Prompt 195

“Oh. It’s you.” 

The entity that had been summoned practically growled, a cloak like swirling galaxies- or was it swirling galaxies molded into a cloak- shimmering around their form. One pair of arms crossed over a chest where a star pulsed with the heartbeat of universes, alive yet dying as lazarus green eyes glowered down at the league and bats alike. 

“You know you could, fucking call, right?” they whined, aura of terror suddenly broken, unnatural fear torn away and leaving all of them wrong-footed and confused.

Well, apparently all of them except for Ras, who had an honest to fuck grin on his face, one that looks almost carefree, if a little feral. Nope. No thanks. Not this timeline-

“But phones didn’t exist last we spoke, ya ‘amar.” 

It's a Beautiful Day for a Wedding (Part 1)

Charlie Barber x Female Reader

Summary: When your ex-husband shows up at your cousin's wedding, old wounds can't help but resurface. Lucky for you, a certain theater director is also in attendance.

CW: Divorce, painful breakup, implied past infidelity, AFAB reader,

Words: 1.3k

It's a beautiful day for a wedding, you think. The sky is a brilliant shade of blue, and the sun is just warm enough to be considered pleasant. You stare out of the window of your cousin's childhood bedroom, looking down at all the guests milling about in the sprawling green below.

Today is your cousin's wedding, and although there are seven years between you, she's chosen you to be her matron of honor.

"Okay, I'm ready!" she announces as she comes out of the bathroom. You turn around to look at her and immediately let out a gasp. She looks absolutely stunning.

"Oh my god," you whisper. "You look—"

"Hideous?" she volunteers with a grin.

You chuckle and nod your head. "Yes, very hideous. The poor groom is going to be so traumatized."

You two have always been close, likely on account of her having lost her mother at a young age and there being no other children in the family, but while most family ties eventually weaken, yours have only gotten stronger. In fact, even though you moved away to New York for work, you two have kept in touch.

The door opens and the rest of her bridesmaids stream in. As they fawn over the bride, you try not to remember that time in your life when you were in the same position.

How many years has it been since your own wedding?

Fortunately, the wedding coordinator clears her throat, interrupting your thoughts. She gently ushers everyone out the door, instructing them to take their places on the lawn. It's almost time for the ceremony to begin.

You go over to the bride to give her a hug. "I love you, babe" you whisper in her ear.

As you pull away, she takes your hand for a moment. "I'm sorry he's here," she says softly.

You swallow the lump in your throat. She's referring to your ex-husband, of course. The same man who divorced you two years ago and said he made a mistake marrying you, the same man who quickly jumped into a new relationship with a much younger woman at work (yes, at work, where up until a year ago, you also happened to be employed at).

Unfortunately, he's also the same man who's stayed great friends with your cousin's soon-to-be husband.

"Don't be silly," you say, putting a hand over hers. "Steve has every right to be here, and, you know, we're good."

Lie. You hate the fact that he's here. And while you two aren't on hostile terms, "good" doesn't really cover it either. In fact, his is the last face you want to see right now. But your cousin doesn't need to know that. Actually, nobody does, and you intend to keep it that way.

Everybody's always talking about how your divorce is still the smoothest sailing separation they've ever heard of, like you went on a cruise or something, and you can kind of understand why. After all, you went out of your way to make it as pain-free as possible for all parties, except maybe for yourself.

That's the beauty of working in public relations. You're so used to handling other people's image crises that when it was time for you to handle your own, putting a positive spin on the matter had been laughably easy.

Nobody knows, not even your cousin, how bad it had been for you. Nobody knows how difficult it had been to pretend to be cool about it all because—guess what—even after all the things that happened, you still didn't want anybody, most especially your loved ones, to think any less of him. Nobody knows how you wanted to turn in your resignation as soon as you heard about them dating, but waited at least a year after to make sure people wouldn't make a big deal out of it.

One entire year of smiling, still doing your best work, being pleasant to him and his new girlfriend.

It was worth the sacrifice though.

You moved on. Not only did you start your own company, you also relocated to a different neighborhood, one that seems to love you as much as you love it. You now have a favorite pizza place, a local theater group you support, a bakery you frequent. You've been slowly rediscovering yourself as a person.

