Fortunate Son Part 18
Title: Fortunate Son (Part 18/?)
Authors: wrestlemanix and eric_idle_rules
Pairings: Ted DiBiase Jr./Cody Runnels, John Cena/Randy Orton
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Taking place in feudal England, Cody's family comes from a long line of farmers who work the land belonging to the DiBiase family. Despite the enormous class differences, Cody and Ted meet and form an instant connection with one another, both learning things from the other that they otherwise never would have known.
Word Count: 10404
A/N: I admit, I'm no expert on the life and times of feudal England, but I tried. Forgive any errors when it comes to time frames and whatnot...
Disclaimer: Neither of us own the WWE.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17
The closer he got, the more he wished he could have a portrait done of this sight to have it hung in his room. That way he would never forget what this scene looked like. Oh, how he wished he could. He now stood next to Mercury, patting his neck quickly before he untied him from the tree. “How’s Cody doing up there?” he asked of Mercury. Again, the horse huffed and nodded lightly. Smiling, Ted led them away from the tree and into a bit of a clearing where Mercury could trot along a bit faster than while surrounded by trees. “You feeling comfortable?”
“I am, yes. He’s such a well behaved horse.” It wasn’t uncommon for horses to disapprove of new riders, potentially bucking them off. Cody had seen it happen before, and had seen the nasty consequences of such a thing, from broken bones to death.
“John trained him well. This was actually the first horse that John ever trained on his own, with William only overseeing him. Of course, I’d been around him for a long time so that he’d be used to me.” Now that they were out in the clearing, Ted looked from Mercury up to Cody, that majestic sight still amazing him. “I hope this won’t be too much for you, buddy,” he said patting Mercury’s neck. With that, he put his foot into the stirrup and hauled himself up and over onto his horse’s back. He adjusted himself up there, seating himself so that his front was pressed air tight to Cody’s back, arms wrapping around him.
“Teddy…,” Cody muttered as he felt those arms tighten around him.
Ted’s chin was resting on Cody’s shoulder, his head nuzzling into Cody’s. “You ready? Take the reins. He’ll move at the gentlest tug or turn of the reins.”
Nodding, Cody tightened up the slack, bringing his hands up, then down quickly to get him to start moving. They started out at a slow walk, allowing Ted to adjust to having to share the saddle with someone else. “You doing all right back there?” Cody asked.
“I’m fine. I’ve got you, after all,” he answered, pressing a kiss to Cody’s cheek.
A blush covered Cody's cheeks this time, the ravenette smiling like a fool at the soppy sentiment that his lover shared with him. He was more than pleased with the turn of events and hoped that he and Ted would be able to do this again. Mercury was indeed a well-behaved animal and Cody was barely having to do any sort of steering for the animal to keep walking. He'd almost think he needn't steer at all.
The gentle motion of Mercury moving was enough to lull Ted usually, but with Cody all but nestled between his thighs from how they were settled on the horse had him aware of each constant motion. He kept his head rested upon Cody's shoulder as they continued riding, loving the little moment that they had together. It was intimate and special and he knew he was most definitely going to add this incident to the journal Cody'd bought him.
"Is there anywhere special that you want to go?" he asked, turning his head enough to look at Ted. Ted paused momentarily and considered it; there wasn't really anywhere within the woods to go and see, aside from one view atop the hill which allowed you to see well out into the landscape. He thought that Cody would appreciate the view-- his grandfather had showed him it often when they had brought their horses out together.
"Head that way." Ted reluctantly brought an arm away from Cody and pointed out towards the left. Nodding his head Cody gently guided the horse along, keeping an eye on the low branches that came out at them and also the thick, gnarled roots in the grounds. "I haven't been out in here too much," Cody mused slightly, "--my dad used to say it was much too dangerous and that goblins'd steal me away if I wandered off." he laughed softly at the thought.
Laughing slightly Ted mused, "Goblins?" Cody pretended to huff as he laughed again, "Hey, that was a real threat when I was younger-- especially when Dustin would sit there and tell me that the Goblins'd roast me over a fire." he tilted his head, "I stopped believing it when I was five." he mused. "My dad finally told me the truth after I freaked at the thought of him going out there."
"You are so cute."
"...Hush."
“And you told me that you had no stories about your life to tell me,” Ted reminded him. “There’s so much I’ve yet to learn about you.”
“Well, I guess I shouldn’t have said that I had no stories about my life. I just didn’t think… well, I didn’t think that you’d be interested in my stories. My life is so dull compared to yours,” Cody said to him, hanging his head.
Ted moved his hand from around Cody’s waist up to his chin, turning his head around to face him. “Your life is far from dull. If anything, it’s more exciting than mine’s ever been. You’ve seen what my life consists of!” He leaned forward, quickly kissing Cody’s lips, smiling when he saw where they were. Sliding off Mercury, he held his hand out to Cody as he stepped off. Quickly tying Mercury to a tree so he wouldn’t wander off back towards the castle, Ted then took Cody over to the very top of the hill.
“Wow,” Cody said in a breath, amazed by the view before him, completely forgetting everything they had just talked about. “This is beautiful.”
“I know,” Ted agreed, lacing his fingers through Cody’s. “I haven’t been out this way since… well, since my grandfather passed. But I knew that you’d like this place just as much as I did, and I thought it’d be a shame to not take you out here with me.”
“Thank you,” Cody said, smiling as he continued to look out over the land.
Grabbing Cody’s other hand, Ted turned the younger man to face him. “We’ll come back here one day. When it’s warmer, much warmer,” he added. “And I’ll lay you down on the ground and make love to you.”
Cody blinked his eyes a couple times in surprise. “Re-really?”
“Yes. God, yes, Cody,” he said, pulling Cody in close to him, but still looking into his eyes. “Or maybe… you could be the one to take me,” he added in a whisper.
Good God, was Ted trying to kill him? Cody's throat convulsed visibly with his swallow of excitement and nerves at the prospect of what Ted had offered, unable to break eye-contact. "Yes." he breathed, "Yes--" Ted's own heart skipped a few beats at the serious intensity in Cody's voice, his abdomen quivering slightly at the thought. "You really want to?"
"Sometimes it's all I can think about." Cody confessed softly, his hands tightening around Ted's own a fraction, their bodies pressed flush together. "Sometimes it's all I can do not to push you down over the nearest surface and take you until you're begging me to stop." Wetting his lips reflexively, Ted fought back a moan at the image Cody conjured in his mind; the only protest he had was that he doubted he'd ever beg Cody to stop making love to him. Considering how bad his own need for the other was he'd probably beg for more.
Closing his eyes momentarily Cody fought to compose himself-- he hadn't meant to reveal so much but sometimes his mouth ran away with him before his mind could catch up to what he was intending to say. "Sorry--" he started, but Ted's lips brushing over his own killed the apology that he had been intending to let out, "Don't be." Ted whispered, "Don't ever be sorry of telling me things like this."
The breeze pulled at their hair slightly and as Ted's neat locks ruffled Cody pictured how they looked as Ted writhed around underneath him during their intimate encounters and wondered whether the messy style would become even messier if Ted was writhing around in pleasure of Cody taking him.
"Damn," Cody laughed slightly embarrassedly, cheeks turning red as he shifted slightly, pants feeling tight once more. "How do you do it to me, Teddy?" He had already cum not half an hour before thanks to Ted's talented mouth.
"That's a question that I could just as easily ask of you," Ted told him. “You always, without fail, manage to drive me crazy with just the simplest of things. Like the way that your cheeks turn bright red whenever you feel like you’ve done something wrong or you’re embarrassed. Or when you’re happy and you smile and show off that little gap between your teeth. I love that little gap,” he added, when he saw that the blush was once again present on his lover’s face at the mention of the gap. He decided to keep going, wanting Cody to know all the little quirks that he had that made Ted love him even more. “When we’re reading together and I can literally hear you thinking about what the word is. Then, when you get the word right, you smile and your eyes light up.”
“Teddy…” Cody whispered, feeling terribly embarrassed as Ted went on. “Please…”
“Please what? Please stop telling you why I love you? I really don’t think that I can do that,” Ted said, leaning in for a kiss. Cody’s mouth parted willingly as Ted’s tongue slipped inside, making a point to flick his tongue over the small gap in the process. When they pulled back for air, Ted gave a little sigh and said, “We should probably head back. We’ve been out here for a while; don’t want my parents wondering if I’m ok and send people out to look for me.”
“That wouldn’t be good. Although I’m sure that John would let them know that I was with you and if anything were to happen, I’d do everything in my power to get you back to the safety of the castle.”
Placing a gentle hand on Cody’s cheek, Ted smiled at him, letting the hand slide from cheek down to his heart. “I know you would. Now let’s go. Mercury’s probably itching to get going again.” As they walked over to the tree and Ted untied him, he said, “I wish I could ride all the way back to the castle with you up there with me.”
“It would be nice, wouldn’t it?” Cody agreed. There were so many things that he and Ted couldn’t do due to their class difference. No one would think twice if Ted was riding with Kristen, and had Cody been one of Ted’s peers, he would have been provided his own horse to ride.
“When I’m made Lord, you and I will go riding together all the time,” he said with a smile as he hauled himself up onto the back of Mercury. “Though two of us on one horse will probably a bit much for it to handle… I think it’d be nice if you could raise your own horse,” he added, smiling down at Cody as he extended his hand to assist the younger man up.
But it was as though he didn’t even see the hand. He was still unsure that he heard Ted correctly. “My own horse?”
"Yes, your own horse." Ted repeated, unsure why Cody looked like... that over something that he was sure the other would like. His hand started to retract slightly, uncertainty showing in the bright blues, "W-Wouldn't you want one?" he asked, the wavering in his tone seeming to break Cody out of the slight trance that he had fallen into for the younger man hastily reached for the other's hand and clamboured up onto the horse. "No, no, I would!"
The way that Ted's face still retained some unease made Cody wrap his arms around the other's waist and press his face into his shoulder. "You surprised me, that's all." Cody mumbled, Ted's eyes widening slightly as he brought a hand up and rested them over where Cody's were clasped around his middle. "I mean, what you just offered me is a big deal for someone like me, you know?" he tried to explain.
Momentarily cursing his own stupidness for over-reacting like he had, Ted smiled softly and began to steer Mercury back towards the castle. "I'm sorry if I surprised you, but I meant it. You'd be able to raise a horse, right?" Cody nodded, brow furrowing slightly, "Well, yes, I believe I could but I don't know if I'd be able to do it alone." Especially when the winter was over and he was back on the farm; if he took the horse with him it would be even more difficult to explain.
A contemplative expression that Cody couldn't see settled over Ted's face, "We'll see, Ok?" he said, slowing before coming to a halt as they reached the end of the forest. Cody slid down from the horse and Ted's arms immediately felt empty without the other within them. Just like when they had headed out Cody walked besides his horse, looking up to Ted as they walked along, still talking to him. The closer the castle came into view Ted couldn't help feeling somewhat saddened by the fact that his and Cody's time together was over in that open intimate sense.
"I think we've missed lunch." Cody commented as he held Mercury's reins to keep the horse steady as Ted dismounted with a fluid ease that admittedly impressed Cody and showed just how well-versed Ted really was in riding. "Are you hungry?" he asked the elder teen.
"I am a bit." Ted admitted, taking Mercury into the stable. John didn't seem to be in there, but the foreign stable hand that he had seen before was. When he spotted Ted he immediately bounded over, "Here sir, let me take him for you." Cody's brow furrowed, trying to figure out the accent; it was unlike anything that he had ever heard before, although admittedly his experience of other nationalities and such was limited. "Thank you," Ted handed the reins over, "Gabriel, right? Justin Gabriel."
“Yes, Sir,” Justin answered.
