I Won't Tell Anybody
“You-“John’s tongue felt thicker than a Cumberland sausage in his mouth and his heart was pounding in his ears. When Shawn had first told him he loved him John had admittedly been on cloud nine, but it hadn’t taken him long to realise that Shawn used those words as-of-when, regardless of person or situation, and the tone never changed. John had been pretty disillusioned quickly thanks to that, but this… he couldn’t doubt Randy. “You love me?” the words came out pathetically hopeful and afterwards John would berate himself greatly for the seeming neediness in his tone but as things stood right then he just wanted the answer.
Swallowing, Randy nodded his head and cleared his throat. Man, he wasn’t big on the whole romance thing per se but even he had a sense of timing and telling John that he loved him for the first time in some random arena locker-room wasn’t the smartest idea he’d ever had but he couldn’t take it back now. Eyes dropping to the floor and looking every bit like a shy young man, Randy cleared his throat again and nodded, muttering, “I’ve felt this way for a long time now, and I guess I just didn’t want to label or focus on it in case I was wrong, but seeing you so open and worked up it just… I love you,” it felt so easy.
Those three words had always been a bane for Randy, never ever feeling the need to use it (unless it was towards family and even then it was totally different) and being concerned about the aggro he’d face if someone said it to him, but now, saying them to John seemed to take a weight off of his shoulders. “I, uh, you know, um, I know you were probably uncomfortable when I didn’t say it back to you the first time, but when you said it to me I---mph!” Randy suddenly found his mouth being covered by John’s and he fell back somewhat into the lockers where he’d stood up.
Though he’d been initially caught off-guard by the sudden action Randy was quick to respond. Considering he’d thought he was about to be in the same dog-house for the foreseeable future because of what had happened with the boss he knew not to look a gift horse in the mouth when it came to John. His hands landed on John’s lower-back, shoving his t-shirt up somewhat to get a greedy touch of John’s smooth skin. Fuck, they had been involved in passionate kisses before but this one was something else entirely. Just as Randy thought he might faint from lack of air they broke apart.
John looked into the younger man’s hazed and bright eyes, seeing the familiar flickers of lust there as well as something else that he could now put a name to that he had convinced himself previously that he couldn’t possibly be seeing. John himself was breathing hard and rather flushed in the cheeks, eyes burning and turning that same cloudy electric blue that never failed to make Randy tingle. For a few moments they just remained pressed together, jorts doing just slightly more to hide John’s burgeoning erection than Randy’s own spankies did but leaving neither in doubt as to how the other felt.
Pressing his face into Randy’s neck John closed his eyes momentarily and inhaled the other’s scent, needing to calm himself down. “Say it again,” John murmured into the other’s flesh, “Say it again.” Randy quirked a slight smile to himself when he managed to get some breath back, hands still resting on John and keeping him close. “I love you,” the words were low but sincere, only slightly awkward on Randy’s inexperienced tongue. Just as John was leaning in for another kiss there was a click as the door was unlocked and Ted’s blonde head appeared around the door. For a moment he looked torn between amusement and exasperation, “I should have known. Just thought you two should know our tag match is now and you’re next.”
“Cheers Ted,” Randy said lightly, “Good luck out there.” Hearing the dismissal as it was Ted merely nodded and then backtracked out of the door, closing and relocking it behind him as he hastened off to meet Cody to go out there. Having Ted interrupting them seemed to remind John that they did indeed have a match that night and he seemed about ready to put some distance between them both. The Viper, however, was not about to let the once Dr of Thugganomics go too far, pulling him so that John ended up sitting in his lap as they sat on the bench. The ex-champ protested for a few minutes before accepting he wasn’t being let go of.
“We need to have a really good match tonight-”
“We always have good matches,” Randy pointed out and John nodded slightly before then insisting, “But tonight we need to do something really good to make the fans happy since that’ll increase the cash-flow and appease the boss-man.” Vince was very old-fashioned so they were quite lucky that he had taken their relationship as well as he had done. There was still every chance that he could turn around and use it against them though.
They discussed a few strategies that they knew the crowd had gone wild for before, and modified a few. Since house-shows were usually reserved for more clear-cut wins and losses as opposed to the interference that usually ran in televised matches Randy suggested that he attack John with a chair, getting the other a win by DQ and then John could seem to be down but then AA him and they could have a stare-off going on with Randy cradling his belt to him and bringing the focus back to it--- reminding the people that the feud was theirs.
Not the has-been that was trying to invade it. “That could work,” John agreed, they had no monitors in their rooms for house-shows, they just had techies or fellow wrestlers updating them. “We should maybe head up there,” the brunette suggested as he started to get off of Randy’s lap, “Catch the end of your boys match and I can get a quick well-done to Evan and Kofi when I see them too.” Randy grumbled but reluctantly relinquished John, heading to the gorilla position with him, keen to see his boys despite his protests to leaving the privacy of the locker-room.
