A/N: Hey guys! Here's the next chapter! I'm super happy you are liking this story so far, hopefully you will continue to. So, let's get to it...
John stood there. The moment getting more and more awkward by the minute, as the three men stood in their places, not saying a word. Randy's eyes stayed glued to the floor, the younger man wanting to be anywhere but here. He had no idea what he was feeling at the moment, angry, resentful, shocked; take your pick. He wasn't prepared for this, for the man he lov- the man he once loved, to be standing at his hotel room door. And now, his emotions were going all over the place and he didn't know what to do with them. Fuck.
John quietly stared at Randy, seeing how uncomfortable he was, his eyes immediately focusing on the younger man's neck, seeing a light reddish mark on it, instantly knowing what it was. John felt a little nauseous all of a sudden, taking a deep breath he adverted his eyes to the ground, filling the awkward silence, "I should go." He finally spoke, as he quickly turned to leave.
"No!" Wade called out, almost involuntarily, making John stop in his tracks; slowly turning back around as Randy's head shot up and turned in Wade's direction, both men with confused expressions on their faces. Wade cleared his throat, saying, "I mean, you two obviously need to talk...so I'm just gonna-"
"No." John interrupted, putting his hands up, knowing Wade was going to try and excuse himself, "You don't have to leave. I honestly just came here to tell Randy that I was coming back. Vince wanted it to be a big surprise but I thought Randy should know first. I didn't realize I would be interrupting anything..." The older man quickly explained, his voice a little shaky.
"You're not interrupting anything, really." Wade tried his best to ease the awkward tension, especially for Randy's sake, the younger man hadn't spoken a word since opening the door, "It's just...um...a little weird. I mean, we weren't really expecting to be seeing you of all people, you know.." Wade chuckled nervously.
"Yeah, of course. I totally understand." John reassured. He looked back in Randy's direction, the younger man biting his lip, anxiously. "I really should be going." John smiled, half heartedly, turning on his heel, leaving out of there as fast as he could. John practically ran down the hall, he just needed to get the hell out of there. He finally rounded the corner and stopped; taking a deep breath. He never felt so embarrassed and out of place.
Randy slowly closed the door. He was basically on auto-pilot; so wrapped up in his own thoughts to focus on what he was actually doing. Walking pass Wade, he began making up the bed, still not speaking a word, as if nothing happened. Wade watched his older lover as he began putting his clothes on. The silence in the room becoming a little overwhelming.
Wade finally broke the silence, asking, "Are you okay?"
Randy lifted his head up as he finished making up the bed. He smiled slowly, "I'm perfect."
Wade quickly rolled his eyes, knowing Randy was anything but 'perfect'. He slowly walked over to the older man, standing face to face with him as he raised an eyebrow, "Perfect? Randy, John was just here. The man who broke your heart a year ago," Wade spoke, as if Randy had no idea , "You could be upset, I would be if I was in your position."
Randy looked down and stayed quiet for a moment as if he were considering something. Wade could almost see a small wall slowly start to emerge in front of the older man, the wall he could never break through. Randy quickly looked up at Wade, smiling "I'm fine...everything is fine." He walked around the brit, and away from his questioning glare, "Shouldn't you start getting dressed? I mean we have off today and I know you don't want to stay here all day." Randy tried changing the subject as he sat on the edge of the bed, putting his socks on.
Wade sighed, walking over to his suitcase, pulling out a clean pair of jeans and a plain white shirt. He turned back to Randy, who was now putting on his shoes, he knew the older man was upset but he didn't want to push him, he would talk when he was ready to. Hopefully. "Randy, I want you to know that you could be upset. You don't have to hide it from me, I'll understand. I won't be offended.."
Randy stared at Wade for a moment, before standing up and walking over to him, gently touching his face, he smiled softly and placed a tender kiss on the englishman's lips. The kiss was over before it started as Randy pulled back slowly, "I love you."
Opening his eyes, Wade smiled contently, "I love you too." Randy replied with a reassuring smile as the younger man went in the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Randy immediately let out an almost fustrated sigh, he sat back on the edge of the bed, leaning forward, putting his head in his hands. What now?
John leaned against the wall as he caught his breath. The events that happened moments before, swirling in his head. Taking a deep breath, John stood up straight, pushing himself off the wall and began walking towards the elevators.
Did that really just happen?
John was consumed with his own thoughts as he walked to the elevator, when out of no where, he bumped, harshly, into someone.
"Fuck!" Came an all too familar voice.
John looked down at the man he knocked to the floor, "Cody?" He asked confusingly.
