Chapter Text
“I am not carrying you to English class bridal style, Veronica.”
“Calm down, it was just a suggestion,” Veronica chuckles as she reapplies her nearly nude, pink lipstick — Jughead had insisted that he had no time to keep cleaning his mouth from each secret peck they shared, so the raven-haired girl had opted for a lighter shade to avoid stains on the boy’s coy lips. “Although, I do think you could work on those arm muscles of yours.”
“And insulting me is going to make me more enthusiastic to publicize our relationship how?” Jughead asks with a raise of his eyebrow. “I still don’t understand why we have to do this, anyway. It’s not anyone else’s business but ours.”
Ah, the age-old question for any high schooler starting a new relationship with someone: how to break the ice to others. How to become official. How to tell others to stay away from their man. Some may opt for a simple kiss on the cheek while chatting in the hallway while some might choose an elaborate promposal with roses and balloons and confetti. In other cases, the young couples might just end up making out in front of some poor student’s locker who’s just trying to get to class. The choice is the couple’s, but the choice matters.
“Why does this matter, exactly?” Jughead questions as they sit on opposite desks in the empty science classroom. Veronica is slyly rubbing the ball of her foot against Jughead’s ankle, her high heel missing the fabric of his jeans by just a few inches which makes the boy think she’s either perfect at calculating distances — which may as well be true — or then she’s putting extreme effort into not stabbing him with a stiletto. Whichever it is, Jughead’s at the edge of a cliff where falling over the edge means losing his breath over his girlfriend once again.
“Because, my dear Forsythe, I want everyone in the school to know you’re all mine. Imagine all those girls — and boys — who are thirsting after beanie-wearing, biker-gang-leading loners, and imagine how they might try to make their move on you because they think you’re on the market,” Veronica explains dramatically and leans over to grab Jughead’s hand and interlace their fingers. Her foot slips to rub his ankle with the open skin on the top. “Just imagine my hurt when I see some other person all over you. And… imagine the shock on Cheryl’s face when she sees us.”
“You’re acting as if I’m the more attractive and charming one of us,” Jughead chuckles in disbelief. He holds Veronica’s hand tightly as honestly he never gets bored of her silky smooth skin and dark purple, sharp nails. He could hold it forever, but forever would mean no more writing or eating burgers so he might just have to settle on holding it for hours each day.
“But,” he continues, “Seeing Cheryl faint in the hallway might just make my day.” He taps his thumb against the raven-haired girl’s skin in thought. “But if we don’t have any ideas on exposing our relationship that don’t involve me getting down on one knee and proposing… we might be screwed.”
“Well…” Veronica smirks and lifts their connected hands. Jughead nearly gets lost in those dimples he’s seen so many times before that he almost forgets to notice their hands at all. Damn, he is whipped, and damn, does he not mind at all. “I do love holding your hand. They’re so warm and strong.”
“I thought my arm muscles should be worked on.”
“I would never say such a thing.” Their eyes meet, and Veronica cocks an eyebrow. “So, are you in?”
Jughead ponders for a moment. Then he squeezes her hand. “I really do want to see Cheryl faint,” he confirms.
Veronica chuckles and elegantly hops off the desk. Jughead follows suit. Even with her high heels, the boy easily towers over her. She’s the perfect height for him to scoop her up in his arms and spin while hugging her. Or that’s what he’s seen in all those old romantic flicks she’s made him watch during their movie marathons where they compete over whose taste is better. He’d never actually do that himself, of course.
“Who knows,” Veronica pats Jughead on the chest, “Maybe we’ll get a triple whammy with Betty and Ethel fainting too.”
Jughead laughs and shakes his head.
This is it, then. Their high school debut as a couple. Heads will be turned, whispers will be shared, but he supposes it’s better than Reggie Mantle hitting him with a towel in the locker room and asking what is up with Jughead and Veronica spending so much time together all of a sudden.
The two walk to the classroom door, holding each other’s hands, and Jughead pulls open the door. He pictures the two of them in an old teen movie where the camera pans to them as dramatic music plays and people turn to look at them.
That’s not what happens. They slip out of the classroom and begin walking down the hallway with their fingers locked around each other. Most people are busy chatting with each other: the usual high school cliques with the nerds and the jocks and the loners. To think just a year ago Jughead was one of those loners and now he’s here, dating the most popular girl in school and showing it for all to see. It’s still hard to believe it even if it’s not his first relationship and he hasn’t been a loner for a long time now.
“Yo, look,” one jock whispers from beside them and swats his teammate on the chest to get them to look at Jughead and Veronica. The raven-haired boy keeps his eyes on the target: the corner where they’d turn to get to their lockers. He ignores the “oh”s and “what”s as more people turn to look, and he ignores the whistles, too.
Because Veronica is there, and Veronica is his, and she is worth all this trouble he’d usually go out of his way to avoid.
“Are you doing okay?” Veronica whispers from beside him. “No heart attacks yet?”
