Thank you for all the reviews you've left me. This is the last chapter and I hope you enjoy it.

"Oh, god!" Betty gasps as the hand she has buried in Jughead's dark locks twists harder, bringing him closer to her, asking for more.

He hums in response and the vibration almost makes her fly off the bed, but he pins her to the mattress with his free hand to prevent her from accidentally knocking him out. Something he had to learn the hard way.

The look he gives her is supposed to be a warning—after all, he told her not to move—but instead she takes it as a challenge. She wants to see what he'll do when she disobeys him. She's always had a rebellious streak, after all. But then he flicks his tongue just the right way and all thoughts of disobedience leave her mind. She'll comply with his every whim if he just keeps doing that.

Jughead never let anyone touch his hair, especially not the way Betty is now. But the first time Betty ran her fingers through his locks, he thought he was going to die. Or at least lose control too quickly and embarrass himself during their very first make out. Now the only thing that keeps him from doing just that is trying to focus on the burning of his scalp rather than Betty's moans that grow deeper with each sweep of his tongue.

It's not long before the tingling that starts in her toes quickly spreads over her whole body, telling her she's close to orgasming. As a wave of pleasure washes over her, her vision going white and her ears ringing, she doesn't hear the front door open or the clicking of heels moving towards her bedroom until it's too late.

"B, you're not gonna believe what just hap-" Veronica marches into Betty's room without so much as a thought to knocking before it's too late. "Oh my god!" she shrieks, immediately covering her eyes and turning away. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you were... having solo time. I'm just gonna... I'm gonna go to my room and put earphones in so you can... finish this. Text me when it's safe to come out."

Before Betty can gather her thoughts and say a single word, Veronica closes the door again and hurries off to her room, the slamming of her bedroom door reverberating through the suddenly-very-quiet apartment.

Betty and Jughead stare at each other wordlessly for a few moments, both of their faces a mix of horror, surprise and confusion.

"Did she just…" Jughead whispers, even though he's sure Veronica can't hear him.

"Not notice you?" Betty says, lifting herself on her elbows and glancing around the room until her eyes fall on the huge basket of laundry perched at the foot of her bed—a result of her many trips to the laundry room for a secret rendezvous with Jughead.

She was just about to put the clothes away when he came over, knowing that Veronica left to run some errands and wasting no time before pinning her to the bed and ravishing her, the pile of laundry quickly forgotten.

At least until now when they were so rudely interrupted and the overflowing laundry basket seemed to have served as a perfect cover for Jughead who was kneeling at the side of Betty's bed.

"Given that she's not screaming at us and demanding we explain ourselves I assume she didn't," Betty muses, biting her lip. She's not sure if it's the ridiculousness of the situation or the orgasm-induced endorphins coursing through her body, but she wants to laugh her heart out.

"I kinda always expected her to find out like this."

"With your head between my legs?" She raises her eyebrow with a smirk and Jughead just shrugs his shoulders.

"Catching us in action," he says. "You, Betty, are insatiable."

Betty rolls her eyes and playfully shoves him with her foot, her face growing red. "I'm not."

"Yes, you are." Jughead smirks, grasping her foot with his hand and trailing little kisses from her ankle to her thigh. "But I love indulging you," he mutters against her skin and she throws her head back with a moan once his lips reach her still aching center.

"We shouldn't," Betty pants, and while her mind is telling her to stop, her body is asking for more. An eternal struggle. "Veronica is…"

"Blasting her eardrums off," Jughead cuts her off. "So you could finish this."

"But I already have." She's not sure why she's still protesting, especially as Jughead runs his fingers along her inner thighs, making her head spin once again.

"Since when is one enough?" He grins at her and Betty's already-red face turns a shade deeper. She may be a bit insatiable after all.

"Okay. One more. But make it quick."

Jughead cocks his eyebrow at her as if to say "Is that a challenge?" before he dives back in, hoping Veronica's noise cancelling headphones are good enough to block out Betty's screams.

"Knock, knock. Are you decent?" Veronica asks as she walks into Betty's room, covering her whole face with her hands.

