OPEN POST.

[bragnificent]

OPEN POST

psls ✦ memes/overflow ✦ aus ✦ pic prompt

✦ this is open to everyone, no need to ask first before commenting! feel free to PM if you'd like to discuss anything. please mark NSFW accordingly.
✦ open to both castmates and cross-canon, & shipping with any gender is fine.

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Comments

sticks leggy out

[kellerinstinct]

So I need to borrow you Friday night.

\(☆▽☆)ﾉ

[bragnificent]

a lot of ppl want to borrow me friday night
whats in it 4 me?

[kellerinstinct]

What, my superior company isn't enough incentive?
There'll be alcohol and girls afterward, I'm sure.

[bragnificent]

well thats all very tempting
what exactly do u need to borrow me for

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[hissedicuffs]

( reggie mantle, douchetacular extraordinaire, is not sweet pea's ideal lab partner. not that they had much of a choice. that's high school for you, forced interaction with a whole load of kids who are very unlikely to ever get along. being from the southside doesn't make it any easier, but after all the bravado from jughead and show of support, it hasn't been as bad. doesn't mean reggie isn't still a mangy bulldog, but he might be less likely to bite now. that's good for both of them. they might get through this stupid project without killing each other. )

Hey. ( he catches reggie after school so they don't wind up in detention on top of everything else if a fight breaks out. they're both loose cannons. it's better to play it safe, espcially after the riots. ) We gonna have a problem? I'm not gonna bail you out of this project if you're not on board. ( because of me goes unsaid, but it's made pretty clear by the look in his eyes. )

(ง •̀_•́)ง♥♥

[bragnificent]

[ Sweet Pea is by no means Reggie's ideal lab partner as well; far from it, possibly even as far from it as it gets, although Reggie's temper toward him -- and Southsiders in general -- has admittedly cooled somewhat in the aftermath of Fangs getting shot. Not "best friends with each other and high-fiving in the hallways" cool, but at least "not trying to start a fight every time they make contact" cool; a lot has happened since then to change Reggie's mind.

Which is not to say he feels ready or great about spending a lot of time studying alone with Sweet Pea, but tolerating each other is probably doable. Probably.

Reggie turns, expression already sour, just short of confrontational. ]

The only problem we're gonna have is if your uneducated ass screws up my average. I mean I'm no nerd, but I do have sports eligibility to think about.

[ Then, rolling eyes and pressing his tongue against his cheek, Reggie reluctantly adds: ]

So, your place or mine?

[hissedicuffs]

( reggie should be thanking sweet pea's shoulder bag for saving his face from getting knocked in. he grips the strap, his nails digging into the material. his mouth twists into a more permanent scowl. if looks could kill, reggie would be bleeding out on the ground. )

You really wanna walk into a nest of vipers, Mantle? Be my guest.

( which is a threat as much as it is an invitation, because sweet pea would love to see reggie's carefully constructed defenses crumble when presented with the real southside. there are a lot of people, sweet pea included, who haven't been so forgiving about the incident with fangs. did reggie do it? no. but he still had a gun, and the intent was still the same. the only reason sweet pea hasn't beat him bloody is jughead. he respects the will of the king (regardless of how tied up it is will northsiders like archie andrews) more than he respects reggie's de facto innocence. )

I'd be glad to show you all the comforts of my uneducated hospitality.

( there's venom in that statement; reggie's still just as ignorant as he'll ever be. )

you know which au

[digests]

[ he should have been home over an hour ago, but he lost track of time at the library. there was a campus wide alert on the incoming storm and, to say the least, jughead regrets not heeding the warning sooner. by the time he makes it back to the apartment, the weather has taken a severe turn for the worse and his only reprieve is the thought that he'll once again have a quiet, warm place all to himself.

reggie is probably holed up somewhere with one of his innumerous frat fuckbuddies, which means he won't have to see him until the blizzard passes.

