#bestie is struggling to get the pictures to show up on the computer since the internet is gone

[apocripha-0]

Ugh dumbass in my group project is asking why my slide is empty. He didn't even know it was mine. All he had to say was oh.

[goldensstateofgrace]

- Love Along The Way-   Chapter I

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist | Asks/ Lmk what you thought | 

Series Summary:  Reader joins the band in writing songs for their third album (Youngblood) and love finds her along the way. 

Chapter Summary: Y/n is working in the studio when Calum walks in on her writing ‘Babylon’ and it goes from there. 

A/N:  SURPRISE BESTIES!!! IT’S HERE!! AHH i’m so happy with this chapter!! I hope you all love this series as much as i love writing it!! All I am asking is that you give me your patience between chapters because i am a slow writer and i’ve been going through a hard time mentally. 

Warnings: talk of cheating, mom reader, heartbreak, cancer ( not in detail), lmk if i missed anything! 

Word count: 6k

I hope you guys enjoy!! I worked very hard on this and I’m super proud of it!! 

Happy reading!! - G

You’d had these lyrics stuck in your head, replaying on a loop for a while now, but hadn’t had any time to actually get them down on paper. 

You weren’t going to lie, this last year has been a clusterfuck.  From Easton breaking up with you,  basically telling you he found someone else and that he wants nothing to do with you or Elijah, to not being able to write because you’ve been transitioning Elijah into preschool (he was not having it.) It was safe to say it had been a very rough year for you. 

When you did sit down and try to write, nothing would come to mind. All of your anger and heartbreak were there and ready to be used to make beautiful music others could relate to, but you just couldn’t come up with anything. Well, besides those lyrics, it was a longshot trying to come up with anything for that either. 

Maybe it was still too fresh, and maybe you were still heartbroken, but you just needed to do something besides sit in bed wallowing in your self pity. 

Of course, Elijah didn’t know what was happening. He just knew ‘daddy’ left and that he hasn’t been back. You didn’t have the guts or the courage to break his heart by telling him ‘daddy’ wasn’t coming back. He was three, he wouldn’t understand, but it also broke your heart all over again when he asked in his tiny curious voice ‘da-ddy?’ 

What were you supposed to say, “I'm sorry baby, but ‘daddy’ doesn’t love us anymore and he’s not coming back?” No, you weren’t going to do that to him. 

But as you sit there on the dark studio couch, the lyrics on the tip of your tongue, it's like you can’t get anything out. You have them right there in front of you, your black bass guitar sitting in your lap as you strum the bass line softly and hum along until you finally try and sing out the lyrics. 

“We said we’d both love harder than we knew we could go,” you sang softly into the empty room, thinking back to nights when you laid next to Easton, talking about how much you loved each other and how neither of you would ever stop because you loved each other more and more everyday. 

“But still knowing when to let go- no” you shake your head, not liking how that sounded.  “But still the hardest part is knowing when to let go” nodding, you scratch out your previous lyrics and replace them before you go back to picking at the cords, finding where you left off. 

You were so focused on the lyrics, mumbling to yourself and scratching out lyrics and replacing them you didn’t hear the studio door open. 

You were struggling on a particular verse, mumbling to yourself as you read off the lyrics written in what looks like chicken scratch in the notebook layed out in front of you. 

“You wanted to go higher, higher, higher, we-” but you stopped, stumped on what should come next. You sing what you already have out, trying to come up with anything but fall back into the couch cushions groaning when you don’t. 

“We burn too bright, now the fire’s gone, watch it all fall down” a voice sings out, startling you, and you let out a gasp. Looking up at the tall curly headed man standing at the door, your brows furrow. You were supposed to have this studio for two hours. He was dressed in a pair of basketball shorts, and a ‘The tonight show, Starring Jimmy Fallon’ gray shirt. A pair of Vans covered his feet and tattoos covered his arms. 

“Just thought I'd suggest something that came to mind,” the accented man voices, walking down the small step from the door and down where you are. You watch as he takes a seat on the small black loveseat against the wall across from yours. 

You close your eyes and sing the words in your head, strumming the bass as you do. “Thanks, that’s actually really helpful,” you tell him, writing it down. “How long were you standing there?” you ask him, looking over his dark curly hair and down to his brown eyes that look over you just as you are him. 

“Just a minute or two. Didn’t expect anyone to be in here, the band is supposed to have booked it for a few hours today.” 

You look down at your watch hearing his words and gasp at the time.You were almost twenty minutes late to pick up Elijah from preschool. 

“Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I lost track of time” you tell him, quickly placing the bass back on its stand in the corner next to the couch and packing your notebook and music sheets in your bag. 

“It’s ok, happens to the best of us,” his deep accented voice carries towards you as you see him shrug his shoulder out of the corner of your eye. “I’m Calum by the way,” he introduces himself, holding out his hands as you move to walk past him. 

“Nice to meet you, I’m Y/n and also very late to -” you hesitate, not wanting to tell a stranger you just met about your son. “ To a dinner” you finish, shaking his hand before walking around him and to the door. 

Your hand is on the handle and pulling it open, before you hesitate, awkwardly turning over your shoulder to say, “It was nice to meet you, thank you for the lyrics,” you smile at him. 

He nods, sending you a friendly smile. “Any time”. 

You watch his eyes roam over you before you wave and head out, a smirk playing on your lips. 

Quickly, you make it to your car, driving 10 over the speed limit and making it to the preschool near your house in record time. You run up the sidewalk, signing Elijah out at the front desk before making your way down the hall to his classroom. 

He’s playing blocks with two other kids who happen to be siblings, Avery and Jase, not even paying you any mind, too engrossed in building a tall tower just for it to fall down landing all over the play mat. 

“Elijah, mommy’s here,” his teacher, Miss. Rachel, calls him when she sees you in the doorway. You watch as his head quickly turns your way, a bright smile spreading across his chubby cheeks. 

“Mommy!” he squeals, standing to his feet and running to you. His small arms wrap around your thighs, his cheeks squished as he looks up at you with his bright smile. 

“Hi baby! Did you have fun today?” You smile, squatting down to his level and squeezing him to your chest as you place kisses all over his face. 

He nods against you, pulling back as he tells you all about how he painted you a picture but that you had to wait to see it because it had to dry overnight. 

“I can’t wait to see it, baby! We’ll have to hang it on the fridge” you tell him as you grab his bag off the hook, telling him to go help clean up the blocks and a few cars that were laying out when you see that the parents of Avery and Jase are also here. 

When he’s all done you pick him up, placing him on your hip as you walk out to the car, his head resting on your shoulder as his eyes fall heavy. You know he’ll fall asleep the minute you start driving. 

You load him into his car seat and buckle him in before heading down the street, taking a few left turns and passing tall, two story gated houses before you pull into your own gated driveway. You bought this house with Easton, but only you signed the mortgage, so it was easy for him to move out. No need to sign paperwork or go to court. You’re so thankful for that. 

You wanted a safe neighborhood for Elijah to grow up in, and this is it. You moved in when he was a newborn, you did have to sign an NDA because some celebrity lived in one of the houses across from you, but you'd never seen them so you didn’t know who it was.

As you expected, when you went to grab Elijah out of his car seat he was out like a light, his mouth open as he rested the side of his tanned forehead on the side of the padded car seat. 

Smiling softly at his sleeping form, you gently unbuckled him and rested him on your chest as you walked into your house and to the couch. You had a net that attached to one end of your couch that stopped about mid center of the cushions to stop him from rolling off. He doesn’t roll around in his sleep often, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. You place him behind it and lay his favorite blanket over him before you walk into the kitchen to start on dinner. 

--------

It’s been a week since you ran late in the studio and Calum walked in on you. For some odd reason, you couldn’t get him out of your head. You had barely even talked to the guy but yet he was stuck in your head. His lyrics were stuck, replaying in your mind. He had only stood there for a minute or two, but yet the lyrics he sang went so well with yours. 

You were back in the same studio today, placing the finishing touches on the lyrics before you recorded the demo for it and eventually sold it to an artist or band to make their own. 

You look up, your brows furrowing when you hear loud laughter out in the hall, but you brush it off and finish setting up your computer on the panel so you could record the demo when you were done with the lyrics. 

Standing, you make your way into the booth, setting up a stool and pulling the bass guitar and it’s stand into the booth as well. You didn’t hear the door open, or the four laughing men walk into the room until you go to step back into the studio where the panel is. 

Your brows furrow when your eyes meet Calum’s brown ones, his face showing shock before it turns into a bright smile as his cheeks scrunch up. It reminds you of Elijah’s. You know you weren’t late to pick him up or running over your studio time because you booked the studio until lunch; it was only 10:30am. 

“We really gotta stop meeting like this,” Calum jokes with you, his bright smile making something flutter in you. 

“But this time it’s not my fault,” you tell him, smiling and looking at the three other very tall men standing behind him. 

The tall blonde with blue eyes and curly hair that ends at his ears smiles at you, showing off his dimples, “I’m Luke, it’s nice to meet you.” he introduces. 

You smile politely. “It’s nice to meet you too, I'm Y/n.” 

“Oh we know,” the red head chuckles. His hair is clearly dyed, but it suits him. His smile is bright and contagious. “Cal over here couldn’t stop talking about you and how amazing of a songwriter you are. I’m Ashton,” he tells you, holding out his hand for you to shake. 