Cody had seen this young man before a couple of times. The night the Tynes family was here, though, that had been the first time. He’d even seen him in the kitchens on occasion, he realized. But he’d never heard the man speak before. “If you don’t mind me asking,” Cody began quietly, feeling two pairs of eyes on him, “where are you from?”
“Morocco.”
Quirking his head slightly, Cody looked at him, confusion written all over his face. “Where’s Morocco?”
“In Africa,” he answered. He didn’t speak much, since English wasn’t his native language, and even though he’d been in England for a good bit of time, he never felt comfortable with talking. Of course, he’d learned the important phrases very well, like the one he just used with Ted. But he always struggled when attempting to ask John a question about something, especially when it was something important and all the English he knew went flying out of his head.
“My dad traveled abroad when he was younger,” Ted told him. “They went to France and to Spain and to Portugal and a few places in Africa. Including Morocco. He told me that he saw the way that they farmed and raised animals there, animals completely different than what we have here, and he was quite impressed. And he, Justin, that is, was young when he came back here with my father to see how we did things here. So that there wouldn’t be any issues with him, or anything, and so he wouldn’t grow up as an orphan, as he was in Morocco, he was actually adopted by the family of stable hands. William Slater. I’ve talked about him before, the one who passed. His son, Heath, is the other stable hand we have…” Ted shook his head, wondering why his father hasn’t let him go. “But Justin’s got potential, as John always says, but the language barrier does get in the way of things at times.”
“Oh, interesting,” Cody said to Ted. He then turned to Justin and said, “It’s nice to properly meet you. I hope we can get to know each other better. I’m Cody, by the way.”
“I know. Nice to meet you,” Justin said with a small smile. “Sir,” he said with a bow before taking the horse back to his stall to brush down.
“You’ve got quite the staff around here, don’t you Young Master Theodore?”
“Quite the staff indeed,” Ted agreed, giving his lover a smile before they turned and headed back up towards the castle.
Now, Cody was beyond interested about Justin; he had rarely met anyone who had come from outside the village before, let alone from someone who was from a whole different country completely. "Something on your mind?" Ted asked, deeming it safe to speak freely given that no one else seemed to be about. Looking up to the other Cody shrugged slightly, "It's nothing really, I was just thinking about that Justin fellow..." he admitted and Ted playfully looked sulky, "Should I be jealous?"
Laughing slightly Cody shook his head, "No, it's nothing like that." he assured, "I was just wondering about what it's like where he's from natively. I've never met someone from another country before." That knowledge was a given to Ted, but he nodded anyway, "I don't know if he'll remember too much being that he was only young when he came over... I was as curious as you though I'll admit." a slightly sheepish smile touched his lips as he met Cody's eyes.
"I was asking him all about where he was from, and who he was, and he just stood there looking so confused and slightly frightened; he reminded me of a little animal who was in a new territory. Father told me he didn't speak English and I shut up, wondering how Justin was going to cope here if he couldn't speak the language." he then added on the confession that his father had paid for the teacher who gave Justin lessons in English outside of what he learnt from his adoptive family.
"So... In a way he was kinda like I am now," Cody's brow furrowed, "Except I know our language beforehand." Ted nodded, their conversation cutting short as they entered the kitchen. "Afternoon Wade," Ted greeted the tall man with dark hair, seeing a brow arching at him in obvious expectancy. Ted tried, and failed, to look coy as he said, "I missed lunch..." Wade clucked his tongue, folding his arms, "And I suppose you want me to make you something?" he asked.
Ted gave his most winning smile -a smile that he had perfected for all manner of staff when he had been growing up to save himself from the occasional scolding when his curiosity had led him into mischief- and nodded his head, "You're a quick man Wade. Please?" Wade sighed and indicated Ted sit at the table, "We have some pie and potatoes left over, Young Master, would that suit you?" Ted nodded fervently, "Sounds delicious." he motioned Cody to sit with him, Wade fixing a second plate for the younger man without being told.
As Wade set the plates down before the two, he said, “You know, one would think that you’re getting a tad old to be using that smile of yours to get you out of trouble.”
“It worked on you, didn’t it?”
“You’re worse than your brother Michael, you know that?” Wade told him, remembering all sorts of mayhem that he had wreaked throughout the castle when he was younger. “How did Brett end up so placid?”
“I couldn’t tell you. Maybe he watched us growing up and wanted to be the exact opposite,” Ted mused, shaking his head with a grin on his face. Finally he managed to take a bite of his food, giving a small signal to Cody to do the same. “Wade, this is just as delicious as it sounded, if not more so. Don’t you agree, Cody?”
“I do. But I think everything that you’ve made has been delicious,” Cody told him, taking another bite of the potatoes.
“Thank you both.” Wade turned from them and began putting back some of the leftover food and unused ingredients. Yes, they did have other members of the kitchen staff, but Wade was always very particular about where things went back. If one little thing was out of place, he could quickly become irritable. In an often busy kitchen, things needed to be in their place at all times.
Just as the two were finishing up their late lunches, about to stand up to go put their plates in the wash bin, another member of the staff entered the kitchen. His shoulder length red hair was tied back into a ponytail (why his father had yet to make him chop off that horrendous ponytail he didn’t know), and he headed right over to Wade, smiling as he did so. “Good afternoon, Wade.”
He quickly glanced over at the young man, the only greeting he gave him being, “Heath.”
Momentarily the red haired man looked a little put out by the lacklustre response from the cook, but then he immediately rebounded and began dodging back and forth almost behind Wade to see what the other was doing. "That pie sure was delicious Wade, you're such a great cook!" Both Cody and Ted exchanged looks at this eagerness; Heath was like a show-dog seeking attention.
However, what was most interesting was what happened next. Justin stepped into the room, his head bowing almost shyly as he addressed Heath, his eyes flickering to Wade before returning to the floor. "Heath, did you get the scraps for the animals yet?" Wade's eyes were fixed on the exotic young man, staring slightly. It was a slightly surprising reaction and from the looks of it Heath didn't appreciate it much at all. Interesting.
"Huh? Oh, yeah!" Heath's frown momentarily dropped as he turned back to Wade and gave a large smile. "Do you have the scraps for us Wade?" the scraps that were decent were fed to the animals as a little something extra; something that John kept strictly monitored so as to not mess with the animal's every-day diet. He had said he needed someone to fetch them and Heath had jumped at the chance.
"Here." Wade fetched a small trough that contained the skins and suchlike, handing it over to Heath and Justin, but when he spoke he looked directly at Justin. "You alright with that?" Gabriel's head ducked, nodding as his mouth worked soundlessly. Suddenly, Cody understood the cultural gap that Ted had mentioned before. It probably didn't help that Justin seemed somewhat shy too. The two men left the kitchen, Justin with a polite nod of the head whereas Heath made sure to say goodbye to Wade loudly.
“Well, that was… unexpected,” Cody whispered into Ted’s ear. “What do you think that was all about?” When he glanced up, he saw that Wade had seen him whispering, and gave him a small, guilty looking smile.
Wade couldn’t help but notice the way that those two acted so casual around one another. Even when Cody was working to his fullest extent, when he was around Ted, he seemed to be quite relaxed. Not at all like the other workers while around the Lord’s family. And the way that he’d just been whispering into his master’s ear like that, certainly not something that just anyone would do.
“Thank you again for preparing this late meal for us, Wade,” Ted said, breaking the silence as he stood.
“Of course, Young Master,” he said with a slight bow.
The pair placed their plates on the counter before leaving the kitchen, going straight to Ted’s room. Both sitting on his bed, Cody began to speak, asking once more what that whole ordeal was all about. “I mean, could Heath have been any more obvious? He was acting just like Layla! Have those two met? Perhaps they should end up together!”
“Think of the obnoxious children those two would have together!” Ted chimed in, laughing as he did.
“I’d rather not!” Cody exclaimed, joining in with Ted’s laughter.
“In all seriousness, though, Wade was almost completely ignoring Heath. And then Justin walked in, and he was a changed person.”
“Almost exactly like the way I ignore Layla, but then my eyes light up whenever they fall upon you,” Cody said, smiling as he wrapped his hand around Ted’s neck and pulled him in for a kiss.
Reveling mentally in the triumph he had over Layla at Cody's admission (though yes, by now he had pretty-much come to know without a doubt that Cody liked him much much more than her) he returned the kiss.
The way Wade had looked at him before should have set him on alert due to the understanding that he had seen there-- but it didn't. Wade didn't strike him as the malicious type (though Lord help you if you fuck up and make his cakes go wrong) and it would spite him more than anyone to start spreading rumours about his future master. Maybe... Maybe Wade was just personally struggling like they were. It might not seem outwardly common for a man to like other men, but Cody was sure as sugar that neither he nor Ted, nor Randy or John were not the only men to like another man.
Feeling Cody's tongue curling over his own Ted all but purred; the kiss was languid and relaxed despite its depth, his hands gently rubbing up and down Cody's back as the other's rested on his chest and the back of his neck. He adored Cody, he truly did, and each time he hurt the other was like a wound to his very soul. He was beginning to understand John and Randy's talk of sacrifices more with each passing day, and he'd reached a decision.
As much as humanly possible (and with a father as bullheaded as his own) Ted was going to avoid being married. However, if the time came when he couldn't avoid it he was going to not give the other up. He would treat his wife well, with respect, but she would never hold the place in his heart that Cody did. He would do everything in his power to keep Cody. He supposed it was too much to hope for for a woman who'd settle for an arrangement like Randy and his wife had?
He could think about that later, much later, when he didn’t have Cody’s tongue in his mouth. Or when Cody wasn’t pushing him onto his back and straddling his hips. Always a dangerous thing to do up in his room in the middle of the day, but neither of them found themselves caring. As long as they got no further along than this.
Ted’s hands continued to rub at Cody’s back, lowering enough until he could slip his hands under his shirt so his hands were touching skin. He would never tire of feeling Cody’s skin on his, of that he was certain. So smooth and soft he was, but underneath he could feel every little movement his muscles made. The mere thought made him groan into Cody’s mouth.
Breaking off the kiss, panting for air, Cody smiled down at Ted. “We should probably stop now… just incase…” he said with a blush.
“But I don’t want to,” Ted replied with a pout, raising his head up to place a swift kiss on Cody’s lips.
“Mmm, but if we don’t stop now, then when will we? When we’re naked and you’ve come deep inside of me?” Cody asked, biting his lower lip after his brazen question.
Ted’s eyes went wide and he could feel his cock stirring. Wouldn’t he love to be able to do just that? “That sounds… like a wonderful idea.”
Bending forward, Cody whispered, “Not too much longer,” into Ted’s ear, watching as his lover’s eyes shut and his back arched just slightly. “You know that I can’t wait for it to happen. I’ve been waiting for so long now.”
“Me, too, Cody. Me, too,” he agreed. He wanted to know what it felt like to be inside Cody. And he wanted to know what it felt like to have Cody inside him.
Cody rolled off of him, obviously disappointed that they couldn’t go any further, but he was ok with it, knowing that in a matter of days, he would finally be getting what he wanted since he first laid eyes upon the statuesque blonde man upon his handsome horse.
"Soon." Cody repeated softly, cupping Ted's smooth cheek with a work-roughened hand and watching as the older man leant into the touch without even a fraction of hesitation. "Soon." Ted echoed, opening his eyes to meet Cody's. Soon he would have something of Cody's forever, and Cody would have something of his.
They exchanged one final, fleetingly chaste kiss before Cody then stopped touching the other completely, but with obvious reluctance. "Is there anything you would like to do?" Cody asked, and Ted had to bite his tongue to keep back the response of, 'You', which sounded somewhat wrong even to his own ears. He didn't want to just 'do' Cody like some uninteresting jigsaw-puzzle.
