Something New
“I’m sorry babe, but that’s the way it is.”
His girlfriend - ex girlfriend as of about half-way through the conversation - looked at him through wide eyes that were starting to tear up, her expression suggesting that he had horribly betrayed her or perhaps lost his mind. Ted DiBiase wasn’t at all sure that she wasn’t right about the last one, but the point stood and he intended to stick to his guns on this. His success in the wrestling business had been steadily increasing ever since his memorable debut, teaming up with a man who had become his best friend in short order and the lifestyle by necessity took him to all corners of the world, kept him away from home for most of the week. And when he did go home it was as if that were weird, as if the day-to-day activities of laundry or paying bills or just going on casual dates with his long-time girlfriend is the surreal part, some kind of dream he has when on a break from his real life. He feels more real, more alive, when he is on the road. Waking without being entirely sure at first what city he’s in, what state, what country. Hours of travelling with various other men, laughing and joking while sharing driving duties, or playing pranks, or merely talking about the business and their immediate plans in it. the roar of the crowd as he exits the curtain, Cody by his side and the belt over his shoulder, the lights directed on him, the song throughout the arena reminding everyone that it is a new day, a new generation. It certainly is and he has no desire to spend a new day going through the same mundane motions, as if it’s something he actually wants to do.
“I want to focus on my career,” he told her, which was the absolute truth. He wants to be around the business, not thinking about what might be waiting for him at home. He didn’t want ties to anywhere, he wanted to be free to think only about the career that looked so promising at that moment. “I don’t want to be distracted,” he said, aware of what an asshole he sounded even while he was speaking and giving her one of his more winning smiles. “Maybe in a couple of years when I’ve gotten more established, then who knows?”
“Who says I’ll be waiting for you in a couple of years?” she shot back, starting to get angry.
Ted shrugged. In honesty he would not have expected her to wait but he couldn’t really bring himself to care about her dating some other guy. His head was filled with more important things. Like the fact that he and Cody were to be a part of a heel stable with Randy Orton, one of the top wrestlers in the company and someone who they can benefit from being associated with. Like the rumour that there is a DX comeback on the cards and they’ll certainly need credible opponents, like the talk of rebuilding the tag division and he and Cody being a major part of it. Those things seemed a thousand times more important than whether or not his childhood sweetheart will forget about him and marry someone who’ll be home for her every night.
“This is what I have to do. I guess you’ll do what you have to.”
She shook her head, almost trembling with anger and embarrassment. “You’re a pig, Ted DiBiase. We’ve been dating for all these years and you’re casting me aside so you can wrestle? It’s not like I don’t understand how long you’ll be away! I already told you, I was willing to allow that-“
“And I already told you, I need to be focused on my career and nothing else.” Ted spoke gently because he was aware of how much the split had to be hurting her and he would rather have found some painless way to go about it, but they were together a long time and he knew there was no painless way to end things. The least he could do was to be honest. “I’m sorry.”
She snorted derisively. “Are you sure you’re not thinking that you’d rather see if you can get to pick and choose the ring-rat ass you think you’re gonna get on the road?”
Ted managed not to respond to this by sheer force of will. It had been one of his worries when he had thought this all over, being old enough to remember how his father had made sure certain needs that he had were taken care of while he was away from home and how it had affected his mother. And had he been in need of a lesson on that score, his father had helpfully released a tell-all book with the details inside. He had very mixed feelings on that score; although his father had behaved badly and Ted would rather that everyone he knew hadn’t found out about it, he was proud that his father had changed his ways, found God and devoted himself to atoning for that part of his life. Perhaps there was a little bit of truth in his words and that was why they stung, but he had never intended to drag that kind of shit into a relationship. Maybe it was sensible to get even the chance of that part out of his system early, not that he went in for one-night stands. His track record with women wasn’t bad, but he reserved sex for monogamy.
“It’s not that. I need to focus on my career.” Damn, how many times did he have to say it before she got the hint? He hadn’t had to choose between her and wrestling but he had made the choice anyway and she’d lost. If they had to thrash it out for longer he might have to actually put it that way and that would really hurt her.
“It’s nothing to do with you,” he said softly. “This is something I have to do for myself.”