You quirked an eyebrow up in Calum’s direction. “Is that so,” you tease, watching as his cheeks tint a shade of pink while you shake Ashton’s hand. 

“Oh yeah,” the shorter blonde one speaks up. “He even looked you up, wanted to know if you were selling that song you were working on. I’m Michael, but you can call me Mikey.” 

“Well you’re in luck, I was just about to record the demo for it. But if you’re interested you can have a look at the finished lyrics,” you tell them, pulling out the pages of printed lyrics from your bag.

They all nod, sitting down on the couches. You hand Calum the papers, smiling down at him before you take a seat at the panel, watching as they all huddle around Calum to read the lyrics. 

A chorus of ‘holy shit’s’ and ‘fuck that’s good’ sound as they finally put the paper down and stare at you. 

“So, you like it?” you ask. 

“Do we like it?” Ashton asks incredulously, looking at the boys and shaking his head in a way that says he can’t believe you asked that. 

“Yeah, y/n. We like it.” Calum tells you. “We're working on our third album right now and I think it would be great to add it to the album,” he says, looking at the other guys as they nod along in agreement. 

“That’s great, we can sign all of the paperwork soon.” you say, excited you don’t have to record the demo now. It’s always the hardest part. “I wrote a bit of a bass line, but nothing else so do whatever with it.” 

“We actually have something to ask you,” Ashton says, nudging Cal in the arm. Cal glares at him with a look like ‘knock it off’. 

“We were talking after I played some of the other songs you’ve written.You’re an amazing songwriter and we wanted to know if you wanted to help us write our album?” he asks, a bit shyly you notice. 

You’ve never written with someone or a band, not because you didn’t want to, you’ve just never had the opportunity. The only reason you would even consider turning this down was Elijah; you couldn’t take this opportunity if it was going to keep you from him. 

You weren’t really keen on telling people you barely knew about your son, but if you wanted to work with them and still have enough time for Elijah they needed to know. 

“Look,” you sigh, watching their shoulders deflate a bit and their hopeful expressions drop a tad. “I would love to, but you need to know I have a 3 year old  son, and I can’t have this taking me away from him. I promised myself when I got pregnant that I would always choose him over anything. Even if it is my dream. So,” you prompt, “if we can work around me having time with him then I’m in.”  

They all assure you that they’d help you make time for him. Ashton really hit home with you when he tells you, “I totally understand you wanting to make time for him, I grew up with only my mom and my two little siblings. We’ll make sure you get time with him.” he smiles softly at you, a knowing but sad look in his eyes. 

You smiled at him softly, thanking him and the guys, “I grew up with only my mom too. It was hard, but she was the best mother and role model. She was the strongest woman I know.” 

“Was?” Calum asked softly. Looking at you with gentle but curious eyes. 

You nod, smiling sadly. “She passed away a year and a half after Elijah was born. Breast cancer. It was really hard.” The memories come rushing back, and tears well up in your eyes, but you push them down, not wanting to cry. 

You all talked for a while, working out when you were available and what times it would be good to meet at the studio. It was when you were all packing up that Ashton proposed a chill night. “We should all hang out and have a night where we get to know each other better, drink and just talk.” 

There was a chorus of agreements, but when you hadn’t said anything they all stared at you waiting for your answer. 

“That actually sounds like fun, I'll be there. Just let me know a time and place,” you tell them smiling. You haven’t had a night to yourself since before Easton left, so you were long overdue. 

Calum offered to host it at his house, before you all exchanged numbers and left for the day. You planned on picking up Elijah early and taking him out for ice cream. It was his favorite treat and it was pretty hot today, so you decided it was a good day to indulge. 

You were just pulling up outside of the preschool when your phone vibrated in the cup holder next to you. Pulling it out, you see the message notification reading ‘Calum Hood’ swiping it and unlocking your phone the text pulls up.  

That should work for you, Elijah has been going to sleep around that time and you should be able to get Jessie to come over and watch him for a few hours while you’re over there. His address sticks out to you, not because you thought you’ve heard of it before but because it was basically your address just a few numbers off. 

Maybe he’s why you had to sign the NDA. He most likely has had fans coming to his home and waiting around to even get a glimpse of him in the past and didn’t want this address to get out to the public. 

Quickly sending him back a text, you put your phone back in the cupholder and go in to grab Elijah. 

------

The next day you were up and finishing off the last ‘Mickey Mouse’ pancake for a late breakfast. You were surprised Elijah stayed asleep past 8am, it was currently almost 11am and you were just about to go check on him and tell him breakfast was ready when he came padding around the corner rubbing his eyes with his tiny fists. 

“Well good morning little man,” you smile down at him, placing blueberries on his ‘Mickey Mouse’ pancake for eyes, chocolate chips for the mouth and a blackberry as the nose all adhered with whipped cream. Elijah was allergic to strawberries, or otherwise you would have added those in somehow. 

You woke to a message from Calum, replying to your message from last night. It was only sent about forty minutes before you woke up, but you didn’t see it until you were in the middle of making breakfast. 

You typed out a reply with one hand while flipping a normal round pancake for you and sending it. 

 You couldn’t figure out why you were smiling. He was a very attractive man, nothing like the guys you’ve dated in the past. Maybe that’s why you’re attracted to him. He’s not like the other guys who have treated you badly in the past; he’s nice and caring and didn’t run the second you mentioned you had a son. 

When you and the guys had been talking yesterday in the studio he asked to see a photo of Elijah. He told you how adorable he was, and how he looked just like you. Calum seems to be such a genuine and down to earth guy and if you weren’t careful you would fall for him. And hard. 

Carefully, you cut Elijah’s pancake up in little bites for him to eat, and pour a small amount of syrup over his and yours. 

You watch as he uses his green plastic fork. He has his mouth wide open the whole time as he carefully brings it up to his mouth. 

You cheer and kiss his cheek happily when he looks up at you excited when he got it in his mouth without dropping it. 

“Look at you! You don’t even need mommy anymore, you're such a big boy!” you smile down at him, taking a bite of your own pancake. He laughs his small contagious laugh, picking up another piece of pancake. 

“Baby, I need to talk to you about something” you say to him, making him look up at you with his wide brown eyes, his fork just at the entrance of his mouth. 

“T-trouble?” he asks you over his chewing, still looking up at you. 

“No, baby,” you chuckle, wiping the corner of his mouth where there was a bit of syrup threatening to drip down on his pj’s. “You’re not in trouble.” 

“But I have a big job.’ you tell him, “ A band asked me to help them write music for their album, so it might not always be me picking you up from daycare, it might be Miss. Jessie sometimes, is that ok?” 

He nods excitedly. “Yeah! Mi-miss Jessie is nice to m-me!” he stutters a bit as he gets excited. 

“Okay, also, i have a friend and he invited us over to swim! Do you want to go swimming?” you ask him as you sip the last of your coffee before eating the last bit of your pancakes. 

“Yeah!” he shouts. He’s been taking swimming lessons since he was two, he knows what to do if he falls into the pool. He loves the water too, he's a little fish when it comes to the water. 

You both finish eating and while you rinse off the dishes and place them in the dishwasher Elijah runs into his room screaming excitedly about going swimming. You laugh, shaking your head at his antics before following after him when you’re done loading the dishwasher. 

You change his diaper into one of those swimming ones with cars on it, before pulling a pair of yellow swim shorts over the diaper.  When you have him changed, you pack his diaper bag with a change of clothes, an extra swim and regular diaper along with sunscreen and his yellow bucket hat. 

You double check you have everything before you put his sandals on and bring him into your room so you can change into your blue bikini. It had high rise bottoms and the cups actually covered all of your breasts. You throw on a white cover up before sliding your own sandals on and heading out. 

Since his house is literally one house down from yours and across the street, you decide to just walk over. 

The sun was beating down on you as you walked out of the front door and locked it behind you. You text Calum that you’re on your way over before putting your phone in the diaper bag and heading down your driveway. 

It only takes you a minute to walk down the sidewalk and cross the street to his house. Checking your phone to see if he messaged you back when you’re outside the black gate, he did, telling you the gate was open and just to come in. 

You push open the gate, closing it behind you once you’re on the other side. There’s a black range rover parked in front of the open garage where you heard what sounded like an air pump. 

Walking towards the garage and around the black SUV, you see Calum’s familiar dark curls  as he kneels on the concrete blowing up a small turtle pool floaty. 

“Hey,” you greet Calum as you place Elijah down on his feet and squat behind him, pulling up his yellow shorts from where they fell down on the walk over. 

Looking up, you’re greeted with that bright white smile you’ve seen a few times at the studio but never fails to warm your heart. 

“Hey, I'm glad you guys could come!” Calum greets you, plugging the hole on the floaty before he turns off the air pump. He stands up just to walk a few steps in front of you and kneel down to Elijah’s level. “It’s nice to meet you Elijah, I’m Calum,”  he introduces himself sweetly as he smiles down at your son. 

Elijah giggles, turning into you as hiding his face on your leg. “Don’t be shy, baby,” you chuckle, running your hand over the back of his dark hair. You smile up at Calum, his face showing nothing but happiness and  eyes  lit up with pure adoration. 

“Can you say hi? Say, ‘Hi Calum’” you whispered in Elijah's ear, chuckling when  he shook his head and held on tighter to you. 

