Motivation
By Cold-Zephyr
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance/Humor
Disclaimer: Don't sue me, please!
Summary: (FINISHED) Find out the real reason to why Charlie Haas actually agreed to tag-teaming with the frighteningly colorful and flamboyant Rico. A cute little Charlie Haas and Miss Jackie one-shot.
A/N: Aww, I just love Charlie Haas! He's my adorable little homophobe =) But enough of my blabbering, on with the story! I've been experimenting with a little bit of slash lately in my other fic, "Paper Connection," so I'll break away from the angst and drama for a moment here. Here comes the familiar Cold-Zephyr cute, corny and predictable stuff, LOL...
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"Oh, Charles," Rico sighed, affectionately clinging on to the arm of the scared-as-hell, homophobic Charlie Haas, who eyed him with a look of pure fear while trying to break free. "We make quite a pair, don't we?"
"Tag team," Charlie corrected him almost instantaneously. Disdain dripped from his voice as he spoke. "Tag team, Rico, not pair, not twosome and NOT couple! Okay??"
Of course, his resistance only caused Rico to hug him even tighter. Miss Jackie, their valet, giggled amusedly at the effect Rico had on Charlie, or "Charles," as he liked to call him. Charlie was just the cutest thing ever looking all scared like that.
As much as Charlie wanted to remain making his annoyance clear to Rico, he just couldn't help but smile at the sight of the lovely Miss Jackie, one of the only pluses of being stuck in a tag team with Rico. "Of course, we shouldn't forget about our manager and valet, Miss Jackie, who played a big role in our winning the tag team gold. Come on here," he said, pulling her in for a group hug and moving closer and closer to her and further and further away from Rico.
Yes, good thinking, Haas, he thought to himself triumphantly. You've finally escaped Rico's vice-grip of a hug. Now get the hell out of the room before he hugs you again.
"Gotta go," he muttered quickly before storming out. Once he was sure that he was out of sight, the tiniest of smiles broke across his lips. There was just something about Miss Jackie that sent tingles down his spine and butterflies in his stomach whenever he was near her.
The tag team champions, Rico and Charlie Haas, were successfully able defend their titles against the Basham brothers. However, Charlie was a little distraught tonight, during the match. He somehow found his glance wandering over to the lovely lady at ringside, even while wrestling. This occurrence had indeed happened before during matches, but it happened several more times in today's match than it ever had before, which caused Charlie to ponder a lot of things later on that night.
Her long, golden blonde ringlets, her adorable smile and her baby blue eyes definitely caught his attention the first moment he saw her. She was a valet for the unorthodox and, for lack of a better word, fruity, Rico. Why she had chosen to do so, he had absolutely no idea, but he did know that he definitely felt a spark the first moment he met her. Plus, Miss Jackie was more than just a pretty face. She was a real sweet lady as well: she was caring enough to check if Charlie was okay after he had...regurgitated, after his match against Rico (the fruity one's debut match). So it was pretty embarrassing for Charlie, but hey, it was nice to know that someone cared. And now, Miss Jackie was his valet as well since he became tag team champions with Rico. They had grown closer through time, and the feelings he experienced became stronger, the butterflies flew more quickly inside his stomach, and the tingles became of greater magnitude. Charlie had to ask himself: was he actually in love?
Another Tuesday night, another Smackdown taping and another tag team title defense for Rico and Charlie Haas, this time against Billy Gunn and Hardcore Holly. Charlie sat by his lonesome on the bench in the locker room, blankly staring at the tape on his wrist, which had the name "Russ" written on it in tribute to his brother, the late Russ Haas. He hoped that he would be able to concentrate better on his match tonight, in comparison to last week's performance.
"Hey, Charlie," came a female voice from the open doorway of the locker room. Charlie looked up to see, of all people, Miss Jackie, standing there. "Good luck in your match tonight."
"Thanks, Jackie."
"Hey, before I forget to ask: Are you doing alright? You seemed kind of distracted during last week's match. Is there something bothering you?"
Charlie stammered a bit before answering. He was pretty much convinced that she was the reason, but it wasn't like he was going to tell her then and there. How awkward would that be? "Eh, I think I'm fine. But thank you for asking." Thanks for caring, too.
"Well, okay then. But if you have any problems, Charlie, you can come and talk to me, alright?" Miss Jackie reminded him comfortingly. Charlie twitched a little bit when she laid her hand atop his cold and shaky one.
"Okay," he replied, nodding. She exited the locker room not too soon after, leaving Charlie alone with his thoughts once again. Huh...I've been wondering why I actually allowed myself to remain tag champs with that fruit cup. I think I finally know the answer now.
The ear-to-ear grin that stretched across Rico's face as he saw Charlie approaching him never failed to annoy Charlie Haas, but in light of what he had just figured out, he managed to give a small smile back.
"Charles, Charles, I never thought you'd arrive! The sad minutes I spend without you here with me seem to stretch into hours," Rico exclaimed dramatically as he hugged him.
