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steal-yourdadsgender · 4 years ago

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Don’t Change, Not Yet

Pairing: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones

Synopsis: "The calls kept happening again, and again. But the first call was the only time she heard his voice. She usually got a call from him only once a month. They never tried to say anything, tried to make up for anything. Jughead would call when the moon had been up for at least a solid hour, and Betty would answer. She would always answer. Then they would sit, thousands of miles away, yet together."

or- during the time jump, Jughead and Betty call one another until there fateful reunion in Riverdale.

It had been seven years since they had last seen each other. So much had changed. Jughead was a published author, and his beanie was long forgotten. Betty was an FBI agent and no longer wore her hair up in her signature ponytail. It now hung low by her hips. It was longer than Jughead had remembered it.

Jughead saw Betty first. He had gotten off his bus and walked the remainder of the way to town. As Archie had said on the phone, the town was one large dumpster fire. Jughead would be surprised if there was even anything salvageable in this big heap of nothing. But the one thing that managed to stay the same was Pop’s. That was where he saw her. She seemed to be the first one there of the people that Archie called. Jughead distantly wondered if Archie called her first.

She was talking to Pop Tate and she was as gorgeous as ever. In fact, seven years did her unexplainable favors. Even at 25 now, she seemed to radiate a youthful glow that should have been distinguished many years before.

He was walking up the parking lot and couldn’t seem to move his eyes from what he could see of her. But he knew in the back of his head, no matter how much he reached for her, he could never have her. She was always just out of reach. And he didn’t even know if she was reaching for him either.

When he opened the door and the familiar bell rung, that’s when she saw him. She turned, her hair swinging with her body, and her eyes sat on his. He expected something to happen. Like how they describe it in the books. The fireworks or the electricity. But all her saw were her eyes. Even when everything else had changed around them, her eyes stayed the same. The same warm, inviting eyes that he fell in love with ten years ago.

Betty didn’t expect to see Jughead when she turned at the sound of the bell. But there he was. He looked so different, yet exactly the same. His beanie was nowhere in sight and he had light stubble growing just above his lips. Betty feels an involuntary sigh escape her body at the sight. It was still Jughead. He may have different style clothing, and be a published author now, but she also saw the stiff, awkward shoulders and the guarded eyes. She used to see it every time they went out somewhere together. Social anxiety.

“Betty. Hi” he mutters and she nods. Not Betts, or Juliet anymore. Just Betty. She couldn’t say she blamed him. The last time she had even heard his voice was six years ago. It was a year after they had all departed Riverdale and late into the night. She was studying when she got the call.

Assuming something bad had happened, Betty picked up the phone. But all she got on the other end was a drunk Jughead. He rambled to her about god knows what. Betty wasn’t even sure he knew he was talking to her until he said her name. “Betty?”. His voice sounded so broken when so said it, yet so full of hope. Like one large, thousand-piece puzzle. He was shattered, but there was the hope of being put back together again. Only to be broken once again and shoved away to collect dust. It had hurt her to hear him like that.

But she responded. She had said, “Yes, Jug?”. She whispered it, as if scared to loud of a noise would scare him away.

“I love you”.

That was all he said. After he uttered those three forbidden words, the line was silent for a deafening two minutes. Betty didn’t dare hang up the phone, dangling on that last thread of hope that he would say something else. Anything at all.

But he didn’t. The line stayed quiet for two hours before she fell asleep. Even though not a word or noise was heard, Betty knew he was there. Even drunk, Jughead had sat by his phone, listening to her faint breathing, knowing she was there too.

The calls kept happening again, and again. But the first call was the only time she heard his voice. She usually got a call from him only once a month. They never tried to say anything, tried to make up for anything. Jughead would call when the moon had been up for at least a solid hour, and Betty would answer. She would always answer. Then they would sit, thousands of miles away, yet together.

It wasn’t as tensed as the first time, as the numbers of calls slowly grew. Betty would occasionally pick up a book, or she would listen to the soft clicking of Jughead’s typewriter as he wrote. Betty distantly wondered if that was the typewriter that she gifted to him that he was writing with. Jughead would work on his book, knowing his inspiration was so far away from him, yet right there as well. When the time grew on the line, Jughead would occasionally hear Betty humming to herself. It was a beautiful sound, one that would have small colorful birds singing back in some invisible fairy tale land.

There was a soft calm between them during these calls. And yet, even though they didn’t speak a single word into their phones, they would count down the minutes that they could call again, and miss each other when the phone hung up.

Neither directly hung up on one another. Sometimes, Jughead would stay awake longer than Betty and hear the soft sighs of her sleep. Or when Betty stayed awake longer, she could hear Jughead’s incoherent mumbling on the other end. But she could never make out any words. When the calls ended, it was usually because a phone was dead in the morning.

This routine lasted for five years. It started one year after they all left, and ended suddenly one year before they all returned to Riverdale.

Betty never received a reason for the sudden ghosting, if that’s something she could even call whatever’s been going on between her and Jughead, and she felt no need to ask. Maybe it was better that way, she thought, having no idea that was what Jughead had thought to himself before she stopped calling.

Now, here they are. Standing before one another once again, feeling more connected than they should.

“Hey, Jughead”.

Neither one makes any move to say anything else, or more any closer. They simply studied one another.

Finally, it’s Jughead who breaks the silence. He nervously clears his throat and narrow his eyes. “Archie call you?”, he asks. He doesn’t break eye contact with her once as he spoke, and she doesn’t attempt to either.

