#bugzwil

John narrows his eyes as he looks at Randy.  “Pretty sure you also have six other boxes topick from.”

“Except I was doing this one first, so just fucking leave meto my box and my corner of the room, ok?” Randy all but growls.  Normally, he loves putting up thedecorations.  And he normally loves goadingJohn into decorating with him.  

But this isn’t normally.

They have their spats, but this past fight far surpassesanything in recent memory.  This is thelast thing either of them want to do at the moment, but they already set theday aside to decorate, because the next time they’ll be home, they’ll only havetwo days to enjoy all their hard work.  

“Fine,” John gives in. “Fine.  I’ll go do the other sideof the room.”

“That’s all I fucking asked for to begin with.”

John is beyond frustrated with Randy.  The fight happened two days ago and he canbarely remember what he said to earn Randy’s ire.  Randy’s done plenty of things to piss himoff, but it’s not usually the other way around. Usually Randy’s the one asking for forgiveness at the end of the day.  John’s not used to the silent treatment fromRandy of all people.

After another fifteen minutes of attempting to decorate, andfailing miserably because this is Randy’s department, not his, John has to givein.  “Look, I’m sorry.”

“What was that?” Randy asks.

“I said I was sorry. I don’t even remember what the hell I did, but I’m sorry I pissed youoff.  Ok? I’m sorry,” he repeats.

Randy finally turns his head and looks at John, noddingappreciatively.  “Apology accepted.”  He then looks behind John and sees the messhe’s made of the garlands.  With a sigh,he stands up and heads to John’s side of the room.  “Now, do you need some help here?”

“Oh my god yes,” John says in a rush, because the room lookslike crap behind him.  

“What would you ever do without me?” Randy asks.

“Probably not decorate for Christmas?”

“Heathen,” Randy mutters.

“Maybe I’d have a little tree, like the one you like to keeparound.”

“Are you even human?”

“Some fans like to think I’m not,” John replies.

“Fair point,” Randy says. He presses a quick kiss to John’s lips, then says, “Now let’s get thisfixed up and then you can help me with the box I’m working on.”

“Even though there are six other goddamn boxes?”

Kofi, Evan’s business partner, glances up and gives Evan a rather confused raised eyebrow.  Evan just darts his eyes back up to the perfect human being as his only explanation.  Kofi then shakes his head and goes back to entering some client’s information into the computer.

 “Actually, I’m the new intern.  We did the phone interview last week and you called me back Friday saying to come in today to start.”

 Evan’s eyes go wide, though he hopes his shock doesn’t show too much behind his glasses.  “You’re the new intern?”

 “Yes?”

 “Well then.  Welcome.”  Evan extends his hand and says, “I’m Dr. Evan Bourne.”

 “Roman Reigns,” he says as he takes the hand offered to him.

 “Ok, follow me and I can give you a quick tour of the office,” Evan says.  He can practically feel Kofi rolling his eyes at him from his seat behind the desk.

 It’s later that evening, once Roman’s gone home and they’re closing up for the night that Kofi breaks his silence.  “Do you really have the hots for the new intern?”

 “What?  No,” Evan denies far too quickly for it to be the truth.

 “I’ve never noticed you so willing to give our new hires tours of the place.  Especially with your hand on their lower back the entire time.”

 “I didn’t— it wasn’t—”

 Kofi raises an eyebrow at him and says, “You did and it was.  You have the hots for the new intern.”

 “I can’t help it!”

 “You know you’ve got about ten years on him?”

 “And I know I shouldn’t be this attracted to him, but did you see the guy?  He’s beautiful.  Even you have to admit that.”

 Kofi shrugs and then nods.  “Yeah, ok, I can see how you’d be attracted to him.  But he’s probably got someone already.  Someone he maybe just went to college with.  Because he just graduated college.”

 “You don’t need to keep reminding me,” Evan says, groaning, leaning against the wall next to Kofi’s desk. 

 “I feel like I do need to remind you, though.”

 “It’s not like I’m gonna act upon the attraction.  I’ll just admire from afar.”

 “He’s going to be shadowing you all day, every day.  I don’t think there’s anything afar about that.”  Kofi finally gets his jacket on and grabs his leftovers from the lunch he ordered out. 

