#tables ladders and chairs 2012

[alternativeproject]

Another tlc segment after the shield wins and the other two come back to drag Rollins lifeless body backstage after he fell through 3 tables (several replays of that included)

#Wwe #tables ladders and chairs 2012 #tlc 2012 #Wwe the shield #dean ambrose #seth rollins #roman reigns #ryback #Daniel Bryan #Kane

[niphredil-14]

Imagine 2012 Donnie with a partner who just doesn’t get math at all, not even science and it’s just him tutoring them and sleeping over at their place

I was gonna write a study date for this, but then I got my results for the HiSET math test and found out that I am, in fact, getting my high school equivalency, so I'm gonna write Don celebrating that instead. Hope you don't mind lol

Test Kisses

Words: 850

The first four tests had been a breeze, As and high Bs across the board. But then, there was math, and in the fortnight leading up to the test, Don had gone over to her house almost every night, the two of them pulling all-nighters every other, until the night before the test. Don had indeed gone over that night, but insisted that studies had shown that cramming the night before a big test would actually be detrimental. He had only allowed her to read through her notes for half an hour before helping her through her bedtime routine, and cuddling up next to her, until she fell asleep. Upon awakening, the sun was shining through the fluttering blinds of her open window, and she found a note written in Donnie's messy handwriting on her bedside table.

Sorry I couldn't stay, but you know I can't risk being seen, and Leo would've nagged my shell off. I wish you lots of luck on your test today, though I know you won't need it. You've worked so hard, and have been tutored by the smartest turtle around, so I know that you can do this!! You're a whole lot smarter than you give yourself credit for! ^w^

Love, Donatello <3

Actually taking the test was super stressful, and she finished with only two minutes remaining. It had taken forever for the test results to come. All of the other test results had been posted exactly a week after she took the test, but this was not the case for math. She had to call the testing company three times over the course of a week before the finally opened an investigation, and throughout the whole process, she had whined and complained endlessly to Donnie. After what felt like an eternity, she was finally notified that the results were posted. She didn't hesitate to grab her laptop and sprint out of her apartment, racing to the nearest sewer cap. Don had installed a special button in the alleyway, so that she could get to the lair whenever she wanted without having to struggle to move the hubcap. Practically sliding down the ladder with practiced ease, she hit the ground hard and began sprinting towards the lair. Upon entering the lair's living room, she skidded to a halt, and all but shouted at Leo.

"Where's Don?!" The words escaped her as if being thrown from her throat in all one breath, and the words,

"In the lab?" had barely left Leo's lips before she had taken off at full speed once more. She ran into the lab, and Don barely had time to spin around in his chair to face her before she was in the air, jumping towards him. He scrambled to catch her, and was almost unsuccessful. After regaining his stability, he looked at her with confusion rampant in his eyes. Before being able to ask her what had brought her so frantically to his lab, she shoved her laptop into his hands, and screeched.

"The results are up!!" She jumped from his lap and began pacing, anxiety written across all of her features and scribbled throughout all of her movements, from the longest of her strides, to the smallest twitch of her muscles.

"That's great!" Donnie replied. "Did you pass?" She whipped her head around to him, looking at him as if he had grown a second head.

"I don't know!"

"You haven't checked yet?" He asked.

"No! I came straight here. I'm too nervous!" She exclaimed, her pacing gaining speed. "Will you read them to me?" He gave her a soft, wide smile, and agreed, lifting the top of her laptop open and entering her email and password to the test company's website. Clicking to the right tab, he pulled up the score report, with her anxious, quick steps serving as a background beat.

"Oh, Sweetie." He said, unreadable emotion in his voice. She stopped in her track and turned to him.

"What?! What is it?!" Don smiled wide at her.

"18/20. You passed! You got 70% on Numbers and Operations on Numbers, 77% on Algebra, 50% on probability, statistics, and data analysis, and 25% on measurements and geometry. You're graduating!" She squealed, jumping up and down, before charging at Donnie and tackling him in a hug, sending them both to the ground that time. She lifted just far enough away from him to gaze into his eyes, overjoyed, before beginning to cover every inch of his face in kisses.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!" She exclaimed. "I love you so much! I never could have done this without you!" He placed his hands on her shoulders, pushing her back for a moment, still embracing her.

"Hey, as happy as I am that I was helpful to you, I need you to know that it was you and your hard work that did this, not me. You did this, you earned this, and I am so proud of you, you deserve this." He said, seriously, and then smiled, pressing his lips to hers in a deep, loving kiss.

#tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt 2012 #tmnt donatello #tmnt donnie #tmnt x reader #tmnt 2012 x reader #tmnt donatello x reader #tmnt donnie x reader #tmnt 2012 donatello #tmnt 2012 donatello x reader #tmnt 2012 donnie #tmnt 2012 donnie x reader

[april-is]

April 8, 2024: As If to Demonstrate an Eclipse, Billy Collins

As If to Demonstrate an Eclipse Billy Collins

I pick an orange from a wicker basket and place it on the table to represent the sun. Then down at the other end a blue and white marble becomes the earth and nearby I lay the little moon of an aspirin.

I get a glass from a cabinet, open a bottle of wine, then I sit in a ladder-back chair, a benevolent god presiding over a miniature creation myth,

and I begin to sing a homemade canticle of thanks for this perfect little arrangement, for not making the earth too hot or cold not making it spin too fast or slow

so that the grove of orange trees and the owl become possible, not to mention the rolling wave, the play of clouds, geese in flight, and the Z of lightning on a dark lake.

Then I fill my glass again and give thanks for the trout, the oak, and the yellow feather,

singing the room full of shadows, as sun and earth and moon circle one another in their impeccable orbits and I get more and more cockeyed with gratitude.

--

Also: Seeing the Eclipse in Maine, Robert Bly

Enjoy today's eclipse, North America!

More space-related poems.

Today in:

2023: Neither Time Nor Grief is a Flat Circle, Christina Olson 2022: Pippi Longstocking, Sandra Simonds 2021: Waking After the Surgery, Leila Chatti 2020: Gutbucket, Kevin Young 2019: Insomnia, Linda Pastan 2018: How Many Nights, Galway Kinnell 2017: The Little Book of Hand Shadows, Deborah Digges 2016: Now I Pray, Kathy Engel 2015: Why I’m Here, Jacqueline Berger 2014: Snow, Aldo, Kate DiCamillo 2013: from The Escape, Philip Levine 2012: Thirst, Mary Oliver 2011: Getting Away with It, Jack Gilbert 2010: *turning, Annie Guthrie 2009: I Don’t Fear Death, Sandra Beasley 2008: The Dover Bitch, Anthony Hecht 2007: Death Comes To Me Again, A Girl, Dorianne Laux 2006: Up Jumped Spring, Al Young 2005: Old Women in Eliot Poems, David Wright

#billy collins #feast on your life #poetry #national poetry month

[normal-internet-user]

Lemme just say, big fan. I saw requests were open and I'm taking a chance. For 2012 TMNT, what about headcanons for Fem!Y/N meeting her mother's boyfriend for the first time, only to find a rat and four turtles? Maybe she's a year or two younger than Mikey?

Bro, I was just thinking about this after my splinter x reader headcanons- THE TIMINING I SAY-

INTRODUCTIONS

◇~~◇~~◇~~◇~~◇

Summary: Your mother takes you to meet you to meet her boyfriend and his sons, and they certainly aren't what you expected...

Warnings: None!

Requested: @littlebluepebble

Female Reader!

....................................

Homework sucks.

You rested your head against your desk where you were sat doing your english assignment.

You had to write a 2 page essay on Japanese culture, so you were waiting for your mom to get back from work so she could help you.

Maybe you could finally get her to spill the beans on her secret boyfriend. You weren't supposed to know about that, but you did.

You had heard them talking afew times when he visited. They obviously didn't know, because you were supposed to be sleeping, but all the same.

You stood up, stretching out your limbs to try and rid some of the stiffness that came with sitting in a chair for hours.

You heard the familiar click of the front door, signaling the arrival of your mother.

"I'm home!" she called,

You walked into the kitchen, looking down the hall to greet her, "Hey Mom. I need some help with my homework if you have time."

Your mother hummed as she walked into the kitchen. She motioned for you to sit at table while she filled two glasses with lemonade.

You sat down, and she set a glass infront of you, before sitting next to you with pursed lips, "So, (Name), there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about, ok?"

You nodded, sipping your lemonade, "Is this about your super secret boyfriend I'm supposed to know nothing about?"

You mom sputtered, choking on her drink, "How do you know about that?"

"Mom, I'm twelve, not stupid. I've heard you guys talking when he visits."

Your mother sighed, chuckling quietly, "You always were perceptive for your age. Well, that's the easy part done. How do you feel about meeting him and his boys?"

"Wait, he has kids too?" You asked, tilting your head.

"Yes. He has four sons. All around 15 years old."

"Huh. Well have you met them?"

Your mom nodded, "I have. I think you'd get along well. But, you can wait as long as you need to to meet them."

"Well, I'm ready whenever they are." You replied, getting up to wash your now empty glass.

"How does tonight sound?"

You flashed her a thumbs up, "Sounds great, Mom. Just let me get changed and we can go whenever."

She nodded, with a smile, and you left for your room. You moved to your closet, and picked out your favorite outfit. After changing, you gave your hair a quick comb over, checked you teeth, and then went to meet your mom by the front door.

Your mom led you outside, and into the alley beside your apartment complex, stopping just infront of a sewerhole cover.

You glanced at her, a questioning look on yojr face, "Mom, that's the sewer."

"Mhm!" You mom lifted the slab of metal, moving it so the ladder down was visable, "Follow me, Hanī!" she then decended into the dark tunnels.

After one last questioning look, you followed, surprised to see the smell wasn't as bad as movies said it was.

You followed your mother through the dark, holding her hand like you had when you were younger so as not to get lost.

You mother stopped at the end of a tunnel, and she turned to you, "Alright, Hanī. We're almost there, but I have to ask you something, promise me you won't freak out?"

"Freak out about... what?"

Your mother took a deep breath, "Well, they're abit... odd, for lack of a better word. But promise me you won't freak out?"

You held up your hand with a smirk, "Scouts honor, Mom!"

Your mom nodded with a chuckle, "Alright then, follow me."

She led into what you presumed to be their home, and you couldn't help the awed look on your face. This place was AMAZING!

Your mother wrapped her arm around your shoulder, leading you into what looked like a dojo, inside the room, under a tree, was a rat man.

"Yoshi," your mother said, gaining his attention, the two smiled at each other, and your mother looked at you, "(Name), this is my kareshi, Yoshi. Yoshi, this is my musume, (Name)."

You waved awkwardly, and Yoshi motioned for you to sit infront of him.

"Koibito, why don't you go get the boys? I'm sure they'll be very excited to meet, (Name)." he said, looking up at your mother.

Your mother nodded, giving you a kiss on the cheek, "I'll be right back, Hanī."

With that, she left to gather the four teenagers, leaving you with Yoshi, the man looked to you with a smile, "I understand this may be... odd, and that it may take a moment to process."

You shook your head, looking around the room, "Not really, honestly the strangest thing about this is that you managed to grow a tree down here."

Yoshi chuckled lightly, "That is good to hear. I'm sure your mother will be relived to hear that as well, she was quite worried about how you would react."

You shrugged, "I honestly don't care much who she dates. As long as she's happy, and from what I've seen in her behavior, you make her pretty happy." you smiled, looking Yoshi in the eyes, "Thank you for making my mom happy."

He smiled back, and a low knock sounded from the door.

Your mother had reappeared with four mutant turtle teens standing behind her, "(Name), these are Yoshi's sons. Boys, introduce yourselves."

You stood up as the four approached you, you held out your hand with a large grin, "Nice to meet'cha! I'm (Name)!"

"Hi! I'm Mikey! Also known as Dr. prankenstein-"

The red one shoved Mikey away, "Dude, do you need to introduce yourself like that every single time? Nice to meet ya shorty, name's Raph. That dork over there's Donnie-"

"Hey!"

"Cut it out, Raph." Blue scolded, "Sorry about them. I'm Leo. Nice to meet you, (Name)."

You giggled, shaking Leo's hand while the other three shoved each other around, "You guys are funny."

Mikey shoved Leo out of the way, "Do you know how to skateboard?"

You shook your head no, and Mikey gave an overexageratted gasp, "Well the come on dudette! We'll teach you!" He then hauled you uo so you were resting on his shoulders, "Come on guys!"

As the five of you left the dojo, you heard your mother call out behind you, "Boys, be careful! She's fragile! Listen to Leo!"

"MoOom!"

....................................

Translations:

Kareshi: Boyfriend

Musume: Daughter

Hanī: Honey

As usual if any of these are wrong, let me know!

#tmnt #tmnt x reader #x reader #leonardo x reader #donnie x reader #raphael x reader #leonardo x reader tmnt #master splinter x child reader #female reader #platonic x reader #tmnt x reader platonic #Normie writes

[oplishin]

shield posting: tlc 2012!!! we made it!!!!

The first time i watched this match, i thought it was, like, fine. I was a new wrestling fan and i couldn’t get over the inherently contrived nature of a table, ladder, or chair spot. (if you can beat someone up and pin them regularly, why in god’s name would you spend 2 minutes setting up a table to do the exact same thing??) of course, this ignores the fact that wrestling is inherently very silly, and very, very fun.

This match fucking rules. It’s paced bombastically, everyone moving from big spot to big spot. The way the shield separate bryan, kane and ryback feels very natural. Daniel bryan fucking rules too. Slowly, throughout the match, the realization sets in that the shield, somehow, are just better. That moment when both seth and roman jump in to stop dean from getting pinned is fun. In mox’s words, there are always too many goddamn shield guys, and they’re deeply, deeply annoying. 

After having sat through a month of them experimenting and figuring their shit out in oftentimes very awkward and silly ways (seth i am still thinking about your tiny watch), it’s fun to see all the disparate elements come together. They went into the match annoying gnats that probably should’ve been stomped out in 5 seconds flat but delivered such a career making performance. 

Of the three of them, roman is the least like his modern self. He does a lot a lot of random yelling. Having not seen many shield matches, seth’s hair looks weird to me when it’s not falling apart and utterly destroyed from bleach. I really enjoy his ragdoll method of selling, he is going collapse and flail his limbs at all times. 

Towards the end of the match, someone chants “moxley, moxley.” i see you, czw freak.

