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[webbs]

overflow. texting. picture prompts. open.

Comments

@not_yet_screaming

[webbs]

[ from here. ]

you know you could just like
ask about that sometime, right?
because its def not gonna happen this time

[not_yet_screaming]

probably not
and i will
of course there's the question of what happens after i'm naked ;)
see you tomorrow?

[webbs]

get some snacks?

@hexcoding

[webbs]

[ from here. ]

irresponsible in some ways
certain situations
with proper guidance
and also you

@deo

[webbs]

[ from here. ]

i was literally trying to text somebody my own age like ten minutes ago
that was how this whole thing started.

[ not that she's ever going to live it down. ]

besides
youre really cool!!
even if youre older than me

[deo]

[ah yes. that lovely little reminder that this conversation had started with a text that was decidedly not meant for her about things that she most definitely hadn't done. things that she's put into a box labeled 'to be reviewed oh how about never.']

Thanks?
You're alright for a... seems wrong to call you a kid when you go off facing guys with guns and science experiments gone awry.
You're alright. Can't exactly take you out for drinks after a job well done though.

But if we're really going to be friends, I guess I should probably ask if I can invite you to game night.

[webbs]

i mean you technically could, but i wouldnt really want to
beer tastes like butt anyway

game night?

[ on the other side of the phone, penny perks up. ]

is this like nintendo switch stuff or more analogue?

text;

[gwenzelle]

elle
remember when you told me to text you next time i was feeling spicy?
( your words, not mine )
this is me doing that

[webbs]

spicy, huh??
is this like
habanero spicy?
poblano?
or is it
ghost pepper???

[gwenzelle]

habanero
very much on the way to ghost pepper
hah
ghost-spider

i scrolled by those pictures we took together a few weeks ago and you
youuu
were so wet for me and you look so good with my fingers in your mouth.
and i'm jonesing so hard right now


are you somewhere private? because these texts are only going to get dirtier

@quintuplet

[webbs]

[ from here. ]

see?
this is why you're my favorite slightly intimidating telepath

[quintuplet]

Only slightly?

[ maybe her sisters are right, maybe she has gone soft. how gross. ]

I'll take being your favourite, though.
I mean, come on. I'm clearly the best Cuckoo.

[webbs]

I’m being nice

[ she is extremely intimidating, which is one of several reasons why penny’s doing her potshots and questions via text, and not within brain zappy range. ]

where did that name come from, anyway??

lmk if this is okay, i took some liberties but i can adjust obvi

[overarches]

( you know the weirdest part about seeing penelope every day after those text messages? they haven’t kissed.

archie gets up in the morning with the giddy confirmation that the girl he has a crush on likes him back and he takes her for milkshakes after school like he promised, and he even walks her up to her front door because it’s the gentlemanly thing to do. he regrets not kissing her. he hates being the guy giving mixed signals because he has been that guy before. has said he wanted one thing and did another. of course, fred and val were both right. they were speaking volumes about separate aspects of his life, sure, but he overcommitted to both of them at one point or another. and he doesn’t want to do that with penny, it’s just. you know, a thing. a thing he didn’t want to start because he was trying to respect her insistence that he heal first. only now it feels like maybe he’s an idiot?

so he’s trying to ride this line between friendship and dating because, as mentioned, maybe he’s an idiot. an idiot who means well and is trying to do right by her, but still.

it’s not awkward exactly, though something feels off now. he can’t tell if she’s upset with him because she hasn’t said she is and frankly, he’s bad at subtext. if he’s learned anything from growing up next door to betty cooper and having her as a best friend, it’s the not talking that tells him when he said something dumb again. they all sit together at lunch and before classes in the lounge room, so neither one of them is ignoring the other. he’s also not so self-obsessed that he can’t imagine it having to do with something else.

when the last bell rings for the day, he’s practically jumping out of his seat and jogging out of the hall and down the steps to find her. archie slows to walk, trying for casual ( he isn’t fooling anyone ). ) Hey, Penny! Wait up. Can we-? Can I walk with you?

