#bestmarvin

               Nancy’s house in the morning, it seems, is a flurry of activity. Her father is a whirlwind, on his way to work, and then Ned is there to whisk his brother away on some kind of early-morning adventure. Before long, Nancy herself is blowing by, headed to heaven only knows where. And, in a matter of fifteen minutes, the place has completely cleared out, save for Frank. When they’re working a case, it’s easy not to realize just how crowded it can get; everyone’s in their respective zone, focusing in on whatever the group needs. It’s nice, falling into the rhythm of know exactly what he’s doing. It’s less nice, once the case is closed and Frank realizes just how much of a fish out of water he is. 

In the newly blissful quiet of the Drew’s kitchen, though, he can take a breath. He hears the door at the same time that the toaster dings and he huffs out a sigh, grabbing a slice of his lightly browned bread and heading toward the next onslaught of Riverside residents. There’s no onslaught, though, just a singular resident, this time. 

“Morning,” he says, a little perplexed to see Bess on her own. In the context of their usual conversations, she’s usually with George. Nancy’s definitely always there. Or Joe. Ned, even. It’s not weird, per se. It’s just out of the norm. “You just missed everybody else. Joe and Ned are... somewhere. And Nancy’s doing, y’know. Something.” He’d pay either of them fifty dollars, if they could materialize through the floor, call him awkward, and break up this self-made tension. 

Mr. Flootsnoot decided to let them out early that afternoon -- and it was likely there was some selfish reason behind it. The old man had nearly fallen asleep at his desk on multiple occasions over the course of the last hour, and Jughead was sure he’d be asleep on his couch with an issue of Science Today open on his chest within moments of getting home. There were no complaints from the young Jones -- detention itself was hardly a painful thing, but he still preferred to be on the other side of school property, where freedom smelled the sweetest. In the hours he was confined to the brick and concrete building that symbolized institutionalized education, Jughead mostly let his mind wander. To the pages of a book he was reading, or his own writing, to what he would have for lunch, or what his parents had been fighting about the night before. Or, to another world, a fictional place that was real enough in his mind. Respite.

Taking the stairs two at a time, he made his way back to the main floor of the school, only to realize the halls weren’t completely empty. “School’s over, y’know. That bell that rang an hour ago means you can go home.”

❝   HEY ,  HOP  IN !  WE’VE  GOT  A  LOT  TO  DO  TODAY   ❞   Joe  felt  out  of  place  parked  outside  of  Bess’  building ,  as  if  just  having  a  car  in  the  city  was  enough  to  warrant  him  a  traffic  violation .  His  convertible  had  been  sitting  idle  in  the  Hardys’  garage  since  his  parents  drove  it  home  on  the  first  day  of  college ;  but  he’d  gone  back  earlier  this  week  to  prepare  for  the  plans  he  had  for  today .   Before  she  could  slip  inside  the  car ,  he  scooped  the  Minnie  &.  Mickey  paper  valentine  and  box  of  conversation  hearts  off  the  passenger’s  seat  and  held  them  in  front  of  his  rattled  chest .   ❝   What  do  you  say ?   Will  you  be  my  Valentine  this  year  ?   ❞  And  the  next .  And  the  NEXT  .  .  .   ❝   Just  don’t  tell  Ned ,   ❞  he  teased .   ❝   Today  is  just  us .  I  have  a  few  surprises  planned ,  but  we’re  going  to  have  to  go  on  a   small  road  trip  first .   ❞

( art credit ––––  @resiilients @bestmarvin @heworries @saetrewrites ) 

mars, you need to stop having birthdays because I’m genuinely running out of ways to say I love you dkjbdjkbdjbd anyway, its like you said, this year literally does not count... that being said, I’m going to make it count because you’re one of my best friends and you deserve to have good things, especially good birthdays. as far as I’m convinced you’re one of the reasons this year isn’t totally unforgivable for screwing us all: though it hasn’t been an easy year, especially for you, what with quarantine and all kinds of other stuff, you’ve personally made my year more tolerable. 

I’m going to try and keep this from being uber sappy, but I do have to say that I love you so so very much. You’ve got such a bright spirit, and where you go, light follows, like you’re the flame, and it’s the moth. You make everywhere you go a better place. Everyone deserves to have a friend like you: someone kind, ambitious, inspirational and forgiving. Not to mention easy-going: I’ve never met anyone more chill than you. A great balance for Christine and I’s insanity. 

Thank you for always playing games with us, and putting up with all our ( sometimes a little too mean ) quips, and being vocal about the things you care about. You make me a better person, and push me to be a better friend. 

I love you so much, my eleanor, my jane, my annie and the perfuma to my scorpia. Here’s to one day getting to see you when this is all over, babe. 

               “Is that seat taken?” There’s nothing about Frank’s expression that implies this surprise meeting is actually anything of a surprise, to him. If it was... well, he probably wouldn’t be very good at his job. Even if it was a surprise, he’s more likely to run away from an acquaintance than run in to them. For Bess, he thinks, he’d have made an exception. “Congratulations,” he says, swallowing his loyalty to Joe as painlessly as he can. “I don’t think I said that, last night. You seemed... as happy as you’d ever been.” 

❝   𝖔𝖍  𝖒𝖞  𝖌𝖔𝖉  ––  𝖇𝖊𝖘𝖘 !  𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙  𝖈𝖆𝖑𝖛𝖎𝖓  𝖐𝖑𝖊𝖎𝖓  𝖒𝖔𝖉𝖊𝖑  𝖜𝖆𝖘  𝖙𝖔𝖙𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖞  𝖈𝖍𝖊𝖈𝖐𝖎𝖓𝖌  𝖞𝖔𝖚  𝖔𝖚𝖙 . ❞  Leave  it  to  Cher  to  find  love  in  the  most  unlikely  of  places .  Though  .  .  .  okay ,  maybe  Paris  wasn’t  SO  unlikely ,  being  the  ‘city  of  love ‘  and  all ,  but  she  had  a  sense  for  this  kind  of  thing !  Her  eyes  sweep  past  rows  of  A - listers  decked  in  their  BRIGHTEST  patterns ,  formulating  a  plan .   ❝   Come  on ,   ❞   she  clutches  her  friend’s  wrist ,  giving  it  a  gentle  tug ,   ❝   I  think  I  can  get  us  backstage  ––  my  dad  knows  one  of  the  designers .  I’ll  introduce  you !  And  THEN ,  we  can  go  find  Old  Hollywood  Hottie  back  there .   ❞

Oh darkness is a look she wears well, as if it were a crown to be won and she was the only one to know how to play the game. If she wanted she could trick Bess, but there wasn’t much fun in that after the first time she did it when Nancy was in the clink ages ago. She’s not sure why, but once again the Marvin girl is set to keep her eyes on Dee. This time in a farther away place where they all conveniently happened to be. ❝You know, you could just come and sit here. Staring at me and then pretending to look at your phone, cliche at best Bess. Frankly how you actually make it out of any of the things Nancy so kindly drags you into is really beyond me. Sometimes I think you’re a bit duller than a toddler. But that’s okay, we can all still learn to grow.❞