Everyone already knows the shield at the end of this match, where dean and roman carry out (and drop) a thoroughly zonked out of his mind Seth so i’ll leave you with this

#jrestling #shield marathon #deciding to post more written out things instead of just my off the cuff notes #also seth's watch was normal sized i just think it's ridiculous that he showed up to the ring with a watch at all

[machomanwrestlinghistory]

[On This Day: 5 years ago] 16/12/2012 - TLC: The Shield (Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns) def. Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan & Kane) & Ryback in a Six-man tag team Tables, Ladders and Chairs match

The Shield makes their in-ring debut

#The Shield #Roman Reigns #Seth Rollins #Dean Ambrose #Daniel Bryan #Kane #Ryback #WWE TLC 2012 #WWE TLC #WWE Tables Ladders & Chairs 2012 #WWE Tables Ladders & Chairs #TLC 2012 #TLC #Tables Ladders & Chairs 2012 #Tables Ladders & Chairs #WWE #WWE GIFS

[loveshinsukenakamura]

Tagging myself as Seth

#dean ambrose #roman reigns #seth rollins #tlc 2012 #tables ladders chairs #wwe tlc #big mood right meow ahah i feel like trash lol the trash #wwe #the shield

[next-time-on-the-reverse]

Garcia Flynn (Timeless)

A/n: So this idiot absolutely fell in love with the series Timeless, and Garcia Flynn’s character is perhaps one of the most well portrayed and written anti-hero/good guy villain characters in my opinion, but I just wanted to leave this here as a reminder in the future of the show, just in case my memory goes back on the fritz. But if you watched the show, you’re probably now one of my favourite people, if you haven’t and you get bored, watch it. I think it’s worth it and I adore time travel and history. Potential spoilers for those who haven’t watched Timeless and decide to read

Clearing throats had been the first thing she had heard when she entered the bunker. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do, carrying the thin plastic bags down the ladder. Normally she would have called for Flynn; she’d listen with a grin as he spat his sarcastic drivel before inevitably reaching the short distance to take the weighted bags. Flynn had gone with them this time - against her protests. Garcia had jumped at the opportunity to help remove this last sleeper agent. 

“You’re all back. Perfect. I’m sorry I missed the return. I hope he’s not too mad. I got bored waiting for you all that I just went to grab some groceries. Flynn ate the last of the cereal. Like I swear that man chews through that stuff quicker than I can breath. I also thought as a celebration for the last sleeper deactivated, I would get his favourite. I mean, I don’t know how long it’ll be before they ship him back to jail and I won’t be able to see him” She rambled as she placed the bags on the counter and began to rummage through them. 

Another cleared throat and she paused. She hadn’t registered the room; she hadn’t sought out the smiles of a job well done like she normally would. She’d been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed they were a body down. She hadn’t noticed that he hadn’t already sought her out in the empty crowd, like he normally would.  

They couldn’t meet her gaze. Neither of them looked up at her, they kept their eyes fixed on the concrete ahead of them; occasionally the silence would poke and prod at one of them and they’d shift on their seat. It was almost as though they were scared, like they used to be when the Lifeboat would go on a mission and things would go sour - usually because of Flynn. 

“How’d it go? Did you get to them before anything bad happen? Please tell me, Flynn hasn’t gained another scar. I’m not stitching him back together.” She hummed, her voice cracked in places and her breath had become more evident as she struggled to cut through the thickened silence. “Tell me Flynn didn’t-”

“He didn’t do anything this time” Lucy whispered; The woman kept still in her seat. Her fingers folded on top of each other as she clung to her journal. That damned book had been the reason they’d all met. It had been the reason Flynn had all but kidnapped her in the initial fight with Rittenhouse. 

“So why do you all look like the aftermath of a funeral?” She queried. 

“You might want to sit down for this. It’s going to be hard to hear” Agent Christopher announced. The homeland security agent delicately placed a brown envelope on the counter. Her index resting heavy on the corner as the younger woman slid into her chair. She felt like a teenager being told her parents were getting a divorce. “Open the folder when you’re ready” 

She didn’t want to and part of her mind was yelling at her. The fear that chased her, chained her and tortured her rose beneath the surface of her skin. She wanted Flynn. She wanted him to tell her it was ok, that the fear she felt looking at the manila folder would fade and the news wouldn’t be as bad as she initially thought. 

“I’d like Garcia to be here, can someone go get him. If this is bad news, I’ll deal with it better knowing he’s here” She declared. By now her hands were shaking; her heart rate had increased and she felt the panic clawing its way free, how long would it be until she was drowning under the sensation. 

“Just open the folder” Wyatt uttered. His tone had never sounded so cold and mechanical. When had he stopped being the Wyatt that would spit venom about Flynn, and teased her on her school girl crush. When had he fallen back into the soldier she met that first time in Mason Industries. 

She didn’t beg or plead as she pulled the file closer to her. Delicate fingers slid beneath the cover. She could see the words forming across the page, she could see the white border of a carefully printed photo. She’d spent so many days creating those photos. She knew the silver table. Her stomach sank as she shot up from the table. 

“Very funny” her voice wavered as she spoke. Bile rising within her throat as she watched the faces finally lift. She saw the pity creeping along the surface of their skin. She watched Lucy’s haunted eyes find hers as she silently pleaded for it not to be true. Flynn had promised her. He’d sworn on his own life. “Flynn!” She yelled, her legs carrying her around the room. She was calling out to him, even as her brain processed the information. She expected him to be grinning as he rounded a corner. The joke stopped being funny when she’d seen his bruises and blue body in that photo. “Very funny, Garcia. You can come out. I got you some of that beer you were craving the other day. I promise I won’t be mad.” She smirked. Even once the tears had started to fall. Even as she watched the others begin to dive back into their own guilt-ridden grief. 

“He’s gone” Wyatt remained calm as he began his explanation. “He took the lifeboat back to 2012, he killed Jessica in order to bring Rufus back. He sent the lifeboat back but he didn’t get on it. He sacrificed himself to save the world” 

“Stop” She cried out. Her knees were buckling beneath her weight as she looked at Rufus. Rufus had never died, there was no need to change time. Flynn hadn’t needed to sacrifice himself for something that never happened. She was certain of that - no she couldn’t be certain. She wouldn’t remember if that had happened. The timeline had changed. “You can bring him back! The journal. We can bring him back” She furiously wiped her tears. 

“You know we can’t do that” Denise stated. 

“Bring him back! He just wanted to see his family, he didn’t deserve to die. So...so BRING HIM BACK” She screamed; she was moments away from rushing at the lifeboat. Her mind had already planned the strategy. She’d grab Wyatt’s gun from his holster. She’d aim it at Rufus or Jiya. She’d force him to take her to 2012. Or she would die trying. 

“We think he did, shortly before-” Lucy’s words fell flat in the air. 

“We have to try something, anything” She broke. Her legs no longer supporting her body as she crumpled on the floor. She hadn’t registered  arms wrapping around her. She didn’t want to, she struggled against their grasp. “I love him, please. We have to-” 

“I’m so sorry” Wyatt whispered. 

The journal. That damned journal that had forced him into this mess. The leather bound book that he had memorised from start to finish, that he had insisted that she never read it. She understood why now. It was like he was protecting her, it was like he had…

“Did he know?” She questioned. “Did he know that it would end this way. That he’d been groomed to die from the day Lucy handed a broken man her journal. Did he know, last night, when he hugged me tighter than ever, that he would never hug me or anyone again. Did he know that his heart would break twice, or that mine would shatter. Did Garcia Flynn know that I loved him more than anything in the world?” 

“I don’t-” Wyatt stopped. His words would comfort no-one. He’d felt this pain before, he understood how harrowing the loss could be and how useless the words of comfort really were.

“Who decided that Rufus’ life was worth more than his. Who decided to play God? Because who ever did it, is no better than Rittenhouse.” She barked. 

#timeless #timeless imagine #garcia flynn #garcia flynn x reader #garcia flynn imagine #Flynn deserved better #but his ending was beautiful and I cried buckets #he was one of the best #sucks the show was cancelled

[i-am-beyoutiful]

Family Over Story: The Shield Brings The Sword

Here is the next chapter of Family Over Story!! I do want to apologize for the wait on this chapter. WrestleMania hangover hit me hard but I am back. Hopefully you won’t have to wait this long again. Anyways, in this chapter, we hop back in time to TLC 2012 and the shields first match!! I hope you enjoy!!

Read on AO3 

“YOU’RE BEING RIDICULOUS!!!” 

“I’M BEING RIDICULOUS?? I’M BEING YOUR MOTHER!! IF I DON”T WANT YOU OUT THERE, ITS NOT HAPPENING!! AND BECAUSE I AM YOU’RE BOSS, YOU WON’T BE GOING OUT THERE!!” 

A high pitched scream traveled thru the door and the four men standing outside of the makeshift office winced at the volume. Tonight was TLC and for the members of the Shield, it was their first match. Not just any match, a TLC match. For weeks the quartet had been doing backstage segments and appearing out of nowhere to beat the crap outta everyone and anyone that got in their way. The siblings were told two weeks ago that they would have their first match on the main roster but to know that it was gonna be a TLC match on PPV sent them over the moon. They all knew they had to leave everything out in the ring. 

Cecily had been yapping about all the cool things they could do in this type of match. All the spots they could do together. Saying Cecily was geeked would be an understatement. Damage, down in NXT, was know for brawling. Hitting hard, fast and with a vengeance. No one messed with Damage unless you wanted a one way ticket to pain. Cecily changed the game and she planned to keep that going with this TLC match. Which lead to the screaming match that the men of the McMahon-Levesque family were hiding from. A first draft for what creative wanted the Shield to do during the match passed across Hunter’s desk and Stephanie happened to see it. To say Stephanie was horrified would be an understatement. 

Stephanie had her husband take out any spot that would put her daughter in any harm period. Hunter tried to change her mind but she was immovable. When the four siblings arrived at the arena and got the word from Road Dogg, informing them of the situation, the boys could barely keep up with their sisters steps. They got there just in time to see their dad pushed out the room and the door slammed in their faces. 

More screams traveled through the door and Roman rolled his eyes

“Dad, What could Cecily possibly be mad about? It’s not like there won’t be more matches for her to participate in.” Roman mentions. 

“I don’t think its the fact that she won’t be in this match. It’s what creative had signed up for her.” Hunter shook his head, “Seth was gonna be in harms way and she was gonna take chair shots for him then eat a table spot.” 

“WHAT!” Seth shot up from the floor in surprise. “And you said no! Dad, Cece lived for that stuff down in NXT. Taking a couple chair shots is nothing to her!” Seth exclaimed.

“Trust me, I know and I was all for it. This is all your mom. She was appalled and put a stop to it.” Hunter held his hands up. Dean got ready to respond but the door slammed open. Cecily walked out, taking heavy breaths, looking every bit of pissed. Seth tried to say something but was cut off by Cecily’s finger. She just shakes her head. 

“I’m gonna go get my make-up done because we have a segment to film. I’ll find you after.” Cecily took off towards the makeup chairs. All the men staring at the retreating figure of the female Shield member. Dean got a good look at her face and Cecily looked devastated. He could see his brothers on the verge of going after Cecily which would just end in a even bigger explosion. 

Dean slapped Seth’s shoulder, “Hey let’s go get changed. We probably got some lines to memorize.” Dean leads his older brothers away and gives his dad a nod. Hunter sighs again before stepping back into the office to face the storm that is his angry wife. 

Damage was arguing with her Shield brother, Seth Rollins.

“THERE IS NO WAY I’M DOING THAT!!”

“LOOK, YOU COULD GET HURT! DO YOU WANT THAT?”

“OHHH SO SUDDENLY ITS OK FOR YOU TO GET HURT!!”

“YEAH BECAUSE I’M AN ACTUAL WRESTLER!!” 

“YOU MOTHER-” Before Damage could finish, the hand belonging to Dean Ambrose clamped over her mouth, muffling the words she was saying. Damage shook Dean’s hand off and went to leap at Seth but Roman interrupted. Stepping between Seth and Damage doing well to make sure his brother wasn’t hurt before the fight they had tonight. Seth and Damage were glaring daggers at each other, ignoring their fellow Shield members. 

“What the hell is going on? Tonight is not the night for in fighting. We have bigger fish to fry.” Roman glances between them trying to gauge what could possibly be causing this commotion. 

“Seth has ordered me to stay back stage while you guys go fight Ryback and Team Hell No. Tell HIM that’s not happening!” Dean and Roman glance at each other.

“Weeeellll??” Dean began and shrugged his shoulders. Damage turned to her brother in shock. 

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME DEAN!!!!! Out of all of you, you’re the one to tell me no!?” Damage shook her head in disbelief and turned to Roman pleading with him. He was her last hope of changing hers brothers minds.  

“Come on, Roman! Make some sense please? I can help you guys out there.” Damage got her answer in Roman’s silence and she was taken aback. 

“Wow. I guess all the times you said I’m just as much apart of the Shield as you are was a lie.” Damage, hurt by her brothers distrust, started to walk away but was grabbed by the elbow, stopping her in her tracks. Damage ripped her arms out of her brothers grip. She walked out of frame, her brothers staring in concern after her. 

Right before the Pre show ends, a clip plays showing Damage fixing her boots. To her left, the locker room door opens with a creek. Damage stops and sits up. 

“Whoever it is, I don’t want to talk.” Damage goes back to her shoes when three people walk in. 

“I said I don’t want to talk,” She stands and faces her brothers, “Especially not to anyone who doesn’t trust me.” Seth rolls his eyes, already tired of his partners dramatics. 

“Oh get over it Damage!! Its not about us trusting you.” Damage interrupts, enraged at her brothers response. 

“NOT ABOUT TRUST!?!?! Of course it’s about trust. You don’t trust me to go out their and do anything and everything to make sure to Shield come out of TLC with a win. You don’t trust me to have chair cracked over my back. You don’t trust me to crash thru tables. You don’t trust me to take a ladder to the stomach and you guys trained me!” Damage breaths are coming out rapidly, her anger working her up. “If you expect to stand back here and watch as my brothers go to war in TLC match like any of these other good for nothing Divas,” She holds her hands up to pause, “Except for Naomi, Katilyn and AJ Lee, Natalya and Beth Phoenix.” The crowd laughs at Damage’s own interruption. 

Damage’s breathing calms down. She drops onto the bench below her and crosses her arms, “I will not be made to feel invalid.” 

Dean drops into the seat next to her and shakes Damage’s shoulder grabbing her attention. 

“You are not invalid. You are a valued member of this brotherhood. You’re the only women we could tolerate. And trust us, none of the divas back here could pull off the Shield fare like you can.” Dean and Damage share a smile before he continues. “Now the reason we don’t want you out with us isn’t because we don’t believe you can’t take a hit. You’ve taken plenty and you’ve stood tall after. We don’t want you out their because we would have to watch you take those shots for us when you don’t have to. Seeing you do that may take our focus away from the match. And I know, for you, its important that we win. Its all you’ve been harping on for weeks leading up to tonight.” Damage laughs a little before Dean embraces her. Roman speaks up, finishing off his brothers speech. 

