#I knew you tried to change the ending Peter losing Wendy

[theostrophywife]

regulus arcturus black (taylor's version)

[dukeofdelirium]

*screaming* AND WHEN I FELT LIKE I WAS AN OLD CARDIGAN *scrolling the eremika tag on ao3* UNDER SOMEONES BED *throwing up sliding down wall head in hands* YOU PUT ME ON AND SAID I WAS YOUR FAVORITE

[planetsandthefates]

anyway i'm listening to cardigan in honor of her untimely "death" 😭 🫡

[daenerys-targaryen]

cardigan really is one of the most songs of all time ever huh.

[ivytwines]

rip rose tyler you would’ve loved cardigan from folklore

[waste1andb5by]

wait i just realized peace by taylor swift is so gelphie coded

[strawhatboy]

willow vs cardigan !!!

CARDIGAN (!!!!!) folklore is my favorite album ever and cardigan is probably one of her best songs, the lyrics the mv the production IMMACULATE *chef kiss*

[filmmakerdreamst]

Peter looking at Wendy.

[sunflouwerhabit]

MAISIE PETERS OPENING THE ERAS TOUR!!

big day for the most annoying girl you know (me!)

[stillgotscars]

you guys… “don’t read the last page, but i stay / when you’re lost, and i’m scared, and you’re turning away” -> “i knew you / tried to change the ending / peter losing wendy” -> “lost to the lost boys chapter of your life / forgive me, peter, please know that i tried to hold on to the days when you were mine”… i’m unwell

[jamcarven]

“but I knew you.

stepping on the last train, marked me like a blood stain, I

I knew you tried to change the ending, peter losing wendy, I

I knew you leaving like a father, running like water, I

when you are young they assume you know nothing.”

[daenerys-targaryen]

cardigan most song of all time ever.

[xoxoavenger]

Running Like Water

pairing: JJ Maybank x Fem!Reader

summary: 'Cause I knew you/Steppin' on the last train/Marked me like a bloodstain, I/I knew you/Tried to change the ending/Peter losing Wendy, I/I knew you/Leavin' like a father/Running like water, I/And when you are young, they assume you know nothing

word count: 1477

cardigan masterlist main masterlist

When Y/N wakes up, she's sure the fuzzy memory of JJ going to Australia must be a dream her drunk brain conjured up. She doesn't remember anything after she threw up, but she sits up and looks around the still-dark room. There's two beds in the room including the one she's on. She realizes that Sarah is next to her, Kiara on her other side. Pope and John B are in the other bed, but JJ is no where to be found. She coughs, which makes her feel nauseas. Her headache comes crashing down, and she winces as she grips her head. Her mouth feels dryer than the desert.

"Here," She jumps as she turns back to Kiara, who is now awake and holding a water bottle. Y/N takes it gratefully, finishing the whole bottle as Sarah stirs awake.

"Hey," She smiles, but there's something else in the smile. Y/N frowns.

"What happened last night?" Y/N asks. She knew they weren't supposed to get a hotel room, but she does remember John B and Sarah being pretty drunk and she threw up, so it's probably a god thing that they ended up in one.

"How much do you remember?" Kiara whispers, the boys still not awake.

"Not much after the last bar. I know I thew up." She looks around once more. "Where's JJ?" She turns to see Sarah, who's never been able to hide her emotions well, looking upset.

"At the last bar, John B accidentally told everyone that JJ got a job in Australia." Sarah says softly. Y/N blinks.

"It wasn't just a dream," She mutters, barely audible. She pushes the covers off her and crawls to the end of the bed, jumping off.

"Y/N," Kiara calls, waking the boys. Y/N doesn't listen, just opens the door and walks out into the corridor.

"Where are you going?" Sarah follows, genuinely scared for Y/N, or maybe more for JJ if she's able to find him. She doesn't answer, which causes Sarah and Kiara to exchange a look, still following. "Y/N!" She turned around like this, the others skidding to a stop.

"I might kill him."

"No," Kiara started, not letting Y/N get the rest out. "I know that he's a dick. I know that you're upset, which is completely valid. But I think that killing him may be a little over dramatic."

"I think I'm being the exact right amount of dramatic considering the circumstance." Y/N had the crazy eyes going on, scaring John B and Pope, who had heard the noise and came out of the hotel room. "And killing him is the exact right amount."

"Wow, okay." Pope says, not sure what to do in this situation.

"I'm sure he had a reason, so maybe we should let him explain." John B suggests, but this only makes Y/N more angry.

"Maybe he should have explained when he told me." Y/N shrugged, turning back around. "Oh, that's right, he didn't!" She walks around the corner, and this time no one follows him.

