Chapter Text
Nick has been thinking for a long time. From the second Matt suggested the idea until now; in a hotel room lying on the bed staring at the ceiling. All he can think about is Cody. The suits, the smile, the cigars, the weight belts…he really stood out.
Nick liked it when he and Cody would joke around with each other and wrestle out of the ring. It defined their friendship. They were always super careful with each other. He always smiled after he said his name. His hugs were warm. He has a silly little lisp. He talks a certain way (it could be normal, but it sticks out to Nick) and stresses his words plucked straight from the pages of a thesaurus.
But, Nick hates the way that Cody would even think about tearing apart friendships to become a leader. Using the fact that Kenny was barely around and never did what they do for him (although, Matt vented that to him, it’s still Cody’s fault) still leaves a bad taste in Nick’s mouth. Ugh, and he tried to break him and Matt up! All he did was smile and pretend everything that he did was perfectly normal. Like everything was fine.
A knock at the door startled Nick. He sat up at the sudden noise.
“Nick?”
Cody.
“Hey, I just wanted to talk but if you weren’t ready it’s fine.”
Nick got up from his bed and headed towards the door. He opened the door to see Cody, who was dressed in a navy blue suit. His suit consistency was something Nick started to admire. Cody smiled when he saw Nick’s face, happy that the younger man opened the door.
“Hey,” Cody spoke. ”I wanted to talk to you.” Nick narrowed his eyes. ”If now’s not the time, I understand.”
“No, it’s just that-”
“I talked to Matt before I came to you. He told me you would be in here alone.” Before Nick could open his mouth, Cody responded: “He’s with Hangman right now.”
Oh. ”You can come in.”
Nick stepped aside and let Cody into the shared hotel room. They weren’t gonna be there for long, but it looked pretty lived in. Nick watched Cody come in and try to figure out where to sit. It should be fine if they sat on his bed right? “You can just sit on my bed. It’s fine.”
Cody took his seat and Nick sat on Matt’s bed. ”Thanks for letting me in, man.”
“You’re welcome,” Nick says, leaning back on his arms.
“I’m not gonna keep you waiting. I’ll get straight to it,” Cody started. He exhaled. ”I’m sorry about everything. Trying to take over the Bullet Club, trying to split you and Matt up…the stuff with Kenny…I don’t know what I was thinking. I saw an opening and tried to take over.”
Nick listened. He seems sorry but it’s Cody; he’s not done speaking.
“When everyone left me, it gave me even more time to think. I wanted to make things right with everyone individually.” He leans in. “You guys don’t deserve a ‘one size fits all’ apology. I hurt you guys in different ways. What I’m telling you is completely different from what I told your brother.”
Nick feels like he could believe him. His face is sincere and it’s like he spent days trying to put words together. Apologies are tricky.
“I didn’t come here to have my apology accepted,” Cody spoke. ”I came here to at least have you hear me out.”
“Cody,” Nick finally spoke. ”I accept your apology, man. It’s okay.”
Cody smiled a bit. It was almost like he was sure Nick was gonna shut him down. ”Is it? I was almost the cause of breaking up one of the most dominant factions today. You accept my apology?”
“What you said was right…”Nick sat up. ”You possibly damaged a lot of relationships going forward.”
“Ours included,” Cody said. Nick is caught off guard by what Cody said, but he keeps going.
“But, you deserve to be heard out even though there was a time when I felt like I couldn’t trust you.” Saying this hurts Nick, but he definitely deserves to know. ”So yes, Cody, I accept your apology.”
Cody looks surprised but he smiles. ”Thank you. Your brother is still on the fence but I told him the same thing I told you. I had Hangman’s help but…” He shrugs.
“So, um,” Nick says. ”Do you wanna…hug it out or something? Shake on it?”
“ Shake on it? ” Cody laughs. ”Nick, I know I walk around in a suit 90% of the time and we’re just patching things up but we can hug.”
Nick laughs a little and gets up. Cody does the same and they meet each other in a nice, warm hug. Nick missed the short hugs he would get from Cody; this was nice. They broke the hug and Cody looked at Nick with curiosity. Is he waiting for Nick to say something?
“Um…” Nick said out of instinct.
“Let’s stop making this awkward and keep talking,” Cody says. ”As long as that’s okay with you.”