“Yeah, this was the first time I’ve heard from him since he left for the army” she agrees, and shoves her hands in her pocket nervously.

Jughead felt a small, guilty amount of pride at that. That’s he’s heard from her more than Archie. That maybe, just maybe, she still loved him just as much as he loved her.

Six years ago, may have been the last time betty has heard Jughead’s voice, but it wasn’t the last time Jughead heard Betty’s. About three years into their calls, he heard her voice once again. He was asleep and woke up. It had been late into the night, maybe two in the morning. She must have assumed he was still asleep, because she was talking very fast and very much to him.

“… and I’ve been lying to my therapist, and everyone about it. My own mom doesn’t even know. Does that make me a bad person? Not telling my mother about something like this?” she clearly didn’t expect an answer, as that was the only logical reasoning for why she was talking at all.

Jughead now wished he had answered her. Or said something, anything. He had learnt what she meant a month later in the news. The Trash Bag Killer. From what he read, the guy had her for a few weeks at most. At some point, he had to just stop reading.

Even with the minimal makeup Betty wore now, he could see the bags hidden under her eyes. She could hide anything from anyone, but not from him.

“Me too. It’s been radio silence from everyone. Except, well…” he says. Betty answers quick and sharp, “Yeah, I know”. Her tone clearly conveyed she didn’t want to talk about it. Which was fine with him, because he wasn’t exactly in a Chatty Cathy mood about that particular subject.

“What about Veronica, you heard from her?” Jughead asks, and Betty shakes her head. Unsure of himself, he moves around and pulls himself into a booth. “Can I get you anything?” the waitress, her name tag read Tabitha, asked. Jughead could swear that name sounded familiar.

“No, I’m good. Thanks” Jughead mutters as Betty sits beside him.

“No burger anymore, Jones?” Betty asks and he rolls his eyes. “Things change” he whispers simply.

“Yeah, I know” she replies, copying his simple tone. It frustrated him and he didn’t know why. They both equally gave up one each other. Yet there was a nagging feeling in the back of his head asking one question. If they gave up, then why keep calling? Why keep answering?

When night fell and they all went their separate ways, Betty didn’t expect the call from Jughead. After all, they had just seen one another again. It would make no sense for him to call her. Yet, as Betty was dusting off a cup from the kitchen cabinet, her phone rang.

And, without hesitation, she picked it up.

They supposed, the entire world could change, but they wouldn’t.

The End

ao3

#riverdale #fanfiction #riverdale fanfiction #bughead #Betty x jughead #no barchie in this household #kinda angsty #ao3 #I dont know #also on ao3 #angst #fanfic #Betty cooper #jughead jones #Betty Cooper x jughead jones #Betty/jughead #jughead jones x Betty cooper #jughead x betty

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petalsmooth · 3 years ago

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Ok.

Let’s talk Lili.

First off we only know what stars put out about themselves or other people say about them. We are not friends with these people. We are not in their homes. We don’t usually hear what they say in unguarded conversation. What we know is what is out on social media with some highly distorted soundbites from chats or DM’s with her mother that were exposed.

We were initially presented a portrait pushed by her and her family no less of a middle class family with the standard girl next door hit it big narrative. Down to earth, relatable, somewhat quirky. Strong two parent supportive household. All that was missing were the apron and pearls.

This girl came out of the gates talking about a modernized Riverdale with two girls who would be actually close and not vying for the same redhead. Feel free to add/or correct along the way of course...especially early on when not following as closely.

We got very little in the way of insight into Cole and Lili because they were trying to keep it quiet even if there were hints together. Mostly during this period what fans were fed was that she was slightly awkward socially, maybe not the most intellectual but nice and harmless. She spoke of empowering women, independence, she constantly shut down the idea of Barchie and praised Bughead. Along through the year’s she would speak to social bullying or bullying in general. She would openly talk about struggles with mental health. She’d talk and show her cystic acne and share photos not all airbrushed in ode to body positivity. She’d talk about not having an hourglass figure, and cellulite and often go out in ratty shorts and a bun sans makeup. You see she’d talk about it then follow through by showing lived the walk or calling out photoshops done of her.

Again this is “relatable girl next door quirky Lili” we told was the REAL Lili.

She would frequently talk and post about her family and dogs at home and how much she loved and missed them...though oddly not so much her older sister.

At a certain point it became undeniable Cole and Lili were together to even the hardest deniers. Of course also the Met gala eventually made official for media.

We get have her liking posts such as Miley’s about how lucky she was to have a man who checked off all the boxes. But at times there were glimpses all wasn’t kosher. People have mentioned various cons where she’d be caught flirting somewhere else, or she’d be in a bad mood giving Cole a cold shoulder. We recently saw an old video of them walking and her basically demanding he drop the fans and attend her. We have the con were Camilla is sexually harassing Cole everywhere and Lili doesn’t shut it down until Camilla tries to grind on him. It was so bad even Mads intervened. We have the interview where she is talking over him or rolling her eyes and basically being the unprofessional brat her fans claim she is not. Even though it’s ON CAMERA. Snapping at your co worker/boyfriend and rolling your eyes during a professional interview is not deniable.

