monsters | riverdale

Dance of Death

Mickey turns the TV off when Fangs comes back with wine and three glasses. "This is awful for Alice and Betty."

"Yeah, I know," Toni puts her feet up on Fangs' lap when he sits down on the opposite end of the couch. "There's also all the other families of the other missing young ladies."

Fangs pours each of them a glass of wine and hands Toni's hers. He watches her gulp down most of it, "Rough day, huh?"

Between the news, her day at school, and having a newborn, she needed the drink. "I'm worried about one of my students, Britta Beach. She's gay, and she asked me to be there with her when she came out to her parents. So, I was. And..."

"Let me guess. They didn't immediately say, 'We love you no matter what.'" He begins to massage her foot.

"Nope. They said, 'Are you sure?' and 'Do you have to be?'"

Mickey picks up her glass of wine, "I'm sorry, Toni. That sucks."

"Big time," Toni concurs. "It's such a lottery, you know? Who your parents are, what kind of family you grow up in. I mean, it wasn't easy for me when I came out to my nana."

Fangs can definitely relate. He says, "Yeah, my dad was pretty harsh when I told him I was bi. He was like, 'Great. You can choose, so choose being with a woman.' I was like, 'That's not how that works, Dad.'" He looks expectantly at Mickey, "How did your parents react?"

Mickey swallows the wine in her mouth and asks, "To what?"

Fangs and Toni both find the question funny.

She perceives this and raises her chin, "I'm not—I mean, I've never labeled myself. I've never even been with a girl."

Fangs sneers, "Yes, you have!" He's not only heard the stories, but he's seen Mickey in action. He always admired her flirting skills.

"I meant romantically, Fangs!" Mickey smacks his arm and then turns to Toni. "Is Britta going to be okay?"

Toni crosses her index and middle fingers. "Hopefully. I talked her parents off the ledge, I think." She inhales slowly. "But she's a tough kid. So, I hope so. And, for the record, no matter what baby Anthony is, I'll be ecstatic."

Fangs agrees, "Same."

✿

The following day, Mickey received an SOS text from her sister to meet at their father's office. What Mickey didn't expect was to find Veronica tying up their unconscious father. "Veronica, what is this?"

"The mines collapsed and Archie and his uncle are stuck. It's all daddy's fault."

Mickey's nose wrinkles. "I have closed the daddy chapter of my life. I can't be apart of this."

Veronica finishes tying him up just as he begins to stir. "I need you here for support. Remember how things used to be? How we always had each others' back?"

Hiram groans.

"Oh, good. You're awake."

He opens his eyes fully to see both of his girls standing in front of him. The pain in the back of his head makes him groan again, "Mijas?"