#HOW DID U PLUCK HER OUT OF MY HEAD LIKE THAT | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

floralscented · 2 months ago

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THE REAPERㅤㅤ—ㅤㅤEVENT OF THE FUCKIN' CENTURY.

THE REAPER disappeared off the face of the planet in the 20th century. SOLDIER BOY is the only one who holds the answers. A WAITING GAME ensues to see which, if either, makes it out of the depths of the unknown first.

includes, they're gay ㅤㅤㅤ u get to meet the side characters < 3 ㅤㅤㅤ idk i think that's it IT'S MILD. COMPARED TO WAHT COMES NEXT

word count : 3.6k

notes, my monthy fic update is done time to drop off the face of the planet again for 2384590438 years PERDFKLSLJ sry for edging aftercare for so long i'm just a girl whose interests change like the weather

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤprev part!ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤmasterpost!ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤnext part!

04.

COLE WAS NOT wearing his fucking glasses and that was final. The Vought stylist brought them in underneath a silver platter like he was supposed to be excited for the reveal of glasses that would help his failing eyesight. As if that was something he would ever be excited for. The rest of his life, watching it fail despite the rest of his body healing fine, all because his powers just did that? Going blind because his powers just did that?

The only reason he did not tell Allie to get fucked was because she was the messenger. He didn’t shoot messengers. He just shot the sender twice.

“They’re really not so bad, Reaper,” she said in that soft voice of hers, tucking her hair behind one of her ears, fingers catching on the temples of the Vought Exclusive glasses she’d tried on. She was a sweetheart, really. Cole couldn’t believe he thought about shooting her.

Couldn’t believe a lot of the shit in his head, if he thought about it. So he didn’t.

“You try having your eyes failing on you, then tell me they’re ‘not so bad’,” he grumbles furiously, staring at his reflection in the large, golden framed mirror in one of Vought-American’s special dressing rooms on the upper floors. Cole meets Allie’s eyes in the reflection of the glass. “Oh. Fuck. Sorry.”

She plucks his glasses off of her face, and unfolds hers from being tucked into the neckline of her peplum dress, sliding them into her face. “Should switch you and Obsidian’s suits for that. Inconvenience the both of you.”

“Hey, he’s innocent in all of this, alright?” Cole laughs, a sound he doesn’t often do. Too locked up in his head, where it’s all dark and fucky. A pause. “Obsidian’s coming?”

“Rumor has it,” Allie singsongs in response, coming up behind Cole to smooth out the skin tight leather of his outfit. He’s beginning to think she has a thing for him. He’s beginning to think he needs a new damn stylist — or whatever she was. “They want to show unity, between the Six, now that Soldier Boy—”

Oh, fucking kill him.

“Yeah, yeah, no need to stroke his ego while he’s not here to get off on it,” he grumbled all over again, waving his hand in dismissive irritation. “God forbid he know they threw a fucking Gala for his safe return. As if he can die. As if I haven’t tried—”

Allie beams at him in the mirror, like he’s a spectacle. “Sorry,” she splutters when he catches her, head falling, “it’s just— I’m an intern, so I don’t get to see the likes of you all very often and— it’s real?”

Opportunities fall into his bored hands sometimes. Cole glances down at himself in his latex supersuit, then flicks his eyes back up to her. “Yeah. All real.”

Hates himself instantly. Has never, not once, felt so much like Ben in his life.

“No!” she splutters all over again, her fist punching out to hit him in the arm. “The rivalries. The drama. I thought it was just publicity.”

Cole knew that, by the way. He’s just falling victim, like the rest of America currently, based on the newspaper headlines, to the influence of Soldier Boy. Get him out of here.

Still, he puts on his media trained smile and nods once. “A lot of it’s just for show.” He talks himself out of trying to kill Soldier Boy twice an hour. “All in good fun.” He knows how he’d do it, too. “Gotta keep people watching, y’know?” Ben not included. Because Cole wanted to burn his eyes out and make his stupid head explode.

Cole claps his hands together, turning his head to the door. Still closed, no sign of Legend yet, coming to collect him and the others. “Well, Allie. Go check for me that The Legend hasn’t croaked yet, yeah? He’s late again.”

Allie, seemingly having been waiting for an order, jumps into action like a robot. Cole felt a wash of relief the moment that she was out of the room.

He didn’t hesitate to glance at the vanity counter that she’d left his glasses on, shooting the brightest beam of light at them to try and shatter them. No avail. Worth a shot, though.

His door cracks open, and he first hears it in the sounds that come before the actual movement. Heavy stomping footsteps, an even heavier sigh.

Cole expects Legend. Has an irritable teasing remark on the tip of his tongue.

It’s Ben.

“Just wanted to see if this was killin’ you yet, princess,” Ben hums, cigar hanging out of his mouth, hair styled flat and gelled against his scalp. “Having to celebrate me tonight.”

“I’m not celebrating shit,” Cole says through a scoff, running his fingers through his hair. He really should start putting an effort into his appearance, shouldn’t he? Can’t just bank on being the one of the Six everyone’s afraid to cross. “There’s free wine. I’m goin’ for free wine.”

“Don’t be like that,” Ben puffs an exhale of cigar smoke into the dressing room, making it smell like leather and tobacco at once. “You owe me a bit of fucking respect after the display yesterday.”

Cole’s eye starts twitching, like it always does when Ben opens his mouth and tries to reprimand him for not kissing his ass. “Yeah. Alright.”

He expects Ben to hound him a bit more, just to really solidify how much his feelings were hurt by specifically Cole’s unhappiness about his return. They’ve played this stupid game enough that Cole can predict every single one of Ben’s steps and still goes easy on him.

Instead, there’s the telltale scrape of heavy, solid metal on hardwood, and he only has time to blink before the whistle of something flying through the room overtakes any other sound. Ben’s shield.

Cole doesn’t have time to physically defend himself, or even react, before the edge of it slams into his abdomen and shoves him against the wall. Against the wall, into the wall — what was the difference? Drywall cracks behind his spine, and there’s a split second of blearing pain behind his eyes before his blood’s already sending its defenses to heal it.

“What the fuck?” Cole shouts, his boot kicking at the titanium steel and trying to shove it off of his leg where it’d fallen. Expectedly, he can’t move it.

Expectedly, he’s getting pissy. First they want him to make a grand debut next to Soldier Boy in fucking glasses — to prove that Soldier Boy is the strongest in his time of praise, he guessed, or maybe just so he could see. Either way made his blood turn to fire and ash. Then this—

“I have to go to a gala dedicated to me with a fucking hole in my chest,” Ben snarls, his booming voice echoing throughout the small dressing room. “Do you know how patronizing that is?”

“I didn’t know you knew what that word meant,” Cole says, mostly to himself, “been reading the Daily Tribune? Doing the crosswords?”

“I will fucking kill you one day, Reaper,” he responds through his gritted teeth, his own boots stomping on the ground as he goes to retrieve his shield, “and there won’t be a goddamn person to mourn you, and not a person to reap you either.”

Anger flares through him like a lit match. It’d been a minute, and it’s rusty at best, but he gives in to the dark. The shadows cast behind the vanity, the darker ones beneath the soft, maroon couch in the middle of the room.

He thinks it, and they finally, finally fall silent for a second, obeying the command in his head and curl into a wispy black hand around Ben’s throat.

“Nice trick,” Ben rasps through his strained throat, his twitching lips betraying the calm facade he wears like a mask, “gonna dim the light now?”

Finish it. He doesn’t. Finish him. He won’t. “Maybe the one in your eyes.”

“You wish.”

You wish, you wish, you wish. Fuck, he did wish.

It’s always like this when he gives in to the shadows. Their voices quiet when he reaches out to them, and then they’re loud, pounding in his skull.

He’s gotten used to pushing them away, though, Even when it makes his limbs feel too big for his skin, denying something so innate within him.

Cole holds the grip on Ben’s throat a second longer before he wills the shadows into bleary black smoke again. Ben’s hand comes up to rub at the reddened mark on his skin, his eyes ablaze with fire.

Ben’s hands shoot out before Cole can blink, strong fingers grabbing Cole by the nylon of his supersuit, They drag him in until they’re nose to nose, hot angry breath splaying on his face in puffs.

A blink, and Cole thinks he might hit him. A blink, and he’s certain he will, already preparing to have to pop his nose into place again, crack his jaw on track again.

He kisses him.

It’s bruising. teeth clashing into teeth, hard enough to send them both back into the wall behind Cole. Cole is too shocked to do anything, at first, except for let him, even as it felt like ice water being poured directly over his head, turning everything to ice.

Finally, he returns to his senses, and he shoves Ben back with his hands on his chest. Ben’s hands only curl tighter into the nylon fabric. “What the fuck, Ben?”

Ben’s chest heaves, heavy breaths leaving his parted lips. He says nothing in his defense, not a single word, but his eyes falling to Cole’s mouth says a thousand of them. One second, they’re staring at each other. The next second, Cole isn’t sure who moves first; him, or Ben. Ben, whose hands drag him back in by his grip on his shirt. Cole, who lifted his hands to grasp at Ben’s face, holding him in place so he couldn’t break free again.

It wasn’t romantic by any means. It was entirely lust and anger driving their mouths together. Ben pushes him back against the wall and the cracked drywall behind them, using his grip on Cole’s suit to lift him easily.

The skin tight fabric of their supersuits leaves little to the imagination about how this was affecting them, which does nothing but make Cole groan into Ben’s open mouth.

Ben shoves him harder into the wall, his voice a low, warning omen on his lips. “Shut the fuck up.”

For once in his entire life, Cole listens to him. He’d deny it until he died, though.

Ben’s knee knocks roughly against Cole’s, forcing him to spread them wider, and once Cole obliges, he presses himself deeper between them. Ben’s tongue swipes across Cole’s bottom lip until it opens, invading his mouth with force, just as he invades everything.

That thought alone has Cole shoving him off of him until Ben’s spine collides with the vanity, stumbling after him to sink his fingers in the waistband of Ben’s pants, pulling his hips closer but still keeping him pinned to the vanity.

Ben’s pupils are blown, eyes glazing as he stares into Cole’s. He leans in, teeth clamping around Cole’s bottom lip and drags it backwards until it pops back against his teeth.

