College fic part 1
Title: Be True to Your School
Pairing: Cody Rhodes/Ted DiBiase, Cody/Other(s), John Cena/Randy Orton
Rating: NC-17
Summary: This was written for a challenge posted in codiasi to write a fic with the boys in college. Cody wants to join a fraternity, Chi Tao, of which Ted is in charge. A couple of his profs are Drs. Cena and Orton.
Disclaimer: All rights belong to the WWE
Word Count: 5288
A/N: Well, this thing kinda grew to be a lot bigger than I ever had planned. So I decided to post this part now. Don't worry, things get a lot more interesting later on.
Freshman year at college was often a daunting time. For most, it was their first time away from their families, which was always a hard adjustment. And then there was the roommate situation. Sometimes people lucked out and became lifelong friends with their roommates. Sometimes people weren’t so lucky. Cody was one of the lucky ones. He and his roomie clicked from day one. It helped both liked to party, since they were always going out together.
What did suck, though, were those 8 am classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Because Thirsty Thursday was always more of a priority than some statistics class, that was common knowledge. Other than showing up still drunk and hungover once or twice to that class, Cody’s other classes were pretty easy. History was a breeze. Geology wasn’t as easy, but still, it was just an intro class. Oh, sure, he was taking classes for his major, but he could pass those with his eyes closed. Health science with a specification in health promotion and fitness. Yeah, easy peasy.
His first semester passed pretty quickly, and he did well enough in all his classes. A solid B average. No, he wasn’t living up to his full potential, but he was content with getting by on however little work he had to do. Those were just his general education classes, though. His fitness class was his life. And he was constantly in the gym. That’s where he met Turner. He was just a year older than him, and was in the same field as him. He also happened to be a member of the fraternity which held some of the parties Cody and his roommate Wes hit up.
He and Turner had seen each other at the parties, not knowing each other by name, just by face. Cody knew all the brothers by face, he knew who the head of household was, shit, he spent enough time in that house he should know everyone. He even lost his virginity in the frat house about two weeks into the school year. The party had only just started; he was on his third beer when some chick sidled up to him and lead him off to the bathroom as Wes encouraged him on. It was then, as he had her sitting on the sink as he thrust his dick inside her, he decided he really didn’t like girls that way. The next time he returned to that bathroom, he had a man in tow who fucked him senseless against the door. And that’s the way it went every weekend there on out.
One day, about two weeks before final exams began, Cody was working out at the gym, lying back on the bench press as Turner spotted him. “You ever thought of joining a fraternity?” Turner asked.
Upside down, Cody could read the letters XT splashed across the t-shirt the other man had on. “Little bit,” he answered as he continued with his set. “You trying to sell a pitch to me to get me to join?”
“Maybe I am. Would you even consider it next semester?”
“Honestly,” he said as he placed the bar back into its holder and sat up, “I hadn’t thought about it that much.” He turned, lifting his right leg to set it on the bench as he now faced his friend. “Just, ya know, hey, maybe it’d be fun, kinda passing thought. But I’ve never been like yeah, I’m gonna do this thing about joining.”
“Well, maybe you should think about it. Run the idea past your parents when you’re home for winter break. Wouldn’t hurt, right?”
Cody shrugged. “Guess not. You obviously enjoy it. I’ll think about it. I mean, rushing is over for this semester, anyway. I got a long time to make a decision.” After sitting for a few more seconds, Cody laid back down and gripped the bar once more before continuing onto his second set. “Add some more weight, would ya?”
Every day, the question popped into Cody’s mind, only to be quickly forgotten as something more important came up. And then he’d see someone with a t-shirt reading TK or UOA or some girl with a handbag that read ABM and that brought the question right back into his mind. Should he join a fraternity? He didn’t see why not. It must have been fun, or people wouldn’t ever join. And then there were the parties. There were definitely a lot of wild parties with freely flowing alcohol and any number of guys of which he could have his pick. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, after all.
The night before finals started, he looked up from his stats book, head spinning from looking at all the numbers, chi square tables, fractions, and glanced at his roommate. “Hey, Wes,” he said, interrupting his roommate’s own study session.
“Yeah?”
“I was thinkin’ about maybe joining a frat next semester. You considered it at all?”
Wes nodded, “Yeah, I’ve really been thinking about it a lot, actually. My dad was a founding member of Delta Mu Phi when he went to school here. At first I wasn’t sure about joining, but then I thought it’d be kinda cool to build a bit of a family legacy here. Which one were you thinking about joining?”
“Chi Tao.”
“Dude, you should rush DMP with me!”
“I dunno, I mean, I already know Turner from CT,” Cody replied, somewhat unsure now. “I’ll think about it, I still haven’t decided if I’m actually gonna do it, or not. I’ll probably run it past my parents next week, see what they think.”
“Whatever gets you off, man. So, how goes the studying?” Wes asked, changing the subject back to more pressing matters.
“Dude, I think my head is gonna explode if I have to look at another graph. What are you going over?”
“Macro economics. This shit is so easy, man. It’s all been find the point of equilibrium and shit like that. When’s your first exam tomorrow?”
“Eight!” he answered, closing his book around the pencil stuck inside on the page he had been previously studying. “Can you fuckin’ believe that? Sucks so bad. None of my other exams are at the same time as the classes, but, no, not my eight AM class. It’s at the same damn time as always.”
“At least you’re not showing up drunk this time. Maybe if you weren’t always hung over in that class, you’d actually know what you were studying.”
“Fuck you, dude. I was sober two out of the three days a week that class was held,” Cody replied.
“Well, I guess they only taught the important shit on Fridays. Sucks to be you!” Wes teased back.
“Yeah, well at least I’m not the one scraping by in geography.”
“Screw you. I’m tellin’ you, that teacher, he’s like a fuckin’ Nazi. He’s got the hardest exams ever.”
“Now you’re talkin’ outta your ass, dude, comin’ up with these bullshit excuses. And you weren’t even going there with a hangover the size of Alaska. Wait, you know where Alaska is, don’t you?”
Wes grinned and shook his head, “Fuck. You. Get back to your graphs and shit. I’ll go learn where the potato was originally cultivated.”
