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oliverreedmasterass · 1 year

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Part 6!

As always, a MASSIVE thank you to @starcatcherkiszka for the fic idea!

In case you want something to listen to while you read: ✨Summer of 69 Playlist✨

Words: 4k

Warnings: language, mentions of war/guns

Synopsis: Greta Van Fleet somehow manages to travel back in time to the Summer of 69, during the Woodstock Art and Music festival. You can only imagine what hijinks they’re going to get up to.

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Jake was having the time of his life. The day seemed to zip past him as he screamed his head off to Country Joe McDonald, Santana, and John Sebastian. He had even started to buddy it up with some of the guys from Sly and the Family Stone, which was something Jake wished he could brag about to every person on the planet. As the sun started to lower over the horizon during Mountain’s set, Jake felt fully content with all the music he had been able to experience over the past two days. He could have done with a bit better food, since the berries and handfuls of nuts were hardly enough to keep his stomach satisfied, but it was a minor setback. He felt entirely in his element, and he was in no rush to get back to the present.

He had been thrown off guard that Josh, Danny, and Sam were already starting to think about returning back to 2023, especially since they had just traveled back in time. There was so much more that Jake needed to explore outside of the Woodstock festival: he wanted to try and find Cream, he wanted to see the Beatles play at Abbey Road, hell, he wanted to travel to San Francisco to see what the Haight was like. Sure, there was a lot going on for him in 2023, but he had stumbled across something magical and he didn’t want to let it go to waste. 2023 would be waiting for him in the future.

He wanted to share every moment with his brothers, but it really disappointed him that they didn’t seem to share the sentiment. Sure, they all had a ball playing on stage but, once the second day started, they had become a bunch of grouches. While he enjoyed his time mingling and sharing guitar tips with people, Josh, Sam, and Danny stood awkwardly off to the side. He caught them whispering amongst themselves a few times which sparked a bit of paranoia for Jake. Usually when they did that, he was in the dog house. Jake couldn’t possibly imagine what he had done but, then again, he usually never knew what he did wrong.

“He’s definitely hiding something from us,” Josh decided as he watched Jake peek over his shoulder at him from the stage and then snap his back head around to continue talking to Freddie Stone.

“If we all gang up on him, he’ll talk,” Sam started to plan. “We just have to make sure he doesn’t talk circles around us or run. I’ll hold him down, you guys smack him if we need to.”

“I’m not smacking Jake,” Danny shook his head. “At least, not yet. I’ll go and talk to him, I have a feeling he’ll share more with me than you two clowns.”

“He’s got a point,” Josh muttered. “Jake actually likes Danny.”

Danny left before he had to hear Sam whine that Jake did too like him, he just showed his affection differently for his brothers. He climbed up the stairs to the stage and placed a gentle hand on Jake’s shoulder, who tensed at the touch.

“What’s up?” Jake tried to sound composed, even though Danny had scared the shit out of him. “This is Freddie Stone,” he added, motioning to the guitarist for Sly and the Family Stone.

“Of course,” Danny gave a wide smile to Freddie and shook his hand.

“I gotta find Sly,” Freddie excused himself. “I’ll be back though, I don’t want to miss The Grateful Dead.”

“You and me both,” Jake said with a laugh. “Is everything okay?” He returned his attention back to Danny. Danny should have come up with a better game plan before approaching Jake: he really didn’t know the best way to accuse him of withholding important information from them about how to travel back to the future.

“Um, yeah,” Danny stumbled on his words. “We’re, uh, just a little bit tired is all.”

“You didn’t get enough sleep?” Jake cocked his head to the side.

“No, uh,” Danny’s eyes darted around for the right words to say. “I mean, we’re kinda tired of being here. Right now. Like, we, or, at least I, want to get back to Nashville. I kinda miss my bed.”

Danny shouldn’t have been surprised that Jake greeted his confession with a massive pout.

“You’re not enjoying yourself?” he asked. Danny nervously rubbed at the back of his neck.

