A/n from Jessica: hey hey everyone! so here we go, more developments in our little candy vs centon fic we got going. Now, just to preface this: last week, like the dumbass i am, i hit my head (pretty damn hard too) on my locker at school. And despite my mother basically drilling into my head that i don't have a concussion, ive been a tad woozy and confused lately. SO... point of this being if you read this and wonder what the fuck i was thinking: just let it go. yes? ok great. I did want to continue with my updates, but i swear to god, my brain is like five steps behind where i want to be. It took me like 5 minutes to remember the word 'patronizing'! its so infuriating! anywho...rant over. ENJOY! :)

Warning: yea, is none. sorry no sex again. Oh, but i WILL make it up to ya'll-just wait! :PP

Randy's eyes were to the floor, legs moving steadily ahead despite his mind not having completely caught up with the action. John didn't want him anymore. He'd fucked up royally, let his own lust and selfishness get the best of him, and now…now he'd lost John, the only man who seemed able to put up with his bullshit, all of his stubbornness and sarcasm.

A gleaming light tried its hardest to shine through in the muddled thoughts of Randy's mind: maybe things were better this way. Maybe now he could be with Cody without any drama or constant hiding, always wary of getting caught. A normal man might shrug off the maelstrom of thoughts swirling around in his head, choosing to go with the least complicated option; why try to get John back when Cody was waiting for him, more in love than he should be?

But he knew he never could. Despite his feelings for Cody, John was his everything. As cliché as it sounded, he was what kept him moving through the day, what kept him sane in the fucked up world he lived in. And now they were done.

He continued walking down the hallway towards Cody's room, left-right, left-right, left-right, trying his hardest to ignore the crushing ache in his ribcage, hopelessly trying to keep his carefully constructed walls surrounding him—now was not the time to let Cody see how torn up he was.

Randy pushed his card through its slot, pushing the door open once the light flashed green. He walked hesitantly into the room, wary of the anger he knew may be waiting for him. There was no way that after pushing Cody aside in order to try and talk with John he wouldn't be in some type of trouble. Randy would've liked nothing more than to try and process the day's events, to try and rationalize some possible outcome that wouldn't involve someone leaving broken-hearted—despite the fact he knew most of them had. But soothing away Cody's hurt would have to come first. He just hoped that his words would be enough this time.

"Cody?" He called out hesitantly, stepping into the bedroom, his eyes landing on Cody curled up on the bed, arms crossed in front of him, posture screaming of silent fury and bitterness.

"Hi."

Cody's eyes stayed trained on a spot ahead of him, stubbornly avoiding even looking in Randy's direction.

Randy sighed, walking closer to the bed, "Cody, look at me. Please?"

Cody shook his head, eyes fixed ahead of him, "No. I'm not speaking to you."

Randy kneeled on the bed, crawling closer to Cody, bringing him into his arms and placing timid kisses on his skin despite Cody's refusal to acknowledge him. "Please talk to me, Cody. I can't take you bein' angry at me right now."

"What? John didn't immediately take you back? How shocking. Wish someone would've seen that one coming. Oh wait."

Randy pulled back, face showing his hurt, "Cody—"

"No Randy!" Cody shouted, his tone voicing his frustration. "You can't just come here and expect me to make everything all better for you. I'm so sick of patching you up and sending you on your way back to him." He ripped his arm from Randy's grip, posture turning cold. "I won't do it anymore."

"Are you kidding me?" Randy said, sitting up to face him. "I've just ended a six year relationship for you! Of course I'm going to be a little broken up. Can't you have any sympathy?"

"You didn't end things for me, Randy! Things ended with John because he saw us fucking!" Cody huffed, silently shaking his head at the nerve Randy had. "I am not about to sit here and sympathize with you. I can't believe you just said that."

Cody threw back the covers, standing up and storming across the room into one of hotel's stiff, generic chairs, convinced he needed to move far away from Randy.

"Cody—" Randy started, attempting to get up and bring him back to the bed.

