clearly we should all completely ignore the part where she still genuinely cared about us and wanted to be our friend, right? Obviously everyone who talks about helping other people and being friends doesn’t ever truly mean it, because look at her.

Shuichi:  “Kaede… I didn’t know how, but I wanted to get out of here with you. I wanted… to be friends.”

YOU ALREADY ARE FRIENDS. But yes, you could have been even more friends if you’d escaped together and gaaaah.

Kaede:  “I’m so sorry…”

And of course, Kaede’s still just apologising for the fact that her actions have hurt him like this, rather than expressing her own feelings that she had that same desire to escape together and be friends.

Kaito:  “So you’re saying… everything you did was because you were thinking of us? And you hid that you killed him just to stay and help us…? How did things—”

Of course she did! You should understand that better than anyone, Kaito! If you were on a time limit, and killing someone then lying about it was the only way you knew of that stood a chance of saving everyone else before time was up, you would do exactly the same.

Monokuma:  “But we can’t let this boring display grind the action to a halt, so…”

I don’t know why you think this display of tragic friendship and selflessness is “boring”, Monokuma. This is the best story you’ve had for a Chapter 1 in… probably ever?

Aaaaa look at Kaito and Gonta and Tenko facing up to the Exisals to protect Kaede they’re so brave and selfless and determined. (It’s a little awkward in Tenko’s case knowing she wouldn’t do this if Kaede were a guy, but.) Kaito in particular, since he almost got killed by an Exisal a few days ago, so he knows better than anyone else there how completely fucking impossible it is to take one on unarmed. Note how while he’s the one at the front, his stance is the most defensive out of the three of them. He is definitely scared as hell (I mean, they all are), but that’s not going to stop him risking his life for Kaede, dammit!

(Also, Kaito again doing something that he’s going to be on the other side of the next time people pull a “we’ll fight the Exisals to stop you getting executed!”, hee.)

Shuichi:  “Y-Yeah! I’ll help! I can—”

Shuichi you are a noodle how on earth do you think you can possibly help in a fight. This goes to show how desperate he is to protect Kaede against all logic, too.

Kaede:  “Everyone, stop!!!”

But of course Kaede can’t just let them all get themselves killed on her behalf.

Kaede:  “…I’m not giving up. Because I have you.”

Shuichi:  “…What?”

Kaede:  “Even after I’m gone… my wish will still be here. So I’m counting on you all! I’m entrusting my wish to every one of you!”

This is absolutely lovely – she’s not thinking of this as the end, or as her defeat, because she knows that everyone else here (well, most of them anyway) still wants the same thing she always did and they’re going to try their hardest to reach it. Even though Kaede’s not the true protagonist after all, her passing on her wish to everyone else and especially Shuichi does a great job to make her still feel involved and important to the story after she’s gone. She was the protagonist for this first chapter not just for the sake of a fake-out and a plot twist, but because she still is meaningfully a protagonist of this story, in a sense.

Kirumi:  “I will do my utmost to fulfil your final request.”

Tenko:  “I won’t give up! I’ll get out of here, no matter what!”

Gonta:  “Gonta work hard and keep friends safe till very end!”

…These lines are just painful, knowing what happens to each of them.

Kokichi:  “Well, Kaede, you definitely weren’t boring.”

And that, folks, is the highest praise Kokichi can give. Be proud, Kaede, I guess?

I really like this shot of Shuichi desperately reaching out to Kaede at the beginning of the execution.

So. I used to find Danganronpa executions so disturbing that I literally couldn’t watch them. But while me being not particularly disturbed by this one is partially just gradual desensitisation over a lot of time, I think it’s also partly in the way it’s presented. Some of the executions bother me because they kind of stop treating the victim of them like a character from the moment it begins. They just become like an object for this twisted, horrifying deathtrap, and something about that really wigs me out. But this scene isn’t like that as much because there’s a lot more focus put on Kaede’s expressions and what she’s going through and how desperately you can tell she’s still trying to survive for as long as possible. And I totally get how a lot of people might find that more disturbing, but I actually personally find it easier to deal with that way. She’s still a character, right up until her last moments.

Even so, yikes. On my first time through I was still teetering on whether I should skip the execution or not, but I told myself I should watch it because I needed to understand exactly what hell Shuichi went through. And, man. Fuck. Ouch.

Shuichi:  (The moment it was over, I felt my legs give out under me.)

No wonder this is his reaction.

Shuichi:  (What I just saw… didn’t feel real. As if all reality had vanished, and the only thing left was a fictional world.)

…Yup. That’s a thing the writers put in there.

Kokichi:  “I… I can’t believe this happened to Kaede… I liked her… s-so… m-muuuuuuch…! WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!! KAAAAEEEEEEDDDDEEEEEE!!!!!”

Again with the overacting to be able to tell himself it’s all a lie and he doesn’t really feel anything. Not that he actually did like Kaede all that much – he was never on board with all of her talk about co-operation and was quite happy to be a gigantic manipulative dick to her over the whole tunnel thing. She wasn’t boring, but that doesn’t mean he really cared about her as a person. But on a basic, fundamental level he’s just as horrified as any normal person would be at seeing someone get killed like that, and that’s what he’s trying to lie to himself about.

Monokuma:  “Cuz if human life wasn’t precious, ending it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun!”

I don’t think any of the previous, Junko-driven incarnations of Monokuma ever expressed this sentiment. But this version understands that the whole reason a fictional death is heartbreaking and therefore worth having happen is because people cared about the character who died.

Monokuma:  “There’s no greater joy than witnessing such a display of despair entertainment!”

Really laying the not-really-fourth-wall-breaking on thick here, huh. Is it any wonder Kokichi figures out that this whole thing is being watched?

Kiyo:  “Kehehe… You’ve surpassed psychotic by a wide margin.”

And that’s saying a lot, coming from Kiyo.

Kaito:  “I… I won’t ever forgive you for this! Got that!? I won’t ever forgive you!”

Monokuma:  “Spoken like a marked man!”

Oh, really, Monokuma? Surely you’re aware that Kaito exists to make Shuichi his sidekick and he shouldn’t be getting himself killed until he’s at least started to do that. Although I guess he might also be referring to the fact that Kaito is marked to be killed off sooner or later no matter what happens regarding the murders. Plus, this is the out-universe writers trying to make Kaito look nice and expendable too.

(Also aaaa Kaito being so desperately furious and yet powerless to do anything about it.)

Maki:  “…Do you hate us? If so, have we done something to make you hate us?”

I dunno, Maki, you should be used to the idea that people can do awful things to others without having any particular hatred for them. Although it does make sense that she’d assume someone might hate her specifically, but then that means she’s also assuming everyone else here has secretly done things they might be hated for.

Monokuma:  “He died before his talent could be revealed. If he had lived long enough to reveal it, maybe he could have been more useful…”

You act like you wanted the story to get to the point where Rantaro discovered his talent, and yet the message on his Survivor’s Perk was clearly deliberately setting him up to be this first case’s victim or culprit.

Kokichi:  “Dammit! You may have gotten us this time, but we’ll get you next time! You’ll see!”

This sounds like some kids’ cartoon cliché – which is to say, Kokichi is probably deliberately trying to come across this way to make everyone else realise how ridiculous and foolish their defiance sounds.

Monokuma:  “I have a feeling you’re gonna live for a while.”

Unfortunately for the patience of everyone else who’s going to be stuck with him, but fortunately for the story taking some interesting turns, yes, he is.

Kaito:  “Got it!? I’m gonna punch that grin right off your face. For sure!”

Monokuma:  “Oh, really…? That seems unlikely. I’m pretty sure you won’t live long enough to do that.”

Are you sure, Monokuma? Because I think you’ll find that Kaito ends up living just exactly long enough to do that.

(Space.)

After Monokuma and the cubs leave, everyone is, quite understandably, very lost and downtrodden after what just happened to Kaede. But…

Kaito:  “Aaargh! Shut up! SHUT! UP! You all just need to SHUT UP!!!”

(Kaito’s voice boomed in the air, and the room went silent.)

