Alone Together | Bughead Oneshots

Tangerine

Requested by brokenbughead

TW: self harm, blood, attempted suicide

Timeset: 4x09

Betty slammed the phone onto its holder, Evelyn's eyes following the blonde as she hurried out of the visiting room. Even though Betty was far from the ginger psychopath, her voice remained in her head, calling out.

"Tangerine."

"Tangerine."

Once in her car, Betty let out a long sigh, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly before she turned her key in the ignition and drove off, heading to her house.

It was hard and unsuccessful, but Betty tried not to think of Evelyn or that trigger word that almost made her do...well, she didn't know what it would do.

All-in-all, it was impossible to keep the prison visit out of her head. Music didn't help, thinking "happy thoughts" didn't help; then, she remembered her anchor.

"Hey, Jug, can you hear me?" Betty asked once Jughead answered his phone, the call playing throughout the car through Bluetooth. "Yeah, I can. What's up?" he asked. "Are you busy?" "No, not...not really, why?"

"Do you think you can come home for a bit? An hour maybe? I found out something about Polly and what she did," Betty answered. "Yeah, sure, I can leave in about ten," Jughead replied. She sighed and smiled in response, replying, "Thank you." "I'll see you soon, okay? Love you," he said.

"Love you, too, Jug," Betty smiled before the call ended, putting the blonde's eyes somewhat at ease.

---

The house was quiet as Betty walked in. With FP and Alice at work, Jellybean at school, and Jughead on his way, she was gonna be alone for a while.

She sighed, walking up the stairs, tossing her bag onto her bed before falling back into her mattress with a groan. Suddenly, whispers started coming into her head, calling her to sit up, which she did.

Standing up, Betty walked over to her dresser and taking a seat in front of the mirror. She took a deep breath and looked her reflection in the eye.

"Tangerine,"

"Tangerine,"

"Tangerine."

Something snapped inside of her; rage, violence, the need to inflict pain and destruction. Betty stood up resiliently and walked into the bathroom, crouching down and opening the new pack of razors she'd gotten last week.

The razor popped off its stem with ease as Betty pulled it back before rolling up her sleeves and examining the clean, unblemished skin of her forearms. In her trance, she didn't hear the front door open and her name being called; rather bringing the razor to her skin and making a cut below her wrist.

The sensation was layered; on the outside, Betty remained completely resilient, not a cry nor tear left her structure. But on the inside, she was screaming on the top of her lungs, clawing at the stone walls of her body, crying and bleeding.

A second cut followed, then a third as Betty stood with her arm dripping blood from the side and her eyes locked on the sight of pale skin stained with crimson. "Betty, what're you doing?" Jughead yelled as he ran into the bathroom, taking the blonde's arm in his hand gently, looking at her slashed with shuttering breaths.

"Betts," he sighed, looking at her stoic expression as she tried to make more cuts, getting disrupted by Jughead as he tried to take her razor away. "Snap out of it!" he yelled before snapping his fingers in front of the blonde's face.

Betty stood still for a moment, her breaths shaking and eyes widened before she slowly looking down at her arm. Seeing the blood and cuts covering her forearm, she screamed, the pain finally setting in. "Shh, shh, Betts, you're okay. You're okay,"

"I'm just gonna get you cleaned up, okay?" Jughead asked, his hand on her shoulder gently. Betty nodded slowly, still crying and hyperventilating as he ran off to find the first aid kit.

He came back, having Betty sit on the edge of the bathtub with her arm hanging over the drain as he pressed a damp washcloth around her skin. "Betty, what happened?" Jughead asked softly. "You seemed fine over the phone."

"I think it was Evelyn and her...her hypnosis," she replied, staring off as she tried to get her thoughts in order. "It's what she did to my mom and Polly. It's the trigger word."

"What trigger word?" Jughead asked, wrapping up her arm with gauze. "Tangerine. I looked in the mirror and said it three times. It makes people wanna hurt me," Betty said, her eyes tearing up.

"It's okay, hon, you're okay now," he sighed. "You'll be just fine as long as you stay away from Evelyn and her hypnosis, okay, babe?" "B-But I need to fond out what--" "You did find out, Betts. You found out Evelyn made Polly and your mom wanna hurt you and you know why. Now it's time to put this case to rest, okay?" Betty nodded slowly, seeing how following this lead would only get worse.

"That's my girl," Jughead chuckled, cutting the gauze from the roll and gently putting his hand on her forearms, pulling the blonde in for a soft kiss.