“Hey, Reap,” a voice — Obsidian’s, he realizes — calls from the other side of the door, and Ben jerks back so quickly that his teeth bite into Cole’s lip. Cole’s eyes flare at the blood that draws to the surface of the skin, his eyes already flaring— “They’re about to announce us downstairs in the Plaza.”

The gold in Cole’s eyes dies down, but his heart still rests firmly in his throat; can feel it when he swallows. Ben’s teeth are clenched tightly, his jaw flexing in the process.

“Alright,” Cole calls back through the door, his voice strained and thick. “I’ll be down.”

“Right. Tell Soldier Boy, too, if y’see him.” Yeah. Cole saw him, alright. Ben’s eyes dare him to say something about it. “His own party and he’s M.I.A.”

Cole’s lips twitch. Ben’s eyes darken.

Obsidian’s footsteps echo down the hallway outside before Cole can say anything, though, and weighted seconds pass where neither Cole or Ben move. One crowded against a desk, the other crowding him.

Ben shoves past him once Cole’s mouth opens, the altered reality they’d found themselves in shattering around them. His shoulder knocks hard into Cole’s on his way out.

The door slams behind him, rattling in the frame against the hinges, leaving Cole to bear the weight of it all on his shoulders.

—

Downstairs, the rich and the influential sit at circular tables in the ballroom of the Plaza, dressed to the nines and muttering amongst themselves. Golden lights hang over each table, illuminating the tablecloth and their glittering wine and champagne glasses. The stage at the very back of the ballroom is the brightest; stage lights drown it in glowing white, a podium in the center and three chairs to right of it, an open space on the left.

“Hope you plan on dimming that,” Obsidian says from somewhere in the shadows over Cole’s shoulders. Sebastian Orville looks surprisingly steady on his feet and comfortable in this crowded setting for someone who hasn’t left his house in three months, minimum. Cole supposed three months was enough time to get his gravity shit in control, if anything.

His eyes are as stormy as ever, though, when Cole glances over his shoulder to look at him. Constantly shifting swirls of black and gray, so at odds with the rest of him. Messy curtains of sandy brown hair falling in his face, tan skin, strong jaw. He’s the most boyish of the Six’s men, in a way, and somehow one of the least human in what he does.

“How are you here?” Cole asks incredulously, scanning his form for any indication of what is possibly keeping him from sending every glass, every table, every person, from slamming into the ceiling.

His lips twitch, but before he can answer, Klara, Liberty, says in a false whisper, “they’ve got him shackled.”

Sebastian’s smile is wide and genuine for someone who’s housebound, and more than likely one with furniture floating around it like bubbles. He raises his folded hands up, sleeves falling down his elbows and revealing solid black shackles. “I am being very polite today.”

“Go on, let ‘im see how you walk,” Steven, Stratostorm, nudges him forward by the elbow. “He was shufflin’ around all over the lobby. Y’Shoulda been there.”

Cole would have rather ended his life than be around these idiots for longer than he has to now. “Yeah. Should’ve.” It was the alternative, though, to making out with Ben Anderson in his dressing room. Every single option felt like a fever dream.

Joanne, the youngest of them all, is silent, though Cole doesn’t need his stupid glasses to know why. Bloody Mary is a terror to most, the goddamn poster child for Vought Guard Dog in the same way that Soldier Boy is Vought’s special snowflake.

Obsidian and Stratostorm are still chatting in loud whispers behind Cole, with the occasional chime-in from Liberty. Still, though, there’s no sign of the man of the hour, and Cole can’t help but wonder if he ditched — and if somehow, he’s gonna find a way to flip the blame onto him.

Legend walks onto the stage, and the room’s buzz of chatter dies into soft murmurs of intrigue and interest. Here’s the man who manages the Six’s shit — or really just covers their asses. To these people, though, he must seem like a god instead of just a glorified public relations manager and string puller.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” he starts into the rectangular microphone braced on the podium, “it is with great honor to announce to you the safe return of our Soldier Boy, and along with him, the end of the war.”

The room erupts into applause. Cole’s already bored, having heard variations of this speech in mindless gossip around the city and straight from the war-ender himself. “It’s another great honor to announce the attendance of the Six with us tonight—” A bright white spotlight bursts above them, illuminating the five of them, drawing the attention of every pampered head in the room. “All here to celebrate the re-arrival of leader Soldier Boy.”

Cole wanted to tell him that Soldier Boy couldn’t lead a duck to water, but whatever. He didn’t care that much. He cared more about the notable absence of Soldier Boy, knowing that the man wouldn’t ever miss an opportunity to hear about his accomplishments. His skin is crawling with unease over the unknowns that keep building up.

“Dim that shit,” Obsidian says again under his breath, “I haven’t seen the light of day in months. I’m going to fucking burst.”

Cole’s eyes roll. Not that he was listening to Legend rattle on about the united front that was supposed to be the Six — checkmate to Allie for having guessed that part of this speech right — but he was a little preoccupied trying to find someone. Someone who he’d made out with in his dressing room. Fuck.

Still, he glances up into the light, used to the way bright things burn his retinas at this point, as he turns the brightness down a few notches. Murmurs erupt in an undercurrent of sound beneath Legend’s speech. Cole doesn’t bother listening in to hear what they might be saying.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Legend says suddenly to an equally silent ballroom, “Soldier Boy.”

The answer to Ben’s initial question when he’d walked into Cole’s dressing room was, yes, this was killing him. Celebrating someone that he hated and that hated him was a great feat. Still, he can’t deny the rush of relief that floods his veins at the fact that Soldier Boy was up there, even if it meant that the room was deafening with their equal relief.

Klara leads the five of them around the back wall while they’re all distracted by whatever the hell Ben is saying — war talk, Cole imagines, or whatever war stories Ben can conjure up to make him look like God’s greatest gift.

The open space on the right of the stage was for them. To stand and be gawked at like zoo animals. Cole was already counting the seconds to when he could leave and slam a dirty martini or twelve.

“Now would be a good time,” Joanne whispers without moving her mouth much, her words slurring through her razor sharp teeth, “to unshackle Obsidian.”

A rare joke — rare words — from her. Cole can’t help but quirk a smile. She’s too young to be reduced to silence like she’s been. It wasn’t her fault people were scared of her.

“Strato’s got the key.” Obsidian jerks his head slightly in Stratostorm’s direction.

Stratostorm is less subtle with his reactions, head swiveling back and forth between the two of them, before his eyes land on Cole. He thinks, at least. The visor over his eyes makes it hard to tell. “I do not have the key.”

“What?” Obsidian splutters out, clearing his throat to try and cover it when the sound echoes off of the walls of the stage. Cole can’t help the burst of laughter that breaks free from his throat. Obsidian’s chains rattle in his outrage, bound wrists flailing at his waist, out of sight. “You fucking promised you wouldn’t lose it, you said—”

Their argument falls to the backburner of Cole’s mind, though, because his eyes make their way over to Ben at the podium, only to find him already looking at him on his strut to join them. Legend’s taking the podium again.

Ben settles next to Cole, arms deliberately not touching. Cole’s eyes dance to the ceiling, asking gods that long abandoned them for some strength. Then at the spotlights, dimming them, too — the last thing he wants is more attention on him than necessary while his face is red hot.

“What happened in—”

“Didn’t fucking happen,” Cole cuts him off, eyes straight ahead still, jaw ticking. “Don't Need your orders. Already got it.”

“Good.”

The rest of their time onstage, Cole doesn’t remember. He’s sure he blacked out in his efforts to ignore Ben right next to him— the heat of his body rolling off in waves. At some point, they were dismissed, and Cole went straight to the first server he saw, taking two martinis off of his tray without a second thought.

What he really needed was a cigarette. He gave himself ten minutes, though, before he excused himself from whatever useless conversation the equally useless politician had dragged him into. He really fucking hated these things.

Ben catches up to him before he can push open the exit door behind the stage, hoping for some semblance of illusion of privacy. Cole bristles, his fists clenching at his sides. “Don’t,” Ben grits out, his face unreadable and brutish at once.

“Fuck you, Ben,” he spits out, his eyes rolling instantly as if it was just second nature, dismissing any and every word out of his mouth, “I’m actually, physically and mentally, sick of your shit tod—”

“Can you shut the fuck up and listen for a second?” Ben snaps, eyes locked onto Cole’s and haunted. The sight of it is the only thing that snaps his mouth shut. “I’m being fucking serious. Don’t go out there.”

Cole has no other choice than to bite. “Why?”

“Obsidian’s dead.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤFEEDBACK & REBLOGS ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤGREATLY APPRECIATED!

tags: @jasvtsc @depressionbarbie2023 @deanswidow @titsout4nicholas (idk who else to tag the day i'm BLANKING i make a taglist is the day i'll see heaven)

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empheralnyx · 30 days ago

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“Say cheese!”

a childhood photo of w and my mc as children 😢 @childrenofcain-if yap session under cut

when I tell u I wanted to tear the hair out of my head pluck my eyeballs and smash my head into a brick wall while making this, that wouldn’t have been a lie!

the tears flooded my eyes and dripped on my drawing pad as I was drawing my mc…gyatt damn why is bro so hard to draw 🤬🤬🤬🤬

OKIE LEMME TELL U ALL ABOUT THE INTRICATE DETAILS IN THIS BEAUTIFUL PEICE OF ART 🥺 (I say while looking at this in disgust)

first off, yes, mc mom is the one taking this picture. :3 W and mc having matching outfits cuz I say so 😒 and yes mc did put clips in w hair. doesn’t w look so bonita 🥺🥺 (say yes or else.) also, my mc is shorter than w by like…a lot…but I made her taller because as a child she was pretty taller then other kids. That stopped though. (she’s still riding the high from that)

also I tried to make w look skinny and wear more oversized shirts and stuff. I didn’t know whether their ed :( started as a child or more when they became teenagers, so I still gave them chubby cheeks

also erm time lapse…I was really going through the trenches with this one

(how tf is this 3 minutes long 😭)

#today is w day #anyway…#interactive fiction #series: children of cain #if: the ballad of the young gods

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shes4twnksinatrnchct · 24 days ago

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Hell of a Show

Jake Kiszka x fem oc

Fifteen years after resigning from Greta Van Fleet, for reasons undisclosed to the public, Coley Payne is asked by her former band members to tell her side of the story.