~:~
They were just in time for the end of the match, peering from behind the curtain to see Evan scrambling to the top rope, Cody lying prone on the mat. Evan took a moment to savour it before leaping from the top, Cody rolling out of the way the second his feet moved. Evan managed to land on his feet and Cody, who had rolled out of the ring, grabbed his ankles and landed him straight into a face-plant before pulling him out. The referee ran over and started protesting while Kofi came up behind him to see what was happening. Ted had apparently also been out of the ring because a moment later he dove into the ring and grabbed Cody from behind, hitting him with Dream Street and getting the pin before Evan could interfere. There was a chorus of boos from the crowd as Ted and Cody headed from the ring while Evan checked on Kofi, shouting abuse after the celebrating Legacy. Facing the ring as they left, Ted got dangerously close to the security barriers and almost jumped out of his skin when a woman managed to lean over far enough to give his arse a good hard slap. Cody broke character, completely acceptable behaviour on a house show, and burst out laughing while a secretly mortified Ted hid how he really felt and gave the lady in question a wink and kissed the back of her hand while she giggled (and Cody made comments about how Ted had ‘gotten lucky’, although they both knew he’d be in full jealous Diva mode when they got backstage).
“Nice, Teddy,” commented Randy as they got backstage.
Ted grinned, looking a little self conscious, but Cody interrupted before he could say anything. “She’d better not have left marks Ted.”
“I’m sure you can just put your own mark over the top,” commented Randy with some amusement. Cody didn’t look even slightly mollified but he didn’t say anything further since Chris Jericho had been nearby and had come over slightly too close to comment without giving themselves away. Randy hid a smile, thinking that if Chris overheard them talking about their relationship, he was unlikely to be shocked - and anyway, everyone already suspected the two of them, while as far as he knew, no one suspected a thing about Chris and Evan.
“You got palm prints there DiBiase?” he enquired with a repressed grin. “She really got you good. Heard it all the way back here!”
“Those fangirls are the worst,” agreed Ted ruefully, although he didn’t seem to notice that Chris was only half-listening now that Kofi and Evan were heading up the ramp. The group looked out sneakily and Ted groaned quietly as Kofi high-fived the woman who’d spanked him. “Damn, I’m never gonna hear the end of this am I?”
“At least you’ve got an excuse when you can’t sit down in the morning,” said Cody quietly, causing Ted to look around quickly while nudging him in the ribs. But Chris hadn’t heard (Randy was shaking with repressed laughter and John was biting his lip so there was a good chance they had) and Ted didn’t quite dare to come up with a smart reply.
Evan and Kofi came through the curtain and Evan shot Chris a wide grin that was so brief it might not even have happened before exchanging a few words with Ted and Cody about the match. All four men were pleased with the way things had gone but Randy didn’t have the time to listen in; his music cued up and that was his cue. Shouldering the belt, he winked at John before putting on his game face and leaving through the curtains. He was pretty sure that he was still being watched and as he reached the woman who had groped Ted, he paused and looked directly at her.
“Keep your hands off my boys in the future,” he said arrogantly, knowing that it was only going to fuel the Legacy three-way rumours and not caring even slightly. It all rather amused him. And he was pretty sure that Ted would be holding his head in the back which made it all worthwhile. The woman looked very nervous, even though she was trying to play it down, while a few people around her jeered him. That was fine too, as long as he was getting a reaction.
If they were going to goof around then they tended to do so at the house shows - John had been known to lead sing-alongs, Dave had jumped into the audience and chatted to the fans (before being mobbed roughly five seconds after trying it) and Jericho had actually been known to pose for pictures as a kind of taunt to his opponent, usually during his face runs. Randy did know how to piss around but didn’t always tend to, as Ted had proved some of the fans could be quite grabby. And he wasn’t in the mood that night anyway; he was waiting for John and let him provide the additional entertainment. He poked his tongue out at a kid that shouted John’s name at him (the little boy was all of about seven and looked comically surprised) before going into the ring and striking his usual poses.
And then John’s music played and the man himself came out from the back. As always John paused at the top of the ramp but with no cameras to play to, he merely stared at the ring, and at Randy.
And then he gave a rather dark grin that did nothing to hide his happiness at being there.
Randy had to hide a grin of his own as John raced down the ramp in his usual fashion - because Randy was planning to head on out of the ring first, John would get plenty of time with his public afterwards. As John hit the ring Randy rolled out of it, not just to give his lover the chance to stride around the ring but also to make out as if he was a little scared, a little wary. John always owned the ring when he walked in, all eyes were on him and Randy just had to hope no one would notice that included his own.
