If We Had 5 More Minutes

Coward

The bell to Pop’s rang throughout the diner as Toni Topaz walked in and took a seat at one of the booths, along with baby Anthony and Fangs. After the comet was struck down and the powers of Riverdale’s former heroes vanished, Toni and Fangs woke up the next day to find that Anthony had shrunk back down to baby size , to which Toni was grateful for. She’d previously spent days mourning the loss of her son’s childhood, seeing his first steps, saying his first words, falling for the first time after riding his bike. She smiled at her baby boy, not knowing what she would do if anything ever happened to him, she wanted him to have the life she dreamed of as a kid, the married parents and a white picket fence with a dog. She saw that with Fangs, he wasn’t perfect, but he was there, and he was Anthony’s father, the only problem was his serpent tendencies. Toni loved the serpents with all her heart and she wanted baby Anthony to share in that pride and legacy, but she didn’t want the anger and violence to come with it. Toni was adjusting, but it was something Fangs was struggling to adapt to. Or at least that’s what Toni told herself was the problem, it had absolutely nothing to do with a certain redhead prying her way back into her heart, after spending so much time in the back of her mind locked away. It wasn’t that she was unhappy with Fangs, it's just deep down she knew she’d be happier with Cheryl, and she had finally buried that a while back, but everything that happened that night with Abigail and Thomasina caused it to come crashing through the flood gate, and she can’t get that gate closed this time. Toni however, was also in deep with Fangs, they had just gotten married and put in a lease for a house last week, something Fangs gushed about, since he’s finally gotten himself a consistent income. She didn’t dislike Fangs, after all they'd known each since juvenile days, but Toni isn’t as confident about their future as she was a few months ago, and she felt like the longer she dragged him along, the worse she would hurt him and push him away. 

“Heyy. Earth to Toni.” Fangs waved his hands in front of Toni's face with a dorky smile, pulling her away from her thoughts. 

“Hm.”

“You were daydreaming so I ordered your usual, do you feel okay?” Fangs said, now just a tad bit concerned. 

“Yeah Fangs i’m fine, I just got a lot on my mind.” She said as she took the first bite of her burger.

“Yeah, that's starting to seem like the pattern, do you wanna talk about it?” 

“No, not really Fangs.”

“Well I didn’t want to mention anything to you, until we had dinner, I didn’t want to ruin the night but-”

“But what Fangs spit it out.” Toni spat back, now clearly curious about what it is that could possibly make her night seem any worse. Fangs looked back at her sympathetically as he let out a quiet sigh.   

“Today at the worksite Archie shared some news with me. There uh, holding a candlelight vigil in honor of Cheryl, at Thistlehouse tonight.” Toni stared at Fangs in disbelief as she scoffed back at him.

“Tonight? And you were going to wait till after dinner to tell me, I can’t believe you fa-”

“I didn’t know how to bring it up with you without you ripping my head, you’ve been standoffish with anything Cheryl related lately, and I didn’t want to trigger anything, it's like I'm walking on eggshells here.” Toni opened her mouth to argue, but she realized she was taking out her own frustration on him, and that just wasn’t fair of her, so instead she tried to be a bit more reasonable. 

“What time tonight? Why are they holding one now, is she-” Toni couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence, but they both knew what she was asking. 

“I don’t know Toni, but if we left now we could make it, I really do think it'd be best for you to try and get some closure.” Toni didn’t feel like fighting this anymore, she tried to care for Cheryl from a distance, but she needed to see her, she needed to know she was going to pull through this, despite all the odds.