#considering the absolute ignorance not to allow digital art until I explained what a drawing tablet was

[jonathan-cranes-mistress-of-fear]

Entered a local town museum's photography contest, didn't even get honorable mention. :/ really bummed. But, didn't expect much considering it's probably family voting for family. Ya know, small town nepotism at it's finest.

Here's what I entered, these are older photos from vacations but I always really liked each one for various reasons.

[noorakardemmomesaetre]

Through the Snowfall - Chapter Three 

Or Read It On Ao3

Pairing: Betty Cooper x Jughead Jones

Summary: The Coopers and Andrews have rented the same cabin in the woods every holiday season since their kids were two years old.

And with Archie and Betty leaving for college in just a few months, Betty is determined to make this Christmas a memorable one…by telling Archie how she really feels.

What she doesn’t plan for is Archie bringing his best friend.

Or the way her gaze is suddenly lingering on the wild dark curls peeking out from beneath a crown beanie rather than the ginger spikes she’d set her sights on so long ago.

Chapter Three: Dusk

Betty is sipping the pumpkin spice latte she'd taught herself how to make last Christmas when Jughead makes his way into the kitchen. He's in sweats and a black hoodie and something about seeing him in such casual attire has a warmth pooling in the pit of Betty's stomach that she refuses to acknowledge.

He smiles at her, one of his more reserved smiles, as he reaches for the coffee pot, a soft and teasing, "goodnight Betty," leaving his lips.

It's an inside joke. Their inside joke now and Betty smiles at him over the rim of her coffee mug, murmuring a goodnight to him as well.

He tugs his bottom lip between his teeth thoughtfully as he pulls down one of the mugs and Betty's gaze falls to the strip of skin his lifted sweatshirt has revealed, olive and toned and-

Veronica clears her throat behind Jughead, raising an eyebrow at the two of them before pressing her lips together in an amused smile. "Something particularly interesting about the coffee this morning, Betty?"

Betty chokes on the sip of latte she'd just taken, blaming the heat and avoiding eye contact with either of them as she quickly moves out of the kitchen to snuggle up on the couch.

She's just gotten over the sheer embarrassment and into the chapter of the book she'd been reading on the flight over when Mary and Alice waltz into the room chatting loudly about the Snowflake Soiree. Mary tugs a blanket off the back of the couch and lays it across where Betty is curled up, winking at her when Betty mouths a genuine thank you.

"And I was explaining to Fred that you and I simply must go into town to purchase new gowns for the Soiree! We can't look out of season, Mar."

"And I'm sure Fred was completely understanding," Mary responds and her and Alice share a look before giggling.

"Betty, dear, do you know what you're wearing to the Soiree?" Mary asks, sipping from her environmentally friendly reusable water bottle.

Betty nods, closing her book with her finger marked on the page so she can tell Mary about the gown she’d chosen, but her mother takes her pause as an invitation to answer.

"Oh, Betty got her dress ages ago," Alice speaks for her with a bright smile before her eyebrows furrow and she turns her attention to her daughter. "Have you tried it on recently, Elizabeth? I'm not sure it will still fit what with cheer season ending and the way you've been eating."

"Alice," Mary chides, shooting Betty an apologetic look. Betty's cheeks are hot and she's currently praying for the patience not to scream. Could her mother be any more of a-

“Honesty really is always the best policy. Isn’t that right, Elizabeth?”

Betty fingers curl into fists threatening to break the scarred skin of her palms once more when she notices Mary’s eyebrow lift, her sights set on something just behind Betty.

Curiosity gets the better of her and she turns around to see what could have possibly caught her eye. To her surprise, she finds Archie and Veronica walking up the driveway from what must've been a morning stroll through the village together. Veronica is smiling, her hands wrapped around a thermos, and Archie is pointing to different areas around the cabin.

Probably telling her stories from when they were young.

But what surprises Betty the most is that it doesn't hurt to see them together as much as she'd thought it would.

-----------------

With only a few days left until Christmas, Betty knows it's now or never to do one of her least favorite tasks: wrapping gifts.

Scissors. Double-sided tape. Wrapping paper. Boxes. Holiday-themed bows.

