"Throughout the years, the students of the sport of professional wrestling have witnessed a rapid decline in the state of tag team wrestling in the vast majority of the promotions that call the United States their home. Mostly this would occur in the major world-wide promotions such as the WWE. It is ironic that the smaller the promotion, the higher chance you would have at finding a somewhat credible tag team division. Promotions such as Ring of Honor and Dragon Gate USA have some of the best and most competitive tag team divisions going in the sport, ones that rival any in the world over."
"Yet this is not always the case. many promotions, both major as well as independent, share the notion that tag team wrestling is a dying art. One has to wonder ... why? When there was a time when tag team matches were seen as second to none in sheer volume of excitement for the average fan, why now do promoters have it in their head that the very same fans would rather do without?"
"Could it be because the average fan does not have the patience to sit back and watch a tag team encounter at length? That is a very high possibility. The attention span of the typical person is simply not what it used to be, and some promoters would seemingly take this into account. Whether this is the entirety of the answer to this dilemma of our sport is yet unfounded. I have my own theory, if you must know."
"I think the chief reason that tag team wrestling is dying in many markets is because of two simple factors;"
"Trust, and selfishness. In a time when the average wrestler wants nothing short of individual glory, he or she does not want to step into the ring with a virtual stranger at their side, watching their back. Most wish to be placed into singles competition where they have only themselves to rely on and not have to worry about sharing any of the glory with someone else. Many times we find tag teams simply thrown together and pushed into the spotlight without so much as a beginning conversation being initiated between the two partners. Men and women who otherwise might literally despise one another now teaming up for a match with a mere chance that they might find themselves in line for a championship match against a team that has clearly proven its mettle in the ring; hence why they are wearing the prestigious gold around their waists."
"Hm, whom might I be referring to?"
"Eight months. For eight months Sinful Obsession has reigned at the top of the peak of Sin City Wrestling's tag team division. Despayre and Gabriel have dominated -- literally dominated this division without so much as a true, legitimate threat to their reign atop the mountain. They have been put against some of the more unique and interesting combinations in the entirety of the men's division. Top contenders and former champions alike. Yet when the chips were down, none of them have been able to wrest the gold from the waists of Sinful Obsession. Some have come somewhat close, but in the end, none have accomplished the end game goal."
"That is evidenced by the friendship and close, personal bond that has been shared between Despayre and Gabriel. That is the hallmark of any tag team that has even the remotest hope for success in this sparse division. If you can't trust the man at your side, if you can't show confidence in the one you are entrusting your path to, what chance have you against a team that has cemented their status in blood, sweat and the trials that every friendship must endure?"
"In this business, such friendships are a true rarity. You might see the people you have come to be close to as peers, perhaps even allies. If you can find one person to whom you can truly refer to as a real friend, then you have something rare indeed."
"Ready?" Despayre called out.
"Ready!" Came the answer of the SCW's hyperactive fangirl, Melody Grace, and a young woman who had taken a very strong shine to this youth, one-half of the reigning SCW Tag Team Champions.
The back patio door slid open and out stepped Melody, clad in a pair of bib overalls with a hard hat and safety goggles. She carried a tool belt in her arms and she trotted happily over across the patio, on the far side of the swimming pool. Following after her was Despayre, he himself dressed in a similar style of overalls and a plaid shirt, also sporting a hard hat and the safety goggles. he carried in one arm, a tool box, and in the other, cradled safely, his ever present plush buddy, Angel.
"What's our first assignment?" Melody asked as the pair (trio, with Angel)arrived at the side of a large commercially designed box.
"The hardest part of all!" Despayre announced, looking the box over with a critical eye. "Opening this darned thing!"
Melody turned her head from him and gave the box the once over, narrowing her eyes in stark concentration. Despayre himself was giving it the one over with eyes narrowed and tongue stuck out from the corner of pursed lips.
They did not notice the curtains of the glass patio door slip open narrowly and Synn snuck a peek out at the duo. His emerald green eyes watched carefully as Angel was sat down in a safe position while Despayre and Melody proceeded to attack the box with a fervor, attempting to open it.
