"What the fuck?!" Archie's voice rang across the room. Jughead and Betty pulled apart as quickly as they could. Jughead's breath was ragged as he moved his hands to cover himself as best he could; the last thing he needed was for Archie to see exactly how much he was enjoying kissing Betty.

"Archie!" Betty's voice was shrill and shocked, as she stepped towards the door, looking back to Jughead for a moment. He caught her eye and gave her the briefest of smiles.

"Jughead! What do you think you're doing?" Archie's face was red as he started charging towards his friend. "Did you take advantage of her? Of Betty?" Jughead shook his head and began frantically backing up. His hands were still covering himself as Archie ran forward, prepared to tackle him.

Jughead had done his fair share of rough-housing and was fairly certain he could handle himself. If it came down to it, he knew he was at least capable of using his legs to knock Archie down and pin him, but it wasn't something he'd want to do anywhere other than gym class.

"Archie! Calm down! It's not like that!" He quickly ducked under Archie's swinging fist. "God damn it, listen!" Archie paid no attention to his friend's words; he could only see red as he dove for Jughead's legs. This time, Archie made contact, shoving him to the ground. Jughead gave a prompt kick to the red haired boy's arms and scrambled back to his feet.

"Oh my god, Archie, stop it!" Betty ran in between the boys as Archie came to his feet. "Please, everybody stop."

"Get out of the way, Betty." Archie's voice was cold as he looked past her.

"Betty, please, let me handle this. I don't want you to get hurt." Jughead whispered in her ear from a foot behind her. She turned to look at him, his eyes were full of concern. "I promise, I'll fix this, please." She gave a nod, stepping back, towards the door. The second she was out of the way Archie swung his fist at Jughead again, narrowly missing his face.

"Will you talk to me about this? I don't want to fight you, and you know I can if you make me." Jughead tried to be as calm as possible, not wanting to provoke Archie any more than he already had.

"If I make you? As if I'm forcing you to do anything! I came in here and you were... Goddamnit Jug!" Archie threw his hands up, his breath coming out in heavy pants.

As Archie dove for him again, Jughead decided to the only thing he could think of. He ran at Archie, shoulder checked him into the wall, then promptly pinned him by his arms. "Breathe, Archie!"

Archie tried to push against Jughead to no avail. Sure he didn't have too much upper body strength, but Jughead was strong. Betty had once theorized that all the food he ate turned directly into rock-hard muscle.

After a few moments, Archie's breath slowed down and he hung his head. "What were you doing, Jug?" Archie didn't move as Jughead let go of his arms.

"I was..." He awkwardly ran a hand through his damp hair. "You know what we were doing."

"Just say it." Archie looked up at him, the anger still evident in his eyes. "Go on, if you're able to do it, you should be able to say it."

"We were just kissing, Arch."

"Oh really?" Archie's voice was dripping with sarcasm, and he leaned against the wall with a huff. "Is that what you were doing? Because from my angle it looked a lot like foreplay. You're in your underwear for Christ's sake and the way her leg was..." He shook his head, "How could you Jug?"

"Everyone's been asking me that today." Jughead gave a smile to break the tension. It didn't work. He cleared his throat and prepared himself. "Archie, I'm in love with her."

Archie flew forward, getting Jughead by surprise, and shoved him into the wall. "You're what? You can't be, Jug! She's not your girl!"

"Isn't that up to me to decide?" Betty's voice cut through the air like a whistle, and all eyes shot to her. Her face was red and her puffy eyes were still leaking tears. She still looked beautiful to Jughead, who couldn't help but smile.

"Betty!" Archie stepped towards her, "You can't actually be suggesting that... that you and Jug..." He swallowed hard as the words died in his throat.

"I don't know yet, okay!" She yelled back, startling both the men. Jughead didn't think he'd ever heard her talk to Archie that way before. "But you can't just date whatever girls you want, kiss whoever you want, and then freak out when I'm kissing someone else. It doesn't work like that, Archie!" She took a deep breath and made eye contact with Jughead. "I want to be with someone who wants to be with me, and only me." Her eyes fell back to Archie, "I'm tired of waiting for your plans with Veronica to fall through in order to get a moment of your time."

"You want to go steady with me?" Archie spoke slowly, trying to get the point of her words. "And then you'll stop kissing Jughead?"

"No, Archie. You don't get it." Betty shook her head and walked to the door. "You don't get any of this." She opened the door and looked back at the boys, looking directly at Jughead she called: "I want to talk to you tomorrow. I'll be here at nine in the morning." Then she looked at Archie, "Stop fighting. It's not all about you, Archie. Not anymore." She pulled the door closed tight behind her, leaving a smiling Jughead and a shocked Archie in her wake.

xxxx

Standing inside the house, Jughead took an awkward step towards Archie. The papers he'd brought with him were scattered on the floor and he was staring at the closed door with a look of utter shock on his face.

"Archie, I'm really sorry." Jughead bent to pick up the papers.

"You're sorry? For kissing her?" Archie's voice was rough and strained.

"No. I'll never be sorry for that." He shook his head and smiled, "I meant what I said."

"That you're in love with her." Archie turned to face his friend who was now holding the papers out for him to take. "How can you even say that?" His eyebrows were scrunched together, a look of pure confusion on his face.

"Because it's true. I had an epiphany today. I've loved her for so long and I just realized that I either had to do something about it or... or it'd kill me."

"Why Betty?" Archie took the papers leaned against the counter by the door. "You could've gone for any of the girls in town, why did you have to go for Betty?"

"You don't get it, Arch. It's only Betty, for me. There are no other girls." At the blank look he was receiving, Jughead tried a different route. "Okay, you know how I never chase girls?"

"Yeah."

"And you've noticed how I almost never kiss or date anybody?" Once again, Archie nodded. "It's because I don't want to be in a relationship that doesn't mean anything to me. I don't want to kiss a girl that I don't care about. I was waiting, Archie. I was waiting for so long, and today, I realized that I was waiting for her."

"...for Betty?" Archie seemed to take a minute to think about it, "You really love her?"

"I do, more than I can say." Jughead sighed, it seemed like he was finally coming to terms with everything.

"Okay... then I guess I'll try to be happy for you." Archie didn't sound convinced by his own words, but Jughead smiled, he'd take what he could get.

"Don't be so quick there. It's not up to me. I played all my cards today, it's all on Betty. She may not pick me."

"Fuck, Jug." Archie's eyebrows hit his hairline and he couldn't help but smile at his oblivious friend, "If that kiss was anything to judge by, she's already made her decision. And I wasn't kidding earlier... it looked like foreplay."

Jughead tried not to let his hopes get up, but he smiled nonetheless, hoping that Archie was right. "Oh, you had something to show me?"

"Oh right." Archie lifted the papers he was holding, "I got our band a sweet gig for next week. I just wanted to make sure that everyone got the song list." He handed Jughead a flier, which he dutifully looked over despite it being the absolute last thing on his mind.

Betty wanted to see him tomorrow.

xxxxx

xxxxx

Reference to Jughead being very strong:

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