"Ronnie, I texted you to come to my room. Why wouldn't I be decent?" Betty bites back a laugh.

"Just checking. As I always will from now on." She finally puts her hands down, revealing an apologetic expression. "Your privacy is important to me."

"Since when?" Betty almost asks, but quickly stops herself. Her best friend seems genuinely sorry and looks more embarrassed than Betty has ever seen her. She's not going to make fun of her now. "It's okay, V," she says instead. "I should've locked the door before…"

"No, no, no," Veronica cuts her off before she can finish the sentence. "I came home unexpectedly, I didn't knock, I invaded your privacy and for that I'm sorry."

Betty's not sure where all of this is coming from. She's just glad that by some miracle Veronica seems to have no clue about Jughead's presence in her room when she barged into it. Despite Jughead's expectations, Betty thinks it would be a terrible way to reveal their relationship. "It's okay," Betty says again, punctuating it with a small smile. "Now tell me what made you storm in here in such a rage in the first place."

"Oh, B, you're not gonna believe this." Veronica throws her arms in the air in frustration. "You remember Archie's idiotic gym buddy Reggie?"

Betty wonders whether it's a rhetorical question and Veronica's making a long pause just for dramatic effect or whether she expects her to answer. Because of course that Betty remembers Reggie. How could she not? "Of course I remember him. His drunk ass tried to boil an egg in our microwave and made the door blow off," she says finally, rolling her eyes. But Veronica seems to be distracted by something that caught her attention.

"What is this?" she asks, pointing towards the bright pink laundry basket on Betty's bed. Betty's just about to give her a confused look—even Veronica should know what laundry looks like—when her eyes fall on the pile of clothes. There at the very top sits a dark gray shirt unlike any other that Betty owns, and there is nobody who knows the contents of her closet better than her best friend.

"My… sleep shirt," Betty says, hoping that if she's nonchalant enough about it, Veronica may not be suspicious. "You know I'm not into that whole satin pajama set thing." She waves her hand towards her current outfit, consisting of her purple NYU t-shirt and baby blue shorts with cupcake pattern.

"Yeah, but is it really your shirt? Because I don't remember you ever owning a man's t-shirt," Veronica says with a smirk. All of Betty's previous hope disappears. Thankfully it's not one of Jughead's typical S shirts. That would be harder to explain. Still, Veronica is wearing a wide grin as if she just exposed some deep dark secret. "Did Betty Cooper have a one-night stand? How scandalous." She clasps her hands in excitement and plops down on the bed next to Betty, a clear sign that she's expecting a story time.

"You had one night stands before Archie. With more than one person at a time, I might add." Betty tries to deflect, but for once Veronica has no interest in talking about herself.

"It's scandalous for you, not me." She rolls her eyes as if it's obvious. "And we're talking about you, so don't try to change the subject."

"I don't kiss and tell," she objects, despite knowing that Veronica won't give up and is probably already spinning a juicy story in her head.

"You have his shirt so there was clearly more than just kissing." She grins, but Betty shakes her head. "Oh, c'mon. It's not like I'm ever gonna meet this guy, right?"

"Right…" Betty bites her lip, thinking hard for a couple of seconds, considering whether she should share at least something with her best friend. Once she and Jughead reveal their relationship to their friends, it may become obvious to Veronica who she was talking about, but at the same time she's dying to finally tell someone about it. She's been having the time of her life with Jughead and a tiny part of her wants to brag about it. Even if she has to pretend he's a stranger she's only slept with once.

"C'mon. I don't need all the details," Veronica prompts her and Betty knows that's a lie. Her best friend will most definitely try to get all the details.

"Well…" Betty trails off, trying to think of something small to share that would hopefully quench Veronica's curiosity. The memory of Jughead's fingers dancing across her skin and his lips pressing to the most sensitive places of her body sets off a tingling sensation within her. He's been nothing if not the most attentive lover she's ever had and she tries to keep the wide grin from spreading across her face and spilling everything to Veronica right then and there.

Judging by Veronica's smirk, her attempt at poker face clearly failed. "That good, huh?" She teases, making Betty blush.

