RubyWay Chronicles - Part 3.1: Stuck in the Middle With You
May 25, 2016 17:33:28 GMT -5
Post by Kevin Hardaway on May 25, 2016 17:33:28 GMT -5
May 22, 2016
Just a typical morning in the Hardaway apartment complex (it doesn’t roll off the tongue as “Hardaway household) really, and at least this time, the family Hardaway can share a good ol’ fashioned breakfast. Usually Kevin has to be up and driving by 6AM to reach Ruby’s house at a reasonable time, but lately, she’s forgone the early morning routines. Hey, nothing wrong with sleeping in, and with her finals up and the two of them going on a more easier route as of late due to having all of the time in the world because of a bye and everything else, she’s given him a privilege to sleep in.
He knows it won’t last long, but why the hell not?
And since it’s Sunday, he can stay in with his daughter Kimberly and eat breakfast and watch a few cartoons before he has to drop her off at his parents and head to Ruby’s for the day. Cartoons have really gotten weird, by the way.
And he’s enjoying the time with her. Just the two of them eating cereal against the counter. Sure, he gets weird flashbacks from time to time with finding out that the damned book that caused this rift was on this exact countertop, he just tries to block it out of his memory and enjoy watching Kim try to chew on her Cheerios as only a 7-year old turning 8 would do. It’s really a cute sight. Oh my god, she is turning 8. June 18th, 2008 was the date that she was brought into this world...without her father by her side unfortunately. Kevin was across the ocean almost risking life and limb and that’s when Angie went into labor. He regrets it every single day, but on the other hand, Angie always told him that you go do what you need to do.
You go do what you need to do.
But with a birthday, there needs to be something to give her. He was never one for presents or giving them out. He never knew what to get anything for anybody. He always left that to his loved ones. But this year was different. So, herein lies the $64,000 Question...
“So...I know it’s a few weeks away, but...what do you want to do for your birthday? For a change...I finally get to stay at home to celebrate it with you on the exact day instead of having to wait a few days because daddy’s on the road and whatnot.”
She smiles at the notion. He’s right, usually every year, he’ll be out wrestling and he wouldn’t get back until a few days afterwards. Sure, he would still celebrate it and everything. He would always make her worthwhile by saying that she always get two birthday cakes. One from his parents and obviously one from himself. But this year is the first time in a few years that she gets to spend her actual birthday in his company. No double cakes, but at least she gets to see her father. A fair enough trade, if I say so myself.
She’s hard at thought about the question however as he continues to eat his cereal, and then he hears a response that almost makes him choke on it.
“I...I want to meet your friend. Ruby.”
He starts hacking and pounding his fist against his stomach until he swallows the mouthful of cereal, as she giggles. She knows he’s overreacting somewhat and she knows he’s okay, so it’s okay for her to laugh.
In his eyes, he’s not overreacting. He’s really freaking out.
“Why do you want to meet Ruby?”
“Because she sounds like a cool person. I hear everybody at school talking about her. Talking about how cool she is, and how nice it must be for you to have somebody behind your back.”
If Ruby was behind his back, it was to slap him in the back of the head or whack him with a stick. Of course she stood up for him, if barely like what Kim was talking about. But the somewhat somberness of her voice told a different story.
“Plus...you never know. You’re always at her house. I just...I just want to know what makes her just as wonderful as Mom was.”
A single, solitary tear rolls down her cheek as Kevin just looks on. He cracks a smile and uses his knuckle to wipe away the tear and pulls her chin up to face his direction.
“Kiddo. She’ll never be as wonderful as your Mom was. Believe you me. And I’m just going to say this right now, but Ruby is only a business partner...and as much as she would never admit it, she’s actually a friend. I’m just truthful by saying that she’s not good with meeting new people.
...but, since it’s your birthday. I’ll see what I can do. I’ll talk to her later today after we get done training, okay?”
She smiles wide and reaches out to hug him, as he returns the favor. A touching moment, really.
“Thank you, daddy!”
“Anything for you, kiddo.”
====
A Few Hours Later...
