SO CAN I JUST SAY I LOVE IT? I love how closely you follow canon but all with the delicious little twists and other scenes, I adore the way the characters muse about their darkness and I AM loving the soundtrack. Thanks for showing this metalhead some other options <3
I love your writing and this story is phenomenal.
~~~ PRESENT
Omg Betty!!! I understand your highlighter usage, given I have a similar system. Yikes this was too real control freak hahaha I love that Cheryl calls Jughead JD – lol I love Heathers (my fav movie of all time, seriously) so much so this just sang to my soul. Your illustration of Cheryl as a drive-by shooter is so magnificent “just a passing massacre of words”, this really spoke to me – because she doesn’t allow back chat does she? But then when Jughead mentions “burning the whole world down” I wonder how right Cheryl is hahah.
Fascinating the way he catalogues their scars and hurts from sex – I love how you mention these “parts” inside both of them – like Betty has extreme control and violence and Jughead extreme obsession? I’m rambling and I’m probably way off mark, but I adore this story.
Chuck freaks me out and I feel sorry for Betty – I hope she can banish him again! Betty planning Jughead’s party was so her it made me smile “Good one, jinx.” CRACKED ME RIGHT UP. Ha! As if? In THIS economy? In RIVERDALE? I loved the crown brand and the greedy grabby hands. Hahah Poor Jughead about his own terribly sad birthday reflections. Ahhh his self-loathing runs so deep, I wanna hug him so badly! Good reference in Animal House, because of course Jughead would think that.
I loved Jughead’s altercation with Chuck and how despite his fight with Betty, he still is SUPER JEALOUS and wants to come to her rescue and resents her at the same time? What a deliciously potent mix of angst, love it. So well written!
I love their little make up and how he wants Dark Betty. (We all want dark Betty haha GET IN LINE, SON). Their little tryst was filthy and hot and I fucking loved it, especially juxtaposed with Alice’s rampage. I feel like Betty gets off on losing control and Jughead gets off on having it? Hahah cackling at // John Hughes-ian cliché//
~~~ PAST
I love past Jughead’s “fucking Grundy in her love bug” and the way he observes Betty’s reflexive watch of Archie. I love how Jughead is at the tree, stroking his little carving and how he knows that Betty is being harassed by Alice, has no privacy and yet… here he is invading her privacy haha. I adore his movie marathon as pining and as a love confession. It’s so fascinating that he views his obsession like protection. I LOVED the lipstick moment in the B&G office. HOT. I love that Betty is attracted to his “levity in the face of horror”. I love that Jughead feels beautiful for the first time on his birthday and that he cries – this is so so so so sad and touching and I am so worried about his past now (in a good way- I am anticipating).
~~~
Honestly, listening to your music selections while I read each section is highly jarring and lovely. The Cure selection was just creepy (but in a great way, you know?). And space song – that line hit me “Were you ever lost? Was she ever found?” Yikes. Why does my heart hurt? But like, in a great way? AND THEN the David Bowie parallels. Wow, I mean, those lyrics are beautiful too “Does she love you, you suppose?”. I love this so much thank youuuu. I really hope these are meta references in some sense, but maybe I am reading too much into this?? AND THEN YOU GIVE ME JOY DIVISION AND I AM IN LOVE ALL OVER AGAIN.
~~~
///There is no guesswork when Betty catches a whiff of saccharine sweetness behind her, the sickly sweet cherry and maple syrup aura of Cheryl Blossom. “Betty!” A pleasant surprise, like two friends reconnecting after summer vacation. “Infamy and disgrace look good on you, really complement your eyes.”/// THIS IS AMAZING. I always love your Cheryls and this one is utter perfection – the melodrama and devastation in this is so wonderful.
// Something else, something their blood created, some other beast that wound its way into both of them early and still wants.// hot and dark? I love this so much.
