Finally, a WWE one-shot—I've always wanted to write one of these but I always end up writing a multi-chapter story instead. Then all of a sudden, this hits me in the head because well, I have a cat.

Italics are Randy, bold is Cody and anything in the center of the page is poetry (since you probably won't know, taking to how I write poetry). And I don't own anything associated with WWE. At all.

Goodnight
Rated: T – language; dark; mature implications
Summary: Cody and Randy spend the day together after Randy realizes that it's the last time he'll ever spend with him. Slash Cody/Randy.
Genre: Angst/Poetry


I can't leave them stranded
all alone and scared
all abandoned

Randy Orton's face stirs with absolute paleness as Shane's hard hand reaches towards Randy's shoulder and squeezes it so tightly as Randy's eyes look at him with disgust and his words want to roll out of his mouth I don't care what in hell's name you do to me, McMahon…what the hell are you going to do when Teddy and Cody find out? And his face's rigid and hard and as he steps out, his stomach feels nauseous and uneasy and he's so very in his own agony as he stares at a happy go lucky Ted.

"What's going on?" Ted says, his voice's dipped with overexcitement and he looks like he's going to jump up and down and the sparkle in his eyes are so innocent and childish that Randy can't bring to tell poor ole' Teddy the news because he'll crush his little heart. "Did he give us a match? Against H? What'd he do?"

"He fired me." Ted closes his eyes and almost flinches at the words that Randy's said and he knows that because of his history, he should've seen in coming and Randy gives Ted a one-shoulder hug, quick but the look in Ted's eyes are still pained Legacy's finished and Randy can see it in Ted's eyes. "He said that I have to be out by tomorrow morning. He even booked me a flight back to my hometown."

He doesn't want it to be finished. Shane McMahon's ripped their hearts out and ate it in one tiny instant and as Ted opens his now suddenly dry mouth and throat, "are you going to tell Cody, man?"

Randy nods his head once and he remembers the little boy who's always wanted to be exactly like him and his heart's crushed into little pieces at seeing how Cody will take it now that Legacy's no more you'll break his little spirit and his dreams and he knows it.

Randy takes one swift look at Ted before he walks away, the image of Ted's pained little eyes that reflect his crushed shattered soul stays in Randy's mind as he walks down the road to their hotel.

And you
are so alone
and I
am sick to the bone


What am I to them?
But a possession
what am I to them?
Just an obsession

Sunshine steps inside of the room.

Cody Rhodes lies on the white bed of his hotel room; turquoise eyes shut so tight, brown hair messy and cluttered and his eyes are slowly opening as soon as realization hits him, his eyes turn soft and pained and he slowly closes his eyes and his hand clutching onto a satin pillow close by him and he licks the bottom of his pink lip this is how it always is and he knows it as well as anyone. They don't care about you. You're just their doll. And they know it better than you do. You're in denial.

The sunshine that's in the room doesn't reflect the horror and agony and misery that Cody feels as he picks his clothes off the ground and dresses up without a word coming out of his mouth and without a thought running through his head and the silence's so deadly and so depressing and so loud that it's a piercing sound in Cody's head.

You don't know how you can live like this anymore Cody leaves the room without a word coming out of his head and walking down the street, clad in his Legacy t-shirt that's always been so loose on his small petite frame and in Ted's denim jeans and in his signature black boots, his turquoise eyes look down onto the gray sidewalk and he knows that he's just as gray as that on the inside Just their doll.

He hears a familiar voice from behind him and feels Randy's hand clasping tightly onto his shoulder and Cody's face lights up slightly as he turns around to stare into the face of his friend, a smile creeps on Cody's lips, but as he goes to Randy's terrified eyes, Cody's smile dims and he looks away and—

Randy's lips part ever so slightly and words flow out of his lips, "are you going anyone, Cods?" and Randy doesn't know how to break it down because it's like breaking a child's happiness under the heel of his voice you'll have to break him sometime Randy, you can't keep this up and Cody nods his head.

"Yeah, going to go look at the cats at the pet store," Cody's eyes light up with gleefulness and thoughts of last night are still sticking a needle into Cody's brain but he tries not to remember and he tries to forget as he flashes another smile towards Randy. "They have new ones today."

Randy rolls his eyes, "Cat lover," he mumbles and Cody shrugs his shoulder before Randy joins right beside him and the day's night, the roads are filled with people already and even if it's early in the morning and the sunshine is burning against Cody's skin, he feels cold around his heart you have a heart? And Cody shakes the thoughts away violently and keeps them away as his eyes stare at the glass of the pet store.

"They're beautiful," Cody says and he's staring at a brown furred, blue eyed cat, "oh, there's Jelly," and Cody walks inside of the store and Randy rolls his eyes again before following him inside of the store and Cody grabs onto the furry little cat as Jelly's eyes look around.