 “The tickle monster is gonna get you,” you sing out, your hands unwinding from him and to his sides where you tickle him. Elijah lets out his high pitched laughter, giggling at  you to stop as he tries to squirm out of your hold. 

“Hi!” he squeals loudly and you stop tickling him. Elijah turns around to face Calum, smiling up at him as he says, “Hi, Ca- calum.” 

“Hi, buddy. Are you ready to go swimming?”��

Elijah shouts out a ‘Yes!’ throwing his hands in the air and singing the song he was singing this morning about going swimming. 

“Sw-imming swimm-ing i going swimming” he shouts, causing you and Cal to break out in laughter. 

----- 

Calum was amazing. 

He was so sweet and caring with Elijah. Playing the same game over and over for almost an hour just to hear Elijah’s loud laughter. 

Catching your three year old over and over when he learned it was okay to jump into the pool and dunking him when he caught him just to throw him a few feet away in the water. 

Elijah’s loud laugher reverberated around the backyard and the trees that were planted against the walls encasing the closed off area. You felt pure joy at hearing his laughter. You knew he was feeling down with everything that’s happened with Easton, and hearing his laughter reminded you just what you have to live for, what’s waiting for you on good days and bad. 

Elijah is your whole world, your little sunshine, and you couldn’t imagine life without him. 

Looking over at the pool where Elijah and Calum were splashing each other, big contagious smiles spread across their faces and laughter flowing from their chests, you can’t help but smile. Watching them warms your heart. 

You were sitting on a couch in the shade next to the pool, Duke in your lap sleeping peacefully until Ashton’s loud voice invaded the bubble you all had been wrapped up in for the last four hours. 

“Hey, why wasn’t I invited?” he fake pouts as he stands in the doorway of the sliding glass doors. His hands rest on his hips as his eyes flicker around to all of you. 

“Thought you were with Kaykay,” Calum calls over to him, shrugging as he holds Elijah to his chest. That makes your heart flutter, seeing how tightly he holds him and how Elijah wraps his arms around Calums neck, a huge smile playing on his face. 

“Again,” Elijah giggled out. 

“Again? Ok,” Calum chuckled, throwing Elijah up in the air, his contagious laughter ringing out before he fell into the water below. You watch as Elijah swims to the surface,wiping his face of water and calling out ‘Again!’

Time flew by, because the last time you checked your phone was when you all sat down to have a bit of lunch around two, and it was now almost four thirty. 

Ashton made his way over to the long outdoor couch you were sitting on and took a seat in the spot next to you. 

“Is that Elijah?” he asks you softly, his eyes trained on Calum and Elijah who were spinning in the water before Calum launched your son in the air again as he let out a squeal of happiness. 

“Yeah,” you chuckled. “That’s E. He’s a handful.” 

Ashton smiles, letting out a deep chuckle, “I bet. He’s adorable, he looks just like you,” he tells you. 

“Thank you. When he was a baby he looked so much like my mom it was crazy.” you smile softly to yourself, remembering when you found old pictures of your mom and put one side by side with one of Elijah’s. They were practically identical. 

You were brought out of your thoughts when a small wet body climbed up in your lap and laid his head on your shoulder tiredly. “Are you tired, E?” you ask him softly, moving his wet hair - he needs a haircut - off his forehead before placing a light kiss upon it. 

He nods tiredly against you, his small hand lazily stroking the top of Duke’s head. The dog  had moved to  cuddle into the side of your thigh when Ashton sat down. 

Calum appeared in front of you, a towel wrapped around his hips as he smiled down at you softly, holding out a towel for you. “Thank you,” you tell him, taking the towel and wrapping it around Elijah to try and keep him warm and dry him off. 

“Should we just call Luke and Mikey and tell them to come over now? Since we're already here?” Ashton asks as Calum sits on the ‘L’ part of the couch next to your legs. “Did you drive here?” he asks you, his brows furrowed. “I didn’t see your car out there when I pulled in.” 

“Oh, no,” you shake your head. “I live across the street.” 

Ashtons eyebrows raise in surprise before he lets out a chuckle, “wow, small world.” 

You nod, “if you guys want to call Luke and Mikey that’s okay with me, but the babysitter I have  for E can’t come until 7, she has a family thing.” you tell them, looking down at the small boy in your arms who has fallen asleep against your shoulder. 

“That’s fine. If you want you can go lay him down in my bed? So he can take a nap until your babysitter gets to your house,” Calum tells you softly. 

“Yeah,” you nod. “That would be good.” you tell him, smiling up at him gently. 

You all head inside, Elijah on your hip sleeping soundly against your shoulder as Calum leads you down the hall just off the kitchen and to the last door on the right. It was nothing like you’d picture his room to be. 

The  walls are white, and there’s a tv hanging on the gray accent wall in front of the bed. The bed is made with the white fluffy comforter folded where it meets the firm, white pillows at the top of the bed. The floor is clear, save a few cords to the tall lamp in the corner of the room and a charger. 

“Bathroom’s through there,” he tells you pointing to the open door next to the tv. 

“Thank you, Cal,” you tell him sincerely. Thankful for him offering to let E nap in his room. 

“Yeah, of course y/n. Make yourself at home,” he smiles before leaving you and walking back to the living room. 

You unwrap the towel from around Elijah, laying it out on the bed before placing your sleeping boy down gently. You change him into his regular diaper, causing him to whine and thrash around before you change him into a pair of navy blue cotton shorts and  a plain white shirt . He quiets down, falling back to sleep as you move him up to the pillows, forming a sort of wall around him with a pillow on both sides of his body before you gently place a kiss to his forehead. 

Picking up the diaper bag you walk into the bathroom, which is just as clean as the bedroom, to change yourself. 

You untie your bikini top and reach into the bag, only to find a swim diaper and the sunblock. You swore quietly, thinking back to when you packed the bag and realizing you didn’t pack a pair of extra clothes for yourself. 

Quickly you put your top and your white cover up back on, swearing at yourself in your head for forgetting clothes before walking out of the bathroom quietly so you didn’t wake Elijah up. 

You padded down the hallway and into the kitchen where Cal was sitting at the counter as Ashton rummaged through the fridge talking about a song he started writing. 

Calum looks up when you appear in the kitchen doorway, his eyes flickering over your body as his brows furrow, “You didn’t change?” he points out more than asks. 

You nod, biting your lip as your cheeks blush. “Uh, yeah. I forgot to pack any clothes for myself,” you tell him, smiling shyly, “But i’m ok in this,” you assure him. 

“Are you sure?” he asks, concerned. “I can watch Elijah while you go home to change-” he pauses, “or actually I think Mali might have left some clothes behind when she was here last.” he tells you, hopping off his stool and walking down the hall again. 

Mali? Is that his girlfriend? 

Your stomach fills with dread. Just when you thought you finally met someone that didn’t run at the mention of your son, he probably has a girlfriend. Just look at him, of course he has a girlfriend. 

“She’s always buying way too many new clothes while she’s here, she can’t fit them all back into her suitcase when she needs to leave,” he tells you chuckling as he holds out a pair of grey sweat pants and a green hoodie. 

You hesitate a second, not really wanting to wear his girlfriend's clothes. But the chill in his house is causing goosebumps to appear on your arms. “Thank you,” you say, taking them from his hands and walking back down the hall to change rooms and check on Elijah. 

----- 

“No,” Luke sighs, shaking his head.

“Yeah,” you nod, your mood a stark difference from what it was an hour ago. “He came home one day and said ‘I found someone else, I don’t love you and I'm leaving’ he didn’t even mention Elijah. Just packed up all of his shit while I sat on the couch crying trying to wrap my head around what was happening.” 

“From the moment I found out I was pregnant it felt like he was on a different planet. We didn’t match anymore, we didn’t have that spark. If I'm being honest with myself that spark died out a long time ago, I just didn’t want to admit it. He was obviously not excited about the pregnancy- and I wasn't either at first, but when I heard E’s heartbeat for the first time-” you pause, “I can’t even describe it. It was like all my motherly instincts clicked in and I loved him more than I could ever have imagined,” you sigh, smiling at the memory of  the day you heard Elijah’s heartbeat. 

“I kept telling myself that Easton would come around once Elijah got here. It never really happened though. We were both in our twenties, he wanted to party, and drink and just have fun, and he did, and I stayed home with a screaming newborn while he was out living it up.” shrugging you looked up at all of them, smiling softly. 

When you came out from changing into the clothes Calum lent you, all the guys were in the kitchen talking. Luke brought Chinese and you all just sat around talking for hours. You learned a lot of eye opening things. Elijah went home about an hour after they all got there, Jessie coming over to grab him before going back over to your house.  

They formed their band when they were still in highschool, which was crazy to you. How they were still friends amazed you; you had lost contact with all your highschool friends when you moved to LA. 

Ashton was the oldest out of all of them. Mikey told the story of how he messaged Ashton on facebook messaged Ashton asking if he wanted to join the band. You laughed so hard at how the story was told, it was like one of those boards with all the strings connecting different things that all come to one big conclusion. They were all over the place. 

Then it was Mikey and Calum in the middle and Luke was the baby. They were all amazing, genuine guys and you couldn’t have been happier to call them your friends. 

