"We're all on the edge of madness; deep down, darkness is within all of us and we're on guard constantly trying to avoid losing control."
In which Mickey Lodge has a few skeletons in her closet.
{COMPLETED WITH ALL SEASONS + epilogue}
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Breakfast is quiet except scraping utensils and flipping newspaper pages. Things have been weird in the Lodge home especially with Hiram's illness looming over all of their heads.
Speaking of—Hiram reaches for his coffee cup. Once he grabs it, it's like he loses all control and the burning hot liquid spills in his lap. He stands to stop the burning sensation from seeping through his pants. "Damn it!"
Veronica jumps up from her seat when the cup drops to the floor. "Let me get that for you, Daddy."
"I got it!" Hiram shouts. "I don't need your help."
A blush creeps on Veronica's cheeks. Her eyes dance around to her sisters and then her mother and then back on her father. "Of course not, which is why I'll never offer it to you again."
Mickey watches her sister storm out before she decides to pick up the coffee cup. "You know, she was just trying to help you," she tells her father.
"I don't need—"
"That's your ego talking. It's what pushes us away each time."
Hiram examines his daughter's features. "And why are you and your sister suddenly being nice?" He's oblivious to the fact that the girls know—thanks to Hermione.
"We'll be leaving soon," Mickey lies. "Why not play nice for a few more months?"
✿
Mickey is sitting at the desk in Jughead's dorm, playing with his supplies as he vents. She snuck out of Riverdale High just before lunch period to get to Stonewall because her boyfriend needed her.
"I have to write the best damn Baxter Brothers novel these Stonies have ever read by Friday, which coincidentally is the Ides of March," Jughead rants. The Brown Hood idea has been shut down and he can't help but to think it's because he's no longer apart of the secret society. "You know, Stonewall Prep celebrates the holiday by throwing a big blowout in the woods."
"Why don't you write about Stonewall?" she suggests. "Like a roman-a-clef."
"A prep school thriller?" He ponders on the idea. "It could start with my—or Moose's arrival."
Mickey hums in response.
"You're brilliant, you know that?" Jughead bends down to kiss the top of her head. "You're also very...off. Everything okay?"
"Everything's fine," she leans back in his chair. "My dad's sick."
"What?"
"Yeah, it's some neuromuscular disease. He didn't even tell Veronica or I. My mother told us and now we're walking around the house, acting like nothing's happening."
Jughead squats down in front of her, taking her hand into his. "Are you okay?"
