Archive of Our Own ^beta

“I don’t see what the big deee-OH MY GOD,” Veronica chokes out as the temperature of J.D. 's slurpee spreads to her brain. Damn, he was right. And of course, the stupid curly-haired mullet-having trench coat-wearing boy is giggling like a schoolgirl.

It’s adorable. 

“VERONICA!”

Great. Way to ruin the moment. 

Heather Chandler storms into the 7/11 like she owns the place. She’s got that ever-present look of self-righteousness and greed spread across her goddamn face. Veronica can feel J.D. shift behind her.

“Oh no..” she mutters under her breath. 

J.D. sighs and mumbles “so I see.” 

Veronica wants, so badly, for this moment to last. Hell, she didn’t even want to go to that party–she’s doing it for the same reason she started ‘hanging out’ with the Heather’s in the first place. But now she has all the more reason to not want to go. 

Heather looks down at her with a sneer. “Corn Nuts?” she questions, and Veronica wants to chuck the bag right at the mythic bitch’s face. “Wave bye-bye to Red Dawn here, and let’s mo–”

Click!

There was a moment, a split second, maybe, where Veronica considered her options. She used her…ability…earlier that day already, and it was horribly straining on her energy. But at this moment…god, she needed more time with J.D. Just a little more time. 

Heather Chandler froze mid-sentence, her mouth in a circular ‘o’ shape. The whole rest of the world turned a darker shade, and suddenly only Veronica and J.D. were illuminated by the normal colors of their environment. 

J.D. is staring at her like he’s just had his life flash before his eyes. 

Right. When she froze time earlier, he wasn’t excluded from the freeze. She rarely excludes anyone that isn’t herself. 

Don’t traumatize the hot guy, she scolds herself. Just explain and move on. 

J.D. lets out a muted gasp, muttering a “What the–” 

Veronica pushes a finger to his lips (they’re so soft???). “Ok, before you start freaking out, let me just answer all the frequently asked questions. Or…at least the ones I think people would ask…I’ve never done this with anyone else before. Are you gonna let me talk?”

J.D. stares at her wide-eyed, but gulps and confusedly nods his head. 

“Okay, great. Yes, I was born with this ‘ability.’ I didn’t know I had it until I was twelve.  I don’t know why I have it. I don’t know if anyone else has it.” She lets out a sharp sigh, then continues. “I can freeze time around me whenever I want, but it physically drains me. Sorta like…the higher the amount of ‘time’ I spend outside of ‘time’ itself, the more tired I get. I can bring other people outside of time, but I’ve never done it before, this is my first time, and I know when I start it again I’m gonna feel like passing out because this is really straining on my body.”

A pause, and then,

“And yes I have already done it since I met you.” 

The trench coated boy takes a moment to process the ridiculous information Veronica has just thrown at him. She’s never told anyone about her ability–not even her parents. J.D. looks at his feet, then at Veronica, then at their surroundings, before returning his gaze to Veronica. 

“So…” he starts, slowly. “So everyone else in the world is frozen right now?” 

The girl in blue shrugs. “Probably. I mean, I’ve never gone very far when I’m in this, uh, state. Never done it for longer than a few minutes, either.” 

J.D.’s gaze keeps flying around in every direction. He looks past Veronica to gaze at Heather Chandler’s frozen form. The attendant on the other side of the 7/11 is stuck staring endlessly at the change box. The slurpee machine is eerily still–no liquid moving inside those little circles. 

Veronica finds his curiosity cute. 

“Why’d you stop it now?” J.D.’s voice is genuinely full of curiosity. It wasn’t the question Veronica was expecting, either. Thought she’d hear another logistics question. 

She tilts her head. She knows exactly why. “Because of you,” she says firmly. “Because I want to savor every second I get with you before Heather drags me off to this goddamn party. Because you’re fascinating and charming and fucking beautiful and I think we’re at a point where we both know we like each other. Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He doesn’t hesitate. “God, yes.”

Veronica likes the sound of that. 

“And on any other night I would have chosen to go with you in one second but that bitch over there leaves me with no options. So I resort to this,” she sighs, gesturing to the desaturated world around them. “I’m gonna feel it after, but it’s worth it if I get two more minutes looking at your beautiful face.”

J.D. blushes. It’s adorable. Five minutes ago, he was charming her with his speech about brain freezes. Oh, how the tables have turned. 

There’s a moment of silence where the two are just longingly staring into each other's eyes–J.D. 's dusty emerald irises and Veronica’s deep brown ones–before the dark-haired girl cuts off the awkwardness with another sharp sigh.

“But I didn’t mean to spend two minutes just ominously staring at each other, dumbass. That’s not productive.” She crosses her arms and eyes him with a knowing look. 

He narrows his eyes, and his confusion is slowly replaced with that cocky smirk that made her fall for him. It sends a chill down her spine–god, she can only imagine what that smirk would look like looming over her, no clothes involved, his expression hungry and–

Snap out of it, Veronica. 

“What’s your idea of productive?” J.D.’s voice returns to that charming, almost teasing tone, and he raises an eyebrow. 

And Veronica scoffs. Both of them know exactly what she’s thinking of. 

“Just shut up and kiss me, dumbass,” she groans, but she can’t stop the smile that spreads on her face. 

She only sees the smile returned on J.D.’s face for a second before he steps completely into her space. One hand finds the back of her waist while the other cups her jaw, and suddenly their lips press together. 

It feels like the whole world around them freezes–

Oh. Because it did. 

The kiss was everything Veronica had been thinking of since she laid eyes on J.D. His stupid trench coat, his curly black mullet, his green eyes and freckles and smirk that ended her chances for anyone else. She wanted to kiss him so bad earlier, and now, at a moment where time does not exist, it is everything. 

He pulls her closer to her–yeah, he’s just as down bad for her as she is for him–and the kiss deepens. Her hands find his shoulders and it feels like they should be like this forever. 

But time can’t stay frozen forever. 

Veronica sighs into his lips and leans back, taking his hands in hers and intertwining their fingers. She glances behind her at Heather Chandler. 

“I gotta go,” she mumbles disappointedly. “I need to save some of my energy for this goddamn party.”

J.D. just grins at her. “You do that. Every time-bending sorceress needs her party time.”

She nudges him in the shoulder and they both laugh. A thought crosses her mind and she quickly adds, “just in case things go south…leave your window open.” 

J.D. doesn’t bother to ask her how she knows his address. 

She directs him to recreate the position he was in when she froze time as best as he can (there can be consequences if that doesn’t happen.)

“Ready to unpause?” 

J.D. smiles at her. “Born ready.” 

He leans forward and places one last kiss on her forehead, before…

Click!

“-otor!” 

Veronica nods at the unfrozen Heather Chandler, swiping the Corn Nuts and heading after her towards the door. She glances one last time at J.D. and waves.

She’ll probably see him again later anyway.