“Have fun with that,” Cody said as they once again fell into a companionable silence, Wes’ iTunes on shuffle.
The silence was broken, however, when a few songs later, an upbeat rhythm started and the words already started before Wes had the chance to react and hit skip. “Young man, there’s no need to feel down.”
Cody was giving Wes a look, it was all he could manage as he tried to hold back his laughter as Wes turned bright red. “You have the YMCA on there?” he managed to finally ask, happy to have a legitimate distraction from his studies once more.
“I forgot it was on there,” was the muttered reply.
“Sure you did. I bet you play this and dance around when I’m not in here, don’t you?”
“You’re such an asshole, you know that?”
“I’m not the one with the gay ass Village People on my iPod. I think that gives me the right to make fun, don’t you?”
“Like you don’t have any embarrassing music on there.”
“Even if I did, you’d never find out. It’d just be something for you to use against me in the future. Can’t have that, now can we?”
“You’re an asshole.”
“Go study. I’m going to bed, I have an exam is six goddamn hours.”
“Good luck, man. I’ll have a great time sleeping while you’re taking the test. Oh, and don’t wake me up when you get back.”
“And you call me an asshole,” Cody replied with a laugh.
Finals, while each exam alone felt as though they took forever, were over soon enough, and Cody was able to head home for winter break after his last exam that Thursday. Within the week, Cody decided it was high time to run the idea past his parents. He walked into the kitchen where his dad had a pot of pasta cooking on the stove. His mother was grabbing a bottle of Coke out of the fridge when he spoke up. “So, what would you guys think if I joined a fraternity?”
“You want to join a fraternity?” his mother repeated as she shut the fridge door.
“I’ve been thinking about it.”
“Any reason why?”
“Michelle,” Cody’s dad cut in, “it’s a great way to meet other guys his own age, for him to join a group and be a part of something.”
“That’s why,” Cody agreed. He couldn’t say it was for beer and sex, now could he?
“So are you trying to tell me you want to join a fraternity to belong? And it has nothing to do with all the parties they have?” Michelle asked with a slight raise of her eyebrow.
“Right,” he said, nodding to accentuate his point.
“It’s your decision. I just expect you to keep your grades up.”
That was it? No arguing about it? No begging involved? “Sure thing, Mom.” And that was that. Far less painful than Cody thought it would be. That was the last time it was brought up for the rest of the vacation.
Until the day before he headed back to school. “So, are you still thinking about joining a fraternity?” his mother asked out of the blue.
“Uh, yeah, actually,” he answered. “Why do you ask?”
“No reason…”
“Mom?”
With a sigh, she finally voiced her concerns. “It’s just that… you know that I went to college, as well? I know what happens at fraternity parties, the alcohol, the sex.” Cody opened his mouth to start speaking, but she continued before he could say anything. “And don’t tell me you won’t partake in any of those activities, because I know for a fact you already do, and while you’re an adult now and there’s nothing I can do, I just don’t want you rushing into things and making stupid decisions on a whim, just because you want to be front and center at drunken frat boy parties.”
“I’m not making this decision on a whim, though, Mom. I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I mean, Wes is joining one, and I’m friends with some of the guys from Chi Tao.”
“So because Wesley is joining a fraternity, it’s a good idea for you to join one, as well?”
“Mom, what is it you’re so worried about? Me getting alcohol poisoning and having to get rushed to the hospital to get my stomached pumped? Falling down a flight of stairs because I’m so wasted?”
“I just don’t want you to do something completely idiotic. Like those. Or getting some girl pregnant.”
Cody raised an eyebrow at his mom and couldn’t fight the slight upturn of his lips. “Now that’s the last thing you have to worry about. One girl was enough for me,” he blurted out, not even thinking about what he was saying or who he was saying it to. “Uh, I guess, uh,” he mumbled, trying to think of what to say to his mother’s own raised eyebrow, “this is my official coming out. I’m gay.”
Michelle took a deep breath, then said, “I was wondering about that, but I figured you’d tell me if you were, or not. Is that why you want to join a fraternity? So you can get up close and personal with all the attractive frat boys?”
“Mom! No, I just… I thought it’d be an interesting experience. And I really want to do it, not just for the parties, but for the overall experience. It’d be like nothing else I’ve ever done. I wanna do it for me, not because someone else wants me to, and not because all I want to do it party.”
“If it’s something that you really want to do, who am I to stop you?”
Upon going back to school, Cody found Wes already unpacked in their room. “Hey, man, how was your break?”
“Good. Spent some time with the family, met up with some old friends of mine from high school. Worked. Nothing special, really, just got some money in my pocket. How was yours?”
“Pretty much like yours,” he answered as he kicked off his shoes and sat down on his bed. “Exactly like yours, actually. It’s nice to be back, but at the same time, I’m not ready for classes to start. At all. I wish I could just be here and not go to class.”
“You and me both,” Wes agreed. “So, when do you have class tomorrow?”
“My first class is at 12. I don’t have any classes at 8 this semester, it’s gonna be great. Sleeping in every day, it’ll be so nice. You?”
“I’ve got intro to bio at 8, but no Friday classes this time around.”
“Same here. Now that we don’t have to worry about being hung over, does that mean we can drink more?” Cody asked, looking hopeful, and with his mind already made up.
“Hell yes. I like your attitude. Hey, what ever happened to that chick I saw you with that one time? I have never seen you go off with her again. Or any other girl, for that matter. What’s up with that? You never even told me how it was.”
Cody scratched behind his ear and reclined back against the wall. He had been wondering if this would ever come up. Wes had been encouraging him to go off with her, knowing that it would be his first time. “Jeez, Wes, that was ages ago.”
“Yeah, but it just crossed my mind when we were talkin’ about partyin’. So…?”
“You want the truth?”
“The whole truth and nothin’ but.”
“Hated it. I don’t know if it was because it was up against a sink or because I’d rather have someone else’s dick up my own ass that it was-” Cody said, trying to let his run on sentence hide the fact that he just told his roommate he was gay, in a not so outright kinda way.