"She's not actually gonna kill him, right?" Pope asks, genuinely unsure.

"Honestly?" Sarah turns to the rest of them. "I'm not sure."

~

Y/N finds JJ back at the Chateau. He's drinking a bottle of tequila, no ice or even a glass, just straight out of the bottle. She thinks briefly about punching him, but decides against it at the last moment.

"I want to kill you." She says honestly, trying to keep herself from shaking in rage.

"That makes two of us." She leans forward and hits him for that one, slapping him across the face and making him drop the bottle. "I deserved that."

"You deserve more than just that." She spits, anger apparent in every syllable.

"And you deserve more than just me." He whispers, putting his head in his hands.

"Jayj," She says softly, getting on her knees. She's still upset, but her anger is moving to sadness quickly. "Why didn't you just tell me when you found out? Why didn't you tell me when you were applying?" She's never been this mad at him while still being upset with him.

"I knew you'd be upset." He shrugs, leaning his head back. "And I didn't think I'd get it. So when I did, I knew you would be upset but tell me to go and I didn't want to be the reason you were upset."

"When do you leave?"

"Two days." They stare at each other in silence, neither knowing what to say. She would think about hitting him if she weren't so shocked.

"So you were just not going to tell me until you left?" She doesn't need him to confirm it, she knows he wasn't going to tell her.

"I didn't want to hurt you. That's why I held off." He wasn't quite sure what she wanted. He knew it wasn't what he was saying, but he couldn't make this better.

"But you told John B and Pope." She raised her eyebrows. "I'm more mad you kept it from me. It honestly feels like you're running away from me." She lets out a sardonic chuckle.

"I knew you'd be upset, but I thought you'd be happy for me! Ya know, as my girlfriend!" He yells, standing up. She steps back a bit.

"You are running away." She whispers, tears springing to her eyes. "Why are you running away?" She doesn't understand. She thought everything had been going good.

"I have never been even out of the state! I need to experience the world! This is the best job I'll probably ever have the chance to have." He can't tell her the truth, can't tell her that he feels things for her that he's just a little afraid of.

"You're running away!" She repeats as she gets closer, tears falling down her cheeks without her even having to blink. "You're doing the same thing your dad did." She whispers. He wishes she had slapped him again. It would have hurt less.

"This isn't the same." He tells her lowly. She shakes her head.

"It is. It's exactly the same because you're leaving your problems behind. You're leaving me behind." She wants to scream and cry and figure out how to get all her emotions out.

"I'm sorry." He can't lie to her. He can't tell her exactly why he's leaving but he can't lie to her.

"I'm sure you are." She mutters softly, wiping her tears. "And so am I." She walks out the door, JJ following her.

"Why are you sorry?" He calls, running down the stairs as she speeds over to her car.

"I'm sorry to myself. I'm sorry I let myself lean on you so much. I'm sorry I put myself in the position to get hurt." She turns to him and shakes her head. "I'm sorry I let myself fall in love with you." She gets in her car, letting him watch her drive off.

~

She goest back to the Chateau two days later, after disappearing from her friends. When she walks through the door late in the afternoon, everyone is sitting around as if they're waiting for her.

"He's gone?" She asks, slumping.

"Yeah," Sarah says softly as Kiara stands to go to her side.

"He left." She whispers, head rolling back as her knees collapse underneath her. John B jumps to help Kiara hold their friend up.

"It's alright," Kiara comforts as they set her on the vacated couch, pushing her hair back. Y/N is sweating and shaking, and Kiara realizes her forehead is warm. "I think she's sick."

"Shit," Pope mutters, putting a hand to his head.

"Have you eaten anything?" Sarah whispers to Y/N as she crouches down. Y/N opens her eyes, but she doesn't quite look coherent. "It must've taken everything to get here." The four of them stand there, looking at their friend who had been heartbroken down to the bone.

"They're not going to survive this." Kiara mutters. They had seen JJ before he left, had noticed how he was always drunk and upset and barely made it onto his flight.

"He had to do it." John B told them. "He had to leave to see how good he had it. He had to leave and hope that she takes him back when he comes back home."

"That makes no sense." Sarah said, crossing her arms. "He ran away."

"Because he's in love and he's scared." Pope explains.

"They've already said 'I love you'. It's not that." Kiara looks over to see Y/N asleep, so she puts the blanket up on her.

"She wants to get married." John B said. The way he said it, everyone knew that JJ had told him.

"And that scared him." Kiara understood now. They all knew their friend had issues with commitment, but they thought he had gotten through them with Y/N. "He ran."

