Summary: Jughead’s voice is sleepy when he says; “You did. And now we can finally talk about forever without it being some kind of fucked up dream.”
“In these dreams, did we still share chocolate shakes?” she asks him.
“Everyday,” he replies. “Chocolate shakes.”
Before the move to NYC, Jughead and Veronica had a series of barriers. It wasn’t always easy being the Serpent King and the girl from the rich side of town.
Warnings: None. Angst. But not too much.
Author’s Note: Pre-NYC. A flashback if you will. In collaboration with @veronicassadboi
We Queens are now on AO3: Serpentqueenz
and read full fic here: Just Wanna Be Yours: Chapter 3
XXXXX
His eyes squint as he smiles over his laptop that sits on a grease smeared table. “It wouldn’t kill you to smile back, Princess,” Jughead hums as his fingers rest on Veronica’s hip with one hand and his other hand on the chocolate shake she’s just handed him.
Veronica bites her lip out of habit and her eyes dart from the door of Pop’s back to the boy in front of her - another habit she’s been trying to break. No one to hide from anymore, she remind herself. No more hiding, no more hiding , she repeats. Jughead’s fingers on her hips move her closer. “Forty more minutes,” she tells him. Forty more minutes of torture, she thinks. “You didn’t need to come and wait for me,” she says in a hurry, shake spilling over the side of the glass.
“Forty minutes is the difference between me living and dying, Princess,” he says in a sigh, ghosting his fingers over the keyboard.
Veronica rolls her eyes. “You’re so fucking dramatic, Jones,” she says, bending over in front of him, yellow dress separating just enough to remind Jughead of what he’s dying for. “What are you writing about tonight, baby?” she asks quietly, avoiding gazes in their direction. She smears grease a little further in front of him.
Jughead reaches out to tilt Veronica’s head and brushes a kiss on her lips that she almost jerks away from. His eyes show concern when he says; “The love ballad of Jughead and Veronica, sounds romantic, doesn’t it?” he says, giving her a wink.
Veronica smirks as she straightens up. “Romantic? You’re full of it, you know that?”
Jughead shrugs as he grabs her hand, she pulls it out quick just to have him grab it again, placing it to his lips. “This reflex, you always pulling away, it needs to stop soon. We don’t have anything to hide.”
Veronica looks around. There were always eyes everywhere. No more Archie, no more Betty, no more hiding, she thinks. “We’re free, right, baby?” she says, sugary smile so fake on her lips.
Jughead’s eyes darken slightly. “As free as we’ll ever be in Riverdale, baby,” he reminds her. “But as long as we stay here, we’ll always have a level of torture.”
Archie hadn’t even been gone a week. But in her soul, he’d had been gone as long as Jughead had got into her veins. “I’ll see you in forty.”
“I love you!” echoes loudly through Pop’s, cutting through the noise.
It stops her in her tracks, she feels a blush creeping up her neck and everyone’s eyes on her.
She looks at Jughead who wears the smuggest smirk and fingers on his keyboard as he waits for her reply that couldn’t come out. Not yet , she thinks. She couldn’t say it or it would run through the veins of their town that they now call a prison.
XXXXX
Time moves so slowly in Riverdale. Veronica’s ever growing frustration with the place was starting to get to her and in turn, Jughead too. He fingers a straw in his matching chocolate shake and rolls his eyes when Veronica takes a scoop of the whip cream off his shake and adds it to her own. “When is this going to stop?” he asks her.
She knows exactly what he’s talking about. The underlying layer of guilt that runs through her now that they’re together. She didn’t know exactly what she was hiding from but small towns bear small minds and the girl who managed to break down the great Hiram Lodge was never meant to end up with the King of Southside. There were unspoken rules that Veronica and Jughead managed to break, one by one. The love that she held for Betty burnt silently when Veronica let Jughead into her being. Southside wasn’t the worst thing in Riverdale when her father existed. Riverdale’s calling to her stopped when Jughead started promising her forever and their forever called them both to a different city; a different life. Whatever good that she had in her faded when the last three years of her and Jughead was based on hushed whispers and lies. So many lies.
Jughead waits on her answer. “It’s just kind of hard to be so open…”
“When we’re so used to being a secret?” he finishes, traces of malice in his tone. Veronica’s eyes darken as she runs her tongue over her teeth and holds back her own roll of her eyes. “You didn’t really think we were going to be like that forever, did you?”
Forever , she thinks, I couldn’t think of forever when everything was so unsure . “You had Betty, Jughead,” she says sternly. “And I had Archie and I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
She takes a frustrated sip of her shake and Jughead already hits the bottom of his own. “I knew what was going to happen, baby.”
“And what was that?”
Jughead smiles down at the table, running his hands over his knuckles as Southside sits proudly on his shoulders. “I knew that I love you, and you love me, I was going to give you the world…”
Veronica hangs on to his words. They were always so pretty, so charming. Whatever he said, she would hang on tightly. “Sometimes I hate you, do you know that?”
Jughead laughs and traces patterns on her arms. “No you don’t,” he says sweetly. “Don’t lie.”
“I’m not lying.”
“I knew that we were going to be together, I don’t let you torture me like this for nothing, Princess,” he replies with his eyes darkening, jaw tensing in front of her.
“You think I torture you?”