Cody quickly stood up, "Shhh.." The younger man quickly grabbed John, pulling him into a nearby storage closet and closing it behind them. It all happened so fast, John didn't have anytime to protest. Cody held a hand to his chest, panting heavily as if he were running from something...or someone. John just stared at Cody, noticing his pants were barely on and his shirt wasn't buttoned up.
"What the hell is go-"
"Will you be quiet for second," Cody hushed again, slowly opening the door to peek out; John looking over the younger man's shoulder, "Shit!" Cody muttered, closing the door again, even slower this time, trying to make as little noise as possible. "What fuck is she even doing here?" The younger man mumbled angrily, more to himself than anyone else.
"Was that Layla standing by the elevators?" John asked. Cody nodded as he began zipping up his pants and buttoning his shirt. "You want to explain to me why you're hiding from Layla? Isn't she your girlfriend?"
"It's none of your buisness." Cody quickly retorted, buttoning the last button on his shirt, "What are you doing here anyway? Weren't you out finding yourself or something?" He asked, chuckling at his own insult.
John rolled his eyes, a small smile appearing on his face. Him and Cody never really got along, for many reasons, mainly because of Randy. Cody never approved of John and Randy's relationship; why? Who knew. John, however, would say it was jealousy. Cody always had a thing for the viper and, at one time, tried to act on his feelings but was shot down fast by Randy himself. John smiled at the memory, Randy was alot of things but disloyal wasn't one of them.
"What are you smiling at?" Cody asked, sneeringly, bringing the older man out of his thoughts.
John looked up and was met with a harsh glare, making his smile grow wider. Shrugging, John answered, "I was just thinking, maybe I could just leave here and go ask Layla why her boyfriend is hiding from her in a storage closet." John began walking towards the door, only to be stopped by Cody, as the younger man stood in front of the door., blocking John's path.
"Fine." He gave in, reluctantly, "You win."
John smiled, crossing his arms across his chest as he waited for Cody to start talking, "I'm waiting.."
Cody sighed, rolling his eyes, "I'm not supposed to be here, okay."
"Why?"
"Because...I told her I was doing interviews and stuff." Cody shrugged, feeling like he was being interrogated as he walked around John's body and sighed deeply.
John turned around, dropping his arms to his sides as he stared at Cody's face. He didn't know if it was just in his head or not but he could of swore he saw a glint of...guilt, in the younger man's eyes. "So why are you here? I mean, aren't you on smackdown?"
"Yeah," Cody answered as he leaned his back on the wall behind him, knowing the older man was not gonna let this go, "I'm off today, so I rode here with Wade, Justin, Heath and Ezekial, since they're appearing on Raw tomorrow. So...I just thought I'd come and, you know...visit."
John stared, confused. Cody's story making zero sense in his head, "Visit?"
"Yeah."
"So you came here to 'visit'?" John air-quoted, "And you're hiding from your girl-friend because you're not supposed to be here?" It all made even less sense when John said it out loud.
"Yup." Cody nodded, giving John as little information as possible, maybe he'd give up trying to make sense out of it all.
John continued to stare at Cody, knowing exactly what the younger man was doing. He smirked, coming up with an idea of his own, "You know what? I think Layla could explain it alot better. I think she's still out there, I'll just go ask her." John didn't make a move, though, the threat was all it took.
"Alright!" Cody whispered, menacingly. Sighing, angrily, he confessed, "I was here to see Ted.."
"Okay..." John drawled, still not getting it, "That still doesn't explain why you're hiding from Layla. I mean, if you were just here to see Ted, why would you be-" John stopped in mid sentence, his eyes growing wide, as Cody put his head down, "You're having an affair with Dibiase?"
The younger man's head shot up immediately, "Great, Cena! Why don't you say it louder, I don't think the people downstairs heard you quite clearly." He spoke, sarcastically, causing an eye roll from the older man.
"Sorry." John put his hands up in mock defeat, still trying to process what he just found out.
Both men went quiet for a moment, hearing Layla talking on her phone in the hall, to who they both presumed to be her best-friend; Michelle. Cody, wishing she would just leave already so he could get out of the small closet, took a seat on the floor, knowing she could stand in the hallway and talk on the phone for hours, especially if it was Michelle on the other end of that call.
The younger man exhaled, frustratingly, "Okay...so now you know my deep, dark secret...go ahead." Cody crossed his arms, awaiting the influx of judmental and disapproving comments from the older man.
"Go ahead? With what?" John shrugged, taking a seat of his own on the floor, across from Cody.
"You know, the lectures about how much of a selfish jerk I am."
John shook his head, "I'm the last person who should be judging anybody." He replied, "I just don't understand why you don't just break it off with Layla and be with Ted."
