[ Fred says it first, in the hospital after surgery: We're going to need to go stay with your mother. And Archie knows it makes sense. His dad needs to be taken care of, and Archie can't do it all on his own. But the idea of leaving makes his heat seize up. He hyperventilates in the hallway, panicky about how final the idea of Chicago feels to him. But what can he say? Archie is selfish at the best of times, but he has his father's blood staining his cast and the cuff of his letterman jacket. It's a very effective deterrent. The plaster doesn't get changed out until he's in Chicago in an unfamiliar doctor's office with his mother waiting outside the door for him. It all feels wrong.
The blood had been there when he'd said goodbye to Veronica. He still thinks about her, and maybe that's a good sign. Archie's flighty, and he knows that about himself, but his thoughts over the summer circle back to Veronica after he trips over missing Jughead and Betty.
His mother tries to make a case for the kind of life Archie could have if he stayed with her. No one says that explicitly, and it might take Archie a week to cotton on to what's happening, but he figures it out. And he gets so angry over it that he has to go on a long, twisting run rather than risk an argument. His father's face is pinched and grey with pain most days, and a fight would make it worse. Archie's answer come when Fred's buying himself a plane ticket home, and Archie asks for one too.
Neither of them want him to go. Archie's upset about that too. The anxiety over it carries him through the last month of his time with his mother, and all the way through the journey home. Dread's starting to creep in. Archie hasn't kept in close enough contact. He doesn't know what he's missed, and he worries about what he's coming home to. But Fred collects him from the airport and things are almost back to normal.
Neither of them mention getting take out from Pops.
There's a surprise for you upstairs, Fred tells him, and Archie had expected a guitar, maybe. Something his father couldn't really afford to smooth over the wretched summer they'd had. He hadn't expected Veronica, and he didn't have the heart to wake her. He toes off his Converse and crawls in beside her, nudging her gently to make room.
They aren't together. Archie knows that. But he missed her, and he thinks this is alright. He's shared beds with Jughead and with Betty both. They can do this. ]
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The blood had been there when he'd said goodbye to Veronica. He still thinks about her, and maybe that's a good sign. Archie's flighty, and he knows that about himself, but his thoughts over the summer circle back to Veronica after he trips over missing Jughead and Betty.
His mother tries to make a case for the kind of life Archie could have if he stayed with her. No one says that explicitly, and it might take Archie a week to cotton on to what's happening, but he figures it out. And he gets so angry over it that he has to go on a long, twisting run rather than risk an argument. His father's face is pinched and grey with pain most days, and a fight would make it worse. Archie's answer come when Fred's buying himself a plane ticket home, and Archie asks for one too.
Neither of them want him to go. Archie's upset about that too. The anxiety over it carries him through the last month of his time with his mother, and all the way through the journey home. Dread's starting to creep in. Archie hasn't kept in close enough contact. He doesn't know what he's missed, and he worries about what he's coming home to. But Fred collects him from the airport and things are almost back to normal.
Neither of them mention getting take out from Pops.
There's a surprise for you upstairs, Fred tells him, and Archie had expected a guitar, maybe. Something his father couldn't really afford to smooth over the wretched summer they'd had. He hadn't expected Veronica, and he didn't have the heart to wake her. He toes off his Converse and crawls in beside her, nudging her gently to make room.
They aren't together. Archie knows that. But he missed her, and he thinks this is alright. He's shared beds with Jughead and with Betty both. They can do this. ]