Everything is laid out exactly how she wants it to be and she's already sent Veronica with Hal and Fred down to the lodge where the town will be hosting the Snowflake Soiree in order to keep her from popping into the bedroom and spoiling her gift before it's wrapped - something Veronica has become suspiciously good at since her and Betty had become close friends.

After an hour, there's a few loud bangs on the door that send Betty's palm to her pounding heart as she tries to regain her composure.

The door swings open revealing a grinning Archie and Betty considers throwing a pillow at his face.  

"Seriously, Archie, did you have to pound on the door like that?" she says with a sigh, feeling relieved that she had already wrapped the small frame with a picture of the two of them in their baby Christmas sweaters together.

He laughs and walks over to her bed, falling on his back. He's holding a baseball and he tosses it casually in the air again and again while she sets up the wrapping for the next gift.

She'd missed this. Just the two of them hanging out without so much self-inflicted pressure. She’s been so caught up in her feelings for him, perhaps she’s neglected their friendship this holiday season, she thinks.

"What'd you get me, Betty?"

"I never fall for that."

She catches his eye and they laugh, the falling baseball almost smacking him in the face.

"Remember that one year you gave me a macaroni noodle drawing of me that you made in your art class?"

She winces as she remembers the hideous arts and crafts picture and how he had stared at it for five minutes before asking his dad how he was supposed to eat it.

"That wasn't even half as bad as the year you got me a football with your own autograph on it."

"Hey, peewee football was the start of my career! That's going to be worth something someday."

They both laugh and Betty shakes her head because her friend couldn't possibly be more ridiculous. He stops tossing the ball and turns to look at her and she holds his gaze for a second before turning back to her almost-finished task.

She knows this is the moment.

The moment where she's supposed to tell him how she truly feels about him. About them.

But her heart isn't pounding and the tips of her ears aren't burning and this time alone with him doesn't feel any different than any other moment with him has before.

-----------------

It's 1:00 in the morning and once again Betty is left staring at her ceiling while Veronica sleeps peacefully in her bed. Betty had wanted to ask her what she thinks of Archie several times that night, but Veronica had avoided the subject continuously like it was the plague and Betty has a pretty good idea what she thinks of him anyways.  

She sighs, tapping her fingers against her stomach for a few seconds before the thought of sneaking downstairs and heating up a pumpkin spice pancake to eat in spite of her mother's cruel words from earlier sounds too tempting to pass up.

Slipping into her robe and slippers, she pads her way to the stairs, only stopping when she notices the hazy glow of the fireplace still being lit.

She wonders why her father or Fred didn't put out the fire before bed as she leans over the railing, but decides if they aren’t worrying about it, neither should she.

She heads into the kitchen, turning the corner and-

“Shit!”

“Fuck!”

Jughead immediately turns around, his hand mirroring Betty’s as it presses against his racing heart. They both stand there for a moment taking each other in before breaking into soft laughter.

“Sorry, Betts, did I wake you?” he asks quietly as she walks over to where he’s adding mini-marshmallows to a mug of her mother’s hot chocolate. He motions to an empty mug near the sink and she nods, deciding hot chocolate may be a better investment this late at night.

Or a better excuse to spend time with him, but she won’t begin to unpack why she’d want to do that.

“No, I couldn’t sleep.”

“Me either,” he says as he pours her a mug, adding a small spoonful of the marshmallows. She takes it from him, ignoring the tingling in the tips of her fingers as they brush his. Only the glow from the digital clock on the counter casts light between them and she feels herself looking down at her mug and smiling when she catches him staring at her.

“So, um...” he clears his throat and she lifts her gaze to meet his, the ends of her ponytail brushing against the soft cotton of her robe. “If you’re planning to stay up a little longer, I could use a pair of Ivy League eyes on something I’m writing.”

“I’m not Ivy League yet.”

“But you will be.” And the absolute certainness in his tone makes her heart dip in a way that pinkens her cheeks.

“I’d love to read what you’re writing, Jug,” she finally says and he smiles sheepishly as he runs his fingers through his hair and then motions for her to follow him with the same hand. He’s beanieless and she fights the urge to card her own fingers through his hair, to feel how soft the strands must be.