"Mind-blowing." She can't help herself and lets out a little giggle, feeling like a teenager whispering about her crush and wishing she had a friend like Veronica when she was that age.

"You go, girl! Get that D!" Veronica whoops excitedly.

"And we're done with this conversation."

"Too far?" Veronica asks and Betty's glare is an answer enough. "Well then, let me tell you all about how Reggie the asshole Mantle is single-handedly threatening my back-to-school party."

"Mmm I missed this," Jughead murmurs against the back of Betty's neck, his arms wrapping around her bare stomach.

"Having my naked body pressed against yours?" She teases, tilting her head back to brush her lips against his.

"Well, that as well, of course." He laughs. "But I meant us, being together inside our apartments without Archie or Veronica watching our every move."

"Yeah, that does feel nice," Betty says and rests her head against Jughead's shoulder. The lavender scent of the bubble bath and the feeling of her boyfriend's wet, warm body enveloping hers brings her an incredible sense of calm. It's moments like these when she wishes they'd already told their friends about their relationships so they could fully enjoy it. "Once Archie and Veronica know, it may be a bit intense for a while, but after that it will be great."

"Class starts next week. I guess it's almost time to tell them," Jughead ponders out loud as he interlocks his fingers with Betty's. They haven't decided when and how exactly they're going to break the news about the change in their relationship to their friends. They don't want to make a big deal out of it and just want their friends, Veronica in particular, to be busy enough with their own lives to leave theirs alone. But the longer they wait, the harder it seems.

"Actually, I've been thinking about this and I've come up with three possible scenarios on how to tell them," Betty announces. She's been thinking about it more and more in the past couple of days, trying to come up with different ways and opportunities to tell their friends as well as gage their possible reactions.

"You're adorable, Betts, but you're overthinking this." Jughead chuckles, pressing a kiss to her temple. "I thought we could just send them a text like 'BTW we're dating. Please don't make this weird' or something like that."

"Jughead!" She exclaims, slapping his arm playfully. "This is serious. We've all been friends for a while and when two friends fall in love it changes the dynamics of the group. They deserve a proper explanation and to be assured that even though we're together now, it doesn't have to change our friendship with them. You can't say that in a text."

"Babe, we're not parents about to tell their kids they're getting a divorce and trying to soften the blow with gifts, so I don't think…"

"Gifts!" Betty exclaims, not letting him finish. "Maybe we need to get them gifts. Archie always gives Ronnie a gift when he fucks up and it makes her much more forgiving. You're a genius, Juggie!"

She twists around to give him a proper kiss on the mouth and he doesn't try to explain to her that he doesn't actually want to give Archie and Veronica any gifts. Being called a genius by Betty Cooper is about the best thing that he could aspire for and he's not going to ruin it.

The bathtub is barely big enough to allow her to straddle him but she tries anyway and the guttural moan escaping his lips is stopped as she presses hers against his. Water splashes out of the tub and covers the bathroom floor, but neither of them cares as their tongues tangle together in a kiss so hot it would steam up the mirror if it wasn't already.

"Let's take this to bed," Betty whispers breathlessly as Jughead's lips press against her chest. He wholeheartedly agrees when they suddenly get rudely interrupted by the annoying buzzing of his phone.

With a groan he reaches toward the counter. After a few seconds of struggling to unlock the screen with his wet hands, he sees two messages waiting for him.

Archie: On my way home. Want me to pick up pizza or Chinese?

Archie: Ronnie says we're having a movie night with her and Betty.

For the first time ever he's disappointed at the prospect of food and movies.

After leaving Jughead's apartment Betty takes a walk around the block for good measure, telling herself it will make lying to Veronica about her whereabouts a bit easier. She got fully dressed up in her running gear before leaving for Jughead's and announced to her friend she was going for a little run around the neighborhood. Instead, she only went as far the apartment opposite theirs, conveniently planning her own workout at the same time as Archie's, who was at the gym on the other side of Brooklyn.