“Discard the people that love you for your career, that’s what you’re doing to yourself.” She laughed, but it sounded brittle. “I think you’re going to end up very lonely Ted.”
And then she left, turned on her heel and walked out without another word. Ted watched her leave for the last time and wondered for a moment if she might be right, if by turning her away he was leaving himself with nothing. But he didn’t really believe it and it didn’t really matter. He was too young to be tied down and there was no reason at all why he could never find anyone in years to come. He had his whole future ahead of him and it Ted knew that it would be filled with only good things.
~:~
When Ted arrived at the hotel that he and Cody had booked for themselves in advance his tag partner was already there, sprawled on one of the beds, the steady bleeping of the hand-held console telling him that he wasn’t likely to get Cody’s full attention any time soon. “Hey,” he said casually, dumping his bag beside the second bed and stretching; he could never feel relaxed fully until he got to his own room because of the fans that always seemed to find where he was staying and congregated in the lobby. He was lucky in that he wasn’t a fan favourite and hadn’t been on TV for long or there’d probably be more, but the number of people asking for pictures and autographs seemed to be increasing and he suspected that when they added Randy to the team, the number would rise dramatically. Still, the minor annoyance seemed a fair payoff for what they’d be getting in return.
“Did you talk to her?” Cody asked without looking up from the console. Cody knew of his decision to end things with his girlfriend - he and Ted worked together, travelled together and are often accused of being joined at the hip; although they didn’t know everything about each other they had become close in a hurry and Ted had mentioned what he was planning to do just as soon as he came to a firm decision that things were over between them. Which had been pretty much the same moment he had found out they were to become the heel faction on Raw.
“Talked to her, told her, finished it with her.”
Cody pressed pause and looked up at him. “How did that go?”
Ted shrugged. It hadn’t gone as well as it could have but nor did it go as badly as he’d feared it could have done. Most of his bad feelings about the break-up came from his own lack of distress - surely he should feel worse after breaking up with the girl he had been with since high school? He told himself that his lack of upset was just a sign that he had done the right thing, but it still caused him some concern. “She didn’t really get it. She was upset, kinda hurt, I feel like a shit for hurting her feelings but what else could I do? It’s not like there was anything else I could do to make it painless.”
Cody nodded, expression softening slightly - when Ted had said he was worried he might be talked out of finishing things with her, it had been Cody to tell him to tough it out and see it through, no matter how ugly it got. “How are you?”
“Fine,” replied Ted, telling the absolute truth. “I thought I’d be more upset than this.”
“That’s a sign you did the right thing,” said Cody, echoing Ted’s own thoughts. He put the console to one side and sat up, a grin spreading across his face. “But hey, just think of the fun two young, single guys can have out on the road! And you don’t have to worry about dashing off home all the time, or placating her during the foreign tours. Hell, we don’t even have to go home weekends if we find somewhere fun.”
“True that,” says Ted with a smile of his own, although he has no intention of misbehaving it would be nice to have the option to. Since his career started to take off he had plenty of offers that he hadn’t taken anyone up on, partly because of his girlfriend and partly due to a lack of interest; there had been pretty girls and a couple of real knockouts, but none of them had roused more than a mild curiosity for him. It didn’t hurt that Cody didn’t go trolling for girls either, didn’t harass Ted about it or try to make bets over who could pull the best looking single female showing an interest. Some of the other guys did that and Ted had always found it distasteful and wouldn’t have joined in even if he hadn’t had a girl at home, he wasn’t about to change his mind now.
“We can have some boys weekends,” said Cody, starting to sound pleased. “Beers and X-Box-“
“Camping and golf-“
Cody shook his head with mock-sadness. “You’ve got no idea how to have a good time.”
“Hey, golf is a good time.”
“Yeah, when you’re forty.”
“Huh, and X-Box is only a good time when you’re ten.”
“How little you know. You and me are going on a zombie killing spree some time soon, count on it.” Cody hesitated a moment. “Are you really okay?”
“I’m really okay,” confirmed Ted, reaching for his phone as it bleeped out some message and completely missing the quick and rather secretive smile that passed over Cody’s face, gone as soon almost as soon as it was there.