"The hours I spend without you hugging the life out of me seem to last only minutes," the blond-haired amateur wrestler retorted, rolling his eyes.
You look so good, good to me... Rico's theme song started playing. He reluctantly let go of Charlie and gaily pranced his way to the ring. Miss Jackie turned back and smiled warmly at Charlie before following Rico, causing the butterflies in his stomach to flutter around once again.
Billy Gunn and Hardcore Holly made quite an impressive tag team, and Charlie and Rico's greatest challenge so far. Rico was up to his in-ring antics again, this time with poor Billy Gunn. And as usual, Charlie was disgusted by it, so he made a blind tag to his partner. Concentrate, Charlie, concentrate, he repeated to himself in his mind as he threw a series of right hands to his opponent. This feat never seemed so impossible for him before as it was now. As much as he tried not to, he found his thoughts, and eventually, his gaze, wandering over to Miss Jackie.
The blonde Diva who stood for Charlie and Rico at ringside was staring vacantly into space. Her attention was not focused on what was going on in the ring, rather, she was recalling a memory from the not-too-distant past.
Miss Jackie stood outside Eric Bischoff's office, waiting for her best friend Rico to finish his discussion with the General Manager of Raw. After a few minutes had passed, she was relieved to see him exit the office with an excited grin on his face. "Guess what? We're moving to Smackdown!"
They both squealed girlishly and hugged each other. "This is so great, Rico!"
Little did her best friend know that there was another reason why Miss Jackie was so elated to join the SD roster. There was a certain someone from Smackdown whom she was crushing on, and she was the only one who knew about this little crush. Her thoughts snapped back to earth as Rico posed a question to her. "It's about time that I held a title, don't you think?"
"Absolutely...but which one are you going after?"
"You know how I love experimenting, right? Well, I've decided that I want to vie for the tag championships!"
That was an odd choice. "With who?" she inquired curiously.
"That's the problem. Got any ideas for me?"
That was it! An idea had just popped into her head. Yes, she finally figured out a way to get closer to him, her SD crush! Miss Jackie cleared her throat and tried to act subtle and casual as she mentioned his name.
Rico excitedly clapped his hands at her suggestion. "Oh, that is a fabulous idea, sweetie! With his regular tag partner out of the Smackdown picture, I'm sure we can squeeze in nicely with him. And he's cute, too!"
Miss Jackie found herself nodding in agreement.
"Indeed, I do love the very thought of it. Rico and Charlie Haas, a dynamite duo inside the ring, and maybe even a lovely twosome outside the ring," Rico implied suggestively with a naughty smile on his face.
She sighed to herself. Miss Jackie knew he meant well, but sometimes Rico was so caught up with his own exciting love life that he completely ignored hers. She didn't mind herself and Rico falling for the same guy, but with Rico always in the picture, would she ever have a love of her own? It didn't look like she stood a chance.
Finally remembering where she was and why she was there, Miss Jackie went back to watching the match and rooting for Rico and Charlie.
Haas' distraction didn't help him any in the match, and he soon found himself on the losing end. Billy and Hardcore Holly were beating him to a pulp in their corner of the ring. Charlie's chances of fighting back were getting even slimmer, and there seemed to be no hope in sight. Billy now had his opponent in a sleeper hold, and Charlie's world was beginning to fade...
Jackie wouldn't have any of it. She began pounding on the ring apron, starting up the crowd to keep Charlie in consciousness. It wasn't the loud series of claps from the crowd, but rather, the sight of Miss Jackie rooting for him, that kept Charlie hanging on. Yes, he thought, I gotta win this...for her.
He began fighting back. Hard right hands, marvelous technical maneuvers and a little help from Rico gave their team the three count and pinfall victory after twenty minutes worth of one amazing match. The crowd got up and cheered loudly for all four men in the ring, making clear their appreciation. But Charlie wasn't done yet.
Entering the ring, Miss Jackie walked over to celebrate with the reigning tag champs, when Charlie dropped his title belt to the ground, drew closer to her and shocked the crowd and Jackie most of all with what he did next: he held her tightly in his arms and locked lips with her in a sweet kiss. She gave him a surprise of her own by actually kissing back. The cheers heard from the crowd were deafening.
A smile crept across Charlie's face as he finally pulled away. "Hey, Jackie...will you go out with me?"
"Yeah," she replied as her face broke into a wide grin. Who would've expected...she actually got a hold of her SD crush.
Rico approached the two of them with arms akimbo. "Hey, you two, let little ol' Rico share in the fun, huh?" he asked them while outstretching his arms for a group hug. The three of them embraced each other in the middle of the ring, and for once in his life, Charlie didn't even try to wriggle free or back away in disgust. Well, well, he mused while still locked in their embrace, I guess being in this team has its perks, after all.
-FIN-
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A/N: Well, there you go! I hope you all don't barf at my choice of my pairing...after all, bad pairings are Cold-Zephyr's greatest weakness LOL =) Can't wait for your reviews, if there are any! I got my fingers crossed!
Cold-Zephyr