Kaito:  “Every single one of you… and your meek little complaints… You’re pissing me the hell off!!!”

…of course Kaito can’t just let that be. At the best of times, Kaito will proclaim that it’s not good to spend time moping around and complaining and wallowing in your sadness when you could instead be thinking about what to do to make things better. But right now, Kaito’s just as upset as everyone else, probably second only to Shuichi in how much he’s hurting over this. He’s not thinking clearly enough to be able to turn his pain into something productive and is instead just desperately covering it up with unhealthy reactionary anger. So seeing everyone else still being upset reminds him of how he’s really feeling on the inside and he can’t stand it.

Kaito:  “But the one who’s pissing me off the most… is you, Shuichi! 

And of course Shuichi, who is both being the most upset and has the most reason to be trying to do something about this instead of just moping around, is the one who bothers him more than anyone else.

Can we take a nice long moment to appreciate that in this illustration after Kaito punches Shuichi, Kaito is crying. His anger is a desperate defence mechanism, all right.

Kaito:  “Clench your teeth!”

Keebo:  “Kaito! You are supposed to say that *before* you hit him!”

…Is saying that before punching your friend in the face a common trope in Japanese media, or has Keebo simply seen Gurren Lagann?

Kaito:  “Didn’t you hear what Kaede said!? She said… she believed in you! That she passed her wish on to you! But what the hell’s wrong with you!? You didn’t say a damn thing to Monokuma! You call yourself a man!?!?”

This invocation of manliness is still about the idea of sticking to your convictions and taking responsibility. Kaede passed her wish onto Shuichi, so Shuichi should stand by that and stand up to Monokuma because that’s what Kaede would have wanted him to do.

Of course, it’s not fair of Kaito to be insisting this right now. Shuichi will start to do that, to hold on to Kaede’s wish and try as hard as he can to make a difference even though it’s still difficult for him. He just needs time. Kaito isn’t thinking clearly enough to realise that Shuichi is simply responding to this pain in a different way to him, by retreating into himself instead of lashing out, and that no-one should be expected to be able to stand up and fight back immediately after what they’ve just been through.

Shuichi:  “…”

Kaito:  “…What’s the matter? Say something already. I just hit you! Aren’t you pissed off!? What’s your problem!?”

Usually, Kaito’s powers of empathy are better than this, but right now it seems he’s too upset to comprehend the idea that someone else might react to things differently than how he would. Obviously if somebody punched him in the face he’d be pissed off and respond to it, so Shuichi should be doing that too!

Shuichi probably doesn’t respond not just because he’s in so much pain but also because a large part of him must be thinking that he really isn’t strong enough to carry on Kaede’s wish and that Kaito is right to be angry at him for this. It’s probably just as well he doesn’t say anything. I doubt he could have mustered up the courage to say something that would satisfy Kaito and not just make him angrier, and the less damage Kaito does when he’s not thinking straight like this, the better.

Maki:  “Can we leave now? Staying here will only make us more depressed.”

Meanwhile Maki is resistant enough to horrifying situations full of death that she’s still thinking clearly and can suggest the most pragmatic response to this situation.

Tenko:  “Shuichi… don’t beat yourself up, ‘kay?”

I appreciate these occasional moments of Tenko being kind to Shuichi, genuinely not even seeming to consider that he’s male and just seeing him as a person for once.

Kokichi:  “Yep! Just hit the reset button on your feelings and you’ll feel happy and cheerful in no time!”

I’m sure you’ve had a lot of practice at doing that, Kokichi. Also, way to be a dick to someone who’s going through horrible trauma, good job.

Gonta:  “Let Gonta know if you need his help, okay?”

Regular reminder that Gonta is Good.

Everyone leaves, except Kaito. Kaito seems to have calmed down already – probably having everyone else agree to get some rest and seeing (some of) them be kind to Shuichi made him realise on some level that getting angry and lashing out was not the right thing to do.

So instead he’s already trying to make up for it and help Shuichi by suggesting he go to Kaede’s lab.

Kaito:  “Understand? There’s only one way to get through this awful feeling. No one’s gonna be able to console you if you’re just sitting here alone. If anyone’s gonna help you, it’ll be her… in your memories.”

This whole bit from Kaito really stood out to me on my first time through as being surprisingly sincere and heartfelt coming from him. This surprise was because it was the first time I’d properly seen Kaito being considerate and trying to help someone, not realising that actually this is what Kaito is like literally all of the time and he just hadn’t had much of a chance to show it until now due to Kaede overshadowing him. So I assumed that the only reason he was doing this was because he’d had some kind of personal experience with losing someone close to him, and maybe we’d go on to learn more about whatever he’d been through and have that be a whole big part of his character.

Now, knowing how Kaito is, it’s obvious that he’d say something like this to try and help Shuichi anyway whether he has any personal investment in these kinds of feelings or not. But it still kind of sounds like he might be speaking from experience here, just based on the way he talks about it. The fact that he never mentions what he might have gone through at any later point in the story doesn’t remotely rule out the possibility that such a thing happened, because, well, it’s Kaito. He doesn’t like to talk about his own problems, ever.

So, well, hold this thought. You might already be able to guess where I’m going with this, but I’ll get there in the next chapter.

The full moon outside the window of Kaede’s lab is very fitting, considering what Clair de Lune means.

Shuichi:  “What a magnificent piano… I would have liked to hear her play it… if only just once.”

It’s still such a shame Kaede never got to do this! She totally could have invited people to her lab for a mini-concert! Admittedly, by the time her lab was open, everyone was scattered and divided because of the time limit, but she could still have invited Shuichi (and Kaito and Tenko and at least some others would probably have been happy to join too if they’d known).

Guhhh the image of Kaede playing the piano even though it’s just Shuichi’s imagination.

And just, man, this whole scene. By this point I’ve seen it so many times that it doesn’t make me cry any more, but for the longest time, and especially the first time, it absolutely did.

I also did not realise until I totally messed it up here by waiting too long between lines that, assuming you read the lines at a normal pace with natural pauses between them, this scene is really nicely timed with the music so that it ends just as the song reaches its climax and ending.

---

[Chapter-end bonus ramble] [Next post]

[believe-that-you-can-my-friend]

Summary: Five snapshots of Jughead’s and Betty’s life when Jughead had nowhere to stay and Betty was hiding him in her room. 

Read on AO3

(Okay, I know this is long; I know. But seriously I can’t help the fact that I want to fill entire books with how adorably cute those two are! <3 So grab your snacks and drinks and dive in hahaha! Also I’m sorry if there are any typos, it’s really late and I’m way tired to notice my mistakes. I hope you all like it guys!!!) 

Two days had passed since the night Betty Cooper had stormed inside the Blue & Gold office like a wild force of nature, catching Jughead on the act as well as learning about his secret of not having a place of his own anymore, and coexisting under the same roof was going smoothly for the two friends. Every morning they would wake up way earlier than most people in their town, and especially than Betty’s parents, and Jughead, although not being a morning person, would sneak out with a grateful smile plastered on his lips and hands full with every new snack Betty seemed to always prepare for him, and every night she would sneak him back in once she knew her parents were retired to their bedroom for the night. Their system seemed to be flawless.

Today was a low-key Wednesday night and the first time they had the house entirely to themselves, since the Coopers had yet another late night at the newspaper, the two teens finally enjoying some peace and quiet without closed doors and hush whispers. Betty was sprawled over the bed, text books and colorful markers all around her as the blonde girl was trying to finish her homework, elbow holding herself up and chin resting on her palm, head aching over an answer sheet and calves crossing and uncrossing behind her. Jughead was over the window with blinds shut – he had made Betty promise that his secret would stay between them – sitting comfortably on her white desk chair and having his long legs crossed at the ankles, outstretched against the wooden window frame, while typing furiously on his laptop that rested on his lap. Since no one was at home he didn’t have to lurk at his usual booth at Pop’s. Plus, he found Betty’s presence a very good remedy for writer’s block.

“What are your thoughts on artificial intelligence?” Betty wandered out loud, disturbing the casual silence, with eyes still glued on the paper in front of her.

