Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Prompt: meet cute (or thanks Flex)

1. Here's the thing about her dog, Flex...he doesn't like males. She chalks it up to the actions of the previous owner when it comes up at the adoption fair she finds him at one Sunday afternoon in California. Adorable little white fluff scampering about with the other dogs. And it’s fine...really. However, it does tend to be a little imposing when she's trying to navigate her love life. Sure, wrestling is the first love (always) but a little companionship never hurt anybody.

2. He'd nip at her ex-boyfriend when his hand would linger too long on her thigh while cuddling on the couch. One time, she was at a food truck and some teenager had gotten too big for his britches and asked for her number only for incessant barking to be the reply he'd received. He'd actually escaped through the cracked window of her living room at her first floor apartment and chased off a blind date that tried to stick his tongue down her throat. That one she had been grateful for. Because who could be scared of the little cotton ball with teeth?

3. She loves Flex. She really does. That’s what brings her to the Performance Center for training on Tuesday. Carefully cradling her gym bag like she was carrying a million dollars in single bills. It’s not her fault, really. The air conditioning was being fixed at her place and the dog sitter neighbor girl was out. She wasn’t going to leave Flex to steam in the apartment. No way. Of course, the Performance Center is not like the CrossFit gyms she frequents. The ‘No Dogs Allowed’ sign glaring at her like a ‘Kill Bill’ siren.

4. She’s safely inside the locker room after navigating through the pleasantries of ‘good morning’ from the other trainees. Secret still in the bag and unzips it only for Flex’s tiny white fuzzy head to pop out. “You stay in here,” she says booping his nose, “You’ll be nice and cool and quiet, okay?” If Flex understands her she’ll take the small head tilt as a ‘yes’ and he’s curling up all nestled in her bag again for a nap. She can leave and get through the workout unscathed. Nobody will be the wiser.

5. But, no such luck for Bayley. A collective ‘aww’ echoes across the warehouse along with a ‘what the hell?!” she recognizes from Coach Bloom and she’s ready to jump out of her skin or crawl into the nearest corner and die. Everybody is gathered at a window. Carmella emerges from the hallway near the offices and raises a brow her direction while she’s in the ring and Bayley never hit the mat so hard.

6. She goes slowly. Tip toes really, to the office door of Coach Bloom. Ready as she’ll ever be for breaking the rules and accept her pink slip for doing so. Tears already in the corner of her eyes when she reaches the door.

7. What she doesn’t expect is a smirking Coach Bloom watching as Flex licks the rosy cheek of a man she’s heard of but never met. A man so revered in this thing called pro wrestling that she loves, that she cannot do anything but stare at the site before her rooted in the spot at the doorway and gawk in both awe and embarrassment. Finn Balor has come to NXT…and he’s giggling and encouraging the dog in his arms to continue giving kisses and sniffing him like he’s like him.

8. And he’s looking at her now after Flex lets out a bark and lolling tongue in her direction. She’ll make him into a hat for this. “Lose something,” he questions in that Irish brogue hoisting Flex out a little in her direction from where he sits. She has a surprised look plastered to her face and stiffens as she slowly holds out her arms almost robotically, still standing in the doorway, which she is thankful for. Because that’s better than flailing and falling over like she wants to. He’s up and in her space, not too close though, and hands over her fur-child. She looks at Flex’s ‘smiling’ face and back to him. Blue eyes and a big smile and all she can feel is her heart beating out of her chest like a cartoon and wonders if he or Coach can hear it.

9. “He doesn’t usually like men,” she blurts out. Lightening strike her now. Flex is struggling in her arms just a little now to get back to him and she has to tighten her grip because they are going to have a serious talk when they get home and no treats. “Well, I am half demon” he jokes and she raises her eyes to his seeing an enormous smile and he’s patting Flex’s head while she holds him and she bites her lip and she considers half a treat as a ‘thank you’ to Flex for breaking the ice.

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Prompt: meet ugly (or meet the demon)

1. Because who has ever met a demon the right way? Is there a right way to meet a demon? Finn doesn’t know. It’s been apart of him all his life. Whether he knew it or not. But of course, Bayley wants to know it. Wants to figure out what makes it tick. Maybe even wants to give it a hug. A joke she later realizes telling Finn had been a mistake if the unamused look in his eyes was anything to go by. And the thing about demons…they’re not shy. They’re not going to deny a request of their presence. Especially if he was summoned by Bayley. Because the demon finds her equally as fascinating. For a mortal.