“When you don’t let me love you, it’s torture…”
Veronica leans over the table, brushing her lips on his cheek. “I’ve always let you love me and now we’re lost in Riverdale,” she answers, leaving words on his skin.
Jughead smiles into her words, leaving his hands on hers. “Stop letting Riverdale stop you from loving me, Veronica.”
“I won’t,” she promises. “Can you just kiss me?”
“So I stop talking?” he asks, meeting her lips.
She bites at his lip. “You talk too much.”
XXXXX
It’s times like these when they barely speak.
He had a cockiness that couldn’t be touched when she was on his arm. Jughead was the King of Southside but Veronica knew that when she was with him, she just added to the hype. The Whyte Wyrm was kind of her god given right when she now officially one half of the biggest thing on Southside. It was a title she refused but she felt the eyes stinging her skin when she was held up on a metaphorical pedestal that he had made for everyone to notice her. He was a cocky boot slamming against the bar with his elbow on the counter as he batted lashes at Toni and says; “If anyone has anything to say about Veronica and I, they can bring it to me.”
Veronica can almost feel his fingers inside her with his teeth on her neck and his words telling her how much he loves it when she’s in control when she says; “Or they can come and see me, I bite a little harder than the last girlfriend and they don’t want my Louboutins on these snakes.”
Toni raises an eyebrow when she passes Veronica a drink. “Girlfriend, huh?” she teases. “So you’re saying it out loud now…”
Jughead sniggers when he keeps a hand on Veronica’s waist. Veronica has a string of words she wants to say but settles with. “Of course,” she answers.
Jughead’s breath in her ear says; “Wait until I get you home, Princess. I’ll show you how I treat my girlfriend.”
XXXXX
The conversation starts with; “ When we move.. .” and Veronica can tell Jughead is shocked.
“You really want to move?”
“I really want to be everywhere with you, so yes.”
“You never talk about it.”
Egyptian cotton feels out of place in the trailer but the cover was one of the only things she bought with her from The Pembrooke. Jughead’s arm rests across her naked body and she pulls the sheets higher. “We always talk about it.”
“It’s one of those things we agree on but we don’t ever plan.”
She can hear the annoyance lacing Jughead’s words and she kisses his arm as some small piece of comfort. “Well, we can now.”
Jughead shifts on the bed, rolling onto his side to look at Veronica whose hair is a little longer than usual and her lips a little swollen from over-kissing. “Do you really want to go?”
She wants to shout that she’s so far gone. I left years ago , she remembers. “Jughead, I just want to feel normal.”
“I guess we’ve been looking for the right time, huh?”
There was no right time when every time felt wrong. And how do you even tell someone you love that maybe you should take it to the next level when every stupid word out of each other's mouth was something sharp and painful? She wonders. “Our time has finally come, Jug. I’m sick of waiting for something to happen.”
“Why would you want to be with someone like me?” he asks, “When I'm nothing but a fuck up?”
Veronica pauses. Part of her wanting to smack him, he’s everything to her. “You’re not a fuck up.”
“The only thing right that I’ve ever done was find you, Veronica. Do you know that?”
Veronica breathes when he breathes and closes her eyes to steady herself. “The only thing that feels right to me, Jughead, is loving you.”
“We deserve to be happy.”
She thinks on his words, she’s always wondered the same thing. “I think so,” she says gently, tracing patterns on his skin. “Everyone deserves to be happy.”
Jughead sniggers softly. “And we do too, the only thing is that we thought we shouldn’t find happiness in each other.”
“Because we were kids, Jug.”
“ Kids ,” he laughs. “We’ll move out of this shit town and start our own life. You and me, Princess, what do you say?”
Veronica closes her eyes again, smiling to the dark. “I say fuck it, let’s go. New York still calls me. Just like we’ve been saying since we were sixteen.”
“Sixteen,” Jughead says in a sigh. “Almost four years of promises.”
“Four years of pain,” Veronica corrects.
“Nah Princess,” he replies. “The only pain was knowing that there was a chance that you didn’t want to fight for this.”
“Well I did,” she argues.
Jughead’s voice is sleepy when he says; “You did. And now we can finally talk about forever without it being some kind of fucked up dream.”
“In these dreams, did we still share chocolate shakes?” she asks him.
“Everyday,” he replies. “Chocolate shakes.”
“And what else?”
“We share a bed, we share the same lame taste in decor, you wear my shirts around the house, we share the shitty fast food.”
“Sounds perfect.”
“It is… it will be. Sharing the same life. Jughead and Ronnie.”
“Maybe we’ll share kids too,” she says, just as sleepily.
Jughead chuckles. “And those too.”
XXXXX
Shifts at Pop’s were always busy, and even through the loud clanging of plates and extra shifts on top of her usual shifts to try and save money made them not feel so long. Jughead would sit waiting for Veronica every day and when they got home to the trailer, each dollar saved was a dollar closer to New York.
Jughead would scrub coffee stained mugs when no one was looking to help her out. Folding napkins became his unofficial job and she would kiss his cheek every time he would turn up at midnight to help her clean tables. New York was closer and closer by the day.
“I want to get out of here,” she groans.
“New York, New York, baby.”
“Don’t bust into tune, please,” Veronica groans again.
Jughead laughs. “I don’t sing, you know that.”
“Oh,” she agrees, sniggering. “I know.”