"Are you watching them again?" Gabriel asked, practically having snuck up on the big man and giving him a start. "Every time I turn around, you're watching them over and over again."
"He's not watching 'them'." The soft voice with an Australian accent stated. Odette walked up with a cup of coffee in her hand and a smile on her lovely face. "He's watching Melody."
"Untrue." Synn murmured in a rumbling voice, deep in tone but yet gentle to the ears. "Joshua with tools could prove to spell a recipe for..."
"Laughs?" Gabriel finished the thought, and reached over to draw the blinds aside a bit so that he and Odette could get a look-see outside. They watched and smiled, hearing a triumphant 'hooray!' from the pair as the box was tore open and the two tipped it over and the contents inside spilled out onto the deck.
"Is this the big secret project Despy's been alluding to?" Odette asked as she and the two men watched Melody and Despayre drop to their hands and knees as they started to separate the varied parts of the contents into different piles.
"Mm." Synn nodded. "He'd been wanting to assemble that 'house' that James had bought for Angel ever since his birthday. Or rather, he said that Angel had been wanting to. Joshua, however, was hesitant."
"Why?" Gabriel asked, a laugh suddenly escaping him as he watched Despayre and Melody both grasp the same piece from a pile and become engaged in a tug of war over it. "The way he'd been acting, I thought it was a top priority."
Synn cast a glance back over his shoulder at them and shook his head, answering, "Not until Angel promised him that it didn't mean that he was moving out."
"Ohh." Gabriel nodded in understanding. He then shared a baffled look with Odette and shrugged before they returned to watching.
***************
Out on the patio, all of the pieces have been separated into similar piles and Melody placed her hands on her knees and looked to Despayre, asking, "Okay! What do the instructions say?"
"There're instructions?" Despayre blinked. He then started to look around until he spotted the folded paper on the patio chair with the teddy bear and he promptly yanked it over into his hands with a verbal spat of "Gimme that!"
Despayre unfolded the paper, giving Melody a look and shook his head, saying, "Teddy bears! They think they know it all."
Melody nodded in agreement.
Despayre unfolded the paper and opened it up until it was sprawled out across the patio and atop of all the pieces that needed to be assembled. Despayre adjusted his goggles as if they were reading glasses and started to read;
"非常に耐えるホーム建物キットを購入していただきありがとうございます ！最初のステップは、その非常に自身を呼び出す家庭あなたの毛皮で覆われた友人を構築 ！まず、組み立てることによって開始します..."
"Hold it!" Melody waved her hands, eyes wide. "Hold it!"
Despayre looked up at her and then back at the paper and he shook his head before he spoke, "Boy those French people sure sound like they have a mouth full of marbles when they talk, don't they?"
Eyes wide, Melody nodded. She then adjusted her own goggles and leaned over closer to look at the instructions, getting herself just that much closer to the target of her admiration. Knowingly, Despayre flinched and moved back an inch or so, but Melody did not even notice. or if she had, she said nothing.
***************
"Poor thing." Odette smiled from her vantage point.
"Which one?" Gabriel asked. "Melody or Despy?"
"My vote is for Joshua." Synn said, releasing the blinds and allowing them to fall back into place before he turned around. "He's grown more comfortable around her than I thought was possible but she still frightens him to a lesser degree."
Odette walked around the edge of the kitchen table and slid onto a stool at the 'island' counter to have a seat. "Oh she doesn't mean to." Miss Ryder said, feeling the automatic need to stand up for her fangirl friend. "She just wants to be close to him."
"I understand that." Synn stated and he moved around the kitchen counter to fetch himself a cup of coffee to stave off the chill that still clung to the Las Vegas air. "Yet the fact remains; there's no guarantee that he will grow completely comfortable with her at his side." he motioned towards Gabriel. "Not the way that he's grown so bonded with this one. I have yet to be able to truly understand the how's or why's behind that, given everything Joshua has been put through in his relatively short time out."