Words: 6.1k

Warnings: 18+ MINORS DNI, explicit language, angst, first love, alcohol abuse, mental health struggles, mentions of cheating, arguing

Thank you guys so much for the patience for this next chapter. These last few weeks have been difficult for me, but getting to write and share it with you guys helps immensely. Thank you for your continued support, I appreciate it so much!

Please keep in mind this is a work of fiction and enjoy!

TAG LIST: @takenbythemadness , @fleetingjake , @zooweemama555 , @lizzys-sunflower , @edgingthedarkness , @hollyco

***LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT TO BE TAGGED***

***Table of Contents***

The Rise: Part II

SAMMY: We’d take these trips to Yankee Springs in the winter every year—our family, family friends, and practically anybody who wanted to join in—and we’d just play music all weekend around a fire or in the cabins, or by the lake…we’d lose track of time and play from sunset to sunrise, and then do it all over again.

Coley and her family started coming with us around 2010…2017 was the last year we had enough time off to go up there…ironically enough it was also the first time Coley quit the band.

There’s a rustling of bags that rattle through the cabin’s kitchen as the few groceries for the weekend are packed away by their parents—Lori, Karen, and Tammy’s laughter predominately heard over anyone else’s conversation while the continue to gather up the grocery bags to put them away.

The sound plucks a chord in Coley’s memory…

“…They had a buy two get two on these,” Tammy pats a box of macaroni with a sigh while Coley puts the milk in the fridge, “Maisie and Emi both eat through these so I got four.”

“Not bad.” Coley absentmindedly carries on the conversation, reaching for a bag of potato chips to put in the pantry.

“Oh! Guess who I saw?”

She doesn’t bother looking at her mother, merely asking, “Who?”

Coley shuts the pantry, reaching for the pack of paper towels as Tammy casually mentions, “Lisa.”

Lisa.

Holton’s mother.

“Oh,” Coley states, not quite sure why she’d even mention that, but lets her, anyway.

“She’s had to pick up a second job there ever since Ron got laid off, you know.”

“I thought they were split up?”

“They’ve been off and on the last year, apparently,” Tammy shrugs, “I wonder how Holton’s dealing with that.”

Coley pauses at the mention of his name, slowly looking at the back of her mom’s head.

“Why’re we wondering about my ex-boyfriend?”

“He’s doing better, now, you know. He’s at U of M, he’s got his priorities straightened out…” Tammy carries on, not noticing her daughter’s complete lack of interest in this topic.

“I told her to let him know we said, ‘hey’, and we hope everything goes well.”

The bottle of ketchup Coley has yet to put away falls from her hand and clatters onto the counter.

“You did what?”

Tammy looks at her, a hand coming to her hip when she realizes that Coley’s scowling over what she’s said.

“What, am I not supposed to offer well wishes to a boy that was in our lives—”

“—‘Was’, Mom. ‘Was’ is the keyword in that sentence,” She snaps suddenly, “He’s not in our lives anymore so you shouldn’t have even mentioned him.”

“Okay, firstly, I don’t appreciate your tone right now. Secondly—”

“—I don’t appreciate you talking to my ex-boyfriend’s mom like he and I are still together. It’s disrespectful.”

“It’s disrespectful?!” Tammy gawks, “To who?!”

“To me, and to Jake,” Coley argues, somewhat confused by her mother’s inability to grasp how inappropriate it is.

“Ohh,” Tammy’s tone of faux understanding, paired with the placement of her hand over her chest as if realizing the severity of what she’s done, only infuriates her daughter, “God, forgive me, honey, please. I didn’t realize how disrespectful I was being to send along good luck to a boy who’s good friend hooked up with his girlfriend, then threw him out of their band—though that seemed a little disrespectful to me, but what the hell do I know, right?”

Her lips press together and her tongue catches in her teeth, forcing herself not to say the first thing that comes to her mind in case that’s not what she actually wants to say at this moment.

Her silence permits Tammy to continue.

“I just feel bad for the kid, Coley. I did when you guys broke up, and I can’t help but feel bad, now. Honestly, I mean, really, can we just take a moment to admit that guys went about it so wrong?”

The young woman can’t stand it anymore, unable to stifle herself any longer, her throat aching with a lump trying to form in it before she asks:

“Like you when dad stepped out?”

She feels her mother’s eyes bearing into her back, Coley’s hands shaking as she finishes unpacking grocery items.

“We’re not talking about this, Coley,” Tammy shakes her head, refusing to have this conversation, but her strong-headed daughter won’t relent.

“‘Fine, Cole, I’ll take you back and make you think we’re on the mend’,” Coley misquotes her mother.

“Coley, that’s enough, stop it—”

“—‘And then give it about six months, and then I’m gonna take our girls to your good friend Jeff’s house so they can have a playdate with his daughter, while Jeff and I—”

“—Coley June, I said, ‘enough’!” Tammy’s voice carries through the empty house as she shouts it, the two women staring one another in the eye, bearing witness to the beginning of tears in each of them…

Coley feels as if she’s being strangled as she lets out a defeated, shaky sigh.

Tears fall from her eyes with ease before she’s aggressively swiping them away.

“…Between you and dad, I got it really fucking honest,” Coley nods as she speaks it quietly, not caring if her mom’s privy to hearing her curse so blatantly, adding, “All Jake did was be there at the wrong time when I made the decision to cheat on my poor, innocent ex-boyfriend you feel so damn bad for…”

The ringing of her phone pulls her to fully wake up, brows scrunched while trying to remember where she put it while Sammy comments, “Good morning, Princess.”

“Where’s my phone?” She ignores him, scowling when she can’t find it despite hearing it ring as if it’s in her ear.

“Coley’s phone,” Josh answers it, looming over the back of the couch, and she glares up at him when he pulls away from her after she reaches her hand out to him, “Oh, she’s pre-disposed at the moment, might I take a message?”

“Josh,” Coley complains, her older sister chuckling while she stands to her feet on the couch and nearly lunges herself at him.

“She’s extra bitchy today, might I add,” Josh warns whoever’s on the other line.

“You can’t say that, Josh, girls don’t like it,” Sammy advises from the living room as Josh starts walking away from the blonde, only for her to snatch the back of his sweater.

It catches his throat and he chokes, then proceeds to crack himself, and Sherri and Sammy, up in a laugh, giving Coley time to grab her phone.

“Hello?” She finally asks.

“I just want you to know how much I love you because Austin was extra bitchy earlier today and I didn’t fight him in the parking lot like I wanted to because who the fuck else is gonna cover your shifts when you go frolicking with your gaggle of heathens,” Bella pipes the moment she hears her voice while Coley offers an apologetic look to Josh who’s rubbing his neck.

“Thank you, B. I really appreciate it,” Coley replies, reaching her hand out to pat Josh’s back and he sarcastically flinches as if she’s going to hit him, causing her to roll her eyes, “And maybe next year I’ll be making enough money for us both to quit so we can come up here anytime we want,” she continues to Bella.

“Me? In Yankee Springs? Being one with nature?”

“It’s not a hippie thing, Bella,” Coley states, knowing where she’s going with her comment, her voice trying to keep from showing the laughter that wants to blurt out when Josh evades her hug she attempts to patch things up with.

“You guys literally play instruments, sing, and get stoned all weekend.”

“Not everyone is stoned,” Coley replies quietly, raising her brows, “I can’t be with my parents around.”

“Shhhhhit,” Sherri mumbles, eyeing her knowingly.

“Either way I’m jealous of your hippie retreat. Anything is better than being trapped here,” The brunette scoffs, glancing around the parking lot of the sports bar they’re both still going strong at.

“Thank you so much for covering my shifts, Bella, I really do appreciate it and I promise I owe you big time.”

“Don’t worry about it. Your shenanigans are always a priority.” Bellamy assures her with a chuckle. “Anyway, I gotta go back in. I love you. Tell Josh I’ll call him when I get off.”

“I will, and I love you, too,” Coley says to her before hanging up.

She rode with her dad and mom as an attempt to patch things up without actually having to trudge through a conversation with the woman.

Nothing was resolved, however, the two of them staying silent and leaving her dad and her sisters to fill the empty air between them, pretending not to be uncomfortable.

And when they arrived, Coley nearly face-planted when she scrambled from the car and rushed inside to hide away with Sammy, Danny, and Jules until Jake and Josh were done helping their aunt get her things inside.

“Hey!” They hear Karen exclaim happily, followed by the pounding of small feet excitedly running through the cabin.

“Kayce, don’t run,” Trace scolds him while Lori pipes to him:

“Oh, my goodness, she’s so precious,” in regards to Collins who’s asleep in her carrier.

Sherri gets up from the couch to greet her husband, Kayce immediately seeking out Josh and Sammy in the living room after getting a hug from Tammy.

“Yeah, I’m glad she’s precious now. That sudden, drug-free birth was not,” Sherri scoffs, earning a laugh from the women as Coley sits back down on the couch.

“If you would’ve gone ahead and went like I suggested you would’ve had time to get an epidural,” Tammy reminds her, brushing her bangs from her eyes.

“Mom, if you go too early they send you back home. What was I gonna do? Camp out in the parking lot?”

“Well, now you know what to do with the next one,” Lori assures her.

“Oh, hell, Ms. Lori, we’re not even thinking about another one right now,” Trace shakes his head while his wife glances at him pointedly, “Put it this way, I’m not thinking of another one. If she wants another one, she’s gonna have to find a baby daddy with some money.”

“Shut up,” Sherri shoves at his arm with a small laugh while Tammy gently unbuckles her granddaughter and cradles her.

“Where’s Coley? She can help you get the bags in, Trace,” Tammy volunteers her daughter to Sammy’s amusement, the boy giving her a wide-mouth smile accompanied with a quiet, taunting laugh at the sight of her closing her eyes and huffing out a breath.

“Sammy can, too, they’re in the living room,” Karen says, next, and Coley raises her brows at the youngest Kiszka and gives him a similar expression and a laugh while he sighs.