"Shall we do some reading?" Ted asked as he stood up from the bed and moved to the shelf where he had replaced the King Arthur book upon Cody's moving-in to the castle as the other had the fairytale book for private practice. "Ok." Cody nodded his head, moving so that he was nestled into Ted's side when the other returned to the bed and found their place. They were almost halfway through the book now.
Soon, Ted was just watching Cody's face as he read as well as listening to his growingly fluent wording. His plush lips formed the words so smoothly, only the furrowing of his brow and slight hesitance denoting a time when he was uncertain. To think not merely a few months ago Cody had probably never so much as looked upon a book up close before. It was amazing.
It was slightly hard for Cody to focus when he felt one of Ted's large hands settle almost absent-mindedly over his abdomen when the other's arm went around him. A slight flush covered his cheeks and he stumbled, but merely continued on with a gentle nudge from Ted-- who had obviously assumed that Cody had struggled with a word and not been caught off-guard by the touch. As he read Cody's head rested on Ted's shoulder, happily settled in the moment.
He flipped to the next page, reading the words as though he’d been doing it for his entire lifetime. He’d quickly begun recognizing words and patterns that the letters made, and he was always practicing on his own when he could. He wasn’t just doing this for himself, he was doing it for Ted, as well. Without Ted, this would never have even been an opportunity for him.
As Cody came to the end of the page, this being the end of the chapter they had been working on, Ted couldn’t hold back his smile. “We’re going to be finished with this book in no time at all! We’ll have to start looking for a new book for you.”
Blushing, Cody cast a sidelong glance at Ted. “Really? You think we’ll be finished with this soon?”
“Oh, absolutely! Do you remember how slow-going this was at the start? When you’d take so much time on one sentence, or even one word? Now you’re finishing a page in the time that it took you to do an entire paragraph! Your progress is incredible, Cody. I couldn’t be more proud of you,” he said, leaning forward to give his lover a kiss. “Do you want to keep reading?”
“Sure,” he replied happily. He found that he was really starting to enjoy reading. Now that he could really understand the words that he was reading, he could imagine the kinds of things written about in the book. All the fantastic images that his mind painted amazed him. There were some things in there that he had no idea what they even were, but his mind substituted images for them anyway. He didn’t know where Camelot was, but he imagined that he was similar to Ted’s castle. He didn’t know what King Arthur looked like, but he couldn’t help but think that Ted would fit the role perfectly.
They went on reading, Ted heaping praise upon the younger teen as he continued to do extremely well with his reading. They made it a few more pages in, about halfway through the next chapter, when they decided that was enough for the day. “Did you want to practice writing some more?” He knew that Cody was struggling a lot more with writing than he ever did with the reading. He still couldn’t manage to hold the quill correctly, which often times caused issues with the ink not coming off the nib the way it should. Yet, no matter how many times Ted tried to show him, Cody simply could not get the grip right.
“Yes, let’s try writing.” Cody also didn’t practice writing as much, since he didn’t have the supplies to down in his room. He found that he’d much rather read, anyway. But he still needed to practice, so he moved and sat down at Ted’s desk, ready to try again.
Almost immediately Cody felt heat crawling over his cheeks in an obvious manner as he attempted to pick the quill up. It might not seem difficult but you had to hold the quill in exactly the right position or else what was written would look incredibly shoddy. Not that what he wrote didn't look shoddy anyway, Cody mentally taunted himself; a natural reaction when he was faced with the prospect of any kind of failure before Ted. The ravenette was so stressed at the prospect of going wrong that his hand was actually shaking slightly as he picked up the quill, almost immediately fumbling with it.
Watching Cody for a few moments Ted then reached and gently corrected the other's grip. "Just relax, Cody." he said gently, "It's not a race and you needn't rush." Cody hung his head slightly but Ted gently nudged the younger man's cheek with his nose in a gesture that told Cody he wasn't being scolded or mocked, merely informed. "The quill is delicate, yes, but sturdy-- you don't have to be afraid of breaking it with the slightest increase in pressure. The nib is the most delicate piece."
Taking a few breaths Cody relaxed his hand slightly as Ted suggested he do so, his grip only slightly more awkward now. It was a difficult thing to get and Ted recalled how he had used to get punished terribly by his strict school-masters whenever he messed up. He would never dream of punishing Cody in such a manner-- heck, he didn't even like the thought of so much as scolding Cody verbally let alone physically. Running his hand gently up Cody's arm (and hearing a pleasant little intake of breath from Cody as he did so) he guided the other on how to hold himself as he wrote for comfort.
"Now then, shall we practice with the alphabet or would you rather write actual words?" Since it'd been a while since he had wrote anything Cody shyly asked if Ted could go over the alphabet with him again. Initially when he had done this Ted had taught him 'capital letters' (of which Ted had attempted to explain and Cody didn't totally get other than they were to do with names) but they had then moved on to 'lower-case' letters before too long.
Probably unexpectedly he made some mistakes but given that he had had a hiatus from writing, and hadn't been writing as long as he had reading, he didn't do too badly at all. When he slipped he became frustrated and angry with his own incompetence; a gentle touch or word from Ted soon had him calming down though, soothing his embarrassment and slightly bruised ego and telling him that he'd only struggle more if he let his temper distract him.
“Cody, you’ve got to be patient. You’re not going to get it on your first attempt, and that’s perfectly fine! Don’t tell me that you’ve already forgotten what I was like when I was out in the fields!”
Turning his head to the side to look at Ted best he could, Cody smiled and shook his head. “No, I’ll never forget those days. When I helped to guide you using the sickle…” Cody recalled, eyes shutting briefly as the memory came back to him.
“See, I was terrible. And if I tried it again, I’d probably still be terrible at it. Even with your help I was lousy. Writing is just like that. You have to focus on just this task at hand. And hold the quill correctly,” he added as he saw Cody’s hand slowly shifting back to the way he always picked up the quill.
“Sorry! It’s just a lot more comfortable this way…” he said with a bit of a frown.
“Really? I can’t see at all how it would be,” Ted noted honestly as he look at the way Cody’s fingers wrapped around the quill. “This way puts less strain on your hand and your letters flow much easier.”
Dropping the quill completely, Cody let out a frustrated sigh. He was letting his temper get the best of him again. “I really don’t think this writing thing is really for me. I mean, who am I going to be writing to, anyway?”
“You can always write to me,” Ted answered softly. As he wrote in the journal Cody gave him, he wrote it with the intentions that Cody would someday soon be reading it with him. Sometimes he found himself actually writing things specifically for Cody. He found that there was something deeply intimate and romantic about writing letters to a lover (as he one day found out Brett and Kristen were doing when he saw the wax sealed letter addressed to Kristen from Brett, and later questioned him about, leaving Brett bright red as Ted teased him something terrible).
Those words immediately dispelled Cody's mini temper-tantrum as he turned to look his lover in the face, obviously surprised by the idea. "Y-" Cody licked his lips reflexively to wet them, throat suddenly feeling dry, "You'd want me to write to you?" Momentarily he was confused, considering that he and Ted now lived in the same place and saw one another, and considering he had no writing materials at home, but Ted's next words cleared any conflict.
"I'd cherish anything written by this hand, Cody." he picked up the now quill-less hand and brushed his lips over the pulse of Cody's wrist. Cody watched, awestruck into silence as Ted continued to speak in that same soft voice, eyes upon him and only the smallest blush of embarrassment at his own boldness on his cheeks. "You could write a letter of complete nonsense to me, but I'd still sleep with it under my pillow just because it was from you."
Cody's throat closed up slightly and to his mortification his eyes stung slightly with tears but he blinked rapidly to remove them from view lest Ted saw them. "R-Really?" he said, more than humbled that Ted would be so thrilled to receive a written word from his regardless of quality of said words or the content. "Really." the sentiment was repeated with complete sincerity as Ted kissed each of his fingertips.
In that moment Cody resolved to write to Ted; writing to the other would mean they could stay in contact regardless of them being apart and, and well, it'd give him a way to say some of the things that even he was too embarrassed to say out loud. The fire of determination in Cody's expressive eyes made Ted smile internally, correcting Cody gently when he picked up the quill but then watching as the other loaded it with ink correctly. This time, although still clearly frustrated with himself, Cody didn't fuss and seemed to be striving not to rush, but to take his time.
Writing down the letters, he tried to think what to say to Ted if he were to eventually write a letter to him. Yes, he knew letters and could read many words, but he knew that he could only spell very few words on his own. But, oh, the way that Ted had praised him so, the way that he lavished affection upon him made him want to write something to him.
“You’re doing so well,” Ted told him as he watched over Cody’s shoulders at the letters appearing on the parchment before his very eyes. “Keep it up; I know your hand writing will improve. It’s already looking better than it did at first.”
“Thank you, Teddy,” he said. It didn’t matter how much Ted praised him, because every time he still managed to blush. Out in the fields or in the barn with the animals, Cody knew when he was doing a good job. With the reading and the writing, well, he never thought he’d be able to do a good job.
“Come on, let’s finish up the rest of the alphabet in lower case letters,” Ted encourage him on.
Taking his time, Cody picked up where he left off at the letter ‘p’ to complete the final letters of the alphabet. “Do you think I could try a few names again?” Cody asked, feeling as though he needed more practice writing out full words.
“Of course! Which names would you like to write? Do you remember what letters you need to use for any of them?”
“Well, I’d like to do our names. First and last. And maybe the rest of our families. Oh, John and Randy, as well. I… I don’t really know which other words I’d like to write, though. I mean, if I… if I were to write a letter to you, that is,” he added softly.
“I told you, I wouldn’t care if you wrote down nothing more than our names on a piece of paper and handed it over to me. Write what you feel comfortable doing.”
“May I try… on my own? To write you something now? Without you looking?” Cody asked, and Ted chuckled and nodded, turning his back to Cody and putting his hands over his eyes. Taking a small, blank piece of parchment and placing it in front of him, Cody dipped the quill into the ink, fighting to keep his hands in the correct position as he started writing slowly:
Ted DiBiase
Cody Runnels
He then paused, not really sure how to write the next words, but he sounded things out in his head, and tried to remember what they looked like when seeing them while reading. Taking a breath, he dipped the quill back into the ink and scratched out on the paper (all in capital letters, since he felt more comfortable using those with these words he didn’t really know):
I LOVE YOU
Studying the words uncertainly (please God, let him have gotten these ones right at least!) Cody then took a breath before picking the parchment piece up. "You-- um, you can look now." Curiously, smiling, Ted turned around after removing his hand from his eyes. Cody looked as though his face had been set alight by a torch with how red it was as he held his hand out.
Accepting the parchment with care -because the ink would still be wet and also because Cody had written it and therefore it had worth to Ted- Ted then looked upon the words. Upon reading them his eyes widening, lips parting slightly as the all of the air in his lungs seemed to rush out in one gust of breath that was strangely inaudible with awe. "Cody--" the older man started, and Cody was slightly confused about how to take the other's response and so began to babble with distress, "Oh, don't tell me I got them wrong! Damn it, I am so stupid--!"
The words he had been insulting himself with were cut off almost immediately as Ted's mouth covered his own; taking advantage of the other's parted lips even though truthfully it was never taking advantage because Cody always surrendered himself to Ted willingly, and vice-versa. The ravenette's eyes fluttered closed as the quill fell from his hand when he allowed the kiss to take over his attention, drowning in Ted's taste filling his mouth once more.
When the kiss broke the two of them were panting hard and Cody looked dazed. "D-Did I get them right, then?" he asked softly, unable to look away from the myriad of emotions swirling in the expression-filled hues of his lover. "You got those words perfect." Hell, it wouldn't have taken a genius to figure out those words even if Cody happened to have spelt them wrong. But he hadn't: they were crystal clear laid out before him.