But Wes cut him off, catching what Cody just said, “Hold on. No, no, just hold up. What did you just say?”
“Exactly what you think I said. I’m sorry, I shoulda told you sooner, but I didn’t want you to think that I was trying to come onto you, or try and seduce you into bed with me, or anything like that.”
“So, what, one bad fuck turned you gay?”
“God no. It was just what really made things click for me. I knew for a long time, but I think I just needed to prove it to myself. But, uh, yeah, I’m gay. I really hope you don’t have a problem with it, or anything. I mean, I’m still the same guy.”
Wes just grinned, “Nah, it’s cool. Less competition for me.”
“You mean you’re fine with it?”
“Yeah, whatever. Just… you can look, but you can’t touch. And I don’t want to see you in here with you dick up some guy’s ass, ok?”
“That’s fine by me. As long as I don’t have to see you in here with your dick in some chick’s vag. If that’s clear, then I think we’re good.”
“Crystal. But does this mean I could fuck her in the ass?”
“Not while I’m around. I never need to see another pair of tits up in my face again, either. Give me rock hard abs and a rock hard dick-”
“Wait…,” Wes said, cutting Cody off, “are the guys members of the frat?”
“I don’t know. I don’t ask for names, or anything. Not like we’re gonna go out on some dinner date, or anything. That girl way back when? She was still trying to be chatty with me, introduce herself and all those formalities. You know as well as I do that we don’t care. That right there is just one of the many beauties of fucking guys. They don’t care, either. There’s no reason for introductions, it’s just sex.”
“So you don’t know any of the guys you’ve slept with? Wouldn’t it be… awkward if you were in the frat with one of them?”
“Wouldn’t it be awkward if you were in a class sitting next to that chick you fucked in your drunken stooper? The answer? If we recognized each other, probably, yeah. But, honestly, I don’t know if I could remember them,” he answered. “Why are you so concerned with my sex life, anyway? You worried you’ll become one of those frat boys who’ve become nothing more than a notch on my belt?”
“Shut the fuck up and unpack your shit.”
“You just wanna watch my ass as I bend over, don’t you?”
“Yeah, of course. Now unpack faster,” Wes said with a grin just before he grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, leaving Cody to the little unpacking he had to do.
This second semester passed much the same as the first one, only this time, there was no stats class Cody had to worry about on Friday mornings. He and Wes still hit up frat parties, he still worked out with Turner in the gym, he still did his homework from time to time.
When February rolled around, he started to see signs popping up all over campus promoting different fraternities and sororities. He promised Wes he would go to the DMP information session, but he still wanted to join Chi Tao. After each session was attended, his mind was definitely made up. Chi Tao it was.
The first night he went to the house to start the rushing process, everyone was made to sit down in lines on the floor as the current members walked into the room. The head of house took his spot amongst them, standing in the center of the group. Then he began speaking. “Welcome everyone to the Chi Tao house. It’s always nice to see a fresh group of faces each semester. As I’m sure you all heard, we first need to make sure all of you that are here actually want to be here. You will all take an oath of secrecy, and anything that happens in this house during your rushing process does not go past the walls of this house. You do not discuss anything with your friends. You do not discuss anything with your family. Do you all understand me?”
He waited for the mumbled replies to die down before continuing, “You will all be put to the test, pushed to the edge to see if your determination to be here is strong. Quit any time, but you cannot come back. Eventually we will weed out those of you who we do not deem fit, and once we make those final cuts, your rushing process will become more intense. That is when you will all be assigned ‘bigs,’ one of us will be your mentor through the final stages of rushing. And then, in a couple months’ time, a select few of you will be inducted into the halls of Chi Tao. Is everyone clear on those rules?” Again, people mumbled their responses before he finished, “Good. Remember, this is the oldest fraternity on this campus, and it is held in high regard. We have a standard to set, and I expect all of you to show your utmost respect to this fraternity. Now, introductions. My name is Theodore DiBiase, the head of this fraternity as voted on by my peers. I’m a senior this year with a major in business management. To my left is, ironically, my right hand man, Stephen Farrelly,” he said as he gestured to a tall, pale man with flaming orange hair, “who’s also a graduating senior this year with a major in safety studies.” He continued to introduce all the other members of the fraternity before saying to the group before him, “Now, let’s have all of you guys introduce yourselves. Let’s start with you,” he said as he pointed to a kid sitting one row in front of Cody.
They moved along, the whole front row introducing themselves, then they moved back to the next row. When it got to be Cody’s turn, he glanced up, locking eyes with Theodore as he said, “I’m Cody Runnels, I’m a freshman and I’m majoring in health science.”
After those were all said and done, the keg was tapped and the party began. “I’ve seen you here before,” Ted said to Cody when he went around mingling with the potential inductees.
“I’ve seen your face around before, too,” Cody replied. “Theodore, was it?”
“Call me Ted, Theodore is so formal. And you were…” he trailed off, drawing a blank on the name.
“Cody.”
“Ah, that’s right. Nice to meet you, Cody,” he greeted as he stuck out his hand.
Cody grabbed it, and shook hands, “Nice to meet you, as well.”
“Tell me, Cody, what made you pick Chi Tao above all the other fraternities we have on campus?” Ted asked, trying to get a sense of why everyone was here.
“I liked the atmosphere of this one better. My roommate tried to get me to join DMP, since he’s joining because his dad was a founding member, but I had my sights set on this one. Especially since I met Turner. It appealed to me more than the others did.”
“And you’re ready to do… anything to become a full fledged member of Chi Tao?” he asked, smirking slightly.
The smirk wasn’t lost on Cody, and he couldn’t help but wonder just what these guys had in store for him. But he wasn’t about to back down, not now. “Of course. Anything to become a member.”
“I like your determination, Cody,” Ted told him.
From the first time Cody heard Ted say his name not two minutes prior, he was enthralled. He had a distinct Mississippi accent, which he immediately picked up on, seeing as he, too, was a southern boy out of place in Boston. “You better be sure to note that when I set my mind to something, nothing can sway me.”