 “It was a metaphor,” Evan mutters.

 ~~~

 It turns out that working with Roman while admiring from afar is really a lot more difficult than Evan ever imagined.  Roman’s always behind him or next to him, and he likes to ask a lot of questions.  And that’s a good thing, it’s great that Roman wants to learn all that he can.  But his voice is so smooth and it’s always right next to Evan’s ear and he wants to hear that voice right in his ear while they’re lying in a bed with far less clothes on.  And those aren’t the kinds of thoughts he should be having while he’s trying to work.  He does his best to stay focused, to answer all the questions Roman has, to show him how he works.  But damn, it’s a tough few weeks, with Kofi shooting Evan looks during their lunch break when he sees them sitting too close together.

 The real shocker, though, is that it’s one evening, Roman’s second to last day of his internship, just before they close shop for the night, while Evan’s off in the bathroom, that Roman casually asks Kofi if Evan is single. 

 “What’d you just ask me?” Kofi feels like he heard things incorrectly. 

 “What?  It’s a legitimate question.”

 “Why do you want to know?”

 But Evan gets back before the conversation can go any further.  “What to know what?”

 “Nothing,” Kofi answers.  “Just… you two figure this one out.  I’m heading home.”

 They watch as Kofi leaves and then it’s just Roman and Evan.  “What was that about?” Evan asks.

 “Well… I, uh, I just asked him if you were seeing anyone,” Roman tells him after several long moments of silence.

 Evan looks over at Roman with his wide eyes again.  “Why do you ask?”

 “Look, it’s probably stupid.  I realize that I’m a lot younger than you and that I don’t have much in the way of a career right now, but I just thought that now that we won’t be working together in a couple days I’d ask.”

 “Ask if I’m single?”

 “Ask if you maybe wanted to have dinner, or something.  Whatever.  It’s stupid.  Just forget that I ever asked, ok?”

 “I am,” Evan blurts out.  “I mean, single.  I’m single.  And, uh, I’m ok with dinner.”

 Roman smiles and it just brightens up his whole face, the whole room.  His smile makes him look even younger, even more handsome than he usually is.  “Ok.  Ok, dinner sounds good.”  He laughs a little now, and it’s slightly awkward because he really doesn’t know how to react now that Evan’s said yes to him. 

 “Did you wanna go now?” Evan asks.  “I haven’t eaten dinner yet, have you?”

 “No.  I mean, no I haven’t eaten, not no I don’t wanna go now.  Because now’s good.” 

 Evan smiles now and zips up his coat.  “Ok.  Come on, I know a great little place up the road.  We can walk there from here.”

The day goes on as it otherwise normally would, with John starting a load of laundry and Randy settling in to catch up on his DVR while John bitches at him about the fact that he’s not actually helping.  Randy just waves him off and makes a comment about how they’re supposed to get some snow that night.

They think nothing of it, both used to snow, even though it is a little early to be getting snowed on. 

It’s not until about seven that night when they both wish they’d been a little more prepared for the snow.  Sure, they have shovels and a snowblower, but they still don’t have their generator set up.  “Oh, you’ve got to be shitting me,” John says, and Randy sighs, taking out his phone and turning on the light so he can see. 

“Well, this is unexpected,” Randy says, turning the light towards John, who flinches away at the brightness. 

“Let’s go get some candles.”

“You go get the candles, I’ll get Uno.”

John gives Randy an evil eye, but Randy’s already turned his phone in the other direction, so he can’t even see him.  “Can you at least take the milk out of the fridge and stick it outside?” he asks, wondering just how long they’re going to have to postpone their Thanksgiving.

“You got it.”  Randy brings the milk and a few other things from their fridge outside, setting everything on a heap of snow, then he helps John set up and light all the candles, giving them a pretty decent amount of light.  Once that’s set, they both settle down at the kitchen table and Randy shuffles up the Uno cards.  “Ready to lose?” he asks.

“In your dreams, Orton,” John says. 

“Oh, them’s fighting words.  Let’s go, Cena.”

Randy hands out the cards and the game begins.  It’s civil enough for the first three minutes, or so.  And then John puts down his draw four card and Randy goes off.  He claims that John’s cheating, calls him a bastard, amongst other things, grumbling as he picks up his four cards. 

John sets down his next card, a blue skip, then a reverse, then finally a blue seven, and then watches as Randy picks up card after card, unable to play.  “Oh, what’s the problem, Randy?  No blue cards in your hand?  I mean, it’s a lot of cards to look at, why don’t you double check, maybe you missed one hiding behind another card.”

Randy flips him off, finally picking up a card to play with, a red seven.  “You’re a dickface.”

“Aww, is someone said that they’re losing?  Gonna cwy?” John teases, loving how easy it is to get Randy riled up.

“Fuck off,” Randy growls. 

“Sorry, babe,” John says, placing down another sequence of cards, skips, reverses, draw two, leading to Randy holding a solid twenty cards in his hand, while John only has three left. 

When John gets down to one card, however, Randy lets a little time elapse before pointing at John, yelling, “You didn’t say uno!  You have to say uno!  Now you get to pick up four cards.”

“What?  That’s not a rule.”

“It is!  How about you check the rule book, then you can suck my dick, loser,” Randy says, grabbing his crotch through his flannel pajama bottoms. 

