#platonic!brooke holliday x fangs fogarty

[kiara-carrera]

“That pumpkin looks like you.” “Yeah? Well that one looks like you.” with fangs and brooke or Brooke with the boys

Pairing(s): Platonic Fangs Fogarty & Brooke Holliday (OC), Sweet Pea x Brooke Holliday (OC)

Word Count: 664

Author’s Note: The first of many spooky season drabbles for Southside Archive’s Falloween!

Wandering around the pumpkin patch, Brooke’s comes to one conclusion — she’s not really sure why she let Fangs tag along.

When she’d posed the idea to Sweet Pea a week ago, she’d intended it to be a date. She’d caught sight of a flyer for the fall festival happening just outside their small college town and had instantly become thrilled at the prospect. She’d sprung the idea at the library while they were poring over textbooks for midterms. Fangs had been in attendance, flipping through math worksheets and she’d figured he wasn’t paying attention. So, she’d busted out her puppy dog eyes and her pouty lips as she looked at her boyfriend.

She’d mentioned the pumpkin patch and the promise of apple cider and cinnamon donuts, trying to lure her boyfriend into the prospect of going on a cute fall date with her. As expected, he’d been reluctant. Unexpected, however, was how readily Fangs had looked up from his work and mentioned that he was down for going.

Ten minutes of awkwardly trying to explain that he wasn’t exactly invited and Fangs playing dumb in the hopes of getting to go later and here they ar. Walking down the rows of pumpkins hand in hand with her boyfriend … and Fangs happily munching on a donut beside them.

It’s not the first time he’s third wheeled on their dates. In fact, Brooke’s fairly certain he’s third wheeled on nearly half the stuff she’s done with Sweet Pea since they started dating. It had gotten to the point that during their junior year of high school, Veronica Lodge had been under the impression that they were in a polyamorous relationship.

It didn’t normally bother Brooke, how attached at the hip Sweet Pea and Fangs seemed to always be. But now, with October air nipping at her face and the incessant chewing and random commentary in her ear and the lack of romance she’s feeling right now?

She sorta kinda wants to push Fangs into a ditch.

“Frowning that much brings on early wrinkles,” Fangs quips from beside her, before stuffing his mouth with apple flavored confection.

She huffs, ignoring the way that Sweet Pea snorts at her expression. “Not in the mood for you being an idiot right now, Fogarty.”

“Oh, come on,” he says once he finishes his treat. He licks the excess sugar off his fingers before nudging her side. “We’re supposed to be having fun! Lighten up, blondie.”

“You know what would be fun? Taking that scarecrow’s pitchfork and — ”

“Brooke,” Sweet Pea interjects, tone slightly pointed but also highly amused.

Fangs is rolling his eyes at this point, letting his eyes drift off to a few of the pumpkins they pass. He lets out a gasp. “Hey, Brooke, that pumpkin looks like you.”

Coming to a stop, Brooke furrows her brow, before following the direction of Fangs pointed finger. Sweet Pea groans just before she finds it. At the other end of Fangs’ finger is quite possibly — and she doesn’t say this lightly — the ugliest pumpkin she’s ever seen.

A sickly shade of yellow orange and rather lumpy with something growing from the stem, it barely looks like a pumpkin. At least, not any that someone would take home and decorate their house with. Fangs is brimming with laughter, his joy only intensifying when she begins glaring at him.

That’s it, she’s so pushing him into the next ditch she sees.

“You’re an ass.”

“You’re just mad because you look like an ugly pumpkin.”

Sweet Pea’s muttering something to himself, probably wondering how the hell he ended up having to suffer through this weird date when Brooke sees it. Just a few pumpkins over from ugly number one.

Brooke points to it, making sure it’s evident that she means the one with a giant gaping dent, sagging in on itself. “Yeah, well that one looks like you.”

“What the fuck, Brooke?”

Sweet Pea just sighs, running a hand over his face.

[kiara-carrera]

prickly

Pairing: Platonic Fangs Fogarty & Brooke Holliday (OC), Mentions of hinted Sweet Pea x Brooke Holliday (OC)

Word Count: 1K

Summary: When Brooke took Fangs’ suggestion to respond to a job offer at a flower shop near the Northside/Southside line, she never expected that she’d be getting hired by the grandmother of the guy who kinda sorta hates her guts for no reason.

Author’s Note: Written for the Southside Archive discord’s daily prompt ‘prickly’. This also technically serves as a preview for my (currently untitled) upcoming flower shop au!

“A little warning would have been nice, Fogarty.”

