Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (For Old_Man_Tai)

Valley's eyes went into a preemptive roll. Ace had stepped on a landmine and there ears would pay the price. "Here we go."

Valley's mother beamed with pride and sat up straight, getting ready to drop some knowledge. If there was one thing she loved to do it was talk about moves. She had a long list of moves she was fluent in, even a few originals, and once she got talking about specifics it could be hard to shut her up. Near impossible, really. Ace would have to learn the hard way.

"Well, I started out simple when I was about your age - a sidewalk slam. Nothing too complicated, but effective. But after I had took some time off to have Valley, I retrained and picked up some new moves, and I bulked up enough to start using heavier attacks." She brought her arms up and flexed, her muscles showing off well through the thin blue jacket. "The one I went with for a finisher was the Great Divide. Basically like a falling powerbomb, but instead on just dropping my knees straight down, I bring them out as I drop my opponent, so her back falls right on my outstretched, bent knees."

She snapped and made a cracking noise, enjoying her trip to Nostalgia Land. "Only had six people who kicked out of it in the whole career."

Ace may not have known how hard it was to close the door she had opened, but being a lover of wrestling, she didn't mind hearing it, for now.


"Oooh, a backbreaker powerbomb combo, nice. I kicked out of one of those once, back in Mexico when I was teaming with Silver King. I'll give the girl credit, she was 5 inches shorter than me and could barely get me up enough to pull it off. That's why I prefer moves that can be done on anybody, no matter the size. I took her out with a Lungblower/Backcracker combo, then made her tap with a Figure Four Leglock."

Ace replied, bragging a little as she somewhat compared finishers. Then Ace quickly devoured a piece of garlic bread.


Ace fucking loved garlic bread.

"Oh, the figure-four, nice." She chirped and leaned in, her bangs bouncing back and forth. "I'm surprised, a lot of the younger girls i worked with stay away from that one. I think they see a lot of examples of it being reversed and want to stick with simpler moves - camel clutches, boston crabs. I see far too many camel clutches and boston crabs. I am wholly sick of camel clutches and boston crabs." She rolled her eyes and sat back, probably counting how many times she'd seen them. Or trying to. "But I'm glad you use it. Stick to the old-school. It'll never do you wrong."

"No school like old school." Her father chimed in, just trying to get his foot in the door. Though he attended the shows, he was no wrestler himself, and he oftentimes got locked out when Valley Sr. started talking shop. Poor guy.

Ace, after a quick look from Valley Jr made her realize she was at risk of shutting out one parent, quickly turned to Val's father.

"So Mr. Wells....how did you two meet?"


She asked innocently, all while enjoying the hell out of her garlic bread. Later, in hindsight, she would become convinced that her decision not to share the delicious garlic bread would be responsible for what happened later.

For now though, she sat back, honestly enjoying the visit so far, listening to the story.

Valley's parent shared a little blush, as her Mom gave him a little nod - she loved to her hear him tell the story.

"Well, I wish I could say it was some big thing, but it started off a lot smaller than you'd think." He took off his sunglasses, saving Valley the embarrassment of having to be around a man who wore sunglasses inside. "I used to be part of this band. Nothing big, just small shows. We opened for the Slamazons a few times, and one night I catch one of her matches, and I'm all like whoa!" He thumped his chest. "Thunderbolt. Right here. Got me. So I hooked up with her after the show, worked my magic, and we were tight ever since."

Valley closed her eyes, knowing he was about to say the thing he shouldn't say but always said with this story. "Also, that was the night we made Valley Jr."

"Gah." Valley smacked her forehead and groaned. "Why do you always put that part in?"

"Awww, that's so sweet..."

Ace replied, until the boom dropped a second later.

"Oh...that's...wow."

She blushed and took a drink, before giggling a little.

"You know, that's kinda like when Val and I first met in Japan, though obviously without....um...youknow..."

Ace blushed again, hiding herself behind her garlic bread, seeking its protection.

Her father just smirked, putting his glasses back on, nice and slow, like he was on an episode of CSI: Miami. Valley Sr., though...she looked a bit more serious. Not outright mad, but there was a drop in her look, as she glanced between the two. Valley recognized it right away - her mother was thinking. Hard.

"How did you two meet, though?" She took some sugar and stirred into her iced tea, mixing it around with the straw. "Valley said you had a match - which you one by the way, congratulations." She flashed her a warm smile. "But did you two know each other before that?"

Ace saw the look as well, and shrank a little behind the bread. That was a rather intimidating look, and the question was just loaded.

But she had to answer, and even without looking at Valley she knew that lying would be a very very bad idea.


"Well uh, the bookers just kinda threw our names together for the hell of it. There is...well, a lot, of somewhat crazy girls in AFW, and we'd both tangled with some crazy ones by then, so when Valley learned who I was, she invited me out to a drink. A chance to get to know one another, scout each other out, make sure the other one wasn't a crazy bitch that wanted to pull a Terry Funk and jam a railroad spike into somebodies eye, ya know?"

"So we met up, had a couple drinks, talked about our careers, music, so on and so forth. We hung out for an hour or two, and didn't see each other till the match. It was nice though, really really nice. My best night in Japan at that point"

Ace finished, blushing as talking about that night brought up memories of them flirting and kissing each other. Realizing she was blushing, her inability to always handle her emotions getting the better of her again, Ace chuckled nervously, and tried to divert the attention.

"Of course, we didn't railroad spike anybody, but the match was still pretty hard hitting. The waist scissor Valley gave me almost knocked me out completely. Your daughter has some great, seee-Strong, strong legs. If that had been my neck, I'd have lost for sure!"

Ace quickly corrected herself, her nervousness causing her to mess up a little. With luck, it wouldn't be noticed.

"Save me garlic bread!"

She thought, realizing she wasn't at all prepared for this as she thought she was.

Smooth. Really, really smooth.

Valley looked between Ace and her mother as her partner rattled off, trying her best to tell the story while omitting some rather important details. Like the way they'd leg wrestled under the table at the bar. Their first kiss. Their secret makeout session in the middle of the ring. It was a valiant effort.

But Valley had never been able to slip things past her mother. She Ace was going to have any better luck. And the stammering and blushing certainly did not help. Valley Sr. watched Ace carefully for the whole thing, like a hawk guarding her eggs.

"Yes, she does have strong legs." Valley's mother noted, taking some of the garlic bread herself and nibbling away it. "Those come from her cheerleading days - they helped her a lot when she started wrestling. She had a good career to start out, but she could never find a good partner - I'm glad you two could hit it off."

Her voice was still tender, but there was definitely a suspicious tone to it. The awkwardness was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"BITCH TOOK MY GARLIC BREAD!"

The words screamed through Ace's mind, though she ignored them, having far bigger issues in front of her. Valley Sr clearly knew something was up, and Ace was clearly losing the "don't tell her we're a couple and that we want to fuck each other" game.

"Y-yeah, their great....really great...and I'm glad we hit it off too. It's been nice knowing somebody has my back. We haven't teamed up in match yet, but Valley's already been a good partner to me. Um, in the ring, I mean. Showing me the ropes and all that. Even with 5 years experience, I didn't realize I had as much to learn as I have under her...under her teachings, I mean!"

Ace smiled nervously and wordlessly offered the garlic bread basket to Valley, her eyes clearly and desperately begging for a tag.