But then, just three months after your divorce date eclipsed its one-year mark, he sprang it on you. Said that he still has feelings for you. Said that he's confused.

You fell for it, too.

For several months, you tried to make it work, gave the two of you another chance. Until you learned that he's actually still with her, that he still has feelings for her, that he's just as confused as ever. And that's when you realized that he was never going to give you the love you know you deserve.

Hell, it was like going through the breakup all over again.

Your cousin sighs in relief, and you smile back, squeezing her hand affectionately. This is her day, you tell yourself firmly. However awful it might be to see your ex-husband again, you know it's all worth it.

As the orchestra begins to play Pachelbel's Canon in D, members of the wedding party start making their way down the aisle. You try not to fidget as you wait your turn. As the matron of honor, you're the last to walk before the bride herself. You check to make sure that your smile is still plastered on your face. Playing happy has become almost second nature to you now.

At least, your gown looks amazing, you think. In fact, everyone's dresses do, and that's because your cousin, a brilliant fashion designer, made sure that each gown suits the style every woman in her party is comfortable with. God, your cousin is an amazing person. You're so glad she's marrying someone who adores her wholeheartedly.

The wedding coordinator calls your attention as your turn comes up. "Ready?" she asks with a smile.

You nod, smiling back, You know how this works.

Walk slowly. Smile pleasantly at everyone. Keep the bouquet up.

You spot your ex-husband almost immediately on the right.

Walk slowly. Smile pleasantly at everyone. Keep the bouquet up.

Somehow, you manage not to lock eyes with him, only recognizing his person by the color of his coat and the buckle on his belt. Even more miraculously, your smile stays put.

Walk slowly. Smile pleasantly at everyone. Keep the bouquet up.

You then turn your gaze to the left. The view there must be better.

Walk slowly. Smile pleasantly at everyone. Keep the bouquet up.

That's when you nearly trip. While you've accounted for nearly every possible scenario in this wedding, including the prospect of seeing your ex-husband's girlfriend, the one thing that you didn't expect, the one person you didn't expect, was Charlie Barber, director and owner of the local theater group in your neighborhood.

Also. The man you've been fantasizing about for the last month and a half.

To be fair, he looks just as surprised to see you. Pleasantly surprised, you hope. He gives you a small wave. Caught off guard, you break character and raise a hand to give him a small wave back.

You reach the end of the aisle and take your place by the other bridesmaids. At the opposite end stands your cousin, along with her father, waiting to make her entrance.

The orchestra plays the last few notes of Canon in D before transitioning to a song that, at first, you don't recognize. It's light and playful and feels perfectly like two people in love. That's when you realize that you've heard it before. It's from one of Charlie's plays!

Is that why he's here?

Your eyes land back on Charlie, and to your surprise, he's looking right back at you. You try not to make a big deal out of it, especially since he's not the only one looking at you right now. Even without turning your head, you can tell that your ex-husband is also staring at you.

It's a beautiful day for a wedding, you tell yourself again, almost like a mantra. You just hope you survive it long enough to appreciate it!

Read Part 2 here

Tagging: @cornmousequeen, @fizzywoohoo, @paper-n-ashes@morby

If you would like to be tagged in future adcu stories or only those for specific adcu characters (which I cannot promise will actually happen), let me know! :) Otherwise, thank you for reading!

SPOTTED! KISHIZATO NAOYA . 29.

Looks like they’ve been wandering around Hwaryung! You can find them living at HOUSE #2102 IN BYEONGRO or if they’re not home they’re probably working at KATE AS A LIFE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PROFESSOR or AS AN AUTHOR. If you can’t find them offline, feel free to message them @kishinao.