Picking up the quill, Ted printed underneath in equal capital letters words Cody recognised as those he had just written with another one added upon the end: I LOVE YOU, TOO. Now Cody wanted that paper back, even though previously he had just wanted to hand it over and have the embarrassment of his pathetic attempt at writing just disregarded as fast as possible. He watched as Ted then placed the slip into his pocket as soon as the ink was dry.
"I love you," Ted whispered, cupping Cody's cheeks as he momentarily forgot what their agenda had been to keep writing, "I love you more than the amount of stars there are in the sky, deeper than the very depths of the ocean itself." If this was the reaction that he got Cody was going to make sure to write those words for Ted every day as well as saying it. "I'm not as imaginative as you," Cody began softly, "--so my words won't be nearly as beautiful: but all I can say is that I love you, with all my heart."
Smiling, Ted quickly pressed their lips together before saying, “That yet another thing I love about you. You have no need for frilly words and long declarations. You’re direct and to the point. I may say that my love for you is greater than the height of the tallest mountain known to man, yet you simply say that you love me with everything that you are, and that’s all I need to hear.”
Chuckling, Cody said, “I know through my life my father has always taught me to respect our Lord, but that hasn’t stopped him from speaking his mind when he’s not around. He’s always said to me, ‘Them big words and high-brow talk don’t get no work done out in the fields.’ Always after I’d ask him what some word meant that your father used that I’d never heard before. Obviously because he didn’t know it, either. Never had a need to.”
“You don’t need it. You never have. This is what captivated me from the start,” he said, placing his hand over Cody’s heart. “Not how many words you know, not how much money you have. None of that. It’s all about this.” He removed his hand and bent his head, placing a kiss where his hand just was.
Even through the layer of fabric covering his chest, Cody could feel Ted’s lips upon his heart. He sucked in a breath as he felt Ted’s lips move as a soft whisper escaped him, “I love you.”
“God, I can’t take this. All this waiting. I love you, and I want to show you that I do,” Cody said, placing both hands on Ted’s cheeks as he rose up from his chest. “I want to know what it’s like to feel you moving inside of me.”
“Cody,” Ted managed to choke out as his imagination took over. He wanted that moment to happen so badly. He wanted nothing more than to take Cody in the most intimate way possible.
Sighing, Cody dropped his hands from Ted’s cheeks to his own lap. “But I know what you’re going to say. That we can’t. We can’t do this yet. Not right now. And I know that you’re right, but it can’t stop me from wanting this.”
“It doesn’t stop me from wanting it, either,” Ted assured him. “I think about it night and day. Whether I’m here next to you or we’re floors apart within the castle, or if you’re down at your father’s, I think about it. And then I think about how close we’re getting to the Christmas party, and it only makes me think about us even more.”
It was some consolation that he was not the only one suffering underneath the weight of his feelings, Cody thought to himself as Ted gently steered him with the suggestion of more writing. He took up the quill without complaint and actually managed to hold it correctly upon his first try. Hmm, maybe when he wasn't thinking about it too much he seemed to do much better with the writing.
They ended their writing when it became closer to dinner-time (Cody now being able to keep on top of it all due to little tell-tale signs within the castle itself) and packed everything away. Cody had no idea what Ted did with everything he had ever written on, because the other was always so strangely secretive about it. When he spotted the journal that he had given Ted with pride-of-place on Ted's bedside table he shyly asked, "Have you used it?"
For a moment Ted was confused -of course he had used it- but then he recounted that he had only been writing in it whenever Cody wasn't in the vicinity-- he had just been writing about the other. "Yes, yes I have," a small blush crept over Ted's cheeks, "--as soon as you can read fluently you can read it."
Truth be told he was stalling a little on that part because although Cody could read very well already Ted had a paranoid belief that if the other mistook even one word then the intentions behind everything he had written would not become apparent and then something disastrous would arise from such an event.
Surprised that he was even being offered the chance to read from such a private book to Ted, Cody merely nodded his head and smiled because he had no idea of the torrent of thoughts that was flowing through Ted's mind with the force and unpredictability of an untamed stream. "Oh, we should be getting downstairs." they had dawdled tidying up.
As usual Ted broke off with him in the foyer to go into the dining-room whereas Cody continued across the foyer and then down the steps that led to the kitchens and by proxy the servants quarters. The room almost seemed fuller than usual, but then Cody recounted that was probably only because he'd ever really taken notice of those he was aware of, such as John and Randy, and, not deliberately, Layla and Michelle. Now though he knew more of those faces that were seated around the table-- especially the ones belonging to Justin and Heath.
It was amazing, really, that he’d been here for as long as he had been, yet he actually knew so few people. Granted, he’d never actually tried to get to know people. Maybe he should start…? They certainly couldn’t be as bad as Michelle and Layla. He couldn’t help but wonder what people thought of him, considering that he’d been working in the castle for quite some time now and had never made an attempt to introduce himself.
His thoughts were interrupted as Randy stood from his seat. He’d been in a meeting with Lord DiBiase for a good portion of the afternoon, as he’d told Cody as they talked for a bit during dinner. “If I may have your attention, please. I spoke earlier with Lord DiBiase, and he wanted me to inform all of you that preparations for the DiBiase holiday party will begin next week. From that point we will have one week to prepare everything. From decorations to dinner, to rooms to the stables.
“I need every member of this staff to be on par with all the things that will be asked of us. There are many families coming over, so I expect every room in this house will looks suitable for our guests. Wade, I know I can trust you and your staff with the food. John, you know that you’ll have many animals to look after, and if you need extra hands, I’m sure Cody will be able to help. The rest of the footmen, you know that you will each be taking care of our guests as they enter the house and before bed. The other valets, you know your jobs. I trust that things will go smoothly.”
There was a murmuring in the crowd of agreement and acknowledgement before Randy gave a brief nod and sat back down.
“You think I should work out in the stables?” Cody asked of Randy, leaning slightly over the table to ask the man sitting across from him.
“You don’t have to. But I did run the idea past Lord DiBiase and he said that he was fine with that, as he knew Virgil’s son was capable of doing such a thing. And we both think that John will need the help, since so many families will be coming. Remember the amount of horses from the Tynes’ family visit?”
“I would love to help in the stables,” he said with a smile before taking another bite of his food. Maybe he could get to know Heath and Justin a bit better, as well.
"I expect nothing but the best work from you, you hot that right?" John asked as he playfully jockeyed Cody with his shoulder. Cody pretended that the motion really hurt before then sighing softly and chuckling. "Yeah, I get it." Something told Cody that John was going to chat to Heath and Justin too about stepping up their game in terms of their work-ethics. Justin looked up, almost as though hearing Cody thinking about him... which was absurd really.
He caught the man's eyes and offered a smile, which Justin hesitated only fractionally before returning it. Well, it seemed like they at least might be able to get on with one another even though Heath seemed more interested in Wade than anything else. This was going to be a big event... in more ways than one. Cody had many personal reasons about why he wanted every aspect of it to succeed. Many, many reasons that he liked to believe were not entirely selfish in merit over all.
When everyone had finished eating they tidied up in the same collective way that they always did, but the chatter between everyone was much more excitable now. Even though they would be working throughout the party they (the servants) were treated to a night where they themselves were allowed a Christmas party down in the kitchens. The DiBiase's were indulgent like that really.
Cody headed up towards the main entrance foyer to wait Ted, unaware that a pair of sharp, scheming eyes were watching over him. "So... When are you going to make your intentions clear?" Michelle asked as she eyed her friend. Although she liked the gossip and illicitness that accompanied Layla's obsession with the young Runnels it was incredibly boring when nothing happened with any definitive results. For a moment, Layla didn't answer her, but then she determinedly turned.
"At the servant's party." Michelle's brows rose as the blonde sent Layla a disbelieving look. "What are you going to do, get him drunk and make it so that he has to do right by you?" The two women shared a catty giggle as they headed off to do their last jobs of the day, Michelle completely unaware that she had all but hit the nail on the head. Layla was becoming beyond impatient with Cody's disinterest in her and she was resolved that she had to do anything and everything she could to get Cody. Soon.
“Ah, Young Master, how was your dinner?” Cody asked as Ted exited the dining room, the Lord and Lady following right behind him, and he bowed accordingly.
“It was excellent, as always, thank you,” Ted replied, leading them both upstairs.
Shutting the door after he entered Ted’s room, Cody swiftly made his way over to Ted, who was standing by his bed. “Randy told us at dinner tonight that we’ll be starting preparations for your big party next week, and that come the night of the party, I can help John in the stables.”
“That will be nice. I’m sure you’ll enjoy that much more than having to serve some stuffy old man. But don’t forget what I told you before; you’re not going the night without trying some of Nancy’s cider.”
“Will that be served at the servants’ party?” Cody asked. He had no idea that the servants were treated to a party of their own every year.
“I’m not sure. You’d have to ask John or Randy about that. It’s possible, but as I’ve never attended…” Ted trailed off. He never intended to sound high brow or as though he were above Cody in any way. But he couldn’t help how he was raised, what he was born into.
“Sorry, I guess I just… never mind,” Cody said, ready to change the subject. “How many people will be coming?”
“I honestly have no idea. The Tynes, since they’re practically family as is, and will be officially in just a few more months. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Rotundas were invited, and this Ouellet family will be here so that I can meet Maryse,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “I’m sure there will be many others from all across the country. These gatherings tend to draw a large crowd.”
“And you’re sure that that night, even with all these people…?” Cody trailed off, the red on his cheeks evidence to his embarrassment.
“Positive. There are rooms for guests all over this castle, but by the time everyone gets to bed at night, they’ll all be extremely tired, and most will probably be drunk. People will be all over the place, and I can assure you that there will be noises coming from every which way. No one will pay us any mind. Despite the loudness of the castle, we’ll have peace in here.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Cody said with a smile.
“It will be. And I hope you know that I’ll want you to pick out my outfit once again. One of my extremely formal outfits this time. You can dress me in it so that later that night, you can undress me.”
A shiver ran down Cody's spine at the words, warmth coiling in his stomach at the mere thought. "That sounds wonderful." he said softly. Whereas Ted had initially deemed Cody dressing him and undressing him as demeaning for both of him, it wasn't now.
They longer they had had their arrangement going the more the pair of them had noticed that there was an intimacy and a tenderness in the actions that allowed them to express the connection between them in a way that was just for them, given that as of yet they could not physically give themselves to one another.
They spent time reading and answering some letters Ted had left before it was then time for Ted to ready for bed. Bracing his hands on the bed for support as he leant back somewhat and extended his leg, Ted watched as Cody methodically and dexterously began to undo the laces to his boots. One after the other he then eased them from Ted's feet and set them aside.
Kneeling between Ted's legs (and wasn't that presenting interesting images to Ted's overactive imagination?) Cody then undid the string securing his trousers and then eased his fly open. As one Ted rose from the bed as Cody moved back on his knees a little, easing Ted's trousers down around his ankles and helping him step out of them. Then, his underwear followed suit.
Getting from the floor Cody lay the clothing items onto the bed for the moment before then reaching and undoing the tie around Ted's neck and beginning to unbutton his shirt. Soon, Ted was gloriously naked before him but Cody fought to keep himself under control in the current situation.
The shaking of his hands was enough of a sign to Ted that although his lover seemed unusually unaffected by his nakedness -since he was continuing to undress him and not attempting to do anything else- he was in fact as aware of the situation as Ted himself was.
Each brush of Cody's fingers against his skin was heaven and hell, goosebumps cropping in their wake. Having his shirt placed on was a moment that Ted was both saddened and delighted by, because Cody's hands ran the length of him when placing the shirt on... but then at the same time he was saddened that he was having to dress.
Although it looked like a guest bedroom might be the best odd for their first time, Cody one day hoped that they could make love right there in Ted's room, and his own. It was a desire he had that he couldn't explain adequately, but it was... like he wanted their intimate presences imprinted on those rooms as well as each other.
