AU: Season 2, Joaquin never left town and went to Riverdale High. Him and Archie are secretly dating. Also Archie never formed the dark/red circle because he didn't get involved with Hiram.

Archie never realized how quiet Riverdale could be. He strolled down the rather abandoned streets, the grey skies above him showing signs that it would rain soon. Without the Riverdale or Southside High students walking around, busily chatting, or the cars tearing down the small roads, the town had an almost post-apocalyptic atmosphere.

He was actually supposed to be in gym class right now. Now that Archie thought about it, this was the first time he'd skipped class in about 2 years. Archie personally thought he had a good enough excuse, though. Joaquin's birthday was in 2 days, and he'd already made it clear to Archie what he wanted. Not on purpose, though. Sober Joaquin claimed that he didn't want anything and just wanted to spend time with Archie. Which was boring, if you were to ask him. 

But drunk Joaquin however, had a completely different thing to say. Archie didn't even remember how Joaquin had managed to get so wasted in the first place. His boyfriend wasn't a light-head in general and if he did manage to get drunk he had more of a stoner attitude. But the way he acted four days ago? All excited and happy.

"Duuuude that one store in the Southside ROCKS! It has soooooo many flavors in gum and candy, it's got totally badass leather jackets and cozy-ass sweaters. Now I finally see why Toni's so obsessed with it. But y'know what's the coolest thing MoonWave sells? Lava lamps. Bitch, I've wanted a lamp like that since I was 8! My broke ass can't afford one of those, though."

Joaquin had dramatically sighed after that and basically dropped head-first into Archie's chest.

Although yes, a lava lamp was totally random and expensive, plus how out of character Joaquin had been acting, Archie knew that a gift like that would make his boy happy. And that's all he really cared about.

So that's how he found himself standing in front of MoonWave. It was a really pretty-looking store, with an aqua blue tint and yellow stars painted across it.

It kept surprising Archie how in a place like Southside, there were still beautiful things.

Twenty minutes later he was outside again, a weaved shopping bag in his right hand which contained a pink-colored lava lamp. He was starting to walk again for 5 seconds when a loud voice interrupted him.

"Hey, Northsider! Where'd ya think you're going to?"

Archie turned around, daring himself not to sigh and saw Sweet Pea standing right in front of him, arms crossed and looking down at Archie with a dark glare.

"Uh.....hey, Sweet Pea." Archie wasn't sure what he could say to the giant Serpent.

Sweet Pea's buddy looked just as intimidating, although he looked very tired as well. Ever since it came out that it was one of the Serpents that was sleeping with Midge, Reggie had been at the Serpents' throats.

"Your buddies slashed the tires of my motorbike yesterday night. Sweet Pea's thrash can got set on fire too. You didn't happen to be there, did you?" Fangs spoke in a low voice, raising a single eyebrow at the ginger.

"Wait, The Bulldogs did that?" A confused frown spread across Archie's face.

No way..... Reggie and his stupid dark circle couldn't actually have done that, right?

"Ah-a! So you were there!" Sweet Pea accused, cracking his knuckles.

"Whoa, I never said that! I wasn't there, I swear. I'm sorry 'bout what they did to your stuff-"

"You were there! Just admit! Your Bulldogs have been on our asses since day one, but if y'all think you can just come in our territory and touch our property, you're dead wrong." Sweet Pea spat out, moving to stand chest-to-chest with Archie.

"Dude, back off! I wasn't there!" Archie growled, lightly shoving at Sweet Pea.

"Don't fucking try me, Northsider!" Rage flashed across Sweet Pea's eyes as he pushed Archie back even harder, with enough force to get him to stumble down.

"Dude!" Archie yelled, wrapping his body around the bag as the two Serpents started kicking him.

"You Northsiders think it's funny to set people's shit on fire?!" Fangs huffed out, kicking Archie roughly in the back.

"I wasn't there!" Archie repeated, hissing in pain.

The kicking went on for roughly six seconds before a yell stopped both Serpents dead in their tracks.

"HEY! You two fools get away from him RIGHT. NOW."

