For early December, Beacon Hills was unusually cold.

Christmas break had just started, and they were all woken up by a fresh decent fall of snow that morning, which Katherine had loved. She'd spent the majority of her day sitting at her bedroom window on the floor with a cup of hot chocolate filled to the brim with marshmallows, watching the sky in case any more fell, and was a squealing childish mess when it did.

She was wearing a worn out pair of leggings, a crew-neck sweater Brett had left behind in one of the several times he'd come over to hang out and talk shit with her, as well as her favourite stripy pair of fuzzy socks to keep her feet warm as she watched the tiny flakes fall to the ground, a wide smile on her face and her phone completely forgotten on her bed.

The sound of someone thundering up the stairs snapped her attention away from the scenery at hand, and she twisted around on the floor just in time to see Mason bust through the door, dressed fully in his snow gear — just a poofy coat, hat, and boots — staring at her with narrowed eyes. "I've literally been calling you for an hour, you asshole. Get dressed and put your snow boots on; we're going on an adventure."

Katherine grinned at him and quickly changed into a pair of black skinny jeans, kept Brett's sweater on and artfully stuffed her fuzzy socks into a pair of brown boots with fluff at the top and stiff cords for laces. She quickly grabbed a hat from the table beside her bed and stuffed it, along with her phone, into the pockets of her sweater and she bounded down the stairs after mason.

"Stiles! Wake the fuck up! I'm going out with Mason!" She hollered up from the bottom of the steps, pausing patiently for a response.

"You got your phone?"

"Yes!"

" 'Kay cool! Be back by 11 or I'll call the cops on you!"

"Hardy har har, asshole! I'll call Dad on you for being stupid!" She yelled back.

"Dad is the cops are you dumb?"

"Yes, I'm aware that Dad is the cops, Stiles!" She huffed, then shouldered the front door open and slammed it shut behind them.

Corey was waiting outside dressed similarly to Mason, and she gave him a great big hug the minute she saw him. "We're meeting Liam and Hayden there, and then I asked Brett if he'd want to come too and he said he'd meet us on the way," Mason announced as she was set down on the ground, and she just nodded. He seemed to read her mild twitch of a frown all too well. "That okay, Kat?"

"Yeah, for sure," she smiled faintly at them rubbing her palms together.

She talked to Brett a whole lot more often than she ever wanted to admit out loud, which Mason of course knew about, and it made her happier than she'd ever expected it to. True to his word he hadn't asked her out again but was still as gentlemanly as ever; buying her a Doug the Dog stuffie from Up on Amazon and spraying it with his cologne because well, they didn't have any wolves, so— and then giving it to her when she finally was allowed to walk without crutches, giving her a sweater when she'd decided she wanted to go swimming in the middle of November, and then froze her ass off.

Just thinking about wandering home from the beach in a bikini and his sweater while he wandered beside her completely fine and laughing at her made her grin. Truthfully, since Liam and Mason were both busy with their significant others which wasn't anyone's fault, Brett had easily become one of her favourite people to spend time with.

Her cheeks were already numb and as they wandered through the streets of Beacon Hills, she could feel the snow sticking to her hair and eye lashes and the cold was seeping into her hands so much that she begged one of them for a piggy back, and succeeded. She hopped onto Mason's back as they wandered off the road and into the woods.

The woods looked more peaceful than eerie under the thin blanket of snow. Even if it barely covered the soles of her boots, she was more than thrilled. Each tree and bush and rocky formation was covered a thin layer of fine white power and held a magical glow that she absolutely adored.

It was like she was like she was living in some kind of fantastical world where fairies and mermaids and angels were real; not just the things of nightmares.

She let out a loud shriek as Corey dropped her on her put in a particularly deep bank of snow and sauntered over to a couple walking towards them from the opposite direction, hand in hand wearing matching smiles.

Katherine picked Liam out easily; his blonde hair slightly long and floppy, crooked grin, a thin hoodie and dark jeans. Hayden was with him — obviously — and was dressed similarly to the way she herself was, though she was wearing sneakers instead of boots.

As a werewolf, she didn't need to worry about slipping on ice.

She just sat in the snow and pouted at Corey as him and Mason stopped to talk, and she only allowed her dramatic expression to fall when Liam wandered over to her after just a couple seconds and offered her his hands. "Thank you, at least one of us is a gentleman!" She yelled, earning herself an eyeroll from Corey that made the rest of them laugh.

She dusted herself off so the snow wouldn't melt and get her wet, and looked up at him with a massive grin that he seemed surprised about. "You look all jolly and cheerful," he commented with a small laugh as the five of them started walking again.

"I am," Katherine hummed, creating a bowl with her hands and blowing hot air into them so they'd warm up just a little bit. "Winter's the fucking best, dude."

Liam stuffed his hands in the pockets of his pants and smiled over at her. "You think so?"

"Oh absolutely." She blew a flurry of snowflakes out of her eyebrows. "Did you know that snow dampens sound? That's why I love it so much; because everything goes all quiet and it feels like time kind of stops, even if it's just for a little bit. It's great for when you're having a panic attack, too. To be surrounded by such complete and utter silence...it's amazing."

"I didn't know that," he chuckled, though he was looking at her differently than he usually did. His eyes were wide and bright, though she supposed it was due to light being reflected off the snow, lips parted slightly, and he was giving her every ounce of his attention.

He was looking at her the way he had when she'd been all dressed up and invited him to a party back in freshman year because it was his first full moon, even if he didn't know it yet.

"What," she asked slowly, feeling herself grow self conscious because what the fuck, bro, cut that shit out.

Liam kept staring at her for a moment, only blinking out of it when Hayden laughed at something Mason had said a little ways ahead of them. "Nothing, just — you'll get sick if you keep letting the snow melt in your hair like that."

"Oh shit, you're right!"

She dug her hat out from her pocket, but when she glanced at him again, his cheeks were flushed, though she was guessing it was from the cold, and he kept glancing back at her as they continued on.

The moment she saw a figure emerge from the woos, dressed in a dark shirt and pants with just a red and white flannel hanging loosely over his torso, she was grinning and waving frantically to get his attention. Brett smiled back at her and opened his arms, which made her smile only widen, and she carefully ran up to him and threw her arms around his neck.

He caught her easily and spun them both around, because he was definitely more graceful than she was, and then set her back down on the ground while keeping a hand on her shoulder, and they waited for the others to catch up.

As they got closet, Katherine could see that Liam was holding Hayden's hand again, though he didn't look overly happy. He was facing them with his lips rolled inwards, as if trying to keep from frowning, his neck was strained and free hand clenched slightly at his side. Under normal circumstances Katherine would say he looked angry, or jealous.

But he was watching her, so he couldn't be.

Right?

A/N: fuck it. I miss you guys and seeing your comments when I'm sad.

Welcome to the beginning of the end, my nerds 💞💞💞

also for those of you who need the serotonin boost, imagine a tiny lil 3 pound black and white kitten with the sniffles who's sneezes sound like air hella slowly sneaking out of a balloon

^^^coz thats currently Hershey
alsoalso idk if I'm gonna keep doing the outfits coz a lot of you guys don't seem to like them and find your own soooooooooooo 🤷🏻‍♀️