Authors: wrestlemanix and eric_idle_rules
Pairings: Ted DiBiase Jr./Cody Runnels, John Cena/Randy Orton
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Taking place in feudal England, Cody's family comes from a long line of farmers who work the land belonging to the DiBiase family. Despite the enormous class differences, Cody and Ted meet and form an instant connection with one another, both learning things from the other that they otherwise never would have known.
Word Count: 10404
A/N: I admit, I'm no expert on the life and times of feudal England, but I tried. Forgive any errors when it comes to time frames and whatnot...
Disclaimer: Neither of us own the WWE.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17
The closer he got, the more he wished he could have a portrait done of this sight to have it hung in his room. That way he would never forget what this scene looked like. Oh, how he wished he could. He now stood next to Mercury, patting his neck quickly before he untied him from the tree. “How’s Cody doing up there?” he asked of Mercury. Again, the horse huffed and nodded lightly. Smiling, Ted led them away from the tree and into a bit of a clearing where Mercury could trot along a bit faster than while surrounded by trees. “You feeling comfortable?”
“I am, yes. He’s such a well behaved horse.” It wasn’t uncommon for horses to disapprove of new riders, potentially bucking them off. Cody had seen it happen before, and had seen the nasty consequences of such a thing, from broken bones to death.
“John trained him well. This was actually the first horse that John ever trained on his own, with William only overseeing him. Of course, I’d been around him for a long time so that he’d be used to me.” Now that they were out in the clearing, Ted looked from Mercury up to Cody, that majestic sight still amazing him. “I hope this won’t be too much for you, buddy,” he said patting Mercury’s neck. With that, he put his foot into the stirrup and hauled himself up and over onto his horse’s back. He adjusted himself up there, seating himself so that his front was pressed air tight to Cody’s back, arms wrapping around him.
“Teddy…,” Cody muttered as he felt those arms tighten around him.
Ted’s chin was resting on Cody’s shoulder, his head nuzzling into Cody’s. “You ready? Take the reins. He’ll move at the gentlest tug or turn of the reins.”
Nodding, Cody tightened up the slack, bringing his hands up, then down quickly to get him to start moving. They started out at a slow walk, allowing Ted to adjust to having to share the saddle with someone else. “You doing all right back there?” Cody asked.
“I’m fine. I’ve got you, after all,” he answered, pressing a kiss to Cody’s cheek.
A blush covered Cody's cheeks this time, the ravenette smiling like a fool at the soppy sentiment that his lover shared with him. He was more than pleased with the turn of events and hoped that he and Ted would be able to do this again. Mercury was indeed a well-behaved animal and Cody was barely having to do any sort of steering for the animal to keep walking. He'd almost think he needn't steer at all.
The gentle motion of Mercury moving was enough to lull Ted usually, but with Cody all but nestled between his thighs from how they were settled on the horse had him aware of each constant motion. He kept his head rested upon Cody's shoulder as they continued riding, loving the little moment that they had together. It was intimate and special and he knew he was most definitely going to add this incident to the journal Cody'd bought him.
"Is there anywhere special that you want to go?" he asked, turning his head enough to look at Ted. Ted paused momentarily and considered it; there wasn't really anywhere within the woods to go and see, aside from one view atop the hill which allowed you to see well out into the landscape. He thought that Cody would appreciate the view-- his grandfather had showed him it often when they had brought their horses out together.
"Head that way." Ted reluctantly brought an arm away from Cody and pointed out towards the left. Nodding his head Cody gently guided the horse along, keeping an eye on the low branches that came out at them and also the thick, gnarled roots in the grounds. "I haven't been out in here too much," Cody mused slightly, "--my dad used to say it was much too dangerous and that goblins'd steal me away if I wandered off." he laughed softly at the thought.
Laughing slightly Ted mused, "Goblins?" Cody pretended to huff as he laughed again, "Hey, that was a real threat when I was younger-- especially when Dustin would sit there and tell me that the Goblins'd roast me over a fire." he tilted his head, "I stopped believing it when I was five." he mused. "My dad finally told me the truth after I freaked at the thought of him going out there."
"You are so cute."
"...Hush."
“And you told me that you had no stories about your life to tell me,” Ted reminded him. “There’s so much I’ve yet to learn about you.”
“Well, I guess I shouldn’t have said that I had no stories about my life. I just didn’t think… well, I didn’t think that you’d be interested in my stories. My life is so dull compared to yours,” Cody said to him, hanging his head.
Ted moved his hand from around Cody’s waist up to his chin, turning his head around to face him. “Your life is far from dull. If anything, it’s more exciting than mine’s ever been. You’ve seen what my life consists of!” He leaned forward, quickly kissing Cody’s lips, smiling when he saw where they were. Sliding off Mercury, he held his hand out to Cody as he stepped off. Quickly tying Mercury to a tree so he wouldn’t wander off back towards the castle, Ted then took Cody over to the very top of the hill.
“Wow,” Cody said in a breath, amazed by the view before him, completely forgetting everything they had just talked about. “This is beautiful.”
“I know,” Ted agreed, lacing his fingers through Cody’s. “I haven’t been out this way since… well, since my grandfather passed. But I knew that you’d like this place just as much as I did, and I thought it’d be a shame to not take you out here with me.”
“Thank you,” Cody said, smiling as he continued to look out over the land.
Grabbing Cody’s other hand, Ted turned the younger man to face him. “We’ll come back here one day. When it’s warmer, much warmer,” he added. “And I’ll lay you down on the ground and make love to you.”
Cody blinked his eyes a couple times in surprise. “Re-really?”
“Yes. God, yes, Cody,” he said, pulling Cody in close to him, but still looking into his eyes. “Or maybe… you could be the one to take me,” he added in a whisper.
Good God, was Ted trying to kill him? Cody's throat convulsed visibly with his swallow of excitement and nerves at the prospect of what Ted had offered, unable to break eye-contact. "Yes." he breathed, "Yes--" Ted's own heart skipped a few beats at the serious intensity in Cody's voice, his abdomen quivering slightly at the thought. "You really want to?"
"Sometimes it's all I can think about." Cody confessed softly, his hands tightening around Ted's own a fraction, their bodies pressed flush together. "Sometimes it's all I can do not to push you down over the nearest surface and take you until you're begging me to stop." Wetting his lips reflexively, Ted fought back a moan at the image Cody conjured in his mind; the only protest he had was that he doubted he'd ever beg Cody to stop making love to him. Considering how bad his own need for the other was he'd probably beg for more.
Closing his eyes momentarily Cody fought to compose himself-- he hadn't meant to reveal so much but sometimes his mouth ran away with him before his mind could catch up to what he was intending to say. "Sorry--" he started, but Ted's lips brushing over his own killed the apology that he had been intending to let out, "Don't be." Ted whispered, "Don't ever be sorry of telling me things like this."
The breeze pulled at their hair slightly and as Ted's neat locks ruffled Cody pictured how they looked as Ted writhed around underneath him during their intimate encounters and wondered whether the messy style would become even messier if Ted was writhing around in pleasure of Cody taking him.
"Damn," Cody laughed slightly embarrassedly, cheeks turning red as he shifted slightly, pants feeling tight once more. "How do you do it to me, Teddy?" He had already cum not half an hour before thanks to Ted's talented mouth.
"That's a question that I could just as easily ask of you," Ted told him. “You always, without fail, manage to drive me crazy with just the simplest of things. Like the way that your cheeks turn bright red whenever you feel like you’ve done something wrong or you’re embarrassed. Or when you’re happy and you smile and show off that little gap between your teeth. I love that little gap,” he added, when he saw that the blush was once again present on his lover’s face at the mention of the gap. He decided to keep going, wanting Cody to know all the little quirks that he had that made Ted love him even more. “When we’re reading together and I can literally hear you thinking about what the word is. Then, when you get the word right, you smile and your eyes light up.”
“Teddy…” Cody whispered, feeling terribly embarrassed as Ted went on. “Please…”
“Please what? Please stop telling you why I love you? I really don’t think that I can do that,” Ted said, leaning in for a kiss. Cody’s mouth parted willingly as Ted’s tongue slipped inside, making a point to flick his tongue over the small gap in the process. When they pulled back for air, Ted gave a little sigh and said, “We should probably head back. We’ve been out here for a while; don’t want my parents wondering if I’m ok and send people out to look for me.”
“That wouldn’t be good. Although I’m sure that John would let them know that I was with you and if anything were to happen, I’d do everything in my power to get you back to the safety of the castle.”
Placing a gentle hand on Cody’s cheek, Ted smiled at him, letting the hand slide from cheek down to his heart. “I know you would. Now let’s go. Mercury’s probably itching to get going again.” As they walked over to the tree and Ted untied him, he said, “I wish I could ride all the way back to the castle with you up there with me.”
“It would be nice, wouldn’t it?” Cody agreed. There were so many things that he and Ted couldn’t do due to their class difference. No one would think twice if Ted was riding with Kristen, and had Cody been one of Ted’s peers, he would have been provided his own horse to ride.
“When I’m made Lord, you and I will go riding together all the time,” he said with a smile as he hauled himself up onto the back of Mercury. “Though two of us on one horse will probably a bit much for it to handle… I think it’d be nice if you could raise your own horse,” he added, smiling down at Cody as he extended his hand to assist the younger man up.
But it was as though he didn’t even see the hand. He was still unsure that he heard Ted correctly. “My own horse?”
"Yes, your own horse." Ted repeated, unsure why Cody looked like... that over something that he was sure the other would like. His hand started to retract slightly, uncertainty showing in the bright blues, "W-Wouldn't you want one?" he asked, the wavering in his tone seeming to break Cody out of the slight trance that he had fallen into for the younger man hastily reached for the other's hand and clamboured up onto the horse. "No, no, I would!"
The way that Ted's face still retained some unease made Cody wrap his arms around the other's waist and press his face into his shoulder. "You surprised me, that's all." Cody mumbled, Ted's eyes widening slightly as he brought a hand up and rested them over where Cody's were clasped around his middle. "I mean, what you just offered me is a big deal for someone like me, you know?" he tried to explain.
Momentarily cursing his own stupidness for over-reacting like he had, Ted smiled softly and began to steer Mercury back towards the castle. "I'm sorry if I surprised you, but I meant it. You'd be able to raise a horse, right?" Cody nodded, brow furrowing slightly, "Well, yes, I believe I could but I don't know if I'd be able to do it alone." Especially when the winter was over and he was back on the farm; if he took the horse with him it would be even more difficult to explain.
A contemplative expression that Cody couldn't see settled over Ted's face, "We'll see, Ok?" he said, slowing before coming to a halt as they reached the end of the forest. Cody slid down from the horse and Ted's arms immediately felt empty without the other within them. Just like when they had headed out Cody walked besides his horse, looking up to Ted as they walked along, still talking to him. The closer the castle came into view Ted couldn't help feeling somewhat saddened by the fact that his and Cody's time together was over in that open intimate sense.
"I think we've missed lunch." Cody commented as he held Mercury's reins to keep the horse steady as Ted dismounted with a fluid ease that admittedly impressed Cody and showed just how well-versed Ted really was in riding. "Are you hungry?" he asked the elder teen.
"I am a bit." Ted admitted, taking Mercury into the stable. John didn't seem to be in there, but the foreign stable hand that he had seen before was. When he spotted Ted he immediately bounded over, "Here sir, let me take him for you." Cody's brow furrowed, trying to figure out the accent; it was unlike anything that he had ever heard before, although admittedly his experience of other nationalities and such was limited. "Thank you," Ted handed the reins over, "Gabriel, right? Justin Gabriel."
“Yes, Sir,” Justin answered.