“Just some mild palpitations,” Jughead responds quietly as they turn the corner, and she laughs.
“Just imagine we’re alone, just the two of us.”
“I wish we were.”
“Hm, maybe after lunch we can go somewhere private and—”
“What. The. Hell,” someone snaps from behind the two. Jughead is all too familiar with that demanding voice, and from the way the smile on Veronica’s face tightens: so is she.
The two turn around before reconnecting their hands and Veronica nods three times: “Cheryl. Toni. Cheryl’s minions.”
Cheryl’s red-painted mouth was in a thin line. “Veronica. Please tell me this is either a joke or that I’m seeing things,” she says while Toni just smiles beside her.
Jughead had an inkling the girl with pink streaks in her hair had guessed a while ago. Maybe from the way Jughead could never stop the smile from appearing when Veronica walked past their table at Pop’s. Maybe from the way he’d always invite the girl to sit with them even when she was working.
“Cheryl, to what do I owe this pleasure?” Veronica asks as she still tightly holds Jughead’s hand. It relieves him that the sweat in their grip is not all from him. Perhaps to hide this, Veronica snuggles up against Jughead and guides him to wrap an arm around her shoulders. This he does.
“Huh,” Cheryl says. Then she smiles while looking the couple up and down. “I see you’ve decided to downgrade from your dear Archiekins.”
Jughead pulls Veronica tighter against him as she responds: “Not really, but he’s all yours if you want him so bad.” While Cheryl fakes a gag, Veronica continues: “I see we made an impression on you, though.”
“You sure did. I applaud you, Veronica, as here I thought I had seen it all.”
“Yeah, I thought I’d never see you two make it official,” Toni starts with a chuckle, her arms crossed. “Good for you, Jones. You finally got yourself a good one.”
“Yes, we’ll see what my dear cousin thinks about that,” Cheryl says and nudges behind the couple. Jughead pulls his arm back so they can once again turn around.
Betty is there. Betty, who he broke up with over half a year ago. Betty, who swore they could stay friends. Betty, who still avoided him for two weeks after the split. Betty, whose eyes are wide as she stands beside Archie.
Jughead nor Veronica have any time to react when Betty has already grabbed Archie’s arm and is walking towards them.
“Good morning, Betty and Archie,” Veronica greets with a smile. She once again grabs Jughead’s hand and locks their fingers.
“Uh, Ronnie,” Archie starts, “...What is this?”
“Why, I’m holding hands with my boyfriend, of course,” Veronica responds and glances up at Jughead with a smile. He feels like a zoo exhibit, but his partner does make it much more tolerable.
“Boyfriend…?” Betty asks quietly. “So… you’re dating.”
“We are,” Jughead confirms. “We hit four months last week.”
“Oh, wow,” Archie laughs in disbelief before hesitantly offering his hand. “Good for you, man. Ronnie is a package.”
Jughead chuckles as one does to be polite before bumping fists with Archie. He supposes this is better than the redhead getting angry for his best friend dating his ex. Yeah, this is much better than getting beaten up by someone with twice as much body mass.
Then the attention moves to Betty, who’s still looking over the two as if to process the information.
“Betty?” Archie asks and nudges her.
As if on command, she smiles and nods at the two. “I’m really happy for you two. Really. I didn’t quite expect this, but… I should’ve seen it coming. You’ve been spending a lot of time together.”
Veronica smiles at her kindly. “I’m happy you’re okay with this. I was a bit nervous.”
“No, Veronica, as long as my friends are happy, I’m happy,” Betty insists.
Jughead glances at the clock on the wall. “Well, we have to get to English class, so…”
“Right. We’ll see you at lunch,” Veronica says and waves at the two as she and Jughead walk past them, still holding each other’s hands. Once Betty and Archie are out of their general vicinity, Veronica lets out a deep breath.
“You okay?”
“I don’t want my best friends to hate me,” Veronica confesses as they get to her locker. “I was… really nervous about this, actually.”
“We didn’t have to do it,” Jughead says. “We could’ve dated in secret for longer.”
“But…” Veronica places a hand on his cheek and rubs his skin with her thumb. “I don’t want to hide you. I want to boast about you, I mean, you’re such a catch. Weird but cute. A loner with a good taste in media. Sarcastic but intelligent. I want everyone to know what they’re missing.”
“Yeah?” Jughead chuckles and leans down, kissing her softly on the lips. Veronica’s eyes flutter shut as she kisses back. The kiss is short-lived, though, as neither wants to get in trouble for getting it on on school property. Jughead pulls back and continues: “You’re the catch here. Snobby but cute. A popular girl with a good taste in media. Sarcastic but intelligent. You’re the one people are missing out on.”
“I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.” Veronica smiles and closes her locker after getting her things. She holds them in one hand and grabs Jughead’s with the other.
The two walk down the hallway to English class with their fingers interlaced.