Work Text:
You let out an aggravated sigh and glance over at the clock perched on your nightstand. 2:50. Sweet Pea never told you when he’d be back as he stormed out of the trailer you share, but typically he would be home by now. You become more anxious with worry as each minute passes by. To avoid a full-fledged panic attack, you keep repeating one phrase. He’s okay, just upset. He is blowing off steam, but he will be home any minute now. Your heart slows from its hummingbird rate to a steady thump in your chest. You think back to the argument from a few hours to go, and you wonder what else you could’ve said.
~Around 5 hours Ago~
You’re standing at the oven, mixing the pot of spaghetti sauce, when you hear your honey-bunch come through the front door. Before you could get out a syllable, a set of arms wrap around your midsection and the culprit is nuzzling into your neck.
"Sweet Pea you're freezing," you giggle as you weakly try to escape his grasp. You feel him smirk into your neck and his arms tighten. You settle into his arms and release a sigh of contentment.
"I missed you so much, so fucking much. What all did you do today baby?"
"Nothing really. Just cooking dinner for the love of my life," you kiss his cheek as he rests his chin on your shoulder. His face lights up with a big dorky grin.
"Oh yeah? Who might that be?" You can't help but smirk as you decide to mess with him a bit.
"I don't know yet. I'll tell you when I find him," You jump as he nips your neck.
"You're such a brat," Sweet Pea begins to tickle you for payback until you shout for a truce.
"If you want to eat sometime this century, I suggest you sit down before your food burns," You laugh and swat at his butt. He throws himself into a kitchen chair so fast that you swear you see smoke. You start to load pasta onto Sweet Pea's plate as he speaks up.
"Why are these all out?" You turn to see him rummaging through the different bills scattered on the table. You gently move them away as to set down his dinner.
"Oh, I just had to pay our electric bill. It was our final notice," You nonchalantly explain. Sweet Pea got really quiet and when you look back at him you are surprised to see he is upset.
"Don't worry I didn't use any of our rainy-day-fund. I took an extra shift at Pop's so then we can both be financially stable." Sweet Pea looks very perplexed as if you just spoke in a different language. You don't want to ruin his good mood so you try to humor him.
"I know you like getting freaky in the dark and all babe, but there is no way I'm giving up my Dr. Phil," You laugh lightly. You go to say something again when Sweet Pea suddenly slams his fists down on the kitchen table rattling your plates.
"That's not the point (y/n)," He glares at his plate obviously riling himself up. You lay your hand on top of his fists trying to soothe him.
"Then explain it to me." He lets out a big huff and finally looks you in the eyes.
"It's not your job to pay the bills. I'm the man here and I should be pulling double shifts to support you, not the other way around. Your job is to cook, clean, and look beautiful," his eyes get dark as he finishes his rant. All you could do is gape at him wondering where the hell this came from.
"Please tell me you're not serious, you're upset because I work. Then what? Huh, Sweet Pea? You want me to just be stuck in this damn trailer while you go out and gallivant with your snake buddies. Yeah well sorry, that will never happen. It takes two people for a relationship to work especially when we have bills to pay. This isn't the 1950's, I got just as much a right to work as you do." He stands up and tosses his untouched dinner into the sink.
"Whatever, I wasn't fucking hungry anyways. I'm getting away from here and sure as hell away from you," He grabs his jacket and stomps to the front door. You jump up and grab his arm, tears welling up in your eyes.
"What's your problem? I cooked dinner for you and this is how you repay me! All because I paid a bill?" He glares at you before coldly ripping his arm out of your grasp.
"Don't fucking wait up," He slams the door behind him. You listen for the distinct roar of his motorcycle, and when it fades away, only then do you let the sobs wrack through your body.
~Present Time~
Here you are now: chest hurts, eyes burning and a dreaded case of hiccups. You know that Sweet Pea's ego may have been bruised, but he didn't need to take it out on you. You pull your pillow over your face and scream into it. You decide that it's better to just go to bed instead of staying up worrying about what time he'd be home. You curl up around one of Sweet Pea's pillows, his fragrance lulling you to a restless sleep.
Headlights shine into your bedroom window, rousing you from sleep. You sit up rubbing the sleep out of your eyes and reach for Sweet Pea out of habit, but when your hand hits the mattress you remember that he left. You listen for a second, definitely hearing car doors shutting. You groggily climb out of bed. Hushed whispers and groans echo through your thin walls as you make your way to the front door.
"Jughead, hold up your side. I can't carry him all on my own, he's going to yank my arm of its socket. But if we drop him he is gonna be pissed tomorrow."
"Toni, I doubt he will remember anything from tonight with how blasted he is."
After a few more groans and thudded footsteps, you throw open the door with your hands on your hips. Toni and Jughead are all red in the face as they try to lug your idiot boyfriend from the car and up your steps. You glance at Sweet Pea's slouched form and shake your head with a groan. You join in on the struggle to pull Sweet Pea into the trailer, and you finally set him down on the couch. You turn back to your friends with a relieved look.
"I'm so sorry you had to manhandle him, but I can't thank you enough for bringing him home." They mutter a quick 'No Problem' as they rub their sore limbs. You kneel next to Sweet Pea and brush his hair away from his flushed face.
