Work Text:
Jughead doesn't connect with photography like he connects with words.
With words, it just easily flows out of his fingers to the expanse of the keyboard or the typewriter (which he now usually uses).
Words are his friends, his family, words string themselves into his mind to form this 'incredible piece of masterwork no one can ever ignore', Betty's words, not his'.
He can relate to words in any way and he finds meaning in it down to its deepest bottomless pit.
But with pictures, he just can't. He found it just that, pictures; with colors and its subject. It's a lifeless form of what once a very full of life version of its subject. No matter what the subjects are in the picture, he just can't find the emotion people said they relate to, he can't find any meaning no matter how long he looks at it, he can't capture the emotion he badly wants to capture.
For him, whenever he takes a picture, it's just it, picture, a meaningless at that.
So no, he doesn't like taking pictures because he sucks at it.
And now he's confused, totally irritated and offended when Kevin, Riverdale High's very own director of every theater performance that had happened from last year, hands him a black video recorder one day while working on an article at the Blue and Gold.
If possible, Jughead slouches and frowns even more.
"What am I gonna do with this?"
He looks at the video recorder and shakes it a bit then opens it to see if it's working only to close it again.
"Oh I don't know, eat it"
Kevin shruggs as he makes his way to his table and begins typing his gossip article for the day.
"No shit. Sarcasm doesn't suit you Keller, drop it"
"Yeah right because you own that title Jughead 'I am so sarcastic I can kill you with my sardonic humor' Jones"
"Haha. Then you may take this back"
He puts the recorder on the edge of his table and begins typing again.
Kevin sighs and stops scanning the papers he is reading, "Look Jughead, what are you supposed to do with a recorder? Of course, record the Carrie musical I'm gonna be directing. DUH"
"Well, take it back because I'm not the guy for that"
Kevin whistles but doesn't even budge from his seat.
"You know, Betty is just so elated when she requested you to me"
Jughead sighs and gives Kevin one of his famous glares, if not for Kevin being Kevin, he will definitely run for his money. He gets the recorder back.
"You're just baiting me, aren't you?"
"Betty may have said a one or two about you turning her on as a photographer"
Jughead gulps and utters from his gritted teeth, "Betty's not like that"
"Oh but you know, it's always the quiet ones and you of all people should know that"
"And why am I of all people should do this?"
Kevin closes his laptop and stops the pretention of actually working on his article than persuading the frowning boy in front of him.
"For three reasons"
"Convince me"
"Because first, you are always that tech guy-"
"I am but not this kind of thing-"
"Second," Kevin continues like he's not just interrupted "You don't want to sing and dance. I respect that Jughead, I don't want to ruin your reputation"
"Well thank you for remembering my rights" Jughead rolls his eyes but still not convinced.
"And lastly, for your friend Toni-"
"Yeah about that, why isn't Toni doing this shit? Because as far as I am concerned, she's the photographer of Blue and Gold and she SHOULD be the one doing this"
"Well, love happens"
Kevin lets out an exasperated sigh when Jughead doesn't respond and just looks at him like he just told him Betty is an actual angel.
"You know Jug, you should lessen the time you're with Archie, I swear you're adapting his brain cells"
"... Okay"
Kevin closes his eyes and prays to anyone from above to give him more patience to deal with this guy before he kills him.
"For fucks sake Jug, your friend's in love okay?"
"Huh? With whom?"
"Are you kidding me?! Can't you see those lingering glances they share with each other? Or are you busy staring at Betty?"
"Maybe I am. But who's it because I won't be asking if I did know who the person is"
"Duh. Cheryl Blossom. Carrie White. That ginger queen who struts like she owns this place"
"Oh that's why I saw them yerterday. So Toni can participate? I thought you said characters have been casted already"
"Well duh, because she is a total performer and I have a character that just fits for her. And I'm very happy with that since as you can very well observe, I am the gay leader here so I support my gay queens of course. So if Toni wants to support her girlfriend and be with her, just stare at her during the practice and even though they are disgustingly in love with each other and-"
"You're jealous yeah. Just be with Fangs already, Betty and I have this deal so just be together. We're tired with the sexual tension whenever you're in the same room"
Kevin sputters uninteligible noise and tries to cough out to hide his blushing face.
"This isn't about me. This is about you being dramatic. Just take that thing already, performance starts tomorrow"
"I am still not convinced"
Kevin narrows his eyes and has this tight lipped smile already as he claps his hands on the table.
Talking with Jughead sure does take the energy out of him, how can Betty do this? Now he regrets his initial plan of sending Betty instead, it'll probably just take Betty 5 seconds and a bat of an eyelash and this guy will take the job already with probably a soft smile on his face because damn this guy is just that whipped for that girl.
"Look Jug, what's got you work up anyway? Why won't you do it? You had a fight with Betty? You're breaking up again?"
"No. And why do you, Arch and Ronnie always ask us that question? We didn't break up hundred times you know"
"So why don't you want to do this? Because usually, you're always volunteering yourself to be that tech guy"
"Yeah but not this kind of guy"
"So why?"
"Because I don't think I can do it"
Kevin furrows his eyebrows and tilts his head, not still getting Jughead's concern.
"What? You can't push that red button and pan the recorder to whatever is happening?"
Once Kevin put it that way, Jughead's embarassed. Jughead scratches his nape.
"Well-"
"Jug, you're not going to write a novel for this... or is that your problem? You want to write a novel, because if you want, then okay"
"Goodness no, why do you always assume I always write a novel?"
"Aren't you?"
"NO!"
"THEN WHY CAN'T YOU DO THIS?"
"BECAUSE I'M NOT GOOD AT THIS!"
"WHY ARE WE EVEN SHOUTING?"