“We gon go out there and we gonna beat the absolute crap outta Team Hell No and their little sidekick and show them why we are the Shield from injustice. Now lets do this!!” Dean stands and the boys join fists. Damage looks at all them and stands. 

“You all take care of business tonight. And If anything and I mean anything happens out there no one is gonna be able to stop me. I’m running down there, chair in hand, and I’m swinging until something breaks. Its just a matter of timing if its the chair or someone’s back” All the boys nod with a smile and Damage thrusts her fist into the empty space waiting for her.

“You gonna be okay, Cece?” The boys just got the ten minute warning and they were heading up top for their entrance. Dean and Seth were already heading up but Roman stopped to check on his sister once again before leaving the locker room. Cecily hasn’t said a word since they finished filming. She hadn’t even reacted to all the matches playing out on screen. All her brothers were concerned but they had more important things to worry about. Going into a TLC match needed all their focus. Cece shrugged off all their questions. Telling them to direct their concerns on not getting hurt out there.

Cecily turned to her brother, a half hearted smile painting her face. 

“Go kick some ass.” Roman nods and closes the door behind him. 

Cecily continued to sit in the locker room watching the end of Kofi versus Wade Barrett when her mother walked in. Stephanie tried to speak but Cecily evacuated the space before she could get a word in. Cecily was walking thru the hallways and she ran into her Dad. He placed a hand on her shoulder as she was passing. He leaned closer to her ear and whispered. 

“Hey have you spoken to mother?” 

“Naw she entered the room and I left. I’m trying to find a monitor so I can watch my brothers match.” Cecily tried to exit the situation but Hunter stops her again. 

“Dad, I don’t feel like doing this right now.” Cecily rolls her eyes. 

Hunter drags her forward, back toward the shared locker room, “You don’t but I do.” The two reach the door. Hunter holds it open and just waits for Cecily to enter. She huffs angrily but enters the room to face her mother watching the beginning stages of her sons match in bated breath. Stephanie glances over at her daughter and her husband. 

“Sweetheart, can’t this wait until after our sons match?” Stephanie proposes but Hunter cuts her off. 

“No it can’t. Now Cece could you please explain to your mother why you’re mad.” Hunter hands the floor over to Cecily. Their oldest daughter looks around the room, anywhere but her mothers face. 

“She doesn’t trust me.” Cecily finally blurts out and Stephanie is taken aback. 

“Cece! When have I ever said I don’t trust you?” Stephanie asks. 

Cecily rolls her eyes again, “You may not say it but you show it. You never let me pick my own clothes for events. I had to basically wrestle you into letting me dress like an actual Shield member and not a normal diva valet. You don’t even let me drive on the road and tonight was the last straw. I’m a trained professional wrestler, mom, and tonight you basically showed me that you don’t trust my training to be able to go out there and take a table spot and couple chairs to the back.” Cecily eyes bored into her mothers before looking away, directing her gaze back to the floor. 

“Sweetheart, I didn’t know you felt that way. I only said no because its your first big match on the roster and I already have to watch my boys put their bodies thru this.” As if on que, on the tv, Seth and Dean get planted onto an awaiting ladder and everyone in the locker room winced. Stephanie points at the monitor, “I knew I was gonna have to accept this but it never crossed my mind that I would have to watch you do that.” 

Cecily sighs and grabs her mothers hand, “Yes but mom think about how I would be changing the game. The divas didn’t do brawls but I did. The divas don’t fight like the boys but I do. No one expected me to be taking the same shots as the boys down in NXT but I did. Mom the people have been clamoring for a change in the divas.They want wrestlers. They want the women and men to be treated equally and I could have been the start of that, tonight. Mom this can’t happen again. I want to go out there and prove to everyone that I belong in the Shield. That I’m not just a diva but you have to trust me.” Stephanie pulled Cecily into a hug, smiling at her husband. 

“I trust you Cecily. I won’t like seeing you do this but I trust you.” Stephanie and Cecily pull away with smile. Hunter smiles as well.

“Now that that’s covered I’m gonna run back to gorilla and make everything is going okay. Love you both.” And with that Hunter runs out of the room. 

“Love you too.” The girls call back then they settle in their seats to watch the rest of the match. 

“FUCK!!! My everything hurts!!” Dean exclaims while his mother checks on him and his brothers in the trainers room. The family was waiting for the trainers to come back. Cecily laughs at her brothers comment. 

“That’s what happens when you have a TLC match, Dean. But other than the obvious pain you’re all in, How was it?” Cecily asks. 

“It was awesome!!” 

“That crowd was electric.” 

“They couldn’t get enough of us.” Cecily smiled. 

“Yeah I bet they couldn’t! Seth that table spot towards the end was SICK!!” The sibling continued to talk and harp on about all the cool stuff they did in the match.The boys wishing Cecily would have been out there with them. Cecily recounting all the things they did like it didn’t just happen. Stephanie and Hunter watched the scene in amusement. 

“How did you deal with seeing Cece do all those brawls in NXT?” Stephanie asked. 

“Oh I didn’t. Most of the time, I had someone else watch them to make sure no one got hurt.” The two parents laugh. Hunter shook his head in amusement, “You know I was terrified for Cecily when she brought up her and Saraya having a real brawl backstage. But I saw the look in Cece’s eyes. It was the same look my parents tell me I had when I told them I wanted to be wrestler. She believed this was her path and I gave her the ball to run with, no matter how much I didn’t want to see her do that stuff.”

Stephanie grabs her husbands hand and kisses it. 

“Then I guess we’ll suffer together?” 

“You bet we will.” They both smile again before joining in on the conversation their oldest kids were having. The family sharing this moment together. 

#wwe #wwe raw #wwe smackdown #the shield #the shield wwe #dean ambrose #seth rollins #roman reigns #Triple H #stephanie mcmahon #wwe fanfiction #wwe fic #WWE Fanfic #wwe imagine #wwe imagines #FamilyOverStory #OC

[mvdbutler]

WORST WWE PPV FROM 2010 TO 2019

2010-OVER THE LIMIT 2010-FATAL 4-WAY 2010-BRAGGING RIGHTS 2010-SURVIVOR SERIES 2011-WRESTLEMANIA 27 2012-OVER THE LIMIT 2012-HELL IN A CELL 2013-WRESTLEMANIA 29 2013-BATTLEGROUND 2013-SURVIVOR SERIES 2013-TLC 2014-ROYAL RUMBLE 2014-BATTLEGROUND 2014-HELL IN A CELL 2014-TLCS TABLE LADDERS CHAIRS AND STAIRS 2015-ROYAL RUMBLE 2015-FASTLANE 2015-ELIMINATION CHAMBER 2016-WRESTLEMANIA 32 2016-PAYBACK 2017-FASTLANE 2017-PAYBACK 2017-EXTREME RULES 2017-GREAT BALLS OF FIRE 2018-FASTLANE 2018-BACKLASH 2018-EXTREME RULES 2018-HELL IN A CELL 2018-CROWN JEWEL 2018-SURVIVOR SERIES 2019-SUPER SHOWDOWN 2019-STOMPING GROUNDS 2019-HELL IN A CELL

#VIEW #the 10

[saveplus]

Hurry Up!!! Bring The Wooden Sofa Sets With Urban Ladder Coupons

Online shopping is now a huge pleasure for more digital consumers. Online shopping has allowed consumers to purchase various types of goods with various offers and discount deals at very low prices. People like shopping online because it really offers them a lot of benefits, such as saving time, making various kinds of choices, and it's a very different experience for them. A lot of low-quality online shopping is done by consumers. Saveplus is one of the largest and leading websites in India, carrying all the most popular and fashionable coupon codes, deals, and discount coupons for many websites. So you pick the trendy coupons for people who want to save their money while shopping online. Take saveplus with the latest deals and discount coupons for your favorite product items.

If you want looking for the best quality of home needs? Then Urban Ladder is the perfect place. It is the perfect destination for you to shop. It was established by Ashish Goel and Rajiv Srivatsa in 2012. Ashish Goel was working with McKinsey. Cognizant and Yahoo have partnered with Rajiv Srivatsa. It is an online portal for items for furniture and home decor. It has its head office in Bangalore. The items they sell are shipped and assembled. They provide trials of sofas at the consumer's place. They will carry the single-seaters to your home and you can go ahead with placing the order with them if you want the same thing. 

Rajiv and Ashish have settled down in Bangalore. For their house, they wanted furniture. They spent a lot of time and money finding out about the quality items for furniture and home decor. They concluded that there is a significant need for furniture outlets of good quality in the city. The current sellers of furniture were very costly and low in quality. They started this online furniture port, therefore. They aimed to provide the consumers with the best possible facilities, from placing an order to delivering the product. They also supply after-sales facilities. You should contact Urban Ladder if you have any issue with the furniture and they will take up the matter promptly. 

It is an exclusive online home furnishing store that offers a great variety of home needs at low price. Urban Ladder offers different categories such as Leather sofa sets, L shaped sofa sets, Recliner sofa sets, Sofas, Sofa cum Beds, Divans, Stools & Benches, Tables, coffee tables, Nested tables, etc. Leather sofa sets, L shaped sofa sets, Recliner sofa sets, Sofas, Sofa cum Beds, Divans, Stools & Benches, Tables, coffee tables, Nested tables, etc. You can also Bookshelves, Beds with Storage, Beds without Storage, Double Beds, Balcony Chairs, Single Beds, Mattresses, Study tables. There are very good offers for Living Room Furniture, TV Units, Dining Tables, etc. 

As far as the design of the furniture is concerned, they are very imaginative and inventive. At UrbanLadder, you get both the new modern furniture and the antique model. Their delivery process is taken up with most care so that there may not be any damage. Saveplus listed in all the new and exceptional Urban Ladder Coupons in the list bellow,

Get up to 20% off Carpets,

Up to 30% off Study Tables,

Save up to 40% on Dining Tables,

Up to 30% off Wooden Sofa Sets.

#Urbanladder_Coupons UrbanLadder_Offers UrbanLadder_Deals

[sooyun-ichtama]

credits:

~BAZAR~ Christmas gift 2012 (christmas fireplace) Apple Fall Heritage Christmas Tree - Golden White dust bunny . present pile dust bunny . upcycled shutter table dust bunny & windsong . apothecary counter dust bunny . camellia couch . adult dust bunny . wanderlust . blanket ladder dust bunny . candy cane mug dust bunny . smores jar dust bunny . syrup dispensers dust bunny . lighted jar . type a dust bunny . marshmellow jar dust bunny . tree cookies dust bunny . summer picnic . deli sandwiches dust bunny . miniature village shelf dust bunny . white rose pitcher dust bunny . warm cocoa dust bunny . storybook living . suitcase chair dust bunny . darling sectional cushion . blanket dust bunny . firewood basket dust bunny . window table CMYK// 7. Let's X-MAS PARTY CMYK// White christmas frame lamp @ tannenbaum CMYK// White christmas line lamp @ tannenbaum CMYK// 3. Let's X-MAS PARTY CMYK// 8. Let's X-MAS PARTY limited rare CMYK// Noel jar lamp SAYO - Candle & Light Set erratic / home - hot chocolate sticks RARE erratic / home - waffle rolls erratic / home - candy canes {Imeka} Kawaii Christmas Ornaments- 1/2/3/6/7/8/10 @ tannenbaum [Black Bantam] Gift Bow Puppy @ tannenbaum [Black Bantam] Ribbon Puppy @ tannenbaum [Black Bantam] Gift Bow Floor Decor Red/Green @ tannenbaum

#secondlife #second life #sl #decor #christmas #holidays #BAZAR #apple fall #imeka #SAYO #erratic #black bantam #CMYK #tannenbaum #gacha #new

[machomanwrestlinghistory]

22/10/2017 - TLC: “The Demon” Finn Balor def. AJ Styles 

#Finn Balor #AJ Styles #TLC 2017 #TLC 2012 #WWE TLC #WWE TLC 2017 #WWE Tables Ladders & Chairs 2017 #Tables Ladders & Chairs #WWE Tables Ladders & Chairs #WWE Raw #WWE SmackDown Live #WWE #WWE GIFS

[robin-blogs]

-18.03.2020- The Goddess Of Art: Marina Abramović - Wednesday Lecture

https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/02D45FC1?bcast=91168380

Introduction

To begin with, this lecture felt very different from all other lectures we had. This is because it wasn't created as a lecture or to to presented in front of students. Additionally, I found the beginning to be incredibly funny, as I thought it was part of the lecture - when in fact it was something completely different in which the last part of it was a frame saying “An Hour Watching TV - Expect to Lose 15 Minuites of Your Life”. Then the actual show// lecture began which I will now begin to talk about and discuss throughout this blog segment. Furthermore, throughout this blog segment I will be using a different and edited template to experiment with how I structure my blogs.

My first Impressions

No one took her seriously for a very long time. I already enjoy all of the imagery shown within her work. It feels very exposing to look at and it can make some people feel uncomfortable. I personally already really enjoy her artwork and to me she seems to be a very kind and down to earth woman. If I had the chance I would have loved to be able to visit the MoMA while her work was being exhibited in 2012. One piece that was shown in the beginning that I found to be intriguing was a piece where a man was lying nude on a long plinth while a life sized skeleton was lay on top of him. The overall composition and how exposing the piece is incredibly stunning to me as an artist. From seeing her work in the exhibitions within the documentary I couldn't see any evidence of titles with her pieces. I found this to be interesting as I feel personally, if they had a title they would take away from the piece rather than add to it. The fact that they have no title shows how truly exposing her pieces are and only further adds to why I enjoy her artwork - even at a first glance.

Visuals and Meanings of the Work

Her work fully represents her own life and her experiences. She has created a range of works such as performance. She has had pieces in which she threatens to inflict harm on herself. Abramovic is seen as the “Grandmother of Performance” as she has explored so many different ranges of performance. In some she will be provocative or violent. She is directly challenging the audience she is revealing human nature with a disconnect between the audience and the performer. Her work to me feels very realistic in both its visuals and meanings. Artists have to be warriors - they have to have the determination and stamina to conquer not only themselves but their issues and weaknesses. Performance to her is all about a state of mind. Her mother never loved her as a child - she was overly strict and even wiped her in bed because she was sleeping to messily. Abramovic creates all of her work from her own bodily form. She is never not performing. She will additionally also use props within her pieces and one that relates to her quote “When you perform you have a knife, and its your blood. But when you’re acting its ketchup and you dont cut yourself.” in which she uses knives as the steps to ladders. Within this performance piece there were three boxes - one that acted as a bathroom, a bedroom and a sitting area. I felt this piece really related to this quote both literally and metaphorically.

