Work Text:
April 7th, 2024
It’s the biggest night of Cody Rhodes’ life, therefore, it’s the biggest night of Randy Orton’s life.
Cody has always wanted to be his own man. He didn’t want to live in anyone’s shadow, or be anyone’s understudy, and because of that, he and Randy don’t really share any screentime together. He doesn’t want people to think he got here solely because of his friendship, or now, relationship with him. It’s something Randy has always respected, and one of the reasons why Randy likes him so much to begin with - that burning desire to make a name for himself without anyone’s help.
But when they both learned Cody was going to beat Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania for the title, Cody didn’t even think twice before telling Randy he had to be out there with him at the end to begin the celebration.
Everyone in that arena is overcome with emotion for Cody, no matter who it is. Fans, commentary, even Samantha Irwin, the ring announcer, can not contain herself as she stammers through announcing the new undisputed champion.
And Randy Orton, a man infamous for displaying little emotion, is having a hard time containing himself also as he heads down the ramp and up the stairs to the ring to kneel down right beside his husband with a reassuring hand right on the back of his neck.
“You did it,” Randy manages to get out softly. “You made it, Cody.”
Cody looks up to Randy with the biggest, boyish smile as he clings tighter onto his hard earned world title. “I couldn’t have done this without you.”
In front of everyone, they lean in to capture each other’s lips at the same time in a chaste display of affection before Cody drops his head against Randy’s chest. Randy wraps his arms around Cody tight and closes his eyes.
“Gonna make me cry, man,” he huffs a chuckle.
“Come on, I’m the crier between us,” Cody teases. “And the people aren’t prepared for Randy Orton’s tears of joy-”
“I give a fuck about you. Who cares about everyone else?”
Cody snorts as he pulls away to look into Randy’s glassy eyes. Despite his teasing, Cody finds himself tearing up more seeing the first tear drop down Randy’s cheek. He pouts a little as they both bring a hand up to wipe the tears away from each other, little chuckles shared at the fact that they’re crying together in front of millions and millions of people, before they take each other’s hands to stand up on their feet.
Randy sniffs and pats Cody’s chest, right above his Dream tattoo. “Go show off.”
With a prompt nod, Cody turns to head to the ref so he can be paraded around the ring with his new title. Randy stands at the ringposts and takes it all in, the electricity of the crowd and the infectious glee his husband displays as he holds up his title for all to see, as he looks around at all his adoring fans, as he looks up to the Wrestlemania sign before saying, “I did it, dad. I won.”
Randy has to shut his eyes tightly to try and hold back the tears that are trying to come through again.
Cody has been through so much to get to this point. He’s literally bled and sweat for this. This is all Cody has wanted, ever since he was a little boy, and no matter what, even when he left WWE to travel around the world in the indy scene and eventually create AEW, that was always his end goal - to main event Wrestlemania, become the world champion, and make his dad and their legacy proud.
Even if Dusty isn’t physically here, Randy can feel his spirit permeating over the ring. It’s kind of overwhelming how much he can feel him, moreso, how proud he is of his son.
When Cody looks back to Randy with tears rolling down his cheeks, Randy knows that Cody can feel it too.
The ring soon fills up with all of their friends and family, from the likes of John Cena all the way to Alanna, all dressed in true American Nightmare branding for her stepfather. Randy has his whole life to spend with Cody, so he stays out to the side to let everyone give their congratulations and support, hugs and handshakes and what not, and he’s laughing with joy as Sami and Jey hoist Cody high up into the air.
Randy’s won a million world titles, but he’s never had a celebration quite like this. He’s never been on the cover of a WWE game, he’s not the face of WWE, he hasn’t won back-to-back Royal Rumbles, nor does he want any of that. Cody’s accomplishments are his own, and they are what set him apart from everyone else.
Cody said he always wanted to be like Randy, but he doesn’t anymore. Now, he can be like Cody.
John comes on over to pat Randy’s ass. “You did good, man.”
Randy huffs a fond breath through his nose and quirks a small grin. “He’s worked so hard,” he tells him. “We’ve been through so much, I…” He bites his lip and shakes his head. “This still doesn’t feel real.”
John shrugs. “Agree to disagree. Listen, if Cody could tame your wild ass and get you to like guys,” he raises a knowing eyebrow and smirks, “then winning the world title in the main event at Wrestlemania is a cake walk.”