You somehow had gotten on the topic of siblings at one point. Mikey doesn’t have any, but he was chessy when he said, “yeah but I have these guys as my brothers,” all the guys ahh’d and called him out on being cheesy but you could tell they were family. 

Ashton talked more about his sister and brother, telling you about how his dad walked out on him and then his mom met his stepdad and they had Lauren and Harry before he eventually walked out too. Your heart hurt for him, because you knew just how that felt. 

Luke has two brothers, Jack and Ben. You smiled and laughed as he told stories of his childhood and how he and all the guys got up too. 

You told them all about your brother, Jaxon. How he was back home in Nashville playing baseball and how he dreamed of going pro.  

Calum talked about his sister, how she visits every once and a while when she’s not in the studio or writing her own music. 

“Yeah, Mali lives in London so I don’t get to see her much. We talk at least twice a week just to catch up. She’s supposed to visit in a few months so you’ll get to meet her soon,” he smiles over at you. 

Mali is his sister? Well, that makes a whole lot of sense. 

“That’s great, I can’t wait to meet her!” you tell him, smiling over at him happily. 

You all talked for another hour or so, laughing and telling stories before you decided it was time to go. You said bye to everyone, hugging them and telling them you’d see them on friday when you and Alec met them at the studio after lunch. 

Calum politely walked you home just to be safe. 

“I had a great day, thank you for inviting us over. I know Elijah had a blast,” you tell him, smiling softly up at him. “You were so great with him, he’s normally pretty shy around new people.” 

“I did too, we’ll have to do it again.” he tells you. “He’s a great kid, he’s so adorable,” he tells you, smiling. 

“Definitely,” you nod up at him.

There was that awkward silence where you both just looked at each other, your eyes flicking between his as his eyes flicked over your face and fell to your plump lips. Your breath hitched as his eyes linger there before returning to your eyes. 

“Goodnight, Y/n,” he whispers, pulling you into a tight hug.

You relax in his arms, hugging him back as your face hides in his neck. “Goodnight, Cal” you whisper back lingering in the hug before he kisses the top of your head and lets go. 

“I’ll see you Friday,” he calls, descending the three steps of your  porch. 

“See you friday!” you call back before walking into your house. Your back pressing to the back of your front door as you let out a sigh, closing your eyes. 

“Oh my god! That was Calum Hood!,” you hear excitedly from your couch making your eyes pop wide open.

---

Taglist (striked out couldn’t be tagged - get added here -) @wontlastimokwiththat @doctcr-reid @harrystylesandharrypotter @vividstyles23 @thesadstoryofme @hufflepuffhaze @kuolonsyoja​ @lonelyheart5​ @kyleeisahotmess @wiiildflowerrr 

[idealisticrealism]

Blindspot 3x03 recap

(Aka the Patterson and Rich show lol)

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

I LOVED this episode. Cute Jeller, supportive team, and of course, PATTERSON AND RICH BEING KICKASS BESTIES. Can the whole season be just like this ep bc good lord it is totally up there with my fave eps of this show ever and ugh I just loved it so much guys

Which in a way is kind of a bad thing because it means this review is gonna take me like 6 hours on account of all the screaming, but ah well. Worth it. 

And to the lovely Anon-- I may very possibly struggle to do these from now on due to my travelling, but I’ll try my best to keep them happening if I can. Thankfully none of the other people in my hostel dorm here in Madrid have minded my hectic late-night typing for the last couple of hours lol...

Anyhow, more gushing below the cut.

Ugh look at this. Our babies are dressed all fancy and having drinks and it’s kinda reminiscent of 1x09 except this time instead of just alluding to their interest in each other, Weller is BLATANTLY HITTING ON JANE, his WIFE, who he is MARRIED TO, and ugh it’s simultaneously delightful and almost nauseating haha. Zapata and Reade definitely agree with the nauseating part, because they’re stuck in the surveillance van being forced to listen to every word. Oh, kids. As the child of two people that love to make jokes about their sex life just to gross me out, I totally understand your pain right now. Lbr tho they probably kind of missed this. And lol I love that Jane giggles and apologises while shooting heart-eyes at Weller. You two are the worst. I actually didn’t expect this scene so early but I’m totally into it. And so Jeller keep an eye on the suspect and his daughter/wife, while Tasha works her hacking skills and hacks his computer. Also awww her cousin asked for Patterson’s autograph, that is so cute and I now love her cousin. I love that Patterson is now super rich and kinda a celeb lol. Hahaha I love that Jane delays the guy by telling him she loves his charity work and then literally like 10 secs later the team is into his files and Weller is arresting him. That would have had to feel kinda like an abrupt turnabout lol

Aww Zapata is checking in on Patterson and making sure she’s okay D: I love these ladies supporting each other. But in what sounds like depressing deja vu of both of the previous seasons, Patterson insists she’s fine to be there. Also her puzzle solving skills clearly haven’t suffered-- she figured out that random specks on Jane’s back could be translated onto a grid and brought together to form words? Dude. Tbh I like that the show gives us a brief explanation of how things were cracked without putting any pressure on us viewers-- we get to just smile and nod and be like ‘yep, sounds legit’ and then move on haha. Now Aunty Hirst has rocked up to hear the deets, considering their suspect is a big fish. And basically there’s some evidence that he caused a train to derail which was previously called in as an anonymous tip, and which made him super rich due to something to do with stocks. Can you tell I have very little understanding of the stock market lol, which tbh is kinda unfortunate considering my father keeps wanting me to invest haha.

Oooh Patterson goes to Reade bc she’s been investigating Stuart’s murder on her own despite there already being a team on it, and she tells him that Stuart had a Siri/google home/Alexa equivalent thing and that she thinks the thing recorded his murder, since they’re sneakily recording everything. Makes you worry about Siri and Alexa, doesn’t it… Anyway she wants Reade to go demand the recording from the company before it’s deleted within 72hrs. Go Reade go! Meanwhile Patterson goes to talk to their suspect’s lawyer, and walks in to find her playing Wizardville. I love that she knows exactly which part she’s at just by hearing the sound effects. Ugh you giant nerd I love you so much. When Jeller show up a minute later (maybe held up in the locker room because of… activities…) lawyer lady insists that the emails are planted by a hacker group who is targeting her client. Lol “Mr Lowie can afford better specialists than the FBI has. No offense”/”Offense taken”. Damn right, Patterson, none of those specialists could hold a candle to you. But uh oh, the lawyer mentioned the hacker group-- the three blind mice-- and Patterson suddenly got all shifty. What do you know that you’re not telling, honey???  Also the lawyer lady is threatening them with a very large lawsuit which is bound to make all of this a little awkward….

RIIIICHHH. God I will never get over the delight of seeing him appear in an episode. Patterson visits him in his office, which is literally just a room for cleaning supplies, and she turns on a radio jammer which has him spitting coffee (if that is coffee) out of his ‘best daddy ever’ mug. So either he stole the mug from Weller or someone, or it’s alluding to a weird sex thing. You never know with Rich. (Yes you do; it’s usually the weird sex thing). Ugh and when she demands to know if he hacked into the suspect’s server he’s all “What?? No?? Who??” and god I just love his FACE. Ennis how do you do this??? God. And then ugh he promises her he’s not lying and ugh I believe it. And then she tells him the tatt points to the 3BM and that the FBI are gonna try to track them down and ugh you can see the ‘oh shit’ on his face. I just love the way these two interact, like they’re legit real friends?? Ugh my babies. I adore Jeller and all, but tbh this is my favourite duo on the show rn. And now Weller wants to see them both and they’re both like ‘oh shit’ lol. And then lol he totally ignores ‘ladies first’ and calls Weller mademoiselle and you can hear that he’s nervous and aaahhhh his joke about the 3 blind mice from the nursery rhyme and then insisting he’s a crime fighter now and I just love him so muuuchhhh and this whole time he and Patterson are both half shitting themselves and ugh I feel like he’s using his ridiculousness to keep attention on him and not Patterson bc she doesn’t like lying to her team and ughhhh they’re such broooos. And Hirst appears to tell them all that they need to catch the 3BM asap because the emails were planted and their dude might sue, and to which Rich suggests a simple ‘I was wrong’ to patch things up lollll. And then Hirst has a picture of the 3BM and Patterson and Rich are all !!!!!!!!! and then it turns out it’s a person in a mouse mask and they’re so relieved lol. Also dude after Patterson, i love Rich’s dynamic with Jane the most. She’s basically like his long-suffering mom hahaha. Back in the closet, Patterson’s freaking out and wants to come clean but he’s all ‘how about no’ lol. Also he says that they dropped out because ‘someone thought it was getting too dangerous’ and he points to her but then jabs his thumb toward himself as he’s speaking and now I’m confused?? Which one wanted to bail?? (Probably Patterson lbr). Ughhhh by the sound of it they were such little Robin Hoods, and ugh I NEED the spinoff about this whole partnership over the last 2 years ughhhhhhh. And hahaha omg “so we make it a little harder for them, if you catch my drift”/”by obstructing justice??”/”drift caught.” UGHHHHH GIVE ME THE SPINOFF. GIVE IT TO ME. I will sell my soul for this I stg.