She slides a chocolate shake across the counter to Jughead and he catches it without looking. “You’re amazing, Princess,” he hums with his mouth on the straw. “You’re the epitome of perfect.”
Southside screams loudly on his back and torn up knuckles tell her that he had been somewhere she didn’t care to know about. The less she knew, the less it hurt her. “Stop,” she says weakly but a smile on her faces tells Jughead that his pretty words are working.
He chews noisily on fries when he taps on his keyboard. “When do you finish tonight?”
“Another five hours,” she says with a sigh, turning on the coffee machine.
“Five coffees it is.”
“You want one now?”
“Soon,” he answers. “After my shake.”
She notices the splits in his knuckles a little more acutely as she wipes down the counter in front of him and he catches her eyes when she looks up. “Jug…”
“I’m just trying to get money too, Veronica,” he says, tensing his fists. “You do your work and I do mine.”
Veronica avoids further conversation. We’re going to get out, she repeats. We’ll be out soon, we’ll be gone. “Your work can’t carry on when we leave, Jughead,” she whispers. “You know that.”
Jughead closes his eyes and Veronica knows he’s looking for peace. “I do my work now so when we go, I don’t have to. But I have to get some money somehow, baby, you know that.”
Veronica reminds herself of the goal. Of New York. Of nothing more than just the two of them. “Don’t talk about money, Jug,” she tries to reassure but she knows it’s falling on deaf ears. “I told you.”
Jughead’s laugh holds no humour. “And what will I do when I get to New York?”
“Write!” she says instantly, not giving it a second thought. “And your photography that you do with Toni is stunning -”
“What if I can’t make money from that?”
Veronica sighs and rolls her eyes, hands sitting on her hips and Jughead’s smirk tells her that he knows that she’s starting to rise. “Well have you ever tried?”
“No.”
“Have you not been telling me to be brave? That we need to get out of our familiar? Is New York not the chance you’ve been trying to sell to me for the past year?”
Jughead’s eyes drop to the computer and his smile carries on when he starts typing. “God I love you.”
Veronica growls. “Don’t you change the subject on me, Jones.”
“Aggressive,” Jughead teases. “I like it.”
Veronica slams her palm on the counter in front of Jughead and her eyes grow. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. In all seriousness, your writing is fucking amazing and Toni told you herself that your photography is amazing too!”
“You don’t like to be challenged do you, Lodge?”
“Don’t ‘Lodge’ me!”
“Right,” Jughead nods. “Soon-to-be-Jones.”
Veronica stops in her tracks, eyes peering into Jughead’s. Thrown off guard. “Don’t tease me.”
“I’m not teasing.”
“God!” Veronica groans again while stacking cups. “You annoy me so much.”
“Obviously not enough, or you wouldn’t be promising forever with me.”
Veronica nods when she puts shakes on a tray to carry to a table. She starts walking when she calls out; “Jughead?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you too,” she announces across Pop’s.
Jughead’s head turns with a smile so big, Veronica feels her face blushing.
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Summary: After a fight with the Ghoulies, a bruised and bloody Sweet Pea just wants to lick his wounds alone, but Mika interrupts with her trademark attitude and powerful presence. He can’t stop thinking, FP was right, maybe Sweet Pea has really met his match this time...
Warnings: none, typical ansgty SP.
Author’s note: thanks for all the likes and loves on our first part! Feedback is always appreciated.
Chapter 1 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4
—
It’s a cold, dark place where Sweet Pea feels he stands. Not physically, but where the Serpents have taken him. A static zone closer to hell. He finds himself questioning every single fibre of his being when he can’t tell the difference between his own blood on his fists and that of the Ghoulie he just handled. Jughead had told him time and time again that it was some kind of soul-split he experiences that tears Jughead between the Northside and their pit on the Southside. That was the worst thing about it all. That Jughead was usually always right.
Sometimes, Sweet Pea feels bad.
Most of the time, he just feels tired.
He leans against the sink in the back room of the Whyte Wyrm with one hand steading himself and the other running under cold water. For a moment, he’ll let his eyes stay shut, praying for some sort of moment of peace. But rarely there is ever a moment of peace and he’ll wait in here until Fangs decides that it’s too quiet out in the bar and he needs some sort of entertainment.
Sweet Pea will do anything to break apart from the fight the Serpents just won against the Ghoulies and the guilt that follows it, even if it means standing out here alone. He decides Fangs will just have to find his own distraction.
He hears the door click open and soft footsteps building behind him. “Hey,” starts a voice, “Jughead sent me out here to see how you were doing. I kind of gave him shit for caring so much because Jughead Jones doesn’t seem like the kind of kid to care about anything and then there’s the fact that everyone says you’re this huge badass but, I thought I better listen to the son of FP Jones. And besides,” Mika says with a laugh, “Toni might be tiny but she cares about you and she’d probably kick my ass if I didn’t at least check.”
She’s hurried and nervous, he can tell, but Sweet Pea exhales loudly, keeping his concentration on the running tap. He wants to be alone but he knows by now that the Serpents don’t do anything alone. Even to get the back room for a moment alone was something that he had to convince Fangs about and now, that was short lived. “You can tell Jughead to shove his concern up his ass,” Sweet Pea says, still refusing to look at her. “But you’re right about T,” he hides a smile for his best friend. “Tell her I’ll be out in a moment.”