Always having been a terrible liar, Betty didn't think she could keep her relationship with Jughead secret for this long. But throughout the two weeks the little lies she's been telling—who she's texting, why she's taking out the trash when it's only half full at ten in the evening or who's giving her the best orgasm of her life—have become a little easier. It's not something she's particularly proud of or something she plans to continue, yet she feels a sense of accomplishment. Or perhaps Veronica just can't sniff out the truth as well as she makes everyone believe.

When Betty finally returns to their apartment, Veronica is sitting at the dining table, her spectacles perched on her nose, a sign she's in her "serious business" mode. The moment she spots Betty though, she puts her glasses down and gives her a broad smile that could only be described as triumphant.

"I found a way to salvage my party that will make Reggie Mantle cry," she announces by way of a greeting.

"Are you planning to kick him in the crotch again or…" Betty says. As her best friend shakes her head she slides into a chair opposite her, expecting her to lay out a long and complicated plan that may or may not include something illegal.

"That one I'm only saving for his sexist comments. Which I'm sure he still has plenty of." Veronica rolls her eyes. "I have something much better planned, but I'll need all your guys' help."

"All of us?" Betty quirks her eyebrow, not sure she wants to hear about the plan after all.

"You, Archiekins and Jughead, of course." Veronica clasps her hands together, her eyes sparking with something sinister for a moment when she seems to remember something and her smile turns from menacing to sweet again. "Speaking of which, we're having a movie night at their place today. Archie's bringing some food soon, so while I have no idea how you smell so wonderful after a run, I assume you wanna take a shower before we head over there, right?"

"Yeah… right." Betty jumps out of the chair immediately, hoping Veronica thinks she's eager to get into the shower and not because she wants to get away from her before she can not only smell the remains of the lavender bubble bath on her but also sex and lies. Maybe her senses are that good after all. "I'll be out in a minute," she says as she scrambles to her room.

"Don't worry, dear. I still need to look up something on the dark web before we go," Veronica calls after her, putting her glasses back on along with a sordid grin.

Half an hour later they all meet up at Archie and Jughead's place, a plethora of Chinese food spread across the coffee table and the couch that acts as an extra surface while they sit on the floor.

"Ronnie, can I talk to you in the bathroom for a second?" Archie asks just as they're about to sit down and dive into the food, making Jughead groan in frustration.

"If it's another back pimple you want me to get rid of I swear to God..." Veronica huffs, but follows him into the bathroom, her own stomach growling from hunger.

"It's not a back pimple," Archie whispers as he closes the door behind them.

"Then what is it? And why are we whispering?"

"I found something when I got home and I don't think you're gonna like it," he says, pulling out an empty bottle of lavender bubble bath from the trash can.

"I'm more of a Chanel No. 5 than lavender kind of gal, you're right. But…" The realization hits her suddenly, her jaw dropping in an unladylike fashion. "I can't believe this!" she exclaims, trying to keep her voice quiet so as to not alert their best friends.

"I know, right? Jughead has a girlfriend and didn't tell me about it? We've spent the last two weeks trying to set him up with Betty. No wonder it didn't work." He frowns, chucking the empty bottle back into the trash can.

"Oh, Archiekins." Veronica smiles at him fondly. "I think it worked just right."

When they return back to the living room a few minutes later, Betty and Jughead greet them with smiles that are too wide and too fake to not be hiding something.

"So, what do we have here?" Veronica asks as she sits down on the single throw pillow that Archie and Jughead own as she looks at all the food displayed in front of her.

"I got some orange chicken, two kinds of rice, egg rolls and fried wontons." Archie starts pointing at all the different foods as he plops down between Betty and Jughead. "I know those are your favorite, Betty so I got them for you."

"Oh, that's so sweet of you. Thanks, Arch." Betty beams at him as she takes one of the wontons, dips it in a sauce and throws it in her mouth. A satisfied moan that makes Jughead twitch in his seat leaves her lips and he quickly scrambles for something to fill his mouth with as well.

"Not as sweet as you," Archie mutters under his breath and both Betty and Jughead seem to inhale their food at the same time, coughing violently as they share a confused glance not completely unrelated to the food stuck in their throats.