......or not.

it looks like he made the novice mistake of having hope. he barely gets the door halfway open before he is immediately greeted by the sound of vague noises coming from further inside the room. mantle is home. ] Great. Just what I need. [ removing his outer coat, he hooks it onto the rack as he makes his way toward the living area. ]

What are y— [ annnd his voice cuts off because what he sees is almost as mortifying as what he hears. ] Reggie.

aw ye

[bragnificent]

[ Reggie would have holed up with one of said frat fuckbuddies, too, but any of the ones he might have asked were either just far enough out of the way (compared to home) that he wouldn't have beaten the storm there, or were already out of town for the holidays; left no other choice, he came straight home after class, flopped on the couch, and hoped that maybe he'd at least have the place to himself tonight.

The later it got and the harder the storm began to come down, the more it seemed possible that maybe Jughead found other lodgings for the night-- or maybe just got trapped at school. Either way, making himself comfortable, Reggie certainly forgot all about the possibility he could still be interrupted... until he is.

He looks in the direction of Jughead's voice, muting the porn that's playing on his big screen-- some corny but classic guy-enjoys-being-seduced-by-his-best-friend's-mom story. Reggie hasn't gotten too comfortable, luckily -- Reggie may be shameless enough to watch porn in the living room, but he's not yet so bad that he'd jerk off out there, too -- but he still flinches, caught between startled and flustered.

(But only barely.) ]

Well. [ He glances toward the TV, then back to Jughead. ] I guess you didn't freeze to death.

[digests]

[ augh. why does he have to deal with this?

with his school bag still slung over his shoulder, jug's eyes flicker between reggie and the frozen porn on the tv — a seriously unfortunate freeze frame. this is not what he wanted to know reggie does on his free time when he's home alone. he can only be grateful that he didn't walk into more, so it's going to end here. adjusting the strap to his backpack, jughead moves right in front of him, blocking the screen. ]

I'm having a lot of regrets about that, actually. [ with a quick search, he nabs the remote from wherever reggie tossed it aside to. ] Freezing to death seems like the preferable option right now. [ yep. say bye to your porn. he's shutting the tv off and now he's turning all of his focus on you. ] You shouldn't be watching this crap in the living room, Reggie. Or at least not on the TV! Don't you have a laptop? Earplugs???

[ronnied]

basically

[bragnificent]

[ It takes a little bit of adjusting to at first-- their dynamic without Archie around to be at the center of everything. Reggie and Ronnie both usually spend more time with him than with each other, but obviously that's changed quite a bit over the summer, and especially over the past few weeks since Archie's been... well, gone. Now they've been spending a lot of time together; they still see Archie when they're able to visit, but otherwise, most of that time is spent alone. Just the two of them.

But that's okay, too; they're all in this together these days. And it's only natural to get closer under circumstances like this.

Veronica says they won't be selling booze, but that doesn't mean Reggie doesn't bring some along to spike his own drinks with. Today, he pours out two shots from a flask, then brings them over to the counter where she's currently hunched over paperwork of some kind, setting one down right in the middle of whatever she's looking at. ]

You do know what they say about "all work and no play," right?

[ronnied]

All work and no play keeps Veronica from going crazy?

[ which is so true it's a little silly, but she does have a small smile on her face when she looks up from her papers ( and the shot glass he put there ) to give reggie a look.

yeah, things have been hard since archie got put away. almost impossibly hard, actually. the need to get him out of there, to find a way, has been taking over her thoughts completely. well, almost. she does have the speakeasy to run, and-

and she has a not-really-but-kinda-boyfriend who she's learning to trust without archie there as sort of a literal middle man. reggie is way more than just a distraction to her, but he is a good one. and she's not usually one for hard liquor, but. well. when it's presented to her like this, when she's feeling entirely too stressed- how could she say no? ]

But I suppose I could take a break. [ she picks up her shot glass, but glances over to the staircase that leads up to Pop's before reaching to cheers him ] The door's still locked, right?