Randy scoffs and pushes John away by the shoulder. As he gives Cody his attention again, he sees Sami smiling over at him and waving him over.
“Come on, dude!” Sami says. “Show him off to the world!”
Cody’s eyes widen as he looks back and forth between the two men. “Guys, no, no, no-”
Randy is laughing maniacally as he comes on over to hoist Cody up into the air with Sami. Cody, despite his protests, rolls his eyes and shakes his head with a fond grin as he rests a hand on Randy’s upper back. After some seconds, he looks down to Randy and Randy looks up to him in return.
In that moment, the entire world turns into a monochromatic blur.
They’re staring into each other’s blue eyes so thoughtfully. Their lives together flash by in seconds; from the first time they met, to their first kiss, to getting together, moving in, getting married, and everything in between.
Seventeen years, they’ve known each other.
Fourteen years, they’ve been together.
Ten years, they’ve been married.
This year, they’ve achieved everything they’ve set out to do, and best of all, they did it together.
Randy blinks slowly at Cody before his lips upturn into a proud, but loving smile, the most loving one he thinks he’s ever given Cody, and Cody thinks so too since Randy can see him trying hard to hold back his tears again.
Cody’s hand comes up to hold the back of Randy’s head, fingers gently scratching against him. As his eyes travel over his husband’s face, he asks, “until the end of time?”
“I know you’re the one for me,” Cody tells him. “I’ve always known that but - I swear, everyday, I get reminders of it. How… how perfect you are for me, how perfect we are for each other and…” He closes his eyes tightly. “I just can’t believe we’re here,” he whispers.
“It’s okay, Codes,” Randy whispers back. “I can’t either, but we are here. This is real, all of this is.” He threads his fingers through Cody’s hair to give a slight tug and Cody looks up into Randy’s eyes, only for a second, because Randy is pressing their lips together. It’s a few moments and then they’re properly looking into each other’s eyes again.
Randy’s smile sets Cody at ease once more.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Randy tells him. “Neither is any of this. You’re with me forever, Cody, and I’m going to take care of you and do everything for you until the end of time.”
Cody smiles, in the way Randy loves so dearly, with his eyes crinkling and Randy’s heart flipping upon the sight. Quietly to his new husband, Cody tells him, “until the end of time, Randy.”
Randy nods solemnly. “Until the end of time, baby.”
Then, Cody is let down so they can celebrate in the ring all over again.
Randy runs his hands down his face before clasping his hands in front to help hide his expression. He averts his gaze from Cody to gather himself, and he swears if he leans in and squints, he can see Seth tightly hugging Roman at the end of the ramp and very tenderly carding his fingers through his hair.
Looks like they’re not the only ones to have an intimate moment together tonight.
Everyone begins to filter from the ring, one by one, until Cody is left standing in the middle with Randy on the outside.
With one final look to each other, they smile once more, and then suddenly, Cody is cheering loudly and spreading his arms wide out, gold title on display around his waist as the many, many fireworks shoot up into the sky. Interplays of color cast over the stadium, from red to yellow to blue, but the shade that stands out most of all is the elusive shade of Cody Rhodes.
They walk each other up the ramp, hand in loving hand. Cody continues to wave and play to the crowd, acknowledging every single person that even looks his way, but all Randy can do is look at Cody, look at his husband, and think of how far he’s come and how much he’s earned his spot.
It’ll always be him and Cody.
Then, now, and until the end of time.
Once they make it backstage, away from any and all prying eyes, Randy feels completely comfortable again, and because of that, it leads way for him to let the tears freely roll down his cheeks. He has to hold a hand up over his face and press down hard, even squeezes hard at Cody’s hand, and Cody stops in his tracks to turn to Randy.
“What did we say, Randy?” Cody chuckles, but it doesn’t have much humor to it - rather, a tinge of concern. “I’m the crier-”
“Man, I’m just so fucking proud of you.” Randy drops his hand to look down into Cody’s eyes. “Nobody else deserves this more than you, and I - I’ve been fucking waiting for this moment forever, ever since Legacy, and now it’s here and…” He presses his lips tightly together and shrugs. “I dunno. I dunno how to deal with it-”
“You don’t know?” Cody scoffs and lets go of Randy’s hand to settle his own two hands over his title. “How do you think I feel? I…” He looks down to his title and lets out a shaky gasp. “I… I-I’m the world champion, Randy. I-I won. I won in the main event-”
“Of Wrestlemania,” they both finish together. They both can’t help but chuckle earnestly as they look back into each other’s eyes again.