“So you have a weakness, huh?” Mika says, still standing in the doorway. “Toni Topaz, your very own Serpent Queen.”
“Seems like you walked in and already joined the ranks -”
Mika cuts him off. “Seems like someone’s a little pissed off because I stole his title of ‘Second Serpent Queen’, were you hoping for it? Or did I steal your little crown?”
Sweet Pea’s breath hitches in his throat and he’s torn between turning around to fight back or letting it go. But his heart beats a little faster as he stumbles for something to say. “Nah,” he replies instead. “I think Jughead already won that title.”
Mika laughs softly and it rings around him with a sense of relief, “Was that a joke?”
Sweet Pea just shrugs as he continues staring at the water.
The words; “Are you okay?” hang in the air above him and his eyes shoot open before he stretches up, putting his guard up as well when he turns around. Mika brushes her hair back behind her ears as she looks to Sweet Pea with worry in her eyes. He notices that she takes two steps forward before taking one back and instead, she puts her hands in her jacket pockets and shrugs.
“Am I okay?” he repeats.
She sighs loudly and rolls her eyes. “You know, Jughead really talked you up when he was giving me the deal on you, I don’t know, but a big guy like yourself really oughta learn how to communicate… spell it out with me, C-O-M -”
Sweet Pea cuts her off; “I know how to spell!”
“Do you know how to talk?” she challenges.
Sweet Pea shakes his head and groans at the sink. “Just not used to having newbies around…” he mumbles.
He can feel her standing behind him before she makes her way to the sink, leaning against it with her arms folded. “You might need to ah,” she says waving her hand in his direction, “Put something on those splits and tape them up. Just a suggestion of course,” she adds nonchalantly, “I’m sure you know exactly what you’re doing.”
Sweet Pea exhales loudly before turning to look her in the eye. Most of the time, people tend to step back when he’s so close but he could tell that she took the challenge, straightening her own back and raising both of her eyebrows. “By the sounds of things, Mimi, you know exactly what you’re doing.”
“I’m just trying to be nice, Sweet Pea,” she almost hisses, looking at him. “But I can see that’s not something that you’re accustomed to. Here’s a tip; brass knuckles are not only for the aesthetic. They might just help out your little problems with injury. Spread the word.” Mika shoves past Sweet Pea, letting her nails dig into his shoulder, leather snapping along the way. “And don’t call me Mimi!”
His voice catches and he feels his hand tense, he takes a deep breath. “Mika!” he calls.
She stops with her hand on the door handle but turns her head to look at Sweet Pea. “Hmmm?”
He swallows whatever pride he had left, closing his eyes as he speaks. “Look,” he says with a breath. “I know I’ve been kind of a hardass. I’m just going through some shit, you know?” he says honestly, regretting it in an instant.
Sweet Pea wishes he could take the words back, swallow them down. Not look so fucking weak in front of Mika but he feels the tension in his spine give up just a little more when she lets go of the door handle and walks back towards him.
She takes a few steadying breaths with him and he notices it. It’s in the way she moves her hands at the same time as he does and she meets his eyes. “Going through some shit?” she asks gently. “We all are.”
He laughs a little bit as he rubs his neck. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Everyone goes through shit, you’re nothing special.”
Sweet Pea manages a laugh. “Way to make a guy feel special, ya know?”
She lifts her shoulders and gives Sweet Pea a wink. “One in a million and all of that shit, yeah?”
“Something like that. That shit is reserved for the romantics. Like Jughead. Not my thing.”
Slowly, Mika spreads her fingers out, flexing them in front of her before lowering her hands to where his were at his sides, reaching out for his bloodied hands. Sweet Pea almost retracts from the touch, wanting to recoil. Wanting to strike back. Not understanding the touch at all. But when her fingers lace with his, he finally feels steady. He finally feels like he’s back grounded on the Southside. “Now, Sweet Pea,” she says, stern look in her eye. “Are you okay?”
Sweet Pea feels a pulse in his jaw when he’s asked again but her eyes keep him in their zone. “Now I am,” he tells her honestly.
Mika smiles at him before tilting her head to look Sweet Pea with a smirk, “As for being a hardass, it’s all good,” she shrugs.
They pause in the moment as Sweet Pea feels his guard let loose. “And why is that?”
Mika bites her lip before looking at him sideways. “Because you might be the hardass of the Serpents, but I’m harder. And the Southside can’t show you all the things I can.”
“Is that a promise?” he asks.
Mika tightens her grip a little more when he watches her body curve to move away with him. “Promises are for the romantics too, keep that in mind.”
Sweet Pea follows Mika out with his hand still in hers and wonders just exactly how those lips might feel. And if she believes that promises are for the romantics, how many has she broken?
Summary: Sweet Pea and Mika continue their friendship, she’s finally opening up and he’s devouring all the pieces of her she’s willing to share. Will they finally claw their way out of the friendzone or just keep existing so close, yet so far out of each others orbits...
Warnings: typical angst
Author Notes: thank you so much for being patient this week, keep an eye out for another sooner, rather than later...and thank you v much for the continued love and feedback on our Sweeka!
Catch up here: issa masterlist
He waits on cloud nine and it's only a matter of time before he feels the expanding in his chest. Sweet Pea waits in summer sun for it to heat him up but it's not as sunny on the Southside, his mind made sure he knew that. It might not be as sunny on the Southside but she's dancing on her tiptoes and Sweet Pea’s heart is continually swelling.