[webbs]

[ it’s been wild, trying to adjust to life in riverdale. small town, no arcade, fewer food options (penny’s going to miss vasilis’ gyros so much), really good milkshakes (archie wasn’t kidding). the entire vibe of the town is different from new york, even in comparison to the smaller microcosm of her neighborhood. the whole ‘stop and talk with people at the grocery store’ cliche turns out to be true. and there’s not really much in the way of skyscrapers. she’s noticed.

archie’s been great, showing her around, treating her to milkshakes, being chivalrous in a non-creepy way that she didn’t even think was possible anymore. and it’s not like she wasn’t telling the truth when told him how attracted she was (really, completely, honestly telling the truth), but she also wasn’t lying when she wanted to wait. at least until the bruises healed.

but then he just…didn’t say anything? maybe it was just that late-night horniness, when your brain’s all fuzzy with sleep and thirst. only she doesn’t think that archie’s the sort to totally drop it like that, and now penny’s all confused and stressed that she’s reading too much into it, so there’s just this weird holding pattern. they went out on like, the most chaste date in recorded history, they laugh with his friends during lunch, they bitch about homework over text. but they don’t talk about that.

by her last class of the day (american history), penny’s usually antsy to get out. today, she’s also tired, in a way that the canned coffee she’s been drinking hasn’t helped. (unrelated, but the ghoulies have been having a lot of trouble with some masked figure who’s too agile and strong to nail down). she’s already thinking longingly about a nap, about more coffee, about turning her brain off with some old movies, and then she hears archie’s voice. and as confusing and weird as the last week has been, she can’t hide the way her face lights up. ]

Oh, Archie, hey! Yeah - yeah, totally.

[overarches]

( life in riverdale is not without its ups and downs. for as many small town charms, there are woes. unfortunate dark secrets that archie had been blind to when he was younger that won't stop crawling out of the woodwork now. he wishes that penny had moved here before jason blossoms' death rocked their sleepy, little cradle and shocked some of them awake for the first time in the history of ever, but it is what it is now. the crime rates rose, nefarious moves were made behind the scenes to scoop up property and after one murderer was discovered, it seemed like the blood was never going to stop. still, in comparison, archie doesn't know what it's like to be uprooted and placed somewhere else, to start over and figure out how to begin again.

and he feels like, more than most, he just wants her to see what's good about riverdale like his dad did. like he does. like the townspeople used to believe. he wants penny to find a place here.

which is not any kind of excuse for dropping the ball and chickening out, after jumping the shark with shirtless photos and risqué texts. he doesn't get to put their friendship in the balance by telling her that she's on his one track mind and then get cold feet about it. nothing's changed. there's a dumb grin on his face the second she enters his line of sight and if it's possible, he's been thinking about her more every day since they both admitted the attraction was mutual. she doesn't deserve the whirlwind that comes from second guessing and doubt because archie likes her, he meant it. it wasn't him passing the time or using her for attention, which is a relevant distinction. )

Okay, yeah. Cool. ( cool??? he hears it, too. ) Are you headed home?

( small talk that's leading somewhere, he swears. but if he's going to get into it, he at least wants to be sure she has time to and not that she's rushing to get elsewhere. the walk back to her place is long enough to work up the nerve to unpack everything he's bottled up this week. )

Because I wanted to talk to you about ..not talking to you? ( no, that's not right, they've talked every day. ) About anything real.

@successour

[webbs]

[ from here. ]

i think i was worried about getting possessed or radiation poisoning or something.

[successour]

wow... you're overly neurotic, even in your dreams.
you had twice the amount of a good thing, and you couldn't relax enough to let yourself enjoy it.

[webbs]

TWO DICKS, harriet!!
had to be something hinky

anyway i tried to get them both in at once and it was awful.

@thefifthchild

[webbs]

[ from here. ]

careful, robin
that's suspiciously close to an emotion

[thefifthchild]

It's a statement. No emotions included.

[webbs]

glad is an emotion, buddy.

@sophielicious

[webbs]

i didn't think i had to say this
but 'get a load of this annoying TA in my calc class' does not mean 'use him as a chair.'

[sophielicious]

well, he's not gonna annoy you anymore, so i think what you mean to say is

thank you, sophie cuckoo
you truly are the best

[webbs]

are you, though?