Upon making it to Trace’s truck, the two of them divy out who grabs what, but upon the execution of actually retrieving anything from the bed of the truck, Coley’s attention is pulled from the task at hand by a loud, unfamiliar laugh echoing through the air.

Her eyes follow the path of the sound and land on her boyfriend, who stands with a pair of smooth, sunkissed soft arms around him.

“…Um…Sam?” She begins, Sammy not quite realizing what she’s witnessing, too busy trying to get this over with.

“Huh?” He grabs Kayce’s small suitcase and pulls it out of the bed of the truck.

“Who is that?”

He furrows his brows but doesn’t look just yet, not until she’s knocking into his side with her arm.

“What?” Sammy sighs out, pausing when he sees what she sees.

Whoever this girl is, she’s very amused with the conversation taking place between Jake and his dad, because she’s cackling whilst holding onto Jake, still, her arms wrapped around his waist, hugging him uncomfortably long.

His only saving grace is that he actively attempts to gain some distance, but from where Coley stands he seems to be enjoying it a little too much.

“That’s Amy,” Sammy informs her.

“Who?”

“Amy…our mom grew up with her mom,” He explains, further, “They live in Tennessee.”

“Never heard of her,” Coley snaps as Jake says something hilarious that sends Amy into a fit of giggles before playfully pushing at him, “Ok, girly, he’s not that damn funny.”

“No, he’s not,” Sammy agrees, wrinkling his nose.

“Hold, please,” Coley pipes to him, next, patting his shoulder before stepping toward Jake, Kelly, and Amy, “Hey, baby, can you come help me and Sammy grab these bags?”

Jake stops speaking upon hearing her, snapping his head toward her while Amy’s smile falters just slightly at the sight of her—and it doesn’t go the slightest bit unnoticed by his girlfriend.

“Coley, this is Amy—Amy, this is my girlfriend Coley,” Jake introduces them, and the tall brunette looks down at her and offers a tight smile.

“Hi, Coley, it’s nice to meet you,” Amy says, light brown eyes sparkling in the sunlight shrouding them.

“Oh, you can just call me, ‘C.J.,” Coley pipes, her boyfriend eyeing her when she says it.

JAKE: It was her way of making it clear she wanted little to nothing to do with someone—having them call her by a nickname acquaintances in high school had given her—unbeknownst to them.

She’d do it to interviewers she found annoying, staff she didn’t particularly like, and friends of ours she didn’t trust.

“…She’s built like an Amazon, Josh,” Coley says later that night as her boyfriend’s twin brother holds a spoon to her mouth for her to taste the soup he’s working on, “Tall, and tan, and a lion’s mane—”

“—Open,” Josh bosses, nudging the spoon against her mouth. She quickly does so just to get him to shut up, and he asks, “Thoughts?”

“I’m gonna need hard drugs to survive this trip without losing my mind over this girl,” She states.

“The soup, Coley, the soup,” He reminds her, rolling his eyes.

“It tastes fine, Josh, can we please focus on this for two more seconds?”

“Just ‘fine’?”

“Josh.”

He raises his brows, huffing out a breath and shaking his head before replying, “Coley, you’re being a little overzealous here. He’s not even looking at her that way. He’s perfectly content with his short, pasty, mousy-haired Thumbelina—we all are,” he promises, giving a quick peck to her cheek as he pushes past her to grab more spices.

“I’m not saying it’s him,” She raises her brows, “She’s been flirting with him all day.”

“Coley—”

“—Look me in my eyeballs, Joshua Michael, and tell me that she hasn’t,” She states, crossing her arms and looking at him.

Sighing out, Josh meets her gaze and can’t bring himself to tell her the very thing she’s suspicious of.

It’s the truth, Amy having been laughing abruptly at things perhaps not all that funny that have come from Jake, her hands always coming up to lightly hit him with each giggle, clinging to every word that comes from him while staring dopily at him as if entranced.

“Exactly,” Coley says when he stays silent.

“That doesn’t matter. He’s not entertaining it.”

“Not, yet, at least,” She mumbles while Sammy steps into the kitchen from outside, the sound of music and singing following him in until the door shuts behind him.

“It’s cold as balls out there,” He says, “Is it almost ready?”

“Probably faster if Coley would let me keep my mind on what I’m doing,” Josh scoffs.

“If a model moved in on your partner you’d be pitching a full-blown fit, Josh,” She counters, saying it harshly.

“Ohh, Amy?” Sam asks.

“Sam, tell her she’s overreacting, please,” Josh grumbles.

“Coley, you’re overreacting,” Sammy says with no argument, grabbing a beer from the fridge as the door opens again.

She feels as if she’s conjured the very woman she despises, Amy coming into the kitchen and opening the fridge.

“It smells good, Josh,” She clears her throat, grabbing two beers while Sam offers the bottle opener to her.

“Gracias,” Josh sighs out, proudly.

“You know, I forgot how good your brother is at playing. He sounds a lot better than when he first taught me to play,” Her statement bristles Coley up, blue eyes drifting to Sammy and Josh while she tries to keep her expression as neutral as possible despite her heart growing tight.

“Ha, ha, don’t we all,” Sammy inquires in an attempt to ease the tension.

“He taught you how to play?” Coley innocently asks, pretending to be interested out of genuine curiosity.

“Yeah, they used to come down and spend a few weeks out of the summer,” Amy tells her, “We were like, fifteen?”

She glances at Sammy and Josh as if to make sure she’s getting her facts straight.

“Yeah, we were fifteen because the next summer when we were sixteen we couldn’t do anything but fool aro—”

Josh coughs loudly as if aiding her in disguising the momentary slip up due to her forgetting she’s speaking to Jake’s girlfriend, and Amy abruptly stops herself from blurting it out, light brown eyes going wide momentarily.

“Try it now,” Josh pipes, holding the spoon full of soup up to Coley’s mouth while her head races with scenarios of Jake and Amy…

Trying to keep her composure, Coley obliges him.

“It’s good,” She says, truthfully, keeping a fake smile plastered on her face while Amy nervously looks at the door.

“Well, I’m gonna get this out to him,” She sighs, taking her opportunity to go give Jake his beer and retreat from the kitchen that holds his girlfriend in it.

Sammy vanished at some point during Amy’s misstep, darting from the potential conflict with an aversion.

Coley looks at the back of Josh’s head as he stands at the stove, his hand rubbing his forehead as he feels the tension roiling within her.

She realizes she has heard of this girl—just not by name.

“Mine was when I was sixteen…it was with a girl I kinda grew up with. We’d hangout a lot when we’d go visit my grandparents in Tennessee in the summertime,” is what he had told her when the topic of first times came up.

And now the very nameless, faceless woman has a name, and a face, and an intimate history with her boyfriend.

Dinner is just as uncomfortable as Coley’s brief time in the kitchen with Amy.

Jake’s sandwiched between the two girls, Amy propping her temple on the back of her hand, her elbow resting on the table as she watches Jake speak—her sparkling eyes taking in every movement of his lips…and if she glances to his left she has the perfect view of his irritated girlfriend staring back at her.

Coley can’t help the insecurity that soars through her at the sight of anybody so gorgeous making her boyfriend laugh as loudly, smile as widely, or blush as vividly as she does.

Josh catches the exchange multiple times throughout the meal and tries his hardest to stifle his awkward giggles while Sam attempts to goad Amy into conversation with him from where he’s sitting to her right—Danny able to blissfully ignore all of it because he’s too entranced in Julianne to give a shit about Jake digging himself into a hole with each grin she throws Amy’s way.

One by one the large group of family and friends finish eating, discard their plates, and either decide to call it a night or head back outside to the fire with instruments in-tow.

Jake, Sammy, and Josh are among them—Jake planting a quick kiss to Coley’s cheek and running upstairs for a moment, leaving her and her mother while the two of them tidy up the kitchen after insisting Lori and Karen head out with the others.

It’s silent between them, aside from disinfectant wipes scrubbing against the counters and the sound of the broom on the floor…

That is until Coley eyes her mother, her heart constricting with guilt before she lets out a deep breath and clears her throat.

“Are we gonna talk about it, Mom?”

Tammy doesn’t look at her, pushing the soapy wipe around while her daughter sweeps dirt into the dustpan.

“We can talk about it when you apologize,” Her mother informs her neutrally, trying not to get emotional at the sound of her daughter finally speaking to her.

“I don’t think I need to,” Coley admits to her, shaking her head, watching her mother scoff.

“Well, then, no. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Mom—”

“—You don’t realize just how disrespectful you were to me, do you?”

“You don’t realize how disrespectful you were to me,” Coley says, back, “I told you I wasn’t comfortable with you talking to my ex’s mom about me, and all you did was just keep going on about how wonderful Holton was and what me and Jake did was wrong.”

“Because it was—”

“—And I know that, and I do feel guilty for it. I do. But, mom, you and dad went through a similar situation, and I think you need to work through that fully instead of projecting it all onto me and Jake.”

“I think I’m done with this conversation,” Tammy retorts.

“Mom—”

“—I’m done, Coley June.”

Her eyes shift from her daughter, falling over her shoulder to the brown eyes that have found their way back downstairs to head back outside.

His girlfriend turns to look at him, and he glances between her and her mom before muttering a, “Sorry for interrupting,” and slipping out of the door.

Coley’s lips tighten into a thin line, her blue eyes glaring at her mother as if to say, “Look what you’ve done, now.”

Tammy only discards her wipe in the trash and steps past her daughter, heading to the living room to finish reading her book, while Coley makes a beeline for the cabinet they’re keeping their bottles of various liquor in, grabbing her own small bottle of Maker’s and scurrying upstairs.

After locking herself in her room, having one too many gulps of whiskey, she pulls herself from the fluffy rug positioned beside the bed, and reaches for her guitar before heading to her door to follow the trail of music peacefully drifting down the hallway.

Coley can hear Julianne in the shower next door in the bathroom as she watches Danny momentarily, seeing the way he concentrates on the notes escaping from his fingers, thick brows at ease…

“…Can you show me?” She asks him, stopping him in his tracks.

He looks up at her as she steps toward him, her movements dragging in a near-stumble, her mind far from sobriety.

“Uh—what, again?”

“The chords that you ran through for that song you and Josh are working on.”

