let it fade into something new.

              nods  in  agreement  with  her  boyfriend  because  as  far  as  sabrina’s  concerned ?   they  never  broke  up  ,   so  .    ‘  it  would  be  ridiculous  if  we  said  we  didn’t  .   at  least  ,   archie  would  be  a  bit  sus  .   i’ve  already  told  him  about  how  i  know  some  of  the  kids  in  riverdale  .  ’    was  that  a  mistake ?  maybe  ,   but  worst  case  scenario  ,   she  was  supposed  to  be  a  DUMB  blonde  anyways  .   blue  eyes  flash  up  to  him  ,   and  for  once  ,   genuine  fear  crosses  her  face  .   where  does  she  even  …  start ?   ‘  uhm  …  did  you  ask  michael  to  show  you  your  memories  of  it ?  ’   she  did  ,   and  hated  it  ,   but  needed  to  know  .  

               a  bit  of  a  frown  on  her  lips  ,   but  she  supposes  a  dumb  blonde  would  believe  the  other’s  words  .    ‘  oh  ,   thanks  ,   then !  ’   still  ,   it  hurt  like  …  her  whole  entire  soul  to  do  this  ,   really  .   how  much  longer ?   ‘  it  just  makes  sense  to  me !  salem’s  been  with  me  since  a  was  a  lil’  girl  .   my  aunts  used  to  joke  we  were  bonded  for  life  ,   but  i  guess  death  counts  too !  ’  

death   seems   to   be   stealing   the   already   diminished   stores   of   her   patience   ;   poor   lost   ,   galaxy   -   strung   girl,   tap   -   tap   -   tapping   irreverent   nails   against   whatever   sturdy   thing   she   happens   to   be   leaning   against.   ARMS   FOLDED   ,   of   course   ,   the   way   they   always   are.   then   a   breathy   groan   ,   exhaling   from   that   hollow   place   between   the   back   of   her   throat   and   her   nose   .   ‘   no,   just   —   damn,   here   ,   JUST   LET   ME   DO   IT   ,   ’   and   she   heaves   herself   forward,   from   her   restless   -   royal   perch   and   toward   the   thing   .   not   that   she   really   knows   any   better   than   they   do,   but   hell   —   !   she   MIGHT   ,   okay   ?

"i don’t think you doing it by yourself will make it any easier.” he has no idea how to talk to her, because...she’s her and also his roommate, since he can’t really think of her as the other thing. and josh isn’t surprised that she’s never had to deal with a fitted sheet firsthand. “what would really help is if you grabbed the other side and i did this side, then it’d be...faster, at least.”

she doesn’t want to imagine josh living with someone else. or if she does, she wants to imagine it as more of a roommate scenario, which is what she knows josh sees this as, it’s just a lot harder when maya knows who he is actually with. it’s his soulmate. even if there was some astronomical error with her placement, she knows that without a doubt, this is where josh belongs. as a result, his soulmate could very possibly be who he actually belongs with, even if all the details aren’t perfectly aligned. the fact that she’s sitting here keeping him from them feeds into her insecurity that this side of the afterlife may not be for her. she can’t help that she’s greedy with him. she’ll take as much as she can get, and if he wants to spend as much time together as possible, she won’t be the one to stop them. michael and janet had to know that they were something to each other. they’d died together. she’s not positive if they’re aware of how deep their history actually goes. she never thought she’d have to fight off thoughts of it being a burden to have met the boy she’d love for the rest of her existence before she’d even learned to ride a bike. 

“the point is that it’s heaven, josh,” maya forces herself to say instead of agreeing because what even is the point? she lowers her voice, “you can’t think like that. we’re not…” she can’t even finish the sentence. meant to be? can she really sit there and tell josh that they don’t belong together? they haven’t even talked about if arriving was an official breakup. maya had assumed that’s what it meant when they were assigned other partners and basically given new identities. she’s surely not giving her soulmate a fair shot. she can’t chastise josh for doing the same. “shouldn’t you be mad at me?” she wonders suddenly. “the last thing that we did on earth was bicker.” their actual last moments were spent with their hands joined, josh reaching out for her the second he lost control of the wheel. she instantly took hold of it and if they weren’t about instantly perish, it would’ve been very romantic. (it still kind of was, but she’s trying to stop romanticizing everything to do with josh.) “why am i not the last person you want to see?”

he’s not even hungry, but he didn’t know where else they were allowed to hang out, to be obviously platonic. it’s stupid, she is his girlfriend, he never ever said otherwise and he doesn’t believe it, either. and aren’t soulmates supposed to have some kind of...cosmic pull, undeniable? the only person he feels that way about is maya. so clearly something has gone very, very wrong. he’s not thinking about his food, he’s thinking about if his roommate is home and if not, is it really against the rules to take maya to his home and insist she stay with him in bed forever and never leave unless she wants to? she’s talking and while he is listening, he’s also just thinking about pressing a kiss to her hair, her forehead, her nose, her--

there’s a selfish part of maya that is so grateful that josh is here with her. she knows that it’s cruel to be happy that he’s… well, dead, but it’s also easy to forget that when he seems so perfectly alive, sitting across from her with his soft eyes and easy grin. she’s falling in love all over again- if she could. they’re not dating anymore, so she really shouldn’t have any feelings beyond platonic. it’s so odd to her that she spent her entire life on earth waiting to be josh’s girlfriend and when she finally is, they get to heaven and have to break up. 