2. But Finn’s nipped any potential show and tell in the ass from the beginning. Because Finn has a thing about protecting the people he cares about. The demon laughs internally at him with every refusal and it’s all he can do to not return to Ireland and call a witch doctor or a priest and have the demon exorcised. Whatever good that would do. Probably be more painful without it, he doesn’t know. He can only resist her pleading for so long though.

3. “Is it because it wouldn’t like me?” Deep brown eyes going wide and it’s taking a lot of self control to stay in check because who wouldn’t like her? She’s warm. She’s selfless. And sure, he thinks she’s pretty. But the demon does too. And the demon thinks she’d be pretty with its claws wrapped around her throat.

4. He replies while silently shaking the image out of his head hoping she doesn’t notice, “Quite the opposite actually.” Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard to prevent if nearly everyone else who was important to her hadn’t seen it. The only accidental time was Carmella and he’d like to think Bayley would never forgive him for that if he didn’t sit outside her apartment door for hours whispering apologies through the wood. Carmella still hadn’t forgiven him for putting her in that situation now that he thinks about it.

5. Then there’s her hand on his shoulder. He hasn’t looked at her since she’d asked again. Because he’d never tell her ‘no’ if it was anything else but this. “Who are you protecting? Him or me?” He looks at her then with a silent begging. Don’t make him say it. If he was any sort of gentleman she thought he was he’d say her. He’d never protect the demon. Not that he could. He’s mostly begging because he’s protecting himself.

6. So it happens: and not in the way he would’ve wanted it to. He’s been antsy for a couple of months because he’s debuted on the main roster and he’d give anything to be in Florida with her. With NXT. Because he’s better when they are together and so is she but he doesn’t know it. He gets hurt (the damn shoulder) at Summer Slam and has to relinquish the title. Raw hasn’t started yet and he’s run into Seth Rollins backstage. And of course, Seth is running his mouth. The man never stops talking.

“Don’t feel too bad Irish,” Seth smirks and Finn just glares back at him. “You’ll be back in no time and maybe I’ll consider giving you a shot at my championship.”

If he wasn’t wearing the sling his opponent from less than twenty four hours ago would be halfway across the arena. He’s boasting and he wouldn’t be Seth if he didn’t. The energy in the room shifts though because the next thing out of his mouth triggers something usually reserved until provoked.

“I’ll be a fighting champion though,” he says continuing the tirade even though it should be obvious Finn hasn’t been listening, “I’ll even go down to NXT to defend it. Maybe give a hug to some special rookies if you know what I mean.”

Seth’s walking away laughing as he says it, not looking back. Because even if he did Finn had already vanished.

-

Carmella is driving down the I-4 when she feels it. Before the radio starts flickering in and out of tune. Then he’s there in her passenger seat and she swerves for just a second thanking whatever deity above she prays to that she’s the only one on this stretch of highway currently.

“What the fuck?” she says gripping her steering wheel tighter than necessary.

Despite being the size of Finn he fills up so much of the space with what she can only place as evil energy. He’s black and red with coal eyes and he’s looking ahead out the front window with a blank look.

“You better have a good reason for scaring the shit out of me,” she glowers while pulling over putting on her hazard lights. When the car comes to a stop the demon turns and his eyes are telling her everything, “She’s not with me. She’s at home; where else would she be?” The demon forgets that Carmella is perceptive. She hardly ever needs words to pick up on things.

He’s vanishing again, but not as quickly, so he hears when she lets out a frustrated grunt.

“She’s not going to like this.”

Like any demon would he ignores her.

-

Bayley had fallen asleep with the lights on. It’s a sad habit but that’s what nearly twenty four hours of tears will do to a person. She wasn’t so much upset that it happened. She was upset that it happened and she wasn’t there. Finn’s mom had facetimed her after joining her son in the trainer’s room and nothing could stop the tears from flowing when she looked at the devastated expression he wore.

He’d shushed her of course. Told her he was fine. And she’d screamed because he wasn’t supposed to lie and he knew it. She’d called him on it. She would always call him on it. Then she would apologize to his parents for the words but they’d tell her that if anyone is going to kick his ass it’s going to be her.

The lights flickering don’t wake her as much as the heat. While it’s most definitely hot in Florida, it’s not hotter than hell.

So she sits up on her couch and rubs her eyes and then there’s a black shadow in her line of sight and a crouching figure on the arm of her couch. And she’s screaming before gaining her senses realizing what or who this looks like. (Because seeing it on a television screen doesn’t do an in person siting justice)

He looks like Finn. But Finn is injured. At least, he’s supposed to be. The crouching and leery hunching over her would not be good for a person with a bad shoulder. But it’s not a person, she realizes. It’s a demon.