"What did he drink and how much of it," You look back at them as they glance at each other.
"He mostly did shots, but I lost count at 10," Jughead shuffles around in his spot as Toni nods in agreeance.
"Yeah, that sound about right. I stopped giving him them after his fifth, but somehow he got the bottle back when I wasn't looking." Toni looks away and you can tell she feels guilty. You stand and pull her into a hug, she is surprised but returns the hug all the same. You place your hand on Jughead's arm as silent thanks.
"I hope neither of you thinks this is your fault because it isn't. If anyone is to blame, it is me. We had an argument and he stormed off. I didn't mean for either of you to get involved," You step back and run your hands down your face trying to compose yourself.
"Must have been a big argument for him to get wasted as much as he did- OW," Jughead holds his side while Toni glares at him.
"Something like that. When Sweet Pea's ego is involved, it usually becomes a big deal," You laugh humorously. Sweet Pea lets out a groan and it looks like he's coming to. You turn back to them with a sad smile.
"You guys should get going before he starts puking everywhere. Thank you so much again," They walk out towards Toni's car but Jugheads turns back to you.
"I almost forgot. Fangs parked Sweet Pea's motorcycle behind the Wyrm. He can get it tomorrow."
"Thank you Jug, will do." You smile and wave as they drive off. The couch squeaks behind you and you turn to see Sweet Pea trying to get up but stumbles. You rush forward to catch him and gag as the strong smell of alcohol burns your nose. He laughs as he leans against you.
"I feel dizzy," He laughs like its the funniest thing in the world. Your roll your eyes and herd him to the bathroom knowing he will puke soon. You squat down next to him in front of the toilet and almost immediately he begins to retch. You move his hair away from his face so you can hold a cold cloth to his brow. You murmur words of compassion until he has spewed all that poison out of his body. You can tell he's pretty weak, so you move him to sit against the sink while you start to prepare a cold shower. Sweet Pea grabs your hand as you move around so you pause and meet his gaze with the best Poker face you could give.
"Thank y-you (y/n), I know you're mad at me and I'm sorry. You don't need to help-"
"Don't worry about it. Water under the bridge. I am gonna get you clean and then into bed okay?" You cut him off with your best no-nonsense tone and give him a tight-lipped smile. He looks at the floor and nods his head. It takes a lot of effort, but you get him to stand up so you can get his clothes off. You strip him down to his boxers but you leave those on because you aren't in the mood for any awkward boners. Your eyes rake over his body and he catches you giving you a weak smirk.
"Are you going to strip too," He wiggles his eyebrows at you and holds his hands on your hips. You roll your eyes for what seems to be the fifth time today and wiggle out of his grasp to turn on the shower head. You help him step into the tub cautiously trying not to wipe out. He hisses when he hits the cold water stream and you rub his back sympathetically. You ease him into a sitting position, it’s better safe than sorry. You grab your shampoo and Sweet Pea practically purrs as you work it into his scalp. Once you rinse that all out you grab your loofah and his body wash. You begin to scrub his upper body and blush when he has to turn towards you so you can clean his chest. He's staring at you, normally it wouldn't bother you, but after the night your having ignites a rush of anger inside of you.
"What the hell are you staring at me like that for," You snap. As fast as it appeared, the anger vanished when you saw the hurt look on Sweet Pea's face when he turned his head away. It's awkward for a moment because you can't believe your self-control slipped like that. You turn the shower off and reach out to cup his face to turn it back to you. You kiss his forehead.
"Hey, I'm so sorry. I-I don't know why I just snapped like I did. Its just been a long night and I've been so worried," your voice cracks and tears threaten to fall. "I'm just so happy that your home." Before you know it Sweet Pea pulls you partially into the tub so he can hold you as your dam finally breaks and your tears fall free. Even though you know he isn't fully sober right now, you're just happy to be consoled. He whispers sweet nothings into your ear and a whole lot of apologies. Your sobs subside and you notice Sweet Pea is shaking under you.
"Oh my god your towel that's right," you scramble out of the tub to hurry and grab a towel before the poor guy gets pneumonia. You help him step out and you seat him on the toilet so you can get him a new pair of boxers and a hoodie. You make it into the bedroom as you realize you are soaking wet as well. You hurry back to Sweet Pea and you turn around as he puts on the dry pair of boxers on with his big Gas Monkey Garage hoodie. You help him walk to the bedroom, he is doing better after that shower so he did most of the work himself. You tuck him into the bed with another peck on his cheek before fishing out pajamas for yourself.
After you throw all the wet clothes into the laundry hamper, you can finally crawl onto your side of the bed. You hear soft snores coming from Sweet Pea so you face the wall until arms wrap around you and pull you into a spooning position with your lover.
"I'm going to marry you (y/n)." Your heart nearly jumps out of your chest but you know that he only is saying this because he is still part drunk.
"Mhm. You're drunk Sweet Pea, go to bed." He smiles into the nook of your neck.
"Just drunk on your love (y/n)." You roll your eyes for the last time that night and snuggled against his chest even more. Finally, you drifted to sleep, but not before hearing the "I love you" that he whispered into your ear.