Alone Together | Bughead Oneshots

Heartbeat

I may have made myself cry thinking about this. And writing it. And reading it. Good luck and enjoy.

TW: murder

Betty woke up with a smile and it broke Jughead's heart; he knew that the next time she'd be laying amongst the white comforter of their bed, she wouldn't be smiling. She wouldn't have any expression at all.

"I love you," she said as she made the bed, turning her head to look at him with a smile. His heart broke again. "I love you too. I love you so much." Betty sighed, laying back against the sheets and saying, "I'm hungry. You want breakfast?"

"Yeah, sure," Jughead replied as they got up to walk into the kitchen. He couldn't stop watching her; a possible attempt to savor her presence and existence. There was pain in his eyes whenever he looked at her, especially when she smiled.

But nevertheless, he knew what had to be done. "You'll do it because you love her," Jughead would remind himself. "You have to protect her." But why did protection come with such a cost? Was it even worth it?

And then the words, "If you don't, they will. And they won't love her as much as you. They'll make it hurt," ran through his head and he knew it had to be him--it had to be tonight.

"You okay?" Betty asked, picking up her spoon from her bowl of cereal as she sat at the kitchen table. "You seem off today." "I'm okay," Jughead answered before sighing and responding, "How are you?"

"I'm good. What do you wanna do today?" she replied before taking another bite of her breakfast. "Whatever you want, Betts," Jughead replied, trying with all he had to smile back at her. "Whatever you want."

"I think I wanna stay in today. I wanna just lounge around and be comfy," Betty said, stretching her arms out and playing with the petals of the pink rose, sitting alone in its vase. Jughead finally found it in him to chuckle before replying, "Then that's what we'll do."

"You're the best," she smiled, holding her hand out across the table. "Don't say that," he replied, taking her hand in his. "It's the truth," Betty refuted, getting up from her chair and walking over to sit in his lap. "I love you, Jughead Jones," she smiled before bringing her lips to his.

"I love you, Betty Cooper," Jughead replied whole-heartedly. "'Til death do us part?" she asked with a small chuckle. "No," he answered. "Long, long, long past that." "How long?" Jughead thought for a moment before looking the blonde in the eyes and answering "Forever."

Betty smiled again. Jughead's heart broke again. With a short-lived (bad choice of words) breathy chuckle, she returned her lips to their rightful place on his. He sighed into her touch, wrapping his arms around her tighter, as if to stay, "Don't leave. Stay here. Stay here with me and you'll be safe."

But Jughead knew that as long as they were out there, she wouldn't be safe, even if Betty herself was oblivious to the fact.

---

The sun sunk past the horizon at 7:00 and the two headed to their room for bed at 9:00. Betty came out of their closet in her pajamas and smiled again. "I'm so tired," she sighed, falling onto the bed. "I know," Jughead replied solemnly, already sitting on the edge of the bed. "Come here."

Betty did just that, walking over to where Jug was, only to be sat down and kissed passionately. She smiled against his lips, certain she could feel a glow surrounding them, caught up in total bliss.

They departed slowly, Betty instantly using the space between them to whisper with her eyes closed. "I love you." Jughead's hands pulled her into his chest, holding her close as he replied, "I love you, too," as he slowly increased the pressure, holding her tightly with a hand on the back of her head keeping it in the crook of his neck.

"I love you so much. I'm so sorry," he sighed, tears falling from his eyes as his voice cracked and eyes closed. At this point, he was smothering her, but it seemed like Betty wasn't even resisting beside the occasional slight shift of her body or small whimper. "I love you so much."

It wasn't until Jughead heard a snap of some kind--maybe her neck, maybe her spine--that he felt Betty's body go limp in his arms and the inevitable fact he'd been trying to delay all day had rung true; she was dead.

He sniffled, keeping the blonde's corpse against his chest as he cried into her hair. Her eyes were closed as her back hit the mattress and he was right in his earlier thoughts; here she laid against the covers with no expression at all.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered, his hand ghosting over hers before he scooped her up and carried her out to the backyard, where he intended on giving her a proper burial. Once he walked into the kitchen, Jughead froze looking at the rose on the kitchen table, walking over and taking the flower from its vase.

He set it on her chest, her closed eyes saving him from the pain of seeing the life drain from her irises as he walked out to the yard. He set the blonde down on her back before he picked up a shovel and with tears in his eyes, he dug six feet under.