Kevin is sitting on the couch as Ruby is on the recliner (long story really...Ruby has that covered...shhh...), her arms and her hands in her cheeks, as Kevin is recalling the memories between him, Brad Kane, and Joe Ragnal. A bunch of stories happening, and even some he’s been telling her now that she had no clue about, but…
“God, these next couple months are going to be absolutely crazy. The match against Kane and Ragnal. Our first defense of the WLW Tag Team Championships. My flashback matches at the other FRONTIER. But I’ll think of those later. Right now, we need to keep our eyes on the main prize. We need to worry about the Status Quo. Which...which is fitting, really...given who’s on that team. But I digress, that should be on our minds right now.”
“They showed me the videos. That shit was absolutely insane. Makes our stuff from last year look almost normal by comparison.”
She laughed, settling herself down in the armchair with her legs draped over one side.
“I’ve been forced to Google both Dan and Cordy. I mean, I know the names, and I’ve seen what they’ve done in the tournament, but other than that I got nothing to go on. So if you’ve got any tips and tricks you want to share, now would be the time. Since, you know, I’m working with an old veteran and all.”
Ruby chuckled and stuck her tongue out at her tag partner. The age difference between them wasn’t something she brought up often, but given the direction of their conversation, she had to take the time to tease him just a bit.
Kevin sticks his tongue right back at her in a more demeaning tone, but he knows she means well by it and he knows she’s just being a smartass about it as well. But his answer to her question about having any advice for their upcoming contest kind of shocks her.
“Tips? Tricks? I wish I had some, but to be quite honest...I don’t have a fucking idea. The only difference between you and me is that I’ve been in the same company as the both of them while I was around, but with the exception of a couple Gold Rush Rumbles, I’ve never stepped in the same ring as either Cordy or Dan. They’ve gone their different paths than I have, and that’s about it. The only real thing is that they both just irritate the ever loving hell out of me. And that’s mostly because they’ve had rockets strapped to their asses ever since they got here. I’ve worked my ass off for months and months to get to where I was at back then and they immediately catapulted over me because...because I’m the old guy.”
She just stares at him...no answer. Just a stare.
“They have the “experience” and they have the years left on them everybody says, but...I have the experience. I have double the years on them as the both of them combined. But they love the new fresh meat, and not the old-timers like myself. Fuck “old-timers”, I’m in my mid-30’s for Christ’s sake and I have more talent in my pinky finger than they ever had. Sure, Cordy is a former Rumble winner. So what? I’m also a former winner of that same kind of match. Sure, it was elsewhere, but have the two ever won gold here or elsewhere for that matter?”
Ruby just shrugs her shoulders.
“Not to my knowledge. Look what you’ve done in the past year and a half. Look what I’ve done in the past 15 years. I know you’re fresh to this and that’s fine by me...but in terms of accomplishments, they hold nothing. Hell, one look at that gauntlet in your room says it all. We’ve only been teaming officially for a couple months and we’re already tag team champions over at WLW. But here...here we have a bone to pick and an axe to grind. I didn’t come back to FGA to be bowled over and neither did you. We should have been in the tag title match to begin with and not have to go through some tournament to get here. The winners of this tournament should be facing US...not Ricky and Luke. I’m not going down without a fight, that’s for damn sure. Even if I have very little recollection of what Dan and Cordy are capable of. It shouldn’t fucking matter. What should matter is that regardless of all of the shipping, we are #RubyWay for a reason. And who doesn’t love #RubyWay?”
“Hey, I don’t know if I’m entirely sold on this whole #RubyWay thing,” she joked. “You’ve got a point, though. This is our moment, and the odds aren’t exactly in our favor, but I’m pretty sure that when we get out there, survival instinct is gonna kick in. And that’s something you and I have spent a lot of time developing over the past few months. Stay alive and give ‘em hell, right?”
“You're absolutely right on that. In the months that we spent almost killing one another, we both learned that we don't go down easily. We are both capable of anything and everything. Everybody doesn't believe in us, but when has that stopped the both of us? Just look at everybody on Twitter. We've fought against the rabid fans. I know that's not the same but hear me out. It's all about survive and advance in this day and age, honey.”
Her eyes narrowed at the pet name, but it was better than sug, so she let it go this time.
