Riverdale Ships One-Shots// ON HOLD

Confident

Depressing Bughead AU because quarantine. Trigger Warning: This one shot contains mentions of eating disorders and minimal suicidal thoughts. If these are an issue you are struggling with, please skip this one. I promise I won't be offended. :)

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What is confidence? Is it a feeling, an instinct? Or is it something different from that, a personality?

Don't ask Betty Cooper anything about confidence, since she has no clue about it. She's never felt confident looking at herself in the mirror, always feeling like she's not pretty enough or skinny enough or anything. Betty just doesn't feel confident, plain and simple. 

People will say she's so confident, that she's so pretty, how could she not be?

Well, people lie. The scale says she's too heavy, her eyes see that she's too fat and ugly, her friends tell her she's gorgeous. We lie because the truth hurts.

Being stuck in the house isn't helping Betty's self esteem issues, either. She battled an eating disorder a few years ago, and has had minor relapses since then. It's not healthy, and she knows that, but it's just how she's designed. She was abandoned by her birth mom at the age of three and was stuck in the system until she was ten, when she got adopted by the Cooper family.

In order to get a handle on her mental illness, Betty has to keep herself occupied, so she can't dwell on her faults. Waking up twenty minutes late is perfect because there's no time to think about anything but getting out the door. Since she can't, it's harder and harder to keep the demons at bay.

Thankfully, Jughead Jones, her mother's roommate's child, is hot and lives with them. He's everything you would want in a boy, sweet and caring without being too overbearing and creepy. Not to mention, he's shy without being a loser and basically everyone's crush. Did I mention he's hot?

They're not the type of people who separate or listen to rules. Every day, they go on a walk with their masks and walk over to Pop's or school. They don't really care  about the virus, except for how it's made them now both have to face their demons again. Jughead grew up in an abusive household and got adopted by Gladys, his sweet, caring mother.

On the second month of quarantine, it all catches up to Betty and she starts breaking down while walking the town in her pink sweater and jeans. "Betts, what's wrong?"

Betty smiles at the thought that her crush is caring for her. It's sweet, but it's also the way you treat a sister. Dear God, is she sister zoned?

When a full minute goes by without her response, he directs them to a bench where they sit down. Betty puts her head on her lap, and he strokes her back. It's almost like they're a real couple, even if they're not dating.

"You want to know what's wrong?" Betty chuckles. "What's wrong is that I've started mentally keeping track of what I eat, and that I'm in a severe depressive episode. And no one knows how to help with this. Oh, and on top of that, I have a crush on you, who definitely sees me as a sister. And that's just a few of these things. There's about ten hours worth of shit that's fucking with my head right now and the fact that I'm becoming suicidal again is only the smallest of my concerns."

Jughead pulls her head out of her lap and fixes it so she's looking right at him, "You are perfect, Betty Cooper. Shitty things have happened to you and life has clearly fucked you ten times over, but that's why I like you. You're not my sister, you're my crush. So, stop saying these things about yourself."

Betty sniffles, "You mean it? I'm not so disastrous and disgusting and capable of destroying everyone in a second with my bad thoughts?"

He chuckles, "Yes, Betty. You are the opposite of disastrous and disgusting."

🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

Going through some shit rn.

Later loves,

~Ry