A/N: OMG, I have done it! I have written something other than CENTON for you all! I actually do love me some CODIASE so decided to take a stab at it since people asked me. I was also inspired by my own one-shot "24 Hours" so you'll notice a vibe similar to that but with a bit of Halloween thrown in here in honor of one my fave holidays! Hope you all enjoy! Read on...
Disclaimer: I own no person, character or storyline from WWE!
Cody was sprawled out upon the strewn floor of his apartment. This was not the first time he'd passed out, all alone in his apartment, singing his own sad songs of remorse and self hatred and it most certainly would not be the last.
It hadn't been long enough; Cody was still distraught over the death of his best friend. A friend he'd loved till the day he'd died. Ted was a bright guy, always laughing, joking and playing. Even his features had been bright and pure, blond hair, bright blue-green eyes a drastic contrast to Cody's own black hair and intense deep blue eyes. Their friendship, and Ted's life, was cut short six months previous by a couple tons of metal slamming into each other. He'd taken a couple months off from WWE, unable to work when his mind was in such anguish, and soon fell into a habit of drinking himself into a mindless stupor each and every night. Ted would have slapped him senseless.
In fact, Ted was contemplating doing just that, as he stood over his dearest friend, watching him sleep fitfully. He smirked and shook his head.
"Wake up!" he snapped, kicking at Cody with the edge of one spectral, yet fully corporal toe. "Wake up, you brat!" he said again, raising his voice as Cody turned over, groaning and shaking his head.
"Leave me alone." Cody huffed out softly, and then his breathed whooshed out of his lungs with sudden surprise when Ted kicked him upside the back of the head. "Ouch! What the fuck!"
"Get up!" Ted tried again. "Dear God, if I'd have known you'd have wasted this much of your life crying over me, I'd have crawled from my grave months ago!"
Ted crossed his arms over his chest, giving a glare as Cody tried to cover his head, still completely and utterly asleep. Ted pondered, tilting his head to the side as he regarded Cody. "Hmm... I bet you still hate sunlight as much as you did months ago…" he muttered, walking over to the window and pulling the blinds. Sunlight streamed into the room, and finally Cody sat up, grabbing a random beer bottle in his hand and tossing it at Ted across the room.
About mid-motion, it dawned on Cody, that indeed, this man he was throwing his bottle at was dead and had been for six months. Blinking, he watched Ted dodge the oncoming projectile, then give the Cody grin he'd always given him; playful, childish, and utterly charming.
"Ted?" he asked in a small voice, then groaned loudly. "I knew it, I knew it! I knew I was going to go insane. Now they'll have to put me in a mental institution, and pretty soon I'll walk around mumbling 'I see dead people' with drool leaking out of the corner of my mouth."
"Dramatic as always, dear friend of mine, I always did say you had enough drama to be the Queen you are." Ted smirked as he stepped closer to his friend, who scrambled backwards until his back was pressed flush with the wall, wide eyes staring upwards.
"You're not real. You are a figment of my imagination." Cody stuttered, closing his eyes tightly. "Figment of my imagination!" he repeated, voice growing a little frantic. "You know, how clichéd is it that I begin imagining my dead friend on Halloween? Really, Cody, one would think that I would have the good taste to manage this feat of mental instability on a perfectly meaningless day but no!"
"It's really me, Cody, though I won't argue about you being mentally unstable." Ted said, kneeling down beside his friend, grinning slightly. "It's good to see you." He whispered, biting his lower lip, then reached out to touch Cody's hair. "God, I can't believe I can touch you again." He said staring as Cody's face began to grow more and more terrified.
"Help!" he screamed, "There's a dead man in my apartment!" Cody was so distraught but after a moment of watching his friend scream, Ted just began to laugh; loud laughter that rang through the room. He always did have a rich laugh, smooth and sweet, so contagious. This startled Cody so much, that he stopped yelling to stare at the apparition in front of him.
"Cody, calm down or you'll give yourself a heart attack and fall over dead, and this whole thing will have been a waste of everyone's time." Ted told him, voice scolding but incredibly amused. "Yes, I'm dead but yes, I'm really here and yes, it's just a coincidence that it happens to be Halloween. I need you to listen to me, Codes." He said sternly now, snapping fingers in front of his friend's face. Cody simply stared dumbfounded and shocked.
"Okay, I can see we've got a problem. You need some convincing so let's see here..." Ted thought for a moment, watching Cody's big blue expressive eyes. "In that old boom box that my mom gave you, the one that used to be mine when we were kids, I wrote a special letter to someone, and I hid it in a compartment in the back. Not even you know about that, so you can't say that as a figment of your imagination I'm playing off your memories. I know you have the stereo, so go on, look." He said, dropping to the floor and crossing his arms over his chest.