➤ fᴏʀ ᴅɪɢᴇsᴛs ( ᴍᴏʀɴɪɴɢ ᴀfᴛᴇʀ; ᴀᴜ )

[bragnificent]

[ Reggie's still not used to living in this apartment, or sleeping in this bed-- and he's especially not used to waking up in it with company. His head hurts a little, and for once not from a hangover, but rather spending most of the night awake and...

Well, awake. He'll leave it at that for now, because he's not sure how ready he is to recollect exactly what he spent the night doing and with whom yet that's left his body feeling this heavy and sore and weirdly, reluctantly satisfied. Maybe after coffee.

He turns slightly, looking over his shoulder at Jughead before elbowing him gently, voice still mostly slurred with exhaustion when he speaks: ]

Hey. Go make me some coffee.

[digests]

[ juggie is going to second him on the coffee. it sounds like a terrific idea right now. too early, too groggy. mind isn't awake enough to review the events of last night, no less contemplate its overall implications. it's... it's a lot.

it's a change. it's momentous and...

okay, maybe some of the memories are beginning to drift back now. he lets out a slight groan. ]

......Coffee. [ eyes still very much closed, jug runs his fingers through his hair as he gathers the energy to start getting up. ] Coffee. Right. On it. [ he guess it's the least he can do for him after— jeez, he can't even think it. he's sitting up. ] Want something to eat too? [ just going to act like they're both not naked in bed. yep. ]

[bragnificent]

[ Turning more so that now he's facing Jughead's direction, Reggie brushes his own bangs from his face and lets his eyes rest on Jughead as they start readjusting to wakefulness, reality starting to come back into focus.

Which is a mixed blessing at best, for the moment. But food does sound good; Reggie smirks, sitting up slightly on his elbows and giving Jughead's arm a more playful swat, with the same kind of energy one might slap an ass with. ]

Actually yeah, so you'd better get to it, then. Chop chop. [ Not even ten minutes into morning after... glow and already he's Like This. ] But coffee first, though. Otherwise I'll probably never feel like getting out of bed.

[ He lays back down, stretching his legs and his back to make a point of settling back in to get comfortable. Is this going to be a breakfast-in-bed sort of morning? He's hoping so. ]

slides in here after sleeping on that other thread but also canonpoint flexible

[overarches]

( the times when any of them get to be their actual age are few and far between. archie thinks he can count the occasions on his hands but he doubts he actually needs the second one. that is, if he could count. he’s sort of beyond that, here, right now with his head back against the wall and one leg bent at the knee, empty beer bottle in hand. he's sprawled entirely too close to reggie—not crowding him but not giving him much breathing room, either. as if he even has a concept of what someone else's personal space is supposed to look like because he's touchy-feely in general. the usual stuff: hands on shoulders, hugging, yanking someone in playfully in the crook of his elbow, touches on the small of a friend's back.

this isn't that.

their thighs aren't flush together but every time archie moves, they brush. maybe that's not anything in and of itself but accompanied with turning his upper half bodily towards reggie, it's something. the leg that's straightened out ( closest to reggie ) pulls in, both knees pointing closer as he leans towards him. he's not really putting much thought into what it looks like, more focused on what he's after. with the hand that's farthest from reggie, he reaches towards his lap where his hands are. where his beer is. cheeks warm, hair mussed from running his fingers through it, bottom lip a little red from worrying it between his teeth.

if reggie doesn't anchor him with a hand on his chest, shove him away, or stop him in some other manner, then he's pilfering the drink right out of his palms and putting his lips where reggie's had been a moment ago to help himself. )

Thanks. I needed that. ( it's true, regardless of whether he stops archie or lets him go. )

why hello again 👀

[bragnificent]

[ Being casually touchy-feely is something the two of them have in common, something that for Reggie can either mean simple, comfortable affection or sometimes a bit more than that, subconscious Intricate Rituals™ to touch certain people in those certain, specific, allowable ways-- for him, right now, it's hard to tell what this would fall under. They're just hanging out, but Reggie doesn't mind the closeness, even when it starts toeing past the line of strictly friendly closeness. That's okay when you're alone, and especially alone and tipsy.