Flashforward to the trip to Italy because for me there was always something off about that. That trip was obviously planned far in advance. Clearly Lili was supposed to be there. Her fans quickly blamed Cole because Lili was working. Lili didn’t have to work. It wasn’t a career changing move to do that film. It did not do well. I’m not entirely sure what was happening around that time but I have the sense Cole was disappointed/a little angry she prioritized it over him accepting very likely the offer AFTER the trip was planned.

Lili spirals during this time. Cole comes back to clean up mess. They are quiet on social media for a long time then slowly emerge again and eventually get the photo booth shots, the wedding and her mingling with NY friends for once. Turns out close to the end for them.

I don’t want to make this a Sprousehart post though although some relevance to bring part of it up. The point is Lili put her career over her relationship. It was a calculated decision. It was also the wrong decision. Her fans talk about her being this warm giving person but that was a cynical call and a pretty lousy thing to do to your boyfriend of several year’s. I’m all for supportive partners but there are time’s where you make sacrifices if you really care for someone and this was a special trip planned long in advance. She blew it off. If I’m the partner she does this too, I question why I’m putting in the effort if it doesn’t mean to them what it means to me.

TBH I think the bad choices she made there is why tried to make it up by meeting with his friends, the wedding etc...

Something than clearly happened because by January they were done. Not sure we’ll ever know but it looked like they were trying to fix things given the happiness hadn’t seen on Cole’s faces in a long time in those booth pics and then...it was done. We didn’t know at the time, but this is timeline Cole gave. There was a brief attempt at reconciliation where she babysits him at a photo shoot and posts a photo of them in bed and then shortly after...Cole calls it off.

He heads to LA, she follows him there but not without making sure to shove Casey’s face into her chest to post and rent a place close to where he is staying. She posts weepy messages about the world ending etc....and weird new photos mimicking old shoots with him so naturally people think this means whatever happened they worked through. Around same time she and hers manipulated her fans to try to cancel him earlier because she misunderstood a picture of Kaia....although flat out if he had been with Kaia he was SINGLE and it was no longer her business.

She tries to walk back the firestorm she unleashed on him by “defending” him from a lesser twitter trend after realizing misconstrued the Kaia picture, All summer she weirdly seems to be trying to avoid the topic if they are together or not despite saying once if they weren’t she’d tell people. She finally puts her foot in her mouth one two many times' and Cole confirms they broke up which she doesn’t acknowledge. Because she doesn’t want to be broken up.

As we know know it wasn’t all rainbows on the set even before all this happened as in the musical she’d launched an object at him hard enough to have the crew concerned. Lili fans keep saying Cole is abusive but the only evidence we have of abuse is her towards him. We also had her suddenly doing a 180 from past 4 year’s and excusing cheating with Archie and promoting everyone in her live recaps except Cole/Jughead.

Back to the events following Cole’s post....then we get a sudden string of interviews taking shots at Cole, doxxing him, implying he could have strayed (just to resurrect hate against him) but can’t say he actually did because she has no proof. We know this because in those chats admit it was just suspicion and paranoia and never did have any names.

We learn that Lili has been funneling news and gossip and photos to keep her mother’s hold on the fandom in check and her mother in turn has been bullying people who would stand on Cole’s side. They sought to ruin him. This is not debatable.

For year’s people had made fun and called Bree out for being an obsessive stalker unable to let a relationship go, then Lili starts doing the same. We know she has tried to copy Ari’s style, her mother made a snide comment about breast size, Lili tried to taunt Ari from on set and Ari shut her down. A girl who almost never was in the line of sight of paps suddenly is snapped everyday following break up even before the public new. That doesn’t just happen. She wanted the attention.

I’m not going to go into all of it, you all know it. Suffice to say revealing she has a bitter vindictive attitude she has submersed herself in ever since Cole made it clear no reunion. She won’t even broach the topic of Bughead/Jughead unless forced. You can spin all you like but the split screens was not an artistic choice by RD. It was spurred by need to keep them apart.

Lili last summer was doing precious little other than a post or two of Black Lives matter and then when Cole gets arrested suddenly she jumps on the me too and sets up impulsive lives. Maybe she meant well but a part of me thinks she did it to attract his attention. Notice once she got praise for it and the initial protests faded she more or less doesn’t bring it up anymore. Cole never intended to get attention, it just happened because he’s a star and got taken in to a jail cell. He never put himself on camera for notice.

Lili also co-opts the murder of a girl to flaunt she thinks she looks good naked. Completely tone deaf.

Lili very rarely is seen in fan photos, only usually when she’s getting flack for it online. She, a girl who talks about bullying, went on a midnight tirade against a guy who dares to critique or poetry setting her fans on him. Then deleted it probably because publicist in her ear.

She first said poems not about Cole, than said you could read into what you wanted to sell them. Now she doesn’t want to talk poetry or sequels because it flopped and was critically panned.

There are constant rumors about Lili on sets of productions to point they even had someone on her newer movie try to downplay. Yet we see in a video the cast barely talking and looking tense on a boat.

The girl who used to talk about body positivity now lets them airbrush abs onto her.

The girl who used to talk of therapy and mental illness now promotes OTC supplements for $ and cults.

If she mentions cellulite she uses other tik toks of people showing not her own.

She said she would never be on tik tok, yet now has her own and post old videos that aren’t funny.

Lili once tired to attack Cole by talking about losing yourself in drugs or alcohol or sex yet we’ve seen her drug paraphernalia because she advertises. Her friends post and laugh over her being drunk. She was in an off and on relationship with Wallis that doesn’t seem to be about anything but sex.