Tentatively, Cody crawled to his feet, one eye on the 'ghost', the other eye on the stereo across the room. Once standing, he bolted for the thing as Ted watched on.
"In the back, beneath that plastic, it's not supposed to come out but it does." Ted informed him quietly, comfortable in the knowledge that his letter would indeed still be there.
Cody sat on the edge of the shelf on which the stereo had stood, fidgeting with the back of the box for a moment, and then finally the back popped open, making Cody blink in surprise. Inserting a couple fingers, he began to pull out a folded up envelope, and finally, when unwrapped, the front held the name "CODY" in the bold scrawl that Ted always used. Before Cody had a chance to open the unsent letter, however, Ted was beside him, snatching it away and blushing slightly.
"You can't read it." He told Cody. "You can read it when I'm gone, but not now." He muttered, his cheeks flaming to the point that Cody absolutely knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that something unbelievably embarrassing was written in that letter. Eyes narrowed, Cody made a grab for the letter, only to have Ted hop back and clutch the crumpled paper to his chest. "No! Not yet!" he shouted, cheeks red with a blush.
"Fine, jerkoff! Always trying to make me go crazy and…" Cody stopped, stared at his friend and the dawning slowly came. This was Ted standing before him again! Tears began to roll down his cheeks, and he threw himself at his friend, wrapping strong arms around Ted's muscular form.
"Teddy, you're back, you're back." He whispered, not trying to make sense of what was so obviously true, just trying to accept what he couldn't understand. Ted was there, warm arms wrapped around him. "I've missed you so much! I thought... I thought I'd never be able to breathe again!" He whispered, sobbing softly.
Ted just held him close, stroking his friends back. "Cody..." he murmured.
"No, Ted... I felt as if part of my heart was missing!" Cody explained his voice thick with his tears as he buried his face against Ted's neck.
"Yeah..." Ted replied, "I know." The seriousness of his voice was so intense, that Cody blinked softly and pulled back, looking at his friend. "You need me." He told Cody, who sniffled and nodded his head.
"Yeah..." Cody said, not quite catching on to what Ted was trying to say. "Of course I need you." He murmured, finding himself closing his eyes as Ted's fingers moved from his forehead to brush away his tears. "Why are you here?" he asked quietly, big blue eyes wide with innocent curiosity, the kind that comes with grief.
Ted bit his bottom lip, watching his friend's expression carefully, then nodded his head. "I was given a chance to come back and prove my dying wasn't meant to be. If I can accomplish that, if I can prove to the powers that be that I died before I was meant to, I may be allowed to stay. I have until dawn." He said quietly.
"And... what does this have to do with me?" Cody asked, equally confused.
"Everything," was all Ted said.
"Everything?" Cody frowned and shook his head. "This shit is freaky, Ted."
Ted smiled and slowly stood, pulling Cody up with him. "Let's grab some food and we'll talk about it later. I haven't eaten greasy fried food in 6 months!"
Cody's frown remained on his face but he slowly nodded. "OK,"
When they arrived at the little dinner at the corner of Cody's Tampa apartment building, they ate all the food Ted wanted and talked as much as they could. Throughout the meal, Ted kept catching Cody glancing up at him, looking at him in this oddly tender manner, and his heart soared. He wasn't sure but he thought maybe he wasn't wrong in assuming Cody too had the feelings he did. That was still yet to be determined, and as much as Ted wished for it, he couldn't be positive just yet.
After their meal, they spent the day lounging, talking, they even went to the park and revisited the places that they used to love so much when Ted was alive. A time or two, tears would sparkle in Cody's eyes, and Ted would simply put an arm around his shoulder and tell him he understood. It was hard, but Cody would nod his head, and they would move on to the next place.
Words flowed like water, conversation and fragments of memories seeped into the two men as they enjoyed each others company, and before too long, it was growing dark, and children began to drift out of their homes, parents holding their hands, as they tricked or treated up and down the neighborhood.
They were walking around the park nearest Cody's building, in a moment of comfortable silence when Cody glanced up at his friend. "Do you think that you'll end up leaving? Do you think you can accomplish what you set out to do?" he asked.
Ted stepped through the gate of the park and walked up onto the grassy little hill that lead to their favorite tree. He looked around the darkness and only saw trees slightly moving in the wind. "I don't know." He said with a sigh. "But let's focus on spending the last hours of our time together. If I have to leave, I want to feel good about being here with you."