She keeps him up in the sky, higher than he's been before, but Sweet Pea doesn't ignore the throbbing in his head. He pinpoints every single change in Mika, from guard up, closed off to free in front of him, from short whip-like remarks to open and messy, the way her eyes linger a little longer on his mouth when he talks. He wonders what her lips feel like, he quickly looks away when she meets her eyes with his, swaying with the music.
Mika keeps her bedroom door shut these days, she says she likes her privacy but he's allowed on the bed and sometimes on the chair in the corner. “Were you watching me, Sweets?” she asks.
He laughs nervously, panic stuck in his rib cage and more nervous flicks of his eyes away from Mika’s legs covered in plaid and the bare strip of skin between the belt buckle and her crop top. “No,” he says quickly. “I-ah-nah.”
She keeps moving, air guitar at her hips, hair flying in the air.
Southside's weight is heavy on his shoulders. He has that deeply etched metaphorical snake on his back. It's been there since the day he was born; even at this age Sweet Pea can hear the hisses of the crowd that follows him around. Those constant hisses in his ear. The sound that Southside makes against the cheeks of their enemies. Sweet Pea knows the price of Southside. And he's seen people pay.
He wonders if he's paying the price right now, because he's higher than high as he watches his friend dance in front of him, but he shouldn't feel this way.
XXXXX
Jughead Jones holds Sweet Pea’s hand up as some sort of tribute. The look of FP Jones's pride was so apparent on his face, Sweet Pea did have a tiny bit of pride in himself. But the longer he looks at his hand in the air with cracked, split knuckles and angry red blood, it just made himself feel that way too. Angry, cracked, split. “If it wasn’t for Sweet Pea, we wouldn’t be standing here today!”
FP sniggers and goes back to sipping his coffee, black, three sugars and reads through the newspaper that looks out of place here in the clubhouse. “Looks like you got him good, Sweets. What'd he do?”
Sweet Pea thinks of a string of lies he could tell, and then a string of truths. Sweet Pea can taste the truth on the tip of tongue, burning him, aching in his mind. But Sweet Pea doesn't want to say it out loud. This was the life that they were going to lead for the rest of their lives, their fathers told them so. Jughead is a born leader. That's how it is when you're the next in line for the throne of Southside. Sweet Pea can taste the truth: The Ghoulie paid the price for Southside after calling Toni a Serpent Slut. The sound of Sweet Pea’s fist on the Ghoulie’s jaw was something he would never get sick of.
“Tell dad what happened, Sweet Pea,” Jughead says dropping Sweet Pea’s hand.
FP grins, “Just make sure it was worth it because Serpents bite-”
“-Quietly,” Sweet Pea finishes. “I know.”
“You're not going to get in trouble, are you?” Toni asks, rubbing her hands together.
Sweet Pea knows that Toni more concerned about the noise he might have made in the Ghoulies. But she has nothing to worry about. “It was nothing, T,” he reassures her. “It was just something that came up.” He couldn’t tell his best friend the true reason behind him unleashing.
“You're not gonna stay?” Toni asks him.
“Going to pick up Mika,” he replies to Toni, giving her a courtesy kiss on the cheek. “Love you guys, have a good day!” he calls out for safe measure.
“Have a good day?” Jughead calls out. “Are you alright?”
Sweet Pea can't escape the look on Jughead’s face when the Ghoulies were shouting, or the way his body unleashed when they were talking about Toni.
He can't escape the anger that ran through him.
The look in that Ghoulie's eyes as Sweet Pea tightened his flannel and swung his right fist, smack, smack, smacking, the crunch of his jaw, the gritting of his teeth, the spit that flew out of his mouth.
Sweet Pea would do it all over again for any of the Serpents.
He'd do anything.
But right now, all he wanted to do was feel a little normal and at this point, the only normality he has is Mika.
XXXXX
“The whole of Southside smells like sweat, body spray and cigarettes,” Mika says, sitting at the outdoor setting at Toni and Cheryl’s.
“It smells like teenaged boys,” Cheryl agrees. “It’s disgusting.”
Jughead rolls his eyes. “I hate being here.”
Sweet Pea folds his arms and rolls his eyes as Mika meets them. “You’ve never complained at me.”
“Maybe you’re the exception?” she shrugs.
“Maybe you just don’t complain because I drive you around everywhere?” Sweet Pea snaps back.
“Give me your keys and I’ll drive myself then?” she suggests.
Sweet Pea smirks and leans back in his chair. “You wouldn’t be able to handle the Dodge even if you tried.”
“Is that a challenge?” she replies, raising her eyebrow. “Because if I can handle your ass, I can take on the Dodge.”
Fangs audibly swallows and Toni bites her lip, he can see her flicking between Cheryl and Jughead. “Got something to say, Fangs?” Sweet Pea asks.
Fangs shakes his head in a hurry and Jughead pulls his beanie down, a nervous tick that Sweet Pea knows off by heart. “No,” Fangs answers. “Nope.”
Mika smirks on the right hand side and sips at her drink slowly, Sweet Pea knows she’s not a drinker but he enjoys seeing her let loose a little when she’s with Toni and Cheryl. He sips his beer at the same time. “I’m sorry that I bought your baby into it,” she announces at Sweet Pea. “But I can’t back down from a challenge.”