The smirk returned to Ted’s face just then as he said, “Good to know. It’ll be a pleasure working with you.” Once again he stuck out his hand, which Cody shook. Good, firm handshake he noticed. Ted decided right then that if this kid stuck it out, he was going to be his big. And, boy, would he have fun.
After that, there were meetings every night, testing their determination to really be there. On top of that, every night at 6 pm, every person who was in, or wanted to be in the fraternity would meet in front of the house and walk, as a group, to their dining hall where they would all have dinner together. As soon as dinner wound down, it was back to the house where a meeting would commence. They would run sometimes until well past 9 pm, and this was the time of the year when first exams were in the air, or the first research papers were coming due. Ted told everyone this was done so that people would learn to prioritize and learn time management. Don’t put off that homework until last minute, because they all knew they had somewhere to be.
Missing a dinner or a meeting resulted in their stats dropping. If they couldn’t do something as simple as attend a group dinner, what good were they? What benefit were they really to the group? So their worth fell with every missed group time. Weed out the ones who didn’t want to be there in the first place. That was why they did things like that, get rid of them early on before they dropped out later. Really, though, it was easy to tell those who wanted to be there apart from those who didn’t right from the start. As they sat at the dinner table now, Ted looked down the four tables that had been pushed together and locked eyes with Cody, seeing he still had that certain glint in his eye. Good.
Before dinner wrapped up, Ted said to everyone sitting at the table, “I want you all to know that we’ll be doing our cuts very soon. Over the past week, the guys and myself have been discussing who we want to stay and who we believe should go. Tonight at our meeting, you will all make your case, and tomorrow we’ll make our final decisions. Then things will start to get a little more… interesting. Now, let’s go.”
Cody was wracking his brain, trying to think of what he needed to say that would give him that extra edge, but didn’t come off as utter brown nosing. There was a fine line. He didn’t want to sound like an utter kiss ass who was spouting a load of shit in order to get into a fraternity. He genuinely wanted it, no more, no less. That’s when he knew he needed to tell them just that.
Once in the frat house, they began pleading their cases. Guy after guy stood up to speak, and Cody wasn’t listening to any of them. All his focus was on watching Ted, Stephen, Mike and Zack as they discussed, nodded, scowled and simply reacted to each guy’s little spiel. And then it was Cody’s turn. He stood from his spot in line and began to talk, “I’m quite content with being an average student. With my classes, I put in just enough effort to squeak out a C, sometimes a B, even an A if I’m really lucky. But this? Chi Tao? I’ve never put as much effort into anything else as I have this. I’ve said before that I’ll do anything, whatever it takes, to become a member of this fraternity. That’s not to sound like a kiss ass, I’m not spouting bullshit. That’s all true. I want to be a member of Chi Tao, plain and simple. And that’s all I got to say,” he ended as he sat back down, but he kept his eyes on the group of four up front watching him. They appeared to all have positive reactions to what he had to say. He could have sworn he and Ted made eye contact, and at that moment a feeling of relief washed over him. He just knew that he was in.
The rest of the guys finished up, and were then dismissed to go back to whatever it was they normally did on Thursday nights. And since most of them were at Chi Tao parties in the first place, a lot of them had to change up their plans. There were no parties at the CT house that night. Just a lot of discussion and planning on who was going to be cut the following night.
Before dinner the night of rush eliminations, Cody and Wes started chatting about how rushing was going so far in their different fraternities. “Do you have to do the big dinner get together, too?” Cody asked.
“Yeah. And there are so many goddamn meetings. Don’t those guys have anything better to do with their lives? Shit.”
“I know, right? How can anyone manage to come up with that much shit to talk about every single night for hours at a time? I’m excited about tonight, though.”
“What’s going on tonight?” Wes asked him.
“They’re gonna be getting rid of those they feel aren’t worthy of belonging to Chi Tao.”
“You’re excited for cuts? Usually people are shakin’ in their boots. I mean, I know I’m getting in because of my dad, but, ya know, everyone else will be shakin’ in their boots.”
“Well, I’ll have you know that I’m not everyone else.”
“And how are you so sure of yourself? Suck off the head of house?” he asked with a smirk.
“No, you asshole. I’m just confident that I’ll make it, is all. I’ll become a member of Chi Tao without the use of sexual favors, or my daddy’s name, thank you very much.”
“Correction, that’d be my daddy’s money.”
Cody laughed, “You’re sumthin else, I must say.”
Soon enough, dinner was over, and everyone went back to the house. “I guess we’ll start this off right away with our cuts,” Ted began as everyone sat. “So, we all discussed everything last night, we decided who was staying and going, as well as assigned you all bigs. Now, I guess, I’ll just read the list, and if your name is read, you’re out. It’s been great getting to know all of you, and you’re always welcome to try again next year. Ok, let’s start.”
Ted read off a list of names of everyone that wouldn’t be able to continue rushing. The kid to Cody’s right had his name read off, and Cody looked to him, shrugging as he mouthed, “Sorry.”
He finished up the list, Cody’s name nowhere in sight. But then it was time for them to hear just who they’d have as bigs. Ted started reading a second list, assigning a little to every current member of the fraternity. Once again, it seemed as though Cody’s name were nowhere in sight. Ted had assigned people to be with everyone, yet Cody’s name had yet to be called. How could they forget him, was he that forgettable? No, not forgettable at all he was about to find out. “And, finally, Cody Runnels’ big will be… me.”
Cody’s eyes widened. His big was going to be Ted? The head of the fraternity? This could either be a very good thing, or a very bad thing. And he figured he’d find out sooner rather than later.
Over the weekend, Cody and Wes talked some more, both having made it further into their respective fraternities. Both had also been assigned their bigs and couldn’t help but wonder what the next few weeks held for them. Only those in charge knew the sort of trials and tribulations they would be put through. “So, think they’ll do anything real bad?” Wes asked.
“I dunno, man. I told the head of house, Ted, who’s also my big, that I was willing to do anything. Shit, man, the look on his face… Like he was already scheming.”
“Yeah, I mean, I heard stories and shit. Those guys can be major assholes. That’s only cuz the guys before them were assholes, too. So when we get to their positions, we can fuck everyone up. It’ll be great.”
“True. But, shit, I got a bad feelin’.”
