Barchie Oneshots

I'll Be There For You (when the rain starts to pour)

Archie and Betty were always there for each other.

Archie was there for Betty when a five-year-old Reggie Mantle pulled on her ponytail during recess. Archie had gotten a time-out for pushing Reggie into the sandbox, but Betty came over and talked to him the whole time, so it fine with him.

Betty was there for Archie when he was in danger of having to repeat the first grade, teaching him by quizzing him on the sounds that letter combinations like "sh" and "th" made, then having him read her chapters of books.

After he had successfully learned to read, earning his third gold sticker of the whole year (Betty had forty-one), he didn't know how he could ever thank Betty.

He got an idea.

His dad had showed his mom how much he loved her by kissing her and proposing, or so it had been explained to Archie.

After school, Archie gently pulled Betty by her hand under a weeping willow tree, and gave her her first ever kiss.

It was quick and sweet, and Archie thought he could do it a bajillion times without getting tired of it.

Archie knelt down on the ground and said, "Betty, will you marry me? Because I like you a lot."

Betty, grinning ear to ear, pulled him to his feet and said, "Archie, we can't get married yet. 'Snot allowed 'cus we're only seven. Ask me in-"

She counted on her fingers, Archie marveling at her quick math skills.

"Eleven years. Then I'll say yes."

Fast forward a few years, and Betty and Archie were still there for each other. Even though in middle school everyone said they were dating, they didn't let it affect their friendship. They knew they could count on one another.

That's why when Mary Andrews left in middle of the stormiest night of the fall, Archie texted nobody but Betty with the phone he had gotten just two months earlier for his thirteenth birthday. She responded immediately.

She put on black leggings and a hoodie and snuck out of the back door of her house. She took the ladder out of her dad's tool shed, and brought it to Archie's window, with him holding it up as she climbed through the rain.

Even through his tears, Archie was amazed by Betty's sneakiness. She was so cool.

Of course, unbeknownst to the two adolescents, Alice Cooper and Fred Andrews were both perfectly aware of the "sneakiness" of their children.

And even though the kids were at an age where it wasn't quite appropriate to be sneaking into each other's bedroom this late at night, neither Alice nor Fred could bring themselves to stop it.

Archie crumpled into Betty's arms as soon as she climbed through the window, letting heavy sobs dissolve into her shoulder.

"I got you, Arch. I got you. I'm here, I'm here,"

Betty murmured this over and over, until Archie ripped himself away from her warm embrace, suddenly embarrassed to be acting like this in front of her.

"Sorry," he said, sniffling, "sorry to make you deal with this, I-"

"Arch," Betty said, concern growing in her eyes, "I'm always here, no matter what. You know that, right?"

Archie looked at Betty, her damp hair down for once because of the rapid pace at which she had rushed over here for him. Her shining eyes illuminated only by moonlight. Her cheeks still flushed from the change from the cold rain to the warmth of his room.

Her expression of pure unadulterated care, not pity, on her face that made her look like home, more than his actual home.

Archie always knew Betty was beautiful, but now, more than ever before, she took his breath away. She was more than just pretty, she was kind in a way that shone through her entire being.

He was struck by just how lucky he had gotten to be neighbors with the most caring, smart, beautiful girl in the world.

She was light in the dark, and Archie could sure as hell use some light right now.

He allowed himself to fall back into her embrace once again.

He wasn't crying anymore, but Jesus, he was tired.

Betty laid him down on his bed, pulling the covers over his limp body.

She took her own shoes off, placing them neatly by the window, and began to lay down on the floor when Archie said,

"You can sleep on the bed.."

A pause.

"I-if you want to. I can go sleep on the couch, or I can take the floor, or-"

Archie hadn't thought about what the offer sounded like, he just knew Betty shouldn't be sleeping on anyone's floor.

Betty smiled gently, laying down on the bed.

She was on top of the duvet, using a quilt as a blanket, and they weren't close to touching.

It was still enough to set each of their hearts racing, though neither was quite sure why.

They laid there in a comfortable silence until Archie spoke softly,

"Thank you, Betty, really."

"Anytime Archie, I'll be there for you."

As he drifted off to sleep, Archie remembered that he had proposed to Betty a long time ago, back when they were just kids.

"I had it right, even back then," he thought, a pleasant picture painted in his mind, "I'm gonna marry Betty Cooper."

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A/N
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