"So um… Betty says you have a plan you want to discuss. Something to do with the douchebag Reggie?" Jughead quickly changes the topic, looking at Veronica expectantly.

"Yeah, I think I found something on him, but it's not making a lot of sense so I thought you guys could help me. But my plan can wait for now. How about we eat first?" she says and Jughead can't protest against that.

"I bet Betty can get it done," Archie says all of a sudden. "She's always been into these Nancy Drew detective books. I bet she can solve anything."

"Yeah, but that's just kids stuff, really." Betty shakes her head, looking sheepish. "If you want someone with some serious detective knowledge, Jug is the pro at that. He's read more crime novels than I can count."

"That's debatable, Betts. I may know a bit too much about hiding a dead body, but there is no mystery you couldn't solve." He flashes her a smile, but immediately gets interrupted by Archie again.

"Yeah, and you make this really cute face when you try to interrogate someone. Your eyes go wide and your nostrils flare but like… in a pretty way," Archie stammers, not meeting her eye and stuffing a piece of chicken into his mouth.

"Umm, thank you?" Betty narrows her eyes at him, more and more confused by his behavior with every word he says.

Jughead watches the strange interaction between his best friend and girlfriend when he realizes Veronica has been unusually quiet, her head hung low, slowly nibbling on an eggroll.

"It's true," Archie speaks up again once he swallows his food. "I remember you always used to carry around a magnifying glass and wear this bright pink jacket that wasn't inconspicuous at all. But pink has always been your color, hasn't it? It goes well with your hair. And your hair is always pretty, even when it's a bit frizzy like now." Betty touches her hair a little self-consciously and Archie's rambling is interrupted by Jughead's sharp elbow landing in between his ribs.

"What the hell, Jug?" Archie turns to his friend with an offended look, wrapping his arms around his torso to prevent further attacks on his ribs.

"Dude, seriously. Knock it down a peg," Jughead hisses, quietly enough just for Archie to hear but punctuates his words with an angry glare.

"What are you talking about?" Archie looks at his friend innocently, but the puppy dog eyes that usually make everyone forgive him for whatever stupid thing he's done don't work on Jughead this time.

"Veronica's right next to you. Can you really not control your fuckboy tendencies?"

"It's not… I wasn't…" Archie tries to defend himself, but he's interrupted by Veronica as she grabs his arm.

"Can we talk for a moment, Archie?" She says, not waiting for his answer before she drags him towards his bedroom.

"Well that was weird," Betty mutters when the door to Archie's bedroom slams shut.

"What's gotten into him? Just this morning he was strumming on his guitar, writing some new song about Veronica's raven hair. And now he's…" He throws his hand up in frustration, not sure how to best explain his friend's behavior. "It's like he's fifteen again and he just discovered how much girls like the football player and musician combo and he doesn't know where to put his dick first," he says finally.

"Please, can we not talk about Archie's dick now?" Betty scrunches her face, putting her egg roll down after experiencing a sudden loss of appetite. "Or ever?"

"Sorry," Jughead says and finishes the discarded piece of food for her in one big bite. Unlike Betty's, his appetite never wavers and he hopes the Chinese food can fuel his brain and help him figure out the mystery that is Archie Andrews.

"Archie would never... It doesn't make any sense." Betty shakes her head, gnawing at her lip in deep thought. She and Archie have been friends since they were in diapers. And yes, he was her first kiss when they were thirteen and she believed it when everyone in their year claimed they already had theirs and didn't want to be the only one who didn't. But after that mortifying experience they both agreed there would never, ever be anything romantic between them. It was not a hard promise to keep. Archie went through what they all lovingly called "his fuckboy phase" in high school—which Betty disapproved of—but ever since meeting Veronica he's been head over heels in love with her. It was as if all the other girls in the world ceased to exist. There is no way he'd just suddenly start flirting with his best friend, let alone in such an awkward way and in front of Veronica. There must be a reason for Archie's odd behavior. "Unless..." she trails off, the wheels in her head spinning, when a metaphorical light bulb goes off in her head.

"What?" Jughead looks at her in confusion, his own mind still trying to process what just happened in front of them, but not being able to make any sense of it and instead shoveling more food into his mouth.