Suddenly, Cody turned to Ted and shoved him so hard that he toppled over, landing with a thud and a groaning sound. "What the fuck was that for?" He exclaimed, frowning at his friend.
"For dying, asshole." Cody replied, then shrugged his shoulders as he dropped to the ground beside him. "There were still so many things we had to share and experience with each other,"
"Is that so? Like what?" asked Ted, arching an eyebrow.
Cody shrugged once more. "We'll never know now, will we?"
"Guess not." Ted replied, his eyes full of tenderness and longing. It was so intense, that Cody had to look away, and upon doing so he saw that the crumpled up envelope that had held his letter had fallen out of Ted's pocket and onto the ground.
Cody leaned over and picked it up. He took his time opening it, trying to be as quiet as he possibly could, and when he finally got the letter open, he began to read.
Cody,
I am writing you this letter and I don't even know why. I don't ever plan on showing you, but I just had to get out my feelings or risk exploding. I love you. I have loved you from the time we were kids, and I will always love you with every breath I take. I know that you've never seen me that way. I know you've decided we should just be friends but my heart will always be in your hands and you have no idea how much I have prayed for you to see me differently one day. Every look I've ever given you, every touch, every shared joke, it was all with love in my heart. Even now, as I sit here writing you this letter, I cry for the love that will never be recognized. I have tried to find some one to replace you, but I can't. I am yours, forever, always. My love, my heart, my soul – It's all yours. If this letter ever finds you, rest assured it was not intended to, and that I do not expect you to suddenly change. Just be who you are, because that's what I love so much about you.
Love always,
Ted
Cody stared at the letter, his eyes misting with tears, and then turned to look at Ted. He'd noticed that Cody had picked up the letter, and watched him as he'd read it, and now, he sat there regarding him with a look on his face; the look a man gives his lover when he first tells him he loves him. Cody could crush him, he knew this, but he'd had to take the chance.
"So…" Ted asked, his voice low, soft. Cody couldn't help but feel something stirring in his blood, something that felt remarkably like desire. He had always loved Ted… but was he in love with him? There was only one way to find out.
Cody carefully folded the letter in silence, slipping it back into its envelope, and then put it in his pocket all while Ted watched on, fear beginning to glimmer in those beautiful blue-green depths of his. Cody didn't want to see that fear, so as Ted began to sit up as if about to run away, to get away from Cody and the silence that began to stretch on, his hand came to curl around Ted's neck, and he pulled his friend into an embrace. His lips met Ted's soft and inviting mouth, and he kissed him with all of his heart.
Ted gave a startled sound deep in his throat, and Cody felt himself almost immediately grow hard beneath his jeans. He felt as if for the first time he was finally seeing things clearly. Frantic hands began to pull at Ted's shirt, hands that ached to run over the well defined muscles beneath, the smooth skin of Ted's pale flesh. Cody wanted to touch him everywhere.
"Cody..." Ted groaned, his heart in his throat, his mouth locking onto Cody's in a kiss that soon grew so heated he felt as if he was devouring him, claiming him. But it wasn't Ted that was doing the claiming, it was Cody, in his quiet exploration.
"Don't worry." He whispered to Ted, "I've got your heart." It was the closest to an admission of love that Ted had ever heard from his friend's mouth, and it made him want him all the more, made him burn for Cody, to have him, to hold him close. He pulled Cody's shirt up over his head, fingernails scratching along his spine as he drew him close.
"Come here." Ted murmured, his voice husky, needy, and Cody complied, pressing in close as he too pulled Ted's shirt off and tossed it to the ground.
Lips and hands moved, caressed everywhere. Not any one place was left out of the frantic touching that ensued. Ted discovered that Cody's ears were extremely sensitive when he administered a light bite, only to hear his love moan softly, tilting his head so that he could get better access. Cody, in turn, found that Ted's neck was a place of great interest, his teeth lightly raking as Ted squirmed in his grip.
It didn't take long for pants to be discarded, and suddenly, Cody felt nervous. "What are we doing?" he groaned softly, and Ted didn't answer, he just slid his hand down Cody's stomach, wrapping his hand around the incredibly hard length of his shaft. That was all that he needed. Soon, Cody's head was resting back against the tree as Ted began to stroke him, slow at first, tender, gentle, but with great strength. It was a combination that had Cody's head reeling and it was almost too much for him to handle.