“It’s not that, um, we’re just a bit concerned about how we’re going to get back home, is all. It seems like it’s not bugging you at all, so I was just a little curious what your plan was moving forward.”

Jake attempted to keep a straight face.

“I want to stay through Jimi Hendrix’s set,” he stated flatly. “Beyond that, I’m not quite sure what I want to do yet.”

“So you’re in no rush to get back to the future?”

“Nope.”

“Huh.” Danny looked troubled. He struggled to make eye contact with Jake, instead focusing intently on a tall light tower just off to the side of the stage. “We’re all pretty determined to find a way to get back, I take it you’re not gonna help us?”

Jake pursed his lips together. He hated seeing Danny acting like a nervous wreck, but he also really wanted them all to stay with him while he lived his best life in the 60s. He knew he was being selfish above all else, but he really didn’t want to share with his bandmates that he had found a beam of light that looked pretty promising coming from someone’s van the night before.

Jake had woken up right after Joan Baez finished her set early that morning. He sat upright in the dark and listened to the soft breeze rolling through the trees when it occurred to him that the rain had stopped. Everyone else was sound asleep in the van, but Jake wanted to get out for a stroll down by the stream to try and reflect on their performance, since the adrenaline was replacing his exhaustion again. He carefully exited out of the van and walked a couple hundred yards away, enjoying the damp, humid air on his face and the sounds of people singing around a bonfire in the distance. As he started to relive his memories of Sam opening their set with “Age of Man,” the people in the crowd singing along to “Light My Love,” and the thunderous applause after “The Weight of Dreams,” he saw a bright light in the distance.

“No way,” Jake murmured to himself. As he neared closer to the run down van tucked back in the woods, it became clear that the light was emitting out of the windows. Jake was at first skeptical that the van was just filled with a bunch of hippies who had a lot of good shit, but he could feel a familiar warmth coming from the van that brought him right back to the door in the studio hallway. Even though it was blinding, Jake cupped his hands around his eyes and tried to peer inside the windshield of the van. The only thing inside the van was the searing light. Jake had to slap himself on the cheek a few times to make sure that he wasn’t seeing things again. but no, the light was still there.

“This must be our ticket home,” he whispered to himself. He gazed at the van a bit longer, wondering if he should tell his brothers about it. He had a gut feeling that they would all insist they leave before Jake could even embark on his mission to hunt down Cream. He really didn’t want to do that on his own. So, at 4am, Jake made the executive decision to keep the van a secret until the time felt right. They still had a lot to do.

Back on the stage with Danny, Jake could tell that Danny was staring him down, trying to read his expression. He had left the poor drummer hanging for a while, and he could tell that the anticipation was eating Danny alive.

“I’m not gonna stop you from finding a way back home,” Jake decided, “but I’m not sure why you guys are so concerned about leaving. I mean, aren’t there other things you want to do?”

“The main reason I came here was to make sure you were safe,” Danny reminded Jake. “I didn’t necessarily want to travel back in time to Woodstock.”

“So none of this was worth it?” Jake couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“That’s not what I said,” Danny corrected him.

----

From behind the stage, Josh and Sam watched as Danny and Jake stood stiffly facing one another, Jake standing on his toes to try to get at eye level with Danny.

“I don’t think it’s going well,” Sam whispered to Josh.

“We should probably go in for backup,” Josh agreed with a sigh.

---

“What are you saying then?” Jake gave Danny a hard look. Danny looked on the brink of silently throwing his hands up in the air and stomping away. That was when Sam and Josh hurried to his side, holding him in place.

“Everything going okay?” Josh watched between the two. Danny looked a bit less tense with Josh and Sam by his side, but Jake on the other hand seemed to be nearly vibrating in place, he was feeling so many emotions at once. They were all ganging up on him, he should have seen it coming. It didn’t matter what he wanted, they were going to make sure they dragged his ass back to 2023 where they would waste their days away in the studio. Jake just couldn’t wrap his head around how none of them could see that they were basically on vacation. A really, really cool vacation.