“I don’t have a lot down, just yet, so…” Danny looks at Coley cautiously while she sits across from him on the bed, her sister’s boyfriend not wanting to step on any toes—Jake’s toes in particular—which he fears will happen if he takes her up on her request.

“Well, what do you have so far?” Coley inquires, Danny’s brows furrowing as his brown eyes seem to perk up just a little with her new-found curiosity at what he and Josh have been working on.

“I don’t…I don’t wanna piss Jake off or something because I think he wanted to show you himself.”

Danny’s not used to her gauging his own skill at guitar—typically going to Jake because it makes the most sense, he supposes.

But here she is, sitting on the bed in his and Jules’ room, waiting for him with her raised brows and her acoustic in her lap.

“Jake’s downstairs playing John Denver’s greatest hits with Joan Baez’s ‘mini-me’—he isn’t worried about me and what I’m doing right now.”

“I don’t think that’s the case, Coley,” Danny attempts to reassure her.

“Did you know he fucked her?”

The warm, encouraging smile on his face slowly disappears.

“What, you couldn’t tell from how they’ve been acting all night?” She asks, next, and he slowly shakes his head.

“Jake’s always been a flirt, Coley.”

“I guess it’s just different when he does it with girls he’s been with,” She mumbles, wiping her nose with the back of her hand, sniffling, before adding, “Are you gonna show me how to play this damn thing or not?”

From the tone of her voice, he takes it that she’s not going to be accepting a “no” in this instance.

He shows her the same progression of chords he showed Jake, the very ones that Jake offered to show Coley afterwards, but she politely declined at the time.

She thumbs through it weerily as Danny repeats it until she catches on, her eyes cutting to see what his fingers are doing and mimicking it until it sounds in unison.

Within a couple more moments, the syncopated sound of their guitars playing the exact thing shifts into Danny keeping with his original work while Coley veers off to try to tap into a rhythmic motif to back it.

Neither of them notice Jake standing in the doorway, leaning against the wooden frame, watching the two of them, until they get to a stopping point and Danny excitedly pipes, “We gotta get Josh up here,” thinking of this potential song as his baby with their lead singer being that the two of them are the ones who have been slowly but surely trying to make something of it for a year, now.

“They’re down by the lake.” Jake tells him, Coley jolting just a smidge at the abrupt presence of her boyfriend coming from seemingly nowhere.

“Are you going to bed?” Coley asks him, not bothering to get up from where she’s sitting, still irritated with him.

“Yeah, for a little bit,” He states, rubbing his lips together while she blinks at him, “I was hoping you’d come with me.”

She doesn’t want to, but she also doesn’t want to get into an argument in front of Danny.

Relenting, she yawns out a, “Goodnight, Danny,” as she gets off of the bed.

“Goodnight, Coley. We can work on it some more tomorrow.”

“Yes, we will,” She promises, slipping past her boyfriend, who lingers a moment longer.

“Goodnight,” He finally says to Danny before heading to the room he and Coley are sharing.

Coley’s putting her guitar back in its case as he comes in, shutting the door behind him.

Jake waits for her to say something, anything, but she doesn’t.

Not until he swallows his silence.

“I, uh…I was gonna show you those chords, you know?” He tells her, his eyes following her as she peels her sweatshirt over her head.

“I know,” Coley replies with a shrug, dark blonde hair falling down her bare back as she tosses the heavy garment to the cream colored quilt on the bed, “Maybe you can show them to Amy,” she adds, petty and smug as it comes from her lips, and he realizes exactly what this is about before she even mentions, “Teaching girls guitar is apparently your thing, after all.”

Jake’s about to inquire about what she’s talking about, but finds himself distracted by the bottle on the floor.

“You’ve been drinking?” He asks her, reaching down to pick it up and move it to the dresser it doesn’t get stepped on.

“Hmm?”

She hears him walk up behind her, his fingers softly grabbing at her arm to spin her around to face him.

He can’t tell if the tears lining her eyes are from anger or sadness, knowing her it’s a mixture of the two…typically it’s not difficult for him to decipher, but now that he’s the cause of it, it’s not as simple to figure out.

“Look, Amaryllis is just a frie—”

“—Amaryllis,” Coley cuts him short and repeats her full name, not even realizing there even was a full name to place on the tall, bronzed goddess.

An annoyingly beautiful name for an annoyingly beautiful woman that even captures Josh’s eye when she walks into a room.

“Don’t make something out of nothing, Coley,” Jake pleads, “It honestly is nothing.”

She stares up at him, searching his eyes with her own, knowing he’s telling the truth but still unable to help the bitterness that seeps from her. It mingles with pre-existing doubt that she’s been staving off for months now, but is beginning to lose her grip on it.

“She’s a friend in the way Hope was, right?” Coley asks, sniffling, and he lets out a defeated sigh and rubs his hands down his face before sitting on the bed.

“It was only a couple weeks, Coley,” He finally assures her, “Maybe it meant something at the time, but it doesn’t mean anything, now.”

“Obviously it does to her because she’s still chasing after you like you hung the stars.”

“Baby, we all lost touch with her but our parents are still friends with her parents. Mom mentioned it to us to invite her this year because she’s been having a hard time, and so I did. Why the hell would I bring someone I’m cheating on you with up here with us?”

“Why the hell would you bring someone you’ve slept with up here with us,” She fires back, without even a blink of her eyes, before she’s grabbing her t-shirt to sleep in from her bag.

His brows drop and his eyes cut at her back when she turns to pull the shirt over her head.

“When have I ever given you a reason to think I’d run around on you?” Jake demands sharply, standing up once again.

“Because you ran around with me,” She throws at him.

It’s a punch to the gut that further hurls him into confusion.

“Where the fuck is this coming from?”

She doesn’t answer him, clambering through her bag for her phone charger

“I know you and your mom have been back and forth about us lately, but—”

“—This doesn’t have anything to do with that, Jake.”

“Then where the hell is this coming from?”

Where is this coming from?

Coley wants to laugh from how ridiculously hilarious the question is—as if he’s blind to his own stupidity.

“You invited a girl you’ve fucked here, and didn’t tell me! That’s where the hell this is coming from!”

“My mom wanted us to!” He exclaims, throwing his hands up.

“Oh, well in that case, let me go call Holton and see if he’s able to make it up here! My mom’s been on me about reaching out, anyway!” Coley quips, watching his face fall and his jaw tighten.

“That’s not even remotely the same fucking situation, Coley, and you know it. Me and Amy weren’t a serious thing. We never had a relationship.”

“Nope. Only sex,” She scoffs out, her eyes teary and her voice cracking, “Which is why she’s so comfortable looking at you the way she is, talking to you the way she is—”

“—Coley—”

“—And you just fucking let her because it’s attention from a pretty girl.”

“Is that what you think of me?” Jake snaps, his brows scrunching, and she blinks at him.

“Why else would you wanna start a band?” Coley throws at him with the intention to hurt him,

“Why would you even wanna be in a band with me, then, if you think it’s all some ploy to get my dick wet?”

“Because I’m just that fucking stupid, I guess,” She says, wearily, her throat growing tight and her nose stinging with tears.

“You’re not stupid, Coley, but you’re acting stupid right now,” Jake says, “I think you’re drunk, and tired, and overwhelmed, and stressed out, and you just need to go the fuck to bed.”

Perhaps he’s right—she’s overtired and sleep deprived, weighed down with their future in music still hanging in the balances—and it’s only causing her to overthink, and over analyze…and the Maker’s Mark isn’t helping.

Or, perhaps, her mother has been right.

Maybe this is a dead end—a dumb decision she’s making because she thinks she’s in love with him…

A life-altering, potentially life-ruining, decision.

“No, I think I just need to get the fuck out,” Coley hisses out, as if the very foundation they built their relationship on has finally corroded.

Jake feels as if he’s whiplashed, the turn of events from just one day of their trip so sudden and harsh…but what if it’s not sudden?

What if she’s felt this way for a while, and is just taking the opportunity to go—using Amy as a scapegoat to do so?

Tears of pure frustration come to his eyes, his teeth digging into his tongue as he tries to think coherently enough to speak once again…

“You need to get out of our relationship, or get out of the band?” He snaps.

“I’m just done,” She blurts without truly meaning it, only wanting him to apologize instead of making her feel crazy for being upset with him.

He won’t give her the satisfaction of an apology, however, instead reaching for her wrist as she walks by only for her to snatch away from him, “You’re doing this now? We’re in talks for a record deal, Coley—”

“I said, ‘I’m done’,” She repeats herself sternly, abruptly cutting him off, pushing past him to the get to the door.

“You sound like your goddamn mom,” It’s his turn now to hurt her, turning to see her stop in her tracks.

“What did you just say?”

“Exactly like her. Shutting me down when I’m trying to speak to you—”

“— I was in a good relationship, I was happy, and then you were constantly on me about loving me, and how much you cared—I cheated on my boyfriend for you, I’ve put my life on hold for you—”

“—I didn’t force you into any of this, you know? You wanna scream at Tammy about projecting guilt onto you, then turn around and do the same shit to me, then fine. But you kissed me first, Coley. You made that first step. It’s not my fault you’re feeling some deep-rooted guilt over it, now.”

“You were his friend, Jake, we were all friends, and we—”

“—Coley, where is this coming from,” He asks as calmly as he can muster, concern etched on his face, while he’s nearly at a loss for words, “It’s been two years since all that happened, baby, what is going on?”

“Don’t ‘baby’ me, Jake, not right now.”

“Would ‘C.J.’ be better?”

It feels foreign coming from him, because he’s never called her that—he’s never had to, Coley having enjoyed the sound of her full name leaving his lips from the moment they became friends.

She blinks at him before wiping her eyes with her palms, her head beginning to throb slightly from their back and forth as he attempts to put what she feels into words.

“I think I need to go and just…think,” She informs him, sniffling.

“If you have to think about whether you wanna be with me, or be in the band, then there’s really no need to. Storm out, call Bella to come get you…maybe you can work things out with Holton and hold his hand through fucking Podiatry school, push out a couple kids, make your mom happy, and stay trapped in Frankenmuth while we get free,” His voice nearly cracks, his vision blurring briefly as he adds, “Don’t do me any fucking favors sticking around if you regret being with me so much! We were a band before you came along, we’ll be a band after you leave.”

