perfectible | (no subject)

Better than expected? I just got back. [ Which is saying a lot, to be honest. Everything. ] Can I come over?

[ She's glad it sounds like he had a good time but she is also still half-asleep.]

Yes. You have your key? [ To get in the little side door for her room.]

Yeah, I got it. I'll be there soon.

[ And some time later she'll hear the careful click and turn of a key in her door, the attempts at being quiet as he slips inside her room. ]

[ She was still in bed and beneath the covers dozing a little. The bedside lamp is on however and when she hears the sounds of him coming in, she shifts, humming softly a greeting--]

Hey.

Hi. Sorry to wake you up.

[ He keeps his voice low but it's nearly impossible to hide the excitement that still linger. He kicks off his shoes, dumping the jacket by the door before moving over to the bed, carefully laying down next to her on top of the covers. There's a bruise forming on his left cheek that's probably going to darken to a full black eye by morning, but he doesn't seem the least upset by it. ]

[ She doesn't notice the bruise until he's on the bed with her, she moves to try to urge him under the covers with her but stops short when she sees it. She sits up, a little clumsily, her eyes widening.]

Jug-- What happened to your face? Are you okay?

--Oh, that. [ He sheepishly reaches up to brush his fingers against it, skin hot to the touch. ] It was an accident - I think someone elbowed me, but if I'm honest I don't entirely remember when it happened.

[ There's the glint of a new experience in his eyes, of dark woods and fire. ]

I'm great, Betty. It was great.

[ She can see it now, she can sense his whole being vibrating with something. It seems something like excitement, her eyes search his face, trying to understand and trying to figure out how having a black eye seems to make him... happy?

She moves to sit up, twisting to face him better as she asks: ]

What happened?

It's- hard to explain. [ He sits up a bit straighter, gesticulates while he talks as if he can somehow catch the sensation with his hands where words fail. ] I wasn't sure what I expected but it wasn't that. It was... more than music. It was like a... a war cry.

I wish you'd been there.

[ It doesn't exactly make sense, what he says, which only validates his claim that it's hard to explain. It's as if she can feel the energy buzzing off of him as she reaches for one of his hands.

If it were anyone else, she'd assume he was high or buzzed but this is Jughead and she tiredly assumes that maybe it was just one of those amazing concerts that gets you excited about life. She reaches up to tilt his head so she can get a better look at the bruise in the dim light.]

So it was an amazing concert.

Edited 2018-06-23 16:45 (UTC)

Yeah.

[ More than that, so much more. It got in his head and his blood, fired him up in a way he hasn't felt in a long time. It was like going through the gauntlet with all the adrenaline and none of the pain, like going after Penny with none of the consequences, like a fucking riot. He feels liberated and maybe this will have died out by morning but right now everything is great. He doesn't think about the creature in the woods with his moms voice, or that brief kiss with a girl who isn't Betty. All he can feel is the thrumming of his own blood, rushing in his veins.

He reaches up, putting his hand on hers, leaning in slowly but steadily to give her a kiss. ]

[ While Betty can't possibly know what's going on in his head or what he's feeling, she knows him well enough to know that he's feeling something big, something important. It feels like those moments when he's about to break through writer's block or make huge progress on a story or when they are together, chasing a lead. She knows that excitement, she recognizes it in him even if the idea of relishing in a riot is foreign to her.

She has questions, she wants to know what he means by "war cry", she wants to know why he doesn't remember how he got a black eye or he's even telling the truth on that. But she lets him kiss her, returning the gesture with her brow furrowed for a moment, thoughts and questions and worries swirling in her mind.]

[ He isn't lying about that, which might be more worrisome. There was a lot of people and music and chaos and somewhere in all that he got an elbow to the face and didn't even really notice until later. Maybe once this has worn off it'll worry him too, but for now he just pushes into the kiss, all pent up energy and want. ]

[ Betty trusts him, she has no reason to question him despite the tension between them in past month. Things had been a little shaky lately, with his feelings about Adam/the party and her discovering the dubious wad of cash in his underwear drawer.

But they'd gotten past that.

So for now, she doesn't stop him from kissing her, she doesn't stop to question him more about the concert, about his black-eye. He seems to be thrumming with pent-up energy while she feels the opposite, a bone-deep exhaustion. Her hand slides down from his face to his chest, covering his heart. ]

[ She can probably feel it pounding away, hard and heavy against his ribs. There's been so much, close to a year of non stop bullshit and he needed tonight even if he didn't know it going in. It's not something he does, he's not the kind of guy who needs to cut loose with a night out or an adrenaline kick so he's a bit taken by surprise by the whole experience.