"Shit," Pope repeated, and they all silently agreed. 

//

tags: @avada-kedavra-bitch-187  @one-sweet-gubler @theoraekenslover

[daeneryssansa]

'Cause I knew you, steppin' on the last train, marked me like a bloodstain. I knew you, tried to change the ending, Peter losing Wendy.

[queenlucythevaliant]

Okay, here we go. Rating literary allusions in Taylor Swift songs:

The Outside: "I tried to take the road less traveled by /but nothing seems to work the first few times/am I right?"--Starting off pretty well! She tried to take the road less traveled by, but it didn't make any difference. 8/10

Love Story: Whole song allusion to Romeo and Juliet-- All those 2008 jokes about Taylor not having read R&J weren't funny then and they aren't funny now. It's a fun, satisfying subversion. However, I am going to dock points for the fact that Romeo and Juliet aren't a prince and princess, just rich. 7/10

Love Story: "You were Romeo/I was a scarlet letter"--Is the Juliet character in "Love Story" being publicly shamed? Did she do something scandalous? There are zero other lines in this song to suggest that she did, and a fair amount of evidence that she didn't. This allusion confuses rather than clarifies and tbh this is the one people should've made fun of in 2008. 2/10

New Romantics: "We show off our different scarlet letters/ trust me, mine is better" --Hooray! She figured out what the book is about! This is a beautifully executed allusion, where "scarlet letters" represents a mark of something shameful which, in a fun subversion, is being shown off with pride. Fits the song really well. Most improved award, 11/10

Getaway Car: "It was the best of times, the worst of crimes" (A Tale of Two Cities) -- Goes in the category of "fun wordplay, but doesn't really mean anything deeper" 5/10

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: "Feeling so Gatsby for that whole year" --This is a perfectly serviceable allusion, but not a super interesting one. Sub "Gatsby" out with "nostalgic" and the song wouldn't change at all. She could've done a lot more with the reference, given the subject matter of the song. 6/10

cardigan: "I knew you/tried to change the ending/Peter losing Wendy" -- This works! You get a sense of Betty losing her innocence and choosing to leave James and of it being inevitable somehow. Plus, it imbues the song with a lovely fairy tale quality. 10/10

illicit affairs: "take the road less traveled by/tell yourself you can always stop" -- To take the road less traveled by is to do something risky, unpopular, or unfamiliar, not just to take a route through town where you won't run into people. Not totally egregious, but the regression from Debut is disappointing. 4/10

invisible string: "and isn't it just so pretty to think/ that all along there was some/ invisible string tying you to me."(The Sun Also Rises)--Ugggggh. Okay, so "Isn't it pretty to think so?" is this sad, tired, ironic note in The Sun Also Rises. Brett tells Jake, "We could have had a damned good time together" and Jake says "Isn't it pretty to think so?" because their whole situationship was never going to work. It's not a positive thing; it's pure, bitter Lost Generation irony. Completely out-of-place in a song about how two people we're supposed to believe will actually work as a couple. This one drives me nuts, and I don't even like Hemingway. 0/10

happiness: "I hope she'll be a beautiful fool/ who takes my spot next to you" (Gatsby)--Saying this about an ex's future SO is so... off. Like, the reason why Daisy hopes her daughter will be a beautiful fool is because it's easy. The two situations have nothing to do with one another, and not in an interesting way. 1/10

The Albatross: whole song allusion to "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," but most notably "She's the albatross/ she is here to destroy you"--The albatross in the Rime is a good omen. The Mariner shoots is for no reason, and the albatross's death is the ostensible source of bad fortune. I wrote a whole separate post on this here. That said, culturally "albatross=bad omen" is common enough, so whatever. 3/10

I Hate It Here: "I will go to secret gardens in my mind/ people need a key to get to/ the only one is mine" -- I like this one a lot. Exactly the right vibe for the song, trying to escape something miserable by going somewhere pleasant. The key is a nice touch. Poor Archibald. 10/10

The Prophecy: "I got cursed like Eve got bitten" --No Taylor, that's not what happened. Famously, Eve was the biter in that situation. 0/10

Cassandra: whole song allusion -- correct me if I'm wrong (I haven't actually read the Illiad), but my understanding is that Cassandra died fairly far into the Trojan war, and not by burning. 4/10

[titansarmy]

I ALMOST DO IN THALIA'S PLAYLIST SHUT UPPPPP ????? CARDIGAN TOO??? MY TEARS RICOCHET AS A BONUS TRACK ????

whoever made that hoo characters but make it (taylor's version) and gave nico breathe..... that was an attack on jasicos for real