"God, we're so stupid!" Betty exclaims in a whisper, her eyes flitting to Archie's bedroom door to make sure their best friends are still in there. "They're playing us. They know about us and they want us to confess."

"Oh…" Jughead says and feels a wave of relief wash over him. While Archie's strange attempt at flirting with Betty made no sense to him and Betty's face made her feelings about the situation pretty clear, it still feels good to know that his oldest friend wasn't seriously hitting on his girlfriend. "Well then I guess it's over, right? We've been meaning to tell them in the next few days anyway."

"No, no, no." Betty shakes her head. "They think they can play with us and make us feel uncomfortable? They think they're smarter than us? We can't let that happen."

"What do you wanna do then?" he asks, sensing Betty already has something on her mind.

"It's time we play them back."

"What was that, Archie?" Veronica whisper-yells at him once they're alone again.

"What? I was doing everything you asked me to," he says, knowing full well that he didn't succeed.

"I asked you to flirt with Betty. To use your beautifully sculpted face and charming personality," she says, running her finger along his jaw, but quickly shakes her head to clear her thoughts. Now is not the time to get lost in Archie's eyes. "But instead you just gave her some weird compliments. It wasn't believable at all."

"Well I told you that I can't do it. Betty is like my sister. It makes my skin crawl to think of her that way." Archie tries to defend himself, though he knows their plan wasn't going as expected and it may or may not be his fault. "And she would never believe it anyway. She knows how much I love you, Ronnie."

"Oh, Archiekins, I love you too." She gives him a sweet smile. "Even though you don't understand the art of manipulation at all. It's not about Betty believing you're hitting on her. It's about getting a rise out of Jughead."

"Well then it was working!" Archie exclaims, happy that whatever it was that he was attempting to do yielded some type of result. "He was starting to look pretty pissed. I thought he was gonna punch me!"

"He was." Veronica nods appreciatively. Archie's poor attempt at flirting did bring out a reaction in Jughead, even though not the kind she expected. "But as strange as that sounds, I think it was more about stopping your from hurting me."

"Ah, I should've known this wouldn't work," she continues, shaking her head, clearly disappointed in herself. "It was such an amateur move. And a bad one at that. But we can still fix it."

Archie wants to tell her to drop it. They could still just ask their friends straight to their face. Or wait until they decide to tell them. But as bad at mind games as he may be, he knows Veronica's scheming face and that when she has it on she can't be talked out of her plans. "Well what do you propose then?"

Veronica is quiet for a while, the gears in her head spinning as she walks around the room when she suddenly stops, giving Archie a mischievous smile. "It's time for plan B. And I think I know just the thing."

When they return to the living room the atmosphere is still tense and awkward, none of them saying anything for a while as they quietly return to their food. It's mostly cold now, but eating gives them something to do without having to speak and address the awkwardness caused by Archie's disastrous flirting attempts.

"I ran into Cheryl Blossom today and she was asking about you, Jughead," Veronica says when she can no longer stand the silence.

Jughead's eyes bulge out at the mention of Cheryl's name. He's seen her on campus once or twice since their disastrous date but managed to successfully avoid her each time. During their brief exchange she let him know that there was no lack of men, or women, in her life so he hoped she'd eventually forget all about him and he could move around the city freely and not have to worry about running into the redheaded she-devil. "She… she did?" he stammers eventually, not sure if he wants to know more or not.

"I don't know what you did to her to make her so thirsty for you, and I honestly don't wanna know, but she was pretty much begging me to set you up for another date." Veronica smirks.

"Oh, is she?" Betty interjects, crossing her arms over her chest and giving Jughead a pointed look.

"She must be thinking of a different Jughead then," he chokes out. "Nothing happened between us."

"Yeah, and she's still asking about you six months later because nothing happened. Right," Betty mutters, rolling her eyes.

"I've already told you. We didn't even kiss and I've been avoiding her ever since. There is nothing…"

"Do you have me for a complete idiot, Jones?" Betty yells suddenly, jumping up from her seat. "When did you last see her? And don't say you didn't or I swear to god I'm gonna…"

"I didn't. Betty, I swear," he pleads, reaching for her hand but she jerks it away.