“It’s not even restricted to the fans anymore. I had my freaking ex-boyfriend and my research subject planning out an entire wedding after we won the tag gauntlet in Nashville.”
Kevin chimes in real quick…
“Yeah, I was trying to avoid mentioning that...which was why I avoided mentioning that. But go on.”
“...You can avoid bringing it up all you want. I got roped into freaking wedding dress shopping with Ana because I didn’t have the heart to tell her it wasn’t happening.”
“Yeeeah, there’s something I have to tell you. I got roped into suit shopping with Fraser a couple weeks ago. You know that picture of me in the suit? That was from him. I couldn’t say no because...come on, would you deny getting a free suit from a top-dollar place? But yeah, that was a thing that happened, so god help me.”
“Fraser Flanagan is lucky he’s still alive at this rate. I fired a few warning shots at him back in Tijuana… it was a rough time.”
“That’s why I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want you to find out and then for me to find out that you were arrested for attempted murder with a garden hose.”
“Garden hose? Come on. High powered rifle from a rooftop is more my style. But it’s also really not worth the murder rap in the unlikely event I got caught. So Fraser gets to live another day, and you get to keep the free suit that I… really can’t see you ever having the occasion to wear, but whatever. I’m not here to judge your fashion choices.”
“I have no fashion choices. What you see is what you get with me. I have never been a suit guy whatsoever. Only time I have worn a suit was to my friend’s wedding but you already know that. I’m not even being buried in a suit. I’m spending the money and going out in a Viking funeral. That’s the way I wanna go out. Bunch of flaming arrows at my direction as I careen off a waterfall into the abyss below. I’m hardcore as you can tell.”
“I just want a regular hunter’s funeral. Throw me on top of a wood pile and light that sucker up. It’s even in my will. Most hunters prefer not to leave a body behind. You never know what might end up happening. Ghouls, zombies, even some idiot with a Ouija board might end up bringing you back and if there’s one thing I know, it’s that when I do finally kick the bucket, I want to stay that way permanently. But hey, if you go before I do, I’ll shoot the arrows. You don’t want some first-timer fucking it all up because he’s scared of a little fire.”
There was part of her that wanted to ask if he’d been married in a suit, but bringing up anything to do with Angie felt strange to her, even though her death was the entire reason she and Hardaway had been brought together in the first place. He had only brought his late wife into the conversation once, and even then, he hadn’t spoken her name. Ruby was curious, but theirs was not the kind of partnership that lent itself well to personal conversations.
And besides, they’d hit their quota on deep dark revelations awhile ago. They still had another few months to go before they were due for another talk - or argument - like the one in the gym parking lot.
But she was somewhat curious to ask. Luckily for her, the sound of Kevin’s phone buzzing on the table interrupted things and at least she was able to save it for another day...when they could hit their quota once more.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Kim. She’s wondering abo…”
He immediately freezes as he looks at the text on his phone.
“Hey...was just wondering if you talked to Ruby about my birthday plans?”
Ruby looks on at Kevin like he was frozen in time or something, as she tilts her head in confusion.
“She’s wondering about what?”
“Umm…”
Fuck it. Might as well go for broke.
“Kim’s birthday is coming up in a couple weeks. I asked her before our training session if she wanted anything for her birthday and…”
“You can’t pay for her own birthday present? Is that it?”
Kevin gives Ruby a sarcastic yet tonal middle finger. At least Ruby was able to get a real-life middle finger towards her direction instead of the gauntlet doing the favors this time, but that was beyond the point this time.
“NO! I have the money. But that’s not even it. She...she wants to have dinner.”
“Oh. Well...that’s cute. Why were you freaking out about it?”
“She wants to have dinner with...with us.”
Her eyes slightly widened. Not in a “What in the absolute fuck?” kind of shocking moment. Not like finding out the end of a movie with a giant twist, but enough of a moment to where you’re definitely curious to find out the answer. Confusing, I know. But the response he gets is the “What in the absolute fuck?” kind of shocking moment.
“You know what? Sure. I’ll join you guys for dinner. For her though...not you. I guess you can have a free meal out of this for all of the times I’ve beaten the hell out of you. But...yeah, I would like to meet her.”