John pulled off his shirt and threw it into the crowd, causing a minor scrap to break out over the recipient, then Randy got back in, keeping his distance as the referee called for the match to start. There was a good deal of stalking each other and a couple of false starts before they locked up properly. John’s eyes met Randy’s and he heard those words circling around his head again; he very nearly forgot they were in the middle of the ring and planted a kiss on the other. It was only when Randy gave him a rather weak shove back that he recalled they were supposed to be fighting and in response pushed Randy back much harder. Randy staggered back a few steps as if overcome by John’s superior strength and hung bac, provoking a series of yells from the audience about his apparent cowardice.
Before anyone could get bored, they began exchanging punches and John whipped Randy into the ropes, Randy making a complicated move on the way back and getting behind John, putting him in a sleeper. “This is a familiar position,” he said, lips barely moving, straight into John’s ear.
John felt a stirring and grabbed Randy’s arm, forcing it upward so that Randy’s tattooed bicep covered half his face. “If you wanna talk dirty, remember who’s wearing the spankies,” he returned, reversing their positions by twisting Randy’s arm up his back. “More than you’ll be wearing later,” he added, speaking into the man’s ear exactly as Randy had done to him before shoving him away.
Randy was fortunately used to fighting John enough so that he didn’t have to think much about his next move, which was just as well - if John had meant to distract him, it worked. He wasn’t so much fighting against his lover as against his own body, which wanted to respond just to John’s tone of voice not to mention the implied promise that had been made for later. And the last thing he needed was for anyone to notice that. Certainly not Vince, if he was still in the building.
Fortunately John seemed to have had the same thought because the rest of the match went off without John saying anything else along those lines - although there were a couple of interested looks at Randy’s black trunks that had the younger man trying desperately to refocus. But as John had said, they needed a good match and that was the thought that won through. It rather surprised Randy; he was not a man who looked much to the future. Once upon a time, he would have flirted shamelessly throughout the match and worried about what Vince had to say later. But he wanted things to go well for them, he didn’t want Vince to have an excuse to be pissed and he didn’t want Shawn and Hunter to have any ammunition against them.
Hunter wasn’t fighting that night and there had been no sign of Shawn since… he wondered what had happened to them. He suspected that Shawn would have let Hunter know what was happening, the only question was whether Hunter was working on Vince or whether he had decided it would be wider to pretend he had no knowledge. Randy knew which he would do under those circumstances, or maybe he was just hoping that both men would be too wary about upsetting Vince to push things any further. After all, Hunter had everything to lose.
~:~
The match went off perfectly without a hitch and Randy took the chance to high-tail it backstage and give John his chance to do his victory lapses and suchlike. There was a reason he was top of the fan-card, and as he watched from behind the curtain as John picked up a little lad that had somehow got over the barricade and set him on his shoulder he couldn’t help but smile a little. Amazingly not all kids seemed to hate him even though he was the bad guy but he had to work harder to get such an easy interaction with them the way that John seemed to do a naturally as breathing. He headed back to the locker-room after John had returned to the ramp and they had exchanged a few words and stolen a kiss--- Randy telling John to just head off since he had to meet up with Kofi about Monday.
Though it was apparent his lover seemed lightly put out by this he merely grinned and nodded, leaning in to murmur, “Don’t scrimp on your match-talk but hurry back… I’ll be waiting.” And then he turned and walked off, Randy having to hold the belt tighter to keep his hands occupied from wanting to reach out and grab John’s ass in turn much like the woman had got at Ted earlier. Speaking of which… he knew his boys had lingered to see a bit of the match before heading back and he wondered whether he’d catch them out doing something again because their reactions when he did were always so damn fun. It was harder to tell which of them got more flustered.
Reaching the locker-room door he paused mere moments and then pushed the door open before heading inside. And, lo-and-behold, there stood Cody and Ted--- though Randy was mildly surprised to see that Ted was the one who had obviously been pushed into the wall as Cody attacked his mouth. It was apparent they had been too involved in their kiss to notice the door opening, and Randy waited until Cody took Ted’s spankie waistband in his fingers and prepared to pull it down he then cleared his throat with deliberate obnoxiousness, the door snapping closed behind him. Ted jumped about ten foot into the air, face turning a burning shade of red in his apple-like cheeks as Cody merely looked mildly embarrassed but otherwise mainly unimpressed by the interruption. Not that Randy was going to apologise to the other over it or anything.
“Alright there, boys?” he asked innocently as he placed his belt down on the bench by his bag and then started to untie his laces to get his boots off. Ted had his back to Randy and was fumbling around inside of his bag as Cody merely pulled his spankies off without batting an eyelash, revealing the little thong he wore. What? He just looked a little, besides, nothing wrong with a little friendly checking-out. Cody would do it to him when he took his spankies off, it was just a reflex. “Good match?” Cody asked in return and Randy nodded his head as he tugged his boots off. “Yep, not too bad at all. I was stunning, you should have seen me,” he grinned at them.