Jughead’s running fingers came to a momentary halt and he blinked a couple of times to adjust his mind around her question. Not being fazed at all and going on with his typing, he answered. “I mean machines that probably are cleverer than half, if not the entire, human population? How will this affect humanity in the long run?” he voiced his opinion, his computer screen illuminating his frown.

“So I’m against it…” Betty muttered, putting the pencil she was holding in use.

“I’d use skeptical. Against is a very strong statement.” He offered back, rewriting an introductory sentence about Cheryl’s and Jason’s odd sibling bond.

“Hm.” She titled her head in thought and tapped the edge of her pencil a couple of times over the floral notebook next to her, while going over the sentence she just wrote. “Skeptical it is then.” The girl concluded and erased any sign of lead under that question with the back of her pencil. “Which chapter are you on?” she asked him, as she was conducting a small paragraph about her so called opinion.

“Just started six. Had inspiration these days.” Jughead let her know subtly.

“Cool.” Betty nodded to herself, moving to the next question. “Which changes society has to undertake in order to adjust to this new, robotic filled reality?” she went on to read out loud.

Without even stopping to breathe, he answered quickly. “Reforms of the civil law so to include robotic machines.”

Betty scribed that down quickly, her lips forming a reverse smile in genuine awe; she would have never thought of that.  “How is people’s approach to the subject? Are there any examples from literature and/or theater, cinema etc. that approach it?”

“Easy.” Jughead scoffed, so done with the lack of originality in teachers’ quizzes. “Terminator was pictured as fearful, Robocop was designed as a sign of hope; it seems that there is only black and white in people’s mind, not in between. As for how ethical this whole ‘humans playing God and creating super-creatures’ is? Well, Arthur Clarke shared that concern in Space Odyssey years ago but still there isn’t a satisfactory answer.” He concluded and Betty’s lips let a huff of admiration, struggling to keep up with his fast pace while quoting him on paper.

Satisfied, she looked at her finished science paper and grabbed her neon yellow folder to put it neatly inside.

“Am I done doing your homework?” came Jughead’s sarcastic comment, Betty rolling her eyes amused behind his back.

“Yes. And thank you.” She replied in a teasing tone.

“And anyway in what world is Betty Cooper unable to fill in some simple, let alone piece of cake for her, questions?” he went on, briefly taking his tired  eyes off the computer screen to look at her over his shoulder.

“I was bored and wanted to be done with it.” She flinched adorably, throwing her books recklessly to the floor and falling back to lie on her duvet.

“So you just used me?” Jughead turned his torso more to face her, narrowing his eyes in fake offence, their color shining with mischief.

Betty let a melodic laugh that put a smirk on his lips. “Pretty much, yeah.” She admitted with another round of laughter, once she saw him pretend to curse under his breath in fake self-pity, before she was left there just smiling, taking him all in with her doe eyes and taking a weird liking at the way he looked in a plain black t-shirt and dark blue sweatpants, one of the rarest times seeing him this homey and casual.

“It’s just that with everything that happened, Jason’s funeral, Archie, Ms. Grundy, my mom… my mind can’t really focus on homework, you know?” her eyes took their usual melancholic shade once again and she turned her stare away, feeling the need to pick on some loose threats of her jeans but knowing his eyes were hot and heavy on her profile.

“You have one mind and that is a crowd of people to think of.” Jughead sighed, wanting to ease some of her heartbreak, if possible. “Do you wanna talk about it?” he hesitantly asked.

Betty exhaled the rather large breath she was holding. “No, it doesn’t matter.” She turned to face him again, smile in tack. “It truly doesn’t.” she insisted with a vigorous shake of her head and smiled more, once seeing him unconvinced. “Everything’s in the past and I am really ready to move on.” She announced cheerfully, raising her slim, jean clad, legs to rest on the white headboard of her bed, sliding her arms over her head and stretching blissfully, like a cat enjoying the warm sunrays of June.

And even if he didn’t entirely believe her, Jughead knew there was a rich dose of truth in her words; she eventually was going to be perfectly ok. So he smiled that adorable boyish smile he always had reserved for her and her only, not really able to restrain himself when she was being that cute, with bright pink toe nails drumming against her floral wall.

“What’s so funny?” her voice made him avert his eyes from her legs and run them up to her body until they reached her face, silly smile on his and her lips.

“You.” He let with a chuckle and a shake of his head, putting his laptop as a shield in front of his face. He didn’t know why he was acting like a nervous spaz around her and he hated it with all his passion.

“I’m glad that you find me ridiculous.” She teased and took her tongue out at him, Jughead sending her an amused – slash flirty, but he wouldn’t dare admit that to himself – glare under his eyelashes over his laptop. “Honestly, those two days are probably the most I’ve seen you smiling all those years that we know each other.” Betty smirked, feeling a small flattering on her chest every time she saw the corners of his lips tug into even the smallest of grins.

Jughead knew that and he had a very good theory as to why this was happening but he wouldn’t say that out loud, and especially to her. So, he just smirked and started his typing again, offering one of his usual sardonic responses. “Oh, you know me, big fan of morbid murder scenes and intense people drama, which we have plenty nowadays.” He frowned teasingly and titled his head up to look at her, Betty’s eye roll in sync with her rolling off her bed.

“Ha-ha.” She let a dry laugh and got rid of her dusty pink cardigan, the loose silk white camisole she wore underneath complimenting nicely her shoulders and collarbones which didn’t go unnoticed by him. “I’m gonna make some snacks. I’m assuming you in?” she announced walking to the door.

“Please and thank you.” Jughead replied with a delightful groan, cause really at this point he was just a sucker for anything this girl made, and she laughed before disappearing down the hallway. Her cheerful hopes down the stairs and light humming of a foreign tune made Jughead smile against the letters of the document in front of him and he went on with his previous task. Living with Betty Cooper wasn’t so bad after all.

“Shh! We’re gonna get busted!” Betty whisper – shouted, with her hushed voice trembling from laughter as her finger came over her lips to signalize what she was saying.

“I can’t believe you vomited on your dad’s lap during family Christmas lunch!” Jughead was holding his stomach laughing his heart out at the picture but trying to be as quiet as possible, a five feet ten, all limbs, dark guy rolled up in two shaking from silent giggles like a cheerful toddler. “I’m not even mentioning the you being drunk part; that is a thing I deeply regret missing in my life.” A new series of laughter hit him with more force and a throaty chuckle escaped his lips, Betty’s eyes widening in fear and the blonde grabbed one of the numerous pillows from behind her head and smothered him with it, feeling the vibrations of his chuckles against her palms making her not able to hold back her giggles too at that unusual sight of him.

It was Friday night, way over midnight but they didn’t even bother with time, and the two of them were lying casually on Betty’s bed playing a game of twenty questions. It was all normal at first, with Jughead’s favorite girl sneaking him in her house once her parents were asleep and them starting their usual chat about their day which usually led to deep conversations until one of them was soundly asleep. Tonight, though, it seemed that both of them were in an awfully good mood.

“It was my first time drinking something even remotely close to alcohol and, seriously, how can you laugh at my misery? My grandma was appalled! And of course I don’t need to mention my mom’s reaction, you’ve met her.” Betty fell back into her pillows and focused her eyes on the ceiling, the events of last year’s Christmas day still vivid in her mind. “Kevin really owes me for this.” She promised in fake threat.

Jughead let a series of small coughs, unburying his face from under the pillow that smelled like her and focusing on the ceiling too, amused smile still on his lips. “Thank you, Bets, really. That was the best thing you’ve ever told me.” He coughed again and fixed his hair, or rather messed his raven locks more, and Betty turned to reply with a mean comeback but failed. It was one of the rarest times she was seeing him without his trademark beanie – in fact that was actually the first cause every other night he would take it off after each had been settled into their “beds” – and she had to admit he looked smocking without it too, if not more so.

“Ask away, I’ll handle it.” He scoffed amused, knowing it was her turn to fire a question, feeling her gaze on him in the dimly lit room before turning left over his pillow and coming face to face with her. He had left a safe distance between the two of them – mostly for his sake and his mental stability – but even that wasn’t enough to restrain him from getting lost into the most beautiful pair of blue eyes he had seen in his life.

