Bughead One-shots | Riverdale

Bruises

"It was just like... I don't know. It was just some game to them." Jughead sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he laid back across Betty's bed, his beanie left untouched on her nightstand. "I've never felt so enclosed before. I thought I wasn't going to get out. I mean- where do you even get a coffin?"

Betty frowned as she perched on the bed beside him and gently lifted her hand to rest on his thigh, sighing softly to herself. She couldn't even imagine how scary it would have been to be trapped inside of a coffin the entire night. With each thing Jughead told her about Stonewall Prep she grew more and more uneasy about the place. She couldn't help but worry that maybe someday his classmates would take it too far and really hurt him. She glanced up at his face and smiled slightly, running circles over his thigh with her thumb. He just looked more exhausted than anything.

"Jug maybe you should just get some rest for a little," Betty said softly, meeting his gaze when his eyes opened to look at her. "You're tired and it won't do you any good stressing about this while you're exhausted."

Jughead sighed but nodded, lifting his hands to run over his face as he exhaled. "I know, I'm sorry, it's just really weird." His voice was muffled as he spoke through his hands but Betty only smiled slightly and shifted up the bed a little to be sat with her legs crossed beside him.

She gently lifted her hand up to rest on his arm, rubbing lightly through the material of his shirt sleeve. "I know, Jug," She whispered softly. "I'm just glad you're okay, more or less."

She watched as he removed his hands from his face and sighed, turning enough to have his arm around her waist as he lifted his head to rest on her thigh as he gave her side a gentle squeeze. "I'm sorry we couldn't spend Halloween together." He said softly, slipping his hand underneath her shirt to gently rub her side as he pressed a kiss to her thigh. "I was kind of looking forward to watching you get scared at horror movies." He chuckled.

"I don't get scared," Betty fondly rolled her eyes as she lifted one of her hands to gently drag her fingers through his hair, watching as he relaxed underneath her touch. "You're the one who got scared by Paranormal Activity." She giggled as she watched him huff in response.

"The baby was being lifted out of the crib, that's some scary shit," Jughead huffed in defence as he opened his eyes to look at her, his thumb rubbing circles into the bare skin of her side. "I think I have a new appreciation for people who get trapped in places now, though. It's a lot scarier than I thought it was."

Betty hummed a little and nodded as she continued gently combing her fingers through his hair, something that she knew helped him to relax. "I'm sorry you had to go through that alone." She said softly as she reached to take his hand with her spare one, frowning slightly when she saw red marks and small cuts littered across his knuckles. She could almost picture him starting to panic when he woke up, hitting the lid of the coffin in an attempt to get out. Betty knew his scared face all too well after everything they had been through. His eyebrows would be furrowed slightly with wide eyes as his breathing grew heavier with each hit his knuckles took to the wood. Betty could almost hear his voice calling out for help, hoarse and cracking as he continued until his throat hurt and was dry.

"Betty."

It wasn't until she heard Jughead speaking her name that she looked up, realising that she had been staring at his hand for a while. Whilst Jughead looked a little concerned by her clear worrying, Betty just smiled a little as she gently gripped his hand in hers and lifted it up, enough so that she could lean down and press her lips lightly against the bruised skin.

As her lips came in contact with the skin her mind was taken back to the second of October in their sophomore year. Jughead's birthday had gone horribly and they ended up in a booth at Pop's, where Betty had shown him his scars. She couldn't describe the feeling than ran through her when his warm hands had enclosed her own and kissed her fingers, over her wounds. Nobody had ever made her feel like that; safe, welcomed, loved. He was willing to let all of her in, the perfections and the imperfections. And if Jughead really wanted to continue pursuing Stonewall, a once in a lifetime opportunity, she knew that she needed to accept that maybe it wasn't going to all be great. Jughead's classmates weren't exactly nice, but it wasn't like they were going to kill him. Right?

"Just tell me if anything else happens at Stonewall Prep, okay?" She asked softly as she dropped his hand and looked back up at him. "Coffin or otherwise." She smiled.

"Of course," Jughead nodded and pushed himself up with an arm on the bed beside him to lean up and kiss her for a moment, lightly squeezing her side again. "Promise."