Still, he's a bit too distracted to stop Archie from taking his beer, eyes first dropping to their briefly brushing hands, then raising to Archie's red, parted lips. Reggie breathes in slowly, leaning back so his head hits the wall, but then manages a smirk. ]

Dude, I wasn't done with that.

[ He doesn't grab the bottle back, but rather takes Archie's wrist loosely in his hand to tilt the bottle back toward himself. ]

Last one, but I guess we can share it.

hi there c:

[overarches]

( on some level, he’s aware that he’s in dangerous waters and wading deeper. that maybe there’s a tell in the slow inhale and how reggie repels away. he swears, for a second, that he was looking at his mouth. but then it’s gone, replaced by a smirk, in the easy way that everything slips away with the help of alcohol. almost timeless, fragmented; it’s not like he’s able to stick with any one thing, quickly bouncing onto the next.

and then he objects eventually without any real bite behind it. )

Uh. Yeah, my bad. ( archie mouth curves upward, filled with mirth, a tiny thrill. he doesn’t name it. but there’s a sneaking suspicion that it has as much to do with reggie’s fingers curled around his wrist, guiding the bottle ( and his hand respectively ) back to his mouth. he keeps it tipped, lets him have his fill and doesn't wrench his hand away. curiosity gets the better of him when he lowers the beer to hear reggie speak. ) That's pretty generous, man.

( mocking or serious, does it matter? without skipping a beat, he pulls another sip for himself. a short one, deliberately measured. he's also not complaining if those fingers are still on his bare skin. swallowing unhurriedly, watching him, he idly taps the neck of the bottle with his finger. )

Guess that means you get the rest. ( it's not comfortable, having his wrist turned this way and that. it's what he reasons, anyway, when he turns in place and sets a knee on either side of reggie's ( hovering over him ) to offer him the rest of the beer. he doesn't mean to push the mouthpiece flush to his lips but since he does, archie laughs somewhat breathlessly and weaves a bit. he tries for balance with his other hand, reaching blindly in the air. ) Here. Take it.

[occultatum]

[There are two rules, when it comes to Reggie Mantle and everyone knows them. This is the a truth written practically in stone, from the time that Nick and Reggie met at their first tender class together. Two warlocks, one the alpha, and the other a true loyal follower.

The first rule is this: where Nick is, Reggie is not far behind.

The second is this: if Reggie is there, and Nick isn't, then you're fucked.

It's well established that Reggie is Nick's right hand, his confidant, his best friend. If Reggie knows something, then Nick knows it too - if Reggie discovers something, then Nick will find out. The opposite is also true, although people don't believe it. No one thinks that the loyalty runs both ways, which is their first mistake.

In any case, this is when rule one does not apply, and rule two just finished, which brings up the most important unspoken agreement between every witch at the Academy: when Nick is alone, and when Reggie is alone, when they come back together, that's, well.

Nick is sitting in one of the many clearings in the forest, a pile of books next to him, his legs dangling as he sits on a rock. He has an apple; he hears something, and tosses it.]

Are you mad I didn't go to Black Mass with you?

[Reggie was required for an extra Mass this week, practically gripped by the ear and forced, for some infraction or another. Usually it's only once a week, all the students sitting through the ritual.]

[bragnificent]

No.

[ Reggie doesn't know if that's true or not, really, but "no" is the right answer regardless; the Academy is pretty much Nick's home, and while Reggie might prefer that to be the case for him as well, it isn't, meaning he still has somewhere to go if he ever managed to get himself expelled. Meaning, even when Nick is right there with him for the crime, Reggie is usually the one to step forward to do the time.

He doesn't mind it, really. What Nick lacks in family he makes up for in general popularity and prestige around school, so while Reggie's own popularity doesn't tend to extend to teachers, his closeness to Nick usually helps cushion the blow of any trouble he gets into. ]

Got you somethin', though.