Betty bit her lip – mostly because she wasn’t expecting his stare to be so intense over her – but asked anyway. “Why do you always wear that beanie?”

He lied; he couldn’t handle it. In the sea of questions she could have asked, the girl responsible for some of his recent sleepless nights went and asked this one. Jughead took a deep breath and focused his eyes on the pillow that now had fallen between them. Of course he would answer; he had learnt that keeping secrets from Betty was a rather difficult task, let alone lying.

“My mom had sewed that for me when I was five.” Jughead confessed and felt a lump forming in his throat but pushed it away, before putting a brave face and facing her again.

She just smiled sweetly at him, knowing that whatever happened with his parents was still really hard on him and hating herself for not noticing sooner. “Well, it does really suit you.” She nodded with a girly pout and ruffled his mop of hair lightly, Jughead bucking down from her touch and groaning a chuckle, grateful that she understood him and knew when to change the subject. “Your turn.” She instructed, rolling over to rest on her elbows, closing the distance between them by an inch.

“Well, well…” he sighed in thought “Okay, what are the things about me that you particularly like and what is the one thing you don’t like?” Jughead went kind of bold there but it was only fair after a question like that. Plus, her laugh as an answer to his challenging smirk was a delight to his ears.

“One? Only one? That’s an understatement there, my friend.” Betty started teasing him and he smacked her head lightly with the pillow, making her squeal and fire back a punch on his shoulder, Jughead delivering another pillow smack on her back before she knocked him off with a rather strong hit of her elbow against his ribs that made him leave a groan of pain, all while they were lowly giggling like happy fools.

“So I don’t like how stubborn you are and you have an ego as big as your head and you don’t ask for help and you’re secretive, awfully prideful, messy as hell—” Jughead let an offended ‘hey’ at that but Betty ignored him and continued listing things with the help of her fingers “you can drive anyone and especially me to the wall, you lose track of time—”

Jughead put his palm over her mouth to stop her, feeling her plump lips against his skin for the first time and indeed losing track of time and place at that very moment. “Do you even like me at all?” he used sarcasm as his chronic defense and with great difficulty removed his hand from her lips, leaving them parted and weirdly begging for more.

Betty collected herself quickly – Juggie was her friend, she shouldn’t even go there – and found her easy going, teasing self again, the one she always had around him. “Sometimes yeah.” She nodded with sass and he shook his head in amusement, rolling his eyes at how much spank she had in her and at how much he came to like that.

“In all honesty, though” she paused and adjusted herself on the bed, elbow resting on her pillow and head titling to rest on her palm, her golden locks falling over one side making Jughead fight back the urge to play with them “you are a pretty amazing person. And I’m really glad that I get to learn more about you every day.” She smiled genuinely at him and he did too, nodding once before resting a palm behind his head and turning his happy eyes to the ceiling, thinking that he definitely had it bad for the first time in his life.

“Sooo as a well-deserved payback for that…” Betty started and Jughead internally groaned “tell me, Jughead Jones the Third, who was your first kiss.” She gave him a challenging smirk, feeling a light blush starting to form on her cheeks but she wasn’t going to back out, she was curious to know – or that’s what she told herself – and she saw him closing his eyes and huff in exasperation, Betty taking pride at the fact that she was one of the very few people that brought Jughead out of his comfort zone. “And no” she continued in warning “I don’t mean silly kids’ stuff, I mean like a proper kiss.”

“Betty…” he whined through his teeth, eyes still closed and frown lines between his eyebrows deep, really not wanting to share something like that with her, first of all because it was embarrassing and second, well, it was really embarrassing.

“Are you blushing?” she squealed in surprise and full on fluffiness and it was indeed very true, Jughead could feel his skin starting to burn from the back of his neck slowly all the way to his cheeks. “Come on, it can’t be that bad!” she encouraged him with a light shake of his shoulder.

“It was awful.” He groaned like he was in pain and she shrieked a laugh, immediately a hand flying to her lips to cover the sound. “Okay, I need full disclosure here and you’re not allowed to laugh.” He pointed a warning finger in all seriousness and Betty smacked her lips shut, nodding and taking a breath to calm herself.

“Well, it wasn’t really my initiative, I was caught off guard…” Jughead flinched, remembering the dreadful event two summers ago that scared him for life.

“Wait, did somebody actually jump on you?” Betty’s voice went an octave higher in shock and amusement and full curiosity to learn more and he hesitated by nodded. “Shut up! Who was it?!” she begged for more, drumming her palms on his arm in anticipation.

“You’re taking this to the grave.” Jughead warned her once more, and she huffed at how ridiculous he was being. “It was… Ethel.” He chocked in a breath and flinched again, even more now.

“WHAT?! NOO!” Betty fell back against her pillow, a hand coming to cover her lips that opened in shock, feeling amused mostly but a part of her a tad jealous?

“It was awful” he repeated again and closed his eyes to shake away the images “face first, way too much tongue…” he made an expression of vomiting and Betty brought her duvet to her lips to muffle her now hysterical laughter at his face expressions. “I remember I stood there like a statue and when it was over I ran so fast, I arrived home with asthma!” he ended the story with a scoff, feeling second hand embarrassment for his younger self and wishing to somehow erase that entire day from his memories, the day he vowed not to kiss a girl ever again.

“Wow!” Betty lay there stunned, resting a palm on her chest and feeling her raging breath calming down. “That is some first kiss story.” She admitted teasingly.

“Oh please, I die of embarrassment every time I think of it.” Jughead scoffed, narrowing his icy eyes to the ceiling. “Thank God, she never mentioned it or tried anything like that again.” His eyes widened in fear.

“Well, on the bright side, not many guys seem to cause such reactions.” Betty offered half-teasingly, half-true because really she could picture girls going crazy at the sight of him. His bad boy, Judd Nelson vibe really did something to the female population, she thought, or maybe it was just her.

“Not helping.” Jughead replied sarcastically, turning to face her. “And since we are at it” his face suddenly lightened up, his self-pity long forgotten “how about you miss Cooper?”

“Oh no, no, no!” she refused with a vigorous shake of her head. “You don’t get to do that!”

“Says who? There are no such rules!” Jughead objected with a teasing smirk of his own. “Come on then what about your first kiss?” he didn’t really want to make her feel uncomfortable nor did he want to know all the gory details about how dreamy it was and how Archie was an amazing kisser – because seriously the two of them had been best friends since forever, he had to be her first kiss – but he was masochistically curious about it to say the truth.

“Well, my very first kiss—” Betty started and tried to bluff but he cut her off.

“You said so yourself, no silly kids’ stuff. Plus, I know.” He raised an eyebrow.

“You do?” she asked surprised; even she, herself, hardly remembered her first barely kiss.

“Reggie. Fourth grade. It was Archie’s birthday party at Pop’s and you were eating a sundae. He smacked his lips at yours and you spit a very generous mouthful of vanilla ice cream to his face.” Jughead told the story with a pleased smile and Betty’s lips fell open in surprise at how he still remembered all that. “Honestly, that was the highlight of that day.” And that was true because as heartbroken as ten year old Jughead felt seeing another boy, that boy being Reggie, kissing his crush, he felt the happiest kid alive upon seeing her reaction before skipping happily to him and Archie. “Now, I was very sharing with you. Plus, it can’t be worse than mine!”

“Fine!” Betty snapped in annoyance; she should have known that this was going to have a boomerang effect on her. “You’re taking this to the grave.” She repeated his words and Jughead rolled his eyes.

“Is it Sherriff Keller?” he boldly asked with his usual creepy - interrogating expression.

“What!? Ewww!” the blonde made a face of disgust, pushing him away by his shoulder.

He laughed. “I’m just messing with you.” He admitted and sent her a “spill” glare.

She rolled her eyes, annoyed. “It was Veronica.” She shrugged, not looking at him.