We were told Coles friends are bad influences but Taylor is out there solicitating questionable clients and making videos slamming LILI’S COWORKER as a bad actor and his brother,

The majority of Lili’s posts no longer feature Sunny or her family/Addy.

She insulted Vancouver, compared to a prison, and made it clear her creature comforts were of more importance than a pandemic. Not quite the attitude of an empath. Which she claims she is with intention to be a master which require sucking more gullible people into the cult.

She brags about being a “rich man” without understand the context. She went from artistic photos to modeling pinups to fuel her lack of self esteem.

She’s in her mid 20′s, claims she had grown and matured in the last year but there is no evidence of it. Still can’t work with her ex without buffers which still influences show direction though her fans deny.. Still lives off junk food and hangovers. Those glasses aren’t just for sun. Her timeline is mostly an ode to her vanity with pictures of herself and then her dog. She doesn’t seem to have any causes she’s deeply involved in on the side apart from her cult. She’s still stalking Cole as her impulsive makeup tutorial showed. She said she cut out of her life anyone who doesn’t service her. I highly doubt she is receiving quality therapy on the regular right now. She still does not seem to possess the ability to own her mistakes and apologize when warranted, rather deflects or erases when heat becomes too hot.

The content she puts out about herself post break up is very different than the bill of goods fans were sold before. She is a far cry from that quirky girl next door that stood FOR something more than vanity and shallow affirmation. So no, I don’t see what you see in her stans. Everything that once seemed to distinguish her from other spoilt princesses has long faded.

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iwaxpoetic · 4 years ago

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fic: like you’d get your knuckles bloody (betty/archie, riverdale)

fandom: riverdale pairing: archie andrews/betty cooper, barchie There were so many choices that felt so small at the time. It seemed as if she blinked while getting a refill of her milkshake at Pop’s and woke up in a forest, covered in her boyfriend’s blood. She had been so many Betties between them - in a bunker, at the farm, chasing down a masked killer, in a black wig, holding Chuck Clayton’s head under water —

Standing beneath her porch light, her heart in her throat while Archie Andrews said, “I can’t give you the answer that you want.”

Was that the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end?--

Betty Cooper, before-and-after.

Her sense of narrative structure made her wish it was as easy as a before-and-after.

There was such clarity in a defining moment, in being able to spot the time when everything changed. There was a Cheryl before and after Jason died; a Jughead before and after he slipped on the Serpent jacket; the Breakfast at Tiffany’s Veronica before she turned In Cold Blood.

There was no clean before-and-after for Betty Cooper. There were so many choices that felt so small at the time. It seemed as if she blinked while getting a refill of her milkshake at Pop’s and woke up in a forest, covered in her boyfriend’s blood. She had been so many Betties between then - in a bunker, at the farm, chasing down a masked killer, in a black wig, holding Chuck Clayton’s head under water —

Standing beneath her porch light, her heart in her throat while Archie Andrews said, “I can’t give you the answer that you want.”

Was that the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end?

——

The old Betty, wherever she began and ended, was characterized by her discipline.

Every day, she suited up in her prim cardigans and slick ponytail, ready for another day as the dutiful daughter, the doting sister, the star student. She could handle any pop quiz, any turbulence in the Cooper household, any pressing deadlines at the Blue and Gold. When the pressure got to be too much, she would clench her fists and breathe through it.

And every night, she looked out her bedroom window at what she really wanted. Second floor, second window from the back, calling to her like a lighthouse. Archie’s window was lit up at all hours of the day and night, whether he was strumming his guitar or dozing off with a movie on. It was her nightlight. She fell asleep to its comforting glow, knowing their time would come one day.

She had to be disciplined, because she was hungry. Sometimes it scared her, how strongly she felt. There was a bottomless pit of want inside of her and she tiptoed around it, testing the edges but never letting herself fall in. Betty didn’t want to be the kind of person who was dragged around by her id. She wanted to be the person that other people thought she was. Sometimes that meant sleepless nights helping Polly learn her cheer routine, piling more volunteer hours on top of her already packed schedule, turning the other cheek to another Blossom insult.

Season five Betty Draper, Cheryl had once called her, as if she knew the half of it.

——

Betty had never thought Archie would love her in the exact way that she loved him.

She knew that love took different shapes in each container. She could see the way her mother and father fit together, pushing and pulling but ultimately a team, making each other better - a real laugh, in retrospect. One of her favorite memories was being eight years old, when Alice had just broken a big story. The pride lit her up from the inside and Hal’s beaming face reflected it right back. But she had also watched from next door as the Andrews fell apart. Fred and Mary lost something that seemed sweet and steady and kind, and then Fred puttered around that big house alone.

She thought about what that love might feel like, when it finally came.

Archie was all sweetness. Being his girlfriend would mean never walking to school alone, sporting his letterman jacket at games, and dancing together at prom. It would be afternoons working on a jalopy in the garage and nights cuddling together on the sofa. He would write songs about her and she would proofread his college essays and they would move to New York together after graduation.

It would be an awful lot like being his friend had been since they turned 13 and their parents had put a moratorium on sleepovers, except that she would get to touch the abs that had been taunting her. The heart that beat under those defined pectoral muscles was pure gold and it was an even better prize.

Something murkier lay beneath the surface for Betty. Sometimes she wondered if she loved him or if she coveted him. She wanted to know every thought in his head, every dream in his heart. Long before the school hallways had started to echo with Archie got hot!, she had been daydreaming about ways to get his hands on her. There were no dibs on a person, but she saw him first and had seen only him since.