“I’m staying here,” Jake declared before he could even process what he was saying. Josh studied his twin to try and figure out what was going on with him.

“Like, forever?” he guessed.

“Maybe.” Jake was the one to throw his arms up in the air and stomp away. He wanted to find Carlos Santana and talk with him more about guitar solos instead of getting heckled by his bandmates.

“Someone’s in a grumpy mood,” Sam whistled as Jake powered away from them.

“He was super defensive,” Danny shared between Sam and Josh. Sam felt bad about how upset Danny looked. It seemed like they had missed a lot of what happened between him and Jake. It was a surprise though: usually Jake was nothing but kind and understanding with Danny. Sam couldn’t fathom what Danny could have said to set him off.

“In what way?” Josh tried to prod Danny along.

“He was really unclear about what he wanted to do, and if he’ll help us find a way out of here. It sounds like, if he was given the option, he would want all of us to stay here and leave 2023 behind.”

“I think you mean, 2023 ahead,” Sam corrected Danny. “Sorry,” he apologized after Danny glowered in his direction.

“I feel like he’s forgotten what he’s leaving in 2023,” Josh thought hard. “Do our parents mean nothing to him?”

“He can hang out with them now, they’re just gonna be toddlers,” Sam thought aloud.

“I’ll try to talk to him a bit more,” Josh volunteered. He really hoped that he could get through to his brother in ways that Danny couldn’t.

----

Jake tried his best to enjoy The Grateful Dead’s set, but he was too heated from his confrontation to really take in “Mama Tried” or “Dark Star.” Instead, he was fretting on whether he had made the wrong decision, hiding the portal back to the future from his brothers. Danny made it abundantly clear that he had seen everything he wanted to see in 1969, and was ready to book it back to the comfort of his Nashville home. If Jake were in his shoes, he would have wanted to know where the portal was. But Jake also felt like Danny needed a bit of prodding to really enjoy things. He had to be pushed to take the LSD on the walk, he had to be convinced to play a set, he was just the kind of person who needed a push to live his life. Jake was pretty certain that he would be doing Danny a massive favor if they traveled to London and saw the Beatles perform. He knew Danny would eat that up, and there was no time like the present...or past.

As for Josh and Sam, Jake had no clue what was going on there. Josh had been pretty excited about everything, so Jake was stumped why he would want to leave so quickly. He had a hunch that Sam wanted to abandon ship only so he wouldn’t run into Joan Baez who, in his mind, was sure to interrogate him over why he missed her set.

“Talk about a bunch of ungrateful little asswipes,” he muttered to himself.

“What was that?” John Fogerty asked beside him. Jake blushed; he hadn’t realized he had spoken out loud.

“Nothing,” he was quick to reply. “I just said Jerry’s guitar kinda sounds out of tune.”

“You’re right,” John realized. “Good ear.”

Jake smiled and nodded at the Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman and then returned back to his brooding. He was glad that the stage was entirely dark, so it was hard for anyone to see how deep the creases were in his brow. That included Josh, who approached Jake without realizing just how ticked off he had become since he last saw him.

“What’s crackalackin, broski?” Josh tried to clear the air with his hands up in two shakas. Jake snapped around and gave Josh a look that Josh luckily couldn’t see well. If he could make out how red Jake’s eyes looked, he would have ran to the hills. “Not talking to me? Right on,” Josh continued.

“Why do you want to leave?” Jake cut Josh off, crossing his arms.

“Oh,” Josh seemed thrown off by Jake’s forwardness. “Well, I mean, I’d be more than happy to stick around for a bit longer. I just, ah, don’t want to get drafted.”

“You think you’re gonna get drafted?” Jake’s voice rose. He didn’t actually know if that was a genuine concern they should all have but, in that moment, he wanted to believe that it was a ridiculous excuse.