"Simple." Gabriel answered. "I rock. That's why."
"Indeed." Synn said as he poured himself a cup of coffee and took a drink without so much as sweetening the bitter flavor with sugar or creamer. "But after all this time, he still is not completely at ease with Odette here. Theresa still scares him, though a part of me thinks he has a little crush on her."
"Despy has a crush on Theresa?" Gabriel laughed. "Well God, don't tell Melody that! We'll have a soap opera love triangle on our hands!"
Synn rolled his eyes and had a seat at the counter opposite of the two.
***************
"Hand me one of those thingies shaped like an 'L', huh Mel?" Despayre asked as he was buried to the knees in parts from the as of yet unassembled house. He held his hand out and gave it a shake.
Melody looked down at all the parts and frowned as she picked a piece up in her hand. She said, "I can't. All they put in here are these things shaped like '7's." Holding the piece up to show him.
Despayre looked at it and shook his head. "Boy who put this thing together!? This is worse than the M&M Fiasco of 2012!"
***************
"Are you sure this isn't all a matter of being an over protective daddy?" Gabriel found himself unable to resist asking the big man seated across from him with a smile on his face. "Your little man has attracted the attentions of a young lady and now you're becoming all paranoid."
Odette herself smiled at the good natured teasing.
Synn leaned an elbow onto the bar counter and shook his head, having a drink before he said, "Well it's not like I can be surprised he has an admirer. Look at the stock he comes from."
"Oog." Gabriel shook his head and massaged one side of his temple with a free hand. "I walked right into that one."
"In answer to your question, Gabriel..." Synn started to say, with a definitive shake of his head. "No. Yes, I admit being fiercely protective of Joshua, but this is just as much for Melody's safety as for his. If she scares him or he starts to feel flat out pressured, he might lash out and react accordingly."
Synn glanced back toward the patio door where they each heard peels of laughter emanate from outside, from both Despayre and Melody. Synn turned back with the ghost of a smile on his face before it faded and he said, "You know as well as I just how unpredictable Joshua's nature is about... well, anything."
"I know." Gabriel nodded. "And I understand where you're coming from. He flies off the handle every now and then. Gets scared. Freaks out. It's not something that can be completely controlled."
"But I don't think you're giving Mel enough credit." Odette offered. "She's not as flighty as she seems."
Both Synn and Gabriel turned their heads to look closely at Odette who rolled her eyes and sighed gently.
She said, "Okay she's not entirely as flighty as she seems. She can tell that something isn't entirely right about Despy. She doesn't know the details, and really neither do I. not really. But she can sense when not to press so right now, she's just trying to be close to him as a friend."
"Well..." Synn glanced at his watch. "I suppose we should gather the two and head out for something too eat. Come on." he slowly stood up. "Time to break up the cast of Home Improvement."
***************
The patio door slid open and seemingly just in time as Synn caught sight of Despayre holding a side of the plastic house up and Melody readying with a hammer.
"Stop right there!" Synn barked, making Despayre flinch and drop his piece and Melody jumped, dropping her hammer. They looked wide-eyed at Synn who approached and Gabriel and Odette bringing in the rear. Synn continued, "What exactly are you hammering? I thought you only needed a screw driver to put this thing together."
"Uh, hello?" Despayre said as if he were the one speaking to a child. "We're building a house. You can't build a house without a hammer." he frowned. "Haven't you ever watched Extreme Makeover Home Edition?"
"I can't say that I have." Synn answered, then beckoned them with a wave of the hand. "Come on. Time to get some lunch."
"Oh, but we just started." Melody said.
"Yeah!" Despayre agreed. "We promised Angel we'd finish this today!"
Synn, Gabriel and Odette looked at the chaotic mess of plastic parts and privately wondered if they'd ever manage to finish. Synn himself had offered to help, as did Gabriel and the others, but Despayre insisted he do it himself -- with a little help from Melody.
"C'mon buddy." Gabriel said. "You can't build a house on an empty stomach."
"But..."
Synn suggested, "Chuck E Cheese?"