“You’re the only challenge around here,” Sweet Pea mumbles which just makes Mika laugh.
“Was that a fancy way of saying I’m hard work?”
Sweet Pea bites his lip, avoiding her eyes. “You don’t exactly make things easy.”
“Wow,” Mika bites back. “Your passive aggression is remarkable.”
“I’ve been hanging out with you too much.”
Mika shrugs and Sweet Pea can feel all eyes burning through him. “You’re the one climbing into bedroom windows, not me.”
If there was ever a time where Sweet Pea wished he could disappear, it was right now. He could almost hear the jaws dropping on the patio area around him and he glares at Mika. “Fuck me,” he groans.
Toni’s eyes grow and she throws a bottle cap at Sweet Pea’s head. “You’re climbing into what now?!” she snaps.
Sweet Pea can see that Mika knows she’s stepped in it this time but she owns it by saying; “Nothing’s happened, T,” she mutters. “Sometimes we just get in late.”
Toni turns all kinds of maternal as she starts her lecture but Cheryl chimes in with a; “Hang on, but what is this exactly?”
“What is what?” Sweet Pea replies.
Cheryl shakes her head. “Come on, we’re all adults here, right? Are you guys a thing?”
Mika looks from Sweet Pea and back to Toni, gritting her teeth together. “We’re friends…”
“Friends,” Jughead laughs. “Friends dont look at each other like that.”
He lets his friends keep trying to decipher everything, he can’t deal with their nagging. But the look in Mika’s eyes tells him that she wishes they could get the fuck out of here too.
“Yeah,” Sweet Pea sniggers at Jughead. “You would know.”
XXXXX
The smoky haze was so thick, Sweet Pea was starting to feel a little claustrophobic. He feels eyes on them as they walk through the crowd, that metaphorical snake on his back hissing louder than ever as they saunter through the Whyte Wyrm and he feels Mika’s confidence grow bigger than ever, with all eyes on her, Mika is God and Sweet Pea knows it. She splits away when she sees Betty in the crowd.
Sweet Pea is a cocky kick in the air and a toothpick hanging out of his mouth but he wears that leather jacket as if it's his goddamn crown, he turns around, scanning the place for Jughead or Toni, anyone to get him out of here and he sees misplaced Louboutins on the floor up ahead, praying to the God of Southside that he could get out just for a moment. Veronica and Archie being here makes it even more of a shit fight for him to stay indoors and in Archie’s presence.
He leans on the bar countertop when he feels a hand tap his shoulder. “Sweet Pea,” Veronica says quietly. “Have you seen Jughead?”
He notices the quiet tone, and the look Veronica shoots towards Mika and Betty tells him that Veronica is in a hurry. “Ronnie,” he groans. “Don’t do this tonight, shit, woman, you got your jock and blondie here right now.”
Veronica’s lips purse as Sweet Pea feels all kinds of mature and wise when he talks to Veronica. “I just need to talk to him,” she says with widened eyes.
Sweet Pea screws up his face, folding his arms. “Talking leads to more than talking and I don’t have time to be playing bodyguard.” Veronica slaps his arm and he jerks back, rubbing the spot. “Shit, V!” he groans.
“Just shut up for a second, please,” she argues, rolling her eyes. But Sweet Pea notices that Veronica finds Jughead in the crowd. “Ill be right back, don’t wait up for me!” she says, patting his back.
Sweet Pea laughs, “Not doing that tonight, Veronica.”
He downs a drink and Betty and Mika are still standing in the same spot. He decides to move, hating the crowd a little more now that he was worried for Jughead. “Hey, B,” he says. “Can I borrow Mika for a second?”
“Of course,” Betty says, patting Mika on the shoulder. “I’ve better go and find Archie and Ronnie anyways,” she says with a groan.
Mika smiles at Sweet Pea as she says; “Thank fuck, I was about to suffocate in here.”
He chuckles as he puts his arm across her shoulders. “Too much for you too, Mimi?”
“Way too fucking much… Does Betty ever stop smiling?”
He shakes his head. “Nah, she’s awesome.”
“How the hell does she put up with Jughead?”
“The same way we all do,” Sweet Pea replies. “Let’s go out the back, I’ve got a blunt from Toni.”
The door slams loudly behind them but the muted music continues on as they climb up onto the back of his truck. Mika sighs loudly as she leans on the back window. “This is better,” she says softly.
“Hanging out with me?” he asks.
Mika elbows him. “Being out of that loud ass clubhouse.”
Sweet Pea clutches at his chest. “Oh, that hurt.”
She smiles at him. “And hanging out with you.”
Sweet Pea licks over the blunt before saying; “Damn, you’re starting to fall in love with me.”
Mika pauses and then laughs out loud. “I mean, that’s the word on the street, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, that shit’s crazy. I guess it’s the biggest thing to happen around Southside.”
“Or not to happen,” Mika corrects. They both sit in comfortable silence.
Just as Sweet Pea was about to spark up his Zippo, the back door opens again. Betty and Jughead walk out before seeing the other two on the back of the Dodge. “Are we interrupting something?” Betty asks, “Because if we are, we’ll head back inside?” she asks, throwing her thumb over her shoulder.
“No!” Mika says, waving at them. Sweet Pea drowns down the feeling of telling them to go back inside and instead moves over.