// He dreads it, the fallout forming in her features at this moment as she stares at her closed bedroom door, Archie’s dark window at her back like a question mark she will never get the answer for and Jughead Jones lurking in their childhood treehouse feeling like an afterthought.// I love this line so much
// The end credits of Rear Window roll through and some of the crowd are already filing out, weary from the rowdiness of the biker gang circling the concession stand, sick of wading through dirty snipes and leers just for stale popcorn and rock hard milk-duds. No one has the stomach to stick around for To Catch A Thief./// Ahhhh man what a mood. I adore how evocative this is…
// Kevin chimes in, “It’s a thing, your bend-to-my-will-and-little-mermaid-eyes face, cute but devious.”// YES THE MERMAIDS GET ME EVERYTIME (wtf is wrong with me???) hahahha don’t answer that
// “That’s where you’re wrong, Jughead Jones. I’m all about the beast within.”// ooooh boy… foreshadowing? Post reflection? All of the above?
// Betty’s phone rings on the vanity, her mother’s manic, manicured smile lighting up the screen, the ringtone shrill./// omg everything about this screams Alice Cooper and I am here for it
// “Do you think Jughead might nurture some of this darkness in you? He challenges you, right?” He knows she does it on purpose, mentioning Jughead in passing and then altering her train of thought, distracting him with side plots. But, he knows. Jughead is the main attraction./// Fascinating – I love this coupled with Alice’s parting lines! Beautiful, ominous and delightful!
I love this story so much, thanks so much for sharing! Georgie <3
Fascinating the way he catalogues their scars and hurts from sex – I love how you mention these “parts” inside both of them – like Betty has extreme control and violence and Jughead extreme obsession? One of the things I loved most about the first season of Riverdale was this sort of simmering beneath the surface temper in both Betty and Jughead. They both felt like ticking time bombs. It was very well acted on both their parts, and it was something I wanted to explore especially in this chapter in both timelines. They’re always trying to keep it in check for each other, for their image, or fear of becoming like their fathers.
I loved Jughead’s altercation with Chuck and how despite his fight with Betty, he still is SUPER JEALOUS and wants to come to her rescue and resents her at the same time? What a deliciously potent mix of angst, love it. So well written! Besides the obvious logical fallacies with the birthday episode, it will remain one of my favorites as far as Bughead relationship development and the aforementioned anger issues.
I feel like Betty gets off on losing control and Jughead gets off on having it? Yep, yep, yep.
I love how Jughead is at the tree, stroking his little carving and how he knows that Betty is being harassed by Alice, has no privacy and yet Exactly, he is a mass of contradictions, but it is also because he doesn’t really think he counts. His sense of self-worth is that low.
I’m so glad you like the music because I’ve felt it’s been my own private self-wank writing this story. It’s really only been for me, honestly, since it never seemed like anyone cared about it, which is fine. It helps orient me when I go back and reread it. Space Song by Beach House and the paralleled (David Bowie I Love You) Since I Was Six are in the top five songs for this entire fic. All the lyrics are indicative of what’s going on between these two. These and Present Tense by Radiohead with a few others. Much of them are meta references to the entire story, and some of them contain foreshadowing, but not in an explicit sense.
// Kevin chimes in, “It’s a thing, your bend-to-my-will-and-little-mermaid-eyes face, cute but devious.”// YES THE MERMAIDS GET ME EVERYTIME (wtf is wrong with me???) hahahha don’t answer that This was the first mention of the Little Mermaid eyes, and it can mostly be attributed to the Community episode where Jeff tells Annie disappointing her is like strangling the Little Mermaid with a bike chain, and I was like, Betty totally has those eyes.
Much love and thanks for reading and dropping a comment 😊
OMFG I FORGOT ABOUT THAT JEFF AND ANNIE COMMENT! I think I just associate mermaids with you now, every since I read one of your kink week fics and now whenever I see mermaids mentioned I do a Mexican wave.
I think your observation of Betty and Jughead being ticking time bombs is so right and I often wonder this about people in general. We are all animals and our social norms provide a veneer of civility - the rules of the dance if you will - and is everyone out there subsisting, their lizard brain just moments from taking over? For these two it's self destructive tendencies - Betty with her pain needed to control the out-of-control, Jughead with his feelings of worthlessness which leads him to weird brands of narcissistic behaviour (covetousness and "deservedness"). He feels like he doesn't count and so he has to "make his mark" in ways that make him feel tethered. I love their anger; I bask in it.
//obvious logical fallacies with the birthday episode// lolcry
I love this and I'm just so floored by your replies - thank you - you're so wonderful and I love you <3
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