Relevancy to my Work

Abramovic sees two versions of herself when she reflects back on her life. She sees one as the product of her parents and as a national hero who fought in the war who doesn't have any aim left in her life and then the other she sees as a little girl who is very vulnerable and sad who’s mother didn’t give her enough love. Although there is another who has this spiritual wisdom and can go above all of her issues - this is her favorite version of herself. I find myself relating to this as I feel as if there are multiple versions of me. There are versions of me where I hate myself so deeply and I wont feel anything is worth it at all. There are other versions of me where I’ll be content and calm with everything in my life and not wish for change. There is another version of me who is content with myself who stands up for myself with confidence - this version of myself is the hardest one for me to relate to sometimes - buts its certainly my favorite. This heavily relates to how I create my work as I create a range of my works with a lot of emotion around them. I enjoy painting emotions I feel at the time as a way of relieving stress and hopefully getting closer to being the person I want to be. I think her work will certainly impact my work in the future as she works with a wide range of nudity and being very visually exposing with her work. I already do this and I am developing on making my work more exposing in the future. Although I dont use nudity within my work, I do expose a wide range of emotions and physical parts of the body such as organs and intense wounds. Much like Abramovic, my work will get a wide range of reactions from the public and I want that. I want the public to notice my work and start conversations. I want people to feel exposed by my work and start conversations they would never want to start or they would avoid. I could further add to my development of this aspect of my work by adding aspects of nudity to my work to further add to the feeling of being exposed.

Social and Political Views of the Artist// Artwork

Mariana and Ulai. They had a very infamous relationship and people were always used to them being. She stated a quote that “When you perform you have a knife, and its your blood. But when you’re acting its ketchup and you dont cut yourself.” One of the pieces of her performance work that moved me the most was a moment in her “Artist is Present” exhibition. In this segment of the exhibition Ulai went up to Mariana and sat in front f her in the opposing chair. As soon as she opened her eyes she began to cry from how emotional seeing her ex-husband was. When her and Ulai were together they had a very “old fashioned” social relationship in which she would stay at home and cook and Ulai would deal with banking and finances. In society and politics now more and more heterosexual people are going against this societal norm in their relationships. This further reveals her own social and political views in her own relationships and what she feels comfortable with - although when they divorced it took her years to get used to banking and having to deal with her own finances. So in the end of it all she still found it very difficult to be in that kind of relationship for so long.

Exhibitions and Public Views

From March 14th to May 31st she had an exhibition in the MoMA called “Mariana Abramovic: The Artist is Present”. Whenever you go to the exhibition whether from when it opens at 9am or at 5pm, she will be present there for 3 months and all she does is look at you. Mariana stated that people dont realize that one of the hardest things to do is to do nothing at all - to focus all of your energy and time into nothing. The rooms setting was equally bare with only a table and two chairs - one in which Mariana was sat and the other in which the viewer would be sat in.

Overall

Overall, when thinking back on this lecture I feel it was a shame that it couldn't have been presented within a lecture room as if I was given the chance I would have loved to attend her Q&A if she chose to hold one. Although I’m also glad that the lecture was presented in this way as it means I got to see all aspects of her work and being able to see her in the context of her exhibitions rather than in front of students in a lecture hall.

[anactualcaseofthetruth]

Call Me A Safe Bet, I’m Betting I’m Not - Chapter 3

(AO3 Link- Chapter Three)

“Even though scientists are still quite baffled after multiple millennia of medical and technological advances of exactly how the soulmarks work, there has been enough research and study that we now know when and how to expect them… There has yet to be one soulmate coupling occur before the female has experienced a menstrual cycle and the male to begin producing sperm. In short, soulmarks have never appeared before entering puberty…

There are many, many more cases in which two people have insisted they are soulmates only to not mark with one another. All in all, only about 3% of couplings are correct in predicting they are soulmates before marks form.”

***

Betty Cooper is four years old when she meets Jughead Jones. She knows he is her soulmate, he’s not so sure.

Chapter Three

“It is rare, but it has been reported that there are people who believe they know who their soulmate is before they are old enough to receive soulmarks. The same ritual must be followed with the female initiating an intimate touch to the male for the connection to be made… However, these reports are almost impossible to prove, seeing as all it takes is the mark to form for the couple to say they had known all along.

There are many, many more cases in which two people have insisted they were soulmates only to not mark with one another. All in all, only about 3% of couplings are correct in predicting they are soulmates before marks form.”

From The Annual Study and Comprehension of Couplings, 2012

Betty has never truly been grounded before, but as she’s learning lately, there is a first time for everything.

Coming home in the early morning covered in dirt and scrapes with a broken phone is not something Alice Cooper can ignore, no matter what inner turmoil her daughter is going through. So Betty finds herself grounded for the first time ever, which sucks, but she’s also liking the no contact with the outside world idea.

She’s not allowed to see anyone, not allowed on her laptop or to get a new phone until her punishment is lifted, and her dad asked Fred to keep his ladder chained up so the boys couldn’t attempt to make contact. Evidently, her parents were more aware of Jughead’s comings and goings than she gave them credit for, and she’s not sure if she’s pleased they let him sneak in so often before, or if she’s mad that he can’t sneak in now.

The first few days were solitary, filled with chores—another punishment—merely for breaking her phone.

“You’re very lucky it was still under warranty and we covered both you and Polly with insurance, Elizabeth, or else your consequences would have been much worse,” her mother had said while handing her a list of things she wanted clean and organized over the next few days.

The list included the attic, basement, garage, all three bathrooms, an order to scrub every hardwood or linoleum floor, and to wipe down the fridge top to bottom.

At the time Betty wondered what her punishment would have been had her phone not been covered by insurance if this wasn’t a lot… but she took it in stride and finished the cleaning during the first three days of her grounding so she could just be lazy for the rest of the duration.

It sounded like a good idea at the time, but on day two of doing nothing Betty finds herself losing her mind just a little. She silently thanks her mother for keeping her so busy as a child because, apparently, she isn’t cut out for this sitting around stuff. Sure, doing nothing with someone else was fun, but on her own? Not so much.

Then, because fate works in mysterious ways, just as Betty is about to succumb to the utter boredom and resort to a nap, Polly bursts into the house like a gale force wind, tears streaming down her face, unable to get a word out between sobs.

In short, Betty learns that Polly thought she found her soulmate, spent time getting to know him, being very careful about touching him, and when she finally got the guts to initiate it nothing happened.

Her big sister was completely heartbroken over Jason Blossom and their parents were furious at her for even thinking ‘that Blossom boy’ could be her soulmate, and angry that she kept it from them. Betty found herself in the middle of a warzone being pulled in both directions.

“Did you know about this, Elizabeth? Your sister’s ridiculous crush?”

“Can you believe them, Betty? My heart is broken and all they care about is the Cooper name!”

Suddenly Betty has a newfound appreciation for Archie—all of this tugging was giving her a headache, but she has to admit, spending time with Polly is nice despite them now both being grounded.

“I’m sorry I ever teased you about Jughead, Betty,” Polly whispers as Betty brushes her hair out at the vanity in her big sister’s room.

Betty forces a smile in the mirror but even she can tell it doesn’t reach her eyes. “It’s okay, Polly, we were kids, you haven’t done it in a long time. So, do you want a French braid, I think I can do a fishtail? Maybe—”

“Betty,” Polly turns and takes her hand. “I mean it, I’m sorry, I thought you were so silly for believing it, for continuing to believe it as you got older. You’ve taken a lot over the years with people doubting you, I’m sorry I was one of them.”

Betty nods. “It’s okay, Polls, you didn’t mean anything by it. I was just a little kid, I told myself you were just jealous and—”

“I was,” Polly interrupts. “I still am. What you and Jughead have, I want it, I wanted it with Jason. He did too, you should have seen his face, Betty, when nothing happened. It’s not fair.”

“It’s not. We should be able to be with whoever we want,” Betty agrees and clears her throat. “Everyone who has a mark says it’s this big gift, but what if you’re in love with someone who probably won’t get a mark? Or what if the person you mark with still isn’t good for you? Just because you have a mark doesn’t mean you should be together, right?”

“Betty,” Polly chides, looking her up and down. “What’s gotten into you? Are you worried about Jughead? Did something happen?”

“That’s just it, nothing’s happened,” Betty informs her. “I haven’t gotten my period yet, we haven’t marked, his parents aren’t helping the matter, and—” she stops and takes a breath. “It’s just a lot, all at once, and it’s hard.”

“Oh, Betty, you’ll be fine. Don’t worry, you and Jughead, you’re special, I know it,” Polly assures her with a hug and then turns back in the chair. “Let’s do French braids, okay?”  

“Okay, just let me go to the bathroom first,” Betty says and goes into her and Polly’s shared bathroom. She immediately turns on the hot water and puts her shaking palms under the spray, wincing at the burn.

The crescent moon scabs are an angry yellow and deep. She didn’t even know she was doing it in the woods until she saw the red rivers running down her knuckles, and now, when stress hits, she isn’t able to stop.

It is a release, something she can control, a pain she creates and manipulates herself. She remembers getting home and receiving her punishment, then going to the bathroom to clean herself up to find her fingers were curled in on themselves and that the pain she was causing herself somehow prevented her from fully breaking down. When her fingernails slice through her palms it curbs the need to fight back against everything.

In controlling her own pain, she simply took her mother’s punishment in stride and nodded as she was told how many rules she broke, how many things she had done wrong. She does it at night when she thinks of Jughead and how she has been breaking his heart, and it’s stopped her from completely falling apart. She does it to punish herself for pulling Jughead into all of this at five years old because she swore she felt something so special. She does it for him, because he doesn’t deserve anything that is happening to him, and the world is too cruel, especially to him.

And now, she does it for Polly because she knows her sister is hurting, and there is nothing she can do to stop it, or help her with, and she should be able to do more.

Finally, Betty turns off the water and pulls out the first-aid materials she’s been using for days now to hide her habit: Neosporin, gauze, and wraps. She told her parents it was from falling in the woods, she scraped her palms bad, but she was fine, it was just a few scratches. They accepted her explanation with no qualms.

She isn’t wearing bandages all the time, but she couldn’t very well get blood in her sister’s hair, now could she?

Later, Betty finds herself falling into bed after spending hours with Polly doing each other’s hair, doing and redoing pedicures until they were just right, and playing around with make-up and risqué things in her sister’s closet their mother doesn’t, and can never, know about.

It was fun—she hadn’t realized that she has been so wrapped up in Jughead and their drama that she’s been having tunnel vision. Betty still sees her sister every day, of course. They eat dinner together and did their homework together during the school year, even go running together in the mornings, but it’s different when they are on their own left to their own devices.

Betty lets her hair out of the multiple braids Polly put it up in and shakes out her now incredibly wavy tresses before taking off the gauze on her palms and applying more Neosporin from the tube she now keeps in her bedside table for easy access.

She’s in short-shorts and an old t-shirt of Jughead’s from more than a year ago. It’s getting too small for her, but it’s so soft and she loves the thought of wearing something that was once his, that his body was inside too. It brings her comfort, like he’s wrapped around her, and even with everything going on between them that feeling holds.

Betty sighs and reaches for her diary once the gooey cream has mostly dried on her palms, but before she can read over her last entry—about Jughead, of course—there is a rapping on her window. It’s so soft she wonders if she imagined it, but it continues again after a moment in a funny pattern.

After making sure her door is shut and locked, Betty opens the curtains to find nothing on the other side of the glass. With scrunched eyebrows she opens the window and just as she goes to look out a hand reaches for hers, making her let out a quick yelp.

“Shhh, sorry, it’s me,” Jughead whispers, his other hand over her mouth.

When he lets go she lightly punches him in the shoulder. “Dammit, Jughead! Don’t do that!”

“I’m sorry,” he instantly apologizes and she notes his plaid pajama pants and old t-shirt as well. He’s either sleeping over Archie’s or he snuck out of his house to come see her, but is it sneaking if his dad isn’t home or cares where he goes?

She wants to curl her fingers into her scabs and feel that release, a pain she can control because Jughead is in so much he can’t, but she stops herself. She can’t, not with him here.

“I had to make sure you weren’t your mom, I’ve been waiting out here for almost an hour,” he tells her.

“Well, you probably would have scared the hell out of her too! How did you know it was me?”

“I know your hands,” he answers simply with a shrug while fixing his beanie.

“That’s weird, but I could probably say the same so I’ll leave it alone,” Betty says more to herself than to him and he smirks a little. “How did you get up here? My dad asked Fred to chain up his ladder,” she says and moves aside so he can climb in through the window.

“Yeah, I heard the riot act from him all about it,” Jughead confirms while closing the window behind him. “And it’s a complicated scenario involving me standing on Archie’s shoulders as he stands on your porch and then climbing around the overhanging to get to your window. I’m supposed to text Archie when I’m coming back so if I break my neck at least I have a witness since I’ll have to jump.”

“You didn’t—you shouldn’t have risked getting in trouble for me, Jug,” she says with her arms wrapped around herself and shuffles awkwardly from foot to foot.

Jughead had finally, finally, been so honest with her the last time they saw each other and even though she loves him, she doesn’t know what to say to him anymore, doesn’t know how to make him feel better. It’s just words, and she’s learning they don’t mean anything, not when it comes to this. Her promises and declarations don’t hold the weight they once did.

“I know, I should be respecting your parent’s wishes, and Fred’s, I guess, but you weren’t returning my calls or messages, so—”

“My phone broke,” she interrupts. “I—I was running home and tripped and my phone took the brunt of it. Coming home from a fake sleepover combined with that got me put in Cooper jail.”

“I figured your parents took your phone since I knew you were in trouble after Fred asked me to stop stealing his ladder,” he responds and takes a step towards her, and she makes a conscious effort to not step backwards.  “Betty, I’m so sorry—”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for, Juggie, don’t worry,” she whispers and stretches her fingers to stop herself from making a fist.

“No, I do,” he insists and takes another step, however this time Betty can’t help but move away. “Betty…” he trails off and his voice cracks.

“I’m sorry, Jug, I—it’s not you, it’s me.”

“Are you breaking up with me?” he asks like he’s trying to laugh, but looks like he’s about to cry.

“No, no,” she assures him. “But we’re not… we’re not even together, Jug.”

“Betty… I’ve been going through a lot and you’ve been there for me every day, and I know I don’t make that easy on either of us. I never want you to think you’re anything less than the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It’s hazy, but I remember what I said, and I’m so fucking happy it was me that found you in that puddle, Betty.”

“I’m happy it was you too, Jug,” she agrees while blinking away tears. “But that night, it might have taken you drinking to finally say those things, but you do feel them. It just made me realize that all I’ve been doing, especially recently, is hurting you and I don’t want to do that anymore.”