Jughead opened his mouth to say the answer he had already prepared but last minute his mind caught up with her words and registered that she indeed had said something entirely else than he thought she would say, making him close his mouth abruptly, open it again and close it again at a loss of words.

“Veronica? As in Veronica Lodge?” the words burst out of his mouth, the boy not actually believing his ears. “Veronica got here a couple of months ago and, like, she is a girl?” well, generally Jughead prided in him being a very open-minded person and, he truly was, but Betty Cooper kissing a girl was a little hard to grasp.

“Both statements are true.” Betty replied matter-of-factly, hesitantly raising her eyes to look at him, waiting for his reaction.

“Are you trying to tell me something, Bets?” Jughead narrowed his baby blues at her and titled his head lightly to the side, feeling his stomach drop a little in disappointment if that meant what he thought it meant. Whatever makes her happy, he truthfully thought at the end.

Betty flinched at the misunderstanding. “No! I didn’t mean it like that; I’m just saying what happened!”

“Wow!” it was his turn now to turn flabbergasted. “If I ask how it was, would it be total douche behavior?” he did really wanna know… for science, of course.

The girl next to him laughed. “It was not bad; Veronica certainly has moves.” She admitted with an appreciative nod, Jughead staring with his lips slightly parted as his mind was working around the new information. He truly would not be able to see B and V together with the same eyes ever again.

“Wow…” he muttered again under his breath.

Betty smacked his chest with the back of her palm. “Stop imagining it.” She laughed and he opened his mouth to say something but she bet him to it. “And no, you’re not allowed to include this in your novel.” He pouted and she grinned, shaking her head at his unexpected behavior.

His chuckle was interrupted by a yawn. “I think we humiliated ourselves enough for a night.”

Betty smiled at how adorable he was, trying to keep his eyes open but failing as they got heavier and heavier, the boy blinking a few times to fight his fatigue away but clearly it was a losing battle. “Yeah…Good night, Juggie.” She whispered but she wasn’t sure if he actually heard her, Betty moving as smoothly as possible to grab his blanket from the floor and cover them both, since they were lying over her floral duvet. She adjusted her pillow more under her head and sneaked her hands between her curly hair and her lavender pillowcase, taking a minute or two to stare at him through the darkness, all relaxed and without any of his usual walls around him as a shield from human interaction, just simple Jughead, clutching a pillow to his chest and letting even, soft breaths through his adorably parted lips.

And Betty felt a tugging at her chest, a tugging she had previously experienced a couple of times upon seeing Archie in the past, but that wasn’t the case with Jughead, it couldn’t be, she made herself believe so to not spend a sleepless night stirring and turning. The boy next to her moved subconsciously further down and closer to her, his head falling left so he was inches away from her face, and there was that smile again on her lips, that silly smile, as Betty moved a finger to brush away the deranged black waves that fell against his eyes before running it lightly over his jawline and making him hum in his sleep. Betty Cooper might indeed have had a sleepless night after all.

“Gotcha!” a cheerful Betty Cooper popped her head from the threshold of the kitchen, causing Jughead to do a sudden one-eighty, an almost empty bowl of food resting on his hand, fork in the air and hints of spaghetti spilling out of his mouth as his eyes were rounded in shock that he got caught.

“Juggie!” she scoffed a laugh. “You already had two overloaded plates of pasta carbonara and you’re still going? I thought you only did that with burgers at Pop’s.” she came in the room, resting a hip against the counter in front of him. “Plus, that was my dinner!”

The tall boy shrugged adorably, forming a sheepish smirk with his full mouth. “I guess I’m sorry?” he finally swallowed and Betty rolled her eyes. “And even though I could eat burgers for the rest of my life, no, my appetite includes any form of fine cuisine.” Or any of what the blonde girl next door prepared with her magic hands.

“It’s fine.” She waved a hand to brush it off, opening the fridge to peak through its contents. “I didn’t want it anyway; I’ll have a salad or something. Don’t want Cheryl over my head going on and on every day about how much of a size zero I’m not.” The girl used one of her signature grimaces, being fed up with the captain of the River Vixens but bottom line falling into the trap of embracing society’s standards about cheerleaders and girls in general, something that she felt guilty about.

Jughead’s eyebrows rose in disbelief at how much of a bitch Cheryl Blossom could actually be, saying those things about anyone and especially Betty who was stunning and totally model-material regarding her looks and body type in his humble opinion. “Screw that evil ginger!” he scoffed in his usual apathetic manner and slouched back on the counter. “You know what they say about gingers having no soul? Well, Cheryl bombshell is the epitome of that statement.” He went on in his clever tone and Betty couldn’t help but laugh.

“Uh, I might agree with you on that.” She offered her aloof response, closing the metallic door of the fridge with her hip. “So, what I came here for in the first place, I’m doing laundry. I gathered some of your shirts too but I don’t know if there’s something else you wanna throw in.” She exited the room and Jughead followed close behind her, down the narrow corridor next to the staircase and into the laundry room at the very back.

“You shouldn’t have, I’m fine.” He spoke somehow uneasily, not really used to that much of attention or being taken care of.

“There’s this thing called laundry machine and it actually does wash clothes by itself so don’t feel so entitled to return your gratitude to me.” Betty teased him and he snorted a laugh, doing that adorable nose flick that the girl across him came to love. “Take off that too.” She pointed to his jeans and busied herself with pulling out some detergents off a cupboard to her left, Jughead’s eyes growing wide in an instant. Did she actually want him to strip for her?

Betty’s ponytail swayed as she snapped her head to face him again, doe eyes looking clueless and way too innocent for her to mean something like that. “The shirt you have around your waist, Juggie.” he heard the words and his hands fisted the red flannel that fell on his sides, eyes blinking a couple of times to help his mind return to its previous zen state. “I’m washing colors; I should put this in too.”

“Yeah, uh, okay.” He quickly unfastened it and gave it to her, his palms sweaty from his short lived – thankfully – moment of awkwardness.

“Jug, there’re two buttons missing from this.” Betty’s candy cane voice turned even more sugary, finding kinda adorable his goofiness and the ‘so what?’ eyebrow he raised at her statement. She just shook her head and let a girly giggle. “Hold on, I’m going to fix this.” She disappeared off somewhere not before instructing him to unload the plastic basket next to his feet inside the washing machine.

He did so, of course, grabbing the basket by its handles in fear of coming into contact with any of Betty’s clothes or, worse, any of her underwear and throwing all the garments inside, thinking that if a couple of months ago somebody had told him that he would be living with Betty Cooper and doing laundry with her, he would seriously have considered him a lunatic. He went to leave the basket to its previous place on the floor but something red on top of his brown boots caught his attention and bended his knees to grab it. A totally bad idea considering that he regretted it the minute he understood what it was, because there he was Jughead Jones holding a red bra – a burgundy very lacey and very see-though bralet to be exact, not that Jughead knew any of the difference – that belonged to no other than the infamous blonde who even without her presence and her perfume could turn his mind into a worthless piece of musk.

Ever since that Friday night he accidentally had fallen asleep at the blonde’s side, Betty refused to let him get back to sleeping on the floor which led to them sharing a bed every night and having Jughead deal with, up to now, foreign for him mind and body reactions. Something that was happening at that very moment too, the boy literally feeling his raging blush coloring all of his face at the sight of the lace that was tangled around his slender fingers. He felt surprised, that Betty Cooper actually owned something like that, and possibly, maybe – honestly, he didn’t even know, he had never ever felt that before with anyone – a little turned on at the thought of seeing her with that thing on. Although it might have been a pain putting it on and taking it off, Jughead briefly thought, examining the almost invisible little clasps at the back in a typical clueless boyish fashion. God, stop thinking about taking things off!

But bottom line he was feeling so beyond ashamed that he suddenly had such thoughts for her, her that he knew all his life and she was such a precious sweetheart, or even worse, that he couldn’t seem to be able to take his eyes nor his hands from that red lace. Something had awakened in him, something he never knew he would experience as a person, as a man, but only from his author point of view and that scared the hell out of him.

