「 tanner buchanan. cis male. he/him. gay. 」
「 written by ; daisy. 29. she/her. pst. no known triggers. 」
“Oh great- another hate comment. Hopefully it’s something original this time.”
✦ COLE PRETORIUS ✦
Faceclaim: Tanner Buchanan
nickname(s) / goes by: Cole, his coworkers and dad teasingly call him “Hollywood”
Age: 21
birth date: May 14, 2003
birth place: Los Angeles
Pronouns: He/Him
Gender: Cis Male
Sexuality: Gay
Occupation: Waiter at the Cul-de-Sac Diner
Current Residence: A house in the suburbs of Merrock
arrival to merrock: one week ago- late December 2025
family: his father Dave Pretorius, mother is deceased
relationship status: single pringle
EXTRA STUFF
does your character have pets?: No
are there any connections to add to our page: his father Dave, who is in his mid 40’s.
did they attend / graduate from Merrock High School? if yes, what year did they graduate?: No
did they attend / graduate from Merrock Community College? if yes, what year did they graduate / what did they study?: No
“I’m fine, just leave me alone.”
Personality
Cole is a tough guy to crack at first, but underneath his exterior of pretending everything is fine until someone happens to recognize him, there is a young man who just wants to prove he’s more than his past mistakes.
Despite what social media might say about him after the fall out from Infinite Defeat crashing and burning, Cole is a kind person. He will not hesitate to help anyone who needs it and wants to be someone people can confide in. Years of red carpet interviews and talk shows have made his default setting be, “smile and you can make anyone like you”. He prides himself on being mostly confident when talking to people, even if that confidence has shattered a bit (a lot) since he moved. He is also very creative, wanting to shift gears from being an actor to pursuing his real passion of writing – especially short stories. Able to come up with characters and plot lines fast when something strikes him as inspiring, he puts his talent to use in his college classes or just for himself in his notebook.
As far as his flaws, the tabloids and social media could think up a few. The cutthroat industry of Hollywood has left Cole feeling like he needs to manipulate others to get what he wants. He is certainly trying to get past this to become a better person, one his dad could be proud of. Cole is also very emotional when his feelings do reveal themselves behind the mask he tries to protect himself with. The perfect fodder for hate when this happens, he often storms off after fighting with his dad or anyone else who he gets upset by. He also gets more expressive in his body and face when emotional, clenching his fists or jaw, his chin trembling as the faintest hint of oncoming tears or his body trembling. He fights hard to keep his crying at bay especially- he thinks it makes him seem weak to others.
Backstory
Cole Pretorius is the typical teen actor- angst-ridden, burnt out and desperately seeking an escape from both his physical demands and his hurt over his mother passing a few months before he turned 16 from cancer and his director father controlling his every move. When a high school student named Chase Williams goes to see him, it’s the perfect opportunity to get a break.
Chase asks Cole for help, asking if Cole can meet his friend group and tell them that Chase worked on the movie with him as part of Chase’s lie to hide the truth about the past summer from them. Cole asks for Chase to sneak him off set for a while in return.
Chase and Cole form an awkward but sweet friendship, and one day, online comments about the two of them looking a lot alike start flying after the pair are spotted together at the mall hanging out.
Chase freaks out, but the comments give Cole an idea: to switch places with Chase for a week. Chase is initially reluctant but agrees.
Unfortunately for Chase, Cole starts liking being a regular kid too much, and after a study date gone wrong where Chase’s friend Anna gets suspicious of him, Cole pushes Chase into the limelight. He tells everyone that Chase is the new star of Infinite Defeat and disappears.
When Chase tells everyone the truth via the paparazzi who go to his house, Cole is in hiding but hears it all online. He later meets with Chase on the set watching the crew pack up, since the movie production was shut down and Cole and Dave blacklisted in the industry due to everything that happened with the swap.
Cole apologizes to Chase and the two share a connection of friendship again before Cole leaves with his dad. Later on, Cole has a heartfelt conversation with Dave where he apologizes and his father tells him the news of their getting fired. Cole feels terrible and guilty for everything.
The AU Twist
“We traded our LA two bedroom house for a “fixer-upper” with peeling paint in a town nobody has heard of. At least nobody knows what we ran out here to get away from- yet.”
In this AU, Cole is 21 and still dealing with the fallout that encompassed his teenage years after Infinite Defeat. Overwhelmed by the comments online and memes about what happened, he’s spiraling. Depression hits him hard and he’s far from the vibrant young man he used to be. His father, ever more observant since not looking closely before caused more problems since Cole felt invisible to his dad unless they were filming a movie, notices this. It scares him, and Cole goes wide-eyed as Dave firmly tells him one day that they’re moving. To some town in Maine, all the way across the country.
Great.
✦ WANTED CONNECTIONS ✦
DAVE PRETORIUS (Father)
40’s-50’s. Famed film director.
