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Randy was currently angry enough that he was considering major bodily harm to the next person that annoyed him even slightly. He's huffing and puffing, storming towards the locker room with a look on his face that says ‘I am not afraid to commit manslaughter’ and no one is going to test that. The day had been going well, he woke up with his boy in his arms and felt like he was on the top of the world. He'd even been excited for his match against Cody today, he never wanted to harm the younger man, but Cody is the only man he feels is his equal in everything, including the ring. However right now he wanted to throw something. Or rip something off the wall. Like a urinal. Or something.
The ref had gotten in the way at least ten different times. For something that practiced, they sure did a great job at getting in the way of everything that he did. Several times he had to turn in an awkward way to avoid the ref, twisting his shoulders in a way they should not be twisted, and he's still sore from it. On no fault of either entirely his or Cody's, several moves had been done incorrectly in the moment, making it look jumbled and awkward at times. And the ropes had been too tight. And his trunks had dug uncomfortably into his skin, and his entrance music was late, and the room was really fucking cold-
He's frustrated, ok?
He practically throws open the door to the locker room, huffing while he does so, flinging his locker open. He sees Cody move out of the corner of his eye, shoving his clothes into his bags, shoulders tense against his ears.
“What the fuck was that?” Randy's voice is rough as he grabs his shirt from the locker, turning to face Cody. The younger of the two is looking at him with his eyebrows raised, arms crossed his chest, entire body tensed up and slightly shaking where he's leaning against the lockers.
“I'm sorry?”
Randy scoffs, frustrated. “You fucking should be.” He doesn't mean it, not one bit, and he knows he's being irrational right now, taking it out on his boy, but any apologies he tries to get out gets caught in his throat, and he just scowls, trying to calm down, turning his attention to the crumpled up shirt in his hands.
“I don't know how any of this is my fault-”
“How do you not know what's your fault damnit-” Randy throws his balled up shirt against one of the benches, raising his voice. He's not yelling, but it's loud enough to echo off of the metal walls. He brings the palms of his hands to press against the sides of his head, looking up just in time to see Cody tense again, whole body going rigid while he bites at his lip, before he lets out a sob. Not a quiet one, one that has been very obviously building up, shaking the younger man’s entire body with the force of it.
Randy feels every ounce of anger seep out of his body at that moment, frozen in place as he watches the blonde wrap his arms around himself and start to crouch down, eyes clamped shut, shoulders shaking. The action breaks Randy out of his frozen state, immediately rushing forward to grab Cody in his arms, sitting them down on one of the benches so that he can pull the younger man onto his lap. He runs a hand through Cody's hair, trying to get him to take a breath as he starts hiccuping between cries.
“I'm sorry I'm sorry I didn mean to-”
Cody's words are mumbled, stuttered out, and his ‘r's sound more like ‘w's, in a childlike manner. He's fully leaning forward on Randy now, face buried in the older man's neck while he grabs onto the fabric of Randy's pants with shaking hands. Randy feels like a monster, like something despicable, as he listens to his boy sob, because of him, because of something he did. The corners of his eyes start to sting, and he blinks aggressively, his crying would just make the situation worse for the boy in his arms.
“It's not your fault baby I shouldn't-”
“It is!” Cody's voice interrupts him, high pitched and cracky. “Don know but I did bad-”
“No no no Codes, Codes look at me.” Randy holds the sides of his face, moving the younger boy until they're eye to eye. He uses his thumbs to wipe the tears off of Cody's cheeks, frowning while he does so. He waits until Cody's calmed down a little, now able to take deep breaths without choking on them, just sniffling slightly, before he continues. “You did nothing wrong, ok? Nothing. I was angry and I shouldn't have taken it out on you, it wasn't good of me.”
“I jus-” Cody chokes up again, taking a few deep breaths before he continues. “Jus wanna make you happy.”
Randy leans his face forward, still holding Cody's in his hands, and kisses him softly, then kisses his nose, then his forehead, then under his eyes until he can feel the blonde smiling slightly at the feeling.
“You will always make me happy, you're my baby.”
Something in Cody's eyes light up when he says that, and he nods, letting out a shaky exhale.
“Your baby.” He pokes at Randy's bare chest with a cold finger, and Randy holds back a grimace from the feeling.
“Yeah, my baby. And I could never be mad at you.”
Cody doesn't respond, choosing instead to lean forward again and wrap his arms around the older man, nuzzling his face into the front of Randy's neck. His hair touching the bottom of Randy's neck tickles, but he doesn't mind, rubbing a hand up and down Cody's back in what he hopes is a soothing motion, softly trailing his nails over Cody's skin. Cody's sniffling has calmed down, and he's breathing easier now, face squished against Randy's throat.
“I wanna go home.” Cody's voice is soft. Not timid, not like he's still upset, but like he can't quite get the words out. Randy moves them up, quickly pulling on his shirt, and finding his shoes probably the fastest he ever has in his life. Cody is leaning against the wall, fiddling with his fingers, and when Randy's finished putting on his flip-flops, he holds his arms out, opening and closing his fists. Randy doesn't get it at first, and so the younger man huffs, walks towards him and practically jumps in his arms. He's lucky Randy is used to suddenly carrying grown men's body weight, or else they would have definitely tipped over. Instead he just wraps his arms around Cody, shuffling out of the locker room once the coast is clear.
“M love you.” His words are mumbled against, his ‘l’ sounding more like a ‘w’. It reminds him of the way he's heard small children talk, and it makes him curious, but he doesn't want to overwhelm Cody again.
“Well I love you more.”
“Nuh uh, I love you the mostest.”
Randy smiles, shaking his head at the man in his arms as they start the walk through the parking lot, Randy trying To figure out where the hell his rental car is. “That's not possible, because I'm older, so I love you more.”
Cody gasps, pulling back to frown down at Randy. “Thas not fair daddy.” His face is crumpled up, and he shakes his head to further his point. It seems like he doesn't notice what he said, but Randy definitely does, and he almost stutters in his walking when he hears it. His entire chest is warm in a way it's never been before so he just smiles, finally finding the car and moving them towards it.
“It is fair, I said so.”
Cody huffs then giggles, leaning forward to peck the older man before he gets into the car, humming something while he taps on his knees. Randy gets in the driver's seat and looks over, not able to help himself. Cody's face is still flushed slightly red, eyes a bit puffy, but he looks so happy, childlike joy on his face when Randy holds his hand on the ride home. Randy hates the events that happened earlier, and he'll spend every minute he can apologizing, but he's glad he gets to see this side of Cody now, and for now he'll just focus on how happy he is in the moment.