SAMMY: We didn't even realize she had quit until the next morning when Bellamy came and got her.

JOSH: I wasn’t surprised when Jake told us she quit. She and I shared this same apprehension with the idea of signing our names on a line and promising X amount of years to create music when it wasn’t really at the forefront of the blueprint for our lives. We enjoyed it, of course, but us joining the band was first and foremost for Jake…when Coley stepped back from it those years ago, it appeared very spontaneous at the time, but the signs were there years before she ever left. She came into this with cold feet…at times I think she came into her relationship with Jake that way, too.

#greta van fleet #gvf #jake kiszka #jake kiszka gvf #jake gvf #jake kiszka series #jake kiszka fic #jake kiszka fanfic #jake kiszka angst #jake kiszka x oc #jake kiszka fluff #jake kiszka smut #greta van fleet fanfic #greta van fleet fic #gvf fic

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waklman · 2 years ago

Note

fake it is my bread and butter I’m in love thank u. I feel like reader is going to start pulling away. OMG WHAT IF jake kissed the reader in front of a bunch of people when he was beyond drunk or did something that made the reader embarrassed and uncomfortable so she isn’t talking to him and jake pleads for her forgiveness and it’s angsty and fluffy

note: okay i don't really know what this was but i'm just happy i was able to finally write something honestly, anyways here is more jake and princess until i pull myself together to work on the next chapter </3

warnings: mentions of drinking, insecurities.

If you were merely a book, you’d be a forgotten composition of bounded paper, quietly collecting dust on the unreachable bay of a shelf inside a fading bookstore—barely visited by anyone but the owners themselves.

And Jake would be the first person to ever be drawn in by you, setting off the soft chime of the entrance, walking right up to the shelf you sat on, extending himself to gently pluck you from the rotting oak that previously held you upright, and take you home with him.

When it’s finally just you two surrounded by the shrouding walls of his bedroom, Jake would slowly run his calloused finger down your uncracked leathered spine to ease you open, gaining your trust. Eventually, your pages would unfurl themselves to him—revealing stories that breathed life into your biggest aspirations and smallest insecurities, laid bare for his naked eyes to see.

And Jake would read those inked lines, over and over again until he could recite your contents in his sleep, until his heart filled with fondness when he thought of you, until you became his favorite piece of literature.

That’s how you’d like to think of your relationship with Jake, anyway. You were something that existed solely for his mind to study, for him to understand. No one else.

Jake would never return you back to that shop, Jake would never make you feel a semblance of regret for opening up to him, Jake would never laugh at things that would wear down your stitched pages.

Oh, but he did, right in your face too.

The moment Jake’s drunk laugh spilled out his chest at Jeremy Duncan’s sloppy joke about you being so quiet he forgot you were there—it was like you entrusted a stranger to hold your red solo cup.

The same lips that read over your fear about feeling invisible, were the same ones that curled into a smile when a jab was made at you.

Rather than facing that reality head on, you glued back shut, reverting back to that lonely collection of narratives that you didn’t let anyone read. But this time, you couldn’t go running back to that high shelf that hid you away—all you could do was slowly withdraw from the person who took you off of it.

Jake knew you needed solitude at times, and he respected that, it was how you recharged your energy after any social event.

So, for the last few days he let you do just that. He let you wordlessly walk past him when he tried to reach out for you to join him on the couch. He let you say less and less to him when he just wanted to hear your voice over dinner, afraid he might forget how it sounded. He let you sneak out earlier each day, just so you could avoid walking to class with him.

He let you do all of that, suppressing his slight worry—until he picked up on how you would nervously stand outside his door at random points in the night, only to eventually go back to your own room. And to make matters worse, if Jake hadn’t been staying up late, racking his brain about you rather than sleeping, he wouldn’t have even noticed that you started to do that.

Jake knew you needed solitude at times, but he also knew that something was wrong.

So, that’s when he decided to stop letting you walk away from him, because it was starting to plague him with concern at this point.

But, when Jake weakly trailed past your door frame, and kneeled at your seated figure at the corner of your bed, you flinched when he instinctively extended his hands to hold yours.

Refusing to meet his stare, you miss the subtle traces of disappointment that flit across his features.

“You..don’t want me touching you?” Jake’s quiet voice is colored by hurt, hands cautiously dropping to fiddle with the cuffs of your loose sweatpants instead. You at least let him do that, because it keeps him at a distance, because the fabric he’s gently playing with acts as a safeguard between you and him.

Gaze casted down into your lap, you reverently shake your head. “No, Jake,” you refuse him, your own strained voice mirroring his own.

If you were merely a book, he’d laugh at the way you awkwardly sat, he’d playfully bump shoulders with the same people who looked through you like you weren’t there.

With that, he feels an unsettling guilt well up inside his stomach, rising up to his throat like bile. “Okay, I see. Will you tell me what I did wrong then?” Jake sucks in deep breath, only releasing it when he sees you let out a somewhat steady breath for yourself.

Even when a burn spreads through his lungs for what feels like a full minute, he still doesn’t feel deserving when he goes to cool it, not when you probably don’t think he’s deserving of it either.

“No, Jake,” you reinforce, shoulders beginning to tremble from the pressure of refusing him, from the pressure of closing yourself back up.

If you were merely a book, you wouldn’t let him take you into his careful hands, he’d only read your unshared secrets to the world.

For Jake, it feels almost sinful to hold himself back from soothing his palms over your shaking body. His fingers clutch the ankles of your pants tighter, a desperate bid for solace. “Please, talk to me princess,” he helplessly begs, not knowing what else to do with himself. “You won’t even come into my room.”

“No, Jake,” you repeat, unaware of the tear that glides down your cheek. “You laughed, when Jeremy said I was practically invisible. You laughed at me.” The crack of your spine urges you to stay resilient like you did before, but the crack of your spine can’t help how much it aches for him to gently coax it again.

Jake stills as realization washes down on him, chest unwinding at your explanation.

If you were merely a book, you would want to be perched on that shelving unit. You don’t need Jake to be drawn in by what your pages held, you don’t need him to not feel put off by the plain cover that held you together. You don’t need—

Without a warning, Jake scoops you up from where you’re sitting, forcing you to encircle your legs around his middle as he leads you into the threshold of his room.

“I laughed because I thought it was the stupidest shit I ever heard,” he carefully explains, keeping you in lap as he goes to sit on his sheets. “You’re funny if you think I didn’t tell him off the morning after,” he continues, recounting the string of threats that fell off his tongue when found Jeremy after class.

When you finally look at him, cheeks sticky from streaky tears and waterlogged lashes fluttering at him, Jake feels his heart swell in his chest. Naturally, he goes to playfully tousle your hair, gently, mindful of the migraine that tends to follow after your crying.

If you were merely a book, he would have corners of the most important pages gently folded in, ingraining each word and punctuation mark that made you vulnerable into his memory.

“Jake, what would you do if I was a book?” You ask through a weak smile, heart gently throbbing as you notice the tenderness reflected in his eyes.

Smoothing down the hair he’s ruffled with both hands, Jake gives your question some thought. “Is this one of those, would you love me if I was a worm kinda questions?”

Clutching the hems of his shirt between your hands for solace, you nod at him, waiting for one of those lighthearted responses he always gives you.

But sensing that you’d want a genuine answer instead, Jake gives you just that.

“If you were a book,” he starts, brushing strands of hair behind your ears. “I would never get sick of reading you princess. Think you’d be my favorite,” and he means it.

#ears open #fake it #jake seresin blurb

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bomber-grl · 3 days ago

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if it's cool with u, make more nico di angelo x son of hecate reader stuff, pleaseee

just like one-shots with any kind of plots, honestly

going on quests, angst, fluff—anything, reallyy

When Trying Something New Goes Totally Wrong

- not proofread, might not be good.

Today was a new day and especially one you looked forward to. Someway, somehow, you had managed to convince Nico to try out new things.

He groaned and grumbled all throughout your 20 slide PowerPoint presentation but it was all worth it in the end once you heard the words “fine” uttered from his mouth.

You dragged his usually tired self through a random library in New York and sat him down at a table.

He sighed and looked at you, “so I’m learning to read? Unfortunate for you since I already know how.”

You tutted at him and shook your head, “Nope, good guess though” you could’ve sworn you saw his soul leave his already withered self. “I’ll be giving you books based on history, math, science. You tried your best to make it look appealing.

Nico sighed, “yay.” You stifled a laugh and commented, “I love how happy you are to be here.” And went on your merry way to search for some interesting books.

Despite his less than enthusiastic self, Nico still chose to read what you brought him. For the next 4 hours. He’d never say it out loud but at that point he’d just pick Tartarus over whatever torture that was.

From then on, whenever you two weren’t being completely and utterly jumped by random monsters, you’d introduce him to doing something new. You didn’t need to but you figured you might as well since boredom was rather common amongst you two.

To your surprise, he actually did quite well in a handful of these skills or hobbies- whatever they’re called. He enjoyed reading but then deemed it time wasting, did okay-ish in learning to sew, same with when you showed him to paint, sculpt, and play the kalimba.

Honestly became a game of you trying to see if he could fail at something, as terrible as that sounded.

You were laying down in the strawberry fields, ranting to a friend, a Demeter kid, about how you’ve ran out of ideas. I mean these little days of showing Nico new and outlandish things became your thing and now you were ran through.

Your friend sighed as she plucked a strawberry into her basket, “why haven’t you tried showing Nico how to do magic? I mean it’s kind of your thing, right?

You abruptly sit up and turned to her, “you think so?! Really?” She seemed mildly taken aback by your enthusiasm but shook her head and chuckled as she gave her basket off to a passing saytr.

“Well yea, could be a bonding experience don’t you think?” Your heart was pumping and you began trying to come up with where Nico could be right about now.

Your excitement died down almost immediately, you sagged and laid back down. Your friend turned to you, “what’s the issue now? I thought I gave you a pretty good solution.”

“Well.. yea! You did but what if..” you could already feel her judgmental stare before you spoke your feelings.

You continued, “what if he doesn’t need me, I mean he’s been pretty good at everything- or atleast decent- with what I’ve presented him.”

