//
Ricky walked alongside Betty on the way to school, his eyes focused on her as she seemed out of it which he jumped to the conclusion that it was his fault.
He sighed, looking at her. "Hey, can I talk to you about last night?"
She finally looked at him. "Why? What about it?"
"I just...I want you to know I'm sorry if I did anything wrong last night...I thought we ended the night on a good note and you've been pretty quiet so maybe you felt we were moving too fast or...I don't know, maybe it wasn't enjoyable to you so I'm s-"
She stopped him, grabbing his arm quickly. "Oh, my God! No!" She shook her head, her hand caressing his cheek. "No, not at all. Last night was incredible."
He smiled. "That's really good to know."
"There was just a lot of drama when I got home."
They kept walking as he continued talking, "I'm guessing it's Chic related?"
She sighed. "It'll be fine. Just typical Cooper house lunacy."
"Well, it's gonna get worse before it gets better."
"I hope it gets better soon," she mumbled.
"It will and if it doesn't, you know you're always welcome to stay over," he replied walking into school with her.
****
Later on, the group sat in the student lounge as Veronica tried to convince Jughead to sit down and talk with Hiram about the trailer park.
"Veronica, are you trying to manage me right now?" Jughead remarked.
Define 'manage'," she replied.
"People are gonna lose their homes."
"Jughead, why don't you come over with your dad and sit down with my dad, and hash this out like civilized humans, face-to-face?"
"Jug, just agree. This is what's gonna have to come down to," Ricky replied with a sigh.
"Okay, one condition," Jughead agreed. "Your dad comes to Sunnyside Trailer Park. I want him to see the people that he's gonna be displacing."
"Fine. And trust me, no one is being displaced."
"Oh, my God, did you guys hear?" Kevin asked, walking in. "My dad's scanner's blowing up."
"Why? What else is there to traumatize the town?" Ricky mumbled.
"The police found another dead body this morning, there's blood everywhere."
"Could the Black Hood have risen from the grave?" Jughead remarked.
"Please don't put that in my head," Ricky mumbled.
"Did they say whose body?" Archie asked.
"Where did they find it?" Betty asked.
"The investigation's ongoing but apparently, it was a gruesome, gangland-style execution at the motel, with blood and brains splattered all over the duvet..." Kevin continued.
"Okay, Kev, we get it," Archie cut in quickly.
"I gotta go," Betty mumbled, getting up quickly.
"Gross, Kevin, now I'm not hungry anymore," Ricky mumbled sitting back.
***
Ricky sat in his room, Vegas laying on his bed next to him while he strummed his guitar quietly. His dad was downstairs talking to some agent which made him concerned and uneasy but his dad knew when he was eavesdropping so he made Ricky go upstairs.
Archie knocked lightly on his door as he came in. "Hey, can we talk?"
"Sure, what's up?" Ricky asked, writing a lyric down on his notebook.
Archie sat in Ricky's desk chair. "Okay, so you know that guy downstairs, Agent Adams?"
"I met him for like 2 seconds but yeah, why?" Ricky asked.
"Do you know why he's talking to dad?"
"I don't know, just said that he needed to ask dad a few questions, why do you look so stressed?" Archie only looked at him to which Ricky put down his guitar. "What did you do now?"
"Nothing, I..." he trailed before sighing, "You can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you, okay?"
"Okay, I won't," Ricky agreed softly.
"That guy downstairs, Agent Adams, he works with the FBI and he asked me a while ago to help bring down Hiram Lodge because Mr. Lodge has been doing shady business activities."
He furrowed his eyebrows. "You're a child, a teenager, why the hell would the big bad FBI ask you of all people to dig up Hiram's bullshit?"
"I don't know," he mumbled. "Probably because I'm with Ronnie."
"And you brought dad into this?"
"No, this is the one thing I asked for him, protection for dad and you in case things went bad."
Ricky looked at him completely. "Archie, have you done everything this guy has said?"
"...Almost."
"Almost? What does that mean?"
"He wanted me to dig up more things in case Mr. Lodge anything to do with a murder and I didn't follow through all the way."
"Jesus, Archie," he mumbled.
"I didn't think he'd come here, that's the one thing I asked him not to do."
He got up, trying to think. "Arch...this one of two things, this is a cracked out, insane FBI agent who won't stop at nothing to bring Hiram Lodge down, including hurting anyone you care about to get you to work on his level."
"What about the second one?"
"Or...he's not an FBI agent at all. He's probably one of Hiram's dogs trying to test your loyalty to him which sounds about right because you defending Hiram sounds like-"
"I'm not defending him," he quickly interrupted.
"Really? Cuz since Pickens day, I told you I had an ick, a bad feeling when it came to that man and to not get too close but it seems like at this point, you're head's stuck all the way up his ass."
"You don't even know him."
"I know he's the one that made a Serpent decapitate a statue which was pretty dumb but still, he's the one who's more than likely building on the properties that have been shut down in the past year. You don't know this guy either, he smart about this."
Just then, Fred walked into the room. "That agent left."
"What did he want?" Archie asked.
"Apparently, the FBI is assisting in a crackdown on undocumented labor from Canada. They think that maybe over the years I've hired some of these guys, paid them cash under the table. Yeah, couple of times, I looked the other way."
"Wait, seriously?" Ricky asked. "They can't take you down for that, can they?"
"Oh sure, they can. Son, it's the FBI," Fred replied. "They're requesting my files for the last seven years."
Ricky looked at Archie, giving him a look. He needed to talk to the agent.
****
Not even fifteen minutes later, Ricky sat next to Betty on the steps outside of her house as she rambled to him about the shady drug dealer that Chic killed, hiding his body, talking on his phone, etc.