~:~
Cody loved being in a tag team with Ted. Before their association he was pretty much treading water, a second-generation superstar but one of quite a few following in their father’s footsteps and with nothing in particular that made him stand out among other tall, muscular young men. When Ted had come along he had gone from bland babyface, the junior half of the team, to one half of a brand-new bad-guy team, the gold around their waists. Life was looking up and although that wasn’t all Ted’s doing, creative had been the ones to throw them together after all, sometimes he thought that Ted was his personal good-luck charm.
It didn’t hurt that Ted was witty and fun to be around, that he was easy on the eye and just as anxious as Cody was to go places in the company. They had shared goals, they got on and they could communicate about practically anything. He wasn’t at all sure that the team would have been half as successful with someone else in Ted’s place. And now they were getting even luckier. Randy Orton as their mentor, apparently the next logical step in all of their progressions. Randy had gone from the junior member of a stable himself, to going solo once Evolution were history and forming his own team, having his own back-up, would go some way to showing he had grown up since becoming the youngest champion in history.
Not that Cody wasn’t nervous. He had heard conflicting stories about Orton and there were plenty of people who thought he was a narcissistic prick, arrogant and self-important. Cody had barely spoken to the man, he was in a different social circle to him and Ted and although they had exchanged greetings and the like, Cody had never had a real conversation with him. If he really was as much of a dick as he’d been told, that could put a damper on their job. However, not everyone had bad things to say about him. A couple of people had pointed out that he looked out for others, he was relatively easy to work with (most of the time) and he showed real affection to those he cared about. Cody didn’t expect them to become that, but he thought they could at least have a cordial relationship if he didn’t screw things up from the start. He knew he could be annoying on occasion and that tended to come out more when he was nervous, he was determined that he was going to be calm and well behaved.
He hoped. Because truth be told, he’d had a bit of an interest in Randy ever since the first time he saw the man on TV and it wasn’t entirely because of his wrestling ability. The way he filled out a pair of spankies was also very much part of the attraction of any match he was in and he had to say, Randy had gotten better with age. He was nervous as hell about working with Randy and the comments his half-tamed mouth might come out with… and what Randy would think of him. What if he said or did something stupid and Randy thought of him as nothing more than a stupid kid with some schoolboy crush?
Not that he thought the crush part would bother Randy particularly - the talk in the locker room was that Randy was sexually open to pretty much anything, a few names circulating too often to be mere speculation. But none of them talked about it, Randy included, he was pretty close-mouthed about any relationships he might have actually had. So he might not care about the homosexual part but Cody would die of shame if Randy knew how he felt. Randy might laugh at him and never take him seriously as a wrestler ever again.
The whole thing played on his mind and he barely saw Link running across the screen of his console, although it was one of his favourite games and the one he always plays when he has something on his mind he needs a break from. Zelda just isn’t cutting it this time. With a sigh he pressed pause and looked up, seeing Ted lying on his stomach on the bed, reading a newspaper. He seemed engrossed in whatever article he was reading and Cody deemed it safe to allow his eyes to rest on his partner for a moment. Ted was oblivious to the attention, the way that he always was and Cody’s eyes drifted from Ted’s back to the curve of his frankly incredible ass, clad in jeans that showed it off perfectly. He felt a little sorry for the ex-girlfriend. He knew he’d be devastated to lose that too… had he any hope of getting it in the first place.
A healthy sexual interest in Ted was safe, Cody reckoned. Ted was the kind of man he could imagine having hidden depths, secret kinks that probably wouldn’t show themselves unless he was really sure off his partner, really trusted them and perhaps not even then if he thought he could get a bad reaction. Ted was thoughtful and Cody thought he would probably be the type to woo a partner with dates and gifts and not expect to get anywhere near a bedroom until there was some definite relationship there. He’s almost certain that Ted has never had a one-night stand and if he has, he regrets it. He was very certain that Ted never cheated on his girlfriend and even more certain that Ted had never even entertained the thought of another man in his bed. Or if he had, those thoughts had been quickly denied.