She spoke up, “that all? I can sense you aren’t telling me everything.”

You laid there silently before speaking up again, “is it bad that I want to see him fail at something?”

She looked taken aback and then sighed, “Go show him magic before I ban you from coming to the fields again.” You were about to say something nasty but you knew not to test her.

Off you went.

You found Nico being held hostage by your sister, Lou Ellen, near the arts and crafts and luckily for him, came to his rescue.

The two of you walked hand in hand towards the forest, he bumped your side and spoke in a sarcastic tone, “what can I do for my savior?” You smirked, “I have a thing or two in mind… that involves something you’ve never tried before-“

Nico groaned and raised an eyebrow, “really?” You raised your eyebrow in much the same way, and mockingly stuck your hip out, “really”

Nico just laughed exasperatingly and followed you, not like he had anything else to do but brood, brood, and did I mention brood? Yea.

You brought him to the part of the forest where most capture the flag games took place and sat down alongside him on a rock.

“So? What’s the lesson today?” You stood up in front of him and happily exclaimed, “magic!”

He looked taken aback, and then the skepticisim settled in,”magic?” You confirmed, “magic!”

His demeanor was very much not enthused, “ok…”

“What? What’s so bad about magic?” You raised an eyebrow.

“Nothing, I just haven’t considered it.” Nico shrugged. “Well you will now! Cmon let me show you some basics.”

You spoke, drew and did your best to channel the magicalness that comes naturally to you into Nico, but to no avail.

It’s not like spells that delt with elements other than death weren’t working- it just wasn’t working point blank and you needed to find something that’d make it easier.

Nico lounged against the rock while absentmindedly playing with the dirt with his sword until you spoke up.

“Maybe we should focus on necromancy- I mean it is your specialty.” Nico perked up, “necromancy?”

You nodded excitedly, “yup! I mean it’s similar but not exactly.. this one I’m gonna show you is just controlling a corpse.”

Mostly since actually reviving someone would bring trouble with a god you’re both more than familiar with.

Nico spoke up, “how’s that any different than when I control bones?” His question was genuine.

You were about to speak about how they’re different then paused, yup he’s actually right. “Well it’ll be a way to do it without using your natural born power?”

He wondered for a minute, “why’d you recommend it? You’re acting like it’s all I know.”

You paused and looked away, “I mean… is it not?”

“Ha ha, very funny,” Nico deadpanned. One might’ve thought you offended him but there was a flicker of amusement in his eyes.

“You know there’s a lot more to you than necromancy. I know there is” there was sincerity poured into the last bit and Nicos demeanor relaxed. “You could also try a bit of light magic in hopes of making this work if you’re insistent. Not to mention that It might do wonders for your mood.”

Nico groaned, rolling his eyes. “You just want to see me fail at something new, don’t you?”

“No,” you said with a laugh, “I just want to see you smile. Seriously, Nico. You’re too good at being miserable.”

“Not like this attempt at teaching you magic needs my interference for it to be a failure anyway..”

Nico perked up, “what’d you say?”

You dismissed his suspicion with your hand “Oh nothing, let’s focus back on this.”

You honestly don’t know how long it was before the spell you had been attempting with Nico finally worked, just.. that there was a catch.

“We’re so dead” you looked towards the patch of trees that your spell had totally and utterly destroyed.

Nico shrugged and turned your way, “could’ve been worse.”

Luckily none of those trees were dryads and you managed to regrow the trees (albeit more shriveled up and getting some laughter out of Nico) before you went back to camp.

It was a secret for just you two, and whatever unfortunate soul would wander into the place of the crime scene.

#fanfic #gn reader #male reader #fluff #fanfic fluff #nico di angelo #nico di angelo x male reader #nico di angelo x reader #pjo nico #nico pjo #ghost king nico #son of Hecate #child of hecate #rick riordanverse #percy jackson fandom #percy jackson fanfiction #percy jackon and the olympians

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cissyenthusiast010155 · 1 year ago

Note

Hi i’m not sure if u write male reader and its okay if not but i was wondering if you could write one where m!student reader and platonic lesso like he’s making a song in a music room and its something like ‘boys don’t cry or boys will be bugs and lesso hears and he breaks down or smt and fluff but again its totally fine if not x

Hiiiii anon! Thank you for your request!! I wont write AMAB!Male, but I will write AFAB!Male. Hope you Enjoy ♥️

Can’t Pretend It Doesn’t Bother Me ~Soft!Leonora Lesso xAFAB Trans!Male!Reader

Mommy… Masterlist

Requests & Prompt-List

Warnings: age gap (All legal), angst, fluffy fluff, implied anxiety, implied anxiety attack, crying, comforting, hugging, physical comforting, etc.

Enjoy (:

You had found yourself in the music room. And you had sat down in defeat next to a harp.

Before you knew it, your hands were stringing the instrument and making beautiful sounds. Along with those beautiful notes, came your voice, getting more and more hoarse.

I’m a dumb teen boy

I eat sticks and rocks and mud

I don’t care about the government

The words and notes just flowed together. And so did your tears. More and more, the waterworks flowed down your face.

And I really need a hug

I feel stupid (stupid), ugly (ugly)

Pretend it doesn’t bother me

~~~

Lesso was walking down the corridor, after reprimanding one of her more rebellious students. Her cane halted as she heard a faint melody coming from the music room.

I’m not very strong, but I’ll fuck you up if you’re mean to bugs

She could hear the harp being played and a choked voice singing along with the notes being played.

It’s getting cold down here underneath the weather

I skipped class to sit with you

I really like your sporty sweater

If ladybugs are girls How do you make kids together?

What’s it like in a female world?

I bet it’s just so much—

~~~

You heard the door creak open, and you immediately stopped playing. You frantically wiped the many many tears away from your face. But you couldn’t make the tears stop.

You looked up and saw the one and only dean of evil, Lady Lesso, standing across the music room. You gulped. She stared at you, not saying a word.

“I’m sorry… I’ll go…” you muttered.

“No!” Lesso exclaimed.

You looked up puzzled and a little afraid.

Lesso relaxed her face and spoke softer, “Please, continue.”

You gulped and nodded, moving your hands back to the instrument. You began to pluck the notes once more and accompany the melody with your hoarse voice.

I just turned 14

And I think this year I’m gonna be mean

Don’t mess with me, I’m a big boy now, and I’m very scary

I punch my walls, stay out at night, and I do karate

Don’t message me ‘cause I won’t reply, I wanna make you cry

Ain’t that how it’s s’posed to be?

Though it… it isn’t me…

B-Boys will… be b-bugs… right…?

By the last few lines, you and your voice was falling apart. Your hands dropped from the harp and your head fell in your hands as you sobbed.

~~~

Lesso froze for a minute as you combusted in the music chair in which you were sitting. Her instincts were conflicted…

On one hand, she had the urge to smack you and tell you to get it together.

On the other hand, her heart cracked at your position, and she wanted to come over and comfort you forever.

Lesso knew that you had troubles. Troubles with friends. Trouble at home. Troubles mentally. Knowing this only made the redhead feel for you even more.

She cautiously approached the crying student in front of her, stretching her arm out to rub your back lightly.

You jumped slightly as you felt the deans hand on your back. But you were quick to get used to the touch, and you even leaned in for more. You whimpered slightly as her hand eventually retracted. But then you saw that the woman was getting a chair and pulling it up next your yours.

Lesso sat down next to you and put her hand on your back once more. Her touch seemed to relax you, she noted.

“Take deep breaths.” She instructed.

The red head hummed in satisfaction when her instructions were followed. She placed her other hand on your outer thigh, rubbing circle patterns on it. She noticed that you were getting your breathing under better control.

“Thank you…” you hesitantly whispered.

You half expected the dean to just leave as you uttered those words, but she didn’t.

“Anytime, sweet boy.” The woman comforted.

Her hand then moved from your thigh to your chin, and it swiveled your head to meet her gaze.

“It’s okay to cry, you know that right?”

Your lip quivered and you nodded shakily, before more tears erupted. You instinctually put your head into the deans shoulder.

Lesso hummed as your head found comfort in her shoulder.

“But don’t you ever tell anyone I told you that…” she teasingly warned, causing you to chuckle lightly.

~~~

Lady Lesso Masterlist

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trulyyoursdevil · 4 months ago

Text

I am enjoying my love life and having more fun with my bestie . My bestie found her new bf and tbh I am not very much liking it , but as it’s her life and her dad is ok so nonissue with me . Also my dad asking me same to do so I am kind of watching them closely for a real experience.they went out for a short vacation . Uncle messaged me to meet me if I am interested as he is alone for a while as his wife is also out for her Buisness year end trip . I told him it will not look good to meet at home alone , so he booked a motel . I am excited too as it’s my first time encounter alone with him isolated in a hotel room. But as I know him and he is a perfect gentleman I am ready for that fun. He picked me from school and we went on a nice motel and had lunch there . He took me for a short shopping there only . I got his favourite nighty which he requested. While entering room it was welcomed with my Lilly flower and I hugged him . He is so perfect. He shut the door and while I was adoring the flower , he hold me form back and whisper in my ear a big thanks for coming here . I smiled and realised we were infront of a big full size mirror and I can see him . He caressed my hair behind my ears and kissed my neck gently while holding my waist . My eyes closed a bit as he playing with his tongue and now his hands are caressing me form my skirt back. I can smell Lilly aroma with his amazing perfume . After a while he started unbuttoning my school shirt and pulled out from tucked skirt I was in my peach bra and I can see myself loving by his hand in the front mirror . It was exciting and I was melting slowly by his actions . He came forward nd while sitting kissed my navel nd around . Uff he is so good . I was so high as I plucked one Lilly petal hard and dropped over his head . He looked up and removed my skirt and now it on my feel . Took my feet up and removed . I can see myself in mirror . He smile back and kissed me on forehead saying that how beautiful I am . I blushed . He went back and opened the new nighty and asked me to wear . I said why don’t u do all as I am enjoying this . He laughed low and took my flowers form me and put it on near table. Removed new labels and standing infront of me looked in my eyes and asked me to allow to remove the bra . I replied I am all your uncle and why don’t you treat me as your own daughter. He smiled back and while kissing on my hand he said indeed u are . He removed my bra coming closer to me as I can feel his hot breath . He looked at my small boobs and touched my both nipple and I gasped . He desed me in that sheer nighty and showed me myself in mirror . It was so beautiful and sexy . He bend me back while I kept my hand over table he removed my panty and slapped my right ass . I was like waiting for this royal treat . He asked as I am ok or want more harder . I whispered harder daddy . He did more harder and put his one finger in my ass and I went crazy with slow pain and desire. He grabbed me by neck nd went deep while spread my legs wider. He pulled me infront and ordered me to open his hard boner and serve him. I sat on near chair and he pulled while I opened his formal trouser and slide down. It was ready for me mouth and I simply loved his aroma . I looked into his eyes nd touched the tip with my tongue. He grabbed my head and pushed inside deep till I gaged . I was enjoying his big tools with pleasure .