“Jug…” Betty’s voice came and he jumped, hands trembling and letting the tiny garment fall down again, now even more ashamed that the person that made him feel so many new things was surely going to be disgusted by him and his primal tendencies. He wasn’t the definition of a gentleman but he prided to be way more mannered and thoughtful regarding women.

“I’m sorry” he started stuttering, bending down in reflex to gather the tiny undergarment and his dignity, Betty doing the same once watching with wide, ashamed eyes what was all about “I didn’t mean to pry on your—ouch!” their foreheads collided with a thud, Jughead’s head bouncing back with a flinch of pain and frustration at how much more of a fool he could make himself to be.

“It’s fine, don’t sweat it, it’s fine.” She kept on muttering like a rehearsed mantra under her breath, rubbing the spot on her forehead that certainly was starting to redden from the hit only to match the bright red blush that decorated her cheeks. She hadn’t put anything remotely private of hers in that basket on purpose, for exactly that reason, for not risking Jughead seeing anything he wasn’t supposed to see and her dying of utter humiliation right on the spot, because she wasn’t that attractive or sexy for that matter and she didn’t want to see another boy that she had maybe starting to like reject her again.  So she hid the damn thing inside the back pocket of her jeans and closed her arms insecurely around herself, not daring to look him in the eyes.

Jughead licked his lips to find the right words, upon seeing how defensive she got. “I wasn’t snooping through your stuff. It just dropped off the pile of clothes and I picked it up, I’m sorry, please don’t think anything bad about it.” He pleaded with sad blue eyes and Betty dropped hers to the ground, replying with a small voice.

“I’m not thinking anything of you…” she admitted truthfully, kicking the machine that separated them lightly with her heel of her converse just out of spite. “I’m just embarrassed that you saw…that.” Her grimace and full on doe eyes, had him smiling at how adorably cute she was.

“Well, my experience with girls might be limited to none but I’m not a Neanderthal, I do know that all of you wear such stuff.” Jughead used his self-sarcasm to make the situation lighter and cheer her up. “Plus I could have found something worse like pink razors or, God Forbid, tampons, just everyday things that gross out any macho guy that respects himself and his unsuppressed masculinity, right?” he went on in his typical sardonic manner, Betty cracking a smile and shaking her head at how actually amazing he was.

“Get out of here, you dork, and let me do laundry.” She pushed him out of the way, lovey-dovey smile intact while messing with some buttons on the washing machine panel.

“Yes, traditional gender roles!” Jughead threw his head back and groaned in fake delight before straightening up his back. “And like the man I am I’m gonna go out and hunt our food.” He announced like a bad caricature of a caveman.

“Are you really?” Betty played on amused, raising an eyebrow.

Jughead slouched back to his normal posture, resting an arm against the wooden threshold. “No, not really.” Betty chuckled loudly at his beaten expression. “But I’m going to buy you the most delicious, extra filled burger that I’ll find at Pop’s along with those Texas bacon cheese fries you like.” He said with a sweet smile that Betty returned biting her down lip because she was scared her face would break with how much she was smiling right now.

“And a milkshake?” she asked shyly with her look under her eyelashes that had him sold.

“And a milkshake.” Jughead nodded once, being at her service. “Vanilla as always?”

“Nah…” Betty shook her head and said in a sweet, almost flirty voice. “I’m up for some strawberry right now.”

Jughead smirked and winked, leaving Betty behind to deal with a slightly big problem of butterflies in her stomach.

“Alright, I’m taking a shower.” Betty announced from her vanity and Jughead nodded to nobody else but himself as he was scrolling through his phone, back resting on the headboard of her bed. It was Tuesday morning and the two teens were once again alone in the house, Betty’s parents leaving in the middle of the night for the newspaper since some shockingly news about Jason Blossom’s case had sprung to life.

The blonde damsel of Jughead’s stories moved quietly around the room gathering her stuff before she made her way to the bathroom and he finally made the decision to get out of bed and start getting ready for another specifically long day at Riverdale High, filled with gossip and hushed whispers. The atmosphere would be a tad heavy today, the larky boy thought, just like it was in this room since they had woken up, an air of awkwardness and teenage angst lingering between the otherwise drama-free duo.

Because today Jughead and Betty didn’t wake up like they always used to; wrapped in each of their covers and to their respective sides. They woke up all wrapped up with each other and in a tangled up mess of limbs, not knowing where he ended and where she began.

The blipping of his alarm along with the simple chime of her phone receiving a text, that being her mom informing her about hers and her dad’s whereabouts, were what brought the two friends away from dreamland two hours ago, both groggily cracking their eyes open and freaking out internally at the state they were in. Jughead was lying on his back with both his arms around Betty, slender fingers laced together on her waist over the cotton material of her grey t-shirt and Betty was practically on top of him, head resting on his chest, an arm being thrown over his stomach and fingers even lingering on the small patch of bare flesh on his hipbone that his rolled up t-shirt left uncovered, not to mention one of her miles long legs that was comfortably rested between his bony ones, delicious hitched over a part of him that Jughead didn’t quite know functioned before those days spent with her.

Their reaction was straight out of a comic book, both flying far back to either side of the bed and blushing scarlet without knowing what to do or say since they’d never been in a situation like this before. They behaved really maturely about it and decided not to exchange a single word all morning, their only communication being Betty informing him that her parents were gone and that she was going to take a shower just minutes ago, both ashamed to even look each other in the eye anymore, like if they did, a ticking grenade was going to explode between them.

Jughead sighed and kicked the covers off his legs, momentarily focusing on the space between them where Betty’s smooth leg was lying for God knows how many hours, the boy mentally slapping himself for envisioning again and again their up close and personal morning. He got out of bed grumpily and run a hand through his untamed waves, deciding that it was time to stop brooding over it, they just cuddled, it was nothing and obviously it meant nothing to her so end of story, everything was cool.

Seeing as Betty was going to take a couple more minutes in the shower, Jughead decided that it was high time he got dressed for the day, quickly taking off his t-shirt and getting rid of his sweatpants, after making sure the blinds were intact and Archie wasn’t getting a private show, but the abruptly crack of the door had him once again deep in humiliation for the second time this morning. Someone up there must have had great fun torturing him.

“My mom is here!” Betty Cooper stormed in the room like wild wind, hair disheveled and horrified expression shading her pretty features, Jughead’s heart starting to pound in his chest at the news but mostly at the fact that he was, well, naked in front of her.

“Betty! I’m not decent!” his shaky voice raised an octave and subconsciously his hands flew to cover his manhood over his boxers, at least thankful that his choice of underwear was plane grey and not his pizza print boxers that he loved but wasn’t exactly supposed to be seen by people. “And obviously you aren’t too.” His words slowly died on his lips once he noticed her full appearance, her pajama shirt still intact but the matching shorts nowhere to be found underneath it, just a long view of legs just for him. His eyes couldn’t help but scan her lower part, Jughead gulping once, twice even three times in difficulty at the sight of her tanned legs and he felt something stir where his hands still laid protectively.

“God! I’m sorry!” the blonde groaned flushing dark red again, doing an one-eighty to face the door and turn her back at him, not helping at all with the boy’s situation since her gorgeous behind was in full display for him, semi covered with her shirt and semi revealing a dark peppermint green lace peaking from under it. Jughead’s head snapped to the left in reflex, feeling a tad of guilt for seeing his long term friend like that and secretly loving it. His eyebrows rose and his lips formed a soundless “oh man”, cause really when did Betty stop being Betty, all-American sweet girl next door, and became that hot woman? All he remembered from their swims at Sweetwater River when they were kids was a chubby little girl with always the brightest choices of swimwear. Now all he could see was female curves that, damn, were a sight to look at for days.

“It’s that I was about to get in the shower but I heard mom’s car rounding the corner, the tires make a hissing sound so I recognize them, and I panicked, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to storm out on you and like that…” Betty kept rambling on, biting her lip nervously, because really today wasn’t the best day for them. Not that she was complaining that he saw him without his buggy dark clothes. It seemed that they did hide a lot of interesting things, Betty thought and blushed even more, biting her lip harder and filling thankful that he couldn’t see her face right now.  