“Oh yes,” Ted finally seemed calm enough to join into the conversation though he was still a little red-faced, “I’m sure they were all over you,” he faked a swoon though Randy could tell he was hoping that something had happened to him that would maybe take the attention away from Ted’s avid fan. However, Randy was going to offer him no such reprieve. Ted pouted at him and Randy was once again reminded as to why he’d had to get at a couple of people in the past over comments about the DiBiase boy’s mouth. Cody had also had his honour protected by him before.
Not that either of them probably knew it since they had had a couple of the veterans and suchlike step in and warn people off of them before. Not that many had listened, but that was always the way, and in their favour they had had someone closer to their age and in the hierarchy comfortably to keep an eye on them. And they had already been a couple--- or considered a couple even if they would both deny it until they were blue in the face when asked about it.
With some more banter passing between them the three men headed in to the showers and scrubbed themselves of the sweat and baby-oil, walking back into the locker-room and changing. “Kofi said he’d meet you in the parking-lot,” he pointed out, “We’ll walk that way with you since we’re headed there.” It was on the tip of Randy’s tongue to ask whether the others thought he was going to get jumped if he was left alone but he realised how poor-taste that it could be given everything that had happened between them and Hunter and Shawn and so kept it to himself. “Sure,” he said, shouldering his bag and stomping his feet lightly inside of his shoes to get them comfortable. He had already given John the car-keys back so he didn’t have to worry that John would have no way of getting back to the hotel without him.
Kofi was loitering by a car that Randy assumed was his rental and the dark-skinned man flashed them a big grin as they approached. Ted and Cody slapped Randy on the shoulder and back lightly as they bid him goodbye, acknowledging Kofi with a nod of the head before walking over to their rental. Kofi unlocked the car and opened the boot, giving Randy the opportunity to put the bag inside. “I was figuring the hotel bar’d be Ok to talk in, that alright with you, man?” Startling slightly from where he had been glancing around the parking-lot to see if he could get a last glimpse of John, Randy then nodded and sent Kofi a slight smile, “Sure, that’s fine with me.” Kofi’s grin told him that his casual air hadn’t fooled him even a little but he pretended not to see it as he got into the passenger side seat, adjusting it so he could fit.
Whoever had sat there last must have had legs like a platypus.
~:~
“You sure you’re Ok?” John asked Evan lightly as he helped the other get his bag from the boot of the car, handing it to him somewhat reluctantly. Evan threw him a smile, clearly still high on adrenaline from his match earlier, “Yeah, I think I just torqued myself in that last move more than I realised at the time.” He’d been the victim of a botched tackle not too long back and though he hadn’t broken any ribs they had been very close to it--- and even when Air Bourne wasn’t landed perfectly it still put a strain of his torso. “Maybe Chris can give you a massage?” John suggested cheekily in a quiet voice as they headed inside and made their way to the lift. “Yeah, maybe he-“Evan seemed to realise then what was said and went bright pink before swatting at John’s shoulder, “Hanging with Orton’s made you a perv.”
“Hey,” John protested lightly but didn’t deny it, smile not faltering even momentarily, “Massages are innocent; it’s not my fault that your dirty mind went elsewhere.” Evan pushed the button for the lift and they both stepped inside, Evan resting against the cool wall opposite John and pushing the button for his floor. They chatted amicably as the lift finally bumped to start moving, but when John noticed something peeking out of the waistband of Evan’s jeans in the reflection of the mirror he moved forward. Surely it couldn’t be what he thought it was, because he had never, never, ever known Evan to have an interest in that kind of thing. He reached out and tugged the other’s waistband down.
Yipping as he realised what was happening Evan tried to wriggle away… but not before John had seen the faded (and as such not a tattoo): Property of Chris Jericho that adorned Evan’s lower-back, just high-enough for his ring-tights to have covered even if his boxers wouldn’t have. Releasing Evan, John grinned like an absolute fiend as his flustered friend jutted his chin out defiantly. Silence reigned over them for several long seconds before John then prompted, “Want to tell me how that came about?”
Opening his mouth as though to speak, Evan was saved when the lift bumped to a halt and the door opened, “Nope, see you later!” Evan took off down the hall as quickly as he could and John called out, “I want details next time!” through laughter and just before the door closed. Still chuckling to himself he leant backwards against the mirrored wall and pulled his phone out of his pocket. A message from JoMo flickered onto the screen and John wondered why he hadn’t felt the vibration go off before then remembering that he always turned vibrate off when he had a show. Opening the message he almost fell over, laughter starting once again and startling the group of young women who seemed to be entering the lift as he left it.