[ Grinning a little, Reggie sits down on a stump nearby, and pulls something that looks like a pipe from his coat pocket. ]

Father Blackwood filled it and then left it behind. Wanna see what it does?

[occultatum]

[He moves to sit next to him.]

Did you steal something that belongs to the high priest?

[He says it with a measure of delight in his voice, though, so clearly he doesn't mind. He looks over at his stack of books, so interesting just a minute ago.]

But yeah.

I want to see what it does.

➤ for UNDECIDED

[bragnificent]

( from here )
[ As a rule Reggie is generally a tough person to rattle; easy to piss off, sure, but not make nervous, and though he isn't exactly nervous now, the anticipation and newness of it all makes him see it through slightly tense, "first-date" eyes.

Whenever he'd watch porn with a few of the other Bulldogs it had been very, well, nonchalant, as if it were just an extension of regular locker room horseplay, and Reggie was fine to roll with that. Like he'd said, it's not a big deal.

--And still isn't. He and Archie are friends, they're bros, and after everything else they've been through together, some fooling around isn't going to be what blows things up between them. It'll be fine.

Reggie's always kind of not-so-subtly wanted to mess around with Archie anyway, so, this might just work out, actually. He straightens up the worst of the clutter in his room to make plenty of room on the floor, bed, and most importantly in front of his TV, then once all that's done shoots Archie a quick thumbs up emoji text (👍🏽) to tell him to come over. ]

[undecided]

[The entire conversation had confused Archie. But then, he'd never exactly been just like the other Bulldogs on the team. He'd always hovered around, being a part of the team and friends with most people, but if there had been afternoons after practice spent watching porn, he definitely hadn't had an invite. And if he had, he would have wormed out of it.

Because yeah, he didn't mind watching porn with people he was attracted to and letting it lead to something else. Whether that was watching each other, or fooling around or whatever. He didn't see the point otherwise? It'd just be awkward and frustrating if it was someone you didn't want to do any of that with. So him and Reggie had a vastly different perspective, and it left Archie wondering if he was the weird one for thinking it WASN'T just no big deal.

And then Reggie wanted to meet up and try it his way so Archie was more confused. Which, if he had any sense probably meant he should have said they shouldn't. But the thing is that Reggie is good looking and Archie isn't, and never has been, great at being alone. With Ronnie and him broken up and Jug and Betty still a couple, Archie spends too much time on his own with punching bags.

So porn with his hot friend who'll probably be a lot more casual about it than Archie ever manages to be might not be the smartest idea. But it's definitely the one Archie does anyway when he gets Reggie's message.

It's going to be awkward as hell though. When you know you're just going to fool around, how long do you watch the porn for first? And if it's a bro thing, does that take making out off the table?

Maybe Archie should have asked Moose. Too late now though, since he's already at Reggie's, texting he's there in case his dads are home. When Reg lets him in, Archie smiles, rubbing at the back of his own neck briefly.] Hey. Didn't know if you had the place to yourself or not.

[bragnificent]

[ It's complicated, truly, to navigate the line between weird athlete rituals and latent-ish bisexuality, and Reggie has always been rather clumsy in his efforts even before he actually knew the latter about himself.

Sometimes he wishes he still didn't know, because it kind of complicates everything in a way Reggie's not especially equipped to analyze, including and perhaps even especially his friendship with Archie. He's always loved the guy, but not in-- or maybe a...?

Well, fuck it. He doesn't know, so Reggie determines to just do what he always does in these situations and simply refuse to overthink it. Awkwardness is at least one of those emotion states he's practically immune to feeling, so "going with the flow" seems like a perfectly reasonable strategy to him, even for this.

Reggie lets Archie in with his usual devil may care grin, leading his friend upstairs toward his room. ]

Don't worry about that-- like I ever invite people over when my parents are home.

[ Luckily his parents are often not home. He gives Archie's shoulder a playful shove. ]

Relax, bro. You're not getting cold feet on me yet, are you?