The sound of footsteps jogging up the stairs interrupted any train of her thought, naughty or nice. Betty actually feared for their lives.

“She’s coming up!” she freaked out in a shrieking whisper, running to a terrified Jughead that desperately was trying to find a place to hide while gathering in panic the stuff he had thrown around. “Under the bed, under the bed!” Betty instructed, pushing on his bare shoulders, him easily slouching down and rolling into his hiding spot, the girl kicking with her foot his combat boots under the bed with him too and throwing his jeans with force against his bare chest, Jughead letting an “oomph” of surprise just as the bedroom door opened and an imposing Alice Cooper appeared.

“Mom, hey!” Betty greeted her way too cheerfully and even Jughead raised a disbelieving eyebrow in unison with her mother. “I-I thought you were at the paper.” She moved to the bed as if she was fixing her deranged covers, but only just to be within reaching distance in case her mom came over to inspect her room further, giving Jughead a view of her panties in all their glory, the raven haired boy dropping his jeans to his eyes and squinting them close, praying to God to blind him cause after this image he surely didn’t know if he could go on with his life.

“Yeah, I’m not staying. Just dropped by to take some papers your father forgot.” Alice informed her in her usual cold manner, frowning when noticing that her daughter’s focus wasn’t her but the floor next to her. “Are you alright?”

“Of course, yeah, I am, totally fine!” Betty babbled and Jughead could feel his life ending, one, because of all that he endured that fine morning and two because of the fact that Betty was a terrible liar. “Just getting ready for school.” She tried to sound aloof and grabbed a pair of jeans from her wardrobe, jumping lightly to slide them on her legs. He wasn’t going to admit it but Jughead did pout upon seeing them finally covered.

“Hm.” Alice hummed suspiciously. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it smelled like a boy in here.” He tried to catch her in her lie and the stray boy under the bedframe could have bet money that they were busted.

“B-boy?” Betty chocked on her breath and laughed uneasily. “Mom! Come on! How could I have a boy in my room without you noticing?” Betty scoffed like that was impossible, shaky fingers clumsily pushing up her window for fresh air to fill the room in reflex to her words and Alice seemed to back off, even though she wasn’t entirely sure about her daughter’s mental state.

“Alright.” She shrugged. “Since I am here, I’ll drive you to school.” She offered.

“Mom, no, I’ll walk—” Betty tried to object but her mother bet her to it.

“Betty, put a shirt and take your things. I’ll be in the car.” She left no room for further discussion and left the room, both her daughter and the boy she was hiding letting the breath they were holding.

Jughead popped from under the bed but the girl shushed him, twirling around like a mad woman not wanting to waste any time, because she knew her mom would be storming in her room again if she wasn’t downstairs in seconds.

“There are spare keys inside the second drawer of the dresser next to the front door.” Betty curled her sneakers and her bag to her chest while giving him hushed instructions. “Don’t forget to lock it behind you. I’ll see you at school.” She snatched her jacket and a shirt and walked quickly out of the room to get changed before Jughead heard her hop down the stairs and minutes later Alice Cooper’s car speeding down the road. And just like that he fell back on the floor contemplating life and thinking that getting involved with a girl in any sense was indeed very tiring.

It was an hour later that the Jones boy passed the wide entrance of Riverdale High with headphones intact and loud music blasting through his skull, blocking away the offensive whispering of the people around him about yet again Jason Blossom. He went straight to his locker and started rearranging some of his books, his eyes wandering around and catching a glimpse of her from across the corridor doing the same. As if she knew his baby blues were on her, Betty looked at him and she smiled apologetically to him, mouthing a sorry for the crazy morning they had. He just brushed it off with a shake of his head and gave her his usual smirk, not really managing to stop his eyes from wandering further down to take in her appearance. Amongst all the blue of her jeans and her sweater something plaid red was peaking from her collar and her waist and his eyebrows shot up in shock. On an onlooker it might look like she was spicing up her outfit with some color but to somebody that knew it would look so strange since Betty Cooper didn’t own even a single plaid shirt and that very one was something that Jughead Jones was sporting day after day.

He subtly pointed to his collar praying that he understood her signal but Betty just looked down at her in confusion before looking back up at him and shrugging in a silent “what?”. Some girls from her science class approached her and their eye conversation cut short, Jughead pushing his text books for first period in his bag and closing his locker, before sprinting to the blonde’s side.

Kevin was a tad faster than him. “Hey, Betty, cool shirt. Isn’t it Jughead’s?” he raised an eyebrow looking between the two of them, Betty’s crimson red blush appearing to her cheeks again, now coming to understand her gaffe. Somewhere between her morning humiliation and her hurry so for her mom not to suspect anything more she had ended up picking the wrong shirt, that shirt being Jughead’s.

“Yeah, she was cold so I lent it to her.” The other boy came to her rescue, nodding down at her with a cute side smirk, Betty agreeing with a vigorous shake of her head.

Thankfully the bell ringing didn’t leave any space for more conversation and the three friends started walking towards their chemistry class. And as Kevin was in front of them bubbling happily about his very first official date with Joaquin, Jughead, feeling rather bold after the events of that morning, placed a soft palm at the small of Betty’s back, leaning to whisper next to her hear. “You look good with my shirt on.” He complimented her and saw even her freckles turn a lovely shade of red before offering him her sweetest grin and whispering a shy thank you back. Yes, getting involved with a girl was tiring but in Betty’s case it was all worth it.

Where are you? Please just let me know you’re ok. I’m worried about you.

Betty’s trembling thumps typed quickly the message and she pressed ‘send’, the new blue bubble that appeared on her phone screen joining the three other unanswered ones that held a similar content. She waited two seconds and then threw her phone on the duvet next to her with venom, snapping her eyes shut and letting fresh tears run down her already soaked cheeks. She wasn’t crying because she had been yelled at for barely an hour by her dear mother nor because she was grounded for the rest of time.

She was crying because he left and because he probably wouldn’t want to speak to her ever again.

It had been the perfect afternoon. Betty had done amazing in her cheerleading practice, even earning a compliment for the very first time from Cheryl Blossom herself, and once practice was over, Jughead was there waiting out of the school gym, left leg bended by the knee and resting to the wall behind him while he was watching something on his phone, looking dangerously handsome in some black attire, insisting on buying her a triple extra sundae at Pop’s since he now had official employee discount, the old man finally offering the boy the job he desperately needed.

Today it was the first time they hugged. Betty couldn’t really help but jump in his arms with a happy squeal upon hearing the news, because she knew first-hand how hard everything was on him and because his happy smile was the best thing she’d seen in her life and the true highlight of her day. And of course she got to have that sinful sundae – with extra topping, as he requested – the two of them spending hours at Pop��s, just talking and laughing and enjoying each other’s company.  

Today was the first time they held hands; like proper hand holding not the usual brush of touch sometimes they happened to have. They were walking back to her house, their chat animated and still going strong, with Betty seeing Jughead for the first time being so optimistic and genuinely trouble-free and loving so much that side of him that wished for everything to come in his life the way he dreamed, because he deserved it, he of all of them. And just as she was busy thinking how happiness suited him and he looked even more handsome under the stars that night, she felt his long slim fingers dance around hers ever so lightly, before finding their place at the space between hers and locking there like they had clicked, like they were designed to fit perfectly with hers and hers only. Betty eased his nerves with a bright welcoming smile and a light squeeze of her palm against his and Jughead exhaled a nervous sigh through his smiley lips, glad that they were taking it one step at a time and she was following his pace.

And today was the day it all came crushing down between them as far as they reached the porch stairs of the Coopers’ residence, the two teens getting ambushed but a ready-to-kill Alice Cooper that turned their lovesick smiles into ice.

After that it was just a mess of screams and insults, Betty’s mom having found the backpack of Jughead’s belongings as she once again went snooping in the girl’s room, shouting at how disappointed she was at Betty and her tendencies of always getting involved with the wrong crowd, addressing Jughead with words like stray and lowlife and delinquent, him just standing there and looking at the ground and Betty crying and screaming back how she hated her and how much of a awful mother she was being. And mist the fire of it all, the raven haired boy that never seemed to have a chance to happiness, had pushed his backpack up his shoulder and walked away, doing what he knew best; disappear.