“I can’t go to ‘Nam, not after reading The Things They Carried.,” Josh explained. “ I won’t deal with that, Jake.”

“That was a fictional book,” Jake stared at his brother. “And you can just lie and say you’re color blind.”

“I don’t think it works like that,” Josh argued. “Plus, how would I fake being color blind?”

“How can you really prove that someone is color blind?” Jake asked back. Josh tsked; Jake did have a point.

“I just want you to have a good time here,” Jake’s voice softened for a brief moment. “I don’t understand why you can’t slow down and enjoy everything.”

“I did that yesterday,” Josh put a hand on Jake’s shoulder. “Now I need to start thinking ahead. Can you imagine Sam with a gun?”

“Just, drop Vietnam, okay?” Jake asked. Even if he really wasn’t paying an ounce of attention to The Grateful Dead’s set, it was really killing the mood.

“Jake,” Josh tried to find his eyes in the dark. “I know you about as well as I know myself. And I know that you know how to get out of here.”

Dammit, Jake thought to himself. He should have known it was impossible to keep secrets from Josh. They really did have some kind of telepathy that at times could be a blessing but, more often than not, felt like a curse to Jake. He really didn’t want to fess up, but he also knew that there was no talking himself out of it either. So much for making sure Josh, Danny, and Sam all got to enjoy their time in 1969.

“There’s a bus,” Jake’s voice felt disconnected from his body. “It’s out in the woods near the stream, probably about a half a mile away from where Dave’s van is parked. I found it last night while taking a walk when you were all asleep. I’m not positive that it will take you back to 2023, but it’s got light flooding out of it that looks exactly like what was coming out of the door.”

“There we go,” Josh patted Jake on the back. “Was that so hard?”

Jake wanted to roundhouse kick Josh in the head for his condescending tone, but he grit his teeth instead.

“Why hide that from us, Jake?” Josh had to ask. He was really disappointed in his brother. Danny was bound to get an ulcer the size of a tic tac if they stayed in 1969 one more day. Jake shrugged and then realized that he had to talk since Josh couldn’t see him in the dark.

“It was stupid,” he admitted. “I just thought we’d be better off enjoying our time here. I knew you all would book it the moment you knew there was a way to escape.”

“How about this,” Josh proposed. “You take us to the van, just so we can make sure the portal is still there, and then I’ll stay here with you until you want to come back? I can’t say what Sam and Danny will want to do, but I won’t leave your side.”

Jake couldn’t form the right words to tell Josh how much that meant to him. Having Josh with him was really all that he needed.

“Sounds like a plan,” was the best he could say. He felt Josh put a hand on his shoulder and give it a few taps before steering him off the stage. They met Sam and Danny at the bottom of the steps, and Danny once more was trying to avoid eye contact with Jake. “I’m really sorry,” Jake’s voice cracked a bit as he stared down at his friend. “I shouldn’t have talked to you like that, it was really uncool of me.”

“You can say that again,” Sam interjected before Danny could accept Jake’s apology. Danny had told him everything that had gone down between him and Jake at the side stage and, with that information fresh, Sam felt livid. Danny held a hand up to keep Sam from getting into a yelling match with Jake and nodded towards the guitarist.

“I accept your apology.”

“Jake knows how to get out of here,” Josh announced.

“I knew it!” Sam couldn’t help but shout, which caused Jake to wince. He felt like Sam was seconds away from throwing a fist at his face. It wouldn’t matter though; what hurt more was the stare Danny was giving Jake. He looked as if he had just heard that Jake ran over his dog and then put the car in reverse to do it again.

“It’s a recent development,” Jake lied to try and lessen the hurt.

“No it’s not,” Josh clarified. “Just own up that you did something shitty, Jake.”

“Fine,” Jake sighed. “I’m sorry for being a shitty person.”

“Apology maybe accepted,” Danny said under his breath.