Without any warning, Ted lowered his head, engulfing Cody's cock into his mouth, sliding and swirling his tongue over the underside of the sensitive shaft as he stroked the base of it with his hands and fingertips. Giving a gasp of shocked surprise, Cody's hands came up to curl into the soft blonde waves of Ted's hair, holding him tight, pulling him down harder on his length while he moaned and whimpered. Ted obliged, taking his friend deeper into his throat, sucking hard, then soft, before beginning on a slow rhythm that was designed to drive his love absolutely insane with need.
Having accomplished his task, Ted watched with adoration as Cody's chest began to raise and fall, his heart pounding in his chest, his excitement near its peak. Just as Cody thought he'd lose all control in Ted's warm and comforting mouth, he pulled back, licking his lips, gazing down at Cody with lust and love. "Why'd you stop? Please, Teddy, don't stop." He whispered, panting softly.
"Let me make love to you." He whispered, and Cody's breath froze in his throat, his mouth going dry with nerves. "I know it shouldn't be like this. Our first time should be slow, and tender and loving, but I need you and I don't think I have the time to make it as slow and drawn out as I want it to be. Please, let me make love to you, baby." He whispered.
Cody nodded his head, swallowing hard. "How do you want me?" he asked, nervous, unsure, his voice wavering and unsteady.
"In every way imaginable." Ted replied, smiling softly, and then he said, "Just lay on your back," and he pulled a small bottle of lube from his pocket.
"The dead carry lube?" Cody asked with a small smile, distracting himself for a moment. Ted laughed softly and shook his head. "I saw it on your table and I took it, hoping this might happen."
"You were pretty certain you were gonna get laid." Cody argued, then chuckled slightly.
"No… I wasn't, and it scared me." Ted whispered, taking his own rock hard member in hand and coating it in the slick liquid, then taking Cody's hips and pulling them down, tilting them up. He coated his fingers in the lubricant, and gazed adoringly into Cody's eyes as those fingers began to slide and probe against the tight opening of his ass. "Look at me, and relax. I love you; I want this to be good." He whispered.
Cody nodded his head, "Okay." He said, his voice sounding hoarse, his body responding instantly to the hesitant touch of his lovers fingers. He was so nervous, that he had to make a conscious effort to relax his body; the body that had gone close to a year without sex. When the probing fingers began to push into him, Cody thought he'd go insane. It hurt a little but Ted took his time, making it gentle, going soft and smooth. Fingers glided into his body, and then out, beginning a slow rhythm.
"I'm getting you ready. You're tight, I don't want to hurt you." He whispered, still watching Cody's eyes, and not watching his fingers. "Look at me; it will help. Remember, I don't want to hurt you, I love you. Tell me if anything I do is uncomfortable and I will change how I do it." He whispered, then turned his fingers to rub upwards, aiming for the prostate.
He knew exactly when he hit it, because Cody's eyes got wide and he suddenly relaxed, his body loosening, his breath coming in a sharp pant. "Oh God, Teddy!" he cried out softly, his voice muted with lust. "Oh, don't stop..." He murmured, and Ted smiled, taking that moment to add a third finger to the mix, gently stretching him, moving his fingers within him for a long time, pressing up against the prostate, then letting up all together on it, only to stroke his digits in and out of the tight opening.
He spent a good amount of time on this, and by the time he felt Cody was ready, he was near tears with need. "Are you sure you're ready?" Ted asked, and Cody nodded his head, gazing up with those deep blue eyes of his so incredibly trusting, so incredibly loving. Cody was clear, he loved Ted, no matter what else happened, he would have this night with him, and he would never, ever regret it.
Ted re-coated his cock with the lubricant, and then leaned over Cody, settling in between his legs, one hand lightly stroking his thigh as the other held him up. "Relax, remember, and tell me if I hurt you. I will go slowly."
Grasping his own cock, Ted positioned himself against Cody's entrance, and with utter love in his eyes, he began to gently push forward. At Cody's wince, Ted brought one hand up to stroke his love's face. "It'll be over soon," he whispered, "Relax for me,"
His own breath caught as Cody did what was asked of him, relaxing as much as he could, giving himself up completely to Ted's loving embrace.
Cody's hands came up to stroke the line of Ted's shoulders, then curl around his neck to caress his back as he gazed into his eyes, focusing on breathing, on memorizing that tender look that Ted wore. It was intense, the first time sharing such an experience, and Cody's heart was in his throat. The deeper Ted went, the more Cody felt his love in his body and soul. Finally, with much slowness, Ted slid fully into him and Cody simply closed his eyes and savored the full feeling that this brought with it.
"Are you okay?" Ted whispered, bringing his mouth down to gently brush kisses over Cody's lips, and cheeks, and nose and eyes.