"Oh BOY!" Despayre leapt to his feet. He grabbed Angel and darted inside through the patio door to wash his hands, with Melody quickly following after him.
Synn, Gabriel and Odette turned to follow, with Odette asking "Will Theresa be joining us?"
"No." Synn said as he stepped inside, shutting the door behind him. "She has a bit of a cold and is taking the day off to rest."
***************
The front door flew open and Despayre with Angel cradled against his chest, took off in a sprint toward Synn's car with Melody following out after him in a brisk pace. Synn, Gabriel and Odette followed after and shut the front door behind them.
"Okay! Okay!" They looked up and saw a huffing Despayre walk around the car to where melody was standing and he proceeded to open the door for her. She happily climbed inside and Despayre looked over to the three and rolled his eyes before he called out, "Angel said I hafta be a gentleman!"
"That's very commendable, Despy." Gabriel called out as he and the others headed for the car.
They all piled in and the car soon pulled out of the drive, just as the housekeeper, Theresa, arrived downstairs in her robe. She headed for the kitchen with the intent to make herself a cup of tea, filling the kettle from the sink and set it on the stove. She then happened to glance up and she spotted the mess out on the patio, left by Despayre and Melody. With a sigh of light hearted exasperation, she turned the stove on low and headed out to the patio...
***************
"That was fun!" Despayre shouted as he slammed the car door shut, the stains from the pizza sauce still evident around the corners of his lips and in small, subtle spots on his shirt. He ran toward the front door and the others followed at their own pace, all save for Melody of course.
Despayre waited anxiously as Synn set the key in the lock and gave it a turn, but Despayre did not even bother to wait as he brushed past Synn excitedly and shoved the door open, racing inside and he called out, "Back to work! I... whoa!"
Despayre skidded to a halt and the others came up behind him, looking into the front hall where the now fully assembled house had been completed and set up for inspection. Despayre slowly moved toward it and circled it, closely inspecting the plastic structure that was just big enough for a certain teddy bear to call its own. Melody came up as well, frowning and looking at it, but shaking her head.
Odette nudged Gabriel and whispered, "Theresa?"
Gabriel nodded. "Theresa."
None of this was heard by Despayre who came to a halt and Melody stood to his right. Despayre finally leaned over in explanation and said, "The pixies have done it again"
Despayre then stood up straight, looking the house over. Melody blinked and started looking up and around for said pixies.
"This could very well prove to be an encounter that certifies the status of SCW's tag team division. Here the state of makeshift teams has been the exception to the rule, and each tandem that has attempted to dethrone the Sins, while they may not have been enduring, they have always been interesting."
"Never before has one of these makeshift pairings been as interesting as the one between Frost and Kain. Both men of whom we are familiar with. Frost is not only a former roulette champion, but the first ever to be crowned. He is a man of mystery beneath that mask and one whom is to be respected on many levels. As both a high flyer and technical wrestler, he could be considered a certifiable threat to any whom he steps into the ring against. The same could be said about his partner, Kain. This is a devastating man whom we met years ago in a place called the Asylum Wrestling Alliance. Kain is a former World Heavyweight Champion and to put him in a team with a man like Frost? A threat indeed, but it is not yet their time."
"The same could be said for the third team in, both Blade Alexander and his partner in Goth. Both men the Sins have faced a time or two, in singles and tag team matches alike. Blade, while we have never been graced enough to meet you one on one, we have just recently met in other instances, and like the many others who have attempted to dethrone the Sins, you met with dismal failure. That seems to be something you have in common with your partner. Never before has anyone earned the scorn of the Sins like the man known as Goth. You have made every attempt to earn our hatred by the most vile of means, from physical attacks to psychological. Attacking Gabriel as well as Angel, well ... let's just say an eternal target has been painted on your back. I would rather none of my team have anything to do with this clown, but such is not possible in this business where anyone can meet anyone. Goth, you want a championship reign at the expense of Despayre and Gabriel? You have no chance, as evident by any of the other number of times you've tried to gain success at our expense."