"I DON'T KNOW"
Kevin releases a sigh and slouches to his seat.
"Jughead, if you really don't want this then okay I can respect that but please tell me why"
"Because I'm not good at taking pictures"
"Well, we're talking about a video here"
"And a video's moving pictures"
"And so? What's the difference"
"There's no difference. It's just that I can't capture the emotion okay? Maybe because I've always hide my feelings but I don't know, I always get this meaningless result on whatever I took. It's pointless"
"Jug, you're just going to record it, the video itself will tell the whole story to the audience"
"NO. That's the point you see. If I can't capture a certain emotion, then what are they going to tell? There will be no story in it. The audience won't relate to it. It will just be lifeless moving pictures, it will be meaningless Kevin. I'll destroy this for you"
Kevin doesn't know how to save Jughead from this misery, Kevin may be overdramatic but he's not actually this deep. Kevin stands up and pulls out a chair to sit in front of Jughead.
"You won't, okay? Maybe it's just you who doesn't see the emotion but other people can"
"If I, who took the picture, can't see it, how will I pass that emotion? This is just hopeless"
Kevin is going to say something when the bell rings.
"Look Jug, just talk to Betty about this but the offer still stands and you can have this for a while, you know, get to know each other"
Later that day, when Jughead and Betty remain in the Blue and Gold to finish their articles, Jughead begins tinkering on the recorder and pans it to Betty's direction.
Betty immediately notices it and looks at his way with a big smile etched on her face, and from the small screen attached Jughead can see how beautiful Betty is.
"Stop recording me"
Jughead stands up and zooms it in and out on Betty's face.
"Stop it"
Betty giggles, rolling her eyes playfully and covering her face.
"Hey no, you're so beautiful. Stop covering you face please"
Jughead gets her hands away from her face and kisses her palms before putting it down intertwined on the table.
"Then stop that"
"Can't I record your gorgeous face?"
Betty rolls her eyes, "There's nothing special with my face so stop it"
"Everything is special about you. I love you" "I love you too"
Betty leans forward and gives him the softest of kisses
"Kevin told me what happened earlier"
Jughead stops the recording and places it down on the table. He sits beside Betty.
"Betts, you know, eversince we started dating, I wanted to be a photographer, you know"
"But I thought Kevin-"
"Yeah. I suck at it that's but that doesn't mean I wanted it. I mean I want it so that I can take a picture of you"
Jughead softly says as he caresses Betty's face. Betty smiles and leans on his hand.
"Juggie, you can take a picture of me even though you're not a professional photographer"
"But with this kind of beauty, I can't bring justice to it, it takes an expert to handle your beauty properly. I mean I can't even convey an emotion, how about conveying this pureness and beauty then?"
"Oh Jug, then ask Toni to teach you"
"But what if it's just me who has the problem? Because I'm that loner kid from the wrong side of the tracks?"
"Of course not Jug, you're you. You don't give up on it especially if you wanted it"
"Yeah but what if-"
"How about this, take my phone then take a picture of me, let's see what happens"
Betty hands him the phone and even before Betty has the time to do something, Jughead pushes the button.
"Done"
Jughead hands him back the phone with her photo and if Betty would be frank, Jughead's right. There's no emotion in it, for fucks sake it's also blurred. But of course, Betty will not do that to her Juggie.
"I suck, aren't I?"
"O-of course not Jug-"
"Your face says it"
Jughead can read her well. He knows when she's lying and when she has problems. He just knows it. He connects to her to that level.
When Betty becomes silent for a minute, Jughead is beginning to stand up to return to his seat but Betty halts him.
"I'm hopeless"
"Jug, you just need some practice"
"I don't know. I just had this thought, what if I am photographer, you will be my muse of course, we can take many adventures as we want and then I'll take a picture of you, every angle, the way I can capture who you are and what I feel for you and I'll be able to keep it and if we're old and if I can't remember some of those adventures anymore, those pictures will remind me that you will always be that one for me. That I will always be in love with you. And I don't know, it's weird that I'm imagining tha-"
"Juggie, it's not. It's beautiful and sweet, just like you. Okay, what if you try again? This time, imagine what you feel at the moment for the subject, for me, and then pour it all on the picture, maybe it'll reflect there yeah?"
"I don't know..."
"Just try it. And don't rush on it"
When Jughead has the phone, unlike earlier he doesn't capture it yet, he looks at Betty and thinks of all his memories with her and tries to pour out what he feels for her in that single moment of her just writing on her table silently, her beauty standing out from the stacks of paper around her. Just her.
When he clicks the button, he doesn't give it to Betty yet, he looks at it and he feels tears almost coming out from his eyes.
"What is it Juggie?"
"This is it Betty. The emotion I'm looking for. I captured it"
"Really? You got it?"
"Yes"
Jughead looks at the picture again and feels one emotion. Love.
If Jughead happened to just pass by the picture, he'd think that the photographer is in love with the subject. And he is. He captures it well, what he feels for her. And he didn't need to be a professional photographer, he just needs to pour out his heart's content for the subject; and maybe that's one of the secrets of being a good photographer.
"Oh Juggie, it's a beautiful picture"
"Because the subject is beautiful. And I'm in love with you Betty"
"Juggie... I'm in love with you too"
After sharing a passionate kiss, Betty kisses his forehead and whispers, "Tell Kevin that you will accept it"
"Of course. Thank you for helping me"
"It's all you Juggie. It's all you"
"But thank you for stopping me hide my emotions"
When Kevin saw the video of Betty and Jughead at the Blue and Gold 2 weeks later when Jughead returned the recorder to him, he may have not deleted it and put it on usb. Because after all, he is a bughead shipper and he just feels how in love the people in the video are.