"A pleasure to Punch you!" - Brielle and Armando

[Afterhoursclub]

The Last Round Sports Bar
9:15 PM

Dating apps were always a bet...

Sometimes you could get incredibly lucky and be part of one of those fairy tale dreams where two people meet, and it's "Love at first sight." With flowers and hearts flying through the air every time they see each other.

But other times, it could be like... whatever Brielle had been a part of for the last hour and a half.

Brielle Morgan

"Sigh..." Sitting sideways, the devilish goth carelessly ran her finger along the rim of her water glass, placing her elbow on the table and resting her head on her hand, a bored look replaced her usual mischievous smile. She had not been amused with her current date.

Armando wasn't even a bad-looking guy, but there are people with whom one simply can't hit things off. Awkward questions, awkward silences, and seemingly a lack of any common interests... The place was alright, a sports bar with some equipment placed around- nothing fancy, but fancy never caught Brielle's attention. If she didn't like the buffalo wings here so much, she probably would have left already...

"So..." Brielle decided to break another of the numerous awkward silences between her and her companion. Battling against her desire to just ask for the check and call it a night, and giving the man sitting across the table one more chance, after all, he had not been rude at any moment, despite how things were going. "What else can you tell me about yourself, Mr. Armando?" Her eyes shot up, meeting his with a sharp gaze.

[BlackAkuma]

This date sucked.

Was it the worst date Army had ever been on? No, but that wasn’t saying much. That was a hard bar to climb, after all - it would have to end up with him being in jail to reach those lofty depths, and it seemed like there was zero chance of that happening. A small part of him almost wished it came to that, though. If it did, it meant things actually got interesting at some point in the night.

As opposed to this. Just…boring.

It wasn’t even that Brielle was bad looking or anything. Hell, he’d even say she was hotter than most of the women on the LAW roster. She had this mystique about her, this subtle sort of danger in her look that had attracted him to her profile picture in the first place.

But dates were, unfortunately, about more than just staring at the person across from the table all night long. You had to make connections. So far, they were having shit luck with that.

At least the food was on point. And half off for wrestlers, too.

Army dipped another drumstick in the ranch, eager to devour it, if only it could give him another excuse for the silence, when Brielle made another attempt at breaking the ice. ”Army’s fine, seriously.” He waved it off with a weak laugh, though he was fairly certain that was the fifth time he’d asked her not to call him that. ”Not a whole lot to tell. I boxed, then I wrestled, then I boxed some more, and here I am.”

Army perked up and pointed at his attire, a

shirt he’d gotten online. ”You, uh, into anime?” It was a long shot, but he was running out of ideas. He was going for the hail mary.

[Afterhoursclub]

For a moment, if even for a brief short moment, Brielle's eyes shone with the expectation of something Interesting happening... Perhaps not everything was lost and the night could still be saved.

"There has to be something that we can talk about!" She thought, eager to hear Armando's reply to her question.

That was it! She only needed to be patient for a little bit longer...

"Hmm... No..."

And everything was lost again, Brielle didn't really liked anime at all. She did enjoy some Sci Fi and supernatural series, but overall the goth didn't hold much interest for Japanese animation in general. The Brit let out a long sight and sat back on her chair... Crossing her arms behind her head. And looking up at the ceiling.

"What a let down..."

She was right back to being annoyed, convinced that any further talk would only make matters worse in an already forgetful night. Just as she was about to raise her hand to ask for the check, her mind echoed part of Armando's words again...

Particularly, his fixation with contact disciplines. Brielle stopped. Boxing, wrestling... Maybe his only hobbies besides... Well... Watching Anime?

It didn't matter, it was enough for Brielle.

"Hmm... You...

You do a lot of fighting..."

The goth showing some genuine interest for the first time. Recalling her time back in her native London, before getting into wrestling. The dark-haired gal was part of the city's underground fighting circuits, something that made her feel alive and passionate. Despite the Injuries and the bruises.

Could it possibly be... That they did have something in common after all? She stared at the man's eyes again.

