Restrained - A Sweet Pea x Reader Fanfiction

6

"Fahrenheit 451 by one of my favourite authors, Ray Bradbury. Start with the title. Can anyone tell me its significance?" The English teacher asked. Almost every student chatted and moved around the classroom as the teacher spoke. Being new and scared of screwing up, I sat quietly at a table in between Fangs and Sweet Pea. Toni was on the other side of the classroom with my brother. "Y/n, truth or other truth?" We couldn't really do dares at the moment, so we went with two truths. I guess we didn't know enough about each other to do anything else, really. "Ummm... other truth."

"Alright. Have you ever been in a relationship?"

I laughed. "Have you met my brother? He would probably murder me." I wasn't sure if I was imagining it, but I could swear Sweet Pea smiled when he realised I hadn't, but fell when he realised that my brother would kill me if I did.  "Okay, Fogarty. Truth or other truth?" I proposed.

"What?! Damn it!" Sweet Pea yelled looking at his phone. He stood up and said, "I have to go to the Wyrm right now, it's urgent. Do you want to come with?"

"Sure." I smirked. Fangs stood up beside me, but so did Jug from across the room. No. He mouthed, shaking his head, warning me. 

I gave him the finger as I picked up my backpack and walked out the door with Sweet Pea and Fangs. "Toni will catch us later." Fangs said. I nodded as we exited the school and the boys hopped on their bikes. I climbed on behind Sweet Pea and clipped on the helmet. He backed out of the parking lot, followed by Fangs, and we drove to the Wyrm. Needless to say, Sweet Pea did not go slower than the day before.

Sweet Pea marched into the Wyrm so quickly, I was almost jogging to keep up with him. Fuck my short legs. "What is it?" Sweet Pea asked. A man with long brown hair and a scruffy beard walked towards him. "Ghoulies trashed your trailer."

"Shit." Sweet Pea spat, kicking the ground. "We'll go check to see what they were after?"

The man nodded as we walked back out. "Who was that?" I asked as the boys angrily huffed back to their bikes. 

"Tall boy. He's acting leader while your dad isn't here." Sweet Pea kicked a few pieces of gravel in anger as he climbed onto his bike. "Fangs, we'll take care of this, okay?"

He nodded as he rode off. "Hey, are you alright?" I asked, genuinely concerned about him.

"Yeah I'm fine." He said through gritted teeth as he revved the engine. I climbed on behind him and clipped on my helmet. 

"Hey, It's alright. By the sound of it, they only trashed it. They probably didn't take anything, okay?" I put my hand on his shoulder.

He turned his head to look at me. "I hope you're right, Y/n." We took off on his bike, ignoring the speed limit as usual. We rushed to the trailer park, pulling up at his trailer, only a few away from mine. He hopped off quickly and barely had time to take off his helmet before he unlocked his door. I slid off my helmet and walked in behind him as soon as the door opened. It was a mess. "Shit!" He yelled. "Shit, shit, shit!" His couch was flipped and slashed. His table, chairs and TV were lying on the floor. His belongings had been shoved off shelves and pulled out of drawers and was on the ground with everything else. A window had been smashed, probably how the Ghoulies got in, and all the food in his kitchen had been dumped on the tiled floor. He checked his room next, his jaw clenched in anger. I followed him, ready to calm him down if he got anymore riled up. Surprisingly, his room was untouched, save for one open drawer. "Oh fuck no!" He said as he strode quickly to the drawer. He rummaged through it, pulling out a few papers, a book, and a neck chain. "Shit they took it." He fell to his knees. 

"Took what?" I asked, growing more and more concerned by the second.

He sat down against the wall, holding his head in his hands. "When I was younger, before my mom-" He scrunched his eyes closed. I sat down next to him, rubbing his arm and leaning into him. "Before she died, she gave me a baseball card. I was obsessed with the sport when I was a kid. It was Rafael Montero for the New York Mets. It's gone. I don't know how they knew about it, though."

"Hey," I said softly, "Maybe they didn't take it. There's a chance it's in the other room. Come on, let's go look, okay?" I stood up, reaching out a hand to help him. He didn't take it, but stood up and followed me out.

"Well, you'll definitely need a new couch, but everything else looks alright." I said, flipping the table back over, followed by the chairs. Sweet Pea stood in the middle of the room, completely still. I didn't blame him for not helping, though. He was going through something. I put the TV back in place and headed for the kitchen. The mess in there was brutal. Every single thing he had was opened and poured into a pile in the middle of the small room. "I have some bleach and cleaning supplies at my trailer for the kitchen." He turned to look at me. "If I'm not back in five minutes, can you rescue me from Jug?" A small, fleeting smile appeared on his face as he nodded. I walked to my trailer, entering quietly so I wouldn't make my presence known. I looked through the cupboard under my sink as I grabbed bleach, cloths, a bucket, and gloves. As I exited once more, I saw Jughead exiting our room and closed the door as quickly as possible. "Y/n?" I heard him call as I ran back to Sweet Pea's trailer.

"I'm back." I said as I walked in, spotting him sitting on the couch which he must've turned over. He gave no clue that he heard me as I continued to the kitchen to clean the mess. I did my best to ignore the smell as I shovelled piles of sauces, meat, and bread into the bucket, making many trips to the dumpster. I bleached the floor once there was no food left, making sure everything was clean for him again. I returned to the main room where all of his decorations, photos, and small possessions were strewn out on the ground. "Do you want to put things back where they went before?" I asked. He nodded and began picking up things placing them on the shelves or the table. I looked around for his baseball card as he organised. "Over here!" I said, picking up the card. It had been underneath the couch, in a position where we didn't see it when the couch was overturned either. He walked to me and I happily handed the card over to him. He smiled as he took it, turning it over in his hands. Then, he smiled at me. "Thank you so much, Y/n. It really means a lot to me." He wrapped his arms around me and I nearly flinched. He was... hugging me?

"But I still don't understand why they specifically got this from your room." I said.

"I think I left that drawer open and I must've brought the card somewhere else."

"I guess that makes sense." He pulled away from me and just stared. I looked into his deep chocolate eyes, the ones that were pouring into mine. He took a step forward and leaned in until our faces were mere inches away. "Y/n?" He said, his eyes moving to my lips. He fluttered his eyelids closed more as he leaned in further.

But I couldn't do this. I didn't think I was ready for it. I barely knew this guy. And yet- I felt compelled to help him through everything. I wanted to spend every minute with him. I felt safe around him. But what would Jughead think? And dad? If I did this, it would mean diving headfirst into water of an unknown depth, not knowing if it would kill me. So I didn't.

I stepped away and tried to play it as cool as I could. "I- umm. I should probably get home. I mean, I didn't stop at my trailer after school and Jug will be worried about me." He moved his eyes to the floor.

"Yeah, no, I get that." He sounded disappointed. Or maybe it was just my imagination. Maybe to him, I'm just some dumb girl that his many charms didn't work on.

"Alright, well... I'll see you tomorrow?" I asked, looking up at his eyes.

But he continued to stare at his feet. "Yeah."

"Bye." He said nothing as I left, walking back to my trailer. But I stopped to punch a garbage can on the way. I had no idea how I was feeling right now. Was I regretting not kissing him... or regretting that the thought ever crossed my mind?