Cody had seen this young man before a couple of times. The night the Tynes family was here, though, that had been the first time. He’d even seen him in the kitchens on occasion, he realized. But he’d never heard the man speak before. “If you don’t mind me asking,” Cody began quietly, feeling two pairs of eyes on him, “where are you from?”
“Morocco.”
Quirking his head slightly, Cody looked at him, confusion written all over his face. “Where’s Morocco?”
“In Africa,” he answered. He didn’t speak much, since English wasn’t his native language, and even though he’d been in England for a good bit of time, he never felt comfortable with talking. Of course, he’d learned the important phrases very well, like the one he just used with Ted. But he always struggled when attempting to ask John a question about something, especially when it was something important and all the English he knew went flying out of his head.
“My dad traveled abroad when he was younger,” Ted told him. “They went to France and to Spain and to Portugal and a few places in Africa. Including Morocco. He told me that he saw the way that they farmed and raised animals there, animals completely different than what we have here, and he was quite impressed. And he, Justin, that is, was young when he came back here with my father to see how we did things here. So that there wouldn’t be any issues with him, or anything, and so he wouldn’t grow up as an orphan, as he was in Morocco, he was actually adopted by the family of stable hands. William Slater. I’ve talked about him before, the one who passed. His son, Heath, is the other stable hand we have…” Ted shook his head, wondering why his father hasn’t let him go. “But Justin’s got potential, as John always says, but the language barrier does get in the way of things at times.”
“Oh, interesting,” Cody said to Ted. He then turned to Justin and said, “It’s nice to properly meet you. I hope we can get to know each other better. I’m Cody, by the way.”
“I know. Nice to meet you,” Justin said with a small smile. “Sir,” he said with a bow before taking the horse back to his stall to brush down.
“You’ve got quite the staff around here, don’t you Young Master Theodore?”
“Quite the staff indeed,” Ted agreed, giving his lover a smile before they turned and headed back up towards the castle.
Now, Cody was beyond interested about Justin; he had rarely met anyone who had come from outside the village before, let alone from someone who was from a whole different country completely. "Something on your mind?" Ted asked, deeming it safe to speak freely given that no one else seemed to be about. Looking up to the other Cody shrugged slightly, "It's nothing really, I was just thinking about that Justin fellow..." he admitted and Ted playfully looked sulky, "Should I be jealous?"
Laughing slightly Cody shook his head, "No, it's nothing like that." he assured, "I was just wondering about what it's like where he's from natively. I've never met someone from another country before." That knowledge was a given to Ted, but he nodded anyway, "I don't know if he'll remember too much being that he was only young when he came over... I was as curious as you though I'll admit." a slightly sheepish smile touched his lips as he met Cody's eyes.
"I was asking him all about where he was from, and who he was, and he just stood there looking so confused and slightly frightened; he reminded me of a little animal who was in a new territory. Father told me he didn't speak English and I shut up, wondering how Justin was going to cope here if he couldn't speak the language." he then added on the confession that his father had paid for the teacher who gave Justin lessons in English outside of what he learnt from his adoptive family.
"So... In a way he was kinda like I am now," Cody's brow furrowed, "Except I know our language beforehand." Ted nodded, their conversation cutting short as they entered the kitchen. "Afternoon Wade," Ted greeted the tall man with dark hair, seeing a brow arching at him in obvious expectancy. Ted tried, and failed, to look coy as he said, "I missed lunch..." Wade clucked his tongue, folding his arms, "And I suppose you want me to make you something?" he asked.
Ted gave his most winning smile -a smile that he had perfected for all manner of staff when he had been growing up to save himself from the occasional scolding when his curiosity had led him into mischief- and nodded his head, "You're a quick man Wade. Please?" Wade sighed and indicated Ted sit at the table, "We have some pie and potatoes left over, Young Master, would that suit you?" Ted nodded fervently, "Sounds delicious." he motioned Cody to sit with him, Wade fixing a second plate for the younger man without being told.
As Wade set the plates down before the two, he said, “You know, one would think that you’re getting a tad old to be using that smile of yours to get you out of trouble.”
“It worked on you, didn’t it?”
“You’re worse than your brother Michael, you know that?” Wade told him, remembering all sorts of mayhem that he had wreaked throughout the castle when he was younger. “How did Brett end up so placid?”
“I couldn’t tell you. Maybe he watched us growing up and wanted to be the exact opposite,” Ted mused, shaking his head with a grin on his face. Finally he managed to take a bite of his food, giving a small signal to Cody to do the same. “Wade, this is just as delicious as it sounded, if not more so. Don’t you agree, Cody?”
“I do. But I think everything that you’ve made has been delicious,” Cody told him, taking another bite of the potatoes.
“Thank you both.” Wade turned from them and began putting back some of the leftover food and unused ingredients. Yes, they did have other members of the kitchen staff, but Wade was always very particular about where things went back. If one little thing was out of place, he could quickly become irritable. In an often busy kitchen, things needed to be in their place at all times.
Just as the two were finishing up their late lunches, about to stand up to go put their plates in the wash bin, another member of the staff entered the kitchen. His shoulder length red hair was tied back into a ponytail (why his father had yet to make him chop off that horrendous ponytail he didn’t know), and he headed right over to Wade, smiling as he did so. “Good afternoon, Wade.”
He quickly glanced over at the young man, the only greeting he gave him being, “Heath.”
Momentarily the red haired man looked a little put out by the lacklustre response from the cook, but then he immediately rebounded and began dodging back and forth almost behind Wade to see what the other was doing. "That pie sure was delicious Wade, you're such a great cook!" Both Cody and Ted exchanged looks at this eagerness; Heath was like a show-dog seeking attention.
However, what was most interesting was what happened next. Justin stepped into the room, his head bowing almost shyly as he addressed Heath, his eyes flickering to Wade before returning to the floor. "Heath, did you get the scraps for the animals yet?" Wade's eyes were fixed on the exotic young man, staring slightly. It was a slightly surprising reaction and from the looks of it Heath didn't appreciate it much at all. Interesting.
"Huh? Oh, yeah!" Heath's frown momentarily dropped as he turned back to Wade and gave a large smile. "Do you have the scraps for us Wade?" the scraps that were decent were fed to the animals as a little something extra; something that John kept strictly monitored so as to not mess with the animal's every-day diet. He had said he needed someone to fetch them and Heath had jumped at the chance.
"Here." Wade fetched a small trough that contained the skins and suchlike, handing it over to Heath and Justin, but when he spoke he looked directly at Justin. "You alright with that?" Gabriel's head ducked, nodding as his mouth worked soundlessly. Suddenly, Cody understood the cultural gap that Ted had mentioned before. It probably didn't help that Justin seemed somewhat shy too. The two men left the kitchen, Justin with a polite nod of the head whereas Heath made sure to say goodbye to Wade loudly.
“Well, that was… unexpected,” Cody whispered into Ted’s ear. “What do you think that was all about?” When he glanced up, he saw that Wade had seen him whispering, and gave him a small, guilty looking smile.
Wade couldn’t help but notice the way that those two acted so casual around one another. Even when Cody was working to his fullest extent, when he was around Ted, he seemed to be quite relaxed. Not at all like the other workers while around the Lord’s family. And the way that he’d just been whispering into his master’s ear like that, certainly not something that just anyone would do.
“Thank you again for preparing this late meal for us, Wade,” Ted said, breaking the silence as he stood.
“Of course, Young Master,” he said with a slight bow.
The pair placed their plates on the counter before leaving the kitchen, going straight to Ted’s room. Both sitting on his bed, Cody began to speak, asking once more what that whole ordeal was all about. “I mean, could Heath have been any more obvious? He was acting just like Layla! Have those two met? Perhaps they should end up together!”
“Think of the obnoxious children those two would have together!” Ted chimed in, laughing as he did.
“I’d rather not!” Cody exclaimed, joining in with Ted’s laughter.
“In all seriousness, though, Wade was almost completely ignoring Heath. And then Justin walked in, and he was a changed person.”
“Almost exactly like the way I ignore Layla, but then my eyes light up whenever they fall upon you,” Cody said, smiling as he wrapped his hand around Ted’s neck and pulled him in for a kiss.
Reveling mentally in the triumph he had over Layla at Cody's admission (though yes, by now he had pretty-much come to know without a doubt that Cody liked him much much more than her) he returned the kiss.
The way Wade had looked at him before should have set him on alert due to the understanding that he had seen there-- but it didn't. Wade didn't strike him as the malicious type (though Lord help you if you fuck up and make his cakes go wrong) and it would spite him more than anyone to start spreading rumours about his future master. Maybe... Maybe Wade was just personally struggling like they were. It might not seem outwardly common for a man to like other men, but Cody was sure as sugar that neither he nor Ted, nor Randy or John were not the only men to like another man.
Feeling Cody's tongue curling over his own Ted all but purred; the kiss was languid and relaxed despite its depth, his hands gently rubbing up and down Cody's back as the other's rested on his chest and the back of his neck. He adored Cody, he truly did, and each time he hurt the other was like a wound to his very soul. He was beginning to understand John and Randy's talk of sacrifices more with each passing day, and he'd reached a decision.
As much as humanly possible (and with a father as bullheaded as his own) Ted was going to avoid being married. However, if the time came when he couldn't avoid it he was going to not give the other up. He would treat his wife well, with respect, but she would never hold the place in his heart that Cody did. He would do everything in his power to keep Cody. He supposed it was too much to hope for for a woman who'd settle for an arrangement like Randy and his wife had?
He could think about that later, much later, when he didn’t have Cody’s tongue in his mouth. Or when Cody wasn’t pushing him onto his back and straddling his hips. Always a dangerous thing to do up in his room in the middle of the day, but neither of them found themselves caring. As long as they got no further along than this.
Ted’s hands continued to rub at Cody’s back, lowering enough until he could slip his hands under his shirt so his hands were touching skin. He would never tire of feeling Cody’s skin on his, of that he was certain. So smooth and soft he was, but underneath he could feel every little movement his muscles made. The mere thought made him groan into Cody’s mouth.
Breaking off the kiss, panting for air, Cody smiled down at Ted. “We should probably stop now… just incase…” he said with a blush.
“But I don’t want to,” Ted replied with a pout, raising his head up to place a swift kiss on Cody’s lips.
“Mmm, but if we don’t stop now, then when will we? When we’re naked and you’ve come deep inside of me?” Cody asked, biting his lower lip after his brazen question.
Ted’s eyes went wide and he could feel his cock stirring. Wouldn’t he love to be able to do just that? “That sounds… like a wonderful idea.”
Bending forward, Cody whispered, “Not too much longer,” into Ted’s ear, watching as his lover’s eyes shut and his back arched just slightly. “You know that I can’t wait for it to happen. I’ve been waiting for so long now.”
“Me, too, Cody. Me, too,” he agreed. He wanted to know what it felt like to be inside Cody. And he wanted to know what it felt like to have Cody inside him.
Cody rolled off of him, obviously disappointed that they couldn’t go any further, but he was ok with it, knowing that in a matter of days, he would finally be getting what he wanted since he first laid eyes upon the statuesque blonde man upon his handsome horse.
"Soon." Cody repeated softly, cupping Ted's smooth cheek with a work-roughened hand and watching as the older man leant into the touch without even a fraction of hesitation. "Soon." Ted echoed, opening his eyes to meet Cody's. Soon he would have something of Cody's forever, and Cody would have something of his.
They exchanged one final, fleetingly chaste kiss before Cody then stopped touching the other completely, but with obvious reluctance. "Is there anything you would like to do?" Cody asked, and Ted had to bite his tongue to keep back the response of, 'You', which sounded somewhat wrong even to his own ears. He didn't want to just 'do' Cody like some uninteresting jigsaw-puzzle.