Pretending not to notice them checking him out but sending them a polite smile John then returned his attention to the picture. Oh, this was going to be fun to rag Mike about. There, in the image, was Mike, walking ahead of Jack Swagger who appeared to be carrying both of their bags towards a car, seemingly pleased to be doing so. Sending JoMo a joking message about losing his on-road boyfriend he then pocketed his phone and went to let himself into his and Randy’s room. He decided that he’d grab something to eat and a proper shower before lounging as he waited for Randy.
Swallowing, Randy nodded his head and cleared his throat. Man, he wasn’t big on the whole romance thing per se but even he had a sense of timing and telling John that he loved him for the first time in some random arena locker-room wasn’t the smartest idea he’d ever had but he couldn’t take it back now. Eyes dropping to the floor and looking every bit like a shy young man, Randy cleared his throat again and nodded, muttering, “I’ve felt this way for a long time now, and I guess I just didn’t want to label or focus on it in case I was wrong, but seeing you so open and worked up it just… I love you,” it felt so easy.
Those three words had always been a bane for Randy, never ever feeling the need to use it (unless it was towards family and even then it was totally different) and being concerned about the aggro he’d face if someone said it to him, but now, saying them to John seemed to take a weight off of his shoulders. “I, uh, you know, um, I know you were probably uncomfortable when I didn’t say it back to you the first time, but when you said it to me I---mph!” Randy suddenly found his mouth being covered by John’s and he fell back somewhat into the lockers where he’d stood up.
Though he’d been initially caught off-guard by the sudden action Randy was quick to respond. Considering he’d thought he was about to be in the same dog-house for the foreseeable future because of what had happened with the boss he knew not to look a gift horse in the mouth when it came to John. His hands landed on John’s lower-back, shoving his t-shirt up somewhat to get a greedy touch of John’s smooth skin. Fuck, they had been involved in passionate kisses before but this one was something else entirely. Just as Randy thought he might faint from lack of air they broke apart.
John looked into the younger man’s hazed and bright eyes, seeing the familiar flickers of lust there as well as something else that he could now put a name to that he had convinced himself previously that he couldn’t possibly be seeing. John himself was breathing hard and rather flushed in the cheeks, eyes burning and turning that same cloudy electric blue that never failed to make Randy tingle. For a few moments they just remained pressed together, jorts doing just slightly more to hide John’s burgeoning erection than Randy’s own spankies did but leaving neither in doubt as to how the other felt.
Pressing his face into Randy’s neck John closed his eyes momentarily and inhaled the other’s scent, needing to calm himself down. “Say it again,” John murmured into the other’s flesh, “Say it again.” Randy quirked a slight smile to himself when he managed to get some breath back, hands still resting on John and keeping him close. “I love you,” the words were low but sincere, only slightly awkward on Randy’s inexperienced tongue. Just as John was leaning in for another kiss there was a click as the door was unlocked and Ted’s blonde head appeared around the door. For a moment he looked torn between amusement and exasperation, “I should have known. Just thought you two should know our tag match is now and you’re next.”
“Cheers Ted,” Randy said lightly, “Good luck out there.” Hearing the dismissal as it was Ted merely nodded and then backtracked out of the door, closing and relocking it behind him as he hastened off to meet Cody to go out there. Having Ted interrupting them seemed to remind John that they did indeed have a match that night and he seemed about ready to put some distance between them both. The Viper, however, was not about to let the once Dr of Thugganomics go too far, pulling him so that John ended up sitting in his lap as they sat on the bench. The ex-champ protested for a few minutes before accepting he wasn’t being let go of.
“We need to have a really good match tonight-”
“We always have good matches,” Randy pointed out and John nodded slightly before then insisting, “But tonight we need to do something really good to make the fans happy since that’ll increase the cash-flow and appease the boss-man.” Vince was very old-fashioned so they were quite lucky that he had taken their relationship as well as he had done. There was still every chance that he could turn around and use it against them though.
They discussed a few strategies that they knew the crowd had gone wild for before, and modified a few. Since house-shows were usually reserved for more clear-cut wins and losses as opposed to the interference that usually ran in televised matches Randy suggested that he attack John with a chair, getting the other a win by DQ and then John could seem to be down but then AA him and they could have a stare-off going on with Randy cradling his belt to him and bringing the focus back to it--- reminding the people that the feud was theirs.
Not the has-been that was trying to invade it. “That could work,” John agreed, they had no monitors in their rooms for house-shows, they just had techies or fellow wrestlers updating them. “We should maybe head up there,” the brunette suggested as he started to get off of Randy’s lap, “Catch the end of your boys match and I can get a quick well-done to Evan and Kofi when I see them too.” Randy grumbled but reluctantly relinquished John, heading to the gorilla position with him, keen to see his boys despite his protests to leaving the privacy of the locker-room.