josh bringing up her soulmate makes her grimace. there weren’t many things that maya wholeheartedly believed in throughout her entire life, but her and josh being soulmates never wavered. she had never brought it up to him in fear of coming on too strong after her obsessive tendencies as a middle schooler, especially with their relationship still being relatively new in terms of official status, but she knows that he saw what their future held. she doesn’t think it’s a secret that she thought they were written in the stars. “we really don’t talk much,” maya confesses, eyes locked on her plate. “how are things with your soulmate?” she asks purely out of politeness, ignoring how dirty the word feels on her tongue in this context.

it’s more frustrating than it is upsetting, to know something without a doubt, to believe it with every fiber for your being, only to be told that it’s not actually true. josh doesn’t really care what michael or anyone else says, he knows this whole soulmate thing in bullshit. he thinks most people don’t meet their other half, someone fated to be theirs ever since the universe created their individual molecules, in life and definitely not in death. but he did meet his person, when he was a child, and even back then something about maya caught his attention and held it literally until the end of his life. they even died together. so there’s really no doubt in his mind that, if any of this was actually true, they’d be living together in the afterlife. and what’s maybe even strangest of all, the idea of moving in with maya feels safe rather than scary.

         ‘   ooookay  ,   roomie !  ’  betty  cooper  will  try  to  keep  it  cool  .   she  is  elizabeth  cooper  ,   after  all  .   being  the  nice  and  agreeable  girl  was  sort  of  her  thing  .   for  the  most  part  .   she  ,   more  or  less  ,   just  likes  to  be  useful  .    ‘  if  i  get  everything  handed  to  me  ,   i  won’t  have  any  purpose  .  ’    and  she  likes  having  a  purpose  ,   something  to  do  .     ‘  besides  ,   i’m  good  at  cooking  and  that  kinda  stuff  .  ’   she  says  with  a  shrug  as  she  moves  to  sit  down  with  her  own  glass  and  hands  him  his  .     ‘  so  …  i  was  thinking  .   since  we  don’t  know  each  other  so  well  ,   yet  -  should  we  have  a  little  …  written  agreement  on  boundaries ?  ’  

                         “     –      who do   you   think   has   the   biggest   secret   here ?     “         daphne   has   never had to   try   and   make   friends   before.   she   had   friends,   3   of   them   and   a   dog   too   –         perhaps,        just maybe,  the   damsel   was   just   a bit rusty   on   the   correct   ice   breakers.     &   what   person   is   unhealthily   interested   in   the   private   lives   of   others   ?        freckled   cheeks   lighting   up   in   a   smile,                               “  there’s   probably   a   lot   of   incredible   stories   and   mysteries   in   every   person   you   see,         like,     they   totally   had   to   do   something crazy to   get   into   here   –   -   right   ?     “    

         a  blink  ,  once  and  twice  at  the  brunette  .   she’s  good  ,   sabrina  muses  ,   but  also  sabrina  is  so  BAD  at  acting  .   secrets ?  easy  .   acting  like  an  actual  idiot ?  she’s  sure  there’s  gaps  in  her  portrayal  ,   to  say  the  least  .     ‘  i’m  not  a  liar !  ’   she’ll  insist  ,   but  she  most  certainly  is  .   she  just  swears  she’s  better  at  this  .    ‘  yes ?  i  think  .   otherwise  ,   our  life  forces  are  connected  .  ’    which  ,   honestly ?  yeah  ,   it  wouldn’t  surprise  her  to  say  the  least  .  

@wastescftime:    ‘  i  am  thoroughly  convinced  that  the  only  thing  that  would  make  this  place  any  better  would  be  constant  music  .   i  mean  ,   everyone  wants  a  soundtrack  to  their  lives  ,   right ?  ’    though  ,   if  you  asked  max  ,   she’d  also  like  a  skate  rink  .   and  an  arcade  .   open  twenty  four  seven  ,   please  and  thank  you  .     ‘  hey  ,   quick  -  you  think  janet  could  like  ,   make  skirts  that  won’t  fly  up  when  i  jump ?  ’  

              𝚊𝚝  𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗  𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜  𝚘𝚏  𝚊𝚐𝚎,   𝚝𝚑𝚎  𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚊  𝚘𝚏  𝚊  𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚎  𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕  𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎  𝚑𝚒𝚖.   &   he’d  never  admit  late  night  musings   —   but  he’d  thought  about  the  notion.   typically  locked  in  his  subconscious,   but  occasionally  breaching  the  barrier  with  moments  of  school  dance  kisses,   walkie-talkie  static   &   the  particularly  fateful  summer  of  ‘85.   you  could  say  he  had  expectations   —   but  he  has  to  dismiss  them.   eleven  wasn’t  dumb  enough  to  land  herself  a  spot  in  the  afterlife   —   she’d  be  alive,   with  the  rest  of  their  friends.   they’d  all  move  on.   he’d  deal  with  it.