"Shall we do some reading?" Ted asked as he stood up from the bed and moved to the shelf where he had replaced the King Arthur book upon Cody's moving-in to the castle as the other had the fairytale book for private practice. "Ok." Cody nodded his head, moving so that he was nestled into Ted's side when the other returned to the bed and found their place. They were almost halfway through the book now.
Soon, Ted was just watching Cody's face as he read as well as listening to his growingly fluent wording. His plush lips formed the words so smoothly, only the furrowing of his brow and slight hesitance denoting a time when he was uncertain. To think not merely a few months ago Cody had probably never so much as looked upon a book up close before. It was amazing.
It was slightly hard for Cody to focus when he felt one of Ted's large hands settle almost absent-mindedly over his abdomen when the other's arm went around him. A slight flush covered his cheeks and he stumbled, but merely continued on with a gentle nudge from Ted-- who had obviously assumed that Cody had struggled with a word and not been caught off-guard by the touch. As he read Cody's head rested on Ted's shoulder, happily settled in the moment.
He flipped to the next page, reading the words as though he’d been doing it for his entire lifetime. He’d quickly begun recognizing words and patterns that the letters made, and he was always practicing on his own when he could. He wasn’t just doing this for himself, he was doing it for Ted, as well. Without Ted, this would never have even been an opportunity for him.
As Cody came to the end of the page, this being the end of the chapter they had been working on, Ted couldn’t hold back his smile. “We’re going to be finished with this book in no time at all! We’ll have to start looking for a new book for you.”
Blushing, Cody cast a sidelong glance at Ted. “Really? You think we’ll be finished with this soon?”
“Oh, absolutely! Do you remember how slow-going this was at the start? When you’d take so much time on one sentence, or even one word? Now you’re finishing a page in the time that it took you to do an entire paragraph! Your progress is incredible, Cody. I couldn’t be more proud of you,” he said, leaning forward to give his lover a kiss. “Do you want to keep reading?”
“Sure,” he replied happily. He found that he was really starting to enjoy reading. Now that he could really understand the words that he was reading, he could imagine the kinds of things written about in the book. All the fantastic images that his mind painted amazed him. There were some things in there that he had no idea what they even were, but his mind substituted images for them anyway. He didn’t know where Camelot was, but he imagined that he was similar to Ted’s castle. He didn’t know what King Arthur looked like, but he couldn’t help but think that Ted would fit the role perfectly.
They went on reading, Ted heaping praise upon the younger teen as he continued to do extremely well with his reading. They made it a few more pages in, about halfway through the next chapter, when they decided that was enough for the day. “Did you want to practice writing some more?” He knew that Cody was struggling a lot more with writing than he ever did with the reading. He still couldn’t manage to hold the quill correctly, which often times caused issues with the ink not coming off the nib the way it should. Yet, no matter how many times Ted tried to show him, Cody simply could not get the grip right.
“Yes, let’s try writing.” Cody also didn’t practice writing as much, since he didn’t have the supplies to down in his room. He found that he’d much rather read, anyway. But he still needed to practice, so he moved and sat down at Ted’s desk, ready to try again.
Almost immediately Cody felt heat crawling over his cheeks in an obvious manner as he attempted to pick the quill up. It might not seem difficult but you had to hold the quill in exactly the right position or else what was written would look incredibly shoddy. Not that what he wrote didn't look shoddy anyway, Cody mentally taunted himself; a natural reaction when he was faced with the prospect of any kind of failure before Ted. The ravenette was so stressed at the prospect of going wrong that his hand was actually shaking slightly as he picked up the quill, almost immediately fumbling with it.
Watching Cody for a few moments Ted then reached and gently corrected the other's grip. "Just relax, Cody." he said gently, "It's not a race and you needn't rush." Cody hung his head slightly but Ted gently nudged the younger man's cheek with his nose in a gesture that told Cody he wasn't being scolded or mocked, merely informed. "The quill is delicate, yes, but sturdy-- you don't have to be afraid of breaking it with the slightest increase in pressure. The nib is the most delicate piece."
Taking a few breaths Cody relaxed his hand slightly as Ted suggested he do so, his grip only slightly more awkward now. It was a difficult thing to get and Ted recalled how he had used to get punished terribly by his strict school-masters whenever he messed up. He would never dream of punishing Cody in such a manner-- heck, he didn't even like the thought of so much as scolding Cody verbally let alone physically. Running his hand gently up Cody's arm (and hearing a pleasant little intake of breath from Cody as he did so) he guided the other on how to hold himself as he wrote for comfort.
"Now then, shall we practice with the alphabet or would you rather write actual words?" Since it'd been a while since he had wrote anything Cody shyly asked if Ted could go over the alphabet with him again. Initially when he had done this Ted had taught him 'capital letters' (of which Ted had attempted to explain and Cody didn't totally get other than they were to do with names) but they had then moved on to 'lower-case' letters before too long.
Probably unexpectedly he made some mistakes but given that he had had a hiatus from writing, and hadn't been writing as long as he had reading, he didn't do too badly at all. When he slipped he became frustrated and angry with his own incompetence; a gentle touch or word from Ted soon had him calming down though, soothing his embarrassment and slightly bruised ego and telling him that he'd only struggle more if he let his temper distract him.
“Cody, you’ve got to be patient. You’re not going to get it on your first attempt, and that’s perfectly fine! Don’t tell me that you’ve already forgotten what I was like when I was out in the fields!”
Turning his head to the side to look at Ted best he could, Cody smiled and shook his head. “No, I’ll never forget those days. When I helped to guide you using the sickle…” Cody recalled, eyes shutting briefly as the memory came back to him.
“See, I was terrible. And if I tried it again, I’d probably still be terrible at it. Even with your help I was lousy. Writing is just like that. You have to focus on just this task at hand. And hold the quill correctly,” he added as he saw Cody’s hand slowly shifting back to the way he always picked up the quill.
“Sorry! It’s just a lot more comfortable this way…” he said with a bit of a frown.
“Really? I can’t see at all how it would be,” Ted noted honestly as he look at the way Cody’s fingers wrapped around the quill. “This way puts less strain on your hand and your letters flow much easier.”
Dropping the quill completely, Cody let out a frustrated sigh. He was letting his temper get the best of him again. “I really don’t think this writing thing is really for me. I mean, who am I going to be writing to, anyway?”
“You can always write to me,” Ted answered softly. As he wrote in the journal Cody gave him, he wrote it with the intentions that Cody would someday soon be reading it with him. Sometimes he found himself actually writing things specifically for Cody. He found that there was something deeply intimate and romantic about writing letters to a lover (as he one day found out Brett and Kristen were doing when he saw the wax sealed letter addressed to Kristen from Brett, and later questioned him about, leaving Brett bright red as Ted teased him something terrible).
Those words immediately dispelled Cody's mini temper-tantrum as he turned to look his lover in the face, obviously surprised by the idea. "Y-" Cody licked his lips reflexively to wet them, throat suddenly feeling dry, "You'd want me to write to you?" Momentarily he was confused, considering that he and Ted now lived in the same place and saw one another, and considering he had no writing materials at home, but Ted's next words cleared any conflict.
"I'd cherish anything written by this hand, Cody." he picked up the now quill-less hand and brushed his lips over the pulse of Cody's wrist. Cody watched, awestruck into silence as Ted continued to speak in that same soft voice, eyes upon him and only the smallest blush of embarrassment at his own boldness on his cheeks. "You could write a letter of complete nonsense to me, but I'd still sleep with it under my pillow just because it was from you."
Cody's throat closed up slightly and to his mortification his eyes stung slightly with tears but he blinked rapidly to remove them from view lest Ted saw them. "R-Really?" he said, more than humbled that Ted would be so thrilled to receive a written word from his regardless of quality of said words or the content. "Really." the sentiment was repeated with complete sincerity as Ted kissed each of his fingertips.
In that moment Cody resolved to write to Ted; writing to the other would mean they could stay in contact regardless of them being apart and, and well, it'd give him a way to say some of the things that even he was too embarrassed to say out loud. The fire of determination in Cody's expressive eyes made Ted smile internally, correcting Cody gently when he picked up the quill but then watching as the other loaded it with ink correctly. This time, although still clearly frustrated with himself, Cody didn't fuss and seemed to be striving not to rush, but to take his time.
Writing down the letters, he tried to think what to say to Ted if he were to eventually write a letter to him. Yes, he knew letters and could read many words, but he knew that he could only spell very few words on his own. But, oh, the way that Ted had praised him so, the way that he lavished affection upon him made him want to write something to him.
“You’re doing so well,” Ted told him as he watched over Cody’s shoulders at the letters appearing on the parchment before his very eyes. “Keep it up; I know your hand writing will improve. It’s already looking better than it did at first.”
“Thank you, Teddy,” he said. It didn’t matter how much Ted praised him, because every time he still managed to blush. Out in the fields or in the barn with the animals, Cody knew when he was doing a good job. With the reading and the writing, well, he never thought he’d be able to do a good job.
“Come on, let’s finish up the rest of the alphabet in lower case letters,” Ted encourage him on.
Taking his time, Cody picked up where he left off at the letter ‘p’ to complete the final letters of the alphabet. “Do you think I could try a few names again?” Cody asked, feeling as though he needed more practice writing out full words.
“Of course! Which names would you like to write? Do you remember what letters you need to use for any of them?”
“Well, I’d like to do our names. First and last. And maybe the rest of our families. Oh, John and Randy, as well. I… I don’t really know which other words I’d like to write, though. I mean, if I… if I were to write a letter to you, that is,” he added softly.
“I told you, I wouldn’t care if you wrote down nothing more than our names on a piece of paper and handed it over to me. Write what you feel comfortable doing.”
“May I try… on my own? To write you something now? Without you looking?” Cody asked, and Ted chuckled and nodded, turning his back to Cody and putting his hands over his eyes. Taking a small, blank piece of parchment and placing it in front of him, Cody dipped the quill into the ink, fighting to keep his hands in the correct position as he started writing slowly:
Ted DiBiase
Cody Runnels
He then paused, not really sure how to write the next words, but he sounded things out in his head, and tried to remember what they looked like when seeing them while reading. Taking a breath, he dipped the quill back into the ink and scratched out on the paper (all in capital letters, since he felt more comfortable using those with these words he didn’t really know):
I LOVE YOU
Studying the words uncertainly (please God, let him have gotten these ones right at least!) Cody then took a breath before picking the parchment piece up. "You-- um, you can look now." Curiously, smiling, Ted turned around after removing his hand from his eyes. Cody looked as though his face had been set alight by a torch with how red it was as he held his hand out.
Accepting the parchment with care -because the ink would still be wet and also because Cody had written it and therefore it had worth to Ted- Ted then looked upon the words. Upon reading them his eyes widening, lips parting slightly as the all of the air in his lungs seemed to rush out in one gust of breath that was strangely inaudible with awe. "Cody--" the older man started, and Cody was slightly confused about how to take the other's response and so began to babble with distress, "Oh, don't tell me I got them wrong! Damn it, I am so stupid--!"
The words he had been insulting himself with were cut off almost immediately as Ted's mouth covered his own; taking advantage of the other's parted lips even though truthfully it was never taking advantage because Cody always surrendered himself to Ted willingly, and vice-versa. The ravenette's eyes fluttered closed as the quill fell from his hand when he allowed the kiss to take over his attention, drowning in Ted's taste filling his mouth once more.
When the kiss broke the two of them were panting hard and Cody looked dazed. "D-Did I get them right, then?" he asked softly, unable to look away from the myriad of emotions swirling in the expression-filled hues of his lover. "You got those words perfect." Hell, it wouldn't have taken a genius to figure out those words even if Cody happened to have spelt them wrong. But he hadn't: they were crystal clear laid out before him.
