Darkest Minds || Archie Andrews & Jughead Jones [3]

Stealing Something

STEALING SOMETHING

Eleanor wakes up with an alarm sounding too far away to even be real. It ends right away, before she can even open her eyes to the dark room. But when she does, she realizes the room she's in is oddly familiar but not quite like this, and the bed she's laying in smells like Betty Cooper.

She feels the arms she's in tightining more around her, and she can almost swear she's dreaming. There is a lot of skin on skin and she realizes she's only wearing her underwear. Waking up with Jughead is better than she could ever imagine, his bare chest up against her bare back.

Ellie blushes as the memories take over her – and God, Ellie Cooper rarely blushes, but this is Jughead Jones we're talking about – and she remembers clear how they ended up in his room. The kisses and the touches. Suddenly, she's more aware of the fact that she's half naked and her legs are tangled with his under the sheets, just like the dirty little secret they are. But instead of the guilt she expects to feel, there's just excitement and happiness.

"You awake?" Jughead breathes into her neck, and he brings her blonde hair behind her ear.

"Very much,"

"I wish we could stay like this, but they need us." He says with disappointment. He wishes they could just put themselves first regarding that too, but they have been selfish enough tonight.

Jughead hands slide down her hips, and Ellie arches into him reflexively. "I wish we could to."

His fingers dig into her hip hard, and she's sure she'll keep the imprints of his fingers on her skin for hours if not days. Archie was never so rough with her. She likes rough. Ellie is thrown off by how confident and self-assured this version of Jughead is, and it's like a whole new world to them, while still feeling like home.

Jughead bites her neck and she gasps at the pleasurable pain. She reaches behind and grasps at the hair on the back of his neck. It doesn't take them much time to eventually find each other's lips in a very desesperated way. They're all fierce emotions and uncontrollable passion, and Jughead's ability to get lost in the moment spurs her to get lost too.

Until, everything stops.

"What's wrong?" Ellie sits straight now, and asks him with a small voice. She's afraid, she's been since they kissed on that living room. She's been waiting for the moment when he just tells her he has reconsidered, and turns out she was right. Betty's the better person, always has been.

"I meant what I said before, Ellie. When we were... kissing and..." Jughead sits up now too, and he wraps one arm around her bare shoulders. "I wanna do this right. Us. No short-cuts."

Ellie recalls hearing those words tonight, and she knows what he means. He doesn't want them to jump all the way in – and it's not because he doesn't want to – it's because he doesn't want to condemn them to the same endings they had with Archie, and Betty. And maybe because he loves her more than that, but perhaps she's unaware of that one important part.

. . .

When they finally get to the bunker, it's just Betty and Archie.

Jughead and her sister exchange glances, and it's weird. Tenser than weirder, actually. The breakup scene still fresh for both of them, because it doesn't matter how much Jughead is in love with Ellie, he still cares deeply about Betty Cooper.

Eleanor fights a conflicted battle in her mind as she watches it play in front of her.

She feels guilty about what her and Jughead are doing, but at the same time she doesn't feel it all the way. Betty and Archie are everything sweet and pure about Riverdale but Jughead and Ellie are Riverdale at its truest, a beautiful blend of the light and dark. Maybe that's why they can blend in at the Northside, and at Southside.