"Yeah... I'm good. It feels wonderful." He whispered back, arms holding Ted close, loving. "Please... move, I need you." His voice came out in a bare whisper, and Ted nodded his head.
It started slow, Ted drawing out, then slowly pushing back into him, filling him full. Each movement brought a moan or a sigh of pleasure from Ted's mouth, and in short order it began to do the Cody for Cody. It was amazing; each thrust brought the length of Ted's shaft over that sensitive spot inside him. It felt electric, as if jolts of pleasure shot through his form with each thrust.
It didn't take long for Cody to begin responding, and when he did he lifted his hips up, pressing himself against the invading member, then letting his hips down as Ted pulled back. "God... I need you; I've needed you so long." Ted whispered, whimpered really, and that's about when he really started to take him. He settled into a rhythm that was both fast and gentle. "Tell me... tell me if it feels good, Cody." He whispered, his voice breaking on soft gasps and uncontrollable moans.
"It feels good; God, it feels incredible." Cody whispered, moaning, and then Ted shifting so he could begin stroking Cody's cock with each thrust. This startled Cody at first, but soon, he realized what Ted was doing, he was adding to the pleasure, he had the full intent of making Cody scream for him before this was over. At this pace, it didn't take long, and soon Cody's eyes locked on Ted's and they both panted softly, making soft sounds that only two lovers entwined in each others arms have any right to make.
"Teddy... I'm so close..." Cody whispered, and then arched his back and cried out, his entire body tensing as an orgasm came crashing down around him. Ted met him half way, burying his cock deep into Cody's ass as he felt his entire body contract and tense, his balls painfully tight as he began to erupt, coating Cody's warm body with thick hot fluid even as Cody coated his hand and both their stomachs.
"Ted...," Cody began to murmur as he came down from the high of pleasure. Ted collapsed atop him, and then curled his arms around his neck and held Cody close, pressing soft kisses to his neck and shoulder.
"Cody, you are so sweet, so wonderful, more then anything I ever could have dreamed." Ted panted out, his voice a whisper, a soft brush of air against Cody's sweat dampened flesh.
They laid like that, in silence, wrapped only in the crisp autumn night, with the sound of their labored breathing ringing in the still darkness around them. And after a short while, they both dozed, their arms and legs entwined, holding each other, loving each other. They slept, it was peaceful sleep, and not long before dawn, Cody stirred and leaned in to kiss Ted awake.
"Yeah?" Ted murmured, blinking sleepy eyes at the man he loved, then gave him one of those heart stopping smiles. "Cody." He murmured, voice soft.
"It's almost dawn." Cody whispered, "Please don't go. Please don't leave me again."
Ted looked up at the sky, light beginning to creep up into the peaceful darkness, as if some one was slowly raising the curtains on a new day. "I don't think I can stay." He whispered, soft, sad, then wrapped his arms more fully about Cody. "I don't know if I accomplished what I needed to."
A tear escaped Cody's eyes, rolling down his cheek, and Ted joined him in the silent shedding of tears as the sun began to rise. "Cody..." Ted began, his throat closing off and choking the words.
"I love you, Ted... I love you so, so much. When you go away, I will always remember our friendship, but when I think of our love... I'll think of this, of holding you, of waking with you in my arms and how I could've had this for the rest of my life." Cody whispered.
Ted's body suddenly began to glow, and with a cry, he gasped a ragged breath. "Cody!" he groaned, his voice shallow, and as suddenly as the glow began, it faded away. "I'm staying." He whispered, his eyes bright, his mouth pulled into a sudden grin.
"What? What?" Cody asked, suddenly excited, his heart doing flip flops as he grabbed Ted and pulled him into a brutal kiss, then laughed softly. "That was it? You needed me to admit I loved you all this time?" He asked, shocked, and pleased, and utterly happy.
"Not just love me, but love me as a partner, as your other half." He whispered, cupping Cody's cheeks in his hands, gazing into his face. "I love you too, Cody. And now you're stuck with me. Forever." He whispered, nipping at his lower lip, then hugging him tightly.
"That's perfect." Cody asked, curling up in Ted's arms, cuddling in close. "What happens now?"
"Well, I guess I proved I should be here. Time goes on and we get to live the lives we were meant to live…together."
"Teddy?" Cody asked softly after listening to those words.
"Yeah, baby?"
"You're my angel."
And with those words, Cody and Ted began their new life together, and all, was indeed, right with the world.
A/N: So, hot sex in a park on Halloween! I just have to mention my powers that be reference because it comes from many years of watching Buffy and Angel, LOL. Anyway, hope you all liked and will review or talk to me about it on Twitter. Happy Halloween and long live Michael Myers.