“Betty, you’re not,” he stops and she sees he’s making fists of his own. She wonders if he needs something to feel control over too, because his life is much more chaotic than hers. “I’m sorry that I never—I never bothered to notice the effect all of this has on you. My doubts are hard on you. I just—”

“It’s okay,” she interrupts. “I’m the one that announced we were soulmates when I was four—”

“And I’m thankful for it every day,” he tells her. “I want it to be true, I want it more than I want almost anything. It just feels like the powers that be are pulling us apart no matter how hard we hold on. My life… my life is a mess, Betty, and you keep trying to jump in and save it, and all I can see is you getting so caught up in it that one day you hope you never had anything to do with me.”

“That will never happen, Jug, never,” she swears and this time moves towards him. “Your life might be a mess, but I’m a big part of why and I’m the one that’s sorry. I’ve just made everything that much harder for you.”

“No, no,” Jughead says forcefully and shakes his head. “You haven’t, I have. I’m letting everything get to me, and I’ve hurt you because of it,” he admits and lets out a long breath. “That night I said—I said that I feel like I’m going to lose you before I ever even have a chance to really have you and… that’s what I’ve been feeling for about a year now. We’re too young for us to really be together, but we’re also getting to the age where the marks matter now because it’s either going to happen or it won’t. We’re running out of time, and I don’t know what to do. I can’t imagine not being with you but I can’t fathom having you and losing you either.”

“There’s nothing we can do, Jug,” she tells him solemnly and bites her lip. “I can tell you how I feel about you until I’m blue in the face, but it doesn’t matter, not really. Because of everything you need a mark to be with me, and I’m finally accepting that—”

“No,” Jughead cuts in. “I want one, I want it more than anything, but I—I need you, Betty, just you, not a mark or-” he stops and scrubs a hand down his face. “That’s a lie, not completely, but—” he just looks at her and she struggles to keep the tears at bay. “I don’t want to need a mark to be with you, Betts, but… every day I’ll wonder ‘is today is the day I’m going to lose you?’ and it’s going to drive me crazy.”

“It’s not one-sided, Jug, I can’t imagine not being with you either and I think that’s why it hurts so much for me. It’s like you don’t believe in me or my feelings for you. I’m in love with you, and I don’t think at our age we even really know what that means yet, but I know I feel it for you. I know that I think of you more than I do for myself, I put you first in everything, and it hurts that you can’t even tell me you love me too, not in the way I can say it to you so easily,” she confesses and tries to swallow the knot in her throat.

“But I do, I do love—”

“Please don’t,” Betty pleads, now unable to stop teardrops from spilling over. “Don’t say it because you think I need to hear it or you’re losing me. I don’t want to hear it that way.”

“Betty,” he begs as he goes to touch her but she side-steps him again. “I hate that I’m hurting you like this, please just let me—”

“Oh, Jughead Jones,” Betty stops him and sniffles, somehow smiling at him through her grief. “Don’t you know you have the power to hurt me more than anyone?”

Slowly, he nods and wipes his nose with the back of his arm. “I do, I know I do because it’s the same with you,” he tells her and she sees his chest shudder as he breathes.

Betty wants to wrap her arms around him, to hold him through the pain, but she’s slowly finding that it won’t help. It only slaps a band-aid over his hurt, one that rips off when she’s no longer around and increases the pain ten-fold. She looks to the floor before squeezing her eyes shut at the realization, and now knows what she has to do.

“I hate that I’m able to pull you into my head like this. I don’t—I don’t want to take that feeling away from you, the feeling that we are supposed to be together, just because I’m scared. You’ve always believed it, Betty, whole-heartedly, please don’t let my fear change that,” he insists and she can see the sincerity in his eyes, hear the hope in his voice. “You just told me a couple days ago you remembered everything about that day, how you felt, how I smelled, and you had so much conviction in your voice even at four years old, I swear to God,” he remembers in a chuckle. “You had that same conviction a couple days ago, don’t let that go. I’m sorry for everything I’m putting you through.”

“I can say the same to you,” she murmurs. “I know how low your chances are, Jughead, but I’ve always felt this possession of you, if that’s the right word, that you’re mine and now I’m finally seeing that you don’t feel that for me.”

“I know you believe that, I want you too. I am yours, but there’s this voice in the back of my head, and it sounds like my dad, and it just keeps telling me that—” he stops and clears his throat. “How the hell could someone like me end up with you? I’m doing all these things to feel like I deserve you—”

“You do,” Betty says and can’t stop herself before she’s grabbing onto fists of his t-shirt as if he’s going to disappear.

“But I still feel miles behind,” he finishes and brings his hands up to cup her fists and then kisses them softly. “I—” he rests his forehead on hers and lets out a deep breath, relishing in her touch. “I don’t know what to say to make this better.”

“It’s not on you, Jug, it’s on me,” she tells him and he looks up at her questioningly. “We’re waiting on me, you know? So all we can do is wait.”

“What do we do in the mean time?”

Betty drops her hands from his chest, but he keeps a hold on them so they aren’t disconnected. “I don’t,” she stops and closes her eyes, thinking of what to say. “We’ve been doing things my way, holding on to what I said when I was four, maybe we should try things your way.”

“What… what does that mean?” he asks, tightening his hold on her and she hides a wince at the pressure on her cuts.

“Distance, I guess,” she answers quietly. “Not—we don’t not hang out. We’ll just wait and not pretend anymore.”

“Betty, no, please don’t do this,” he pleads and can’t help but cup her face and bring her close. “You’ve never wavered in what you believed about us—”

“That was when I thought you believed it too,” she hiccups, tasting tears on her lips and finds she’s crying.

“I do, I do believe—fuck,” he swears and rests his forehead on hers once more.

Betty fights the urge to close her eyes and just enjoy being this close. She watches as tears start to rain down his cheeks too and tightens her fists at his sides, unable to stop herself. “I don’t want you to think I don’t love you, Juggie,” she whispers.

He simply shakes his head against hers before burying his face in her neck. With closed fists she wraps her arms around him, hoping he doesn’t notice the awkward hold.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he repeats over and over, and she has a flashback to when the police were taking him away from her at ten years old and she was saying the exact same words.

“This is my fault, okay? Not yours, please don’t beat yourself up. I—you were right, you can’t just decide that someone is your soulmate, I mean that’s what the marks are for right? I might’ve ruined us just because I felt so much for you, even then, right when we first met.”

Jughead shudders against her neck and she feels his hands shaking as he holds her. “I don’t want it to be like this.”

“I’m still here, Juggie. I’m not going anywhere, and I still think of you as mine,” she tells him with her lips moving along his skin. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m still yours too, but you were right. We’re too young to be together and until we have, or don’t have, marks, I guess we’re in limbo.”

He finally pulls away just far enough to look her in the eye and she wants to wipe his tear tracks away, but knows her palms are bleeding. “Do you want me to leave or—”

“No, no, you can stay,” she cuts him off. “I just have to use the bathroom, then you can hang out for a while? Unless you want to leave.”

“No, I—I want to hold you,” he admits. “Is that okay?”

“Maybe we shouldn’t do… that,” she whispers painfully. “But we can talk until we get tired,” she offers and slowly Jughead nods, his face the picture of pain.

Before she does something stupid, she pretends she doesn’t notice and goes to the bathroom. Once the door is shut, Betty lets out one sob before falling to the floor to gain control of herself. It might feel like her heart is being ripped out of her chest, but this is for the best, it has to be. If they don’t mark, distance is what will help now, so they can get used to being not them anymore.

She knows how Jughead feels about her even though he’s never said it. She’s never minded that he can’t say the words, especially since until a couple days ago she didn’t have the guts either, but—it was what she needed to hear right then. Betty wants him to have some kind of epiphany and try to beat down the bathroom door, tell her that all he needs is her, and then hold her all night long.

But—she asked for this too. She told him not to say the words. She agreed that distance was best, she knows that without a mark, even though they love each other, Jughead will lose his mind waiting for her to mark with someone else, and what kind of relationship, or life for that matter, would that be? It wouldn’t be fair of her to ask him to live like that.

Even though her chest feels tight and it’s like her lungs can’t get enough air, she battles through. Betty hiccups and stands on wobbly legs to go take care of her hands in the sink.

She’s not going to dwell of the if’s or maybe’s right now. She is going to listen to her own advice and just wait with Jughead by her side. It’s all they can do.

When she comes out Jughead is sitting on her window seat, his beanie being wrung out in his hands, something she knows he does when he’s frustrated. “You can, I mean, we can sit on my bed, Jug,” she tells him while sitting down on it herself.

“I just didn’t want to overstep bounds, or whatever,” he mumbles and sits at the very end of it.

“Is it going to upset you if I ask about your dad?” she questions rather than pull at that thread again.

“No, you can ask me anything, Betts, you know that.”

“Well, what’s going on with your dad? Is he out of jail?”

“Yes, he’s out. He only spent that one night. He’s in some mindset of turning his life around again? He asked Fred to take me in for a week or two so he could clean himself up, and the trailer, to try and entice Jellybean to come home. I think he knows my mom is lost to him, but Jellybean is still reachable. She doesn’t have much against him except for acknowledging that he’s not around as much as he should be, as much as Billy already is.”

“And your mom and Billy?”

“I don’t have anything bad to say about him except for the fact that he tore my family apart. But it was coming with or without him, I guess. At least this way I know my mom and Jellybean are safe, until he gives me a reason not to think so anyways. He’s not horrible, he’s just…” he trails off and adjusts himself to get more comfortable.

“He’s not your dad,” she finishes for him, wishing that the heavy tension they’d never had before goes away.

“Yeah, and I do remember my mom and dad being happy. Jellybean doesn’t, so in a way it’s easier for her, and I’m fine with that. I don’t completely trust him, or my mom for that matter, but she has been going to AA and making a point to spend time with Jellybean, and she’s still trying to reach out to me and be there for me, so,” he stops and shrugs awkwardly. “It’s an impasse I can live with for now.”

“There’s a lot of that going around,” Betty mentions and plays with her blanket to cover her hands. “So, tell me about the outside world, does Archie have a new crush yet this week?”

Jughead smiles at her in the way that makes her belly flip. “It wouldn’t be our Archie if he didn’t.”

“Alright, tell me all about her.”

“Well, all I know is what she looks like,” Jughead starts and the two burst out laughing, but it didn’t quite meet either of their eyes.

***

    “One of the newer theories behind soulmarks and why they exist is preferential reproduction. There are many studies in the early stages that are examining the most common difference between ‘natural’ and ‘unnatural’ children, and that is genetics…

What exactly does it mean to be an ‘unnatural’ child? Does having parents with soulmarks mean their children are meant to be or are physically superior? If so, what does that mean for the children of an unnatural coupling?

These are the questions scientists focusing on genetics are trying to answer.”

From Genetics and the Interrelationship of Soulmate Markings, 2008

*

“Honestly, Elizabeth,” is the first thing Betty hears when she wakes up, and to be honest, it’s a bit of a rude awakening.

Her eyes open to find her mother unfastening her curtains, letting the harsh sunlight in and she squints with a groan. “Is something wrong?” she asks innocently, wiping the drool off her chin.

“Yes, something is wrong,” Alice states, complete with hands on her hips. “My perfectly healthy and able daughter is sleeping in until noon in the middle of summer!”

Betty tries not to groan again at the word ‘perfect’. If only her mother knew just how her messed up mind worked, or didn’t for that matter. “It is summer, Mom, that means relaxing and by extension, sleeping,” Betty replies before burrowing back into her pillow, hoping her mother doesn’t notice that it’s outfitted with one of Jughead’s t-shirts—a way she can smell him and be with him without hurting him specifically.

“If you were sitting out by a pool I wouldn’t be having this conversation with you, or if this was the first time, but this is becoming a pattern, Betty, and I don’t like where it’s heading,” her mom tells her, her voice softer now. “Don’t think I haven’t noted a certain boy’s absence around here, our fridge has never been this full. You really should warn me if you two fight, we’d save money on groceries.”

A smile reaches Betty’s face for the first time in what feels like weeks, and it probably is. “We can always donate to the food bank,” she offers cheerfully, but it isn’t up to par with her usual up-beat attitude, is so off the mark that now her mother comes and sits on her bed, abandoning her ‘no nonsense’ stance.

“Betty, sweetie, what’s going on. Have you gotten your period?” she asks while pushing blonde hair away from her daughter’s forehead.

“No, no, I wish,” Betty answers and leans into her mother’s touch. “Or maybe I don’t, I don’t know anymore, Mom,” she adds on in a whisper.

“I know you’re getting to an age where it’s not easy to talk to your mother, mine certainly didn’t know anything I was going through, and I think if I had talked to her I could have avoided a lot of mistakes,” Alice insists.

“What if you made the mistake when you were four?” Betty asks brokenly, looking at the floor.

Alice’s eyes widen before she situates her arms around Betty, the hold protective. “What’s going on, baby?”

“Mom, do you remember the day I met Jughead?”

Alice chuckles. “How can I forget? Everything after that day became all about him. It was all ‘Mom, Jughead does this’ and ‘Polly, Jughead said that’, your poor sister was so jealous. I don’t think she had seen her own shadow until you met the boy.”

Betty smiles at that too. “I have a tendency to obsess, huh?”

“You get it from me, hon,” Alice reminds her and kisses her head.

“Did you every worry I was putting all my eggs in one basket? Or after you learned about Jughead’s parents—”

“Betty, I knew from the beginning Jughead’s parents weren’t soulmates,” her mom admits. “You forget I went to high school with both FP and Gladys, and this isn’t a big town.”

“But didn’t you worry about me?” Betty repeats.

“You have no idea how many nights your father and I sat up worrying about you, about how to handle your situation, but in the end we realized that no matter what we did, if we forbade you from seeing him or were vocal about the impossibilities, you’d just do what you wanted anyways. You’re like me in that way too,” Alice says and squeezes her shoulders. “You’re a smart girl, Betty, and strong, and you were so sure from that very first day, honestly we were waiting for you to dance around singing ‘I told you so’ any day now.”

“That was my plan,” Betty confesses, earning a laugh from her mother.

“So what changed? If you don’t have your period… did Jughead mark with someone else?”

“No, no, Mom, no,” Betty shakes her head. “I just—I always believed in us because I thought I was right, undoubtedly, but,” she stops and sniffles.

“What?”

“Jug, he’s going through so much—there’s everything with his parents and now just his mom, it’s tearing him apart,” she says quietly. “And I thought I was helping, I thought I was being someone he could rely on, but all Jughead has been doing for a while now is distancing himself from me, protecting himself for when…” she trails off.

“You don’t mark with him,” Alice finishes with a knowing, motherly tone.

“I’ve just been hurting him this entire time too, Mom, and when I found out I—I,” she stops to even out her breathing. “I told him we should try things his way and take time, and I just, I feel so,” she starts tearing up and tries to hide it from her mom.

“Did I ever tell you about when your dad and I got our marks?” Alice asks, keeping Betty close.

“No.”

