INTRODUCING; WESLEY BARNES
Age: 45
Gender: Cis Man
Pronouns: He/him
Occupation: Therapist/Owner of Illuminate
Trigger Warnings: divorce, abuse mention, anxiety, panic attack, hospital mention, death mention, terminal illness mention
BACKGROUND
Wesley didn’t always have the greatest childhood. His mother and father were fine, just ignorant to how their older son behaved. Wesley and Parker never got along. Wesley thought he was an asshole and a narcissist and her wasn’t always the most pleasant towards his younger brother.
His best friend growing up was Logan, the two being as thick as thieves. Logan was more of a brother to him than Parker ever was.
During High School, Wes suffered with anxiety and ended up having a panic attack so bad it landed him in hospital. Afterwards, Wesley found himself going to therapy, which helped him manage his anxiety.
It was then Wesley decided he wanted to be a therapist, that he wanted to study psychology so he could help people. Which is exactly what he did when he left high school. He had a few girlfriends during high school & college, but they didn’t really last long, the other mainly focusing on his studies.
It was when he returned back to Wakefield. He’d been tempted to leave the small town behind, but Logan was still here, and his brother had given him a niece when he was 19, one he utterly adored, so he stayed.
It was back home that he started to realise how awful his brother really was, especially to Bebe. He tried to help as much as he could, but there was little he could do since his brother was good at getting things his way. It tore him apart to watch his niece suffer, ringing him and hanging up when things were bad - but Wesley showed up every single time.
Coming back to Wakefield is when he met Savannah West. They’d known of each other in high school, but had run in different circles. She’d been popular, and Wes had mostly stuck with Logan and Evelyn. It didn’t take Wes long to fall head over heels in love with her, and after dating for two years, Wesley married her at 26.
Two years later, they had their first child, Ryleigh, then two years later Gideon and then another three years later they had their final child, Kaiden. Wesley adores his kids to pieces, and the three of them are his entire world.
Wesley mostly worked in Charleston, commuting every day to work that often caused a strain in his marriage with Savannah. Until ten years ago, when he set up Illuminate in Wakefield.
Savannah wasn’t the nicest of people, but Wesley was oblivious to it all. Wearing rose coloured glasses meant all the red flags just looked like flags. She was manipulative, and hated not getting what she wanted, often picking arguments with Wes when she didn’t - even if he had no way of controlling the situation in the first place.
When he was 36, Bebe was finally removed from her father’s care and placed with Wes. Savannah wasn’t entirely happy they now had four kids to raise, but this was one thing Wesley refused to back down on.
It was then, Wesley started realising the flaws in his marriage, but he knew she wouldn’t let him leave that easily, so he stayed, focusing on his kids.
Bebe had to leave again when she was 20, going back to her father who became sick. Wesley hated watching her go back to him, and would still try and help out when he could.
It was little more than a year later when Savannah slapped divorce papers on his desk. It caught him by surprise, but honestly, he wasn’t too upset about it. Until Savannah said she wanted the kids. She barely payed much attention to them growing up, Wesley mostly being the one raising them but he had no evidence on it.
After a custody battle, Wesley only got the rights for the kids to visit every other weekend while she moved them to Charleston. It broke his heart but Savannah was good at getting her way and he had no proof otherwise.
Ever since, Wesley mostly threw himself in his work but keeps his schedule 100% clear when he has his kids unless it’s an utter emergency. In the years since, Savannah remarried and he knows his kids aren’t fond of staying with her most of the time, but he’s not sure he’d get the court to swing it in his favour.
Wesley mostly focuses on helping people, whether it be through his job or otherwise. That’s all he’s ever wanted to do.
WANTED CONNECTIONS
close friends & friends in general
someone love this man js
parent friends through when he actually had his kids
clients, all the clients