"Don't' lie to me! And don't touch me! Who knows where those hands have been." She looks at him with as much disgust as she can muster.

"I'm not lying!"

"Guys," Veronica tries to interrupt them, but Betty raises her hand to stop her.

"Not now, Veronica. This is between me, Jughead and whatever skanks he's seeing on the side."

"But…" Veronica tries again, but this time Betty just gives her a stare that makes her take a step back. "What did we do?" she whispers to Archie and clutches his hand in hers as they watch their best friends glare at each other.

"Yeah? And what about that Sabrina chick from the coffee shop then? I know that little witch has been flirting with you for weeks. Free Scone Saturday is not a real thing!"

"Oh, you're one to talk. At least I don't have a profile on a dating website," he fires back.

"You know Veronica made it for me," she says defensively.

"You didn't seem to protest too hard."

"So? You can be keeping old hook ups as a backup and I can't keep my options open? So much for being equals," she scoffs.

"Ronnie, we need to do something," Archie whispers with urgency, his eyes anxiously flitting between Betty and Jughead.

"Guys…" Veronica tries to get their attention again, but her voice sounds uncharacteristically timid and her friends blatantly ignore her.

"And what about Ethel?" Betty continues in an accusing tone. "You've done nothing but support her obsession."

Jughead barely fights off a shudder as he remembers the girl from his internship who had been sneakily taking photos of him for a month before he found out. He didn't know how to deal with her but one talk with Betty seemed to have solved the problem and he's not sure he wants to know what went down between them. "She may be a little intense sometimes, but she actually listens to me!" he bites back.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"You're a bad listener, Betty Cooper!"

Betty lets out an over-exaggerated gasp and crosses her arms. She's determined to shoot daggers at him as well as she possibly can, but the moment their eyes meet she can't help it. Laughter escapes from her throat as she watches Jughead struggle, his lips twitching with a smile.

A wordless exchange passes between them before their badly-concealed grins break through the facade. Jughead steps closer, wraps his arm around Betty and drops a kiss to her hair.

"You should see your faces right now," Betty says with a giggle, snuggling closer to her boyfriend.

"It's like you've seen a ghost." Jughead smirks.

"Oh my god! Did we enter some other dimension? Is Jughead smiling? And being... cute? Archiekins, pinch me."

"I don't understand." Archie finally speaks up. "You were fighting and I thought…"

"It was a joke, Arch," Betty explains. "We figured out you knew about our relationship and were trying to trick us into revealing it."

"So we thought we'd mess with you a little," Jughead finishes for her, pressing another kiss to her hair and silently blessing her genius mind.

"Elizabeth Ann Cooper!" Veronica exclaims, sounding so much like Alice it sends a shiver down Betty's spine. "Why would you hide this from us? How long has this been going on? How did it start? I need to know all the details."

Jughead's eyes go wide when he sees Veronica throw Betty a wink. Surely she doesn't mean all the details, right?

"Well…" Betty clasps her hands and Jughead knows she's practiced at least three different versions of conveying all the important information to their friends. "It started this summer while you and Archie were away. Juggie and I started spending a lot more time together and, well, as they say, the rest is history."

"Nice Archie-appropriate version, but girl, I need more than that," Veronica says, grabbing Betty by the arm and dragging her out of Jughead's embrace and to the other side of the room.

Betty throws Jughead a wide-eyed, slightly scared look over her shoulder and he mouths a silent "sorry" while still feeling glad it's not him whom Veronica decided to interrogate first.

"So… You and Betty," Archie starts, pulling Jughead out of his thoughts. Despite being about the same height, suddenly Jughead feels like his best friend is towering over him. While he wouldn't admit it to Betty, he's been lowkey scared about Archie's reaction to their relationship as Betty's best friend and de facto brother. "You two serious?"

It was mere days ago when he was grappling with his feeling and what they meant, but after saying it, after hearing Betty say it back, there is nothing he's ever been surer about. "Yeah, I love her."