BIOGRAPHY

the night followed by a hospital visit is when his mother comes home in tears, seventeen weeks pregnant and the baby is yet another boy when she had hoped and prayed for to be a girl. but how could that be such a bad thing? father wondered while the shower water was running, isn’t it good? to enable more protectors in the household, as the man’s job?

shota makes mistakes. he wakes up late for school, forgets his homework, brings a bad attitude to the dinner table and complains that the rice isn’t cooked to his liking but he’s forgiven, mildly so. yui wins mama’s and papa’s affection with everything shota fails to do, the youngest and only girl, but what does that leave naoya with exactly? lost and confused with the inevitable feeling of being left out: the middle child syndrome is an epidemic

“i wish he’d show some more interest in manly hobbies,” father says one night. he sits in bed waiting for his wife to finish brushing her teeth. “i don’t know how much more i could take of this piano and painting and drawing thing that you keep forcing onto him.” this is coming from a man who works long hours from the morning into the night, overtime included, six days a week who barely has time to spend with his own children

the married couple were destined to fail, it seems with countless days spent arguing over financial matters and miscommunication stunts the growth of a healthy household. divorce is not a word to be spoken about, carrying a heavy burden of what society might think about on marital separation with children, so the couple continue to dispute in front of their kids

among his siblings, he gets along best with his sister. being in a complicated relationship between his parents take a toll on him emotionally whereas he’s often found at grandma’s house with yui, the perfect getaway

kishizato naoya is enrolled into a lackluster high school after bombing the entrance exam. a complete slap in the face for a child that was “gifted” and “bright” and “brilliant” and everything that his former instructors have told him and his already aggravated parents

that evening after the first day of school, he spends the night at his grandmother’s house just south of his home

sure, fukaebashi high school in which he attended wasn’t anything to boast about, but it’s (in father’s most encouraging words— as pained as they come, knowing that he wanted the best even still for naoya) “what you do with the time spent at school”, that’s what counts. then it all started to make sense. graduation is but an idle, navy booklet in his hands, the event from which he remembered was bittersweet, but also a moment of triumph from overcoming obstacles of the past

fall down seven times, get up eight; kishizato naoya has been accepted to the tokyo institute of technology. while his older brother lost complete contact with him, upon arrival to tokyo, he hears that shota’s got a four year old daughter with a longtime high school sweetheart whose name that he can’t remember

fast forward four years later at graduation and naoya’s apologizing to a woman whom he thought was a fellow researcher, turns out he must have gotten confused by similar hair colors. “what’d you earn your degree in?” and the conversation continued at a quaint jazz bar in sumida

at twenty five, two love birds (or soon to be graduate students), heads over heels in love begin to show off their simplistic engagement rings. they’re the picture perfect couple, equally attractive and educated with similar interests and an appreciation for art and music

the engagement, however, is called off after a year of meticulous planning. “maybe it’s best this way,” he says, drumming his fingers onto his ring. the couple has slowly begun to fall out of love, a busy bunch determined to excel in their respective fields regarding school and work that they barely have time for themselves. their short engagement honeymoon comes crumbling down with the bitter truth, and he has to convince himself to forget everything about her

with a few articles published and scholarly journals written with fellow colleagues and researchers, kishizato naoya (29) has been invited by kate to teach over the course of three years as planned with a complete expertise in his specialty: life science and technology

PERSONALITY

( + ) charismatic, diligent, inquisitive ( - ) discouraging, opportunistic, argumentative