He’s tilting his head with an interested gaze before he descends from the arm of the couch directly onto its cushions. He’s all hands and knees in the short distance and is damn close to her face by the time he runs out of room which is quickly.

Her heart is either in her throat or practically beating out of her chest and there’s a hand with sharp looking claws reaching out averting her eyes downward to watch as it come toward the vital organ but keeping her body almost at a deadly still.

A claw pokes the skin peaking above her tank and retreats slowly, eyes still on hers. She’ll gulp and he’ll watch as her throat looks like its tightening before saying, “You…” he sounds like Finn but distorted, evil “you make…him weak.” And she should be hurt by that, should be crying more tears if there were any left.

Instead she’s angry and that feeling is not a familiar emotion. That feeling is ugly and she hates it. So she’s scrambling to her knees to get right back in its face and while it doesn’t startle, there is a brief glimpse of amusement and blue eyes before they turn back to charcoal.

“If that was true,” she deigns to tell him, “He’d be here instead of you.”

7. Maybe it happens a different way next time. Because there has to be a next time. A demon only has two chances to make a first impression with a woman like that.

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Prompt: that body (more specifically that ass)

1. Physical attributes don’t make up the complexity of a person. And Finn has always held a substance over style mantra. He’d much rather have intelligent conversations with someone than spend time in silence just because the other person is exceptionally beautiful. And sure, being nice to look at would be a plus but it is not the most important piece. In his experience, he’s always found the soul of a person more fascinating. And maybe when he was younger, a little more carefree and naïve he’d thought different. But that was then.

2. So looks don’t matter now. Well…they didn’t until he’d noticed her ass in a thrilling and formfitting pair of royal blue yoga pants. And then it’s like he can’t look away until he calls himself on it. Or a rare occasion when someone else does.

3. The first time he meets her she is some form of vibrant energy he’s never encountered before. And that’s intriguing. But it’s not as if he didn’t notice the assets she possesses – because you can’t not notice. Her face is all melted chocolate for eyes, and a big smile. Her skin is a smooth bronze with subtle corded muscle. Her hair looks soft and he feels like a perve cause at one point she’d walked away from him with enough speed for it to nearly hit him in the face and the smell of it had him distracted in a particular way that made him thankful the work out was done and he could plunge into an ice bath. Oh yeah...assets for days.

4. But this particular one is going to drive him crazy now. Because she’s asking him to spot her at the squat rack in those damn yoga pants again and “Focus Balor! Focus on her fucking shoulders! Focus on not letting the bar crush her under its weight!” He’s got that new mantra playing over and over in his head now.

5. Then she’s in a pair of dark wash jeans at a concert, and she’s dancing along to the song playing, and all he can do is hopefully get drunk enough to calm his libido and be thankful they are among friends that he doesn’t notice it swaying to the beat. Until she backs up into him by accident and his hand brushes over a denim globe for the first time however brief. Neither of them will acknowledge it though.

6. After that, she’s in some small athletic shorts playing a pick up game of basketball and he wants to die right there on the spot. Because she has to know, right? Has to know she’s causing him some strife to where he’s considering crossing the line from friend to…something decidedly not friendly – or would it be too friendly? Either way he should probably stay to her front from now on. Not like it matters because the front of her is equally as pleasing.

7. Because she has to be doing it on purpose, right? He’s not just putting himself in situations where whatever bottoms she’s wearing get snugger?

8. And it’s not just him that notices, because Enzo says something once. He’s crass like that. They’re at the beach and Bayley is playing the water. Her swimsuit bottoms riding up a fraction. Maybe he wraps and arm around Enzo’s shoulder then like he’s hugging him when he actually tugs him by the neck closer and whispers lowly that he’ll have his head shoved so far in the sand and…let’s just say he paints a pretty colorful picture.

9. There are other parts of her of course that wind him up more than that one. He can’t say this is the first time it’s happened but it’s probably the first time its mattered. So at one point he puts some distance between them emotionally. Because he doesn’t know how to handle it. The being around her. The being around her and wanting her.

10. When they do get together for the first time he doesn’t waste it. He’s going to show his appreciation. He’s all hands on until he’s not and there’s a large but almost unnoticeable love bite that only she feels because he wants her to know that her ass belongs to him.

11. When they get back together after some time apart due to terrible circumstances, he’ll show appreciation again but this time that love bite is going to be bigger and she’s going to feel it more than the first.

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prompt: defending honor (or old friends get a surprise visit)

1. One of the great things about Finn is that he is extremely loyal. He’d jump in front of a bullet, bus, train…pretty much any fast moving object to keep the ones he cares about safe. And he’s always deescalating a situation because Finn doesn’t do confrontation. He’s a man to orate peace and would much rather sing ‘Kumbaya’ than get into a verbal dispute. Because there’s no reason everybody can’t be civil with one another. Absolutely none. He’s easy going and chill and the last person who would lose his shit.