Hours had passed since then and not a single text of hers about his wellbeing was answered, Betty being locked up in her room and crying her pretty eyes out for the boy that made her heart meant and beat again, even faster than ever before. She had never cried for anything or anyone that much in the past, not even for Archie, having that sinking feeling inside her chest, that burden that left her there breathing with difficulty and sobbing hard with trembles of sorrow running down her spine.

Didn’t find him anywhere. You want me to tell my dad? Her phone chimed and she rushed to read the text, momentarily hopping that it was from him and he was ok, but it was just from Kevin, the poor boy offering to go out looking for Jughead once Betty had called him with hiccups interrupting her sobbing words, asking for his help.

She was about to text him back to do so because at that point she was really worried but her blurry eyes were making this a difficult task, the blonde beauty swiping a hand violently under her eye and trying to gain some control of her messy state. Her mind was spinning with all the possible scenarios, with mostly bad to worse popping up first, and she was so caught up in her thoughts that didn’t even hear her window being opened behind her and the boy she wished to see more than anything else right now climbing inside her room.  

“Is there any room for me?” Betty heard his voice, soft and soothing, and her reflexes where never that quick before in her life, turning around on her bed and gasping a loud relieved sigh that he was there and well before storming in his arms.

“Juggie…” she sobbed against the hard material of his denim jacket, her whole body shaking from the force of her cries and Jughead shushing her and holding her tight.

“Hey, hey, please don’t cry for me…Bets, please, it’s okay…” he kept saying and trying to offer her some comfort, alternating his hands from running up and down her sides and his arms from wrapping securely around her.

“I was so worried about you, I thought something bad happened.” She pulled back to look at him, placing both her palms on his face and examining him closely.

He did the same, taking in her way too puffy eyes, their breathtaking color a tad less bright, and her flushed cheeks, his heart breaking a little at the sight of her, knowing that he was to blame. “I’m fine. I told you I know how to take care of myself.” he assured her, bringing his thump to brush away some tears that still lingered under her eyes.

“I’m so sorry about my mom…” Betty started in a low ashamed voice, knowing that everything her mother had said was out of line and unfair to him. “What she said—”

Jughead cut her off. “Alice Cooper has called me a sleaze at the age of ten; the time I cared about her opinion is long gone.” He replied with a shrug. “No offence.” She just shook her head at his way of still not wanting to insult her or her awful of a mother. “I didn’t leave for what she said to me, I left for you. It’s not fair for you to go through any of this trouble for me.” He confessed with sadness in his eyes, feeling awful that she had to go through hell just because he happened to be in her life.

“And it’s not fair for you to deal with everything on your own.” Betty insisted with such intensity in her eyes that left him with zero comebacks. “Where are your things?” she wondered, looking down around him and taking a step back, the two teens getting untangled from each other. “Don’t tell me you went back to the Blue & Gold.”

Jughead shook his head no, burying his hands inside the pocket of his jeans. “I talked to Archie…” he started and saw the girl across him raise her eyes at that. “That’s why I wasn’t replying to your messages, I’m sorry…” he felt really guilty at that, guilty that made her worry so much for him. “Told him everything, how I lost my home, staying here, what happened with your mom… He was bumped that I didn’t go to him from the beginning but we did that bro thing which we give each other a clean slate and start back again.” He let a small chuckle at this but composed himself immediately, regarding the situation.

Betty smiled, even though she knew this meant he was going to leave her behind just like that. “I’m glad you patched things up with him.” She was, really.

He nodded. “Fred said that I can take their spare bedroom for the time being and Archie and I are planning to rebuild their garage; make it my bedroom and a joined man cave.”

It was Betty’s time to nod, pretending to be ok with all that, but her eyes betrayed her as the waterfalls threatened to spill from them again, the girl looking away and biting her lip to hold back another round of stupid tears.

“Hey, hey, hey…” Jughead rushed to her and enveloped her in his arms again, leaving a butterfly kiss on her temple. “What are you crying for now, huh? I’m here, I’m well and you’ll still gonna see my stupid face every day from some meters away.” He tried to lighten the mood and cheer her up, pulling back to look down at her with a loving smile, his hands dropping to her waist and fingers playing with the hem of the blue and yellow blouse of her cheerleader uniform, Betty still haven’t been bothered to change with all the events that happened tonight. Jughead liked her in that uniform; the tiny skirt was leaving her legs uncovered and he had come to realize that he had a soft spot for them as much as her eyes.

“It’s just” she took a deep breath and brushed her palms over her eyes stubbornly; she was so sick of crying “I liked having you here, you know?” she admitted and Jughead rewarded her with his boyish smirk which immediately pull something in her heart. “Ever since Polly…left” she chose carefully the word “this house had been so damn silent!” her voice broke at that and Jughead frowned in sympathy; he knew that feeling very well. “Those days that you’ve been here, they reminded me of the ones I got to spend with her and it made me feel so much less alone.” Betty sobbed the last part and some mascara filled tears run down her cheeks, making Jughead hold her close again, leaning back to rest against the small wooden bench of her window, letting her water his jacket with salty tears and just rubbing her back, offering hushed promises that everything was going to be ok.

They didn’t know how much time they stayed like that, just holding each other and Betty spilling everything that’s being pilling up inside her, but eventually her cries died and the only sound around them was their even breaths and the crickets chirping away in the night sky.

“Thank you for making me feel less alone.” Betty raised her head from his shoulder to look at him.

“Thank you for making me feel that I wasn’t invisible.” He mused back and caressed her cheek, his thump drawing patterns against her faint freckles, and he saw her eyes shine again, shine with something else that he hadn’t seen before, something so intense that even authors can’t find the right words to describe it.

Jughead heard her take in a sharp breath and it was as if she had commanded him to lean closer, their faces inches away from each other, noses almost bopping. Her long eyelashes fanned against his face, her eyes blinking rapidly in what seemed like anticipation and he felt her melt against him once he titled his head slightly to the side. The raven haired boy felt at a loss, like he didn’t have any control of his mind and body, like everything was on autopilot on his part, not really sure what to do or how to do it but going with his gut and placing his other hand on her waist, making her jump up straight and sigh against his chapped lips. The action caused him to drop his eyes to her own lips, full, pink and always inviting, and he saw her tongue coming out to lick them, Jughead knowing right there that he needed to kiss her, to have even just a small taste, otherwise he would die at that very moment.

“I think I’m gonna kiss you, Betty Cooper.” His lips formed the words almost against her lips and she closed her eyes, angling her head in a delicious way, waiting for him to go on with his promise.

“You better do.” Or I’ll die, she continued in her mind before feeling the slightest of touches against her petal lips, excitement shooting through her system like a drug and having her asking for more by lacing her arms behind his neck.

Jughead felt her mouth part in invitation and her fingers deliver the softest of caresses at the sensitive skin of his neck and he dove in for real this time, kissing her with all the build-up tension he had inside him, bringing her flat against his body by her waist and opening his mouth to savor hers with all he got, both of them sighing in the kiss, pushing, pulling, nibbling, sucking. And when the slightest of moans left her sweet like candy cane and strawberries mouth and vibrated through him whole, Jughead couldn’t help but attack her with new passion, leaning all the way towards her and seeking entrance with his tongue, something that Betty gladly accepted, squealing in delight and tugging at his mess of raven hair to bring him even closer.

“So that’s what a real kiss is like…” the boy murmured inside the kiss awestruck, Betty pulling back lightly to giggle and him following her mouth blindly, not ready yet to escape the sweetest flavor he had ever tasted.

“Not quite bad, huh?” Betty smiled against his lips and pecked them once, twice, three times while caressing up and down his jawline, feeling the happiest girl in the whole wide world.

“Perfect is the only thing that goes with you.” Jughead’s low voice sent a shiver down her spine and she dropped her forehead on his in affection, before their lips met again in the sweetest battle of dominance. 

Jughead Jones and Betty Cooper were finally not hiding anymore.