5x03 Re-Imagined

Okay, he deserved that one.

“Right, right” he agrees, shifting so that he’s resting on his elbow and peering down at her, “but you said we need to put a full stop to it this time, and… and we can’t do that if I still owe you a dance.”

He can see her weighing out the pros and cons. 

“My Dad raised me to be a gentleman you know, I don’t like to break promises or owe anything to pretty girls.’

He’s going to hell, he is most certainly never seeing heaven for bringing up his recently deceased father for five more minutes with a girl, but if he’s not going to heaven he’s going to use these last five minutes with Veronica Lodge to achieve something similar. 

“Archie, we have no clothes on, and most of them are out in the hall or on the stairs, and I’m pretty sure that a dance with no clothes on is a completely different type of tango” 

He peers over her shoulder and onto the floor next to the bed and shrugs. 

“Our underwear is still on the floor?” 

She presses the heel of her hand to her brows and snorts at how obtuse he’s being. 

Oh God am I going to miss that sound , he thinks. 

His fingers circle around her wrist and move them from her face so he can ask: 

“I’ll take that as a yes then?”. 

They finally untangle themselves and start the search for their underwear throughout Archie’s room, it’s a little awkward but they both laugh when they find her bra hanging on the end of the bedpost. 

He’s in his socks and boxers, whilst she’s back in her panties and bra. 

Once dressed, Veronica clears her throat and stands in the very center of his room, Archie goes to join her and they both stand there uncomfortably, at least a foot in between them. 

“So,” she starts, rocking back and forth on her heels, “what song did you have in mind?”

He scratches the back of his head, “I’m not gonna lie Ronnie I hadn’t really thought that far ahead.” 

“Fantastic.” she quips. 

“If you give me a second to grab my phone from downstairs I can-” 

“Serenade me.” 

He blinks once, then once again. 

“You wanted this to be our big grandiose final moment Archiekins” she responds, the teasing quality in her voice putting them back into comfortable territory, “and nothing has more gravitas or romance than serenading someone.” 

“Okay…” 

Outstretching his hand so that he can pull her closer he racks his mind for a song that can encompass the enormity of his feelings, and there’s probably a hundred different ones out there that fit perfectly, but right now in the moment they all fail to capture what he feels, none of them seem good enough. 

He rests his chin on top of her head and she presses little kisses over his bare chest, they’ve only ever slow danced at formal occasions before and without the heels she’s so tiny. 

Her hands make their way to the nape of his neck whilst his sit firmly on her waist: a mirror image of prom, the circumstances much different.

They sway slightly and every song lyric that Archie has ever memorized slips from his mind as he focuses on the lazy rhythm they seem to be ‘dancing’ too.