Picking up the quill, Ted printed underneath in equal capital letters words Cody recognised as those he had just written with another one added upon the end: I LOVE YOU, TOO. Now Cody wanted that paper back, even though previously he had just wanted to hand it over and have the embarrassment of his pathetic attempt at writing just disregarded as fast as possible. He watched as Ted then placed the slip into his pocket as soon as the ink was dry.
"I love you," Ted whispered, cupping Cody's cheeks as he momentarily forgot what their agenda had been to keep writing, "I love you more than the amount of stars there are in the sky, deeper than the very depths of the ocean itself." If this was the reaction that he got Cody was going to make sure to write those words for Ted every day as well as saying it. "I'm not as imaginative as you," Cody began softly, "--so my words won't be nearly as beautiful: but all I can say is that I love you, with all my heart."
Smiling, Ted quickly pressed their lips together before saying, “That yet another thing I love about you. You have no need for frilly words and long declarations. You’re direct and to the point. I may say that my love for you is greater than the height of the tallest mountain known to man, yet you simply say that you love me with everything that you are, and that’s all I need to hear.”
Chuckling, Cody said, “I know through my life my father has always taught me to respect our Lord, but that hasn’t stopped him from speaking his mind when he’s not around. He’s always said to me, ‘Them big words and high-brow talk don’t get no work done out in the fields.’ Always after I’d ask him what some word meant that your father used that I’d never heard before. Obviously because he didn’t know it, either. Never had a need to.”
“You don’t need it. You never have. This is what captivated me from the start,” he said, placing his hand over Cody’s heart. “Not how many words you know, not how much money you have. None of that. It’s all about this.” He removed his hand and bent his head, placing a kiss where his hand just was.
Even through the layer of fabric covering his chest, Cody could feel Ted’s lips upon his heart. He sucked in a breath as he felt Ted’s lips move as a soft whisper escaped him, “I love you.”
“God, I can’t take this. All this waiting. I love you, and I want to show you that I do,” Cody said, placing both hands on Ted’s cheeks as he rose up from his chest. “I want to know what it’s like to feel you moving inside of me.”
“Cody,” Ted managed to choke out as his imagination took over. He wanted that moment to happen so badly. He wanted nothing more than to take Cody in the most intimate way possible.
Sighing, Cody dropped his hands from Ted’s cheeks to his own lap. “But I know what you’re going to say. That we can’t. We can’t do this yet. Not right now. And I know that you’re right, but it can’t stop me from wanting this.”
“It doesn’t stop me from wanting it, either,” Ted assured him. “I think about it night and day. Whether I’m here next to you or we’re floors apart within the castle, or if you’re down at your father’s, I think about it. And then I think about how close we’re getting to the Christmas party, and it only makes me think about us even more.”
It was some consolation that he was not the only one suffering underneath the weight of his feelings, Cody thought to himself as Ted gently steered him with the suggestion of more writing. He took up the quill without complaint and actually managed to hold it correctly upon his first try. Hmm, maybe when he wasn't thinking about it too much he seemed to do much better with the writing.
They ended their writing when it became closer to dinner-time (Cody now being able to keep on top of it all due to little tell-tale signs within the castle itself) and packed everything away. Cody had no idea what Ted did with everything he had ever written on, because the other was always so strangely secretive about it. When he spotted the journal that he had given Ted with pride-of-place on Ted's bedside table he shyly asked, "Have you used it?"
For a moment Ted was confused -of course he had used it- but then he recounted that he had only been writing in it whenever Cody wasn't in the vicinity-- he had just been writing about the other. "Yes, yes I have," a small blush crept over Ted's cheeks, "--as soon as you can read fluently you can read it."
Truth be told he was stalling a little on that part because although Cody could read very well already Ted had a paranoid belief that if the other mistook even one word then the intentions behind everything he had written would not become apparent and then something disastrous would arise from such an event.
Surprised that he was even being offered the chance to read from such a private book to Ted, Cody merely nodded his head and smiled because he had no idea of the torrent of thoughts that was flowing through Ted's mind with the force and unpredictability of an untamed stream. "Oh, we should be getting downstairs." they had dawdled tidying up.
As usual Ted broke off with him in the foyer to go into the dining-room whereas Cody continued across the foyer and then down the steps that led to the kitchens and by proxy the servants quarters. The room almost seemed fuller than usual, but then Cody recounted that was probably only because he'd ever really taken notice of those he was aware of, such as John and Randy, and, not deliberately, Layla and Michelle. Now though he knew more of those faces that were seated around the table-- especially the ones belonging to Justin and Heath.
It was amazing, really, that he’d been here for as long as he had been, yet he actually knew so few people. Granted, he’d never actually tried to get to know people. Maybe he should start…? They certainly couldn’t be as bad as Michelle and Layla. He couldn’t help but wonder what people thought of him, considering that he’d been working in the castle for quite some time now and had never made an attempt to introduce himself.
His thoughts were interrupted as Randy stood from his seat. He’d been in a meeting with Lord DiBiase for a good portion of the afternoon, as he’d told Cody as they talked for a bit during dinner. “If I may have your attention, please. I spoke earlier with Lord DiBiase, and he wanted me to inform all of you that preparations for the DiBiase holiday party will begin next week. From that point we will have one week to prepare everything. From decorations to dinner, to rooms to the stables.
“I need every member of this staff to be on par with all the things that will be asked of us. There are many families coming over, so I expect every room in this house will looks suitable for our guests. Wade, I know I can trust you and your staff with the food. John, you know that you’ll have many animals to look after, and if you need extra hands, I’m sure Cody will be able to help. The rest of the footmen, you know that you will each be taking care of our guests as they enter the house and before bed. The other valets, you know your jobs. I trust that things will go smoothly.”
There was a murmuring in the crowd of agreement and acknowledgement before Randy gave a brief nod and sat back down.
“You think I should work out in the stables?” Cody asked of Randy, leaning slightly over the table to ask the man sitting across from him.
“You don’t have to. But I did run the idea past Lord DiBiase and he said that he was fine with that, as he knew Virgil’s son was capable of doing such a thing. And we both think that John will need the help, since so many families will be coming. Remember the amount of horses from the Tynes’ family visit?”
“I would love to help in the stables,” he said with a smile before taking another bite of his food. Maybe he could get to know Heath and Justin a bit better, as well.
"I expect nothing but the best work from you, you hot that right?" John asked as he playfully jockeyed Cody with his shoulder. Cody pretended that the motion really hurt before then sighing softly and chuckling. "Yeah, I get it." Something told Cody that John was going to chat to Heath and Justin too about stepping up their game in terms of their work-ethics. Justin looked up, almost as though hearing Cody thinking about him... which was absurd really.
He caught the man's eyes and offered a smile, which Justin hesitated only fractionally before returning it. Well, it seemed like they at least might be able to get on with one another even though Heath seemed more interested in Wade than anything else. This was going to be a big event... in more ways than one. Cody had many personal reasons about why he wanted every aspect of it to succeed. Many, many reasons that he liked to believe were not entirely selfish in merit over all.
When everyone had finished eating they tidied up in the same collective way that they always did, but the chatter between everyone was much more excitable now. Even though they would be working throughout the party they (the servants) were treated to a night where they themselves were allowed a Christmas party down in the kitchens. The DiBiase's were indulgent like that really.
Cody headed up towards the main entrance foyer to wait Ted, unaware that a pair of sharp, scheming eyes were watching over him. "So... When are you going to make your intentions clear?" Michelle asked as she eyed her friend. Although she liked the gossip and illicitness that accompanied Layla's obsession with the young Runnels it was incredibly boring when nothing happened with any definitive results. For a moment, Layla didn't answer her, but then she determinedly turned.
"At the servant's party." Michelle's brows rose as the blonde sent Layla a disbelieving look. "What are you going to do, get him drunk and make it so that he has to do right by you?" The two women shared a catty giggle as they headed off to do their last jobs of the day, Michelle completely unaware that she had all but hit the nail on the head. Layla was becoming beyond impatient with Cody's disinterest in her and she was resolved that she had to do anything and everything she could to get Cody. Soon.
“Ah, Young Master, how was your dinner?” Cody asked as Ted exited the dining room, the Lord and Lady following right behind him, and he bowed accordingly.
“It was excellent, as always, thank you,” Ted replied, leading them both upstairs.
Shutting the door after he entered Ted’s room, Cody swiftly made his way over to Ted, who was standing by his bed. “Randy told us at dinner tonight that we’ll be starting preparations for your big party next week, and that come the night of the party, I can help John in the stables.”
“That will be nice. I’m sure you’ll enjoy that much more than having to serve some stuffy old man. But don’t forget what I told you before; you’re not going the night without trying some of Nancy’s cider.”
“Will that be served at the servants’ party?” Cody asked. He had no idea that the servants were treated to a party of their own every year.
“I’m not sure. You’d have to ask John or Randy about that. It’s possible, but as I’ve never attended…” Ted trailed off. He never intended to sound high brow or as though he were above Cody in any way. But he couldn’t help how he was raised, what he was born into.
“Sorry, I guess I just… never mind,” Cody said, ready to change the subject. “How many people will be coming?”
“I honestly have no idea. The Tynes, since they’re practically family as is, and will be officially in just a few more months. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Rotundas were invited, and this Ouellet family will be here so that I can meet Maryse,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “I’m sure there will be many others from all across the country. These gatherings tend to draw a large crowd.”
“And you’re sure that that night, even with all these people…?” Cody trailed off, the red on his cheeks evidence to his embarrassment.
“Positive. There are rooms for guests all over this castle, but by the time everyone gets to bed at night, they’ll all be extremely tired, and most will probably be drunk. People will be all over the place, and I can assure you that there will be noises coming from every which way. No one will pay us any mind. Despite the loudness of the castle, we’ll have peace in here.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Cody said with a smile.
“It will be. And I hope you know that I’ll want you to pick out my outfit once again. One of my extremely formal outfits this time. You can dress me in it so that later that night, you can undress me.”
A shiver ran down Cody's spine at the words, warmth coiling in his stomach at the mere thought. "That sounds wonderful." he said softly. Whereas Ted had initially deemed Cody dressing him and undressing him as demeaning for both of him, it wasn't now.
They longer they had had their arrangement going the more the pair of them had noticed that there was an intimacy and a tenderness in the actions that allowed them to express the connection between them in a way that was just for them, given that as of yet they could not physically give themselves to one another.
They spent time reading and answering some letters Ted had left before it was then time for Ted to ready for bed. Bracing his hands on the bed for support as he leant back somewhat and extended his leg, Ted watched as Cody methodically and dexterously began to undo the laces to his boots. One after the other he then eased them from Ted's feet and set them aside.
Kneeling between Ted's legs (and wasn't that presenting interesting images to Ted's overactive imagination?) Cody then undid the string securing his trousers and then eased his fly open. As one Ted rose from the bed as Cody moved back on his knees a little, easing Ted's trousers down around his ankles and helping him step out of them. Then, his underwear followed suit.
Getting from the floor Cody lay the clothing items onto the bed for the moment before then reaching and undoing the tie around Ted's neck and beginning to unbutton his shirt. Soon, Ted was gloriously naked before him but Cody fought to keep himself under control in the current situation.
The shaking of his hands was enough of a sign to Ted that although his lover seemed unusually unaffected by his nakedness -since he was continuing to undress him and not attempting to do anything else- he was in fact as aware of the situation as Ted himself was.
Each brush of Cody's fingers against his skin was heaven and hell, goosebumps cropping in their wake. Having his shirt placed on was a moment that Ted was both saddened and delighted by, because Cody's hands ran the length of him when placing the shirt on... but then at the same time he was saddened that he was having to dress.
Although it looked like a guest bedroom might be the best odd for their first time, Cody one day hoped that they could make love right there in Ted's room, and his own. It was a desire he had that he couldn't explain adequately, but it was... like he wanted their intimate presences imprinted on those rooms as well as each other.