[BlackAkuma]

Army comes up to the three point line, he plants his feet, he shoots, and…he misses. In fact, the ball sails past the goal and hits someone in the fourth row. Total fail.

Yeah, the anime gambit was a reach, but he figured it was worth a shot. Brielle didn’t strike him as the type that would be into stuff like that, but you never knew these days. A lot of people wouldn’t think he was the sort of person that would be into it, after all, but he was. People could surprise you.

That wasn’t the case here, though, and what was worse, Brielle seemed genuinely peeved he’d even gone down this route. Army’s sigh mirrored hers, and he was quick to stick the wing into her mouth and chomp it clean.

He was just starting to think about hitting the Abort button on this whole thing and calling it a night, when Brielle piped up and asked him about fighting. There was some genuine spark there, too. Maybe he could work with this.

”Yeah, I-” Ugh, he had a little ranch on his lip. He wiped it off with a quick dab of the napkin, then continued. ”Yeah, I was a boxer. Guess I still am, though I do more wrestling these days. Kind of a family thing. Dad used to do the same, then he trained me and my sister. She’s here in Tokyo with me now. Our cousin, too.” He grumbled that last part out.

Army picked up another wing, but didn’t bring it up just yet, content to drown it in the ranch for a few moments. ”What about you? You got a history in the ring?” She certainly had the body for it.

[Afterhoursclub]

The devilish goth listened attentively, a first! -considering how the night was going.

Armando seemed to have quite a bit of experience, given his family of fighters, if what he was saying was true, of course. He had the physique of someone who knew how to throw a punch or two. They were both in the LAW roster after all, so he must at least know how to apply a proper collar-and-elbow tie-up. In hindsight, why didn't they start with that?

Still, the dark-haired gal was keen on learning more about this "common interest" she had just discovered.

"Yeah, since I was a little lad!" Brielle quickly replied to the man's question. "I've had a few tussles here and there..."

"Both inside and outside the ring," She smirked, leaning both elbows over the table and holding her head with her hands. "What can I say?" She chukled with a mischievous look in her eyes.

"I just love getting rough and personal..." She winked, "It's A family thing too, I guess; my cousin is also a wrestler."

[BlackAkuma]

Okay. Okay, this was something.

Army generally didn’t like leaning on his wrestling and boxing history too much in dates, even with women who were in the same profession. He’d had a couple of relationships with other wrestlers before, and they started out well, but then things got too competitive and weird, and in a place like LAW, where he was always wrestling other women, well…

Messy. Lots of potential for messiness.

This was the first time his date had brought it up herself, though, which was a promising sign. She seemed to be getting into it, too. There was their fiery glint in her eyes that was working for him, this building edge in her voice.

”’Rough and personal’. I can relate.” He planted and elbow on the table and leaned in, conspiratorial, as if they were trading secrets. ”Lots of people say stuff like that. How rough are we talking, here?” He gave her a quick look over, as if he hadn't done that a few times tonight.

[Afterhoursclub]

"Wouldn't you like to know, huh, big guy?" Brielle asked mockingly, getting closer and closer as the words flowed naturally between them, with a genuine interest in what the other had to say, only for Brielle to playfully lean back in her chair, turning away from Armando's features in a swift and unexpected movement.

There had been a spark, something that mere moments ago seemed like a mere distant dream. She smirked, noticing the man's eyes dancing all over her figure. But rather than feeling uncomfortable, the goth owned the moment. Armado said he knew how to fight... and she was very eager to put those words to the test...

"What would you be willing to do to find out?" The Brit's eyes fixed on Armando's once again. attentively waiting for his answer. Almost as if nothing else around them mattered. Except for one thing.

Her gaze quickly shifted to something at the back of the bar, something that, to most, seemed to be just a large decorative element adorning the place, but for her, and most likely for Armando as well, it was like an everyday tool, a part of their daily routine.

It was a ring, placed at the back of the restaurant. They probably put it there just to keep with the sports theme. But upon closer inspection, it also seemed sturdy enough to be used. She kept staring at it and made sure that Armando noticed as well. Testing the man to see if he would bite...