"Because...Ted and I are just sex. Really amazing sex." Cody answered, smiling slightly.
"Yeah? Does Ted know that?'
"Of Course."
John rolled his eyes, knowing differently. Ever since he has known Ted, the man always had a thing for Cody, it only grew stronger with time. "Whatever." John sighed, leaning his head on the wall as he looked up at the ceiling, "You can relax; I won't say anything."
Cody exhaled at John's reassurance. He also saw a hint of sadness in John's face, but chose to ignore it...for now, at least. "So what are you doing here anyway?"
John looked at Cody with a raised eyebrow, "You dragged me in here, remember?"
Cody rolled his eyes, "You know what I mean."
John smiled, amusingly. He always liked how easily Cody could be annoyed, "I'm here because I'm coming back to work."
"Hmm, is that right?" Cody asked, giving John a raised eyebrow of his own, "I would've thought you were here to claim back what's rightfully yours." The younger man smirked.
"And what's that?"
"Randy."
John snorted, shaking his head, "First; Randy isn't some property to 'claim'. Second;...he's moved on. He's with Wade and he's...happy and I'm happy for him."
Cody stared at John as if he thought the older man was joking, until he realized that he wasn't, he began laughing, covering his mouth in the process.
"Something funny?" John asked, staring, confusingly, at the younger man.
"You are." Cody laughed, "That was the biggest load of shit I've ever heard in my life."
"What are you talking about?"
"Come on, John. You're not seriously gonna sit there and tell me that you don't want Randy back, are you?"
"I never said that. I'm just...not a selfish jerk." John looked at Cody and smiled.
Cody chose to ignored the insult and said, "So, you're just gonna give up? You're not even gonna fight for him?"
John pouted mockingly, "Aww Cody, are you on team Cena?"
"God, no." Cody cringed, "It's just...Randy is my friend, I know him pretty well and I've seen him and Wade together and they seem happy, but...when I've seen him with you, as much as it pains me to say...he seemed...whole." He shrugged, not sure if what he just said made any sense.
John looked down, a small frown on his face, "I love him," He confessed, "I really do...but, I'm not gonna disturb what he has with Wade. If Randy says he's happy...then he's happy. We're just gonna have to take his word on that and let it go."
"Fine," Cody sighed, "It's your mistake."
"Why do you even care?" John asked, genuinely curious, "You've never liked me."
"You're right." Cody agreed, "But I put up with you for Randy's benefit...until you broke his heart."
John sighed, knowingly, "And now? I mean, you must hate me even more, after that."
"And now.." Cody exhaled, sympathetically, "I'm the last person who should be judging anyone right now." He muttered, echoing John's earlier statement.
After a few moments of silence, John chuckled softly, "Did we just have a civil conversation with eachother?"
Cody smiled, "I won't tell if you don't."
"As if anyone would believe me."
Both men fell into a comfortable silence for a few moments until John finally spoke, "I don't think I hear Layla anymore." He stood up, putting his ear to the door as Cody stood up, mimicking the older man's actions.
"I think she left." Cody muttered, he slowly opened the door and peeked his head out, seeing and empty hallway; no Layla in sight. Cody let out a relieved sigh and opened the door even wider, stepping out slowly.
John stepped out right after him, eager to get out of the small space. Cody stretched his arms out as John closed the door behind them. The younger man turned to look at John saying, as a matter-of-factly, "Just so we're clear; I still don't like you."
"Good. The feeling's mutual." John retorted, smiling.
"Cody?" They heard someone call out. John and Cody's head quickly turned to the direction of the voice as they saw who it belonged to; Ted.
Cody sighed in relief, walking closer to him, "You almost gave me a heart attack!" He shoved the older man half-heartedly.
Ted chuckled, grabbing Cody's hand in his, "I'm sorry. Did Layla see you?.." Ted trailed off as he looked at the man standing behind Cody, with his hands in his pockets, trying to avoid looking nosey.
"John?" Ted took a confused tone, quickly letting go of Cody's hand.
John looked at Ted and smiled, "Hey Ted."
The younger man turned to look at Cody with a look of surprise on his face, then back to the older man, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm coming back."
"Really? That's...that's great!" Ted said and, from John's point of view, he looked a little on edge all of a sudden and John knew exactly why, "So...what were you two talking about?"
Cody didn't seem to notice the awkward tension in the air as he replied, "Nothing important." He smiled, not really wanting to go into the whole 'closet story', "So, do you have any idea why Layla was here?"
Ted nodded, deciding to let it go, if Cody said it was nothing, then it was nothing. "Uh, yeah. She wanted to know if I've seen Maryse. They were gonna go out or something." He answered.