“I’ll take you there,” Jake decided. He mostly wanted to break out of the circle they had formed: he hated that all of their judgmental eyes were glued to him. He was a lot more at ease walking a few paces ahead of them, towards the stream. Sure, he could hear Sam calling him an asshole behind his back, but that was to be expected. As the youngest sibling, it was Sam’s obligation to be the meanest to Jake.

Jake wasn’t sure if he felt relieved or disappointed that the light was still flooding out of the van when they approached it.

“It’s kinda crazy that no one else has found this,” Josh mused as he walked past Jake to study the car.

“They probably did, they were just tripping balls so they didn’t realize the light was actually real,” Danny said, joining Josh’s side.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I want to get back to my self-driving car and drink a big old bottle of 21st century Corona,” Sam announced. Jake wanted to protest, but he silently watched as Sam made his way to the van’s side door and reached to tug it open.

“I’m gonna stay with Jake,” Josh spoke up before Sam could leave. “Us being here means a lot to him, even if we could be drafted into the US military.”

“I still don’t think you have anything to worry about,” Jake protested.

“It’s your call, you can do whatever you want, but you are going to miss some pretty good acts,” Josh looked between Sam and Danny. “Joe Cocker, The Band, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young are all playing tomorrow.”

“And Jimi Hendrix,” Jake added.

“And Jimi Hendrix,” Josh nodded.

Danny and Sam stood by the car door and studied each other.

“It was pretty cool to see Santana earlier,” Danny admitted.

Sam gave one more look at the door handle and then turned away. “I do like Crosby et al.”

“How about a compromise,” Danny took up the role of the moderator, as always, moving back towards Jake and Josh. Jake motioned for him to give his proposition. “We stay for the last day, and then take off Monday morning. And that means all of us.”

Jake thought it over. He still thought they were crazy to not want to explore more around 1969, but he also was starting to understand why they wanted to get back to the future. Just thinking about the fact that they would be on the grounds for another 24 hours made Jake’s stomach groan in protest. A guy could only have so many cashews in a day.

“Agreed,” he said, extending a hand for Danny to shake. Danny grasped it and pumped their arms up and down once. “Pleasure doing business with you,” Jake couldn’t help but joke.

“I want to shake on it too,” Sam came back to Jake’s side.

“I know you spit in your hand,” Jake shook his head at his younger sibling.

“Damn,” Sam cursed. He had been caught red-handed.

The sound of Creedence Clearwater Revival opening their set captured all of their attention. Jake tapped his tennis shoe in the mud to “Born on the Bayou” and could hear Josh humming along as well.

“Well,” he said, “should we head back into the crowd?”

“If I remember from my dad’s concert DVD, we’ve got a long night ahead of us,” Danny shared. “We’d better find a spot where we can get comfy.”

“I want to find the guy with the bongos from earlier,” Josh stated. “He was fun.”

“Good luck finding him,” Danny snorted.

“Just because you said that, I am gonna find him,” Josh sounded determined. Danny threw back his head and groaned at Josh’s stubbornness.

“Just enjoy the music,” Jake shook his head at Josh. “The bongo guy will find you if you’re really meant to cross paths.”

“That’s beautiful, Jakey,” Josh wiped a fake tear from his eye.

“Come on,” Sam motioned for them to join him as he moved back towards the stage. “I don’t want to miss ‘Green River.’”

“Is that Joan Baez?” Jake couldn’t help but call out, pointing over Sam’s head. Without a moment’s hesitation, Sam let out a mouse-like squeak and dove behind a tree, landing in the grass with a thud.

“Is she gone?” Sam’s voice was muffled since his face was pressed into the soil.

“He’s just messing with you, Sam,” Danny called to him.

Sam pushed himself back upright, spitting out some grass in the process, and glared at Jake while he brushed the foliage off of his shirt.

“You’re on thin ice, pal,” he tried to sound as intimidating as possible. Jake could only laugh in response to his younger brother’s threat. He was bound to use the Joan Baez prank on him many more times over the course of the night. Sam was going to regret ever calling him an asshole behind his back.

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