"No! Stay over there." Cody brought his knees to his chest, leaning his head against them in thought. "I'm sorry Randy, but I cannot begin to tell how fucked up what you just said is. You want me to feel sorry for you because John broke up with you? That is the last thing I could ever do. I should be ecstatic right now."

Randy leaned against the headboard, waiting for Cody to say his peace. Things would be so much easier if they could move on and just be together.

Too bad that could never happen.

"I can already tell you're not going to be able to just move on," Cody finally said, seemingly reading his mind. "But I can't…Randy you have no idea how much it hurts to see you so broken up over him."

Randy looked up into Cody's eyes, seeing the sadness resting there, "What should…I mean, what do we do?"

Cody scrubbed his hands over his eyes, "Maybe we need a break."

A deep feeling of dread slowly crawled back into his chest, the thought of losing both men he was in love with in the same day nearly causing his throat to close up. "C-Cody, please."

Cody looked down into his lap, the pain in Randy's eyes too much for him to handle, "I'm sorry, but I don't know what else to do. Maybe you need some time to get yourself together. Some time to get over him. Maybe then we can be together."

Randy rose to his feet, unable to let another relationship with a man he loves slip through his fingers, "Cody. You are what I need. Please, you can't leave me too."

He looked up into Randy's eyes, faltering at the complete look of misery on his face; no he couldn't leave Randy. Not even if he wanted to.

"Alright, Randy. But something needs to change here. The both of us need to work on this relationship, you hear me? No more worrying about anyone else. It's you and me. Got it?"

Randy nodded, eagerly bringing Cody into his arms. If that's what it took to keep Cody there in his arms, he'd do it.

Or he'd at least try to.

Randy pulled into the arena's parking lot, immediately on the defensive. It had been an entire week, one where he furiously tried to move from the past, tried to ignore the ache in his chest each time his mind was brought back to John…

Randy tensed as Cody patted his thigh reassuringly, turning to smile weakly.

…Tried to resist wondering if John had spent his time thinking about him like he had tried his hardest not to.

"You ready?"

Randy nodded, unfastening his seatbelt and heading towards the entrance of the building, Cody fast on his heels.

He'd spent the whole week mentally bracing himself for what John would say, how much he'd hate him, trying to prepare himself for the angry behavior directed towards him. But he knew that when he was finally face to face with him he'd try his hardest to not fall on his knees and beg for forgiveness.

Hesitantly, Randy opened the locker room for the main roster, figuring John would have claimed the same corner of the room he did at every arena they visited. Much to his confusion, the stowed-away corner to the left was empty, John's belongings nowhere in sight.

"Maybe he's not here yet."

Randy nodded absentmindedly, eyes trained to the door as he slowly began preparing for his match, expecting John to boisterously enter the room with as much humor and energy as always. His head snapped up as the door was slammed open, face falling when it was revealed to be yet another generic superstar as opposed to John.

Why was he so excited? He knew in his heart there was no way that John could forgive him so easily, let alone come bounding into the room laughing and making jokes with him like normal.

And yet, Randy couldn't help but feel a slight thrill inside him as he pictured John walking through that door. He knew he should focus on what Cody had said, about strengthening their relationship together, but still…

Randy gave one last sweep of the locker room as many of the superstars began ushering themselves into the busy hallways of the arena, preparing for their matches.

Where was he?

Cody and Randy gathered at the gorilla with the rest of their coworkers, one of the members of creative calling them all together for some sort of announcement concerning the show that night. The man in front of them rambled on for awhile, commanding the attention of most superstars excluding Randy, of course. His eyes were busy looking through the crowd of wrestlers, searching for the dark blue set he knew so well.

"…And on a more important note, tonight's scheduled main event will have to be switched around a bit. Cena won't be here tonight, so let's have—"

"Wait. Why not?" All eyes turned to Randy at that, most wondering why someone who was so close to John wouldn't know himself.

"He's been given personal leave for a little while. Now then, in the main event, we're having…"

Randy tuned out after that, unable to control himself from connecting the dots. John had caught Randy cheating and now he wouldn't be at work for the next few weeks; it didn't take a genius to know why. In all honesty, he had thought John would be the first one there, hell bent on screaming and embarrassing Randy in front of everyone.