“You guys can join,” he says. “But we’re about to light this blunt so I hope you’re cool with that.”
Jughead helps Betty up and they sit down next to Sweet Pea and Mika. “You guys have the right idea,” Jughead starts. “My dad was trying to challenge Fangs to a shots comp and it wasn’t going well.”
Sweet Pea hands the blunt to Mika. “You do the honours, yeah?”
“Sure,” she says, placing the blunt between her lips. She flicks the Zippo and inhales, letting it take over her. “Betty?”
Betty eyes the blunt and blushes. “I’ve never been high before…”
Sweet Pea looks at Jughead in shock. “Jug!” he groans. “You’ve never got high with your girl?”
Jughead chuckles and looks at Betty, nodding to the blunt. “Take it if you want,” he tells his girlfriend. “There’s a first time for everything.”
Mika nods at Betty. “I mean, I don’t want to be the one to be the bad influence but Jug is right, there’s a first time for everything.”
Betty smiles at Mika nervously and takes the blunt from her. “Here goes nothing.” Betty takes the blunt with all eyes on her and she holds in the smoke as she hands it over to Jughead.
The blunt goes around the circle until they run out. “You okay?” Jughead asks, laughing at Betty.
Betty nods. “You’ve always been my favourite Serpent,” she whispers.
“Who?” Jughead asks, “me?”
“No!” Betty giggles. “Mika.”
Mika’s heavy eyes look at Sweet Pea as he lays relaxed on the truck. “Well shucks,” Mika says with a grin, “You’re awesome too.”
“That cuts like a knife, you know,” Sweet Pea says with his eyes closed. “I always considered you my favourite Northsider.”
Betty can’t control her laughter by this point and Jughead is amused smiles at her. “Imagine how I feel,” Jughead shrugs. “I always thought I was your favourite Serpent.”
“I’m sorry, dude,” Mika teases. “But she loves me more than you.”
“Fine!” Betty says, throwing her hands up in defeat. “I love you all equally.”
“That’s better,” Jughead replies, stretching out his legs. “Do you want to go home soon?”
“And risk the wrath of my mother?” Betty sighs. “Hell no.”
“Your mom will be pissed for you smoking weed, huh?” asks Mika.
“My mom will be pissed regardless. Things aren’t great with her,” Betty says with a frown. “Alice Cooper always finds something to complain about. That’s why I have to crash on Fred’s sofa tonight.”
“It’s okay,” Jughead reassures. “I’ll pick you up in the morning.”
Sweet Pea doesn’t miss Jughead’s eyes and he doesn’t miss the underlying message in Jughead’s voice. He’d known Jughead so long now, Southside was all in sync. But he leans back, briefly wonders where Veronica is and decides to relax.
Sweet Pea keeps his eyes closed as he listens to the other three chat, letting the peace take over for just a moment until Mika leans into his ear. “I think these two might be heading off soon… Or so I hope. I kind of want to relax.”
Jughead jumps off the tailgate. “We better go inside,” Jughead tells them. “Let’s go, Betts.”
Betty follows after Jughead and waves to Sweet Pea and Mika left on the Dodge, “See you guys tomorrow?”
“You will!” Mika replies, waving back. She puts her hand in Sweet Pea’s and he briefly looks down at their linked hands. He feels like he might be lighter than light in the passing moments with her skin on his skin. He wonders if maybe she's keeping him wrapped up tight in her because she's trying to keep grounded. And, he thinks, for her to be grounded by him must be something huge. Because it's not often that Sweet Pea feels like he's rooted in this earth.
They sit in a silence that Sweet Pea believes they’ve been waiting for all day. He feels her let her guard down, one that he’s chipped away at bit by bit. “You’re quiet…” he tells Mika.
She smiles at him. “I don’t have anything to say.”
“You’ve been smiling at me a lot today,” he says slowly. “I’m not complaining…”
She hushes him. “I’m trying,” she says softly. “The trust thing, I’m trying.”
Sweet Pea nods. “Don’t force yourself to,” he says sternly.
“I’m not…” Mika adds gently. “You make it a whole lot easier on me. Even if sometimes I still freak out.”
“Do you want more than this?” Sweet Pea starts, looking at Mika from the side of his eyes cautiously. But Mika reads him easily and she has a small smile playing on those lips he's wondered about a little too much.
She shrugs and flips his hand to look at his knuckles, tracing patterns on them.”Do you?”
For a split second, Sweet Pea wonders exactly what she means. But he’s snapped out of it when he realises she means more than Southside. “People assume I’m going to be Southside forever,” he answers weakly. “But sometimes I want to get out.”
He hates that he’s put his heart into words. Southside was everything and every part of him but sometimes he wants more than this. More than Southside or Riverdale.
Mika hums as she drags her eyes over his face, he can feel her reading his expressions and every single thing he regrets saying out loud. “Don’t worry,” she comforts. “I won’t tell anyone.”
He sighs with relief and keeps his eyes on her hand again. “I just hate talking in general.”
“Don’t talk if you don’t want to.”
“But I do,” he says honestly. “I do with you.”
She keeps the silence steady. Sweet Pea knows that Mika is just waiting on him. He closes his eyes again to ground him. “People think I don’t give a fuck.”
“About what?” she asks.