The store's empty except of customers and as Cody twirls his finger around her tail, she lets out a sweet purr and Randy looks around the huge store and is surprised that it's so empty but half of him isn't as Cody lies the cat down and strokes it behind the ear, the cat looks up at him, as if Jelly's seen him a million times and Randy kneels down beside him, with a smile on his face. "You sure love cats."

Cody nods his head and as the manager of the store walks to them, with a smile on his lips and a pleading look in his eyes, "Cody, my wife is giving birth in the hospital so I need you to lock the place after you're done. I'll phone the employees and tell them that it's a day off for them, oh and thanks," he throws the keys over to Cody and he nods his head once before the man sprints out and Randy and Cody are left alone.

Randy sighs as he looks the door and walks back to where Cody and Jelly are, leaning back down again and Randy's blue eyes meets Cody's turquoise ones and his heart melts at the gleefulness and happiness in Cody's eyes and he doesn't know if he can break the news to him anymore as he looks back down onto Jelly.

"You know much about cats?" Randy asks.

Cody nods his head, "I know a ton about cats. I love them!" and he picks Jelly up and lets the cat scratch around his shoulder and face and the smile doesn't fade away from Cody's face as he lets the cat sit down before looking at Randy with intense eyes. "Why?"

"I wanted you to answer a question." Randy's face flushes pink and he looks away so that Cody doesn't make fun of him but Cody laughs anyways.

"The Legend Killer wants me to answer a question about cats?" Cody asks and raises an eyebrow, "what's the question?"

"It's stupid."

"Randy!" Cody exclaims; eager and gleeful and childish and adorable and he strokes Jelly's fur absentmindedly.

"Fine." Randy bites his bottom lip and his face flushes bright pink and he doesn't know if Cody can see that or not as he gives in. "I want to know. How do two cats mate?"

"Oh," Cody looks back at Jelly who's looking at him intensely and jumps towards Randy's lap and Cody gives a smile as Randy strokes behind the cat's ear. "They make an encounter. A female, she marks her territory, you know, like there are hormones in the body that secrete when kitty pees, it attract males. The male cat jumps on the female cat and then she becomes pregnant."

"Oh, what attracts me to you?" Randy gasps once, "I'm sure that it's the scent. Definitely. Your scent's nice." He smells like sunshine and happiness and snowflakes all at once, love, and heart and heartbreak and he doesn't know why he's so attached to it.

Randy puts Jelly back into the basket with all the other cats and he jumps onto Cody, hearing Cody's hysterical laughter fill the air around them before Cody wraps his arms around Randy's neck and they both stare at each other, the laughter instantly stops and intensity burns between them and their lips press against one another and they're kissing with passion and when they pull away, Cody's heart blazes with excitement and fire and—

Possession. Possession. Possession.

"No, no!" Cody says as he stands up and moves away and all the childish hope and happiness and innocence is crushed and destroyed and Randy looks at him in confusion, still on the floor and he tries to open the door of the pet shop but remembers that Randy has the keys. "Give me the keys, Randy."

Randy, still confused and slightly angry and just wants to know why the hell is he acting like this takes the keys from his pocket and grips tightly around the keys and the sounds of bells shaking fills the air like the sound of your heartbreak and Cody finds himself running towards Randy but Randy lifts his arm and Cody starts jumping up and down, trying to reach the keys.

Cody puts a hand on Randy's shoulder and jumps as farthest as he can and he gets the keys from Randy's hand and runs to the door, faster than Randy can before he opens up the pet store, quick and anxious and nervous and he can feel his heart beating, his hot blood pulsing in his veins and he can feel his brain exploding, his hot blood burns to such a high temperature that he doesn't think that he can breathe as he opens the door, wide open and rushes out.

Randy picks up the keys, seeing a redhead, he shoves the keys to her, knowing already she's an employee at the familiar sight of the manager's orange vest and seeing her name tag, Randy races after Cody and he tries to understand as his heart speed picks up and he remembers the brokenness and the crushed innocence and the stolen happiness that's been harboring Cody's face when he had kissed him all your fault, Randy, all your fault.

Cody feels so out of breath and so empty and so tired as he slips into the hotel, clicking onto the elevator and waiting for it to open, he tries to regain his breath but it doesn't work and when he looks back to see a glint of Randy's blue eyes in the crowd, he jumps in the elevator the chance he gets and he clicks onto the Floor 5 repeatedly as the door closes and he takes a moment to breathe and to stop the dizziness that's over washing and over throwing his head into a battle inside.

He licks his lips to feel the bitten flesh there and he knows that he's just as bitten inside your heart's all shredded and bloodied and it can barely pulse out the thick blood and you're barely alive and as Cody walks to his hotel room and opens the door, so tired and so worn out, he hears the sound of feet running and he can't register it in as Randy grabs onto the passkey from Cody's hands and opens the room and he lays Cody down onto the bed and they don't say anything for a while.