Betty had never thought that Archie would burn for her, but she basked in his steady glow. Archie lived closer to the surface - he wore his heart on his sleeve and an easy smile on his face. That was one of the things she loved about him. They would be so happy together, but his devotion would never match hers.

It wasn’t until she was standing at the edge of a shallow grave, looking down at his terrified, resolved face with a shovel in her hand and a gun to her head, that she realized they may have misjudged each other.

——

A dam had broken in Betty Cooper earlier that fall.

It could have been one thing or any number of things — Veronica Lodge sweeping into town, Polly’s mysterious disappearance, Jason Blossom’s body washing up in Sweetwater River. It was an unusually active September, especially by Riverdale’s sleepy standards.

For Betty, it felt like the foundation had been cracking. With one firm tap, it was gone.

You are so perfect. I’ve never been good enough for you, I’ll never be good enough for you.

The careful balancing of what she should want versus what she did want is what had kept her in check for all these years. No one else seemed to have the same qualms. Betty couldn’t imagine Cheryl or Veronica denying themselves a thing. In fact, she knew they wouldn’t. Veronica had talked a big game about turning over a new leaf, but after less than a week in Riverdale, Veronica had seven minutes in a closet and Betty had a box of Magnolia cupcakes.

Only Betty had the discipline to decide to be something and then become it. It had gotten harder for her to see how that was a good thing.

— —

Jughead’s interest in Betty was both a balm and a sting.

Boys had never been interested in her. She wasn’t sure if it was because word of her strict parents preceded her or because her crush on Archie was so obvious that it was not worth getting their hopes up. Whatever the reason, she had made it sixteen years without being asked to the drive-in, having a note slipped in her locker, or having rocks thrown at her window by someone who wanted to date her. She did all those things with her best friend and had become aware that it was not the same.

Until Jughead crawled through her window and gave her her first real kiss, she didn’t realize exactly how different it was.

Being on the other side of the equation was a revelation. It was amazing to think that there was someone who liked her more than anyone else, who thought about her when she wasn’t around, who wanted to kiss her and hold her hand and maybe more one day. Jughead was a good person - he was cute and smart, with a wicked sense of humor that tickled at the dark side she kept such a lid on - but what made him special is that he thought she was special. Betty had never come first to anyone before and she dove into intimacy with the same enthusiasm and determination that she put into any task.

But it was her way to acknowledge the cloud even while she focused on the silver lining. Besides her, Jughead was Archie’s best friend in the world. If other boys had avoided her due to some unspoken claim, surely he would find her to be even further off limits. If Jughead liked her, it was because Archie never would.

Somehow it was more devastating than the rejection itself. A dramatic showdown in formalwear still fit with the narrative that she had imagined for Archie-and-Betty. Power couples faced obstacles. Even after homecoming, even after Melody, even after Veronica, a part of her still though she should be patient. It was the utter lack of drama in her courtship with Jughead that made it real. There was nothing to be dramatic about.

She made her peace with it, first with her nails dug into her palms but then genuinely. The pieces of her heart felt like they were rearranging. Jughead had burst his way in and made his home right in the center. The part that housed her feelings for Archie was smaller, but the scars had made the walls thick and tough.

She would always love him and now she knew what shape it would take. She felt lucky to have enough love in her life that she could feel the difference.

It took a few months, but Betty started to think Jughead might be her soulmate. They both felt a personal obligation to clean up Riverdale’s seedy underbelly, loved books and old movies, and, most importantly, they hated the same things about her. On his lips, “perfect” was scornful. After all of those years pursuing perfection, she wasn’t too fond of it herself.

——

People gave you a wide berth in the aftermath of a showdown with a killer.

Betty was distracted and distant in the weeks following the altercation with Joseph Svenson. People around town stared and whispered even more than usual, but they looked at her with pity and awe in their eyes. Even her mother and Jughead gave her space, assuming that she was reeling after weeks of cat-and-mouse.

When she was alone, Betty didn’t think about Joseph Svenson at all. She thought about Archie Andrews.

It wasn’t about the kiss, although it was hardly the one she had scripted for them long ago. She thought about the way that he had grabbed her hand as she put the pieces together and started to spiral, the only thing tethering her to this earth. She thought about how instantly he had responded to Get in the coffin or I’ll shoot her in the head right now.

To be willing to die for someone was the kind of sweeping statement of love and dedication that was easy to say because it was so unlikely to be tested. It was reserved for the most important people in your life, the ones that you would do anything to protect. When she was in danger, Archie hadn’t batted an eye. When she closed her eyes, all she could see was him lowering himself into a coffin for her. She had been looking at that face for years and years, had known it when it had a beaming smile of mismatched baby teeth, had admired its changing angles. His jaw was clenched but his eyes were as warm as ever when the lid closed over him.

It was unbelievable to think that only weeks ago, kisses and milkshakes had made her feel special. It wasn’t fair to hold up a high school romance against the ultimate sacrifice, but the tectonic plates of her life had shifted again. It was a secret humming under her skin. It was heady to know that there was someone in the world who would do anything for you.

In a way, the showdown with the Black Hood was the most romantic night of her life. That was Riverdale for you.