“It was senior year,” her mom starts and smiles to herself. “We were in study hall, and he was this guy on the football team I thought was a dumb Neanderthal,” she goes on and Betty laughs, surprising herself. “He was always loud in the halls and annoying during lunch hour, wasn’t involved in many extracurriculars, and I thought this guy is such a doof.”

“A doof? What even is that?”

“I don’t know, I made it up, but we had the same study hall,” she continues and Betty shakes her head. “One day something hits me in the back of my head and I thought I was just imagining things, but then it happened again. So I turn, and there he is wadding up pieces of paper and throwing them at me. They weren’t whole pages, just smaller pieces of one, but still annoying nonetheless,” her mom sighs. “And I turn in my chair, all huffy and big hair, and I scold him. I told him to act his age and not his shoe size and I even called him a doof then too.”

“Really? What did he say?”

Alice smiles down at her, all warm and affectionate. “He asked me for a pen.”

“What?”

“He lost his and wanted to do his homework, which is what he told me rather than respond to my outburst,” Alice tells her.

“And?”

“And I gave him one,” Alice says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“So, how did you mark?”

“Well, study hall was our last class of the day, and as we were leaving the room he stopped me, and handed me back a pen, but it wasn’t the one I let him borrow,” Alice says with a pointed expression.

“And I’m sure you let him know that,” Betty insists.

“You bet I did,” Alice agrees. “So I ripped the pen from his hand and went on this tirade about respect and being an adult and I felt so liberated when I was yelling at him, it really should have hit me before it did.”

“What?”

“Well, I was standing there just laying into him and he was looking at me with this dumb smile on his face. I wanted to smack it off of him because I was being very serious.”

“Of course you were,” Betty teases.

“Finally, I said ‘what are you smiling at?’-well I think I yelled it, and he grabbed my hand and turned my wrist up and showed me my own soulmark, one that just formed on him too.”

Betty turns over her mom’s wrist and looks at her parent’s mark. It’s thin, but long, and stretches about four inches down their main vein with a point at the end. They say it’s a pen, and now she knows why, but she always thought it looked more like a needle, sharp and pointy. It’s their mark though, so it’s their interpretation that matters.

“What did you guys do after that?”

“He asked me to go to Homecoming with him,” Alice says in a contented sigh. “I said yes, this time with a dumb look on my face. We actually won Homecoming King and Queen, but only because the word got out about our soulmarks and we were one of the first in our class to get them.”

“And that’s it? Happily ever after?”

“Well, they say that, but it was hard. I went from thinking nothing of this guy to finding out he’s my soulmate. It’s a lot for a young girl to handle. Suddenly we were spending all our time together, and I love him, I do, but getting a mark does not mean love at first sight. Relationships are hard work, but love is worth fighting for, and marks are a special thing, the bond is definitely…”

“Hard to explain?”

“Yes,” Alice says with a nod. “But I didn’t choose your father, fate chose for us, and I wouldn’t change a thing about my life, not how I met your father, not our life together, and definitely not you or Polly.”

“But?”

“But I envy you, Betty,” Alice admits and Betty pulls away to look her in the eye better. “You… you got to know the person you love before you fell in love with them, and you did it without a mark holding you together. I’ve watched you and Jughead grow up, I’ve watched him look at you like you’re the sun, and I’ve witnessed you do everything can to keep him whole. And even without a mark now, even though you guys are going through all of this, he’s still the first person you’d call if something happened, good or bad, and you’re still the girl he puts on a pedestal and would do anything for.”

Betty rolls her lips together, not knowing what to say.

“You two are special without a mark, Betty, and that’s rare. I understand both you and Jughead are hurting in different ways, but at some point you have to decide whether what you have is worth more than a mark, or if that is all that will, or won’t, define you.”

“You know I’m only thirteen, right? I feel like that advice is too mature for me.”

“Sweetie, you called your uncle obnoxious when you were two, you’ve been far too mature for most of your life.”

“I did not do that!” Betty insists.

“You did and I was damn proud. Your father’s brother is such a—”

“If you say doof, I swear Mom, I am never letting you proofread another paper of mine,” Betty threatens.

“What I was going to say was more R-rated, but that will do. Anyways, let’s get you out of this room, huh? You’ve been off grounding for well over a week now. Oh, we can see how angry your sister still is at me, see if she wants to go out too? Maybe we can get our hair cut, do a little shopping, dinner?”

Betty didn’t feel like leaving her bed, had so much to think about, a lot of decisions to make, but sees the happiness in her mom’s eyes that she is letting her in and asking for her advice, that she can’t say no.

“Sure, Mom, whatever you want.”

*

She wakes with a start and tries to keep her heaves quiet, but she’s been through this before, she knows what’s coming.

While trying to be as quiet as possible, Betty tip-toes around Kevin’s living room, hops over his sleeping body, and heads for the bathroom in his furnished basement so she won’t disturb him or his dad.

Betty sits on the floor, hugs her knees to her chest and rocks back and forth, trying to control her breathing, wishing the tears would stop, hoping that the pit in her stomach would close, but knows willing for things to happen is childish.

It’s been happening for over a week now—panic attacks. At least, that is what Google says they are, WebMD too, and she knows better than to use those to self-diagnose but also knows it’s true. She just can’t bring herself to tell anyone about them. The one person she wants to is probably the cause of them, or their situation is, rather.

It first began with a dream of Jughead marking with someone else, a scenario she knows is unlikely, but if she’s hoping for him to mark with her she’s not about to discredit the possibility of him marking with someone else.

That night she woke, unable to stop herself from crying and digging into her palms, a fear in her gut like no other, and it was like her lungs forgot how to work. It took over an hour for her to finally unclench, and she’d lost so much blood she worried. Then, after a quick Google about how much blood one can lose before needing to seek medical assistance, she figured she was safe, probably.

Still, Betty knew the blood wouldn’t come out of her pastel pink sheets and threw them away in Archie’s garbage bin just so her mom wouldn’t find them and ask questions. Of course that meant she had to use her own money to buy another set, but it was better than explaining the missing sheets to her mom.

For several days, Betty had tried to get out of a previously planned sleepover with Kevin, but he’d plead total abandonment on her part, and she felt too guilty to back out.

So here she is, in his basement bathroom, palms bleeding, trying so hard to breathe through the pain in her chest, and a heaviness in her heart she can’t kick.

All she wants is to call Jughead, knowing that without a second thought he’d be on his bike traveling across town to Kevin’s, not even caring that he was sneaking into the sheriff’s house just to comfort her. Betty lets out a watery laugh as she thinks that he’d do the same if she just wanted a hug for no reason.

She thinks of his black hair, somehow never matted down even though he’s rarely without his beanie. She remembers the time she looked into his eyes for so long, trying to decide if they were blue or green, and honestly couldn’t figure it out. She recalls getting the call that her grandmother had died and how she immediately ran for Archie’s knowing Jughead was there, and how he held her for hours while she cried, then continued to until she fell asleep, which is when he carried her home and put her in bed.

Betty laughs to herself, because of course even though everything with Jughead is what is causing this choking grief and pain, it’s thoughts of him that pull her off the edge.

In a moment of weakness she manages to unclench enough so she can call him, even if it is almost four in the morning.

After a few rings it goes to voicemail, and her own voice comes through, “Hi! You’ve reached Forsy—” she starts only for Jughead to interrupt,“Betty!” and she can be heard giggling in the background. “Just leave a message,” he says before it cuts off and beeps.

Betty hits the end button and calls again and again with no answer, but listens to his voicemail until her heart slows and her lungs start to work again. The weight stays in her stomach, as she knows it will, but usually it dissipates after she’s slept some, if she can get back to sleep, that is.

With no supplies to attend to her palms, Betty simply runs them under water and dabs them until the bleeding slows before figuring she’s cleaned-up enough to make her way back to the living room to try and at least rest if she can’t sleep, maybe catch up on some late-night TV.

When she opens the door, however, she finds Kevin on the other side and yelps. “Kev! Don’t do that!”

“What? Pee in the middle of the night? You had to too,” he reminds her and simply walks by without another word, and Betty figures she’s in the clear because he doesn’t seem to know how long she was in there or the real reason why.

She scurries upstairs to reclaim the couch before he comes out and turns on the TV before settling back into the cushions.

Kevin returns only moments later and all but collapses back onto his blow-up mattress, she actually worries he might pop it if he keeps plopping like so.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asks after snuggling into his blankets once more. Kevin’s a big snuggler, but not with just anybody. Usually she sleeps with him because of it, but didn’t want to have to untangle herself if something like this happened, so she’s happy she chose the couch.

“I’m kind of going through his insomnia phase, I hope I grow out of it,” she answers and turns onto her side to face him.

“Hey, if I can grow out of tucking every shirt into my jeans and still wearing a belt phase, you can grow out of this,” he offers and she shakes her head at him. “Did you have fun tonight?”

“Of course,” she tells him immediately. “I know I tried to get out it, but it isn’t because of you, Kev. I just feel like I’m drowning under all my own issues and don’t want to get more people involved than I have to. You have enough to deal with on your own, you know? Not that I’m not here for you if you need anything, you know I am.”

“I know you are, B, but there’s only so much talking can do to a point. My mom died, it sucks and my dad’s going to be heartbroken forever, but it is what it is. I honestly get sick of talking about it because it just reminds me, and him, that she’s gone,” he says with a far-off look on his face.

“How is he doing? Is being back to work helping?”

“Yeah, I think so,” he tells her. “He worries about leaving me home, but I like the silence. Actually, I don’t because I’m used to my mom always doing something, but I like that he’s trying to get back to our normal. Besides, I have you and Moose is… Moose,” he sighs.

“I know it’s hard. I’ve been so wrapped up in my own drama I forget everyone else has problems too, it seems. I’m sorry I’ve been so selfish recently.”

“I’m not a baby, Betty, I don’t need constant attention,” Kevin replies and they both laugh. “You’ve been there for me, you have, don’t think you haven’t. You’re the only person I feel like hasn’t been hovering and constantly asking me if I’m okay. You let me come to you, and I appreciate that. You’re my best friend.”

“You’re my best friend too, Kev,” Betty assures him and smiles in a very Cooper way. “And thank God you’re gay or else I wouldn’t be able to have sleepovers with you,” she teases.

“I know, your mom cut those off with Jughead and Archie at, like, ten years old.”

“I know, I wish I could have squeezed a few more years out of those,” she mutters. “Not that I’ve even done anything with Jughead still to this day, it’s too much for him.”

“How is he dealing with his parents? It’s the talk of the town.”

“Oh God, don’t let him know that, he’ll just crawl further into himself,” she pleads and stretches her hands out wide under her blanket to stop herself from squeezing, and makes a half-pained face in the darkness at the pull. “It’s hard, but he’s dealing. His mom is doing well, Jellybean is adjusting, but Jug’s making it as easy on her as possible. He bikes over to Billy’s at least once a day and has some kind of meal with her, makes sure everything is okay over there. He’s not very trusting of him yet, but it’s understandable.”

“And his dad?”

“Last I heard Jug was still staying at Archie’s, it’s week three of them being roomies. Archie’s room reeks of BO and teenage boy, but Jug is just hoping his dad is still working on himself. I hope FP is really trying. I know it would make Jughead so happy, if he’s just using this time to drink or sleep around or something, it’s going to break his heart,” she says and almost catches herself on her words, because she’s helping break his heart too.

“You’re still… not with Jug, then?”

“I’m not-not with him, I’m just—I couldn’t take him faking it anymore, Kev, so we’re just not doing that anymore. He doesn’t believe, I don’t think he has for a while, and I finally see that. I’m not going to make him pretend with me like he does with his family, I won’t let him.”

“You know he loves you though, right? You can tell just by how the boy looks at you. I hope a boy looks at me like that one day,” he sighs.

“I know it, I feel it, but he’s never said it. And it hurts that he won’t even let himself say it, but it’s something I’m trying to accept. He tried to say it that night, but I wouldn’t let him. It felt like I was asking him to say it, you know? I didn’t want to hear it that way.”

“You’re sure you still want to go to the Scare-A-Thon at the Drive-In tomorrow night? Or, I guess, tonight now,” he asks.

“Kev, you asked me a million times yesterday, of course I’m going. We’ve gone every year we we’ve been allowed to, I’m not going to miss it because of this. I told you, I’m not avoiding Jughead, we’re just not those kids anymore. We’ve hung out, alone and in a group setting, it’s awkward at first, but we get over it. It’ll be fine, I promise.”

“Betty, you do remember how you are during scary movies, right?”

“I’m fine, you all exaggerate too much,” Betty huffs to herself.

“You’re horrible!” Kevin chuckles and falls onto his back. “You spend two-thirds of the night in Jughead’s lap with your head under a blanket. What are you going to do this year if you’re not those kids anymore?”

“Use your shoulder,” Betty tells him easily. “Because you love me so much.”

“I can’t promise I won’t get annoyed,” he warns.

“Did you invite Moose to come with us?”

“Yeah, but he’s going with Reggie and the guys,” he answers. “He doesn’t… he says he doesn’t know what he wants. He likes me, but he likes girls too—”

“Being bi is a thing, he knows that, right?” she interrupts.

“Yes, but labels scare him. I’m literally the only openly gay person in school, in all the grades, and I’m only so open because it’s so obvious and I don’t care what people think. I worried about my dad, but—my mom always knew, and before she died she made my dad I talk about it, you know, so he’s adjusting to accepting his only son is gay, and his is the only opinion I care about.”

“I’m glad he’s cool with it, with you, I’d be upset if he wasn’t. I’d have a vendetta, it would turn into this big thing, it’s just easier if he is the cool Dad,” Betty tells him.

“Thanks for being there for me,” Kevin laughs. “Moose has problems accepting who he is, what he wants, and I can’t be mad that I came to my own conclusions earlier, you know? So, I get it. The whole marks things is just harder with the same gender. There are still stats and studies on it, but there are just so many more for hetero couples. Some say the more feminine one of the two has to initiate, others say it doesn’t matter who does it, there’s a new one about how if you’re not ‘out’ it can be harder, and it’s just—what the fuck? It’s not like being gay is entirely new, it shouldn’t be this hard.”

“I know, it sucks, but there is literally no real medical explanation for them, most of the info out there is theories, or just patterns, really. There is definitely more of a formula for heteros and it’s still hard, I can’t imagine having something else to make it even more difficult.”

“Either way, as far as we know, we’re both producing sperm, and we’ve touched all kinds of ways and still nothin’ so, who knows?” Kevin says with a shrug.

“I hate how I’ve basically been in a relationship since I was four and you still have done more than me,” Betty grumbles.

“It’s not a competition, B, boys just tend to find their dicks before girls understand what a clitoris is,” Kevin tells her and she hopes he can’t see how red she turns.

“But I’ve never even had a hickey,” she whines, making him laugh.