What in the absolute fuck?
Just a typical morning in the Hardaway apartment complex (it doesn’t roll off the tongue as “Hardaway household) really, and at least this time, the family Hardaway can share a good ol’ fashioned breakfast. Usually Kevin has to be up and driving by 6AM to reach Ruby’s house at a reasonable time, but lately, she’s forgone the early morning routines. Hey, nothing wrong with sleeping in, and with her finals up and the two of them going on a more easier route as of late due to having all of the time in the world because of a bye and everything else, she’s given him a privilege to sleep in.
He knows it won’t last long, but why the hell not?
And since it’s Sunday, he can stay in with his daughter Kimberly and eat breakfast and watch a few cartoons before he has to drop her off at his parents and head to Ruby’s for the day. Cartoons have really gotten weird, by the way.
And he’s enjoying the time with her. Just the two of them eating cereal against the counter. Sure, he gets weird flashbacks from time to time with finding out that the damned book that caused this rift was on this exact countertop, he just tries to block it out of his memory and enjoy watching Kim try to chew on her Cheerios as only a 7-year old turning 8 would do. It’s really a cute sight. Oh my god, she is turning 8. June 18th, 2008 was the date that she was brought into this world...without her father by her side unfortunately. Kevin was across the ocean almost risking life and limb and that’s when Angie went into labor. He regrets it every single day, but on the other hand, Angie always told him that you go do what you need to do.
You go do what you need to do.
But with a birthday, there needs to be something to give her. He was never one for presents or giving them out. He never knew what to get anything for anybody. He always left that to his loved ones. But this year was different. So, herein lies the $64,000 Question...
“So...I know it’s a few weeks away, but...what do you want to do for your birthday? For a change...I finally get to stay at home to celebrate it with you on the exact day instead of having to wait a few days because daddy’s on the road and whatnot.”
She smiles at the notion. He’s right, usually every year, he’ll be out wrestling and he wouldn’t get back until a few days afterwards. Sure, he would still celebrate it and everything. He would always make her worthwhile by saying that she always get two birthday cakes. One from his parents and obviously one from himself. But this year is the first time in a few years that she gets to spend her actual birthday in his company. No double cakes, but at least she gets to see her father. A fair enough trade, if I say so myself.
She’s hard at thought about the question however as he continues to eat his cereal, and then he hears a response that almost makes him choke on it.
“I...I want to meet your friend. Ruby.”
He starts hacking and pounding his fist against his stomach until he swallows the mouthful of cereal, as she giggles. She knows he’s overreacting somewhat and she knows he’s okay, so it’s okay for her to laugh.
In his eyes, he’s not overreacting. He’s really freaking out.
“Why do you want to meet Ruby?”
“Because she sounds like a cool person. I hear everybody at school talking about her. Talking about how cool she is, and how nice it must be for you to have somebody behind your back.”
If Ruby was behind his back, it was to slap him in the back of the head or whack him with a stick. Of course she stood up for him, if barely like what Kim was talking about. But the somewhat somberness of her voice told a different story.
“Plus...you never know. You’re always at her house. I just...I just want to know what makes her just as wonderful as Mom was.”
A single, solitary tear rolls down her cheek as Kevin just looks on. He cracks a smile and uses his knuckle to wipe away the tear and pulls her chin up to face his direction.
“Kiddo. She’ll never be as wonderful as your Mom was. Believe you me. And I’m just going to say this right now, but Ruby is only a business partner...and as much as she would never admit it, she’s actually a friend. I’m just truthful by saying that she’s not good with meeting new people.
...but, since it’s your birthday. I’ll see what I can do. I’ll talk to her later today after we get done training, okay?”
She smiles wide and reaches out to hug him, as he returns the favor. A touching moment, really.
“Thank you, daddy!”
“Anything for you, kiddo.”
====
A Few Hours Later...