Part 2
Pairing: Cody Rhodes/Ted DiBiase, Cody/Other(s), John Cena/Randy Orton
Rating: NC-17
Summary: This was written for a challenge posted in codiasi to write a fic with the boys in college. Cody wants to join a fraternity, Chi Tao, of which Ted is in charge. A couple of his profs are Drs. Cena and Orton.
Disclaimer: All rights belong to the WWE
Word Count: 5288
A/N: Well, this thing kinda grew to be a lot bigger than I ever had planned. So I decided to post this part now. Don't worry, things get a lot more interesting later on.
Freshman year at college was often a daunting time. For most, it was their first time away from their families, which was always a hard adjustment. And then there was the roommate situation. Sometimes people lucked out and became lifelong friends with their roommates. Sometimes people weren’t so lucky. Cody was one of the lucky ones. He and his roomie clicked from day one. It helped both liked to party, since they were always going out together.
What did suck, though, were those 8 am classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Because Thirsty Thursday was always more of a priority than some statistics class, that was common knowledge. Other than showing up still drunk and hungover once or twice to that class, Cody’s other classes were pretty easy. History was a breeze. Geology wasn’t as easy, but still, it was just an intro class. Oh, sure, he was taking classes for his major, but he could pass those with his eyes closed. Health science with a specification in health promotion and fitness. Yeah, easy peasy.
His first semester passed pretty quickly, and he did well enough in all his classes. A solid B average. No, he wasn’t living up to his full potential, but he was content with getting by on however little work he had to do. Those were just his general education classes, though. His fitness class was his life. And he was constantly in the gym. That’s where he met Turner. He was just a year older than him, and was in the same field as him. He also happened to be a member of the fraternity which held some of the parties Cody and his roommate Wes hit up.
He and Turner had seen each other at the parties, not knowing each other by name, just by face. Cody knew all the brothers by face, he knew who the head of household was, shit, he spent enough time in that house he should know everyone. He even lost his virginity in the frat house about two weeks into the school year. The party had only just started; he was on his third beer when some chick sidled up to him and lead him off to the bathroom as Wes encouraged him on. It was then, as he had her sitting on the sink as he thrust his dick inside her, he decided he really didn’t like girls that way. The next time he returned to that bathroom, he had a man in tow who fucked him senseless against the door. And that’s the way it went every weekend there on out.
One day, about two weeks before final exams began, Cody was working out at the gym, lying back on the bench press as Turner spotted him. “You ever thought of joining a fraternity?” Turner asked.
Upside down, Cody could read the letters XT splashed across the t-shirt the other man had on. “Little bit,” he answered as he continued with his set. “You trying to sell a pitch to me to get me to join?”
“Maybe I am. Would you even consider it next semester?”
“Honestly,” he said as he placed the bar back into its holder and sat up, “I hadn’t thought about it that much.” He turned, lifting his right leg to set it on the bench as he now faced his friend. “Just, ya know, hey, maybe it’d be fun, kinda passing thought. But I’ve never been like yeah, I’m gonna do this thing about joining.”
“Well, maybe you should think about it. Run the idea past your parents when you’re home for winter break. Wouldn’t hurt, right?”
Cody shrugged. “Guess not. You obviously enjoy it. I’ll think about it. I mean, rushing is over for this semester, anyway. I got a long time to make a decision.” After sitting for a few more seconds, Cody laid back down and gripped the bar once more before continuing onto his second set. “Add some more weight, would ya?”
Every day, the question popped into Cody’s mind, only to be quickly forgotten as something more important came up. And then he’d see someone with a t-shirt reading TK or UOA or some girl with a handbag that read ABM and that brought the question right back into his mind. Should he join a fraternity? He didn’t see why not. It must have been fun, or people wouldn’t ever join. And then there were the parties. There were definitely a lot of wild parties with freely flowing alcohol and any number of guys of which he could have his pick. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, after all.
The night before finals started, he looked up from his stats book, head spinning from looking at all the numbers, chi square tables, fractions, and glanced at his roommate. “Hey, Wes,” he said, interrupting his roommate’s own study session.
“Yeah?”
“I was thinkin’ about maybe joining a frat next semester. You considered it at all?”
Wes nodded, “Yeah, I’ve really been thinking about it a lot, actually. My dad was a founding member of Delta Mu Phi when he went to school here. At first I wasn’t sure about joining, but then I thought it’d be kinda cool to build a bit of a family legacy here. Which one were you thinking about joining?”
“Chi Tao.”
“Dude, you should rush DMP with me!”
“I dunno, I mean, I already know Turner from CT,” Cody replied, somewhat unsure now. “I’ll think about it, I still haven’t decided if I’m actually gonna do it, or not. I’ll probably run it past my parents next week, see what they think.”
“Whatever gets you off, man. So, how goes the studying?” Wes asked, changing the subject back to more pressing matters.
“Dude, I think my head is gonna explode if I have to look at another graph. What are you going over?”
“Macro economics. This shit is so easy, man. It’s all been find the point of equilibrium and shit like that. When’s your first exam tomorrow?”
“Eight!” he answered, closing his book around the pencil stuck inside on the page he had been previously studying. “Can you fuckin’ believe that? Sucks so bad. None of my other exams are at the same time as the classes, but, no, not my eight AM class. It’s at the same damn time as always.”
“At least you’re not showing up drunk this time. Maybe if you weren’t always hung over in that class, you’d actually know what you were studying.”
“Fuck you, dude. I was sober two out of the three days a week that class was held,” Cody replied.
“Well, I guess they only taught the important shit on Fridays. Sucks to be you!” Wes teased back.
“Yeah, well at least I’m not the one scraping by in geography.”
“Screw you. I’m tellin’ you, that teacher, he’s like a fuckin’ Nazi. He’s got the hardest exams ever.”
“Now you’re talkin’ outta your ass, dude, comin’ up with these bullshit excuses. And you weren’t even going there with a hangover the size of Alaska. Wait, you know where Alaska is, don’t you?”
Wes grinned and shook his head, “Fuck. You. Get back to your graphs and shit. I’ll go learn where the potato was originally cultivated.”