~:~
They were just in time for the end of the match, peering from behind the curtain to see Evan scrambling to the top rope, Cody lying prone on the mat. Evan took a moment to savour it before leaping from the top, Cody rolling out of the way the second his feet moved. Evan managed to land on his feet and Cody, who had rolled out of the ring, grabbed his ankles and landed him straight into a face-plant before pulling him out. The referee ran over and started protesting while Kofi came up behind him to see what was happening. Ted had apparently also been out of the ring because a moment later he dove into the ring and grabbed Cody from behind, hitting him with Dream Street and getting the pin before Evan could interfere. There was a chorus of boos from the crowd as Ted and Cody headed from the ring while Evan checked on Kofi, shouting abuse after the celebrating Legacy. Facing the ring as they left, Ted got dangerously close to the security barriers and almost jumped out of his skin when a woman managed to lean over far enough to give his arse a good hard slap. Cody broke character, completely acceptable behaviour on a house show, and burst out laughing while a secretly mortified Ted hid how he really felt and gave the lady in question a wink and kissed the back of her hand while she giggled (and Cody made comments about how Ted had ‘gotten lucky’, although they both knew he’d be in full jealous Diva mode when they got backstage).
“Nice, Teddy,” commented Randy as they got backstage.
Ted grinned, looking a little self conscious, but Cody interrupted before he could say anything. “She’d better not have left marks Ted.”
“I’m sure you can just put your own mark over the top,” commented Randy with some amusement. Cody didn’t look even slightly mollified but he didn’t say anything further since Chris Jericho had been nearby and had come over slightly too close to comment without giving themselves away. Randy hid a smile, thinking that if Chris overheard them talking about their relationship, he was unlikely to be shocked - and anyway, everyone already suspected the two of them, while as far as he knew, no one suspected a thing about Chris and Evan.
“You got palm prints there DiBiase?” he enquired with a repressed grin. “She really got you good. Heard it all the way back here!”
“Those fangirls are the worst,” agreed Ted ruefully, although he didn’t seem to notice that Chris was only half-listening now that Kofi and Evan were heading up the ramp. The group looked out sneakily and Ted groaned quietly as Kofi high-fived the woman who’d spanked him. “Damn, I’m never gonna hear the end of this am I?”
“At least you’ve got an excuse when you can’t sit down in the morning,” said Cody quietly, causing Ted to look around quickly while nudging him in the ribs. But Chris hadn’t heard (Randy was shaking with repressed laughter and John was biting his lip so there was a good chance they had) and Ted didn’t quite dare to come up with a smart reply.
Evan and Kofi came through the curtain and Evan shot Chris a wide grin that was so brief it might not even have happened before exchanging a few words with Ted and Cody about the match. All four men were pleased with the way things had gone but Randy didn’t have the time to listen in; his music cued up and that was his cue. Shouldering the belt, he winked at John before putting on his game face and leaving through the curtains. He was pretty sure that he was still being watched and as he reached the woman who had groped Ted, he paused and looked directly at her.
“Keep your hands off my boys in the future,” he said arrogantly, knowing that it was only going to fuel the Legacy three-way rumours and not caring even slightly. It all rather amused him. And he was pretty sure that Ted would be holding his head in the back which made it all worthwhile. The woman looked very nervous, even though she was trying to play it down, while a few people around her jeered him. That was fine too, as long as he was getting a reaction.
If they were going to goof around then they tended to do so at the house shows - John had been known to lead sing-alongs, Dave had jumped into the audience and chatted to the fans (before being mobbed roughly five seconds after trying it) and Jericho had actually been known to pose for pictures as a kind of taunt to his opponent, usually during his face runs. Randy did know how to piss around but didn’t always tend to, as Ted had proved some of the fans could be quite grabby. And he wasn’t in the mood that night anyway; he was waiting for John and let him provide the additional entertainment. He poked his tongue out at a kid that shouted John’s name at him (the little boy was all of about seven and looked comically surprised) before going into the ring and striking his usual poses.
And then John’s music played and the man himself came out from the back. As always John paused at the top of the ramp but with no cameras to play to, he merely stared at the ring, and at Randy.
And then he gave a rather dark grin that did nothing to hide his happiness at being there.
Randy had to hide a grin of his own as John raced down the ramp in his usual fashion - because Randy was planning to head on out of the ring first, John would get plenty of time with his public afterwards. As John hit the ring Randy rolled out of it, not just to give his lover the chance to stride around the ring but also to make out as if he was a little scared, a little wary. John always owned the ring when he walked in, all eyes were on him and Randy just had to hope no one would notice that included his own.
John pulled off his shirt and threw it into the crowd, causing a minor scrap to break out over the recipient, then Randy got back in, keeping his distance as the referee called for the match to start. There was a good deal of stalking each other and a couple of false starts before they locked up properly. John’s eyes met Randy’s and he heard those words circling around his head again; he very nearly forgot they were in the middle of the ring and planted a kiss on the other. It was only when Randy gave him a rather weak shove back that he recalled they were supposed to be fighting and in response pushed Randy back much harder. Randy staggered back a few steps as if overcome by John’s superior strength and hung bac, provoking a series of yells from the audience about his apparent cowardice.