— —

Betty stopped thinking about Hal Cooper almost as soon as he was locked away. She had spent so much time pouring over the Black Hood and puzzling over her family secrets that when she tried to align the man with the father, none of the pieces fit quite right anymore. After the loss of Hal and Polly, the Cooper family structure coalesced neatly around Betty and Alice as if it had always just been them.

Compartmentalizing and moving on was another discipline that Betty excelled at. Most of the time, anyway.

She thought about Fred Andrews all the time. The lights were out in Archie’s room for the first time that she could remember, but she knew that he was home. The loss was unspeakable, so she never tried.

— —

Even for someone good at compartmentalizing, it could be hard for Betty to separate the way she felt about Veronica from how she felt about Veronica Lodge.

The simple truth is that they were friends because Veronica had decided they were friends. Betty had been skeptical but a little bit flattered. She had written Veronica off at first, sure that she would move on and nestle in at Cheryl's side like two rich bitch peas in a pod, but she had persisted.

No one had ever wanted to be her friend that desperately. Despite what her frilly pink sweaters might imply, she had never been much of a girl’s girl. Her only real friends were Archie and Kevin. That had always been more than enough for her, but there was something to be said for having Veronica in her corner.

But the only person better at compartmentalizing than Betty was Veronica Lodge. Veronica could claim that she was destined to be Betty’s best friend while snatching her lifelong crush out from under her. She could disavow her family’s shady business dealings, then join Lodge Industries and keep quiet about their plans for the Southside. She could love Archie, then sit by while her father destroys his life.

Betty had been tap dancing around questions of morality for a while. One did not get to make too many principled stances when their boyfriend was a gang leader who once partially skinned a woman, and she tried not to throw too many stones from inside a house where she had once blackmailed Cheryl Blossom into testifying on behalf of FP Jones. As she started to shed more and more of her Nice Girl persona, Betty thought she had become more understanding of all the gray in the world.

In a sweltering court room after Labor Day weekend, Betty had found the thing she could never forgive. She watched stupid - noble, self-sacrificing, stupid - Archie jump at a plea deal for a crime he had not committed, all to spare them another trial. Veronica had cried and dropped her head into her hands, but Betty could still see flickers of her in Hiram Lodge’s satisfied smile.

Betty held her friend as she cried and clamped down on her latest intrusive thought - none of this would be happening if it weren’t for you. From learning to read to wrestling him from Ms. Grundy’s clutches, there had never been a problem Betty could not solve for Archie until he crossed Hiram’s path. There was nothing Betty wouldn't do for Archie, but there was nothing she could do for him now, so she averted her teary eyes and tried not to let in the darkness that always seemed so close to the surface now.

Meeting Veronica Lodge was the worst thing that had ever happened to any of them.

— —

When Betty used to dream of Archie as the leading man in every romance, she had imagined kissing him with a frequency that made her blush to think about even now.

She had been inexperienced and was not even sure what she was longing for. In her mind’s eye, she saw him in everything - the foot pop at the end of The Princess Diaries, the foggy window in Titanic, on the dock in The Notebook - hell, even Spiderman dangling upside down in the rain. It was a collage of images that she could not quite attach a sensation to, but it made her blood run a bit hotter.

When Betty tried to flesh out her fantasies, she relied on a few tangible things she did know - the smell of his cologne, which she had picked out; his increasingly hard biceps, flexing under her fingers when they linked arms on the way to school; the way his hair felt when she playfully ruffled it; the slow drag of his fingers across her back and stomach, when he was winding up to tickle her.

It was almost like an out of body experience when she flung the microphone to the ground. Betty was somewhere else in the garage as she and Archie sang, circling the microphone, their traded glances growing less playful and more searching, until he swung the guitar behind his back and reached for her.

The touch of his hand was like it had always been, the tether that held her to earth and made sure she didn’t miss a thing. Betty had never been more present. After all those years of patience and restraint, she couldn’t get close enough.

— —

There was no clear before-and-after for Archie Andrews.

He had come a long way from being the boy-next-door. He had been the star football player and the sensitive musician. He had been groomed by his music teacher and apprenticed at the foot of a mobster. He had started a youth center for the underprivileged and shattered his hand pulling Cheryl Blossom out of a frozen river. It felt like a lifetime ago that it had just been Betty and Archie in a booth at Pop’s, but Betty didn’t feel like he had changed at all. When she looked into his eyes, she saw the same person staring back at her that she always had.

When there was such a bone-deep understanding, how could she ever feel like he was different? With every step he took, she was right there too.

It dawned on Betty that maybe her before-and-after had happened long before she started looking for it. There was a Betty Cooper before she loved Archie Andrews and she had been living in the after since she was 11 years old.

She flipped through her diaries, years and years of little choices. Her next one felt big.

#fanfic #archie andrews/betty cooper #barchie #archie/betty #riverdale #riverdale fanfiction #betty-centric

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givekevinscreentime · 6 years ago

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in this household we stan mary andrews but why is varchie her endgame when barchie is literally right there. like girl i get it, varchie is cute and all but have you seen the way those two idiot best friends look at each other?

#barchie #riverdale 3x22 #riverdale #mary andrews #archie andrews #betty cooper #archie x betty #betty x archie

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ronniesqueen · 5 years ago

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A Journey To Find True Love

We start off with Archie as the bachelor, Ronnie is in his season. The story progresses, and she becomes the next bachelorette after he finishes his season. Both of them go on their journey to find true love.

I will be writing this AU in the form of a tv show. Since, we all know that “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” are reality tv shows.

