Post by Aiden Reynolds on Apr 11, 2018 20:34:38 GMT -5
Last Year.
“Are you sure you like Japanese food?. We can go get a burger.” Etsuko smiled politely as she reached forward grabbing her glass of water. Aiden tilted his head and laughed to himself as he looked over the food in front of him. Different assorted types of sushi, rice, noodles and other foods sat in front of him. Teriyaki squid still sizzling on a hot plate. He grabbed a pair of chopsticks using them to effortlessly dip some salmon nigiri into some soy sauce popping it between his lips with a wink. “I ate a lot of Japanese food back home to, I always loved it…”
Etsuko gave a surprised and impressed nod eating her own piece of sushi using her fingers as she seemed to stumble with the chopsticks. He looked slightly confused as she did. Etsuko cleared her throat blushing wildly. “Not all Japanese people like or can use chopsticks…” Aiden let out a small chuckle. His eyes moved from her slender fingers up to her face. Her green eyes sparkling under the light above, her long black hair tied back with a few blonde streaks in them going from the front to the back. Her lips curled around into a small smirk as she noticed Aiden staring at her.
After a few moments that seemed to linger Aiden cleared his throat. “Sorry…” He flashed a boyish grin and took a sip of his beer looking away. Etsuko shook her head and reached across the table sliding her fingers across the top of his hand. “You’re sweet, there’s no reason to apologize”. The plates slowly became more and more empty as Aiden ate, small spouts of conversation and laughter peppered the night as he relaxed. Etsuko too started to come out of her shell. Her laugh was infectious and made Aiden smile even more. His boyish good looks and grin more than winning her over ever time they had been on a date.
Adrien pulled out his credit card putting it on top of the bill before Etsuko could move, as it got taken away she flashed him another grin. “It was my turn to pay, you have the last two times.” Aiden smirked and leaned in slowly with a wink. “You just gotta be faster.”
He slide up from his seat offering his hand as they turned to leave walking out into the hot summer air of Tokyo. Aiden took it all in before turning to Etsuko, her hair lightly waving in the breeze. He reached out lightly touching his fingertips to her cheek brushing the hair away as her breathing became staggered and struggled. He leaned in slowly as their lips met, for a few minutes time stopped, he pulled back and Etsuko looked down with a small smile, her cheeks turning a light pink. A cab pulled up and Etsuko slimed before grabbing Aidens hand squeezing it. “I’ll call you tomorrow…” He gave her a nod as her hand slipped from his as she sat in the cab driving away.
Aiden walked down the sidewalk with a giant goofy grin on his face, past the various shopfronts, restaurants and street food vendors. Tokyo bustled with life. Aiden moved down an alleyway on the way to his apartment. Suddenly there were men around him, holding him, all dressed in black. His back slammed against the brick wall, before he could yell one of them covered his mouth. “Shhh” He smiled showing his pearly white teeth, his long black hair tied back.
He leaned in close with an almost low growl. “You need to learn your place boy…” Thwack, a hard right hand that made everything go blurry. Aiden tried to gain his bearings as he struggled against them. “Stay away from Etsuko, her father is giving you this courtesy warning….” His hand came to rest on Aidens shoulder, his thumb rubbing down the side of Aidens cheek as he smiled again, his other hand crossing over hitting Aiden harder, Aiden hit the concrete hard and felt the next shot to his ribs. Then there was laughter, fading as they moved away. And the silence of the night
Present Day
“A number one contender elimination match. I feel like I’ve been here before. A match where there’s a carrot being dangled over my head. A shot at the Combat Wrestling Heavyweight title.”
Aiden sighs and shakes his head, his hand running through his short brown hair.
“My career in Combat has been up and down to say the least. I’ve busted my ass to get better and obviously the management base here has decided that I am deserving of another chance. And honestly. Why wouldn’t I be?. Wins and losses mean alot but so does how good you are. And now I get to step in the ring with Shun Lei, Hungry Jack, HardKore, Waylon Stokes and Muru….”
“Shun Lei is an interesting one. I’ve been in the ring with him before and his strong style striking is pretty impressive. But I’ve been there before. I’ve seen it before and honestly I can handle it. I am a hybrid of everything. I can fly, I can use submissions, I can strike, I can use power moves….”
“I’m everything you could want in a professional wrestler in 2018…”
“Six foot tall, good looking, athletic…”
“Things Shun Lei ain’t….”
“But then there’s Hungry Jack a dude I teamed with who basically did nothing in our challengers vs champions showcase. A guy who was a passenger. Listen up fat boy, you can be a passenger in a match with me, you can ride along and watch as I actually do the work, but you are not going to screw me over. You are not going to steal a win from me when I so clearly need it…”
“Eat a fuckin big mac mate and stay out of my fuckin way…”
He scoffs and rolls his eyes before continuing.
“And you know, for a guy named HardKore that fucker isn’t very Hardcore. Talk about false advertising. Who the hell cares?. Seriously what have you done?. I may have lost a few matches but shit I turn up to every show, I go on social media and I promote our brand. The same goes for all of you, including that prick Muru.”
“I do so much work to get eyes on this product regardless of what happens in the ring.”
“And this ascendancy is a shot. A shot I won’t let some dumbass named Waylon, or another one named Muru fuck it up for me. You know Muru sits there and closed out his last promo where he said we would see a resurgence. What resurgence Muru?. You have to have been at the top to RE-surge back there.”
“But the bigger issue is the champion...Killian Kold…”
Aiden pauses and scoffs.
“You know this guy has been running roughshot over the roster and company for a while now. He’s out there, he’s a weird cat but you guys just sit there and yell about the things he’s done but none of you are willing to do something about it. I am….”
“I’m ready to get in the ring with big bad Killian Kold”
“I’m ready to take the Combat Wrestling championship and this company into the future and into the wilderness of popularity. Because I am good enough to do it and strong enough to put the entire company on my back….”