A textbook is dropped onto the desk beside Fangs without warning, causing him to flinch in his seat. When he glances up, Brooke’s standing before him with a scowl on her face, blue eyes narrowed in annoyance. On any other day, Fangs would assume she’s mad because they have math this period and she’s not exactly Einstein when it comes to precalculus. 

But based on the events of the day before, he knows that’s not why she’s currently glaring daggers.

“Morning, blondie,” he greets cheerfully, a smile plastering itself across his face. He hopes his pleasant mood, a helpful reminder that she loves her good buddy Fangs, is enough to distract her from what he did.

It’s not.

Brooke slides into the chair next to him, folding her arms on the desktop. She turns to face him, giving him a look. “Don’t blondie me, dumbass.”

He cringes. “I take it you got an interview, then?” 

The question’s a bit pointless — he already knows she did, knows she got the job, too. Fangs had received a lengthy string of angry texts from his angry best friend last night on the subject. But he figures the polite thing to do is hear her pissed off version of the previous day’s events.

“Mhmm,” she hums, tight lipped. “And do you know what I found out? The kind, little old lady who runs the shop? Yeah turns out she just so happens to be the grandmother of your asshole companion.” 

For a brief moment, Fangs wonders if he can play it off like he knew nothing about this. He figures it’d go a little something like this: My best friend’s grandmother is a florist? The flower shop I told you had a job opening is hers? And Sweet Pea sometimes works there when she needs help so you’re going to be in a confined area with someone you can’t spend two minutes with? I knew nothing of this!

In all fairness, he thinks it’s a decent way out. But he spares another glance in the Northsider’s direction and it has the Serpent deflating in a second. “Okay, look, so I knew it was Sweet Pea’s grandma’s place. What’s the big deal?”

“Uh, the problem is that he’s a total asshole who basically makes it his mission to remind me that I’m just some air headed, useless Northsider any time he’s around me?” Brooke tells him, groaning at the mere mention of him. “We get into it pretty much every time Jughead brings me around for literally no reason. Like, the merger happened months ago, isn’t the whole I’m a big bad Serpent ready to fight all the Northsiders at any given moment schtick ever going to get old for him?”

She makes a fair point. Southside High and Riverdale High had merged around the start of the new semester — it was almost the end of May now. The Bulldogs still antagonized the Serpents when given the opportunity sometimes, but for the most part, things had calmed down. People were making friends, making relationships, or at least maintaining enough difference to keep the peace. 

But to be fair, Fangs is pretty sure the Northside Southside hostility had nothing to do with the fact that he always seemed to get into it with Brooke. The two were like fire and gasoline around each other, always igniting some sort of stupid argument when Brooke sat with them at lunch or came up to the group when she needed to talk to Jughead. 

At first, Fangs chalked it up to the fact that Sweet Pea didn’t like Jughead, so by extension, he didn’t like Brooke. But now, he’s not so sure. Sweet Pea had finally started warming up to Jughead’s presence — at least, as much as anyone could warm up to the Serpent Prince — but when Brooke was around, it’s like she set his bike on fire or something.

And it’s not say that Sweet Pea’s completely to blame in all of this. Brooke hasn’t been innocent in their fights, throwing as much vitriol back at Pea as he throws at her. Fangs is pretty sure Pea had been surprised when he realized Brooke could keep up with his bitter antics, sarcasm dripping from her tongue at the drop of a hat.

With that kind of tension, Fangs is at the point where he doesn’t know if they’re going to end up fucking in a closet or murdering each other.

“So what are you going to do?” Fangs asks, “not take the job?”

She rolls her eyes. Pulling her bag into her lap, she starts digging through it for her things before looking at Fangs. “Oh no, I took the job. I’m not letting him scare me away because he wants to be a dick for no reason. And he was super pissed that you told me about the opening, by the way.”

“Oh, trust me, I know,” Fangs sighs, leaning back in his seat. “And he’s not that bad. He’s just a bit ... prickly.”

“Yeah, prickly doesn’t exactly begin to cover the literal daggers I feel him glaring into my backside anytime we’re in the same room.”

“At least someone’s looking at your backside.”

Face scrunching in displeasure, Brooke brandishes her pencil at him. “That is so not what I meant, Fogarty.”

“Look, the good thing is you got the job, just ignore Pea. And hey, who knows? Maybe you two will end up getting along.” He drums his fingers on the desk, giving her a smile. “I mean, I get along with both of you so there’s gotta be some sort of common ground between you, right?”

“Doubtful, Fangs, very doubtful.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s what people say right before the situation goes all enemies to lovers.” There’s only a seconds pause before an eraser smacks off of his forehead, causing him to flinch. “Hey!”

“You say stupid things like that, you get an eraser thrown at you.”