Previously on “The Bachelor”

Archie and Cheryl had their first one-on-one date

He took her shopping and bought her everything she wanted

And the rest of the girls DEFINITELY had an opinion about it.

Especially Valerie, who grew frustrated with Archie for showing the other girls more attention than her

Betty and Archie have an intimate conversation where she opens up about her home life

Cheryl and Archie have an intimate conversation too, where Cheryl opened up about Jason’s death

Cheryl and Valerie have some animosity between them after Valerie discovers Cheryl getting more time with Archie

Archie sends Ethel and Valerie home at the rose ceremony, knowing he has deeper feelings for the other women.

Ethel had no hard feelings whatsoever, and she wished Archie the best as they parted ways

Valerie, on the other hand, called him out on making “easier choices” with the other women.

She also told him to not get distracted by the “shiny objects”

Leaving everyone shook.

Ronnie, Josie, Betty, and Cheryl remain.

Archie is meeting their families this week!!!!

Who will win Archie’s final rose?

Okay. Without further ado,

Buckle up, buckaroos!!!

Week Four.

Barchie’s Hometown Date

(setting: Confessional Booth)

Archie grinned as he buttoned up his shirt. “Tonight, I’m over the moon excited to see Betty. I’m meeting her family, this is huge! And I’m extremely nervous. But all I can hope for, is for her family to see how happy we are together, and see how we make each other feel.”

He stood up. “Oh, and I plan on asking her mom for her blessing on me proposing to Betty at the end of this. I plan to do that for the other women too. Keep things fair. But I also really want to do this right. And if any of the parents don’t give me their approval...well, that’s going to feel very discouraging.”

(setting: Betty’s bedroom.)

“How do you feel?” Kevin asked, lying down on Betty’s bed as she was doing her makeup.

“I’m excited,” Betty said, applying her mascara. “But I’m also nervous. My mom still doesn’t really understand this whole process.”

“Aww. How do you think your relationship with Archie is right now?”

“I think we definitely have a strong connection. And it just gets better and better every time we’re together,” she said. She turned around to face Kevin. “Last night, he told me I reminded him of home.”

Kevin gasped. “Okay Archie is completely head over heels for you,” he said. “When someone thinks of home, they think of their safe place. You’re probably Archie’s safe place, Betty. That’s a good thing! It means he probably really trusts you.”

Betty blushed. “I do trust him. And...I do see a future.”

(setting: The rooftop of Riverdale High.)

Betty was standing on top of the roof at Riverdale, as requested from Archie, via text message.

All of a sudden, there was a abrupt gust of wind.

Betty looked up, to see a helicopter coming towards her. As the helicopter landed on the rooftop beside her, the door opened. Archie got out of the helicopter, and she immediately ran to him.

“What the heck?” she laughed as she hugged him.

“I told some of the producers that I wanted to make this date really special. So, Chris hooked me up,” Archie explained, beaming at her.

“This is insane,” she continued laughing.

He took her hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

(setting: Confessional Booth)

“Archie blew me away. Literally,” Betty laughed. “I can’t get over it. I can’t stop smiling! Oh my gosh.”

She put her hands on her cheeks. “The fact that he went out of his way to make this big romantic gesture for me. I’m completely in awe.”

(setting: Inside the Helicopter)

Archie and Betty spent the last thirty minutes flying around Riverdale, viewing the city from the sky.

She leaned her head on his shoulder. “This is amazing.”

“The date’s not over,” he grinned.

“Nothing can top this,” she giggled.

He landed the helicopter at the beach, a little further out from Riverdale.

“Arch, it’s completely empty.”

“I know,” he said with a wink.

“You did this?” she asked, completely shook.

“I told the producers I wanted us to have this moment to ourselves.”

They exited the helicopter and made their way to the beach.

(setting: Beach at sunset)

After playing in the water together for quite a while, Archie and Betty sat down for a glass of wine where Archie had set up for them.

“Today has been an absolute dream,” Archie said.

“It really has. Thank you,” she said, smiling.

“No, thank you” he said. He paused. “So, I have to ask. Are there any tips you could give me for how to impress your family?”

She laughed. “Just be yourself. My mom is pretty good at spotting someone for bad intentions, and she’s done that in the past. So, I’m not worried about what she’ll think of you,” Betty said, taking his hand.

“I love that you have faith in me,” Archie said. “It really means a lot. Especially now, that I’m nervous as hell,” he laughed.

She smiled, and looked down.

“Something on your mind?” he asked.

“I want to ask you this. And I’m really scared to know the answer. But,” she began. “Where do you this relationship going?”

He smiled, and kissed her. “I can see myself with you at the end of this. I can see this being, a regular Friday night. Relaxing from a crazy week at work, sending our kids to my dad’s for the night so we can have time to ourselves. I see a future with us.”

She blushed. “I know you want an engagement at the end of this, that’s why you chose to be the bachelor and to find true love. And Archie, I want you to know that I’m absolutely ready for that. I see a future with us. I want to get married, start a family.”

Archie’s smile grew wider as she spoke.

“And I-” she continued, then stopped herself.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know,” she said bashfully.

He took her hand. “You can say anything you feel right now, Betty. You remind me of home because you just always give a comfort in knowing that I can trust you. You’re my safe place. And I want to be yours too, if you let me.”

She took a deep breath. “What I was going to say, was...”

She paused. “Well, what I WANT to say is..”