Meanwhile awww Reade is honouring Patterson’s request and talking to a representative from the kinga company about the recordings, and when she tries to deny it he and Zapata totally roll their eyes at each other haha. These bros. And then she’s texting his gf which feels a little weird, and also she says they hung out ‘last weekend’ but uh wasn’t stuart’s murder less than 72hr ago, and so all the events of last ep including Zapata meeting the gf happened then as well (that did happen in 3x02 right?)? Maybe that was friday and this is monday and she meant to say ‘on the weekend’?  Also “You better put a ring on that before I do” LOL I love it. I’m sure it’s just a joking comment but dude could Zapata be bi? Because I would totally be down for that. I like Zapata being friends with Reade’s gf and encouraging them as a couple, since I want Reade and Zapata to remain just bros. I seriously miss Reade/Sarah though. Lbr I’m still totally bitter about that one, Gero.

Patterson found the person in the mouse mask by creating a ‘biometric map’ of the person from the video and using ‘gait recognition’?? Mmmmmkay, sure, I’ll roll with it. Nice little mention of Patterson’s NSA access, though. The woman they find has a bunch of dating profiles and works for Nerd Herd (awww a Chuck reference, I’m so happy) which makes Rich pity her, but uh dude don’t you know she was Miss United States?? And she’s besties with Sandra Bullock, so she’s doing just fine. And ugh when Rich says that they tracked her location, Jane actually praises him and ughhhh look at that parental approval he’s getting, I’m so happy for him. And then haha Hirst wants both Patterson and Rich in on the interrogation and ugh you can just see my poor Patterson getting more and more tightly wound lol can someone just give her a hug before she explodes? Preferably Rich giving her a slightly stilted but genuinely sincere hug. I want it. Nope, need it. Also looks like Jeller now have nothing on their schedule…. time for another locker room rendezvous perhaps?

Lollll their suspect has said like two lines and all I hear is Miss Rhode Island… also she looks so cute in her lil Nerd Herd outfit. I wonder if she ever met Chuck? I mean she’s based on the other side of the country, but still… what if she trained under him over in Burbank before moving to NYC? Anyhow she gushes about how famous the 3BM are and both Rich and Patterson are looking SO UNCOMFORTABLE in their own ways and I’m loving it. Also ugh Hirst’s soft southern accent is so soothing. Could she narrate audiobooks or something bc I would legit buy all of them. Although rn she’s describing bad stuff that the 3BM did and that doesn’t feel right, but then Kathy decides the jig is up and explains how each of those things was actually them helping people/semi-saving the world. Also man this actress is amazing in how she can sound simultaneously kinda deranged but also kinda sweet?? I just want to protect her and her adorable lil face haha. Lol at Rich and Patterson exchanging looks across the room the whole time she’s talking. Subtle, guys. And Rich’s face when she says that the three of them are still best friends?? Maybe he’s starting to think Patterson was right to have made them both cut ties with this wacko. But duuuude why are you so vain, you literally just let her goad you into revealing yourself as one of her former partners. But still, “Oh so by ‘pretty close’, do you mean 100% correct, or?” ughhhh I love the sass. And then  Kathy mentions people being in danger and it draws Patterson over, putting all three of the blind mice at the same table for the first time in a year.... And also ever, when you think about it. Also turns out that the wealthy guy might be planning to blow something up to earn money from stocks like he did last time or something, which prompts Patterson to admit to Rich that she has backdoor access into every phone that downloaded her app. Firstly, wow, glad that power is in the hands of one of the good guys. Secondly, that’s a huge show of trust to tell him that, knowing that he could then steal her phone or something and use the access for his own gain. Ugh these bros!! Lol I do love that he gets carried away with thoughts of Hirst’s browser history tho haha. But anyhow by hacking the lawyer’s phone she figured out where the attack was planned to happen, and aawwwww Rich immediately wants to head to tell the team and Patterson is the one holding back. Also LOL: “Hey Gary.” “His name’s Gary? I’ve been calling him Rick…” ugh how is his every line just SO GOOD? I love the thought that he talks to their coworkers as well, probably talks the ear off of anyone who happens to come near him lol. Ugh my baby just wants to be loveddddd. I love the bickering-siblings thing they’ve got going on though, and “Well now who’s obstructing justice??” ahhahaha. Seriously who do I have to bribe to get the show with just these two? And then when she suddenly decides that they need to come clean, he’s all ‘woah no no, gross’ lollll. And then he has a little lightbulb moment about how to solve their problem-- a ridiculous and very conveniently timed anonymous tip lol. Well, tbh the team never really cares HOW Patterson managed to get their intel, only that she gives them stuff they can use/excuses to go beat people up. Aww but Weller trusts his lil team and acts immediately on their intel, prepared to take the fall for it if it turns out to be a dud. He’s very martyr-ish lately, I feel-- but I guess maybe he just feels invincible now that his wifey is back in his lifey?

Turns out the ‘tip’ is legit, and Jeller find our baddies, proceeding to beat the hell out of them in true Jeller fashion. There’s also a bomb, because of course there is, and Rich makes a suggestion only to be smacked down by Patterson and is properly apologetic haha. Jane then actually takes his advice, using the sped-up clock to convince the baddie to disarm the bomb, then takes him out and shoots the guy grappling with Weller by firing through a bottle of oil or something. Nice. She really is a woman of endless talents, a fact that Weller very much benefits from, both in the field and… elsewhere haha. Also Sully’s accent has dropped at least twice in this ep already, someone must be tired lol. Anyway back at the office, Aunty Hirst drops by to tell them all how proud she is. Also I want to marry the way she says ‘Lowie’. It’s just so damn cute. She then tells everyone to go home, and Rich and Patterson have a quiet little celebratory fist-bump (which they have clearly done before AAAHHHHHHH) over the 3BM investigation appearing to be closed. God they’re the cutest.

Oh yeah, forgot about Reade and Zapata for a minute there, too distracted by the other show-stealing partnership haha. They’re putting heavy pressure on the boss lady at Kinga, and I love that she calls him ‘sir’ and that he’s so firm and authoritative with her. This seems more like a true AD of the FBI! And you know Zapata’s pretty impressed too haha.  Well done, Reade.

Loll Patterson and Rich meeting in a deserted parking lot and Rich stepping in a puddle and then both of them realising that neither of them actually sent the message that they received. Tbh I just love that each of them got a message from the other telling them to come to a random parking lot in the middle of the night and they both came?? Without question?? Ugghhhhhhh have I mentioned lately that I love them. Also what’s Rich’s sitch at the safe house? Does he have a team watching him that he had to evade to get here, or? And lol she calls him dumbwad and everything is so cute and fun and then RICH GETS SHOT IN THE CHEST. Ngl, I gasped far louder in this moment than I even knew I was capable of. There was a split second of sheer, unadulterated panic before I remembered he’s going to be returning for multiple eps throughout the season and therefore has to be okay. But good lord that one second was an awful experience. I swear to god, if they do ever kill Rich then I’m out. I will walk away from this show, Gero, don’t think I won’t! And ugh the shock and horror on Patterson’s face-- for all he drives her crazy, he’s literally one of her best friends, and she’s already lost enough people around her. And then Kathy appears and even though she assures them (and us) that they’re just beanbag rounds, it’s still freaky as hell to see her shooting them both with a shotgun at point-blank range. My poor babies… Aaaand then they wake in a Saw-esque setting and ugh he pokes her so gently to wake her and they’re so cute when they’re kidnapped. Sounds like it’s a semi-regular occurrence for Rich, whose main concern is that he doesn’t get to be kidnapped anywhere fun lol. Aw, is someone using humour to make their friend feel less scared?  “And not the good kind of dungeon” haha. And then he goes for the door and she tries to stop him but too late, he gets zapped by a shock collar and lol my poor baby. “Oh my god, she’s gonna make us play the hunger games, isn’t she??” Which tbh would be pretty interesting between these two. I’m tempted to bet on Patterson as the winner, but then again, the first time we met Rich he did shoot a guy in the chest and was going to have Jeller killed as well, so tbh I think he shouldn’t be underestimated. But ugh it’s so cute that Patterson is desperately trying to get his collar off rather than her own, and then suddenly heeeeeeeere’s Kathy! Who is holding the collar remote threateningly in one hand while sweetly offering them snacks at the same time lol. Sh figured out it was them because of Rich showing off in interrogation and Patterson saying ‘opposite, opposite’ which I did think was a bit of a weird phrase to use lol. And ahhh Patterson calls him Rich and Kathy suddenly goes into Rich DotCom fangirl mode, and tbh I feel you on that one, sister. I would react the same. But now she’s ranting about them being brainwashed by the feds (lol at Rich telling Patterson that she did just sound like weller, awwww) and that she’s ‘saving’ them haha. Then suddenly she whips out a to-do list of hack-tivities, but instead of Robin Hood stuff, it’s more Sherriff of Nottingham stuff this time. Their arguments don’t work, which means it’s hack or zap….

Weller texts Patterson about dinner; everyone’s gathered at his and Jane’s place having drinks and hanging out and ugh they’re all so cute. And Jeller are so casually touchy and he calls her ‘my love’ and I’m seriously caught between finding that corny and super cute. Maybe both. Zapata’s playing Wizardville, which apparently Jane does too, and then they realise Reade must as well and lol Zapata’s innocent little ‘Reade?’ is so CUTE. Weller’s all “You too??” and yeppp, Sully has apparently forgotten what an American accent is haha. Oh well. I love that he goes and snuggles with Jane on the couch (aaawwwww) as they watch Zapata and Reade bicker like it’s a spectator sport hahaha. I love the sassiness omg.