Before anyone could get bored, they began exchanging punches and John whipped Randy into the ropes, Randy making a complicated move on the way back and getting behind John, putting him in a sleeper. “This is a familiar position,” he said, lips barely moving, straight into John’s ear.
John felt a stirring and grabbed Randy’s arm, forcing it upward so that Randy’s tattooed bicep covered half his face. “If you wanna talk dirty, remember who’s wearing the spankies,” he returned, reversing their positions by twisting Randy’s arm up his back. “More than you’ll be wearing later,” he added, speaking into the man’s ear exactly as Randy had done to him before shoving him away.
Randy was fortunately used to fighting John enough so that he didn’t have to think much about his next move, which was just as well - if John had meant to distract him, it worked. He wasn’t so much fighting against his lover as against his own body, which wanted to respond just to John’s tone of voice not to mention the implied promise that had been made for later. And the last thing he needed was for anyone to notice that. Certainly not Vince, if he was still in the building.
Fortunately John seemed to have had the same thought because the rest of the match went off without John saying anything else along those lines - although there were a couple of interested looks at Randy’s black trunks that had the younger man trying desperately to refocus. But as John had said, they needed a good match and that was the thought that won through. It rather surprised Randy; he was not a man who looked much to the future. Once upon a time, he would have flirted shamelessly throughout the match and worried about what Vince had to say later. But he wanted things to go well for them, he didn’t want Vince to have an excuse to be pissed and he didn’t want Shawn and Hunter to have any ammunition against them.
Hunter wasn’t fighting that night and there had been no sign of Shawn since… he wondered what had happened to them. He suspected that Shawn would have let Hunter know what was happening, the only question was whether Hunter was working on Vince or whether he had decided it would be wider to pretend he had no knowledge. Randy knew which he would do under those circumstances, or maybe he was just hoping that both men would be too wary about upsetting Vince to push things any further. After all, Hunter had everything to lose.
~:~
The match went off perfectly without a hitch and Randy took the chance to high-tail it backstage and give John his chance to do his victory lapses and suchlike. There was a reason he was top of the fan-card, and as he watched from behind the curtain as John picked up a little lad that had somehow got over the barricade and set him on his shoulder he couldn’t help but smile a little. Amazingly not all kids seemed to hate him even though he was the bad guy but he had to work harder to get such an easy interaction with them the way that John seemed to do a naturally as breathing. He headed back to the locker-room after John had returned to the ramp and they had exchanged a few words and stolen a kiss--- Randy telling John to just head off since he had to meet up with Kofi about Monday.
Though it was apparent his lover seemed lightly put out by this he merely grinned and nodded, leaning in to murmur, “Don’t scrimp on your match-talk but hurry back… I’ll be waiting.” And then he turned and walked off, Randy having to hold the belt tighter to keep his hands occupied from wanting to reach out and grab John’s ass in turn much like the woman had got at Ted earlier. Speaking of which… he knew his boys had lingered to see a bit of the match before heading back and he wondered whether he’d catch them out doing something again because their reactions when he did were always so damn fun. It was harder to tell which of them got more flustered.
Reaching the locker-room door he paused mere moments and then pushed the door open before heading inside. And, lo-and-behold, there stood Cody and Ted--- though Randy was mildly surprised to see that Ted was the one who had obviously been pushed into the wall as Cody attacked his mouth. It was apparent they had been too involved in their kiss to notice the door opening, and Randy waited until Cody took Ted’s spankie waistband in his fingers and prepared to pull it down he then cleared his throat with deliberate obnoxiousness, the door snapping closed behind him. Ted jumped about ten foot into the air, face turning a burning shade of red in his apple-like cheeks as Cody merely looked mildly embarrassed but otherwise mainly unimpressed by the interruption. Not that Randy was going to apologise to the other over it or anything.
“Alright there, boys?” he asked innocently as he placed his belt down on the bench by his bag and then started to untie his laces to get his boots off. Ted had his back to Randy and was fumbling around inside of his bag as Cody merely pulled his spankies off without batting an eyelash, revealing the little thong he wore. What? He just looked a little, besides, nothing wrong with a little friendly checking-out. Cody would do it to him when he took his spankies off, it was just a reflex. “Good match?” Cody asked in return and Randy nodded his head as he tugged his boots off. “Yep, not too bad at all. I was stunning, you should have seen me,” he grinned at them.
“Oh yes,” Ted finally seemed calm enough to join into the conversation though he was still a little red-faced, “I’m sure they were all over you,” he faked a swoon though Randy could tell he was hoping that something had happened to him that would maybe take the attention away from Ted’s avid fan. However, Randy was going to offer him no such reprieve. Ted pouted at him and Randy was once again reminded as to why he’d had to get at a couple of people in the past over comments about the DiBiase boy’s mouth. Cody had also had his honour protected by him before.