Randy on the other hand…
Cody had barely spoken to the man really, but his instincts and gossip around the locker room told him that Randy was different. Cody imagined that he would be demanding, all appetite, honest, straightforward and enter into the spirit of things wholeheartedly. While Ted would go out of his way to satisfy a partner, Randy would think primarily of his own wants and expect that the other person involved would enjoy every moment. And he wouldn’t be wrong. He could see Randy taking anything less than a lover’s earth-shattering orgasm as a personal affront, he would probably demand it.
Ted would never, ever imagine that Cody might harbour feelings of more than friendship toward him, it would simply never occur to him that there was even a possibility of it. Randy however… Cody suspects that Randy knows exactly when someone is admiring him and that the older man is exactly the type to do something about it.
Cody knew he would have to watch himself very carefully. The last thing he needed was to screw up his career over an ill-thought-out liaison with his mentor, assuming he wasn’t flattering himself by thinking Randy might be tempted by him. But there were all those rumours. And Cody thought he wasn’t a bad looking man, in spite of the embarrassing gap between his teeth and the fact that every embarrassing photo that has been taken of him ever has resurfaced on the internet since he started appearing on television.
He could behave himself, he was sure, be a good boy and think of only his career. But he was sure that every time he was alone in the near future he would be imagining one or the other set of eyes upon him, Ted’s clear and forthright and perhaps a little afraid, Randy’s stormy and sly and knowledgeable. And both sets filled with lust for him…
“We should get Randy over here.”
“Huh?” Cody came back to himself in a hurry; those words seemed to echo his inner thoughts but at least he managed to take a moment to put them into context before he made a real fool of himself. The stable, Ted was talking about the stable. “You think we should go after him? Wouldn’t it be better to wait for him to contact us? He might be busy.”
“Then he’ll say no. And it’s kinda rude of us to make him have to come to us, he’s the vet.”
Cody’s lips twitched a little. “Don’t tell him that. I heard he’s sensitive about that kinda talk and he’s not even thirty yet.”
“I’ll be on my best behaviour,” replied Ted with a grin. If he noticed that Cody’s eyes were on his ass a moment before, he didn’t show it - but Cody thought that it was unlikely he’d noticed. When it came to Cody’s interest, Ted was oblivious.
His girlfriend - ex girlfriend as of about half-way through the conversation - looked at him through wide eyes that were starting to tear up, her expression suggesting that he had horribly betrayed her or perhaps lost his mind. Ted DiBiase wasn’t at all sure that she wasn’t right about the last one, but the point stood and he intended to stick to his guns on this. His success in the wrestling business had been steadily increasing ever since his memorable debut, teaming up with a man who had become his best friend in short order and the lifestyle by necessity took him to all corners of the world, kept him away from home for most of the week. And when he did go home it was as if that were weird, as if the day-to-day activities of laundry or paying bills or just going on casual dates with his long-time girlfriend is the surreal part, some kind of dream he has when on a break from his real life. He feels more real, more alive, when he is on the road. Waking without being entirely sure at first what city he’s in, what state, what country. Hours of travelling with various other men, laughing and joking while sharing driving duties, or playing pranks, or merely talking about the business and their immediate plans in it. the roar of the crowd as he exits the curtain, Cody by his side and the belt over his shoulder, the lights directed on him, the song throughout the arena reminding everyone that it is a new day, a new generation. It certainly is and he has no desire to spend a new day going through the same mundane motions, as if it’s something he actually wants to do.
“I want to focus on my career,” he told her, which was the absolute truth. He wants to be around the business, not thinking about what might be waiting for him at home. He didn’t want ties to anywhere, he wanted to be free to think only about the career that looked so promising at that moment. “I don’t want to be distracted,” he said, aware of what an asshole he sounded even while he was speaking and giving her one of his more winning smiles. “Maybe in a couple of years when I’ve gotten more established, then who knows?”
“Who says I’ll be waiting for you in a couple of years?” she shot back, starting to get angry.
Ted shrugged. In honesty he would not have expected her to wait but he couldn’t really bring himself to care about her dating some other guy. His head was filled with more important things. Like the fact that he and Cody were to be a part of a heel stable with Randy Orton, one of the top wrestlers in the company and someone who they can benefit from being associated with. Like the rumour that there is a DX comeback on the cards and they’ll certainly need credible opponents, like the talk of rebuilding the tag division and he and Cody being a major part of it. Those things seemed a thousand times more important than whether or not his childhood sweetheart will forget about him and marry someone who’ll be home for her every night.