“Alright, that’s a little sad, but look at you, Betty Cooper, you’re beautiful and you’re still growing. I’m sure there will be a time that you have marks everywhere, in more ways than one,” Kevin states with a wink.

“Thanks, Kev, just for making me laugh,” Betty says and notices some of the heaviness has lifted. That tends to help too, focusing on something else, but it’s hard to do when she’s alone. “My mom wants me home by noon, but maybe you can come over before we head out to the Drive-In? You can help me get ready?”

“Yes, I love dressing you!” Kevin exclaims and Betty rolls her eyes, which he obviously sees because he adds on, “I know, I know, you have full veto power, don’t worry, I know the rules.”

“Good,” she says in a yawn and settles back down onto the couch. “Here, Friends is on, that should help us fall asleep, you think?”

“Um, I don’t think so? I’m not passing on time to stare at Joey Tribiani,” Kevin replies in a ‘duh’ tone and Betty laughs again.

She needs to remind herself more often that she does have a life outside of Jughead, and it’s not a bad one, it’s not even an empty one, but it sure is a lot duller compared to when he is around.

When she gets home at noon, Betty is already planning on taking a nap before Kevin is due over later, because she’s freakin’ exhausted.

But when Sheriff Keller drops her off and she sees Jughead half-asleep on her front porch she sees the zzz’s slipping away.

“Are you okay?” he instantly asks her, stumbling down the steps to meet her halfway.

“Yeah, are you okay?” she responds in confusion. “What are you doing here?”

“Betty, you called me thirteen times last night,” Jughead reminds her and she nods while inwardly scolding herself for being stupid, then forgetting about it. “My phone was in Archie’s living room, we were upstairs. I tried calling you, but I know your phone is on Do Not Disturb most mornings, usually my number is one that can get through, but I guess that’s changed too. So I came over, but Polly said you slept over Kevin’s, and that you’d be home soon.”

“I’m sorry, Jug, I didn’t mean to worry you, I’m fine,” she lies and smiles at him, it’s completely fake, but she hopes he can’t tell. “It was—Kevin and I were playing around,” she tells him while sidestepping him to get up her steps.

“I know we’re not us anymore, whatever we were before, but I didn’t think we were lying to each other,” Jughead says to her back and she turns once she reaches the top. “I called Kevin, you must have already been on your way over here with his dad. He had no idea what I was talking about when I asked why you called so many times.”

“Jug, just leave it alone,” she pleads.

He climbs the steps too, stopping one before the top so they are eye-to-eye. “Why? You wouldn’t leave how I felt alone, it’s the reason things are like this, why should I do the same for you?”

“You think this is the same thing?”

“I don’t think it’s all that different. It has to do with me, has to do with your feelings, and you’re keeping it from me,” he explains.

“I didn’t leave how you felt alone because it was tearing you apart, Jug. You gave up on us a long time ago, so don’t put this on me. All I asked us to do was stop pretending, because once I realized that is what you were doing, it was—” she can’t say the words ‘breaking her heart’ to him, she knows he wouldn’t take it well. “I couldn’t be with you only when you needed saving, I want all the time. You can’t do that until we mark, or don’t mark, so until then what I do is my business, okay?”

“And it’s my business when you call me thirteen fucking times! Obviously you needed something, you needed me, so just let me help now. What can I do?”

“Nothing,” Betty tells him, her tone flat. “You can’t do anything. I’m trying to do things on my own, because as I’m learning you won’t always be there,” she says before turning and going for her door, not wanting to look at him because she knows that was a bit below the belt, so to speak.

“This is bullshit, you know that?” he says and she stops at the front door. “I didn’t—I didn’t ask for any of this. I finally told you how I really felt, and I feel like I’m being punished. It’s like I’m already losing the best thing that ever happened to me,” he goes on and follows her.

“I’m right here, Jug,” she assures him softly, but is unable to look in his eyes.

“Are you? Because it feels like your miles away.”

“It’s not fun, is it?” she asks, sniffling a little. “Trying so hard, but the person you’re reaching out for is just slipping away.”

Jughead nods and stares at his shoes. “I deserve that.”

“No, you don’t deserve any of this, Juggie,” Betty whispers and steps closer to him, wanting to feel his body heat if she won’t let herself actually touch him. “I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be mean to you, this whole situation is just impossible,” she apologizes.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” he agrees quietly. “I miss you, I—I’ve never gone more than twenty-four hours without seeing you before you got grounded, not unless you were on vacation or when I was in the detention center.”

“I miss you too,” she hiccups, trying to swallow the knot in her throat.

“Betty, don’t cry, I’m sorry,” he whispers and cups her face, and she can’t help but lean into his hold for just a moment.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she murmurs before pulling away to wipe her face.

“Limbo is a shitty place to reside,” Jughead states, respecting her face.

“That it is,” she agrees in watery laugh.

“I wouldn’t want to be in it with anyone other than you, but that’s how I am with most things, so I don’t know how big of an impact that can really have,” he admits.

“It means more than you know,” Betty tells him.

“Are you okay though? I know something happened for you to call me thirteen times,” he mutters.

“I’m fine, Juggie, I promise,” she lies once more and put her brave face on.

“I’m holding you to that, you’ve never broken a promise to me before,” he reminds her.

Betty just nods. “I, uh, my mom wants me home for a while before the Drive-In tonight. So I’ll see you in a couple hours?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Jughead tells her before smiling in that way that makes her feel like gravity isn’t real.

Jughead Jones, defying gravity, who knew he had it in him? Betty did, she always had.

…

“How much do you want to bet Betty almost pees her pants?” she hears Archie say to Jughead as she and Kevin approach his dad’s truck.

“Will not, I’m evolved, Archibald,” Betty states while tossing blankets into the bed, directly on Jughead.

“Oh, yeah, you’re so evolved, that’s why you always so no to scary movies when we suggest them on a regular basis, even the crappy black and white ones Jug wants,” Archie responds.

“They are not crappy, you just have no taste,” Jughead remarks from underneath the blankets he, apparently, has no interest in moving.

“I’m with Archie on this one,” Kevin says and hops into the bed of Archie’s dad’s truck.

“Hey!”

“B, you get scared at the mere thought of Chuckie,” he reminds her.

“Well, that doll is freakin’ creepy! Evil red-headed dolls are my kryptonite, okay? We all have them, like how Seth Rogen is Jug’s,” she insists while getting into the bed herself and removing the blankets from Jughead’s top half.

“Thanks,” he says and just smiles up at her, she tries not to let it get to her, but fails. “And don’t worry, there will be no evil red-headed creatures running around, except Archie, that is,” he adds on and Archie throws a wayward kick his way. “Ow, fuck off.”

“Where’s your dad? He take off already?” Betty asks Archie while arranging blankets so they are all comfortable and no one is complaining about their ass in two hours.

“Yeah, he’s over with some guys from the construction crew. He took the keys to the truck though, so there is no getting in there, just FYI.”

“Is your mom still in Chicago?”

“Yeah, my grandma is doing better, but she wants to stay with her for a while longer just to make sure. I’m supposed to go visit before the summer is over and my mom will come home with me,” Archie tells her. “Now, is it just the four of us?” he asks.

“I invited Ethel,” Betty offers.

“I invited Moose, but he said no, so,” Kevin answers with a shrug.

“He’s a jerk, dude, no worries,” Archie tries to help and sends a smile his way.

Betty shakes her head because Archie is completely oblivious to Kevin’s long-lasting crush on him, but at least Kevin knows to put no real stock in it. Archie is way too into girls to notice, but Kevin doesn’t mind pining from afar, and using Betty’s window from time to time.

She looks over at Jug, who is staring at her, and smiles in a knowing way, so she knows she’s thinking the same thing. She grins and looks down so she won’t laugh.

“So what is playing tonight?” Kevin asks while doing his usual plop down in the back of the truck. “The kid movies ended at sundown, so was the adult movie list posted yet?”

“Yeah, Jug looked, I don’t know why they try to keep it a secret every year, it’s not like it’s a big deal.”

“But Chuckie isn’t on it, right?” Betty questions just to make sure.

“It’s not, I promise,” Jughead swears with a hand over his heart. “We usually only make it through three before your parents make us leave, so we’ll be seeing the original Dracula, Poltergeist, and Scream, if they let us stay for a fourth, The Amityville Horror too. I can’t wait until they don’t care how long we stay so we can finish the whole marathon. It’s a dream of mine.”

“Way to aim high, bud,” Kevin mentions and Jughead responds with a full finger point and wink.

“Hey guys!” Ethel appears with a smile and blanket of her own. “Thanks for inviting me!”

“No problem, hop on up,” Archie tells her, and even takes her hand to help.

Ethel blushes, but of course, Archie doesn’t notice. “Hey Ethel!” Betty greets. “Thanks for coming, I need more girls to help me with these guys.”

“I don’t think they are so bad,” Ethel insists.

“Yeah, thanks Ethel, way to be rude, B,” Kevin mutters grumpily and frowns.

“Oh, bite me,” Betty responds with a cheerful smile.

“Let me pick the spot and you’re on,” Kevin responds.

“Ew, why you do need to pick the spot? Where would you pick?” she asks with a grimace.

“If you’re not gonna let me, I’m not gonna say,” he says very nonchalant and she honestly has so many questions, but doesn’t know if she wants the answers.

“You are a very strange boy,” she settles on and he smiles as if it’s a compliment.

“Alright everyone, ante up, you know the drill,” Archie starts and holds out his hands.

Everyone reaches into their pockets for the obligatory ten dollars so they can get a smorgasbord to tide them over for most of the movie. Before the third one they usually all go get some kind of dessert since it’s not something that can sit out for a couple hours.

“Any special requests?” he asks and hops down with Jughead in tow.

“Don’t forget my ch—”

“Cherry licorice, the kind that pulls apart, I know, Betts,” Jughead cuts her off with a wink. “Anyone else?”

“Extra, extra butter in one of the tubs of popcorn!” Kevin calls after them and they wave him off.

“I love scary movies,” Ethel states as they fade away into the abyss of cars and people. “I always jump at the scares, so don’t worry if I do, I’m not really scared,” she goes on.

“Oh, no one will be paying attention to you, Ethel, don’t worry. Betty here can’t take satirical scary movies, you know when they say they are scary, but it’s really a big joke. She jumps at that shit,” Kevin tells her.

“I do not! I’m not that bad!” Betty insists before sitting down between Kevin and the wall of the bed of the truck.

“You are, but why are you sitting there? Shouldn’t you leave room for J—” Betty elbows him and he nods in realization. “I’m going to end up knocking you out by the end of the night, just so you know what you’re in for,” he warns.

“As long as you don’t bite me when I’m unconscious.”

“No promises.”

Betty shakes her head at him before turning away to try and be oblivious to Jughead’s impending return, maybe then she can ignore the hurt that will surely be splashed across his face before he hides it. They always sit together, always, not just at the drive-in, but in general. Tucked under Jughead’s arm is always where she feels safe no matter what is going on around them.

She remembers telling him that once. It was late at night, Jughead had snuck her out of the house rather than sneaking in himself. They went to the park at the end of the street and laid at the landing at the top of the slides looking at the stars. She thinks they were eleven, maybe twelve, but recalls feeling invincible. It felt like the real world couldn’t touch them, and never would.

There is little Betty never told Jughead throughout the years. She’d shared every dream, desire, and fear. Now, she wonders if he had done the same, or if he’d kept more secrets than just not believing they were meant to be.

Just.

She laughs to herself. Just. As if lying about just that is so small.

“Betty, are you okay?” Kevin asks and she blinks up at him in confusion. “You just started laughing Joker-style, it’s kinda creeping Ethel out.”

“Is not, you’re the one who jumped,” Ethel responds, defensive.

Betty can’t help but laugh some more. “Yeah, sorry just thought of something funny,” she answers and the whole truck shakes as Jughead and Archie hop back in.

Betty avoids Jughead’s face in favor of staring out at multiple cars parked around them. She sees Polly in a Volvo with tinted windows and a head of red hair in the driver seat. She crinkles her eyebrows, but files it away for later.

“Betty,” a voice pulls her back.

“Huh?”

Jughead responds by holding out her licorice.

“Oh, thanks,” she mumbles and leans back to get comfortable in her position.

“Movie is starting in a minute,” Jughead says to the whole group before taking up residence laid out in front of them, his head on one of the few pillows they brought.

Betty sucks her lip in between her teeth and tries not to think about how soft his hair definitely is underneath his beanie. Her fingers twitch at the thought of threading her hands through the silky strands. She’d told him that night at the park that his hair was a soft spot for her, that whenever he took off his beanie, his security blanket, she felt a sense of pride and accomplishment because it meant he felt safe enough to do so.

She starts banging her head back against the truck lightly in frustration. It never occurred to her then that the turmoil going on within him was driving a wedge between them. Betty always knew Jughead worried about it, but after learning the full extent, how big it had built up inside him over the years, she wonders how she could have been so naïve.

Without a second thought she shared everything with him, not thinking that he wasn’t doing the same with her. She speculates if there is a whole side to the boy she loves that she doesn’t know.

The idea makes her heart race in a way that isn’t good.

Betty starts breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth, a trick her grandmother told her was calming, but doesn’t know if that’s real or just a grandma thing, but always worked for her nonetheless.

Suddenly her chest feels tight and it she’s thankful they are watching a scary movie because everyone just thinks she’s nervous about the film.

Betty closes her eyes and asks herself just how hers Jughead Jones really is.

The heaviness starts to set in her chest and her breathing picks up to compensate.

“Are you seriously this scared twenty minutes in?” Kevin suddenly questions making her jump.

“Hu—what?” she asks but her voice is more of a rasp.

“You’re hyperventilating, Betty,” Kevin states and everyone’s eyes are on her.

Jughead gets up on an elbow to get a good look, his beanie slowly falling down his head from the movement and he doesn’t make a move to fix it, is more concerned about her.

“Bathroom,” Betty whispers as she jumps out of the truck and takes off running, her hands already curling in on themselves to try and control some of the pain she’s experiencing.

She bypasses the dated structure in favor for the privacy behind it—where the older kids come to make out later in the night, but for now it’s deserted. She leans against the cold stone, her body bent in half with fists on her knees, willing her brain to just fucking work correctly for a couple more hours. She can fall to pieces later, right now she needs to be a Cooper, and Cooper’s don’t do this kind of thing in public, Coopers are always cool and collected.

“Betty!” she hears and whines to herself. “Be—Betty,” Jughead skids on the rocks as he comes to a stop at the side of the building. “Betty, are you okay, look at me,” he insists and squats down in front of her.

Her eyes slam shut because his face will be her undoing, and she knows it. Instead, she shakes her head while continuing the breathing technique she’s believed in for most of her life.

“Betty, please,” he pleads, his voice cracking, and her nails dig in so hard it makes her wince in pain. “Are you—Betty, stop, you’re bleeding,” he says and the dam breaks.