Not that either of them probably knew it since they had had a couple of the veterans and suchlike step in and warn people off of them before. Not that many had listened, but that was always the way, and in their favour they had had someone closer to their age and in the hierarchy comfortably to keep an eye on them. And they had already been a couple--- or considered a couple even if they would both deny it until they were blue in the face when asked about it.
With some more banter passing between them the three men headed in to the showers and scrubbed themselves of the sweat and baby-oil, walking back into the locker-room and changing. “Kofi said he’d meet you in the parking-lot,” he pointed out, “We’ll walk that way with you since we’re headed there.” It was on the tip of Randy’s tongue to ask whether the others thought he was going to get jumped if he was left alone but he realised how poor-taste that it could be given everything that had happened between them and Hunter and Shawn and so kept it to himself. “Sure,” he said, shouldering his bag and stomping his feet lightly inside of his shoes to get them comfortable. He had already given John the car-keys back so he didn’t have to worry that John would have no way of getting back to the hotel without him.
Kofi was loitering by a car that Randy assumed was his rental and the dark-skinned man flashed them a big grin as they approached. Ted and Cody slapped Randy on the shoulder and back lightly as they bid him goodbye, acknowledging Kofi with a nod of the head before walking over to their rental. Kofi unlocked the car and opened the boot, giving Randy the opportunity to put the bag inside. “I was figuring the hotel bar’d be Ok to talk in, that alright with you, man?” Startling slightly from where he had been glancing around the parking-lot to see if he could get a last glimpse of John, Randy then nodded and sent Kofi a slight smile, “Sure, that’s fine with me.” Kofi’s grin told him that his casual air hadn’t fooled him even a little but he pretended not to see it as he got into the passenger side seat, adjusting it so he could fit.
Whoever had sat there last must have had legs like a platypus.
~:~
“You sure you’re Ok?” John asked Evan lightly as he helped the other get his bag from the boot of the car, handing it to him somewhat reluctantly. Evan threw him a smile, clearly still high on adrenaline from his match earlier, “Yeah, I think I just torqued myself in that last move more than I realised at the time.” He’d been the victim of a botched tackle not too long back and though he hadn’t broken any ribs they had been very close to it--- and even when Air Bourne wasn’t landed perfectly it still put a strain of his torso. “Maybe Chris can give you a massage?” John suggested cheekily in a quiet voice as they headed inside and made their way to the lift. “Yeah, maybe he-“Evan seemed to realise then what was said and went bright pink before swatting at John’s shoulder, “Hanging with Orton’s made you a perv.”
“Hey,” John protested lightly but didn’t deny it, smile not faltering even momentarily, “Massages are innocent; it’s not my fault that your dirty mind went elsewhere.” Evan pushed the button for the lift and they both stepped inside, Evan resting against the cool wall opposite John and pushing the button for his floor. They chatted amicably as the lift finally bumped to start moving, but when John noticed something peeking out of the waistband of Evan’s jeans in the reflection of the mirror he moved forward. Surely it couldn’t be what he thought it was, because he had never, never, ever known Evan to have an interest in that kind of thing. He reached out and tugged the other’s waistband down.
Yipping as he realised what was happening Evan tried to wriggle away… but not before John had seen the faded (and as such not a tattoo): Property of Chris Jericho that adorned Evan’s lower-back, just high-enough for his ring-tights to have covered even if his boxers wouldn’t have. Releasing Evan, John grinned like an absolute fiend as his flustered friend jutted his chin out defiantly. Silence reigned over them for several long seconds before John then prompted, “Want to tell me how that came about?”
Opening his mouth as though to speak, Evan was saved when the lift bumped to a halt and the door opened, “Nope, see you later!” Evan took off down the hall as quickly as he could and John called out, “I want details next time!” through laughter and just before the door closed. Still chuckling to himself he leant backwards against the mirrored wall and pulled his phone out of his pocket. A message from JoMo flickered onto the screen and John wondered why he hadn’t felt the vibration go off before then remembering that he always turned vibrate off when he had a show. Opening the message he almost fell over, laughter starting once again and startling the group of young women who seemed to be entering the lift as he left it.
Pretending not to notice them checking him out but sending them a polite smile John then returned his attention to the picture. Oh, this was going to be fun to rag Mike about. There, in the image, was Mike, walking ahead of Jack Swagger who appeared to be carrying both of their bags towards a car, seemingly pleased to be doing so. Sending JoMo a joking message about losing his on-road boyfriend he then pocketed his phone and went to let himself into his and Randy’s room. He decided that he’d grab something to eat and a proper shower before lounging as he waited for Randy.