               still   —   𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜  𝚍𝚒𝚎  𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍,   &   admittedly  make  it  difficult  to  accept  the  prospect  of   someone  else.   he  knows  things  are  fishy.   he  thinks  there’s  a  chance  this  could  all  be  a   DREAM,   too   —   but  mike  was  always  a  bit  of  a  fool  when  it  came  to  love.

              so  he’ll  hover  at  the  entryway  of  their  shared  home  in  edenstones,   nervous   despite  logic  telling  him  it’s  stupid  to  feel  this  way.   when  his  gaze  lands  on  the  girl,   he’ll  enter.     ❝     uh,   hey   .  .  .   roommate,     ❞     tone  is  uncertain,   the  boy  will  shake  his  head,   &   he  could   TOTALLY   fall  off  the  face  of  the  earth  for  a   second  time   after  his  word  choice.     ❝     i   —   i’m   mike.     ❞

              @wastescftime   for   𝚋𝚞𝚏𝚏𝚢   !

she’s been dead before. maybe not the sort of thing she should think about without so much as blinking, but it’s true. she’s been dead before, twice even, hence kendra and subsequently faith entering her life. only one of those times did it last, and she saw the afterlife and she was happy there. the worst part was being brought back to her old life, fraught with constant struggle and burden and massacre. saving the world is exhausting when you’re only twenty.

it’s different this time, which immediately sets off her danger meter. and ask anyone: her meter is never wrong. so when she’s told that she’s a perky little optimist and her soulmate is, basically, a child (and so not her type, she’s never exactly dated someone delicate and lanky looking -- no offense to him) she knows things are not right.

he’s gotten so used to maya being his girlfriend (something which seemed impossible just a year ago) that he has no idea how to shut that part of his brain off. he also doesn’t think it’s fair that he has to, just because this place made a clear clerical error. they’re playing roles as different people, but...someone in charge here has to at least know that they died together, right? so they must be friends, obviously. it seems really unfair to be stressed out even when he’s dead so he’s taking his fake reputation to heart and trying to...not think about it, just go with the flow.

𝙄𝙉𝙏𝙍𝙊𝘿𝙐𝘾𝙄𝙉𝙂…𝙅𝙊𝙎𝙃 𝙈𝘼𝙏𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙒𝙎

    you just keep thinking about the expression “only the good die young,” as if it’ll make you feel any better. and you’re not mad at her for distracting you, you’re mad at yourself for getting distracted, and you’re mad that you’ll miss seeing your sister’s kids grow up and that you’ll never have any of your own and as far as the after life is concerned, you’d much prefer the vast nothingness you've come to expect.

.。  ♡  @gplacestart

    ‘    have   you   checked   out   the   library   here   yet? ‘        by   the   overflowing   laptop   bag   swung   loosely   over   annabeth’s   left   shoulder,   it   was   obvious   what   her   answer   would   be.         she   wasn’t   going   to   be   here   for   a   long   time,     she   only   assumed,   but   the   wealth   of   information   at   her   fingertips   was   too   much   to   pass   up.                    ‘   it’s   as   if   the   library   of   alexandria   never   burned   down   –             do   you   think   they   actually have those   scrolls   here    ?      ‘  

@wastescftime :      ‘  it  was  the  cat  -  ’   immediately  jabs  her  finger  in  the  direction  of   salem  ,   he  who  doesn’t  even  bother  giving  her  a  response  .   he’s  far  too  used  to  her  shenanigans  .   and  yes  ,   perhaps  there  is  still  the  ECHOING  sound  of  a  fallen  tree  ,   which  is  split  right  in  front  of  her  -  yet  :   it  was  a  CRYSTAL  clear  day   .      ‘  he  uhm  –  ’    a  pause  ,   looks  over  at t he  black familiar  that  stalks  off  into  the d istance  .     ‘  he’s  fatter  than  he  looks  .  ’    is  what  she  finally  settles  on  .  

@wastescftime :      ‘  hey  roommate  -  or  do  you  prefer  soulmate ?  ’    she  still  feels  weird  saying  that  ,   but  …  if  the  good  place  says  so ?   betty  may  feel  as  if  she  belongs  here  ,   but  there’s  something  off  .   archie  and  her  aren’t  next  door  ,   veronica  is  oddly  quiet  ,   though  she  thinks  jughead  might  be  content  .   well  ,   depending  on  where  he  lived  .    ‘  i  made  some  peach  tea  ,   join  me ?  ’  

𝙄𝙉𝙏𝙍𝙊𝘿𝙐𝘾𝙄𝙉𝙂…𝙃𝘼𝙍𝙑𝙀𝙔 𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙆𝙇𝙀

     you don’t know how to got where, where here is. you thought you were going to riverdale, but this is nothing like anywhere you’ve ever been (not that you’ve been many places, admittedly) and when you’re informed that you’re dead, it’s a lot to take it. part of you assumes this is just a coma fever dream due to a football related head injury.