congrats on 1000 followers, you very aptly-named lovely person! I would love a pre-canon Betty and Jughead ficlet. Betty in her Nancy Drew phase? Betty trying and failing to get a baby-sitters club? Jughead first realizing he like-likes her?
It’s not unusual to see Betty Cooper standing outside of Archie’s house. She lives next door; they’re friends. It’s a beautiful, sunny summer day – one that even Jughead can admit should be spent outdoors, even as he plans to spend the afternoon holed up in Archie’s bedroom playing video games.
No, what’s unusual is the fact that she’s got an enormous pair of binoculars pressed to her face, pointed in the direction of the cul-de-sac down the street, where police tape has been strung up around the perimeter of a house with green shutters. Two cop cars are parked outside, but there’s only one officer in sight, leaning against the hood of his car, smoking a cigarette.
A familiar sensation tickles at the base of Jughead’s skull – he’s intrigued. “What’s going on?”
Startled, Betty bumps the binoculars against her brow, and then drops them. They don’t go far, as she’s got the strap slung around her neck. “Ow!”
“Sorry.” Jughead stops beside her on the sidewalk. “What are you doing?”
Jughead looks at Betty, and then back at the taped-off house. “All the way from here?”
“Are you here to see Archie?” she asks, ignoring the question. “He just got a pizza delivered, you should go inside before he eats it all.”
His stomach grumbles at the mere mention of food. All he’d had to eat for lunch was scrambled eggs, which was also what he’d eaten for breakfast – his mom had worked a double shift last night and hadn’t had time to go grocery shopping. He’d let Jellybean have the last of the frozen waffles.
Yet every bone in his body is inexplicably screaming at him to stay out here with Betty.
“Archie can’t eat a whole pizza.” And even if he does, there will inevitably be another frozen one he can just pop in the oven – Archie’s dad has kept the freezer well-stocked ever since Mrs. Andrews moved to Chicago at the beginning of the year. “Tell me more about…” He gestures broadly at the house. “This.”
Betty stares at him for a moment, and then the firm line of her mouth softens, as though she’s recognized a kindred spirit. “I don’t know what happened,” she admits. “We just heard sirens going by about a half hour ago, and then a bunch of cops went into the house.”
Jughead’s brain buzzes with possibility. “D’you think it could have been, like…a murder?”
“That’s what I said!” Betty’s face lights up with excitement, and something about it makes Jughead’s stomach feel weird and fluttery. Probably just the fact that there might be an actual mystery brewing a half-block away from where they stand. Or the fact that he really is hungry. “Archie said I was being overdramatic.” She rolls her eyes.
“Can I see?” He holds out a hand for the binoculars, and Betty obliges, tugging the strap over her head. As she does, he gets a whiff of her scent: sunscreen and soap and something vaguely floral. It’s pleasant.
Jughead studies the house for a minute or so before turning back to her. “Do they have a fence around their backyard, or does it just run into the woods back there?”
A slow smile creeps over her face. “I’m not sure.”
He hands the binoculars back with a shrug. “Only one way to find out.”
“I like it better cold, anyway.” Jughead nods towards the edge of the forest behind them. “Adventure awaits.”
(send me a prompt! any prompt!)