Kevin is sitting on the couch as Ruby is on the recliner (long story really...Ruby has that covered...shhh...), her arms and her hands in her cheeks, as Kevin is recalling the memories between him, Brad Kane, and Joe Ragnal. A bunch of stories happening, and even some he’s been telling her now that she had no clue about, but…
“God, these next couple months are going to be absolutely crazy. The match against Kane and Ragnal. Our first defense of the WLW Tag Team Championships. My flashback matches at the other FRONTIER. But I’ll think of those later. Right now, we need to keep our eyes on the main prize. We need to worry about the Status Quo. Which...which is fitting, really...given who’s on that team. But I digress, that should be on our minds right now.”
“They showed me the videos. That shit was absolutely insane. Makes our stuff from last year look almost normal by comparison.”
She laughed, settling herself down in the armchair with her legs draped over one side.
“I’ve been forced to Google both Dan and Cordy. I mean, I know the names, and I’ve seen what they’ve done in the tournament, but other than that I got nothing to go on. So if you’ve got any tips and tricks you want to share, now would be the time. Since, you know, I’m working with an old veteran and all.”
Ruby chuckled and stuck her tongue out at her tag partner. The age difference between them wasn’t something she brought up often, but given the direction of their conversation, she had to take the time to tease him just a bit.
Kevin sticks his tongue right back at her in a more demeaning tone, but he knows she means well by it and he knows she’s just being a smartass about it as well. But his answer to her question about having any advice for their upcoming contest kind of shocks her.
“Tips? Tricks? I wish I had some, but to be quite honest...I don’t have a fucking idea. The only difference between you and me is that I’ve been in the same company as the both of them while I was around, but with the exception of a couple Gold Rush Rumbles, I’ve never stepped in the same ring as either Cordy or Dan. They’ve gone their different paths than I have, and that’s about it. The only real thing is that they both just irritate the ever loving hell out of me. And that’s mostly because they’ve had rockets strapped to their asses ever since they got here. I’ve worked my ass off for months and months to get to where I was at back then and they immediately catapulted over me because...because I’m the old guy.”
She just stares at him...no answer. Just a stare.
“They have the “experience” and they have the years left on them everybody says, but...I have the experience. I have double the years on them as the both of them combined. But they love the new fresh meat, and not the old-timers like myself. Fuck “old-timers”, I’m in my mid-30’s for Christ’s sake and I have more talent in my pinky finger than they ever had. Sure, Cordy is a former Rumble winner. So what? I’m also a former winner of that same kind of match. Sure, it was elsewhere, but have the two ever won gold here or elsewhere for that matter?”
Ruby just shrugs her shoulders.
“Not to my knowledge. Look what you’ve done in the past year and a half. Look what I’ve done in the past 15 years. I know you’re fresh to this and that’s fine by me...but in terms of accomplishments, they hold nothing. Hell, one look at that gauntlet in your room says it all. We’ve only been teaming officially for a couple months and we’re already tag team champions over at WLW. But here...here we have a bone to pick and an axe to grind. I didn’t come back to FGA to be bowled over and neither did you. We should have been in the tag title match to begin with and not have to go through some tournament to get here. The winners of this tournament should be facing US...not Ricky and Luke. I’m not going down without a fight, that’s for damn sure. Even if I have very little recollection of what Dan and Cordy are capable of. It shouldn’t fucking matter. What should matter is that regardless of all of the shipping, we are #RubyWay for a reason. And who doesn’t love #RubyWay?”
“Hey, I don’t know if I’m entirely sold on this whole #RubyWay thing,” she joked. “You’ve got a point, though. This is our moment, and the odds aren’t exactly in our favor, but I’m pretty sure that when we get out there, survival instinct is gonna kick in. And that’s something you and I have spent a lot of time developing over the past few months. Stay alive and give ‘em hell, right?”
“You're absolutely right on that. In the months that we spent almost killing one another, we both learned that we don't go down easily. We are both capable of anything and everything. Everybody doesn't believe in us, but when has that stopped the both of us? Just look at everybody on Twitter. We've fought against the rabid fans. I know that's not the same but hear me out. It's all about survive and advance in this day and age, honey.”
Her eyes narrowed at the pet name, but it was better than sug, so she let it go this time.
“It’s not even restricted to the fans anymore. I had my freaking ex-boyfriend and my research subject planning out an entire wedding after we won the tag gauntlet in Nashville.”