Meanwhile Rich is perfecting his mime-in-a-box routine as he tries to figure out any gaps in their electric prison, and tbh that’s actually pretty brave? He probably got zapped at least a few times doing that. Patterson is trying to figure out how to get word back to the team, but Rich tells her that the only way they’ll get out of this is to go along with Kathy’s plan, because he has ‘a lot of experience with psychotic women who desire him sexually’ and lol at the disgust and annoyance on Patterson’s face and her “What is your point.” Yep, those are siblings right there.

The team are still being cute when Weller gets an email from Patterson saying she’s having dinner with Rich instead, but Zapata notices that it’s signed with her first name, WHICH NONE OF THEM ACTUALLY MENTION. TELL US THE DAMN NAME, YOU JERKS. So I guess that means that Patterson sneakily sent an email when Kathy wasn’t looking? I think that’s what they’re getting at, rather than Kathy covering her tracks by sending that to Weller so he won’t be concerned when Patterson doesn’t show up for dinner. I feel like Patterson totally has the skills to pull that off right under someone’s nose...

Back in the dungeon, the dynamic duo have picked some of the less harmful hacks to start with, including revealing some politician guy as a sex fiend (no surprises there), and Kathy gushes that watching them hack is like watching Picasso paint the Mona Lisa and lolll you can see Rich’s eyes narrow and he really wants to correct her but Patterson is already telling her to let them go, but nope Kathy wants them to crash Lowie’s private jet now, and wow she really seems to have it in for this guy. Also is it even possible to remotely crash a plane? But ohhhhhh crap, Kathy’s brother died in the train crash that Lowie caused. Well, that explains that. She tried to hand them the evidence to put him away, but now she’s taking matters into her own (or the 3 Blind Mice’s) hands. And Rich kinda seems to side with her a little bit after this revelation, causing Patterson to shoot him a look of betrayal and Kathy to beam at him. Oh man I really hope this is a ploy. Ugh Patterson is basically pleading with him not to help Kathy, to stay on their team, the good guy team, and then Kathy zaps her and ugh he’s immediately on his feet but knows he can’t do anything. He has to roll with this if he’s to save either of them and ugh I love himmmmm???

The team is at the office, trying to track down their missing buddies. Again Zapata is the one to see the clue-- the IP address the email came from is in antarctica, just like Kathy’s earlier hacks. They discover Kathy got out on bail, and then that both Patterson and Rich’s cars were found in Brooklyn. I love that they all practically run for the exit. I wonder if they’re remembering the last time Patterson was kidnapped, aka the only unlikable episode of season one?? Better hurry team, go save them! And lol conveniently they find out every place she’s ever worked and one of those happens to be an old zoo, and therefore a nice private place to keep prisoners. How lucky for them….

Poor Patterson is bound and gagged and tries to cry “Rich, no!” as he successfully hacks the jet and sets it on its collision course with the ocean.  Or its fake collision course, I hope. And ugh then he and Kathy are dining together and okay why does she respond ‘kinda’ when he asks if it’s foie gras? Is she pulling a Hannibal Lecter rn??? Also I love the little red glow of the collar through his napkin lol. And then there’s a perimeter breach and Kathy is starting to freak out and so checks on the plane, only to see that it landed safely and Patterson looks at Rich in shock and HE WINKS AT HER. Look at my baby all grown up and fighting on the side of good with his lil FBI family who he lovessssss. Ughhh save me. And then omg she flips out and literally smashes the wine bottle over his head and I gasped super loud again bc do you know how hard those things are???? Ugh both Patterson and I are so worried for our bestie Rich, but meanwhile Kathy hacks the team’s car and tries to crash them?? I love their super synchronized dives out of the car lol. And then omg she literally sets everything on fire while crying over their ruined friendship hahahaha. Tbh I’d be pretty devastated if Patterson and Rich didn’t want to be friends with me too lol…. And then omgggg she is literally about to shoot Rich and Patterson tackles her, saving his life and causing herself to be electrocuted. THAT IS FAMILY RIGHT THERE. I hope Rich someday acknowledges what she did for him just then, bc ugh it was everythinggggg. Thankfully the team is there and Reade is clever enough to order Jane to find a fusebox. I love the tasks each of the team takes-- Jane cuts the power, saving Patterson, Reade arrests Kathy, Weller helps Patterson up and is checking her over all concerned, and Zapata FLICKS RICH until he comes around hahahaha. “He’s fine” lol. I love that she’s all blase about it but they would have been genuinely upset if he was seriously injured. Pretend all you like, I know you care!!

Back at base, the rest of the team calls Rich and Patterson into the conference room to tell them that Hirst wants the other mice caught, but Kathy is refusing to give up names (‘she’s a mouse, not a rat’ hahahaha), and when Reade asks why she kidnapped them, Patterson answers that she was a huge Rich DotCom fangirl, which is technically a true statement. Rich says he didn’t know that was even a thing, which is a completely untrue statement haha. And then Reade says how lucky it is that there’s no evidence whatsoever to point to who the other two are because if he knew who they were he would have to prosecute them and ugh the team has clearly agreed that this is a ‘what happens in the team stays in the team’ situation and then even literally discuss how these tattoos are about them as a group, that Roman wants to expose their secrets specifically. But they have no idea why. (Punishing Jane, no?)

Naw look at this domestic Jeller. Jane is cooking her implausible vegan lasagne, and then Kurt tells her he loves her like ten times, which is super cute but still in an Australian accent!! Sully, c’mon, lol. But ugh he runs to the shower and wants her to join and lord I do love me some established relationship… but then of course lil bro has to call and cockblock, and ugh poor Jane is so upset about how things are between them but he’s all ‘grrrrrr must punish you for making me sad grrrrrrr’ and sigh I look forward to a little bit of character growth on his part lol

Oooh Patterson calls Reade and Zapata in to the lab to listen to the Kinga recording that they got, and finds out that it's been doctored, meaning someone is hiding something. And also, through magical genius means, she figured out the tattoo that Stuart was working on relates to Van Gogh’s famous self portrait. Which is super confusing until the next scene where an ominous man threatens the Kinga CEO never to talk about doctoring the recordings, and turns away, revealing… DUN DUN DUN….. he’s missing an ear. Ooooooooohhhhh intrigue. Who is Creepy Van Gogh and what does he want with the team????

[mad-madam-m]

Me After VLD S4

Other (spoilerific) thoughts below the cut (holy shit it got long I HAVE FEELS):

Keith. KEEEEEEEEITH. On the one hand I’m glad that he’s getting a chance to work with the BOM and possibly learn more about his heritage (still wish we could’ve seen that), but seeing him pull away from the team is heartbreaking.

GOOD LORD SHIRO WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU. Honestly, the way he treats Keith in this episode--dismissing his information about Lotor with a blunt “we’ll talk later”--is one of the best arguments for a clone!Shiro, I swear.

On a second watch, it still frustrates me the way the team treats him going on missions with the BOM. I can see why he chooses that over the “razzle dazzle” that Voltron’s doing, and it feels like no one acknowledges that the intelligence gathering is important (or if they do so, it’s only immediately before they remind Keith that Voltron should be his priority).

And really, he gets shit for going on missions but everybody’s totally chill with Pidge taking off to look for her brother for who knows how long in the next episode? Guys. Come on.

Ngl, I was really happy that the “power struggle” between Keith and Shiro that I’d heard bits about turned out to be basically a “BUT YOU’RE A BETTER LEADER” compliment battle. Which is a lot more in-character, frankly.

*plays AC/DC’s “Back in Black” over the scene of Shiro in the Black Lion and cries*

“I KNOW YOU ARE, AND I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW MUCH THAT MEANS TO ME.”

HUG 2.0 I AM DECEASED.

I am Hunk, Hunk is me.

Just imagine the gif from above the cut here, because yeah.

I really did expect the conflict between whether Keith was going to join the Blade or stay with Voltron to last a lot longer than episode 1, but frankly, I’m glad that it didn’t.

I do think Keith believes in the work the Blade is doing and he wants to go, but the way his face falls just a little bit before he leaves the castle makes me think he wanted them to...I don’t know, maybe fight a bit harder to keep him? It’s hard to say. There’s a lot I loved, but the ending of this episode did feel a bit rushed.

Episode 2, “Reunion,” is probably my favorite episode of the past 2 seasons. Good lord. Pidge. PIDGE.

Honestly I expected to dislike Matt (thanks, fandom) but no. No, he was WONDERFUL and so sweet and genuinely proud of his baby sister and their relationship was ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL.

Pidge has gotten so badass I’m just. Yes. YOU GO.

WATCHING HER AND MATT FIGHT TOGETHER IS LITERALLY EVERYTHING I DIDN’T KNOW I NEEDED.

I loved literally everything about this episode. I loved how supportive and teasing Matt was in flashbacks, and how impressed he was by Pidge (but not surprised at how awesome she was). I loved seeing Pidge take off on her own and seeing just HOW MUCH she’s grown since the first season, like holy crap. Just. Everything. Everything was great.

Also I gotta say, I did not expect the episode centered ENTIRELY around Pidge and Matt to be the one that gave me the most Sheith feels, but HERE WE ARE.