[BlackAkuma]

Was it weird that this sort of thing turned Army on more than anything? On some level, he always worried that it wasn’t too healthy to get pumped at the idea of beating up a woman. It had been the hardest thing to get used to when he got into wrestling.

These days, it was much less of a problem; he was long past the point where he shied away from bashing the ‘fairer sex’ in the face. He’d lost too many matches against women to hold those notions. Still, on a date…

It wasn’t usual. But Brielle didn’t seem like your usual sort of woman, anyway. Army looked on as she sat back, gazing his way with those ghostly eyes of hers. He’d been trying to figure out what color they were all night, still couldn't make them out. They were an extremely light shade of whatever they were, so hard that he’d have to get close, real close, to say for sure.

He followed that gaze to the ring and picked up the meaning behind their words. It was wild, but that ring wasn’t just there for show, he was pretty sure…

”I’m game.” He pushed away from the table, stood up, and stretched, rolling his shoulders to get them nice and loose. ”I’ll talk to the manager, see if we can get something going.” He nodded her way. ”You good to fight in that, or do you need a change?”

[Afterhoursclub]

A slow chuckle escaped Brielle's lips after seeing how quickly Armando had caught her hints. Almost as if the man had been begging for an opportunity like this all night. And she didn't blame him in the least. The potential of a sudden encounter like this was something that even she was feeling excited about... especially after the "date" almost ended up like a lost cause.

She saw Armando get up and look around for the manager. His enthusiasm was contagious; the goth girl covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a sudden laugh. Then, his eyes looked down, crossing with hers again. Asking if she needed a moment to change.

"Honey..." Her lips curved into a promising smirk. "I'm always ready..." The dark-haired gal stood up next, lifting both arms and pulling the back of her shirt, taking it off and revealing a tight black sports bra underneath, which did little to hide her lean yet toned figure. Gifting Armando with a close glimpse of her trained abdomen as she folded the shirt and left it on the table. Watching the man with a side look the whole time. Completely aware of what she was doing, and enjoying every single second of it.

She pushed her chair to the side and began walking toward the ring, grazing Armando's chin with playful fingers when she passed next to him, whispering into his ear: "Don't take too long, love..."

Having said this, Brielle continued on her way until she reached the side of the ring, rolling inside without delay.

[BlackAkuma]

Someday, some therapist was going to get a thick book out of Army. Quite possibly a trilogy.

But that day wasn’t today. Today, whatever crazy thoughts were occupying his head got him exactly where he wanted, managing to salvage this doomed date from the depths. He looked on as Brielle proceeded to peel her shirt off, revealing a tight, toned body underneath, with the sort of hardened abs that 99% of the human population could only dream of. She was well-aware of how impressive they were, too, and his eyes weren’t the only ones drifting her way.

He couldn't help a little shudder as she grazed his chin, but he did his best to hide it. Probably failed. But he tried. ”I won’t…” And yet, he couldn't help but watch Brielle as she made her way into the ring. There was a hypnotic way to her movements, this subtle sway in her step, and-

Right. Right. He shook his head, snapped out of it, and got to work.

It only took a couple minutes to get everything he needed setup. The owner was a wrestling fan, no small surprise there, and the idea of having a live mixed match in his establishment more than suited his tastes. The ring was made for patrons to play around, mostly kids and adults with no sense of shame, but it would hold up well enough for them, he was certain.

Getting a referee for the bout was a trickier thing, but they managed to convince one of the referees to do the job. She came in the ring behind Army, looking sheepishly between them, but he’d assured her that this wouldn’t be too hard. All she really had to do was stay out of the way and hit the mat three times. Couldn't be easier.

He took his place on the opposite side of the ring and took off his own shirt, revealing the hardbody underneath. He wasn’t the type to show off too much, but he thought he cut a decent enough figure. Enough to make it clear he wouldn’t be any pushover, if she hadn't figured that out already.

”I’m good to go whenever you are.” He waved her way. ”Just ring the bell whenever you’re ready.” He smirked, with a dangerous glint in his eye. ”Honey.”