‘Married at First Sight’ finale results: Winning couples

Determination Day is lastly right here! Within the newest season of Lifetime’s actuality present “Married at First Sight,” 4 Philadelphia-based couples met as strangers at the altar after being matched by relationship consultants dedicated to serving to them by way of their distinctive newlywed stage. Now, their seven-week trial interval for this contemporary social experiment is up, and so they’ve all determined whether or not to remain married or to get a legally binding divorce. The stakes are excessive, however discovering real love is price it: With regards to the present’s success price, 5 couples from the present’s seven seasons are nonetheless collectively — and a few have infants! Learn on (spoilers forward!) to see which couples from season eight are nonetheless collectively and which of them determined to separate. Jasmine McGriff, 29 and Will Guess, 37 Jasmine and Will Jasmine mentioned that she needed to remain married to see how she and Will would fare with out the cameras following their each transfer. “I believe that due to this course of we haven’t actually been in a position to develop collectively,” she mentioned. Will was not on the identical web page. “I agree [that] we may gain advantage from longer time to develop and get to know one another,” Will mentioned. “I assume my largest concern or concern is simply the communication. I assume, sadly I might say I need a divorce.” One of many present’s consultants, Pastor Calvin Roberson, tried to persuade Will to vary his thoughts. “What she will be able to contribute to your life can be stratospheric,” he mentioned of Jasmine. “I’m undoubtedly dissatisfied,” Jasmine mentioned later, including that she thought Will put a “timeline” on their marriage and wasn’t actually recreation to make it work. “I really feel it’s somewhat egocentric on his half and it’s upsetting.” Kate Sisk, 27 and Luke Cuccurullo, 30 Kate and Luke Luke and Kate struggled with intimacy and chemistry from the start of their relationship. Once they lastly did kiss, Kate recalled that “he mentioned that he felt useless inside.” This got here up once more on Determination Day with Pastor Cal asking what was lacking of their relationship. “All the pieces that has to do with attraction,” Kate replied. When one other present knowledgeable, Dr. Pepper Schwartz, inquired about how the couple managed to have intercourse if there wasn’t any attraction, Luke declined to reply, however Kate grimly mentioned that “he’s simply doing it to make me joyful.” The couple agreed to break up. “I believe it will be greatest for us to go our separate methods,” mentioned Kate. “It’s not wholesome to be so emotionally drained on a regular basis,” added Luke. “I believe we should always break up.” Even Pastor Cal didn’t push for them to remain collectively. “I battle for marriages, I usually do, however not this time. I believe that you just’re more healthy aside,” he mentioned. “And Kate, I imagine that you just want someone who actually desires to be married to you, who actually wishes you.” Subsequent week’s reunion episode guarantees extra bombshells concerning the secrets and techniques of their relationship — together with rumors making the rounds on Twitter that Luke is homosexual. Throughout a preview, Kate exclaims: “Your Fb web page nonetheless says to at the present time that you just’re in a relationship with a person, I’m sorry!” Kristine Killingsworth, 28 and Keith Dewar, 29 Keith and Kristine “Grandma’s boy” Keith and self-described “Queen Kristine” had sparks from the beginning. Although they struggled with defining one another’s roles as husband and spouse, each expressed that they have been keen to do no matter it takes to maintain their relationship going. “I gotta work to maintain Kristine joyful,” he mentioned. “I gotta do pushups, I gotta cook dinner however I’m studying to adore it.” Although they hadn’t but mentioned “I really like you,” Keith declared his want to remain married.  “I’m gonna say ‘I do’ once more to Kristine, I wanna stick with Kristine.” After expressing that she wasn’t fairly prepared to start out a household the best way Keith needed, she mentioned, “I want to keep married. I really feel like we’ve began one thing nice collectively, it’s blossomed because the day we’ve met.” Lastly, Keith mentioned these three particular phrases, and the consultants broke out the Champagne to rejoice with the couple. “Kristine, I can actually say that I really like you,” he mentioned. AJ Vollmoeller, 37 and Stephanie Sersen, 35 Stephanie and AJ “I’m joyful and I’m flattered that she was somewhat bit versatile… as a result of I really feel prefer to take care of me it’s a must to be somewhat bit versatile,” AJ mentioned. There have been some rising pains coping with AJ’s mood and impatience, which AJ chalks up partially to being an solely baby and dwelling for years with out having to consider a associate’s wants. He insists that he’s altering. AJ was sure of his determination. “I select to remain married to you for the remainder of my life,” he mentioned. Stephanie was additionally desperate to take the connection off-camera. “I believe we’ve gotten to date up up to now, however a part of it was pressured, proper? Now it’s as much as us to do it on our personal. I simply need to ensure that we are able to nonetheless try this,” she mentioned. “That being mentioned, I need to keep married to you.” “I really like how whenever you hug me or once we cuddle in mattress, every part simply feels secure and higher whenever you’re with me.” Will 2019’s “Married at First Sight” 50% success price final? Meet up with the couples on subsequent week’s reunion, subsequent Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST/eight p.m. CST on Lifetime. Share this: https://nypost.com/2019/04/02/the-results-are-in-which-couples-stayed-together-on-the-married-at-first-sight-finale/ The post ‘Married at First Sight’ finale results: Winning couples appeared first on My style by Kartia. https://kartiavelino.com/2019/04/married-at-first-sight-finale-results-winning-couples.html