John stared at the ground, he could almost feel Ted staring right at him. Cody looked in between the two, making his own assumption on the awkward moment, "It's okay Ted. John knows about us." The younger man put his hand on Ted's shoulder, "You can breath. He won't say anything." He assured.
Ted forced a smile on his face, knowing that wasn't the reason but he wasn't going to let Cody know that. "Oh...thank you, John."
"No problem. It's none of my buisness anyway." John replied.
"Okay!" Cody stated, clasping his hands together, "Now that that's out of the way, I have to go back to your room; I left my phone."
Ted dug in his pocket, handing Cody his keycard, "Go ahead, I'll meet you downstairs so we can go get lunch. I'm pretty sure Layla is gone already."
Cody took the keycard and nodded, "Okay," He turned to leave, not before turning his attention to John and smiled, "I would say I'll see you around but...let's not jinx it."
Shaking his head, John chuckled as Cody walked off. He immediately turned his focus to Ted, "You can calm down now. I didn't tell Cody anything."
Ted sighed deeply, the knot in his stomach, disappearing slowly. He nodded, thankfully, "Good. Thank you."
John stepped closer to his friend, putting a hand on his shoulder, reassuringly, "I promised you I wouldn't say anything. It was one night; It happened months ago. Unless you decide you want to tell Cody; that's fine. But he won't hear it from me." John smiled, solidifying his statement.
Ted nodded, "Thanks, man."
John looked at the time on his phone, "I should get going, I've got alot to prepare for before tomorrow." The two men said their goodbyes and seperated. John was happy for his friend, he just hoped his heart wouldn't get broken in the end. Knowing Cody, there was a pretty big chance of that.
John walked to the elevators, pressing the down button as he waited. It finally came, the doors opening slowly. John stepped inside, seeing none other than Justin Gabriel as the only person inside.
"Hey." John smiled, politely.
Justin looked at John, his eyebrows furrowed, "John? What are you doing here?"
John was getting tired of that question fast, he knew this was only the beginning though, "Yeah, I'm returning."
Justin smiled softly, "Cool, Welcome back."
As the elevator doors closed, everything went silent. John didn't know Justin very well but he could sense a feeling of unhappiness coming off the man, from his face, to his posture.
"Everything okay?" John asked, always the first to help someone in anyway he could.
Justin nodded, "Everything's fine."
Before John had a chance to say anything else, the elevator doors opened and they both walked out into the hotel lobby, both, subliminely, stopping dead in their tracks at the sight before them. Randy and Wade walking out of the hotel; hand in hand. John swallowed hard, he felt stuck in place, knowing he would never get used to seeing them together. He turned his head slowly, looking at Justin, seeing a similar reaction on the South African's face. Justin slowly looked at John and quickly avoided his gaze, saying, "I have to get going." He quickly walked out of the hotel doors and out of sight, leaving John standing there, in his own inner turmoil.
The Next Night.
"Hey Cena, great job tonight. Glad to have you back"
"Thanks." John smiled, shaking hands with Mike as he walked towards the locker room.
Monday Night Raw was over and John couldn't wipe the smile off his face. He had to admit, he was pretty nervous. Having to stand at gorilla and wait for his big moment was nerve-racking. He was afraid he might have been forgotten about, maybe the fans were pissed at him for being gone for so long, but that wasn't the case at all. The fans embraced him with open arms and he couldn't have been more happy. He was back home; back where he belonged.
John made his way to the men's locker room, his adrenaline still pumping through his body. He opened the door, seeing no one in sight, not counting one person; Randy Orton. John softly closed the door behind him as he watched the younger man packing up his things carefully. The smile on the older man's face slowly growing wider, watching Randy being so concentrated on something so simple as packing his clothes in his bag. John took a deep breath, having to pull himself back a little; the feelings he was feeling towards the younger man at the moment, becoming a little more than he had anticipated.
"Hey," John greeted. Randy turned his head in the older man's direction, looking less than thrilled. His only reply being a small nod as Randy continued packing his things. John hadn't spoken to Randy since the day before. He'd been trying to talk to the younger man ever since that day but everything had been so busy with Raw and everything, he never got the chance to, until now, "I'm actually glad I caught you," John finally spoke, stepping closer to the younger man, "I was thinking maybe we could go get a bite or something...you know maybe talk." He bit his lip nervously as he awaited for the other man's response.
Randy stopped almost instantly, standing up straight, he met the older man's gaze. John looked at Randy's face, his eyes seeming darker than usual, "Are you kidding me right now?" Randy's voice was low and dripping with pent up anger and frustration that he had been holding on to, for a little more than a year. John could almost feel the anger radiating off of the younger man and he knew he had every right to feel that way, so he stood there and prepared himself for what was to come.
