Title: A single white rose
Rating: PG
Pairing: Cody/Ted
Disclaimer: I do not own anybody in this fanfic, they own themselves and the WWE. And the lyrics to "The Scientist" belong to Coldplay.
Summary: (For the Fic Fun Saturday Wedding prompt) When things get too complicated for Ted and Cody's preparations for their wedding, maybe getting back to the start might help...
AN: Hello there! *waves hand nervously* Long time viewer, first time poster here, this is my first Codiasi fanfic ever, so please be gentle. Hope you like it and if there's any mistakes, I don't have a beta so blame it on me. :)
One single white rose, that's what he was holding in his hand and twirling around and around as he sat on the bench and thought. To many, only red or pink and coming in many held any significance, but to Cody Rhodes, just one held the importance of the world to him.
This had been the flower that his fiance (or ex-fiance, he bitterly thought), Ted Dibiase, had given him on their first date. This simple gesture had meant the world to him and therefore every milestone in their relationship had revolved around this particular flower: when they first made love, there were white rose petals on the king-sized bed; when they moved in together, a vase with a beautiful bouquet adorned the newly installed kitchen table and finally, when Ted had asked to marry him 6 months ago, he had done it with the very rose Cody was holding in his hand right now.
Things had been going well at first in the preparations, they were supposed to have a simple wedding in a park close to where they lived, with their parents and a couple of friends as witnesses and then a simple dinner at a simple restaurant afterwards. That was all it was supposed to be: simple. But then, Ted just had to talk to his parents about their plans and that's where the problems began:
His mom wanted a church wedding to make it more traditional, people on Cody's side of the family that lived overseas wanted to come and the restaurant they had looked into to have the reception wasn't big enough. Then the priest that they had booked didn't want to do the wedding anymore because suddenly it was against his own convictions. Little problems became big problems and small fights between Ted and Cody became big fights between Ted and Cody. It all had cumulated to today when, after a disastrous meeting with the tailor where they found out that they didn't have the same taste in suits at all, another blowout between the two had happened and, in a fit of pent up frustration and stress over the whole deal, Cody had thrown his engagement ring on the floor in front of Ted saying that, if they couldn't agree on a simple thing as suits, then maybe they weren't fit to get married after all and had run out of the store with Ted calling out after him.
So, that's where things were standing right now between them, with Cody sitting on the same bench in their backyard where he had been proposed to, twirling a dry and withered flower in his hand thinking about his past and his future. He hadn't heard a word from Ted since that morning and, while he turned the rose around and around between his fingers, he began to wonder if calling the engagement was the right thing to do after all. Ted and Cody had always been the best at resolving their issues and talk things through before but since they had begun the preparations for their big day, they somehow couldn't talk like they used to and that was how their problems escalated so fast and became so big. Somehow, he thought, instead throwing things and words at each other, they could have just sat down and resolved things the way they had always done it: together. But, as he sadly pondered, maybe now it was just too late to do just that...
Suddenly, as if somehow fate wanted to say its word on the matter, his cell phone ringed, indicating that someone had left him a text. He looked at the message and saw:
"Nobody said it was easy,
It's such a shame for us to part.
Nobody said it was easy,
No one ever said it would be this hard,
Oh, take me back to the start."
If you want to take this back to the start with me, come to The Delatri restaurant and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Love, T.
The Delatri restaurant, but that's where we were supposed to have our reception, Cody thought as he stood up from the bench he had been sitting on for the past 2 hours. What the hell is he planning, should I even bother going? Cody angrily pondered. But his heart and his body were somehow stronger than his head that night, because two minutes later he found himself walking to the spot Ted had asked him to go to, leaving the old single flower near the forgotten bench.
When he arrived, he couldn't believe his eyes. The place had been emptied of its chairs and its tables, making it seem almost ten times bigger than it was supposed to be. Millions of candles lit up the place making it seem like it was made up of starlight from the inside as well as the outside. In the middle of the restaurant was a makeshift altar and in front of the altar, stood Ted in his most beautiful suit. He carefully walked over to Cody and said: "When I said "going back to the start", I meant going back to what we had decided in the first place. Maybe we shouldn't have let other people try to plan things for us." "No, we shouldn't have", Cody replied with tears in his eyes. Ted smiled and, just like the night he had proposed, handed Cody a single white rose and asked, "So, shall we do this simple like we first planned and get married here, just you and me? The owner of this place got himself ordained for the occasion." Ted said with a smile. Cody smiled back, took his arm and said "Yes, we shall."
And so, Ted Dibiase and Cody Rhodes got married in a makeshift wedding hall that was any other day a restaurant, with one wearing what people would call just an ordinary suit and the other wearing a polo shirt and jeans with a single white rose in his hand. And the both of them couldn't have been happier about it.