"I needed to tell you something. I can't eat, I can't sleep. I'm just obsessing over this shady man, his phone and his life," Betty rambled.
Ricky's jaw was dropped, running his hand through his hair. "Jesus Christ," he mumbled.
"Meanwhile, my mom's acting like it never even happened. God, why didn't I just call the police?"
He stood up anxiously, looking at her. "You still can, Betty. And you know, you probably should."
"And say what, Ricky?"
A small parking enforcement car drove down the street, stopping in front of the two. "Hey. Either of you know the owner of that car?" She nodded to an old beat up car parked across the street, making Betty stiffen up. "It's been parked there since the day before yesterday. Neighbor's complaining."
Ricky cleared his throat, speaking in a clear tone, "Yeah, sorry, Officer, that's my car. I just can't find my keys."
"Street's being cleaned tomorrow A.M. I'm going around the block. If it's still there in five minutes, you're getting a ticket."
"Okay, sorry." As she left, Ricky thought about something. "Betts...How fast can you hot-wire a car?"
***
Ricky pushed the drug's dealer can into the swamp, Betty pushing the other side in.
"Jesus, looks so easy in the movies," Ricky grunted before letting out a relieved sigh as they got the car into the water.
Betty stepped back, clinging to Ricky's arm, watching the car stay afloat anxious.
"Come on, come on," Ricky pleaded softly as just then, more water filled the car, slowly sinking.
They both let out a sigh of relief before noticing Betty was about to remove the glove she was wearing until he stopped her. "Wait."
"What?"
"Give me his phone."
Once she did, he wiped off any possible fingerprints of hers before throwing the man's phone far out into the water as well. "Can never be too careful," he mumbled, also taking her gloves, he'd get rid of those, putting them in a bag.
"Thank you," Betty mumbled, wrapping her arms around him, nuzzling into him.
He kissed the top of her head, holding her close. "Come on, we'll get you some hot chocolate, you feel freezing."
***
The next day, this whole murder was bugging Ricky badly so he went to the few people he knew he could trust with this.
He knocked on the Jones's trailer door, the door swinging open.
"Hi, FP," he mumbled.
"Richie," FP greeted. "Good to see you again. You here for Jug again?"
Ricky glanced in the trailer to see Jughead look up from his laptop at him but Ricky only shook his head. "No, but I do need help."
FP let him to which he sat next to Jughead as FP closed the door, looking at him. "All right, Rich, what's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost."
He glanced at Jughead then his father figure. "Listen, what I'm about to say, neither of you can tell anyone. And I'm not expecting help but I've been burdened with this and I need to get it off my chest."
"How bad is it?" Jughead asked softly.
"Bad. Like Law and Order bad."
FP sat on the coffee table across from him. "Well, spill it."
So Ricky did, what Betty told him and what he and Betty did last night. He felt like a piece of shit for dumping this on the Jones's especially after this was probably the last thing Betty wanted but he didn't want this to eat him up like the terror of the Black Hood did.
Once Ricky finished, FP sighed as Ricky cleared his throat. "So...now you know everything."
"Dammit," he mumbled, getting up. "I don't know why you're even involved with this."
"Jesus, haven't you dealt with enough?" Jughead mumbled.
"Clearly not," Ricky mumbled.
There was a knock on the door to which FP told him to stay sitting before pulling the door open, Ricky and Jughead leaning forward to see it was Betty and Alice.
"FP, I-"
"Save it, Alice," FP cut her off. "Richie just told me, all of it." As the blondes glanced at him, he looked down with a sigh. "I'm not gonna let the three of you make the same mistake I made with Jason Blossom. Come on."
Ricky's head dropped into his hands. "I'm so sorry I got your dad in this again," he said quietly to Jughead. "You just got him back I'm so sorry."
"Don't apologize," Jughead told him. "You're scared and I don't blame you. I would've done the same thing."
He sighed. "Still, I feel like a shitty person."
He placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "You're not. It's gonna be okay, this is gonna get dealt with."
"I hope so," he mumbled.
***
An hour later, The Cooper women, Ricky and Jughead sat in a booth at Pop's, Ricky sitting next to Jughead as the two women sat across from them, it was dead silent between them.
The bell to Pop's door rang as FP walked back in, sitting down next to Alice. "It's done," he said softly.
"Oh, thank God," Ricky mumbled, leaning against the wall.
"Jeez...Dad, you reek," Jughead mumbled.
"It's the sodium hydroxide," FP replied. "In a week, there'll be nothing left...Not even his teeth."
Alice sniffled, looking to him. "Thank you, FP. I'm sorry for involving Betty, and that she pulled Ricky into this then you two..."
FP placed a hand over hers. "We take care of our own. The circle ends here. No more loose ends."
The teens all nodded as Betty leaned into Ricky who wrapped his arms around her in attempt to comfort her while Jughead glanced at them and sighed but said nothing.
***
Okay, I got a quick question and it would help a lot if all readers commented but you know 🤷♀️. I saw some of you were sad about Ricky and Jughead ending or you were really shipping it so...
would you guys read another version of this story but like instead of it focusing on Ricky's childhood crush on Betty, it focuses on his crush on Jughead more so like a male oc x reader all the way through. I honestly can't see myself making another male oc for Jughead because I like Ricky and Jughead a lot and they have chemistry.
If I did write it, some things would change but not entirely, he'd be an Andrews cuz him and Archie look too similar to change, he'd be a bit more sarcastic and would probably join the Serpents, etc.
But I need opinions on this, would anyone read it? I need as much feedback as possible, every answer matters to me.