“Everything,” he opens up. “I tried so hard at school but it didn’t really get me anywhere. I try hard to get out of Southside but I always just seem to get a little deeper. I want to get out one day, see something. See the world, but that sort of thing doesn’t happen to people like us…”
“Yes it does,” she says, gripping on to his hand tighter. Sweet Pea keeps looking down but Mika reaches across to grab his face, forcing him to look at her. “You can get out if you want to, Sweet Pea.”
“I know,” he mumbles. Mika’s eyes are a light, caramel. He didn't think of the colour until now but he sees it in the dim light from inside. He closes his eyes.
“There's got to be more out there, Sweets,” Mika almost whispers.
His mind buzzes, there's more out there but he knows they shouldn't look any further than the Southside. “There's way more out there, Mika,” he tells her honestly. “And one day we'll get out of here.”
She smiles gently at him and leans her head on his shoulder, breathing deeply, making Sweet Pea match his breaths with hers. “We'll get out of here?” she asks, longing in her voice. “Move to the Northside?”
Sweet Pea laughs out loud and shakes the entire truck. “Baby, we'll go further than that, the worlds the fucking limit!”
“The world's the limit?” he almost hears a gasp in her words. “You really are a romantic.”
“Mika, since I’ve met you, I’ve never had so many dreams,” He says to her. He wonders if she can read his words because he's on his hands and knees now. “I don’t know how to say it, but it’s like you’ve opened my eyes or something…”
Several beats run through them on the roof of the trailer and a truck sounds it's horn in the distance. “That was really cheesy, you know?” she murmurs. “But you don't have to stay Southside.”
“Maybe I’ll go further than that,” he laughs, it's a lie but right here, right now. It's as close to the truth that he could get. Sweet Pea watches Mika’s hair fall into her eyes and he holds back the urge to move it. Lifting his hand before stopping himself. “Can I just…” he says.
Mika nods and he takes it, brushing her hair out of her eyes. “Thanks,” she says softly.
“You don’t need to thank me for being a decent human being,” he mumbles.
She laughs humourlessly. “I guess not,” she replies. “But I guess it just goes to show how fucked up I am.”
Sweet Pea frowns. “Don’t say that, Jesus Christ.”
“We’re both just trying to get through stuff, you and I.”
He nods. “We’ll get there, right?”
“Right,” she agrees. She lays her head on his shoulder again before looking up at him. “Thanks for opening up to me.”
Sweet Pea tilts his head to look at her resting on his shoulder. He’s almost shaking before he even realises what's happening and the grip Mika has on Sweet Pea’s hand is vice-like. With his free hand, he brushes strands out of her eyes again, soft touches on her skin, but she uses the grip on his hand to bring him a little closer and she leans forward. Sweet Pea can feel his breath stuck, deep down in the bones of him. Unsure of where to move or what to do, he's noisy breaths and she's soft lips but his heart slows down, his head tilts and he can almost taste the minty fresh of her chewing gum. “Are you sure?” he murmurs softly almost against her.
The door of the Whyte Wyrm slams against the wall and Jughead steps out with Veronica following behind him. “Fuck!” Sweet Pea groans, resting his head on Mika’s shoulder, fucking cursing Jughead to hell with his timing. Sweet Pea’s still burning from being so close to Mika but she just laughs, patting him on the head as he rests.
“Bad timing, isn’t it?” she whispers. “Or was it good timing? God knows this could have been a mess.”
Sweet Pea rolls his eyes to himself as he gets off Mika’s shoulder to look over at Jughead and Veronica, talking to each other in the dark. “I could fucking skin that idiot alive right now.”
Mika looks Sweet Pea in the eye. “Let me whip out the pocket knife,” she shrugs. “Because honestly, I could too.”
Sweet Pea can’t hide a grin as he listens to Mika but Jughead and Veronica pause at the door when they realise that Sweet Pea and Mika are still there. “Oh shit,” Jughead says quickly. “I’m just dropping Veronica off at home!”
“Whatever you say,” Sweet Pea shrugs.
Jughead and Veronica stand in the distance. “I’m not even gonna ask,” Mika says softly.
Sweet Pea rubs his face, head resting in his palms. “Please don’t,” he mumbles. “I don’t want to have to explain that shit.”
“I don’t think it needs explaining,” she muses. “I can read Jughead loud and clear.” Mika exhales loudly and drops her head back down on Sweet Pea’s shoulder. “Want to get out of here?” she asks. “I know a place we could go if you take me to FP’s to get my bike.”
“I’m just going to go and drop Veronica off,” Jughead shouts loudly, trying to convince Sweet Pea.
Sweet Pea rubs his face and shakes his head, standing up on the back of the truck. “It’s okay,” he calls. “We were just about to head off.”
Mika smiles sweetly at Sweet Pea as she goes to jump back in the truck. “Good timing after all, huh?” she whispers.
Sweet Pea shuts the door behind her and goes to the drivers side, slipping his keys in the ignition. “After I we get your bike, where do you wanna go?” he asks, waving out to Veronica and Jughead as they walk away.
2019 is nearly here. I know we’ve both been v absent due to real life shit, but we’ve got lots of plans for this year. Thanks for always hanging with our gang and watching the madness.
Thank you for all the loves on our Sweet Pea series, I Swear She’s an Angel chapters and our Bughead drabble/smut 😈😭 watch out for chapter 3 of ISSAA today...
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