Barchie Oneshots

Perfect

Betty hated attention.

Scratch that, Betty hated scrutiny.

Attention is caring, considerate, and kind.

Scrutiny made her feel like a dead bug stuck on a Petri dish, reviewed clinically under a microscope.

Scrutiny is what Betty is constantly under.

Ever since she was eleven or twelve, she has felt the weight of a million eyes on her.

The eyes of her parents, her sister, her teachers, even other high schoolers.

She had to be perfect, it was the only option. The beautiful, smart, perfect daughter of the writers of the Riverdale register. Anything less just wouldn't cut it.

She had to be nice to everybody. Had to step aside for everybody, act considerate of everybody but herself. She had to be beautiful but not sexy, never sexy.

She was an ornate painting on the wall of her parents mansion.

Lifeless.

Not a single misplaced hair, not a single roll of fat.

Except with Archie.

He let her be loud. And silly. And stupid. She could curse around him, take her hair out.

He was her best friend, he didn't expect her to be perfect. He expected her to be real.

And in turn, she showed him that he was good. When he felt like a screwup, or called himself a dumbass, she reminded him of who he was. How he was kind, how he helped everybody in need.

She didn't say how he helped her. She hoped he knew.
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Betty was losing her mind. When Archie kissed Veronica, then Grundy, it was the kiss of death. Archie was her lifeboat, and here he was, drifting away from her.

When Jughead kissed her, she saw an escape in his eyes.

He was a bad boy. A detour from perfect.

But Jughead, she came to realize, fell in love with perfect.

She should have known; he called her Juliet, called her the perfect girl next door.

He wanted someone golden. he wasn't looking to corrupt Betty in the way she wanted.

So, she cracked to pieces in his arms, and he could only wonder why his golden girl was crying.

But Archie knew. Archie knew that Jughead, though pure-intentioned, was breaking Betty.

Jughead, just like the rest of Riverdale, expected Betty to act without sin. She was a beacon of light; even amidst the scandals of her parents and friends, Betty was untouchable.

But Archie knew it was lonely being untouchable.

So when Betty broke up with Jughead, Archie knew why.

Betty had told Jughead that it was because they had grown apart.

It was the truth, but not the whole truth.

Betty still felt guilty.
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Archie was convinced that Veronica was from a different planet.

He couldn't follow anything she said.

He couldn't read her expressions, couldn't get into her mindset.

They had a lot of sex.

But it never made Archie feel closer to her.

It just reminded him that his heart was close to Betty. It longed only for her.

But the distance between their windows felt impossibly farther than it did when they were kids.

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Veronica broke up with Archie.

She said he was inattentive and didn't get her anymore.

He didn't disagree.

He went home and cried a little, but there was no anguish behind it. They were obligatory tears more than anything else.

He called Betty. She came over.

She felt like the worst person in the world for being happy they broke up.
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As weeks and months passed, Betty's heart only grew fonder of Archie.

When perfect was too much for her to handle, she called him. He would make her laugh, make her realize that things weren't so bad.

"You're gonna leave Riverdale in the dust," He would tell her, "and you're not gonna regret it either."

"I could never leave you behind, Arch." Was what she always said back.
———————————————————————
Christmas.

He had texted her at one in the morning and told her to meet between their houses.

She bundled up and crept down her stairs, a smile fighting its way across her face.

The snow was brilliant, reflecting the light of the glowing moon.

Archie stood waiting for her, obviously cold considering that he only had a hoodie on and pajama bottoms.

"You're gonna freeze to death," she said softly as she came and stood in front of him.

"I couldn't wait."

Archie pulled a messily wrapped rectangular gift out of his pocket and held it out to her; smiling gently.

Instead of taking it, Betty's mind short circuited.

There was something about the moonlight, and the quiet, and his face, and his everything.

Here he was, on Christmas, giving Betty a present in below zero temperatures because he just couldn't wait until the morning.

It was so classic Archie, and she just couldn't help it. Betty loved classic Archie.

She cupped Archie's face with her gloved hands and kissed him, standing on her tiptoes to do it.

She was gentle but desperate. She savored him, trying to remember the sensation.

After a moment, Betty leaned back slowly, eyes still closed.

She didn't want to see Archie's face. Didn't want to see his furrowed brow deciding how to let her down gently.

If she kept her eyes closed, she could live in this space where Archie hadn't yet rejected her for a second time. Stitching her heart back together the first time had nearly killed her.

She heard a noise. Her eyes darted down to see what it was. Archie had dropped the gift into the snow.

Wide-eyed, she looked up at him just in time to see Archie's heated gaze as grabbed her face in his hands and kissed her deeper, his lips no longer cold.

She slung her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer to him. Her every sense felt alive and electric. She felt herself smiling against Archie's lips.

He kissed her like a man starved, and she held him like he was her lifeboat in an open ocean.

Her heart was lighter than it had been in a long time.
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A/N
-sorry I didn't update for like forever I just haven't been feeling the Barchie because Riverdale is giving us NONE
-what oneshot should I do next I have no ideas
-THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT AND COMMENTS AND VOTES THIS IS AT LIKE 1.5K READS SKSKSKSKSK THANKS
-comment if you want to know what the gift was because I have the answer I just didn't know how to work it in lol