Natural Selection (Elijah Kamski x Reader)

Holy Matrimony

Inquiry: "Why did you say 'I do' when I asked you to marry me?"
Posting results...

The doors that kept you a closely guarded secret couldn't keep out the music, or the chatter it floated over. Couldn't block out the light spewing through the cracks or sweet scent from flowers of all shapes, sizes, and assortments.

You closed your eyes. Let a trapped breath drain through your nose. Fought the urge to scrape your lips with your teeth, because lipstick teeth wouldn't be a good look for the cameras. You were drowning in your own thoughts, your own nerves – as if you'd just now heard the question, "Will you marry me?"

And now, you weren't as confident in your answer as you had been when under the spell of Detroit's cityscape siren song.

"Hey, wake up." Anthony nudged you, his arm locked in yours.

Your eyes opened, but so did the doors. You wanted to keep both closed, to not face the music, the crowd, the lights, the smell – none of it. You were well-versed in the notion that when a door opened, another closed. With the fleeing certainty of not needing to explore those unknown doors, you were presented with a choice:

Perpetuate the façade, or expose the truth.

The façade of you being there entirely out of love, the truth being there was a small part of you that wanted to be acknowledged. Wanted credit. You were entitled to benefit from a large portion of the forces that were about to flip the world on its head.

You were here to take it.

Voices chattered, but you didn't hear a thing. Compliments – ooo's, and ahh's. Seagulls squawking amidst a sea of viewers. There was only one pair of eyes you cared about seeing you, that day.

Elijah smiled at the end of the aisle, red in the face. He looked down out of embarrassment, wiping tears from his eyes the minute he saw you. You hadn't seen them that bloodshot since the 3-day binger that'd kept both of you awake, trying to unravel Thirium-310.

You had a very different feeling.

You put a smile on. Let the moment wash over you in a tidal wave of sights and sounds. But one by one, those started to fade.

"Here we go..." Anthony guided you, walking by your side as the cue note aired.

Each line of music began to separate like blood in water, the notes disappearing into clouds of blurs and wisps until it was completely removed from your reality. The voices were next to fade into whatever dimension stole them, as if a star had collapsed and left a black hole in its wake...one that wasn't strong enough to silence the thumping in your ears. The color drained from your cheeks. Your blood burned as your heart accelerated into a dangerous speed, clocking fast enough for your brain to slam on the brakes and yell, "pull over."

There were no shoulders in this lane. Just pews, and hundreds of people watching from the sidelines.

You'd rushed into this. You didn't think about what would happen. But you loved him, and you told him you wanted to be with him forever. You'd said it over, and over, and over...

Every pulse rippled through your body, shaking violently, as your feet met and left the floor in a repetitive sequence that brought you closer to Elijah. Your face went numb as those thuds faded into staunched breathing – it was so loud, you thought everyone in the room could hear the gusts leaving your slightly parted lips.

The sensory loss deepened. The anxiety-orchestrated heist took more and more, until you were left with a black, white, and grey picture with one sound, and one sound alone. Not the clicking of your heels, not the flattening of red carpet threads underneath them, but the pure transfer of kinetic energy from soul to body, from body to world, as that decision to move forward and all the decisions that had led to it moved you with their own intentions.