As soon as they sit down across from each other on the fancy decorative rug that came with the cabin (though Betty’s sure her mother was the one to purchase it many winters ago), he picks up his laptop and sets it on his lap as though to give her a preface before allowing her to read what he’s written.

“I’ve been working on a novel-” her eyebrows raise in an impressed way that he immediately waves off “-not like a great novel, it’s probably mediocre at best, but I’d love for you to read this paragraph and help me figure out what I’m trying to say.”

She sets the mug down and smiles assuredly at him before she takes the laptop and dives into the paragraph he’s pointed out to her. After a few seconds, she finds herself wishing she’d started from the beginning of his novel. The paragraph alone is beautifully written with sound sentence structure and a true grasp of his voice she wishes she had on her own.

“This is really good, Jug, like really.”

His hand falls to the back of his neck as he shrugs and it’s only then she notices that they’re both sitting cross-legged and their knees are touching. He doesn’t say anything or jerk his knee away though so she pretends not to have noticed and continues.

“And the word I think you’re looking for is ‘kismet.’”

She feels her heartbeat quicken when she looks up to find him watching her with such an intensity she’s not sure if she feels warm from the heat of the fire blazing beside them, or from being this close to him.

“That’s exactly the word I was looking for,” he murmurs, reaching out to take his laptop back. “'Fate or destiny.' Kind of crazy how that happens sometimes. You meet someone and it’s just...kismet.”

“Is that what happened with you and your girlfriend?” The words tumble out of her mouth without her meaning them to and she silently wishes the floor would open up and swallow her whole.

“I know this may come as a surprise to you, Cooper, what with my charming good looks and enviable intellect,” he says after chuckling at her question, his voice dripping with sarcasm before he continues, “but I have no girlfriend.”

“That does surprise me.” He lifts his gaze to meet hers once more and she finds that what’s actually surprising her is how honest she’s being about what she thinks of him. But there’s something about being alone with him that draws that from her and she wishes she knew why that is.

Or why hearing he has no girlfriend makes her tug her bottom lip between her teeth.

“So, now you know my big dark secret about writing a 'novel,'” he says with a grin, leaning forward to rest his forearms on his knees. He’s only countable inches from her now and she can see the barely noticeable few freckles speckled across his face and she finds that she wants to brush her fingers gently against each one.

Which throws her enough to completely miss what he’s said.

“I’m sorry, what?”

He laughs and slowly runs his tongue against his bottom lip before he softly repeats himself, “I asked what you do for fun?”

“Oh!” she shakes her head and giggles before setting her mug down. Normally she wouldn’t tell just anyone this, but she has a feeling Jughead isn’t the kind of guy to make a snide comment or tease her about it. He hasn’t about her college secret yet anyways. “I really enjoy working on cars with my dad.”

“Really?” It’s his turn to be impressed.

“Yeah,” she continues, looking down at her slippered feet to tug at a loose thread absentmindedly as she speaks. “My dad and I used to work on them together when I was little out in the garage. He’s more into working with my mom on the newspaper now, so lately I've been working on them by myself, but I find it to be really relaxing and quite satisfying when they start working again, you know?”

His smile is so genuine and he looks so incredibly handsome in the warmth of the fire burning behind him and -”God, I think you might be made for me.”

He closes his eyes as soon as the words leave his mouth and her breath catches.

“I mean, because- not like, I mean- my dad owns a garage back home and I-” he’s stumbling over his words and all she finds herself wanting to do is press her lips against his soft, pouted ones.

The tips of her ears are burning and time seems to stop as her heart beats millions of miles a second and just as she's leaning in-

“Jug? Betty? Why the hell are you two still up?”

The sound of Archie’s groggy voice interrupts the moment like a shotgun firing and Betty jerks away from Jughead, standing up quickly as her other best friend makes his way downstairs.

Something unfamiliar tugs on her heart and she almost misses the look in Jughead’s eyes as he glances between her and Archie, the slightest hint of a frown tugging on the corners of his mouth.

-----------------

I hope you're all enjoying this holiday season! ☃️ hearing your thoughts as the story progresses has been my absolute favorite part of this little bughead holiday journey, so let me know what you think in a comment if you'd like!