"Cody, what happened to you? Why'd you freak out?" Cody tries to register that Randy's trying to help him and the tiredness in his eyes disappear and he starts to pant all over again and Randy grabs onto Cody's shoulder and brings him close to Randy's chest. "What happened?"

Cody's eyes are shut tight for a while as he opens his eyes and they're exploding with pain, "what happened? What happened is that I'm just their tool, Randy. Just their possession. I only did it with them because they said that they'll make me feel normal. I'm not normal, Randy. What happened is that I like cats for a reason and it's because I'm so like them and I don't have a choice-I want to be normal—Randy…"

Randy tries to understand but he can't and he pulls Cody's chin upwards and he doesn't know what he means by just like a cat… "Oh my God, Cody, you don't mean that, do you? So like them…"

Cody doesn't let a word out as he clings to Randy and realization hits Randy please be wrong please be wrong please be wrong and as Randy licked his lower lip, he gripped tight onto Cody's back as he processed the entire idea in him and rage burned up inside of Randy's eyes. "What the hell?! You're joking, aren't you?"

Cody wanted to jump but he felt so safe in Randy's arms that he couldn't and as he looked up at him, he shook his head, laying his head back in Randy's chest. "I'm sorry, Randy. I was sixteen when I figured out it that it was horrible. I didn't know…my father took me there because I had been having headaches a lot for a while and the doctor was eyeing me like candy. He liked to watch me bleed. He liked to watch me…suffer. I thought he was just a doctor. I was only six years old and he told my father that there was something wrong with me…"

The thoughts still scar him.

"Something so very wrong with me…" Cody continues, taking a deep breath and burying his head deep into Randy's chest, "he told my father to hold me down because I'll scream and it'll hurt. And I felt the pain, no sedations, no painkillers, no nothing, I felt the pain as he took out a piece of me…on my reproductive organs and I screamed. I screamed because I felt the pain shooting up my spine and I couldn't take it anymore! It just hurt so very much…" tears are running down Cody's face and he looks up at Randy, a headache rushes through Cody's brain and his hands reach up to Randy's shoulders as Cody wraps his hands around Cody's neck, staring at Randy's eyes with the type of pain a child has when he's been awakened by a nightmare.

"That's-that's sick," Randy says, letting his hand run down Cody's back softly. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"No one would want someone as handicapped as I am, Randy. They won't like touching me. I've been seeing John Morrison for a year now and he'd left me yesterday after we'd done it because I don't make the sounds he likes and I don't feel anything but the pain… so much pain," Cody's face's tear stained and his eyes are bloodshot, puffy and red. "I'm tired of everyone leaving me."

They tell me that I'm not good enough
Stranded
I'm all abandoned


Your eyes show painful emotions
I try to save you
but your heart's filled with a deadly potion

It's night now, cold and dark and they don't care as Randy sits down beside Cody onto his bed, pulling him to his chest, stroking his hair, and Randy bites his lower lip as he sees Cody look down at the floor and no words come out of their mouths as Randy lets Cody lie down onto his bed and he stands up. "Goodnight, Cody." He says as he tucks Cody into bed and looks at his eyes one more time you don't smile anymore, Cody. I want to see your smile.

Cody's eyes pop open and alert, even if a second ago, they were so very tired and sleepy, "no!" Cody exclaims, "Don't leave, Randy."

"I'm not leaving you." Randy says, calm and soft, trying to calm a terrified, horrified Cody as he puts his hand on Cody's shoulder and kisses him, soft and quick on his lips, "it's goodnight. Not goodbye."

Cody nods his head once as he lets his head fall down onto his pillow and Cody feels the familiar scent of yesterday, him and Morrison, close to each other, the same scent now fills the air and Cody finds it hard to sleep as he grips tightly onto the pillow right next to him, clutches it as tightly as possible.

And he finds it hard to sleep.

"It's goodnight. Not goodbye."

Cody eases up slightly and falls into sleep, and Randy looks at him with guilt smearing on his face as he pulls the sheets on him and he bites his lip so that he doesn't break or something as his quivering lip stops trembling and he finds himself walking out of the room.

He hears the sound of his phone buzzing and he picks it up to find Ted on the other line, "I've packed your stuff because you were spending the day with Cody. Did you tell him that you're going?"

"Yeah," and Randy bites his lip at the lie that he'd just told.

"I'm tired of everyone leaving me."

As Randy clicks his cell phone down, he takes one last look at the Rhodes boy as he looks down at the floor. Hours later, he finds himself, sitting in a car heading towards the airport, his bags ready and his thoughts only as one person as the words finally slip out of his tongue. "Goodbye, Cody."

Goodnight
is a poor substitute for a goodbye
I'm truly as empty as you
Goodnight…
Goodbye…
Please, don't cry…

I liked this one-shot. I know. It's dark towards the end. No happy ends and that's good for a change, right? Come on! It wasn't that sad. Okay, maybe it was a little bit… review?

-Sam