Not so wrapped up in it that he completely forgets what time it is and that he actually woke her up in the middle of the night, a decision he's aware of even if he doesn't regret it. Pulling back just a bit from the kiss he reigns himself in, already a touch out of breath. ]

Tired?

[ She'd be happy to know that tonight gave him something he was missing, something he needed (although she'd be decidedly less happy about the kiss). She hadn't gone with him tonight because she'd been tired and the whole thing hadn't sounded like something she'd enjoy. Jughead didn't need a babysitter after all and she'd hoped he'd stay out of trouble, stick with Tate and have some fun while she took a night in for herself.

Even without any sort of special power that allows for it, she can sense the energy radiating off of him, so when he pulls back to ask if she's tired, she smiles softly, shaking her head.]

Not too tired, [ she murmurs quietly. Because whatever this is, she so rarely sees him like this and well, she kind of enjoys it, seeing a fire in his eyes, feeling his excitement emanating from him. He's burning with something and no matter how tired she might be, she wants to share in that feeling.

As she leans in to kiss along his jaw, she just knows that she wants to burn too.]

Good.

[ He hopes that this will rub off on her. It's a wonderful feeling, one they should chase more often if he's honest. Maybe not in exactly the same way as he has tonight but damn, they need some good thrills in their lives. He tilts his head as she kisses along his jaw, a soft rumble of a hum vibrating in his chest. ]

[ If she's being honest, she misses the thrill of the chase. She misses running down leads, the frustration of not knowing the answer and the elation of figuring it out. It might be crazy. She's safer here than she is back home but somehow, ever since her life became one crazy series of events leading to the next, living a boring life is so... well, boring.

Once you lose that sense of security, it's hard to let it settle back in. And she finds it hard to want.

She looks up at him, her hand coming up so that her thumb can slide beneath the mark on his face.] Does it hurt?

[ He doesn't flinch when she touches him, even if his skin still feels hot. ]

It's not that bad. I've definitely had worse. [ It'll hurt worse in the morning but right now he's doing just fine. ] It was just unfortunate.

Okay, [ she murmurs, reassured but making a mental note to get him something cold to press on it later. She leans in to kiss him again, the gesture gentle but coaxing, trying to feel out just what he might need in this moment, what he wants.

But Betty is also quite good at just asking while still being coy. ] Want to tell me more about the concert or did you have something else in mind when you came here?

[ She's so good to him, far better than he deserves. The kiss makes him smile - as if he ever stopped - a mischievous glint in his eyes as he looks her over. ]

Oh, I had an idea.

[ The plan had been to just go with it but she sounded so tired and he's not that much of a jerk. Now is a different thing all together and even if he's lost a little bit of steam, he has no problem picking it back up again. He closes the small distance between them in a passionate kiss, pushing her back against the bed. ]

[ Oh, she still tired but now that she's had a little more time to wake up, she's better at keeping that under wraps. Maybe it's selfish, maybe she should slow things down and see what's really going on with him, make sure that it isn't something more than just being amped up from a concert. But to be fair, she doesn't know what happened to him, that there might be other reasons for why he's so wired, so she doesn't know to stop.

And well, she's already decided to call into the diner tomorrow and push off her shift.

He urges her onto her back against the bed, kissing her with a fervor that sort of reminds her of that night in his dad's trailer, the first night they told each other they loved one another. One hand reaches between them to push absently at the blanket that separates them. She's not wearing much in the way of clothing, just one of his t-shirts and a pair of boy shorts, he's the one who might take a little longer to get undressed.]

[ As far as he's concerned there's nothing wrong and if there is, it's nothing so urgent that they need to address it tonight. He's happy, they're together, life is good and he wants to enjoy that for as long as possible. As for work... he's definitely going to be late. Sorry, Annabeth.

He continues to kiss her with a great hunger, only breaking to wrestle out of his t-shirt. It's June and even Maurtia Falls is hot enough to prohibit too heavy layering. ]

I love you so much.

I love you too, [ she murmurs into the next series of kisses, each word punctuated with another kiss once he gets his shirt off and he's back over her. Her hands move to smooth over his bare chest, sliding along his sides and over to his lower back, trying to fit him between her thighs.

Once he's there, then she makes a move to get her own top off, leaving her bare from the waist up.]

[ He settles in with practiced ease, sliding a hand down her thigh while she gets her shirt off. Seeing her half-naked isn't a new thing anymore but he still finds himself struck with awe, taking a short moment to look at her before leaning down to make a trail of kisses down her sternum. There's so much love here, such a great pressing need to show her just how much he adores her. ]