Mine (a Riverdale fanfiction)

I Promise You

Betty rested her head against Jughead's shoulder, feeling so light and warm and content. She couldn't remember ever feeling quite like this before. "Jug?"

"Mm-hm?"

"That was—perfect."

"Pretty perfect," he agreed. His arm tightened around her. "I'm sorry we didn't do this a long time ago."

"Me, too." She thought back to the night in this very trailer, the first night he'd put on a Serpents jacket. How long ago that seemed. She kissed his shoulder, tossing her hair out of her eyes in the process. "Still, now we can make up for lost time."

Jughead chuckled. "I like that idea." He combed his fingers through her hair, which had fallen across his chest. "I love your hair down. It's so ... free."

"You make me feel free. Jug?" She rested her arms on his chest and looked up into his face. It was time for him to know. "You know my brother's been staying with us?"

"I did, although this is a strange time to bring him up."

"He—he makes a living on the web. He ... talks to people."

There was a moment's pause before he realized what she was saying. "You don't mean like a psychologist."

"No. He ... undresses for them. And other things. He said it was his escape, his way of getting away from the darkness inside him."

Alarmed, Jughead sat up, taking her face in his hands and studying her closely in the light that filtered in through the curtains. "Betty. You didn't."

Her eyes held his, and he read the truth there.

"I—I'm sorry, Jug. I didn't have you, or anyone, and I was so ... alone. And so scared that the Black Hood—I could be him, Jughead. I could. It would be so easy just to let go and become something so ... dark, and powerful, and— So I webcammed. And I felt dark and powerful in a way that wasn't hurting anyone. Do you—do you understand?"

"It could have hurt you, Betty. That's dangerous, what you're doing."

"Only if I tell people who I am, or where. I wear a wig. And I'm ... different. I don't think you'd recognize me." She smiled suddenly. "Well, you would. But no one else."

"Betty." He wrapped her up in his arms, resting his cheek on her hair. "You don't have to be alone anymore. Not ever again. I promise. Wherever I am, whatever I'm doing, we'll always be connected. I'm not going to fight it anymore. You are part of me."

"I missed you so much, Jughead. No one else understands me the way you do, sees all the way into me the way you do."

"I feel the same. It's—sometimes it's frightening."

Betty pressed her forehead against his. "I won't turn away from you. I promise. Whatever you tell me, whatever you share with me, I love you. No matter what."

"Same. Always. I promise." He whispered the words between kisses. "I promise you, Betty."

"I promise you, Jughead."

Soon the kisses became too heated for words, and they were touching each other, rolling across the bed in their eagerness to explore every part of one another, their bodies joined again in a confirmation of their promises to one another.

And as they drifted off to sleep in each other's arms, both Betty and Jughead knew a safety, a certainty, they had never felt before. They belonged to each other now. More dangers, more challenges, more unimaginable horrors lay before them, but from now on, they would face them together, and that made all the difference.