Bughead One-shots | Riverdale

Tipping Point

The car was silent. It had been for the past twenty minutes, and Betty was under the assumption that it would stay like that until they got back to town.

The gentle drag of Jughead's fingers against her thigh was pretty much the only thing that was keeping her grounded at that point in time, from letting her mind wander too far into the dark like it did sometimes. Her hands were curled into fists at her waist where her arms had wrapped around herself, making her smaller against the seat. Her fingernails dug into the soft cotton of her jumper instead of her palm. The half-moon scars hadn't been reopened in months, and she wanted to keep it that way. Even if it was hard in times like that.

If she closed her eyes and thought hard enough, the sound of the shattering glass at Veronica's cabin could be heard again. Or the many voices that were shouting in the living room, demanding the four friends to kneel. An involuntary shudder ran through the blonde at the memory; the way the wooden flooring pressed against her knees uncomfortably as she knelt down, her hand holding such a tight grip on Jughead's that it trembled.

Maybe it wasn't the threats that had scared her so much. Looking at those faces, covered by black hockey masks to obscure most of their features, it just reminded Betty of the Black Hood, the serial killer who had called and traumatised her for weeks on end. And even though the sociopath was dead, it still scared her. If her phone rang unexpectedly sometimes it made her flinch, and her heart beat against her chest painfully as she answered, even though she knew it couldn't possibly be the Black Hood. She had to change her ringtone after a week when she kept getting scared by the ironically cheery tune. Or if it wasn't that scaring her, then the thought of what those men could have done to them brought her mind back to the night that she'd helped her mother dispose of the body in her house, the night that still left her feeling nauseous when she thought about it.

The car hit a pothole in the road, and the sudden jolt that roughly brought Betty out of her thoughts caused her to flinch, her hand gripping Jughead's wrist with immediate fear. Her eyes had blurred over with unshed tears so she couldn't see as her boyfriend moved beside her, but she felt the hand as it left her leg, and his arm wrapped around her shoulders instead.

"Betty," His voice was low against her temple, as he probably didn't want to disturb Veronica and Archie with the hushed conversation. "Take a deep breath."

It was only then that she realised how much she had been trembling, and her lips parted to suck in a deep breath as her hand gripped onto his jumper, making a fist in that material instead. Her seatbelt was making it harder to completely tuck herself into him, so she pulled the top of it to slacken the belt which allowed her to shuffle closer to him as the tears finally started falling.

"We'll be back soon," He was whispering into her hair as he pressed a kiss to her head, and his free hand moved to replace the other on her thigh, gently dragging his fingers against the skin once more. "We can go and stay at mine or at yours, wherever you want. I won't leave you alone."

The thought of staying under the same roof as Chic after that night made her stomach lurch, so she had started shaking her head as soon as he mentioned her house. "I can't go back to mine." She whispered tearfully, and she felt him nod against her head.

"You don't have to, you can stay at mine." Jughead held her a little tighter, and Betty sniffled as she pushed herself closer into his embrace.

She didn't say anything else for a while. His fingers continued to gently trace along her thigh, and she allowed herself to focus on that touch again, the warmth of his hand against her trembling leg. Her eyes squeezed shut as she focused on his touch, so that she didn't think about the cabin, or the Black Hood, or the body. The sound of the Black Hood's voice in her ear over the phone. The blood that stained her hands and clothes as she knelt on her kitchen floor. The smell of the bleach as she scrubbed the-

"Hey guys," It was Veronica's voice that broke her train of thought, and Betty blinked through her tears to look up at her equally tired best friend. "We're here."

Betty had to force her fingers to unwrap from around Jughead's jumper so they could get out of the car. His hand remained a gentle touch against her arm as she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car, and once he had followed her outside his palm moved to her lower back to keep her steady. She was still trembling somewhat, and when she took a glance over towards Veronica and Archie they were stood just about the same way on the other side of the car to them.

The bright neon lights from the Pop's sign blurred her vision even further, and Betty had to blink another few times before she could see clearly. The pink light reflected off of the recently-polished car in front of them, like how the candlelight in the cabin had reflected off of the axe-

Jughead pulled her into her arms, and it was only then that Betty truly realised how much harder it was getting to suck in a breath through her suddenly thick throat. He was mumbling something that she couldn't quite hear as his hand cupped the back of her head, and she gripped onto the soft material of his jumper again as she forced a breath in. She had been feeling even more anxious recently, with the incident with Archie and the Black Hood, and then the body at her house. Maybe this was finally the long-awaited tipping point that she had been expecting for months, ever since the Black Hood had started calling her.

"Betty?" Veronica's hand was on her shoulder - it was smaller and more delicate than Jughead's hands on the back of her head and her waist. "We're home now, it's okay."

She nodded into Jughead's shoulder, and took in another breath as she gripped onto him tighter. "I know," The words were a little choked out, but were still honest. "I just... it's a lot."

Betty didn't need to say more because she knew that they'd understand, and she was given evidence of that when Jughead held her more lovingly against himself, his touch less worried than before. Veronica gently rubbed her shoulder before the touch was lifted, and Betty heard her mention that she and Archie would get them a table inside to give them a moment alone. The thought of guilt passed through her thoughts, that they had all been through the same thing so she shouldn't need special treatment, but in that moment Betty was too tired to need anything other than her boyfriend's support.

"I'm okay," Still, she didn't want him to worry about her on top of everything else, so the words were mumbled into his jumper as she held onto his waist. "Really."

"Me too." The words were mumbled against her forehead, before a gentle kiss was left behind afterwards. He wasn't okay either and she could tell, but there was comfort in the fact that they were home, and it would allow them to get through it together.