She collapses down into his arms, her hands caught between them, probably getting blood on at least one of them, but she just wants to feel that safety once more time if it’s most likely going to be the last time.

He said so himself, once she marks with someone else he’s gone.

“It—It’s okay, Betty, I’m right here,” he says in her ear, holding her tight and rocking her back and forth. “I’m not going anywhere.”

The words make her cry harder and he swears under his breath. He kisses the underside of her ear and the touch causes more hyperventilation because it’s so innocent and sweet, something their relationship isn’t anymore.

“Fuck, Betty, I’m making things worse. Tell me what to do,” he begs while pulling away, but she emits some kind of animalistic dying sound and throws herself at him to keep the contact.

He seems to understand and retightens his hold, this time falling down onto his butt and pulling her into his lap to keep her close.

“I love you, Betty,” he murmurs after a few silent moments, the only noises around them are her cries and as she tries too hard to catch her breath, her chest begins to hurt. “I’m sorry I didn’t say it before. I’m sorry if I’ve ever made you feel like I don’t, or doubt it. I’m so in love with you, Betty Cooper, that all this shit is causing me to lose my mind, and it looks like you’re feeling the same way.”

She wants to laugh, but can only concentrate on the rumble of his chest and feel of her body pressed against his, and is hanging on to his every word.

Betty feels her ponytail fall, probably from Jughead’s pull, but it was already halfway down on it’s own. His fingers start to lightly massage the back of her neck and head.

“I hate this, I hate that I can’t—I don’t know what to do. I haven’t known what to do for a long time,” he goes on, his tone defeated, and Betty can only heave against him. “No matter what’s going on, Betts, I’m still yours, I have been since I was five, and I always will be. I told you that you ruined me that night I was drunk, and that’s so fucking true. There’s no loving after you, Betty, none.”

She doesn’t know how long she cried into his chest, isn’t sure when exactly she stopped, but she did, and neither of them have said a word since. Her hands are still clenched, her nails nestled into the crevices in her skin just so. The pain is dull, but searing, and her fingers ache from holding the position so long.

All Betty does know is that she wants to stay like this for the rest of the night.

“Do you want me to get you anything?” he asks suddenly, his voice cutting through the silence and making her jump.

With a steady breath she separates just enough to shake her head and look at his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Jughead tells her and pushes some hair behind her ear. “How long as this been going on?”

“I don’t know.”

“I let it slide earlier when you lied to me, Betty, and I did it because I knew if I called you on it we would have just gotten into a fight. I’m not letting that happen again. How long has this been happening to you?” he repeats.

Betty looks down at her hands, she still hasn’t unclenched, and doesn’t want to. The pain is a constant, keeps her centered. “Not long, two weeks maybe, a little less,” she murmurs.

“Do you know what it is?”

“A panic attack. I—I did a little research. This one was the worst.”

“And when you called me last night… you were having a panic attack?”

Betty nods, her lip between her teeth, and feels tears form in her eyes. Why can’t she stop crying? “I’m sorry I lied, I—didn’t want you to know. I knew you’d blame yourself.”

Jughead simply responds by pressing a hard kiss to her temple.

“It’s not you, Jug. It’s my brain. It’s never worked right. I mean, I declared we were soulmates when we were four. That should have been our first clue.”

“Stop,” Jughead orders. “Nothing is wrong with you, there is definitely nothing wrong with your brain. If anything, something is wrong with the world around you, and you… you see things how they should be. It’s the world that’s fucked, Betty, please believe that.”

She simply nods, not knowing what to say.

“Let me see,” he whispers and reaches for hands.

Betty’s first instinct is to hide them, but it just makes her grip loosen and the loss of pressure disturbs the wounds.

Her fingernails are caked in blood and for the first time, as Jughead unfolds her fingers she sees what she’s doing to herself. The crescent shapes are deep and an angry red, the sight makes her start to shake.

“What’s wrong with me?” she sniffles.

“Oh, baby, nothing,” Jughead assures her readily and gathers her hands in his, then brings them to his lips to kiss. “We’re going to figure this out, okay?” he promises, his lips against the skin of her palms and she shivers. “Tell me you believe me, but only if you trust it.”

Betty nods slowly. “I do, I promise, for real this time.”

Jughead kisses her hands again, then absent-mindedly squeezes them and she winces. “Fuck, I’m sorry.”

“I—I felt like I deserved it,” she starts after a moment and he looks at her questioningly. “The pain, after everything I’d done. I didn’t realize how much I was hurting you, I was walking around with blinders on. I thought if we believed hard enough, if we both committed to it, to us, I couldn’t be wrong. When you told me you weren’t sure anymore something inside me cracked. The pain seemed minimal compared to what I’d done to you.”

“Betty…”

“And it was something I could control. Everything around me is up to someone, or something, else. My parents want me a certain way, my sister another, to our friends I’m the perfect girl next door, you said so yourself, I do so much to be everything everyone else wants me to be, to please everyone else. This is something dependent on me. I decide to do it, to stop it, to hide it, to keep it mine. But I guess, I guess it’s controlling me now too, huh?”

Jughead takes in a deep breath before standing up and leaning both hands on the building behind them.

Betty stands too, and reaches for his arm even though her hands are still a disaster, but before she can touch him he punches cement. She gasps, but he just throws another hit, and then she grabs onto his elbow. “Jug! Jughead stop, please,” she pleads. “Juggie.” She uses the tips of her fingers to turn his chin so he’s looking at her. There are tears in his eyes and she doesn’t hesitate before putting arms around his neck.

“Hurting each other isn’t enough anymore? Now we have to hurt ourselves too?” he says against her neck with a shudder.

“I guess we’d rather do that than keep hurting each other,” she whispers.

“Love is fucked up.”

“We finally agree on something,” Betty attempts to joke.

Jughead pulls away and rests their foreheads together. “Can I walk you home?”

“In the middle of the Scare-A-Thon?”

“Fuck the movies, Betty, I just want to be with you. I feel like I haven’t spent any real time with you in weeks and it’s driving me insane,” he admits.

“I know the feeling, but you know it’s like a thirty-minute walk, at least, right?” she asks.

“So?”

Betty nods. “Okay, I just… should take care of my hands and stuff.”

“Yeah, me too,” he agrees and holds up his scraped knuckles.

“Can we just not worry about the future tonight? Can we just be thirteen?” she asks.

“Can I be fourteen?” he questions with a knowing smile.

“Okay, smartass, get to the bathroom and text Archie so they don’t come looking for us. And tell him that if Kevin eats all my licorice—” she stops when he fishes his phone out of his pocket. “Here, you be me, text him and threaten our friends, I gotta pee. I’ll meet you back out here,” he says with a peck to her lips and disappears to go around to the front of the building.

She stands there with a goofy look on her face before snapping out of it because she feels a small sense of peace return to her, and it’s all because of Jughead, but would it really have happened with anyone else?

They end up in his old treehouse since a now elderly couple lives there, and obviously don’t use it.

It resembles the night she was thinking of earlier. They are both laid out on the floor, their heads meeting in the middle to share a pillow they grabbed from Archie’s.

They talk about his dad, how he worries it’s been a week longer than he said, and how Jughead wonders if he’s worth coming back for. Betty turns onto her side to look him in the eye, even if upside down, to assure him he’s worth more than coming back, he’s worth changing your life for.

She tells him about Polly, how heartbroken she is, and she reveals that she saw her with Jason at the Drive-In. Betty worries about Polly getting even more hurt, but respects her sister going after what she wants and making her own decisions instead of waiting for a mark. Life is too short.

Jughead waits until later in the night to ask about her palms, wants to know exactly what is going through her mind when she feels the need to do it. She speaks of the release it brings, even if she is ashamed, and Jughead kisses her forehead and reminds her that he’ll never judge or hold anything against her. He just wants her to be okay, to not hurt herself.

Betty promises to call him if she catches herself doing it, or at least as she is cleaning herself up.

Eventually, the talking stops and Betty just runs her fingers through his hair as he massages the back of her head and she feels better than she has in weeks.

It turns out they aren’t good at staying away from each other, but Betty can’t find it in her to be upset about it. Maybe it means if they don’t mark, that eventually, even without that to hold them together, they’ll still find their way to one another, that maybe it will just take them longer.

…

In the morning, when Betty wakes up there’s a smile on her face, but it’s followed by a wince when she feels a pain in her stomach and achy in her thighs.

Betty groans and rolls over, because of course after a night that ended wonderfully she has to wake up not feeling well.

Betty turns to get more comfortable, and that is when she feels a wetness between her legs.

Instantly she jumps out of bed and is in the bathroom pulling her pants down before the door is even closed behind her.

The red staining her underwear says it all. She finally got her period. She shudders as she looks at herself in the mirror.

Limbo’s over and done with, now reality is ready and waiting.

To be continued....

Notes: Thoughts? Let me know! Reviews are my muse! They help me continue very much so, and after a crappy week they are very much appreciated. Thank you to @jandjsalmon again for helping with this chapter and beta-ing, and of course making the aesthetic for this chapter as well. 

#bughead #jughead jones #betty cooper #riverdale #fanfiction

[smarky-mark]

The Roman Reigns Dilemma Pt. 1

HI HI HI! I hope everyone is having a great morning, afternoon, and/or evening! I know this is my first post in a while, and I apologize (two jobs and planning to move across the country are a BIT time consuming) but I'm here to give you part one of my longest and honestly most in depth post ever, and I really hope you guys like it! Even if you're a non wrestling fan I beg you to give it a read as I explained most of the terms used for you. So please like and tell me if you enjoy, it's really motivating! He’s from one of the most highly regarded wrestling families in the world. He’s main-evented three Wrestlemanias in a row. He was part of one of the most dominant factions in WWE History. The man has left a huge mark on the company very early into his career, so why do so many people hate Roman Reigns? Today I’m going to explain this trend by breaking down the Big Dog’s career, and discussing which aspects led him to become this polarizing figure he is today. Roman Reigns debuted waaaay back in 2012, when he, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins at Survivor Series, in which the group from NXT attacked Ryback and threw him through the announce table, allowing then WWE Champion CM Punk to pin an unconscious John Cena and retain his title. The group later revealed themselves as The Shield, a group whose main goal was to deliver justice to the company, obviously by attacking baby faces (obvious good guys for those casual wrestling fans who aren’t well versed in wrestling terms, and for those who follow me out of pity) in hellacious three on one or three on two assaults. The Shield soon became one of the biggest things in wrestling, with Roman and Seth winning the Tag Team Championship at the 2013 Extreme Rules pay-per-view, and Dean winning the United States Championship the same night. Granted, Dean’s United States title reign was long, but boring. But that’s not what this post is about! So the team continues to dominate through all of 2013, and Survivor Series rolls around. The highlight of the match being a five on five tag team elimination match (Five people on each team, each time someone gets pinned, DQ’d, and/or taps out, they are out of the match, this continues until all superstars on either side are eliminated. After nearly a thirty-minute bout, Roman won the match as the last man standing on his team. Roman immediately became the favorite, with his incredible agility and ring mentality, he was a great performer. Then the Royal Rumble came around. There’s a couple of reasons why this event helped Roman out so much. For starters, some poor decisions were made during this time. Daniel Bryan’s Yes Movement had just gotten underway, and the fact he wasn’t even in both the figurative and literal biggest match of the year irked everyone. Batista won the Royal Rumble, which fans didn’t like since he only came back the previous week and entered, which is LAZY storytelling, and fans also didn’t agree with a part timer winning the match. Everyone hated John Cena vs Randy Orton for The WWE World Heavyweight Championship, mostly because it was the 9546th time we've seen the two go at it, and last but not least, this was CM Punk’s last match before infamously walking out on the company later that night, which fans were devastated about. So this whole match is just going haywire, and who should come in to save the day? Roman Reigns, setting a new record by eliminating thirteen people from the match, (In the Royal Rumble, the only way to win is throw your competition over the top rope until you’re the last man standing, note 29 other people are trying to do the same thing.) including future Hall of Famer and everyone’s favorite asshole JBL, current Hall of Famer Kevin Nash, former world champions Dolph Ziggler and The Great Khali, and Roman’s own Shield brothers! This match further solidified a Roman’s spot as a top guy, along with The Shield’s victories over The New Age Outlaws (Road Dog and Billy Gunn) and Kane, three of the biggest names in the late 90’s, and two consecutive victories over the newly reformed Evolution (Triple H, Batista, and Randy Orton), the second victory being a clean sweep in a No DQ Elimination Match. The Shield was on top of the world, and the only thing that could knock them down was a vivacious chair shot. But that would never happen right? Well guess what Seth freaking Rollins did. The night after their last victory over Evolution, Seth betrayed Dean and Roman via steel chair shot from behind, aligning himself with Triple H and corporate figures for success. This is when Roman’s downfall began. It started with character. Seth got his Lunatic Fringe gimmick that people loved, new gear, and new music. Seth became this loud mouth, scheming heel that fans absolutely fell in love with, along with badass music and gear. Roman got the same music minus the opening saying it was The Shield’s music, he kept the same in-ring gear, and got the same entrance from the crowd and over the barricade that separated fans from the ring. See the problem here? Now, I may just be a piece of shit kid from Small Town, USA, but I think it makes more sense to have the guy you want to be your shining hero fight the villain. I’m not crazy for thinking that, right? Next Pay-Per-View is Money in the Bank, Seth and Dean duke it out a bit during the Money in the Bank Ladder match, but Seth snags the Money in the Bank Contract (This contract allows the holder to have a WWE title match whenever they want.) and Roman comes up just short in a ladder match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Next month at Battleground, Seth beats Dean one on one thanks to S H E N A N I G A N S and Roman comes up just short again in a Fatal Five Way Match for the WWE Title. At this point, everyone just assumed the company lost its’ faith in Roman and Dean was the next top guy. Then the next month at Summerslam Roman beat Randy Orton in an OK match, and Seth beat Dean yet again. Now, Seth tries to straight up kill Dean the next night on Monday Night Raw (and by kill I mean stomp his head through a pile of cinder blocks in a gruesome assault that proves to be the most hardcore moment in recent WWE History) and Roman promises his revenge on Seth. So at the end of the month, it’s Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins in a steel cage match for Seth’s Money in the Bank Contract, but on the day of the event Roman suffered a severe hernia, forcing him into immediate surgery and out of action until January (note we’re currently in September of 2014)., and bringing any momentum he had to a screaming halt. And that's part one! Like I said before I really hope you guys liked it, as I tried to be as accurate as possible! Part two is getting worked on as I speak, and while I will of course see this examination to the very bitter end, your guys' feedback is not only appreciated, but really really motivating for me!

#wwe #roman reigns #professional wrestling #mondaynightraw #smackdown live #Tumblr #writing