"Does she know?" Jughead's dorky smile and a nod is answer enough. "That's amazing, bro." Archie claps Jughead on the shoulder a bit too enthusiastically, but he doesn't mind, relieved to see his friend smiling.

"It is." Jughead's smile grows even wider, his cheeks an adorable pink shade.

"Listen, Jug, I'm sorry about flirting with Betty. It was all Veronica's idea. I didn't want to do it, but she said it would make you fess up and you know I can't say no to her," Archie whispers, his face a strange mix of apologetic and scared. Jughead wasn't sure who he was more afraid of telling—Archie or Veronica—but now he knows it was ridiculous to even consider Archie.

"It's cool. We kinda figured that out," Jughead says with a chuckle. He expected nothing less from Veronica. She's a master at scheming and there was no doubt she'd rope Archie into this one. "And I'm sorry to break it to you, but if this is your idea of flirting, you should be really grateful those abs are doing all the work for you."

"What do you…" Archie looks at him with confusion for a second before punching him in the arm with slightly too much strength for it to just be friendly. "That's not how I usually flirt! I'm suave. Right, Ronnie?" he calls to his girlfriend who gives him a vague wave of her hand that he takes as yes.

"I know. I'm kidding," Jughead says, rubbing his arm. "Just don't do anything like that again. It made everyone uncomfortable. Especially Betty."

"Aww, you're looking out for her." Archie grins and Jughead mumbles a quiet "Shut up" as he pulls his beanie over his burning ears. "So which one of you should I give the 'don't break my best friend's heart or I'll kick your butt' speech to first?"

"Well, given that I'm never planning on doing that and I'm pretty sure Betty could kick my ass better than you, give it to her."

"You know I can hear you Jug, right?" Betty gives him a playful scowl from across the room.

"Oh my god, you sound like an old married couple already." Veronica beams.

"Relax, V. It's been barely three months." Betty chuckles, half-heartedly trying to temper her friend's excitement. She can't help but smile, though. She feels too giddy herself. While it was initially her idea to keep her budding relationship with Jughead a secret from her best friend, she's now ecstatic to be able to share it with her.

"I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out!" Veronica exclaims, sounding frustrated with herself. Betty has just finished recounting a slightly more detailed version of the story of her and Jughead's relationship, making Veronica realize what has been under her nose this whole time without her ever realizing it. "Oh no, I must be losing my sixth sense."

"To be fair, we did try quite hard to not let it slip," Betty says in an attempt to comfort her.

"But you're both such bad liars." Betty can't even pretend to be offended by that because she knows Veronica's right. She expected the lie to be revealed the moment her friend walked inside their apartment for the first time in three months.

"Why did you keep this from me anyway? We tell each other everything." She doesn't sound accusatory or hurt, but Betty still feels a pang of guilt at Veronica's words.

"I just…" Despite all the different scenarios she's built in her head about how they'd break the truth of their relationships to their best friends, this is not something Betty prepared an answer for. As if hoping that would make Veronica not ask the difficult question.

"It was my idea," Jughead interrupts, sliding an arm around her shoulders before she even has a chance to notice that he and Archie joined them again. "I wanted to keep Betty to myself for a bit longer before you two inevitably came butting in." It's not a lie per se, Betty assumes. In fact, it's a very diplomatic way of saying they wanted some more time before their very intense friend got involved. By Jughead's standards at least.

"That makes sense." Veronica nods, surprisingly unbothered. "Betty is the best company anyone could hope for and I wouldn't want to share her either. And I'm ready to fight you if you ever as much as make her frown."

"I promise to try my hardest." Jughead smiles and extends his hand to her, a sign he really means it.

"I know people who can make you disappear, Jones. So keep that in mind," Veronica whispers, punctuating her threat with a hand squeeze so tight it makes Jughead's fingers tingle.

"I'd expect nothing less from you," he says, and Veronica finally lets go of his hand with a satisfied smile.

"Well now that that's settled," Veronica makes a dramatic pause, waiting until all six eyes are on her before she clasps her hands excitedly. "We're going to go on so many double dates."