“This is what I have to do. I guess you’ll do what you have to.”
She shook her head, almost trembling with anger and embarrassment. “You’re a pig, Ted DiBiase. We’ve been dating for all these years and you’re casting me aside so you can wrestle? It’s not like I don’t understand how long you’ll be away! I already told you, I was willing to allow that-“
“And I already told you, I need to be focused on my career and nothing else.” Ted spoke gently because he was aware of how much the split had to be hurting her and he would rather have found some painless way to go about it, but they were together a long time and he knew there was no painless way to end things. The least he could do was to be honest. “I’m sorry.”
She snorted derisively. “Are you sure you’re not thinking that you’d rather see if you can get to pick and choose the ring-rat ass you think you’re gonna get on the road?”
Ted managed not to respond to this by sheer force of will. It had been one of his worries when he had thought this all over, being old enough to remember how his father had made sure certain needs that he had were taken care of while he was away from home and how it had affected his mother. And had he been in need of a lesson on that score, his father had helpfully released a tell-all book with the details inside. He had very mixed feelings on that score; although his father had behaved badly and Ted would rather that everyone he knew hadn’t found out about it, he was proud that his father had changed his ways, found God and devoted himself to atoning for that part of his life. Perhaps there was a little bit of truth in his words and that was why they stung, but he had never intended to drag that kind of shit into a relationship. Maybe it was sensible to get even the chance of that part out of his system early, not that he went in for one-night stands. His track record with women wasn’t bad, but he reserved sex for monogamy.
“It’s not that. I need to focus on my career.” Damn, how many times did he have to say it before she got the hint? He hadn’t had to choose between her and wrestling but he had made the choice anyway and she’d lost. If they had to thrash it out for longer he might have to actually put it that way and that would really hurt her.
“It’s nothing to do with you,” he said softly. “This is something I have to do for myself.”
“Discard the people that love you for your career, that’s what you’re doing to yourself.” She laughed, but it sounded brittle. “I think you’re going to end up very lonely Ted.”
And then she left, turned on her heel and walked out without another word. Ted watched her leave for the last time and wondered for a moment if she might be right, if by turning her away he was leaving himself with nothing. But he didn’t really believe it and it didn’t really matter. He was too young to be tied down and there was no reason at all why he could never find anyone in years to come. He had his whole future ahead of him and it Ted knew that it would be filled with only good things.
~:~
When Ted arrived at the hotel that he and Cody had booked for themselves in advance his tag partner was already there, sprawled on one of the beds, the steady bleeping of the hand-held console telling him that he wasn’t likely to get Cody’s full attention any time soon. “Hey,” he said casually, dumping his bag beside the second bed and stretching; he could never feel relaxed fully until he got to his own room because of the fans that always seemed to find where he was staying and congregated in the lobby. He was lucky in that he wasn’t a fan favourite and hadn’t been on TV for long or there’d probably be more, but the number of people asking for pictures and autographs seemed to be increasing and he suspected that when they added Randy to the team, the number would rise dramatically. Still, the minor annoyance seemed a fair payoff for what they’d be getting in return.
“Did you talk to her?” Cody asked without looking up from the console. Cody knew of his decision to end things with his girlfriend - he and Ted worked together, travelled together and are often accused of being joined at the hip; although they didn’t know everything about each other they had become close in a hurry and Ted had mentioned what he was planning to do just as soon as he came to a firm decision that things were over between them. Which had been pretty much the same moment he had found out they were to become the heel faction on Raw.
“Talked to her, told her, finished it with her.”
Cody pressed pause and looked up at him. “How did that go?”
Ted shrugged. It hadn’t gone as well as it could have but nor did it go as badly as he’d feared it could have done. Most of his bad feelings about the break-up came from his own lack of distress - surely he should feel worse after breaking up with the girl he had been with since high school? He told himself that his lack of upset was just a sign that he had done the right thing, but it still caused him some concern. “She didn’t really get it. She was upset, kinda hurt, I feel like a shit for hurting her feelings but what else could I do? It’s not like there was anything else I could do to make it painless.”
