Mine (a Riverdale fanfiction)

All of You

There was so much Betty wanted to say into the silence between herself and Jughead, a silence so complete that she couldn't even hear the TV over it, whatever was on. She wanted ... she wanted to tell him about Chic, and the webcamming. She wanted to ask if he meant it when he said she was a Serpent, if that meant he was ready to stop putting up barriers between them. She wanted to tell him about the Black Hood and the way she couldn't stop thinking about him, even though he was dead.

But somehow she couldn't manage to say any of it. After all the times he had pushed her away, she couldn't put herself in front of him again only to be rejected.

Jughead was still stewing over Hiram Lodge's naked manipulation of the Serpents. The way that man had waltzed in and played Serpent against Serpent, creating a rift—or widening one that already existed ... Hiram Lodge was a snake himself, Jughead thought bitterly. "Good old Hiram Lodge," he said out loud. "I wonder what he's planning for us. And the South Side." Getting Tall Boy to steal the head from Augustus Pickens' statue was only the beginning, Jughead was sure of it. Lodge's plans for Riverdale went deep.

"Maybe we can ask Veronica on Monday," Betty said, but in a monotone that indicated she was either too tired to think about it, or wasn't particularly interested in talking about Hiram Lodge right now.

Jughead's pulse leaped. He should speak, say something, to let her know how bad he felt for pushing her away, how much he had missed her. But he wasn't quite ready to let the other events of the night go. "Yeah. Maybe we should just investigate quietly until we know more. We haven't saved the trailer park yet." He looked around at the familiar surroundings. It wasn't much ... but it was his home, the only real home he had ever known. He didn't want to lose it. "And I'm on probation from the Serpents, whatever that means. Because of what I did to Penny," he added. "But we stopped her from coming back." Which was the important part. Penny Peabody was poison. "And we got rid of Tall Boy."

"We." Betty smiled. "It's nice to hear that again."

Jughead liked the sound of it, too. He hadn't meant to say out loud that Betty was part of the Serpents, but he knew now that he wanted her there, needed her there. "Look," he said, around the lump in his throat, and the fear that she wouldn't want him back. "I'll be apologizing for it for the rest of my life, but I'm sorry. I am." He met her eyes, looking deep into them, into the Betty he knew and loved. "For feeling like I needed to shield you from what I was going through with the Serpents, or my ... darkness."

Betty felt a rush of relief. Jughead's darkness didn't scare her; it never had. Her own darkness did, and facing it alone did. She had never felt so strong, so able to accept that part of her, as she had with Jughead beside her. "I can handle it," she told him, needing him to understand that she really could.

"I know. I know you can." He wished he hadn't wasted so much time away from her, that he had understood her strength sooner.

He wanted to reach for her—to hold her, to kiss her, to show her how he felt—but he was afraid.

Betty wanted to reach for him, but ... she needed him to make the first move, to show her that he was done pushing her away. She waited, but he didn't move. And the night was growing later. "I should probably start heading home."

Jughead's breath caught in his chest. It was now or never—if he let her walk out of here tonight, things would never be the same again. "Or you could stay." The words came out in a rush, breathlessly. He reached for her, his hand nestling in the softness of her pink skirt. "Stay." The word was a plea, his voice breaking on it. He couldn't stand it if she left now.

And then she looked at him, and the depth of the need in her eyes told him everything he needed to know. She turned, and he reached for her, and then they were kissing, Betty straddling his lap, holding his face.

Slow kisses, rediscovering the taste and feel of each other. Jughead reached for the zipper of her dress and pulled it down, slipping the dress off her shoulders so that his hands slid over the softness of her bare skin.

Then Betty pulled back. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." She should tell him, she thought. About the webcamming. About the way it made her feel. "I need to tell you something."

"What? What is it?" Jughead wanted to listen, but he needed the taste of her on his tongue. He kissed her shoulder, and her collarbone, and her neck, and then lower, to the swell of her breasts, before he was able to pull himself away and look up at her.

"Nothing." It wasn't the time. Need was coursing through Betty, feelings that overwhelmed anything she had experienced through webcamming. This was Jughead, whom she loved, and tonight, she was going to give everything she was to him. "I just ... want you. I want all of you tonight."

And she kissed him again, feeling the gentle caress of his hands on her skin. She reached between them for the buttons on his shirt, and Jughead shifted to let her push it off of him. Her mouth followed the same path his had, across his shoulders and down over his chest, tasting his skin.

Then Betty stood up, letting the dress fall around her feet, stepping out of her shoes. Standing there in only her bra and underwear, she held out a hand to him. "Let's take this to the bedroom."

Jughead followed, leaving his shirt on the couch and kicking off his own shoes. In his bedroom, Betty unfastened her bra and slipped her panties down. He couldn't wait another second to touch her, pulling her into his arms. Betty drew in a sharp breath at the first touch of bare skin against bare skin, her hands dropping to his belt buckle so that he would be as naked as she was.

Lost in her kisses, in the feeling of her body against his, Jughead pulled her onto the bed with him as soon as the last of his clothes were off.

Time seemed to slow as they explored each other, touching, tasting, stroking. It was like nothing either of them had ever felt before, safe and dangerous, intoxicating and sense-sharpening, sweet and hot, all at the same time.

Jughead fumbled in the side drawer for protection, his hands shaking as he tried to put it on. He clenched his teeth at the feeling as Betty's hands joined his, sure and certain on his most sensitive skin. "Betty, are you sure?"

"I want you to be part of me, Jug. In every way possible."

"I love you. I love you so much." The words were a breathless whisper as he positioned himself.

Betty closed her eyes as he filled her. A sudden sharp pain gave way to warmth, which gave way to ... something indescribable. "Love you, Jug. Love you!" She wrapped her legs around his waist and rode the waves of sensation with him.