Cody looks over Randy’s face again. His hands curl tightly into fists, as if to restrain himself, before shaking his head and bringing them up to hold Randy’s face in his hands.
“I wouldn’t be here today without you,” he reminds him. “I wouldn’t be who I am today without you, Randy. I talk a whole lot about how I wanted to get here by myself, with no help from anyone, how I wanted to be independent and get out from people’s shadows, and I did but I’d be beyond stupid to think I wouldn’t be here without you. You were so instrumental in my journey, from my growth not just in my career, but as a person. You taught me what matters, you showed me how to ground myself, how to prepare myself for the worst, you showed me the world, Randy…” Cody lets out a long sigh and closes his eyes as he presses his forehead to Randy’s.
“You showed me the world, and you gave me the world.”
Randy brings his hands up to hold onto Cody’s shoulders and takes a deep breath. “I love you, Cody,” he whispers into the sliver of space between them. “More than anything. You’ve come so far. You’ve dealt with so much fucking shit and you proved everyone wrong, proved them all wrong and I knew you were going to, I knew it-”
“You believed in me since day one,” Cody gasps. “You believed in me when no one else did, Randy. You always believed in me, even the times when I didn’t believe in myself. In my darkest hours, you were there. You were always there and that’s why I’m here.”
Randy’s not too good at words. Never has, never will, though being with Cody has strengthened his vocabulary considerably. He’s always expressed himself best through actions, so it makes sense to Cody when Randy surges forward then and there to claim his lips so passionately and tenderly.
All the things Randy wants to say to Cody is done with one powerful kiss, and it’s worth a thousand words, each single one waxing poetic of how strongly he feels for his husband and all he’s been through in his 38 years of living.
Their lips drag away from each other so slowly, and they steal one more kiss before pulling away enough to gaze into each other’s eyes-
“Don’t think about it.”
Cody and Randy furrow their eyebrows and look over to see Hunter with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Think about what?” Cody asks.
“I don’t care how long you guys have been waiting for this moment,” Hunter tells them. “It does not give you an excuse to have incredibly loud, rough sex all over the locker room.”
“Come on, man, it’s a special day!” Randy groans as he drops his hands from Cody’s shoulders. “And you know how special it is too!”
“Please, Hunter?” Cody widens his baby blue eyes ever so slightly at his boss. “You know how much I’ve been through to get here-”
Hunter sighs. “Look, nobody knows better than me-”
“And do you remember? When you were the one that wanted to have that kind of sex with me?”
Hunter huffs and shakes his head before quirking a grin. “Sure, I did until I realized how disgustingly in love you two were with each other…” Then, with squinted eyes, he presses his lips together. He looks back and forth between Cody and Randy, and Cody and Randy just look to each other wondering what the hell Hunter is thinking about before suddenly, Hunter is groaning out loud and flinging his hands in the air.
“Okay!” Hunter sighs and holds up a finger. “Just this once, I will not say a thing.”
Cody and Randy smile big and high five each other.
“Fuck yeah!” Randy gets down on one knee to prepare to lift up Cody. “Let’s-”
“Not now.” Hunter raises a pointed eyebrow before grabbing Cody’s wrist. He looks over to the new undisputed champion and pats his title. “You got media, kid, and a big press conference to do. You guys can defile the locker room later.”
Cody rolls his eyes and looks back to Randy. “Catch you after the press conference?”
“More like I’ll be catching you.” Randy winks and clicks his tongue. “Better be coming to me with spread arms and spread-”
“Keep that thought to yourself, Randy.” Hunter quickly ushers Cody away. “Alright, so…”
Randy chuckles before turning around to head into Cody’s locker room to do just that.
Cody’s moans carry through the concrete walls of the backstage area and into Hunter’s ears. At this point, Hunter is used to it, so he continues to casually stroll down the hallway until he sees an intern staring rather curiously at the wall.
“Hey, kid.” Hunter shoves his hands into his pockets. “Something wrong?”
“Do you hear that?” the intern asks. “What’s that noise?”
Hunter allows an almost fond smile to grace his lips. “Just a ghost, son,” he tells him after patting him on the shoulder. “Just a ghost.”
As the intern walks away, still with an aura of uncertainty, Hunter looks back to the source of the noise. With a shake of the head, he chuckles before continuing down the hall, and thusly, into the new era of WWE; helmed by Cody Rhodes.