Cody nodded, expression softening slightly - when Ted had said he was worried he might be talked out of finishing things with her, it had been Cody to tell him to tough it out and see it through, no matter how ugly it got. “How are you?”
“Fine,” replied Ted, telling the absolute truth. “I thought I’d be more upset than this.”
“That’s a sign you did the right thing,” said Cody, echoing Ted’s own thoughts. He put the console to one side and sat up, a grin spreading across his face. “But hey, just think of the fun two young, single guys can have out on the road! And you don’t have to worry about dashing off home all the time, or placating her during the foreign tours. Hell, we don’t even have to go home weekends if we find somewhere fun.”
“True that,” says Ted with a smile of his own, although he has no intention of misbehaving it would be nice to have the option to. Since his career started to take off he had plenty of offers that he hadn’t taken anyone up on, partly because of his girlfriend and partly due to a lack of interest; there had been pretty girls and a couple of real knockouts, but none of them had roused more than a mild curiosity for him. It didn’t hurt that Cody didn’t go trolling for girls either, didn’t harass Ted about it or try to make bets over who could pull the best looking single female showing an interest. Some of the other guys did that and Ted had always found it distasteful and wouldn’t have joined in even if he hadn’t had a girl at home, he wasn’t about to change his mind now.
“We can have some boys weekends,” said Cody, starting to sound pleased. “Beers and X-Box-“
“Camping and golf-“
Cody shook his head with mock-sadness. “You’ve got no idea how to have a good time.”
“Hey, golf is a good time.”
“Yeah, when you’re forty.”
“Huh, and X-Box is only a good time when you’re ten.”
“How little you know. You and me are going on a zombie killing spree some time soon, count on it.” Cody hesitated a moment. “Are you really okay?”
“I’m really okay,” confirmed Ted, reaching for his phone as it bleeped out some message and completely missing the quick and rather secretive smile that passed over Cody’s face, gone as soon almost as soon as it was there.
~:~
Cody loved being in a tag team with Ted. Before their association he was pretty much treading water, a second-generation superstar but one of quite a few following in their father’s footsteps and with nothing in particular that made him stand out among other tall, muscular young men. When Ted had come along he had gone from bland babyface, the junior half of the team, to one half of a brand-new bad-guy team, the gold around their waists. Life was looking up and although that wasn’t all Ted’s doing, creative had been the ones to throw them together after all, sometimes he thought that Ted was his personal good-luck charm.
It didn’t hurt that Ted was witty and fun to be around, that he was easy on the eye and just as anxious as Cody was to go places in the company. They had shared goals, they got on and they could communicate about practically anything. He wasn’t at all sure that the team would have been half as successful with someone else in Ted’s place. And now they were getting even luckier. Randy Orton as their mentor, apparently the next logical step in all of their progressions. Randy had gone from the junior member of a stable himself, to going solo once Evolution were history and forming his own team, having his own back-up, would go some way to showing he had grown up since becoming the youngest champion in history.
Not that Cody wasn’t nervous. He had heard conflicting stories about Orton and there were plenty of people who thought he was a narcissistic prick, arrogant and self-important. Cody had barely spoken to the man, he was in a different social circle to him and Ted and although they had exchanged greetings and the like, Cody had never had a real conversation with him. If he really was as much of a dick as he’d been told, that could put a damper on their job. However, not everyone had bad things to say about him. A couple of people had pointed out that he looked out for others, he was relatively easy to work with (most of the time) and he showed real affection to those he cared about. Cody didn’t expect them to become that, but he thought they could at least have a cordial relationship if he didn’t screw things up from the start. He knew he could be annoying on occasion and that tended to come out more when he was nervous, he was determined that he was going to be calm and well behaved.
He hoped. Because truth be told, he’d had a bit of an interest in Randy ever since the first time he saw the man on TV and it wasn’t entirely because of his wrestling ability. The way he filled out a pair of spankies was also very much part of the attraction of any match he was in and he had to say, Randy had gotten better with age. He was nervous as hell about working with Randy and the comments his half-tamed mouth might come out with… and what Randy would think of him. What if he said or did something stupid and Randy thought of him as nothing more than a stupid kid with some schoolboy crush?