“Have fun with that,” Cody said as they once again fell into a companionable silence, Wes’ iTunes on shuffle.
The silence was broken, however, when a few songs later, an upbeat rhythm started and the words already started before Wes had the chance to react and hit skip. “Young man, there’s no need to feel down.”
Cody was giving Wes a look, it was all he could manage as he tried to hold back his laughter as Wes turned bright red. “You have the YMCA on there?” he managed to finally ask, happy to have a legitimate distraction from his studies once more.
“I forgot it was on there,” was the muttered reply.
“Sure you did. I bet you play this and dance around when I’m not in here, don’t you?”
“You’re such an asshole, you know that?”
“I’m not the one with the gay ass Village People on my iPod. I think that gives me the right to make fun, don’t you?”
“Like you don’t have any embarrassing music on there.”
“Even if I did, you’d never find out. It’d just be something for you to use against me in the future. Can’t have that, now can we?”
“You’re an asshole.”
“Go study. I’m going to bed, I have an exam is six goddamn hours.”
“Good luck, man. I’ll have a great time sleeping while you’re taking the test. Oh, and don’t wake me up when you get back.”
“And you call me an asshole,” Cody replied with a laugh.
Finals, while each exam alone felt as though they took forever, were over soon enough, and Cody was able to head home for winter break after his last exam that Thursday. Within the week, Cody decided it was high time to run the idea past his parents. He walked into the kitchen where his dad had a pot of pasta cooking on the stove. His mother was grabbing a bottle of Coke out of the fridge when he spoke up. “So, what would you guys think if I joined a fraternity?”
“You want to join a fraternity?” his mother repeated as she shut the fridge door.
“I’ve been thinking about it.”
“Any reason why?”
“Michelle,” Cody’s dad cut in, “it’s a great way to meet other guys his own age, for him to join a group and be a part of something.”
“That’s why,” Cody agreed. He couldn’t say it was for beer and sex, now could he?
“So are you trying to tell me you want to join a fraternity to belong? And it has nothing to do with all the parties they have?” Michelle asked with a slight raise of her eyebrow.
“Right,” he said, nodding to accentuate his point.
“It’s your decision. I just expect you to keep your grades up.”
That was it? No arguing about it? No begging involved? “Sure thing, Mom.” And that was that. Far less painful than Cody thought it would be. That was the last time it was brought up for the rest of the vacation.
Until the day before he headed back to school. “So, are you still thinking about joining a fraternity?” his mother asked out of the blue.
“Uh, yeah, actually,” he answered. “Why do you ask?”
“No reason…”
“Mom?”
With a sigh, she finally voiced her concerns. “It’s just that… you know that I went to college, as well? I know what happens at fraternity parties, the alcohol, the sex.” Cody opened his mouth to start speaking, but she continued before he could say anything. “And don’t tell me you won’t partake in any of those activities, because I know for a fact you already do, and while you’re an adult now and there’s nothing I can do, I just don’t want you rushing into things and making stupid decisions on a whim, just because you want to be front and center at drunken frat boy parties.”
“I’m not making this decision on a whim, though, Mom. I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I mean, Wes is joining one, and I’m friends with some of the guys from Chi Tao.”
“So because Wesley is joining a fraternity, it’s a good idea for you to join one, as well?”
“Mom, what is it you’re so worried about? Me getting alcohol poisoning and having to get rushed to the hospital to get my stomached pumped? Falling down a flight of stairs because I’m so wasted?”
“I just don’t want you to do something completely idiotic. Like those. Or getting some girl pregnant.”
Cody raised an eyebrow at his mom and couldn’t fight the slight upturn of his lips. “Now that’s the last thing you have to worry about. One girl was enough for me,” he blurted out, not even thinking about what he was saying or who he was saying it to. “Uh, I guess, uh,” he mumbled, trying to think of what to say to his mother’s own raised eyebrow, “this is my official coming out. I’m gay.”
Michelle took a deep breath, then said, “I was wondering about that, but I figured you’d tell me if you were, or not. Is that why you want to join a fraternity? So you can get up close and personal with all the attractive frat boys?”
“Mom! No, I just… I thought it’d be an interesting experience. And I really want to do it, not just for the parties, but for the overall experience. It’d be like nothing else I’ve ever done. I wanna do it for me, not because someone else wants me to, and not because all I want to do it party.”
“If it’s something that you really want to do, who am I to stop you?”
Upon going back to school, Cody found Wes already unpacked in their room. “Hey, man, how was your break?”
“Good. Spent some time with the family, met up with some old friends of mine from high school. Worked. Nothing special, really, just got some money in my pocket. How was yours?”
“Pretty much like yours,” he answered as he kicked off his shoes and sat down on his bed. “Exactly like yours, actually. It’s nice to be back, but at the same time, I’m not ready for classes to start. At all. I wish I could just be here and not go to class.”
“You and me both,” Wes agreed. “So, when do you have class tomorrow?”
“My first class is at 12. I don’t have any classes at 8 this semester, it’s gonna be great. Sleeping in every day, it’ll be so nice. You?”
“I’ve got intro to bio at 8, but no Friday classes this time around.”
“Same here. Now that we don’t have to worry about being hung over, does that mean we can drink more?” Cody asked, looking hopeful, and with his mind already made up.
“Hell yes. I like your attitude. Hey, what ever happened to that chick I saw you with that one time? I have never seen you go off with her again. Or any other girl, for that matter. What’s up with that? You never even told me how it was.”
Cody scratched behind his ear and reclined back against the wall. He had been wondering if this would ever come up. Wes had been encouraging him to go off with her, knowing that it would be his first time. “Jeez, Wes, that was ages ago.”
“Yeah, but it just crossed my mind when we were talkin’ about partyin’. So…?”
“You want the truth?”
“The whole truth and nothin’ but.”
“Hated it. I don’t know if it was because it was up against a sink or because I’d rather have someone else’s dick up my own ass that it was-” Cody said, trying to let his run on sentence hide the fact that he just told his roommate he was gay, in a not so outright kinda way.
But Wes cut him off, catching what Cody just said, “Hold on. No, no, just hold up. What did you just say?”