2. Except for when he does and all he can see is red. And all he can hear is the confusion that must be in her voice when she’s asking in a concerned text message ‘where r u?’ Because he’s supposed to meet her at the show in Laredo. Then Gallows and Anderson are flanking him at the airport trading looks of concern because Finn is not like this. And he tells himself that getting on a plane for Vegas isn’t about getting in a fight. And it’s not about any misguided attempt to tell someone how to run their business.

3. He doesn’t reply to her message until he arrives on the strip. Because everything was fine. And it is, because he’s not alluding to what ‘everything’ actually means. Because ‘everything’ actually goes back to the condescending tone in the man’s voice when he says ‘…pretending to be nice.’

4. Its the Young Bucks who meet him in the lobby at the MGM, and well…they were there so they don’t need to repeat it, but they give him a look of apology before trying to defend their fellow elite. He didn’t mean anything by it, and Finn has to put them in their place like this is Japan and they still don’t know how to act. Sure, maybe he didn’t mean for it to come across as an insult but unfortunately for him it did and despite being a generally forgiving person, he knows it hurt her feelings. And they can talk all the shit about management and the product they want but their going to leave her out of it.

5. He’s smoking one of his American Rebels cigars when he enters his hotel suite. He’s done well for himself and even Finn can respect that but he going to assure him that in no uncertain terms does it entitle him to act like a dick.

“You’ve been missed,” he says putting his hand out lazily for a ‘too sweet’, never leaving his chair. So Finn ignores this and walks past him to look out the window over looking Vegas because showing him his back is what he deserves at this moment.

“You’ve been busy,” is his response because it’s the most non-committal but polite one he can give in his silent rage, “I’ve seen the interviews, the videos and I gotta say…your da would be proud.”

And maybe that’s a low blow for a compliment but he’s got a point to make.

Cody smirks and continues to inhale his rebel while fiddling with the top of his cane leaning against the chair, “When you have a business to run it comes with the territory. I always have to be a step ahead of the competition and I can’t do that if I’m idle. I have to do the work.”

And he gets that. Even nods his agreement when he turns from the window to face him. But he’s got to give this kid some advice because if he doesn’t then he’ll never learn.

“I remember your da saying that to me when I first got to Florida…I also remember your da telling me to respect the fairer sex,” he pauses at Cody’s glare, “that about staying ahead too?”

The glare is gone quickly when he rolls his eyes and ashes the cigar before standing with what good balance he has over the cane.

“He did,” Cody shrugs placing his hand on one of Finn’s shoulder and giving it a pat before resting it comfortably like it belongs there, “Don’t take it personally though, its just business.”

6. And the bastard had the audacity to smile like it’s justified. So Finn grabs him by the collar of his nice crisp white shirt and pulls him close. Gallows, Anderson, and the Bucks are ready to intervene if necessary and step forward but Cody stops them with a hand. So clearly he’s getting the message to listen and he can’t do that if Finn doesn’t have his attention.

“She knew him before me, remember?” Finn asked coldly. The memory of Dusty Rhodes still hung over him as both a silver lining and a dark cloud. Nothing was the same after he passed, especially for Bayley. “While you were up there being miserable she was in Florida learning and feeling like she was a second daughter. She cried for weeks. All she wanted to do was make him proud. And she put in the work.”

Cody’s eyes are wide and Finn can tell there’s sorrow when he speaks about the American Dream but it’s the only way he’s going to learn. “She loved him. And she would have done anything for you and she has. She supports you and this whole thing as much and as openly as she can but you…you mock her and try to make it seem like she’s not genuine. That’s where you and I have a problem.”

He thinks of Bayley’s warm face and he thinks of Dusty and reminds him of calmer times and he shoves him away then righting his jacket, “You’re a good man Cody. You’re talented and you’re intelligent. But the biggest mistake you’ll ever make in this business is ruining relationships with people who genuinely care about the work you do.” And he has to walk away now because he’s already said enough and she’ll never forgive him if he doesn’t.

7. He doesn’t tell her what happened. Not really anyway. He does watch curiously when a bouquet of colorful daisies is delivered to her hotel tied together in a black ribbon with yellow polka dots. There’s a card attached simply stating, ‘for the dream,’ and the double meaning is not lost. She takes a sniff of the flowers and looks at him then with a knowing glint in her eye and its all the thanks he needs even though she’ll slug him in the good shoulder later and tell him he shouldn’t have done it.