“Oh hey those are some random people in the background of these pictures WAIT A TICK I RECOGNIZE THAT MULLET.”

*insert my shipper heart breakdown here*

Pidge is my favorite character and Sheith is my favorite ship I am just writhing on the floor still.

Episode 3 did what I think Voltron does really well overall, which is balance a really intense plot with some silly and lighthearted subplots. On the one hand, you have the conflict between Zarkon and Lotor kicking off in earnest, and on the other hand you have Coran and Allura learning where milkshakes come from.

I ADORED Pidge giving Matt a tour of the castle.

KALTENECKER! THEY STILL HAVE THE COW!

Matt’s reaction to Allura had me rolling because it was SO over the top. The anime style was hilarious.

Every moment with Allura, Coran, Lance, and Kaltenecker was absolutely golden. GOLDEN.

SO MANY TECH BESTIE MOMENTS. I love it when Pidge and Hunk get together and DO SCIENCE, and having Matt working with them was like 800 kinds of awesome. There were so many tech bestie moments this season, it was delightful. Yes. Give me all the Pidge & Hunk.

Honestly, the fact that they brought back Kaltenecker and Pidge’s video game gave me more faith that they’re going to resolve the other, larger plot threads that they’ve brought up in the past couple of seasons (*coughwhat’swrongwithShirocough*).

I love political intrigue, and I love it more when I do not give a shit about who’s going to get screwed over because they’re both awful. Watching Lotor and Zarkon maneuver around each other (or, well, Lotor and Haggar maneuver, Zarkon is more like a mace to the head) is like CANDY to me. I love seeing the cracks in the seemingly unbeatable Galra Empire, and I loved all the twists in this episode. (Plotting! Betrayal! Murder! Exile! YES GOOD.) 

Episode 4: The Ember Island Players! I mean, The Voltron Show!

File this under “list of episodes I thought would be dumb and ended up being fucking hilarious.”

A CORAN-CENTRIC EPISODE? WHAT?

OMG we got to see him bargain with the Unilu trader again BLESS YOU SHOW.

The poor team trying to read their lines in that first show. They’re so awkward.

“I’LL NEVER LET YOU GO, SHIRO, YOU’RE OUR MOST POPULAR CHARACTER” I feel like the producers are calling us out.

Lance: “Wait, YOU are?!” Me: *laughing so hard I am crying*

Jeez, Coran, Allura is Alfor’s daughter and I don’t think she has that many pictures of him. *M lowkey joins ship*

GDI show you can’t just tease me Shiro in a tight black shirt and then not deliver.

Poor Shiro just wanted to give a motivational speech. :-(

I just like to think that Keith streamed literally every one of their performances and watched it with a dumb smile on his face because he’s missing those idiots.

Thank you for giving us something utterly ridiculous before diving into the intensity of the last 2 episodes.

Episode 5 & 6: KEITH IS BACK KEITH IS BACK

I’m not sure if I can remember which bits of this were in which of the two episodes so I’m just going to throw them all together.

OMG I missed this little asshole so much. I am torn, because I love him with the BOM but God I miss him with the Voltron team.

I CAN’T FUCKING BELIEVE THEY BROUGHT BACK SPACE!JET.

(Rollo, for those of you who didn’t watch ATLA)

I am in tears over Pidge and Hunk, guys. Hunk didn’t want to be a pilot, Pidge is a tiny computer geek, and here they are taking out a communications hub and Hunk is fucking BODY-SLAMMING into a Galra elbow-first and I just. My tech besties. You two have grown up so much. I’m so proud.

Show, give me a Hunk-centric episode next season PLEASE.

I got $20 that says Lotor has NO IDEA that Haggar is Honerva, and the reason he’s trying to get through the transreality portal has shit-all to do with quintessence and everything to do with finding his mother or continuing her work.

Speaking of Lotor, I did not expect his generals to turn on him like that, holy crap. Especially not Acxa.

Anybody else do a full-body cringe when Lotor DISLOCATED HIS FUCKING SHOULDERS or was that just me?

I have no idea how this show made me go from “fuck no” with Allura/Lance to “okay yeah I see it,” but that’s a thing that has happened. No one is more surprised than me.

Seriously, the way their relationship has grown into mutual respect is one of my favorite things about the past two seasons. I actually like Lance when he’s being supportive and encouraging.

The number of times Keith and Shiro say each other’s names is ridiculous. Obviously I am thrilled about it. *writhes in shipper feels*

Okay, so I know logically they’re not going to kill off their entire main cast at the end of the fourth season (fans would RIOT) BUT HOLY SHIT the end of episode six WAS INTENSE.

They acknowledged that the Castle is at a disadvantage in battles without Allura to create the wormholes. Coran can’t come to the rescue. THANK YOU, SHOW.

TEAM VOLTRON REALIZING THEY WON’T BE FAST ENOUGH TO GET AWAY FROM THE EXPLOSION. MY FUCKING HEART.

KEITH. KEITH NO.

I couldn’t stop thinking about him saying “As many times as it takes.”

He was willing to take a suicide mission on the chance it would save Voltron and stop the explosion.

AND THEY. HAVE NO. IDEA.

SOMEONE GIVE THIS MAN A MILLION HUGS.

And then LOTOR. BAM. ROLLS IN TO SAVE THE DAY. HOLY HELL.

After season 3, I was SO PARANOID that this season was going to rip my heart out and stomp on it and destroy all the characters that I love, and instead it’s like “Nah, hon. Have your faves being badass and here’s a lovely sibling relationship and loads of scenes with your favorite BroTP and we’ll touch on those threads you thought we dropped and oh by the way how would you like canonical confirmation that your ship knew each other at the Garrison pre-Kerberos?”

And I’m just like

Anyway. I’ve seen it twice now and I don’t think I’ve stopped having feels at all. My hopes for season 5* involve “give me a Hunk-centric episode please, preferably one with backstory” and “tell me what the hell is going on with Shiro.”

I had hoped for the latter during this season, but there was enough going on and it’s short enough that I’m like “eh...okay. I can see why you didn’t.”

Also, putting my bet on the table: We’ll get the pre-Kerberos Sheith backstory whenever it’s revealed what’s going on with Shiro, whether it’s used to break his brainwashing or used to prove current!Shiro is a clone. (My friends are probably sick of me saying that at this point.)

*I mean, I have a MILLION hopes for season 5, but I’m trying to keep it reasonable.

[ificouldflytotheclouds]

And somehow the stars align

So I was just thinking of my top favorite artists of all time: Taylor Swift, One Direction, and 5sos. And they strangely all have similar pathways even though they're on different roads. 

The beginning. 

Out of the three Taylor is the artist I can tell you the least as to how I fell into her music but it I believe it manifested from a friends recommendations. 

One Direction I remember seeing the countdown for WMYB on my sidebar every day I was on youtube, by the time the music video dropped I finally clicked on the videos because I was intrigued by this video trying to encroach on my life. 

5sos was a friend recommendation. 5 Years ago (+1 day) she sent my a link to try hard. I didn’t listen to it at the time because I didn’t want to download anything onto my mom’s computer. A month later she sent me the link to Luke’s cover of please don’t go, it wasn’t till I looked into his other work did I realize he was part of 5sos. Check yes Juliet and drop in the ocean that won me over.

Getting into them

I saw Taylor perform at the mall and after the show we got a signed cd (rip, at the time someone standing near us was like can we meet her after and security was like no, something about being too many ppl, but like…)

For 1d my friend had me watch their video diaries and I fell in love. We saw them at the same mall (and when I say mall I mean the Mall of America, aka the biggest mall in the U. S. A. anyways…) that was crazy busy. We didn’t have tickets but we went to watch anyways, that was fun, and it actually spawned a friendship with someone who went to my school and is now one of my besties now (who was the person who introduced me to 5sos). 

5sos. I remember wanting to go to the Stars, Stripes and Maple Syrup Tour (actually, I completely forgot about this until today, I forgot how whipped I was for them before slsp came out). But we couldn’t go. (rip, wasn’t able to go to wwat for same/similar reasons, but this year finally traveling to Chicago for a show so it kinda makes up for it). Got tickets for Rock Out with Your Socks Out Tour but we ended up selling them to go to a second 1d show. I don’t regret this decision, because 1) that was ones for the books and 2) we knew that this might be the last time we will ever see them (once Zayn left me and my friend were intent on going to more than one show). Back to 5sos, the day of their show we almost ended up getting into their radio show, but we still go to see them walk past. 

The second album ‘Hiatus’

This is where things strangely align

Way back to middle school I wasn’t into music the same way I am now, it was healthier, lol. I still loved Taylor but I didn’t get fearless until Christmas, I fell in love with that album on my grandma’s staircase. I watched all the behind the scenes pictures, but compared to the information that goes out now I knew nothing, I just knew the bigger things (I think this is why I always struggle/feel like I don’t fit in with online Taylor stan culture, bc it wasn’t how I fell for her and her music). We tried to get tickets to the fearless tour but were unsuccessful.

