Always & Forever | Bughead Oneshots

Breaking Clocks

i'm sorry, but this concept BROKE me. enjoy!

TW: mention of death, mention of blood.

Timeset: 4x15

It had been three hours since Jughead had fallen asleep and Betty just could not bring herself to do the same. She had been laying her head on his bare chest, listening to the pattern of his breathing and heartbeat; feeling her head rise and fall with every inhale and exhale.

Her tears were few and dry, only the stiff path they'd made down her cheeks remaining as she sighed shakily and brought him closer with an arm around his waist. She sat up for a moment to look at the Jones boy as he slept before smiling weakly and kissing his temple.

She laid back down slowly and moved her palm from his hip to lay atop his hand with a sigh. Her eyes closed tight to let fresh tears squeeze through, opening to the groggy, mumbled word of her boyfriend.

"Betty, what're you still doing up?" he asked, sitting up a bit and brushing her hair behind her ear. "I didn't wanna sleep yet," she answered quietly, her voice heavy with a melancholy tone. "I wanted to stay with you," Betty added, her voice cracking as she teared up again.

"I'm right here, Betts. What's going on?" the boy asked gently, holding the blonde close as he sat up. "What if...I open my eyes and you're gone again?" she asked slowly, not wanting to admit it truly was something she feared. "I wanna know that you're right here."

"I am, Betts, I promise. I'm right here. I'm staying right here," he replied, drawing her closer with a hand on her bare shoulder. "I just," the blonde paused, wiping away a tear that spilled from her eye before it could touch his stomach. "I just can't stop seeing you like that."

"All...bloody on the ground. I thought you were gone forever."

"I know, baby. I know it scared you," he reassured her, his voice still deep from just waking up. "I didn't know if you were gonna wake up, I... " Betty's voice trailed, her lips shaking as she cried again.

"I wasn't ready for you to go."

Jughead only sighed, placing a kiss on the top of the Cooper girl's head before letting his palm run over her hair. "I know, baby. I wasn't ready to either." Betty sighed and readjusted her head on his chest before replying, "I kept waiting for you to wake up. And you weren't. You weren't waking up."

"I'm right here, baby. Alive and breathing. You need to get some sleep, okay? And we'll spend all day together when we wake up. But it's," Jughead paused, looking at the small analog clock on the wall. "Almost four in the morning, Betts."

"I know," Betty replied, ending with a sigh before cuddling closer if it were even possible. "But," the blonde paused, her eyebrows furrowing slightly as she choked back her tears. "Losing you was the hardest thing I've ever done."

"Please don't make me do it again."

"You won't lose me, baby. I'm right here. Just close your eyes," Jughead instructed softly, his hand running over her shoulder slowly. She did and he praised her, smiling down and petting her hair. "There you go."

Her hold on the Jones boy tightened. "Just listen to my breathing, babygirl. I'm right here. It's okay," he soothed. He looked down at her as her body laid against his, looking at the curve of her hip and the shape she made beneath the covers.

If there was one thing the two of them had realized after Jughead's ordeal with the Preppies it was their immorality. They knew they wouldn't have forever together and just like all things golden, they would eventually have to leave.

The notion made Betty want to take a sledgehammer to every clock in existence and shred every calendar she could find; lay every hourglass horizontally and stop time. Because that was the problem, right? Time?

No.

Time was going to keep ticking no matter if the Cooper girl wore a watch or not.

So then, mortality.

But no, everything is immortal, and that was something nobody could fix.

If she couldn't stop time and she couldn't readjust their lifespans, she was left with one option:

Forget about the amount of time they have left.

She knew she had to embrace every cuddle and every kiss; every time he would pick up the phone and every time he called her name.

Betty figured there'd be times she'd forget and take his existence for granted, and in those times, there'd be a quiet voice in her head to reprimand her.

But still, while her mind contemplated the concept of life and death, and all the branches that came from both, she laid with her eyes closed and body compressed, curling her knees into her chest only slightly.

Jughead had been dragging his fingertips through her hair to ease her, trying not to be too still as he watched her eyes twitch. He knew it'd be a while before she was ready to sleep, but as long as she was somewhat relaxed, Jughead could settle for it.

"I wanna give you a tattoo," he mumbled before kissing the top of her head. "So you can have a little piece of me forever. Does that sound like something you'd want?" he asked quietly, drawing her closer. 

Betty nodded against his chest and Jughead smiled, a breathy chuckle accompanying it before the blonde was mumbling, "A crown."

"A crown?" he asked, looking down at the girl before she was nodding against his chest. "I want a crown tattoo. Like, an outline. The ones you used to scribble on your homework." Jughead smiled and ran his hand over her head again, replying, "Okay. I can give you a crown."

"Where?" he asked, tucking stray blonde waves behind the Cooper girl's ear. She opened her eyes, looking at where his other hand sat over her right hip as she laid on her side. She put her palm over the back of his and answered, "Here. Right here."

That way, she'd never forget how he held her.