John rolls his eyes, picking up the cards.  “Happy?”

“Yup.  Now, I don’t really like yellow, how about we change it to green?” Randy asks, setting down a draw four card of his own.  And once that begins, Randy gets on a hot streak, using all his skips and draw two cards.  John’s eyes narrow at Randy as Randy’s one huge stack of cards dwindles down to two, and his own amasses to over twenty.  “How’s it feel now, John?” Randy asks as he places down a card, saying uno while he does it.

“You’re the dickface now.”

“So you admit you were a dickface earlier?”

“No,” John says as he sets down a card.

“Well, you kind of were.  It’s not a good look on you, John.  However, I think it suits me just fine.”  With that, he sets down his final card, winning the game.  “Suck it.”

John hangs up and starts getting ready.  He and Randy hadn’t hung out in a while and were planning on going out bar hopping.  He’s not sure if Randy’s roommate will be joining them, or not.  He has no idea what the guy is even like, but John assumes that he must be ok because he made it a few days without Randy maiming him.

 About quarter of, John heads over to Randy’s.  It’s just before eight when he arrives and heads up to the door to knock.  “Hey, man,” Randy says, pulling John into a quick hug once he lets him in the apartment.

 “Hey.”  Once he’s out of Randy’s embrace and further into the apartment, Randy shuts the door.  John sits on the couch while Randy grabs a couple beers from the fridge.  “We headed out soon?”

 “Well, I hope you don’t mind Dolph’s coming, too,” Randy says as he joins John on the couch, handing him the opened bottle.  “I didn’t ask him, but he overheard me making plans and invited himself along.”

 “That’s fine,” John assures him, taking a drink from the bottle. 

 “Randy!  Have you seen my blow drier?” a voice comes from the bathroom.  It must be Dolph, John reasons. 

 Randy looks to John and gives him a look that reads what the fuck?  “I don’t even have hair!  Why would I know where it is?” is Randy’s reply. 

 They both hear an exaggerated sigh from the bathroom.  And John raises an eyebrow.  “He needs a blow drier?” 

 “He’s… very particular about his looks,” Randy tells him. 

 “Gotcha.”  John is nearly finished with his beer before the man emerges from the bathroom.  And… wow.  John has to clench his teeth together to stop his jaw from dropping to the floor.  The man is wearing leather pants and a hot pink tank top that’s clinging to his frame, showing off his muscular body. 

 “Do I look ok?” Dolph asks, looking between John and Randy. 

 John finishes off his beer, giving himself a moment to compose himself.  “You look great.”

 Dolph looks down at himself and shakes his head.  “I feel like I should change.”

 “Why?  We’re already late, shit, it’ll be last call before we even leave,” Randy grumbles.

 “The pants are just too much.”

 “No!  They’re fine.  Really.  Trust me,” John says.  “They’re great.”

 “What about the shirt?” Dolph asks, holding his arms out and turning around.  “Not enough skin, right?”

 “What?” John asks.

 “That’s a no.  I’ll be right back.”

 Randy groans and leans back into the couch as Dolph goes to his room to change into something that shows off even more skin.  “He’s ridiculous.”

 “You failed to tell me that he’s hot as balls.”

 “He’s also really annoying.”

 “He’s got more abs than you do.”

 Randy just huffs and lets out the occasional mumble about more abs, yeah right.

 When Dolph makes his return, it’s in yet another bright pink tank, this one a v-neck that really does show off more skin, and is just as tight as the other.  “How’s this one?  Better?”

 “I didn’t think it could get better, but it did,” John says before he can stop himself.

Of course, seeing John Cena across the room from him, wearing nothing but a pair of boxer briefs, gives him some idea just whose room he is in.  He pulls the sheet up over his chest, up to his chin, when he sees John now looking at him. 

 “Hey, you’re up.  I made you coffee, did you want some Aspirin?” John asks.

 “What?” Cody asks, unsure he just heard that right.

 “I said I have coffee and Aspirin,” John repeats for him. 

 Cody places a hand up to his head, fingers rubbing at his temple.  “Yeah, I need both.”

 “Do you take cream or sugar?” John asks.

 “Two sugars and cream,” Cody answers.

 Cody is expecting John to just bring over the cream and sugars, but he actually mixes them in there himself.  He brings over a styrofoam cup filled with coffee and hands it to Cody, along with two Aspirin.  Cody takes it, swallowing the pills with the coffee, that has apparently cooled down enough to be manageable.  The sheet he had pulled up drops down, revealing his bare chest.  “Thanks,” he says after.  He takes a deep breath, then breathes it all out before turning and really looking up at John.  “So, last night…?” he trails off.

 “Do you remember any of it?” John asks.

 “I don’t know.  I think I do,” he answers, his gaze traveling down to stare at the sheets.  “But, I dunno, it could just be my hungover brain doing weird things to my head right now.”  He fiddles with the sheet covering his lap, pulling at the edge.  “Do you remember any of it?”

 “Yeah, I do,” John tells him.  “It came back slowly, but, yeah, it all came back.”

 Cody takes another sip of coffee before asking, “And we, uh, we definitely had sex, didn’t we?”

 “Don’t know what gave that away,” John tries to joke.

 “Actually, it’s the fact that my ass hurts right now that gave it away,” Cody tells him, a blush forming on his cheeks as he finally looks up at John again.

 “Oh.”