It was a great day ! Xoxo

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itsdappleagain · 2 years ago

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two weeks late? what do you mean? ...haha.

sorry i have excuses okay? I moved houses in that time and then got sick. like i said, lateness is becoming my brand i guess

anyways this week (last week) it is time for

The Opera in the Outback Caper!!

notes as always under the cut!

player's australian accent is hilarious

CRIKEY! AUSTRALIA'S ONE BEEEEEEEEEEG CUNTRY

bro the writers were researching australia and they saw carmen the opera and their eyes shot out of their heads like looney toons

according to wikipedia if this episode had gone like the opera carmen would have stabbed a bitch to death and then sung about fucking somebody all night from prison. but yeah carmen would have also ended up stabbed to death in the end so....leaning towards the bad omen scale

that fifteen person orchestra is really pulling its weight damn

can you imagine being gray in this episode he has literally no idea what the fuck is going on wheeze

this is totally way later in the episode but wait a minute if the vile device fried all the soundboards how the hell did the rest of the opera keep going

its gra-YUHM

that surprised pikachu face jdsghdjhga

god fuck i hate that he flirts with her im getting it out of the way right now so i don't harp on it later but i do not like it

SOMEBODY THAT YOU USED TO KNOWW BUT YOU DIDNT THAVE TO C (gets crackle rodded to death)

Gray Ham says enjoy the show and carmen walks like a penguin her ankles go WAY up

i love love love watching the progression of carmen's faith in vile go from her mostly playful, almost dismissive air in the start to realizing just how dangerous this all is and i think it starts RIGHT HERE, realizing that theyve killed crackle's memories of her and VILE

mentally i am the guy dressed as a soldier who is staring straight ahead and singing with one blank smile on his face

something about that swing and how carmen's coattails move is just mwah

carmen stays there for literally no reason how did you not see le chevre coming over to kick you in the back girl

that subliminal messaging device falling was sooo on key 🫦

so nitpicky but that opera singer is NOT opening her mouth enough literally watch any video of an opera singer their mouths are going twice that wide

the way she just plucks it from his hand is so funny

i love this fight btw. its so dynamic but its SILENT. and the entire fight is based around the need to not draw attention to themselves and disrupt the performance. very cool fight

like yeah the flips and the way they pull on each other's clothing and jump and use the bars and stuff super cool

literally the second time le chevre has done that exact same thing girly

that landing HAD to hurt SO BAD are you kidding

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHATS GOOD FOR ME

THATS MY O P I N I O N

also love how carmen goes in slow motion before this but the music doesnt thats hilarious

wouldnt it have been funny if as carmen the singer was singing her high note carmen the thief fell on her

love the standing ovation and curtsy for the uh. fourth song of the opera

player was in record mode because he secretly loves opera and wanted to record the live performance of his favorite habanera

HUAN HONK HUNK HONK HA HION HA HONK he does bleat like a goat

THE DEAR BOY COMMENT WAS SO BASED NOT YOUR DEAR BOY

i find it very hard to believe that le chevre is so flippant about the mindwiping thing seeing as dr bellum is potentially setting him up for the exact same circumstances today in fighting carmen lmao

i love when characters on screens look at things from the perspective of the. screen

"remix" its just you dr bellum

carmen: haha quip player: oh girl u fucked up girl

love Carmen's thought process of being completely unaffected by the thing that got blasted directly in her face just because she wasn't the target

player does the most

i love doctor denim jeans she seems like such a nice enthusiastic person

look at her shes so excited

what was carmen standing up there looking for anyway

pls player didnt even know it was gray but he knew. he was just like ffs carmen not the silver jambon

love how carmen is pinpointing his orders from vile as the problem and not. his willingness and ability to kill her

he's got good hearing wow

sparky is actually australian slang for an electrician. good to know. shocked crackle didnt name himself Sparky

love how crackles tone changes from joking to that dramatic "year of my life" speech i dont remember if they used that for flashbacks or trailers or what but its for something lol

"electrician" gray you sit at the desk and press buttons as far as we can tell dude

"yeah stranger go online and find some random guy to take you into the australian outback <3 my experience couldnt help you avoid a potentially bad situation there at all."

shes like four feet away and he's screaming lmaoo

it is just her name, honey maid

"the outback- may sound like somewhere you would take a man to shoot him but we have to save that for next season!"

mad respect for them primarily referring to it as uluru so it sticks that way and not the more colonialized name of ayers rock, which was given to it by, surprise surprise, a brit

its a miracle the car didnt break down in the outback after player told her to be careful in the harsh terrain. literally two episode ago he was like "be careful of altitude sickness!!" and then she died

god the music and animation in this episode are gorgeous though arent they?

miro is the most patient man on the planet

ivy being so fed up with him wheeze

carmen being polite and excusing herself from the conversation! never thought i'd see the day lol

i love miro he's just like what. what do you mean. who are you guys and he's right

for sure the only tourist in the car

where did carmen get those hot little pink glasses and coats did they mug a couple workers or what

ivy and zack's sibling dynamic forever

she is for sure like five feet from that door and should not be running for as long as she is while talking to player she is a split second away from crashing into the wall

pls the rocket is so close to the facilities it would take the buildings out

GET HER ASS ZACK AND IVY NO MUSIC IN THE WORKPLACE

anyone else love the animation when ivy's waving the id badge at mom jeans denim

zack's little salute ive never noticed that before

yeah your new interns. the most conspicuous american twenty year olds we can find who apparently blend in with every situation, including fashion week in milan

who voices bell bottom jeans because her australian accent is sketch is it sharon. it sounds a little like bellum

IT IS SHARON ok sorry queen your australian accent is not great </3

is there a "where in space is carmen sandiego" where zack and ivy go to an alien planet because i havent watched any of the 90s show but. that feels like it would happen

was player directing her through that or did carmen just randomly learn to hack too

love the single button to launch a whole rocket its so funny

brancusi jeans: that was the day i decided the laboratory is no place for opera speakers: opera in the laboratory skinny jeans: wow this is the best thing that has ever happened to me

i wonder if that cart wheel was 3d

ivy expertly tied that woman up great job ivy. ig she learned from boston lol. interesting tho- that is how carmen tied them up, and i wonder if carmen taught them

uh oh spaghettio

again cs color theory <3 with the button going green when vile's plan starts to work

also love how zack was just like "SHIT CARMEN SPONTANEOUSLY TURNED EVIL THAT SUCKS"

the rocket launched in less that 3 minutes! btw it will take more than 4 until we get to the final countdown. and we will cut down much of the space in between but its totally less than three ok

love the way ivy smashes through that door

wheeze the control panel at the top of the tower

zack's got the best australian accent out of all the terrible australian accents in this show. he could be on bluey

zack's cold chuckle before he tells el topo that the dingoes are mauling his boyfriend is priceless its so funny

adore the clear shock and horror in carmen's voice when she realizes what she's done. good gina moment thank you for a moment gina. oh nevermind that what have i done was sad and limp :(

AGAIN THE ANIMATION THIS EP. LIKE IVY CLIMBING THAT LADDER? MWAH

le chevre said grrr. WHAT? OUGH!

"let go" yes le chevre that is something she would do while you're dangling her a thousand feet above the ground

pls my video started buffering and it just went "OUT OF MY WA-" and then the screen went black ivy killed it

love ivy shes such a girlboss

still not sure btw how top and bottom arent recognizing the boston kids its. what the third, fourth time?

that little thing le chevre does i think must be a vile taught thing, which is interesting. he hooks his arms under hers and holds her there that way. i say that because in the s2 opener episode el topo does the exact same thing to carmen

the gays are so funny i love them

ivy comes very close to dying a horrible death this episode lol

"i've got you."

drops her

she did not have to slide down the rocket like that but thank god she did. hot of her. love that her hair came down and her glasses came off for maximum hotness she booked it over here you can tell

miro!!!

the two gays are literally just >:( >:(

shit my pants joke

everyone laugh

player is literally that friend trying to get his bff not to get back in that toxic relationship GIRL HE TRIED TO KILL YOU LIKE. A WEEK AGO HE AINT WORTH THE FRESH START BROTHERLY RELATIONSHIP

i do like gina's voice acting here though. she does sound like she's actually. feeling things

god the shots in this show are so pretty

look at that. art

even the light changing from green to red once she decides to blow him off. yes yes yes yes the red represents safety and certainty and as soon as that green light turns not only does it physically block her from crossing over to him just like she's mentally decided not to put it puts any question of vile completely out of the question

insert that tumblr post about wanting to make eye contact with someone from across a street and then disappear behind a bus here bc i can't find it

HOW IS SHE WALKING IN THAT DIRECTION THATS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE BUS TRICK SHE JUST DID

woohoo carmen leading herself to believe that the only way she can keep people safe is to avoid them. im sure this wont come into play in any future searches for more familial figures of carmen's

i like all the human and animal remains in maelstrom's office. cool of him tbh

they wanted to say "bring me the head" so bad

anyway PAPER STAR! TRANSITION SENTENCE TO NEXT EP! i love next ep paper star is so cool. also beginnings of julethief. look, i have a transition sentence too.

next week is actually two days ago on saturday but thats okay ill hopefully get it done sometime this week, so i can be on time for being late this saturday. hope you liked this ep's notes <3

#cs weekly #carmen sandiego #carmen sandiego weekly #rip this was done last night but i couldnt post it #csweekly

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