“Yeah,” Nick says, watching Cody take a seat on his bed. He sat next to him. ”That’s fine,”
Cody watches Nick sit down and he smiles at the younger man. They kind of stare at each other for a while. It wasn’t awkward, it was almost like they were communicating. “So…the stuff we used to do before I kind of split us up.”
Nick chuckles. ”Yeah. Why did we do it?”
Cody shrugs. ”I was comfortable around you,” As friends usually are. “I think after we moonsaulted off the bed it kind of took off from there.” As friendships usually progress.”I always admired you, Nick.” As friends usually do. Right?
“Admire?” Nick asked.
“I know what you do in the ring is purely muscle memory but it’s so…” Cody, for once, is at a loss for words. ”I see you wrestle and can’t help but just stare…”
Nick smiles. ”Thank you. I think the chemistry I have with Matt really helps.”
“Yeah, maybe it’s that…” Cody says. He looks at Nick and something almost clicks in the younger man, like missing a high five. Am I supposed to be picking something up? ”I had something else to tell you.”
“Okay,” Nick says.
“Hitting it off with you and then being removed from you made me think,” Cody says. ”My admiration for you extends out of the ring.” Nick blinked slowly.”I like Nicholas Massie as much as I like Nick Jackson.”
“I can say the same for you…?” Nick says, still lost. Cody laughs and Nick spirals further into his confusion.” What? Did I say something wrong?”
“Oh, Nick,” Cody laughs. ”I’m trying to say that I like you. Beyond friendship.”
“Oh,” Nick says, looking down at the ground. One of his socks is coming off of his foot; ankle sock problems. ”I mean…yeah. I can say the same thing.”
“You don’t seem too sure,” Cody says. “Are you sure you like me, Nick Jackson? If you don’t and don’t wanna hurt my feelings, it’s fine. I can take rejection–.”
“Before you knocked on my door, I was thinking about you,” Nick admits in one breath. ”Not like that, but just…trying to make sense of my feelings.”
Cody nods.”You can keep going.”
“I don’t know what to feel, you know?” Nick looks up at Cody. He’s listening to him closely, and Nick likes that. ”Like I think I want something based on how I feel about you but…” He sighs.” I’m scared.”
“Scared of what?” Cody asks.” Lack of experience?”
“I don’t want to get into anything with someone I couldn’t trust a half an hour ago,” Nick says. He felt the weight of his words as they left his mouth. He didn’t wanna hurt Cody. ”But then you apologized, and I had to think again. It’s a lot.”
Cody nods. ”I understand. But in case you were questioning if I saw you like that, I felt like I needed to tell you. I could never keep you waiting.”
Nick fights a smile. ”I wanna take the chance but…” He’s thinking of what Hangman and Matt have. He’s happy that his older brother has seemingly found the person he wants to grow old with. Maybe Nick found that in Cody?
Cody tilts his head. ”You’ve never been in a relationship before?” He seems baffled. Nick was a good-looking man. How has he never had a partner before?
“I’ve never been with a guy before,” Nick says lowly. ”Like I liked girls in the past but this is new, y’know?”
Cody nods. ”So, let me ask you a question then.” Nick murmurs some type of confirmation. ”Do you want to be with me?”
Nick thinks for a second then nods. ”I do.”
Cody thinks for a second. ”And I want to be with you. So, I want to make this as comfortable as I can for you because I care about you.” Nick’s face started to get hot. ”We can take this slow, just for you. We don’t have to kiss in front of everyone, hold hands, or call each other pet names. We can just do what we normally do and progress from there. No pressure.”
Nick nods again. ”You won’t get bored? What if you wanna do something?”
“I would hate to make someone I deeply care about uncomfortable,” Cody says. ”Whenever you’re ready to do something else, you tell me and I can make it happen.”
Nick feels like this isn’t the same Cody from months ago. He sees him differently; those pretty, blue eyes twinkle for him. ”We can do that.”
Cody smiles. ”Great. Amazing.” He gets up from the bed and opens his arms out for another hug. ”Here’s to a new chapter.”
Nick goes into Cody’s arms and Cody holds Nick a few seconds longer than their hug from earlier. His senses have seemed to heighten since the last hug. He smells the body wash Cody uses layered on with the cologne stained on his suit. He can feel his heart beating. He knows Cody is smiling at him, waiting until Nick wants to break apart. He feels safe.
Yeah. They can do this.