Not that he thought the crush part would bother Randy particularly - the talk in the locker room was that Randy was sexually open to pretty much anything, a few names circulating too often to be mere speculation. But none of them talked about it, Randy included, he was pretty close-mouthed about any relationships he might have actually had. So he might not care about the homosexual part but Cody would die of shame if Randy knew how he felt. Randy might laugh at him and never take him seriously as a wrestler ever again.
The whole thing played on his mind and he barely saw Link running across the screen of his console, although it was one of his favourite games and the one he always plays when he has something on his mind he needs a break from. Zelda just isn’t cutting it this time. With a sigh he pressed pause and looked up, seeing Ted lying on his stomach on the bed, reading a newspaper. He seemed engrossed in whatever article he was reading and Cody deemed it safe to allow his eyes to rest on his partner for a moment. Ted was oblivious to the attention, the way that he always was and Cody’s eyes drifted from Ted’s back to the curve of his frankly incredible ass, clad in jeans that showed it off perfectly. He felt a little sorry for the ex-girlfriend. He knew he’d be devastated to lose that too… had he any hope of getting it in the first place.
A healthy sexual interest in Ted was safe, Cody reckoned. Ted was the kind of man he could imagine having hidden depths, secret kinks that probably wouldn’t show themselves unless he was really sure off his partner, really trusted them and perhaps not even then if he thought he could get a bad reaction. Ted was thoughtful and Cody thought he would probably be the type to woo a partner with dates and gifts and not expect to get anywhere near a bedroom until there was some definite relationship there. He’s almost certain that Ted has never had a one-night stand and if he has, he regrets it. He was very certain that Ted never cheated on his girlfriend and even more certain that Ted had never even entertained the thought of another man in his bed. Or if he had, those thoughts had been quickly denied.
Randy on the other hand…
Cody had barely spoken to the man really, but his instincts and gossip around the locker room told him that Randy was different. Cody imagined that he would be demanding, all appetite, honest, straightforward and enter into the spirit of things wholeheartedly. While Ted would go out of his way to satisfy a partner, Randy would think primarily of his own wants and expect that the other person involved would enjoy every moment. And he wouldn’t be wrong. He could see Randy taking anything less than a lover’s earth-shattering orgasm as a personal affront, he would probably demand it.
Ted would never, ever imagine that Cody might harbour feelings of more than friendship toward him, it would simply never occur to him that there was even a possibility of it. Randy however… Cody suspects that Randy knows exactly when someone is admiring him and that the older man is exactly the type to do something about it.
Cody knew he would have to watch himself very carefully. The last thing he needed was to screw up his career over an ill-thought-out liaison with his mentor, assuming he wasn’t flattering himself by thinking Randy might be tempted by him. But there were all those rumours. And Cody thought he wasn’t a bad looking man, in spite of the embarrassing gap between his teeth and the fact that every embarrassing photo that has been taken of him ever has resurfaced on the internet since he started appearing on television.
He could behave himself, he was sure, be a good boy and think of only his career. But he was sure that every time he was alone in the near future he would be imagining one or the other set of eyes upon him, Ted’s clear and forthright and perhaps a little afraid, Randy’s stormy and sly and knowledgeable. And both sets filled with lust for him…
“We should get Randy over here.”
“Huh?” Cody came back to himself in a hurry; those words seemed to echo his inner thoughts but at least he managed to take a moment to put them into context before he made a real fool of himself. The stable, Ted was talking about the stable. “You think we should go after him? Wouldn’t it be better to wait for him to contact us? He might be busy.”
“Then he’ll say no. And it’s kinda rude of us to make him have to come to us, he’s the vet.”
Cody’s lips twitched a little. “Don’t tell him that. I heard he’s sensitive about that kinda talk and he’s not even thirty yet.”
“I’ll be on my best behaviour,” replied Ted with a grin. If he noticed that Cody’s eyes were on his ass a moment before, he didn’t show it - but Cody thought that it was unlikely he’d noticed. When it came to Cody’s interest, Ted was oblivious.