Same Faces Different Places

The Act Of Caring {{CHONI}}

World
The Riverdale we all know and love... This is technically not an A/U fitting in here, because it follows the actual storyline we get from the show, but I loved the idea so much that I decided to do it anyway. And as long as they don't use that exact idea in the next few episodes (which I sadly highly doubt) this is technically not canon... Also, I tried to make Cheryl a bit less of a bitch ( I love her, don't hate please) and Penelope a bit more of one, maybe this qualifies this as an A/U.  

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  Cheryl seeks comfort in Toni after something happens to her 

This has lowkey descriptions of violence

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"I'm sorry, but I didn't know where else to go" It's not what Toni had expected to hear the moment she opened her front door. Neither had been the sight of Cheryl Blossom standing before her, crying. The bruises on her face look fresh, but still old enough to have turned a visible shade of blue and red. The split lip isn't bleeding anymore, but it's swollen and Toni's sure there's no way the redhead is able to see through her left eye.

Since having been transferred to Riverdale High the two girls have not had one civil conversation with each other, their hostile ones summing up to exactly three, but still there's no hesitation when Toni opens the door wider and steps aside to let the other girl in. She's heard enough about Cheryl Blossom that she's sure there is really no place for her to go in a situation like that, but what Toni doesn't understand is why her? There are so many other people Cheryl's not friends with that would not have send her away looking like this, but she made the trip all the way over to the Southside to ring her doorbell in the middle of the night. It doesn't make sense, as the Serpent is determined to find out the motive behind that decision, but not right now. Right now she is going to make sure Cheryl is okay and that she knows she can stay as long as she likes or needs. And maybe she will even find out what happened at all.

She closes the door behind them and leads Cheryl into her bedroom with a comforting arm around her. She can't help but notice the shivering and how Cheryl shies away from her touch for the briefest of moments. Then she relaxes visibly and Toni thinks she's realized where she is and that she's not in danger anymore. She deposits the crying girl on her bed, wraps her in a throw blanket and tells her she'll be right back.

In the kitchen she rummages through cupboards and drawers until she finds the first aid kit. She takes that back into her room, along with a bowl of hot water and a few dishtowels. She leaves the door open while she starts looking through the first aid kit in search for whatever she'd need; she doesn't want to scare the girl any further than she already is. A closed door means no way out and since Toni has still no idea what had happened, she's not sure how Cheryl will react to that. The girl looks calm enough, watching Toni's every move, but she's still obviously terrified. And rightly so – whatever happened must have been bad judging by the girl's face.

For all her time in the Southside and with the Serpents, Toni has never seen anyone beaten up so badly, and here people say they are the bad influence in town. She doubts it * was * one of the Serpents, too, because a turf war in school won't ever escalate so much – at least not like this, they've always been taught how to pick their battles wisely. Beating up a lone girl who's making snide remarks in school is not.

"Could you close that?" Toni almost doesn't hear it, but when she looks back at Cheryl the girl is motioning to the open door. So Toni walks over and pushes it closed, glad Cheryl feels comfortable enough with it. "Thank you" And it's another thing Toni never would have expected to come out of Cheryl Blossom's mouth, directed at her. This really must be bad, Toni thinks.

She cleans the read head's face carefully and in silence, making sure not to hurt her anymore that what is unavoidable. The disinfectant stings and Toni grimaces along with Cheryl because she swears she'd almost feel it, too, and then she places some bandages over the smaller cuts and leaves her alone again, only to reappear with another dishtowel stashed with frozen peas. Cheryl thankfully puts it on her aching face while watching Toni put away the contents of the first aid kit. There's some more silence as Toni opens her closet, offers the other girl some comfortable clothes and turns around to stare out the window while Cheryl changes.

When she turns back around, the read head is leaning against the headboard, dressed in shorts and an over sized shirt and it's a look Toni'd been sure she would never get to see. She can't deny, that ever since the drag race she's been having a little crush on the other girl and seeing her dressed in her clothes, on her bed, does things to Toni she's not prepared to say out loud. But then one glance at Cheryl's bandaged and banged up face has Toni remember that this is not what they are here for – and that she still has no idea * why * they are here at all. She's about to ask, but Cheryl actually provides an answer beforehand.

"Tomorrow's Register will print an exclusive about my mother's profession, which entails entertaining the lonely men of Riverdale" Toni is next to her in an instant, wrapping the girl in her arms. Who's beating up a girl because of what her mother does to provide for her? "Mrs. Cooper was all too willing to take my mother down after sleeping with her husband" Maybe there's been a smile in there somewhere, Toni thinks she's felt it against her throat, but that doesn't make any sense. Betty's mother exposing her own shouldn't amuse the girl, especially not after being beaten up over it. Come to think of it...

"Cheryl, who did this?" Toni's prepared to line up every Serpent in their gang to go after whoever asshole is hitting teenager's over their mother's job preferences. And then something registers in her mind. "Wait, you said tomorrow's. Cheryl..." None of this makes sense anymore, unless...

"I told my mother I talked to Betty's mom" And this time, Toni is sure she can feel something against her throat, but it's more tears and she holds the sobbing girl tighter to her.

"Oh my god, Cheryl. I'm so sorry" They spend another half an hour in silence, only broken by the occasional sniffle. Toni doesn't know what to say and since it's not her fault she opts against any more apologies. They won't help the girl.

When there are no more tears to be cried, Cheryl finally opens up about what had transpired that afternoon. She'd been subject to her mother's aggressive behavior once or twice before, but it had always been limited to vicious words and the occasional thread of violence Penelope never enforced. And Cheryl being Cheryl had taunted her mother with equally vicious words and mental images of how her perfect reputation will be in ruins come the next morning and somewhere in between a rather harsh expletive thrown in her mother's face the woman had finally lost her temper.

The first hit had resulted in the the rather prominent black eye Cheryl's sporting now, the next tearing down her cheek and leaving a nasty bruise. Cheryl had been too shocked to do anything else than laugh right in her mother's face and as an answer she had received a split lip when Penelope's ring caught the flesh during a third swipe. The read head had high tailed it out off the house after that, spending hours hiding in her and Jason's favorite spot in the woods until it had gotten dark and she reluctantly realized she can't stay there over night. And with no actual friends to turn to, she had ended up on Toni's doorstep without even thinking about where she's going.

"I will not let you go home to that woman" Toni says when Cheryl stops talking. "You can stay here as long as you want"

"Thank you" It's the second time in an hour that she says it and Toni thinks she could get used to that. It's so not Cheryl, but that makes it so much more adorable, too. They fall asleep together, and when they wake up the next morning in each other's arms, the question of why Cheryl had chosen to come to her is irrelevant, since Toni can read it clearly from her face.