He had no idea John was this broken over them, it had seemed like Randy was the only one torn up inside.

Randy followed alongside Cody as they were dismissed from the quick meeting. He silently shook his head, knowing he was an idiot to believe anything else.

Cody had been silent the whole night, rejecting each conversation Randy tried to strike up with him. He couldn't help but spend his time thinking about the past week. No matter how often he tried to steer Randy's thoughts from his ex, it seemed as if they always drifted back to John. He wasn't a fool; he could see the pain on Randy's face each time he got that faraway look in his eyes.

Cody shrugged Randy's arm from around his waist as they entered their hotel room, immediately splitting off as he began to unpack his things.

"Cody?"

He sighed, turning around to gaze at Randy, face blank of any emotion. "What?"

"Are…are you still upset? About last week?"

"No." Cody threw his bag onto the floor next to him, stretching out on top of the comforter.

"Then what is it?"

Cody glanced at Randy out of his peripherals, noting his hesitance to join him. "Nothing, Randy. I'm fine."

"No you're not." Randy approached him slowly, cautiously kneeling on the bed.

Cody turned his head towards Randy, "You're right, I'm not."

Randy folded his hands in front of him, fingers itching to reach out and take Cody into his arms. "So what's wrong?"

Cody closed his eyes, hands scrubbing across his face, "Us."

A flash of hurt and confusion went across Randy's face, "What are you talking about?"

"Come on Randy, don't sit here and pretend like everything's great. You've been pining over him everyday since he kicked you out."

"I haven't—"

"Yes, you have. I'm not an idiot Randy."

"Well maybe, but it's hard for me to—"

"I know Randy, believe me I know."

Cody pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a shaky sigh. God, he really didn't want to have to do this. Why couldn't they just be happy together?

"I think we need a break, Randy."

Randy's head snapped up, reaching out for Cody, "No, Cody! You and me, remember? We're supposed to focus on our relationship—"

"Which you haven't been doing, Randy!"

Randy pulled his hands back, unable to respond to that. He'd tried to. That had to count for something.

"You can't have your cake and eat it too. Either it's all of me, or all of him. You can't have both."

"God! Why do I have to choose?" Randy yelled, jumping from the bed, pacing across the room. "Why does it have to be this God damn hard?"

"I'm sorry, but I want an answer. You can't be in love with two people at once."

"Why does everyone keep telling me that?" Randy asked, crossing the room in long strides, voice thick with emotion.

"Because it's true," Cody said, watching Randy as he passed the edge of the bed.

"I am!"

Cody shook his head, turning away from Randy, eyes closed, his fingers clasped together like he was praying, his chin resting overtop it.

"Maybe you should leave."

Randy stopped pacing, "What?"

Cody's eyes remained closed, his voice barely above a whisper. "I can't let you break my heart, Randy."

Randy pulled Cody towards the edge of the bed, stroking the side of his face. "Hey. Cody. I wouldn't do that to you."

Cody looked into Randy's eyes, his own brimming with tears. "You did it to John."

Randy looked away, unable to find a response that didn't make him sound like a jackass, "Cody, I—"

Cody pulled away, rising to go hide himself in the bathroom where he could let his tears fall in the privacy of his own self-pity. "Just go, Randy."

The slam of the door seemed so decisive…so final.

Randy glanced around the room, picking up his bag that had yet to be unpacked, silently leaving the room. His felt his heart break as he left, unable to block out the sound of the quiet sobs drifting from the room behind him.

A/n from Jessica: think you know where i'm going with this? leave me a REVIEW and tell me! personally, im shocked all of you aren't confused out of your fucking minds. lol :P
Also: thanks to everyone, (again) who takes the time to review, i swear i love reading them.

Oh! and i forgot to mention, kirbey and i will be going to a SD house show this summer, and if any of our old fans from last year are still around, anyone wanna bring back the 'sign idea' competition? Funniest/cutest sign idea gets a one-shot! (assuming im mentally competant by then :P) any takers? review then!

Hope you enjoyed!