The three of them looked up to see that Joaquin was going up to them, looking more pissed than Archie had ever seen him. Hell, if he really thought about it, he didn't think he'd ever seen Joaquin pissed off or angry.

"Joaquin, what the hell are you talkin' about? He's one of the guys that went on a rampage in the Southside yesterday." Sweet Pea protested, another flood of anger washing over him as he lazily gave Archie another kick.

"Don't." Joaquin growled out, shoving Sweet Pea backwards.

His bright blue eyes stood cold, but his cheeks were already flushed with anger. He looked about ready to seriously harm someone.

"Chill out, man. Why do you care?" Fangs frowned in confusion at the taller Serpent.

Joaquin hesitated for a moment, not sure how to explain why he cared about some Bulldog getting beat up without spilling that he and Archie were a thing.

"I just found out it was Reggie and his dumb circle squad who did it. Archie wasn't there, I saw him at the public pool, okay? I get that you guys are pissed at the Northsiders for what they did but beatin' up people who weren't even involved is just low." Joaquin firmly stated, helping Archie up with one hand.

That finally seemed to get through Fangs and Sweet Pea's thick skulls. Both of them awkwardly scratched their necks as a guilty expression slowly appeared on their face.

"Uh, I guess you got a point there....... Sorry, Andrews. We're just kinda defensive right now......" Fangs uncomfortably apologized.

"It's fine, guys......." Archie half-smiled at them, trying not to groan at the pain in his ribs.

".........you'll be fine?" Sweet Pea asked, eyeing Archie in a rather guilty manner.

"Get outta here, you idiots. Jesus Christ......." Joaquin rolled his eyes at them, shooing them away.

As soon as the two were gone, Joaquin carefully tilted Archie's face to see if he had any damage there. His dark eyebrows were furrowed with concern.

"Never seen you so pissed before." Archie commented, grinning rather stupidly at his boyfriend.

"What? Was I supposed to not be pissed at two clowns kicking the shit outta my boy?" Joaquin simply replied, slinging an arm around the ginger's shoulders.

"I could've taken them on, y'know." Archie quickly said.

"I don't doubt that. What are you even doin' here in the first place?" Joaquin asked a bit suspicious.

"Oh, I was just chillin'....." Archie nervously chuckled, hiding the plastic bag behind his back.

"In the Southside? I didn't see you at school today. Are you hiding something?" Joaquin threw a glance backwards, trying to see what Archie was hiding behind his back.

The brown-eyed teen grabbed Joaquin's chin to distract him with a kiss. For a moment Archie thought the distraction succeeded, Joaquin kissed him back rather energetically. But as soon as they pulled away for air Joaquin just glanced back again.

"C'mon, baby, what's that behind your back?" Joaquin raised a curious eyebrow at his boyfriend.

Ugh....Archie always crumbled at Joaquin's pet names. They totally made him weak.

"Ah, never mind. Tryna' keep something hidden from you is a losing game...... I uh, bought you something." Archie shyly scratched the back of his neck as he offered Joaquin the bag.

The Raven-haired teen put on his usual poker face, readying himself for whatever would be in the bag as he took it from Archie. His blank expression quickly fell however, as his eyes widened in surprise.

"Woah. Is this......?" Joaquin inspected the box containing the lamp, looking completely perplexed.

"A lava lamp! You sorta cried to me about wanting one when you were drunk. Figured I'd get you one for your birthday." Archie beamed at the pink flush that ran down Joaquin's neck when he looked back at him.

"That's......really sweet. You shouldn't have." Joaquin muttered, making a big deal out of looking at the price tag on the box.

"Hey, I wanted to. You deserve it, Joaquin. Hell, you deserve way more than a freaking pink lava lamp but still......" Archie trailed off, laughing as Joaquin trapped him into a rather tight hug.

"Shit.....that's actually really fucking cute....." Joaquin huffed into Archie's jacket.

"Ya wanna know what's really cute? Just look into the mirror." Archie cackled when Joaquin let out an embarrassed groan.

"Shut up, you corny bastard......"