“Exactly what you think I said. I’m sorry, I shoulda told you sooner, but I didn’t want you to think that I was trying to come onto you, or try and seduce you into bed with me, or anything like that.”
“So, what, one bad fuck turned you gay?”
“God no. It was just what really made things click for me. I knew for a long time, but I think I just needed to prove it to myself. But, uh, yeah, I’m gay. I really hope you don’t have a problem with it, or anything. I mean, I’m still the same guy.”
Wes just grinned, “Nah, it’s cool. Less competition for me.”
“You mean you’re fine with it?”
“Yeah, whatever. Just… you can look, but you can’t touch. And I don’t want to see you in here with you dick up some guy’s ass, ok?”
“That’s fine by me. As long as I don’t have to see you in here with your dick in some chick’s vag. If that’s clear, then I think we’re good.”
“Crystal. But does this mean I could fuck her in the ass?”
“Not while I’m around. I never need to see another pair of tits up in my face again, either. Give me rock hard abs and a rock hard dick-”
“Wait…,” Wes said, cutting Cody off, “are the guys members of the frat?”
“I don’t know. I don’t ask for names, or anything. Not like we’re gonna go out on some dinner date, or anything. That girl way back when? She was still trying to be chatty with me, introduce herself and all those formalities. You know as well as I do that we don’t care. That right there is just one of the many beauties of fucking guys. They don’t care, either. There’s no reason for introductions, it’s just sex.”
“So you don’t know any of the guys you’ve slept with? Wouldn’t it be… awkward if you were in the frat with one of them?”
“Wouldn’t it be awkward if you were in a class sitting next to that chick you fucked in your drunken stooper? The answer? If we recognized each other, probably, yeah. But, honestly, I don’t know if I could remember them,” he answered. “Why are you so concerned with my sex life, anyway? You worried you’ll become one of those frat boys who’ve become nothing more than a notch on my belt?”
“Shut the fuck up and unpack your shit.”
“You just wanna watch my ass as I bend over, don’t you?”
“Yeah, of course. Now unpack faster,” Wes said with a grin just before he grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, leaving Cody to the little unpacking he had to do.
This second semester passed much the same as the first one, only this time, there was no stats class Cody had to worry about on Friday mornings. He and Wes still hit up frat parties, he still worked out with Turner in the gym, he still did his homework from time to time.
When February rolled around, he started to see signs popping up all over campus promoting different fraternities and sororities. He promised Wes he would go to the DMP information session, but he still wanted to join Chi Tao. After each session was attended, his mind was definitely made up. Chi Tao it was.
The first night he went to the house to start the rushing process, everyone was made to sit down in lines on the floor as the current members walked into the room. The head of house took his spot amongst them, standing in the center of the group. Then he began speaking. “Welcome everyone to the Chi Tao house. It’s always nice to see a fresh group of faces each semester. As I’m sure you all heard, we first need to make sure all of you that are here actually want to be here. You will all take an oath of secrecy, and anything that happens in this house during your rushing process does not go past the walls of this house. You do not discuss anything with your friends. You do not discuss anything with your family. Do you all understand me?”
He waited for the mumbled replies to die down before continuing, “You will all be put to the test, pushed to the edge to see if your determination to be here is strong. Quit any time, but you cannot come back. Eventually we will weed out those of you who we do not deem fit, and once we make those final cuts, your rushing process will become more intense. That is when you will all be assigned ‘bigs,’ one of us will be your mentor through the final stages of rushing. And then, in a couple months’ time, a select few of you will be inducted into the halls of Chi Tao. Is everyone clear on those rules?” Again, people mumbled their responses before he finished, “Good. Remember, this is the oldest fraternity on this campus, and it is held in high regard. We have a standard to set, and I expect all of you to show your utmost respect to this fraternity. Now, introductions. My name is Theodore DiBiase, the head of this fraternity as voted on by my peers. I’m a senior this year with a major in business management. To my left is, ironically, my right hand man, Stephen Farrelly,” he said as he gestured to a tall, pale man with flaming orange hair, “who’s also a graduating senior this year with a major in safety studies.” He continued to introduce all the other members of the fraternity before saying to the group before him, “Now, let’s have all of you guys introduce yourselves. Let’s start with you,” he said as he pointed to a kid sitting one row in front of Cody.
They moved along, the whole front row introducing themselves, then they moved back to the next row. When it got to be Cody’s turn, he glanced up, locking eyes with Theodore as he said, “I’m Cody Runnels, I’m a freshman and I’m majoring in health science.”
After those were all said and done, the keg was tapped and the party began. “I’ve seen you here before,” Ted said to Cody when he went around mingling with the potential inductees.
“I’ve seen your face around before, too,” Cody replied. “Theodore, was it?”
“Call me Ted, Theodore is so formal. And you were…” he trailed off, drawing a blank on the name.
“Cody.”
“Ah, that’s right. Nice to meet you, Cody,” he greeted as he stuck out his hand.
Cody grabbed it, and shook hands, “Nice to meet you, as well.”
“Tell me, Cody, what made you pick Chi Tao above all the other fraternities we have on campus?” Ted asked, trying to get a sense of why everyone was here.
“I liked the atmosphere of this one better. My roommate tried to get me to join DMP, since he’s joining because his dad was a founding member, but I had my sights set on this one. Especially since I met Turner. It appealed to me more than the others did.”
“And you’re ready to do… anything to become a full fledged member of Chi Tao?” he asked, smirking slightly.
The smirk wasn’t lost on Cody, and he couldn’t help but wonder just what these guys had in store for him. But he wasn’t about to back down, not now. “Of course. Anything to become a member.”
“I like your determination, Cody,” Ted told him.
From the first time Cody heard Ted say his name not two minutes prior, he was enthralled. He had a distinct Mississippi accent, which he immediately picked up on, seeing as he, too, was a southern boy out of place in Boston. “You better be sure to note that when I set my mind to something, nothing can sway me.”
The smirk returned to Ted’s face just then as he said, “Good to know. It’ll be a pleasure working with you.” Once again he stuck out his hand, which Cody shook. Good, firm handshake he noticed. Ted decided right then that if this kid stuck it out, he was going to be his big. And, boy, would he have fun.