Kevin chimes in real quick…
“Yeah, I was trying to avoid mentioning that...which was why I avoided mentioning that. But go on.”
“...You can avoid bringing it up all you want. I got roped into freaking wedding dress shopping with Ana because I didn’t have the heart to tell her it wasn’t happening.”
“Yeeeah, there’s something I have to tell you. I got roped into suit shopping with Fraser a couple weeks ago. You know that picture of me in the suit? That was from him. I couldn’t say no because...come on, would you deny getting a free suit from a top-dollar place? But yeah, that was a thing that happened, so god help me.”
“Fraser Flanagan is lucky he’s still alive at this rate. I fired a few warning shots at him back in Tijuana… it was a rough time.”
“That’s why I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want you to find out and then for me to find out that you were arrested for attempted murder with a garden hose.”
“Garden hose? Come on. High powered rifle from a rooftop is more my style. But it’s also really not worth the murder rap in the unlikely event I got caught. So Fraser gets to live another day, and you get to keep the free suit that I… really can’t see you ever having the occasion to wear, but whatever. I’m not here to judge your fashion choices.”
“I have no fashion choices. What you see is what you get with me. I have never been a suit guy whatsoever. Only time I have worn a suit was to my friend’s wedding but you already know that. I’m not even being buried in a suit. I’m spending the money and going out in a Viking funeral. That’s the way I wanna go out. Bunch of flaming arrows at my direction as I careen off a waterfall into the abyss below. I’m hardcore as you can tell.”
“I just want a regular hunter’s funeral. Throw me on top of a wood pile and light that sucker up. It’s even in my will. Most hunters prefer not to leave a body behind. You never know what might end up happening. Ghouls, zombies, even some idiot with a Ouija board might end up bringing you back and if there’s one thing I know, it’s that when I do finally kick the bucket, I want to stay that way permanently. But hey, if you go before I do, I’ll shoot the arrows. You don’t want some first-timer fucking it all up because he’s scared of a little fire.”
There was part of her that wanted to ask if he’d been married in a suit, but bringing up anything to do with Angie felt strange to her, even though her death was the entire reason she and Hardaway had been brought together in the first place. He had only brought his late wife into the conversation once, and even then, he hadn’t spoken her name. Ruby was curious, but theirs was not the kind of partnership that lent itself well to personal conversations.
And besides, they’d hit their quota on deep dark revelations awhile ago. They still had another few months to go before they were due for another talk - or argument - like the one in the gym parking lot.
But she was somewhat curious to ask. Luckily for her, the sound of Kevin’s phone buzzing on the table interrupted things and at least she was able to save it for another day...when they could hit their quota once more.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Kim. She’s wondering abo…”
He immediately freezes as he looks at the text on his phone.
“Hey...was just wondering if you talked to Ruby about my birthday plans?”
Ruby looks on at Kevin like he was frozen in time or something, as she tilts her head in confusion.
“She’s wondering about what?”
“Umm…”
Fuck it. Might as well go for broke.
“Kim’s birthday is coming up in a couple weeks. I asked her before our training session if she wanted anything for her birthday and…”
“You can’t pay for her own birthday present? Is that it?”
Kevin gives Ruby a sarcastic yet tonal middle finger. At least Ruby was able to get a real-life middle finger towards her direction instead of the gauntlet doing the favors this time, but that was beyond the point this time.
“NO! I have the money. But that’s not even it. She...she wants to have dinner.”
“Oh. Well...that’s cute. Why were you freaking out about it?”
“She wants to have dinner with...with us.”
Her eyes slightly widened. Not in a “What in the absolute fuck?” kind of shocking moment. Not like finding out the end of a movie with a giant twist, but enough of a moment to where you’re definitely curious to find out the answer. Confusing, I know. But the response he gets is the “What in the absolute fuck?” kind of shocking moment.
“You know what? Sure. I’ll join you guys for dinner. For her though...not you. I guess you can have a free meal out of this for all of the times I’ve beaten the hell out of you. But...yeah, I would like to meet her.”
What in the absolute fuck?