Randy could feel his anger boiling in his veins, trying his best to control himself, saying, "I don't hear from you for a year. One year. You just took off...you didn't call, you didn't even try to make any kind of contact with me," He spoke sternly, as if these words had been buliding up inside him for quite a while. Randy stared at John's still form, their eye contact never breaking as the younger man continued, "You know, everyday I woke up thinking, 'you know what? Maybe today's the day John comes back. Today's the day he realizes that he made a mistake. That maybe, what we had was actually worth fighting for'." Randy breathed out a bitter laugh, "Until I realized that it all was just a load of crap." John closed his eyes, bringing his head down as he listened to the younger man's words, "Then, out of no where, you show up at my door, because YOU decided that you wanted to come back. And now here you are; asking me if I want to go out and get a 'bite to eat'?" Randy couldn't believe the nerve of the older man. John had this way of getting under his skin and it infuriated the younger man to no end.
Randy sighed deeply, "So no, John, I don't want to go get a bite to eat with you. I don't want to go anywhere with you." John lifted his head up, their eyes meeting once again. the older man's eyes meeting the icy cold glare of Randy; the infamous glare everyone always talks about. John had been on the other end of those glares hundreds of time, but this time it felt different. Randy's eyes were much colder, John could almost feel it in his bones.
"Why did you have to come back?" Randy muttered, making John take a small step back at the harshness of the younger man's words. "When I opened that door yesterday and saw you standing there...It was like I tranformed back into that person you left a year ago; that angry, bitter, resentful man." Randy confessed, his jaw clenching tightly, "Do you have any idea how long it took me to get here? How long it took me to finally get over you?" The younger man's eyes watered at the anger and frustration boiling over. John took a deep breath, the tension in the locker room, becoming a bit much for him.
"Randy...I.."
"Shut up." Randy whispered, almost threateningly, making John immediately close his mouth shut as he stared directly at the younger man.
Silence filled the locker room as cold baby blues stared into regretful ocean blues. The moment was emotionally overwhelming for both men; over one year in the making. John, for once, was left without words. He had hoped that maybe, just maybe, Randy would be...understanding. That maybe they could somehow be friends. Yeah it was definitely a long shot and, as he stood there, in front of the younger man, he knew there was no way in hell that that was happening and he felt stupid for even thinking otherwise.
Randy waited for this moment for so many months, he practically dreamed about it; the moment he finally came face to face with John. Randy had played out all the possible scenerios in his head, of how this would turn out, and none of them compared to the reality. All the feelings both men had, past and present, filled the room, surrounding them and consuming each man, almost suffocatingly so.
The silence was finally broken, when Randy finally spoke, "I'm happy," His voice taking a more soft tone, "I'm happy now...with Wade. And I won't let you ruin what we have."
John shook his head, saying, "That's not what I'm doing. That's not why I came here...Randy I would never try to ruin your relationship with Wade," The older man spoke pleadingly, bringing a hand to his own chest, hoping Randy would believe him.
Randy looked at John warily, "Good. Because you can't." He almost sounded like he was trying to convince himself, more than John, "I love Wade. I'm in love with him."
As soon as the words came out of the younger man's mouth, John felt as though someone had just punched him in the gut, his eyes watered, almost on their own accord, as he turned his head to the side, quickly blinking them away, he nodded slowly, "Okay."
Randy quickly looked away, keeping his own tears at bay. After all this time, the feelings were still there, and he hated it. Seeing John, just brought up all those unresolved feelings, but he couldn't get caught up again. He loved Wade. Wade was there when John wasn't, and the last thing Randy wanted was for the younger man to feel insecure or threatened by John's presence. Exhaling deeply, Randy said, "I think...we should stay away from eachother. Unless it's buisness related; pretend I don't even exist," Randy spoke softly, looking down at the floor, "...just turn in the other direction when you see me, okay?"
John looked in Randy's direction, a small frown on his face. The last thing he wanted was to upset the younger man or make this situation harder than it already was as he said, softly, "If that's what you want?"
"That's what I want." Randy replied, instantly. Not bothering to hear the other man's reaction, he grabbed his things, brushing pass John, who's head was down. Randy reached the door, grasping the door handle; he stopped, leaning his forehead on the door, his eyes closed, for just a moment, before exiting the locker room. John closed his eyes, not moving as he heard the door close behind him.
Randy stood ouside the door, breathing out a heavy sigh; he nodded, saying to himself, "That's what I want."
That's what I want.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review! Thanks :)