After that, there were meetings every night, testing their determination to really be there. On top of that, every night at 6 pm, every person who was in, or wanted to be in the fraternity would meet in front of the house and walk, as a group, to their dining hall where they would all have dinner together. As soon as dinner wound down, it was back to the house where a meeting would commence. They would run sometimes until well past 9 pm, and this was the time of the year when first exams were in the air, or the first research papers were coming due. Ted told everyone this was done so that people would learn to prioritize and learn time management. Don’t put off that homework until last minute, because they all knew they had somewhere to be.
Missing a dinner or a meeting resulted in their stats dropping. If they couldn’t do something as simple as attend a group dinner, what good were they? What benefit were they really to the group? So their worth fell with every missed group time. Weed out the ones who didn’t want to be there in the first place. That was why they did things like that, get rid of them early on before they dropped out later. Really, though, it was easy to tell those who wanted to be there apart from those who didn’t right from the start. As they sat at the dinner table now, Ted looked down the four tables that had been pushed together and locked eyes with Cody, seeing he still had that certain glint in his eye. Good.
Before dinner wrapped up, Ted said to everyone sitting at the table, “I want you all to know that we’ll be doing our cuts very soon. Over the past week, the guys and myself have been discussing who we want to stay and who we believe should go. Tonight at our meeting, you will all make your case, and tomorrow we’ll make our final decisions. Then things will start to get a little more… interesting. Now, let’s go.”
Cody was wracking his brain, trying to think of what he needed to say that would give him that extra edge, but didn’t come off as utter brown nosing. There was a fine line. He didn’t want to sound like an utter kiss ass who was spouting a load of shit in order to get into a fraternity. He genuinely wanted it, no more, no less. That’s when he knew he needed to tell them just that.
Once in the frat house, they began pleading their cases. Guy after guy stood up to speak, and Cody wasn’t listening to any of them. All his focus was on watching Ted, Stephen, Mike and Zack as they discussed, nodded, scowled and simply reacted to each guy’s little spiel. And then it was Cody’s turn. He stood from his spot in line and began to talk, “I’m quite content with being an average student. With my classes, I put in just enough effort to squeak out a C, sometimes a B, even an A if I’m really lucky. But this? Chi Tao? I’ve never put as much effort into anything else as I have this. I’ve said before that I’ll do anything, whatever it takes, to become a member of this fraternity. That’s not to sound like a kiss ass, I’m not spouting bullshit. That’s all true. I want to be a member of Chi Tao, plain and simple. And that’s all I got to say,” he ended as he sat back down, but he kept his eyes on the group of four up front watching him. They appeared to all have positive reactions to what he had to say. He could have sworn he and Ted made eye contact, and at that moment a feeling of relief washed over him. He just knew that he was in.
The rest of the guys finished up, and were then dismissed to go back to whatever it was they normally did on Thursday nights. And since most of them were at Chi Tao parties in the first place, a lot of them had to change up their plans. There were no parties at the CT house that night. Just a lot of discussion and planning on who was going to be cut the following night.
Before dinner the night of rush eliminations, Cody and Wes started chatting about how rushing was going so far in their different fraternities. “Do you have to do the big dinner get together, too?” Cody asked.
“Yeah. And there are so many goddamn meetings. Don’t those guys have anything better to do with their lives? Shit.”
“I know, right? How can anyone manage to come up with that much shit to talk about every single night for hours at a time? I’m excited about tonight, though.”
“What’s going on tonight?” Wes asked him.
“They’re gonna be getting rid of those they feel aren’t worthy of belonging to Chi Tao.”
“You’re excited for cuts? Usually people are shakin’ in their boots. I mean, I know I’m getting in because of my dad, but, ya know, everyone else will be shakin’ in their boots.”
“Well, I’ll have you know that I’m not everyone else.”
“And how are you so sure of yourself? Suck off the head of house?” he asked with a smirk.
“No, you asshole. I’m just confident that I’ll make it, is all. I’ll become a member of Chi Tao without the use of sexual favors, or my daddy’s name, thank you very much.”
“Correction, that’d be my daddy’s money.”
Cody laughed, “You’re sumthin else, I must say.”
Soon enough, dinner was over, and everyone went back to the house. “I guess we’ll start this off right away with our cuts,” Ted began as everyone sat. “So, we all discussed everything last night, we decided who was staying and going, as well as assigned you all bigs. Now, I guess, I’ll just read the list, and if your name is read, you’re out. It’s been great getting to know all of you, and you’re always welcome to try again next year. Ok, let’s start.”
Ted read off a list of names of everyone that wouldn’t be able to continue rushing. The kid to Cody’s right had his name read off, and Cody looked to him, shrugging as he mouthed, “Sorry.”
He finished up the list, Cody’s name nowhere in sight. But then it was time for them to hear just who they’d have as bigs. Ted started reading a second list, assigning a little to every current member of the fraternity. Once again, it seemed as though Cody’s name were nowhere in sight. Ted had assigned people to be with everyone, yet Cody’s name had yet to be called. How could they forget him, was he that forgettable? No, not forgettable at all he was about to find out. “And, finally, Cody Runnels’ big will be… me.”
Cody’s eyes widened. His big was going to be Ted? The head of the fraternity? This could either be a very good thing, or a very bad thing. And he figured he’d find out sooner rather than later.
Over the weekend, Cody and Wes talked some more, both having made it further into their respective fraternities. Both had also been assigned their bigs and couldn’t help but wonder what the next few weeks held for them. Only those in charge knew the sort of trials and tribulations they would be put through. “So, think they’ll do anything real bad?” Wes asked.
“I dunno, man. I told the head of house, Ted, who’s also my big, that I was willing to do anything. Shit, man, the look on his face… Like he was already scheming.”
“Yeah, I mean, I heard stories and shit. Those guys can be major assholes. That’s only cuz the guys before them were assholes, too. So when we get to their positions, we can fuck everyone up. It’ll be great.”
“True. But, shit, I got a bad feelin’.”
Part 2