“I’m falling in love with you,” she finished.

He kissed her passionately. “I know that I’m falling in love with you, Betty.”

(setting: Cooper Household)

Archie and Betty stood on the front lawn.

“You ready?” she playfully asked him.

“I was born ready,” he laughed.

He took a deep breath, feeling the nerves hitting him.

She took his hand, and looked in his eyes. “I’m here.”

He kissed her. “That means more to me than you’ll ever know.”

She giggled. “Okay. Here goes nothing.”

She used her keys to open the door.

“Betty!” Alice cheered, running towards her and hugging her. “I’ve missed you so much!”

“I missed you too mom.”

“Polly! They’re here!” Alice called out.

Polly entered the room, with the stroller, with her twins.

“Oh my goodness!” Betty squealed. “They’ve gotten so big!”

Polly hugged her. “Missed you so much.”

“Missed you too Polly.”

Betty smiled. “Mom, Polly, this is Archie.”

“Hello Mrs. Cooper, hey Polly,” he said, shaking their hands.

“Hey Archie! So great to finally meet you,” Polly said.

“Hello Archie,” Alice began. “I assume you’ve been treating my Betty with the utmost respect.”

Archie grinned at Betty. “I like to think I have.”

Betty blushed. “He’s been absolute gem through all of this, Mom.”

“Are you still dating the other women?” Alice abruptly asked.

“Uhh…” Archie stuttered, taken aback.

“Mom!” Betty began.

“Well I’m sorry Elizabeth but this process is very new to me. And very strange, if I might add,” Alice continued.

“Archie do you mind giving us a minute?” Poly asked politely.

“Of course, take all the time you need,” Archie said.

The three Cooper women left the room to go talk in the backyard.

They sat down on the grass.

“So, now that it’s just us. What’s really been going on?” Polly asked.

“Honestly,” Betty began. “It’s been amazing. Archie and I have been connecting, and-” she paused. “I really see a lot of potential there.”

“You don’t actually see a FUTURE with this boy do you?” Alice asked.

“Do you?” Polly asked.

Betty took a deep breath. “You two are the most important people in my life. Do you really think I’d be bringing someone home to meet you, if I didn’t feel confident in my feelings for him?”

Polly smiled. “So, I guess that means...”

“You want to be engaged,” Alice stated.

“I do,” Betty said with confidence.

“Elizabeth,” Alice began, softening her expression. “You need to be realistic. I’m not saying this to hurt you or rain on your love parade. You’ve known each other for 4 weeks. And he’s still seeing other women. Relationships don’t work like that. An engagement doesn’t work like that. A marriage isn’t something you just microwave into.”

Polly chuckled. “Microwave?”

Alice ignored her. “Do you understand what I’m trying to say?” she asked Betty.

Betty smiled. “I do, mom. I completely understand where you’re coming from. And I’ve taken that into account before even coming on this show. I knew he was going to be weighing his options, because he is at a point in his life where he wants to settle down and start a family. He is. And I know this isn't...a normal way to do it. But, I feel really good about this. And I would really appreciate your support if he does choose me at the end of this.”

Alice smiled back. “You definitely have seen this from all angles, I admire that. I respect that. I just really don’t want to see you hurt if he chooses someone else.”

“It’ll hurt for a while but in the long run, I’ll be happy. Cause I do care for him enough to wish that for him, even if it means he’s not with me.”

“I’ve raised such a strong, smart, kind girl.”

The three women hugged.

(setting: Living room)

“Hello Archie, want to chat with me for a bit?” Alice asked, sitting down beside him.

“Of course, Mrs. Cooper.”

She folded her hands. “So, what exactly are your intentions with my Betty?”

Archie’s eyes lit up as soon as he heard her name. “I intend to make her happy as long as I can.”

“She has expressed to me that she feels confident in your relationship with her. Do you feel the same way?”

“I do,” Archie said. “I told Betty that she reminds me of home. She gives me a comfort, a reassurance that everything is going to be fine. She’s my safe place. I trust her more than I knew I could trust anyone.”

Alice narrowed her eyes. “How do you feel about the chemistry?”

“The chemistry has been there since night one, since she stepped out of the limo with her little box of butterflies,” Archie blushed at the memory. “Every moment with her leaves me wanting to know more about her. She is someone that...really puts a light in my heart that I just don’t want it to fade out.”

Alice smiled.

“Mrs. Cooper,” he continued. “If I would be so lucky...would you do me the honor of-”

“My blessing?” she interrupted.

Archie nodded.

She rubbed his shoulder. “I saw the way you looked at her. And right now, listening to you talk about her... it doesn’t feel like you’re just trying to suck up to me. No. This feels genuine. You’re a good man, Archie. And with that,” she said, smiling. “You have my blessing to propose to my Elizabeth.”

(setting: Outside the front porch)

The limo arrived, ready to pick up Archie for his next hometown date. He and Betty kissed for a while, enjoying the moment.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” Betty began.

Archie raised one eyebrow.

“Okay, I did try to. But anyway. I’m so happy my mom actually gave you her blessing. Did you mean all those things you said?”

“I absolutely did. I wouldn’t have asked her if I didn’t see myself getting down on one knee and asking you to be my wife.”

She giggled.

He turned around. “There’s my ride.”

“I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll find you.”

Archie got inside the limo, and Betty watched as the limo drove away.

--------------------END CREDITS--------------

#barchie

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