Before I begin with 1d, I also want to remind you that Spotify has not always been around, and even then I didn’t download it till sometime in 2017. I don’t even know when it comes to the tmh era. Back sophomore/junior year when I got into things it would be in waves (it’s starting to go back to that which is healthy). So tmh was when I wasn’t following 1d so much. My friend invited me to see a prescreening of the this is us movie. I /sort of/ forced myself to listen to tmh. TMH era might have been one of their best but there’s a reason why it took me a while to get into this album, it’s just not my fav, I find it the least memorable, even though generally speaking its a better album than uan. (I still love the album don’t get me wrong)

5sos, oh 5sos, just trying to figure yourselves out. I don’t like talking about this much, it’s important to acknowledge but it can also feed negativity. Them as people were getting harder to stand and the fandom was getting to be too much, so I had to say goodbye to social media side. I don’t regret this decision and I really wish I had done this at one point for 1d, but with that, it was a little different (baby gate being announcement was hell). I still loved their music but my friend was pressuring me not to listen to it, so that winter I didn’t buy livesos, but I do remember a year later I listening to the skh ep, and enjoying it (Even though I was iffy about skh at the time). School had started and I was kinda out of the loop so I don’t think I actually knew when sgfg came out (Even though I defs followed a few 5sos ppl still, just not update accounts at the time)

Even though I wasn’t there for sgfg I equate this time period with the self-titled album era - post album release because I was there but I wasn’t. I liked the album but it ended up being the least memorable, similar to take me home. 

3rd album hoopla

For each of them, the hype began months before the album was released, most likely starting with the drop of a single and riding a high from there.

For Taylor it started with her live stream announcing the 3rd album, to mine that released when I was in a cafe in the Northwoods, the album release week was epic, we finally got tickets to see her on tour (for my friends 15th birthday, 15 I still cry I go to listen to this live when I was 15). I EMBODIED THIS ERA. I had my first crush, the world was magical, I was in a world wind.

This was my school friend forcing me to let my fangirl out lol. (For 1d this wasn’t their peak compared to Taylor and 5sos currently, but it was a very important era for me as a fan). It started with me going to the prescreening of this is us, wow I loved them. SNL performances, being excited for the first show, I had all the lyrics printed out so I could sing them...good times. (I feel like 1d’s best era was tmh but I wasn’t there so its not my #1 era as a fan, from there it’s hard to pick bc I didnt get to see them during wwat, I did with FOUR/OTRA, but there was also DRAMA with that era, and then there was MITAM mini era which got us high and dry(ingourtears)).

And now here we are for 5sos’ 3rd album. You can FEEL that this one is different. SGFG was good, heck, that is one of the best albums I have ever heard, and ngl I was low key nervous as to how they were going to out beat it. But that album was rushed, they didn’t get as much time off as it feels, but this album there is SOOO SOOO much love put in this album. And it goes beyond the lyrics. They really pushed themselves, instrumentally, emotionally, vocally, as people. There is growth, expansion. They reinvented themselves, and yet they are just an embodiment of who they always were, the lessons they’ve learned, and just a better more empowered version of themselves. I wish I could remember if it was pre or post want you back but I ended up getting into SGFG (properly) around this time. THe first few songs made it hard to get into the album when I had listened to it in the past. But I was finally able to skip around those (this is one of those times where I probs would've listened to the album earlier if I had spotify at the time) and later fall in love with them. I think that album came in at the right time. I got to go to 5sos3, got tickets for meet you there, youngblood is amazing. Life is great.

Since the 3rd album hoopla for 1d and Taylor

I got to see both of them from row, in the same year,  b stage for 1d and center catwalk for Taylor. Still love them, they’re chill, since 2015 I can say I’ve seen Niall at least once every year, 2 times for OTRA, met him during his golf tournament in ‘16, 2 radio shows in ‘17 on which Liam also played at. I have a Harry concert in a few days, seeing Niall twice this year to continue the tradition, might see Taylor (tixs are sooooo expensive, don’t love her new album that much but this girl loves  Taylor sooo, I’m not going to miss it - I don’t hate it but it’s just not the same as how I feel in love with yb instantly, it doesn’t give me that feel), and I get to see 5sos again in the fall (I want to go to their Chicago radio show so bad bc it’s close to the Chicago Niall show, but not close enough, darn)

[goope-jp-tenmei]

Behind the Stationery: anne and kate

Our next Behind the Stationery feature is a bi-coastal duo! Anne & Kate have been dedicated to growing their business full-time for almost a year now, but their friendship began years before they started their business. I’m so excited to have them here to share about their workflow from upstate New York to LA that includes many Facetimes and a unique design process. Take it away, ladies! — Megan Soh

Kate: Before working on anne and kate in a full time capacity, I worked as a freelance graphic designer for small studios and in-house marketing groups.

Anne: I am a fine artist and when I am not working on anne and kate, I make paintings and large scale installations. I rely heavily on screen printing to make my artwork so the studio constantly has some printing happening in it. Before I gave anne and kate more of a full time focus I was an adjunct professor of fine art at a number of universities in Philadelphia — teaching painting and screen printing.

We began by collaborating on custom design projects for friends’ weddings. We love designing for clients but wanted to create a cohesive line that was all our own. We were interested in products that helped friends stay in touch beyond coming together for big life events. Throughout our friendship we’ve kept in touch through snail mail, letters, postcards and notes. This inspired us to launch a line of cards at the National Stationery Show in 2016.

Because we live in two different cities, we have two separate work spaces. Our studio for production and fulfillment is in upstate New York in a tiny town called Valatie, where Anne lives. There is a barn on her property that we use as our studio. Kate lives in LA and works out of her home.

All of our stationery is screen printed. We make greeting cards, thank you notes, postcards, and gift tags. Additionally, we make wrapping paper and other party supplies. Our products are bold — we are both drawn to intense color and we think our color is what helps set us apart from other lines. We make cards that feel fresh and communicate positivity and a sense of exuberance. Screen printing suits our design aesthetic because it is great for crisp graphic imagery and produces a unique flat, juicy, color. Our neon colors wouldn’t be possible with the same density and impact in any other print medium.

We have a long distance bestie business! We met in college and haven’t lived in the same city since. Because of our personal relationship with stationery and the role it has played helping us keep in touch, celebrate birthdays, life achievements, and provide comfort when things have been hard, our designs tend to gravitate toward cards that celebrate love and friendship. While we have styles for all occasions we always come back to sentiments that are super positive, encouraging, or celebratory. We believe in celebrating life’s important moments – big and small. Showing someone you care by sending them a note or taking the time to wrapping their gift with super special wrapping paper is an amazing gesture. We all need to be shown a little love and care, and we think that should take the form of a neon yellow WOO HOO!

We each maintain independent schedules because we work long distance. We schedule weekly calls to talk about the big stuff and but are in contact daily; our text thread is full of pictures of doodles of new design ideas, screen captures of the designs we are working on on the computer, and notes about the status of orders – all interspersed with random personal messages. Our friendship naturally interjects itself in to our work and vice versa.

We have strategically scheduled in-person meetings where we travel to stay with each other. When a work session requires printing, sampling new designs and testing colors, Kate comes to NY. For design sessions and planning, Anne travels to LA.

Anne: I manage all the production (in-house and what we outsource) and fulfillment. My days vary based on the volume of orders, design deadlines, and our inventory needs. I try and devote a few hours every morning to packaging inventory to make order fulfillment easier and more efficient. I devote at least two days to printing to keep up on the inventory of the styles we print in-house. I work with our vendors to manage the production of the styles we outsource and manage our part-time studio assistant who helps with packaging and inventory management.

Working in a barn adjacent to my house provides for an very easy commute, but I am careful to set office hours to keep me from popping over in the middle of the night to do some work. It’s a real bonus to walk across the lawn to the barn – I just have to been on the look out for bunnies and deer if I do go late at night!

Kate: I manage the wholesale accounts and custom clients, marketing, and accounting. In the morning I respond to inquiries from wholesale accounts, vendors, sales reps, and clients. The rest of my time is divided between accounting, designing, planning, web and social media. We’ve only been at this full-time for about a year so we are just starting to get into a real groove with our calendar. And I’m in the middle of moving from Chicago to LA which is throwing my usual schedule out the window! I have 3 little kids, so I usually finish the day early to pick them up from school. If there’s time-sensitive work to be done I get back to it after they are all asleep.

We design collaboratively. We start by brainstorming ideas over the phone, making a master list of styles we need (like new birthday or graduation cards) and then work on sketches individually. We both often start with very loose doodle and sketches on paper, then we then refine them in Illustrator. There is often a lot of overlap in the way we’ve approached the design concept or illustration so it becomes easy to fuse our work into a finished piece. We feel that our work is stronger because we design collaboratively; it brings together our different strengths in color, typography, pattern, and composition.

Once we have a design layout nearly resolved, we tackle the color separations. We design with layers and overlap in mind; we use the last stage of the design process to carefully refine how parts of the design interact. We sample the designs by screen printing them at the studio to see what will make the cut to move into production. Once design, color and styles are finalized we prep files for outsourcing or for Anne who puts it into our in-house production schedule.

We are always trying to be more efficient in how we work, both in our own spaces and in how we work together. It’s always a struggle to protect the design process – it’s the most fun part of what we do, and the most important – but we manage nearly all of the aspects the business ourselves and it involves so much more than design. There are endless business-related tasks that no one likes to think about!

All images courtesy of anne & kate.

Want to be featured in the Behind the Stationery column? Reach out to Megan at megan [at] ohsobeautifulpaper [dot] com for more details.

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