A Heart To Give (A Cody Rhodes x Reader AU)

Chapter 12: Sweet Dreams in the Shade

In the kitchen, Cody stood at the counter packing a small picnic basket with various foods while Y/N sat at the table, wrapping up some food and putting it into containers. A small spread of fruits and vegetables and other miscellaneous items was laid out on the counter. The two were getting ready for their picnic date in the park, eagerly awaiting their afternoon of fun. Cody glanced over to Y/N for a moment, smiling. Cody finished packing his basket and stepped over to Y/N. He sat the basket down and gave their shoulder a bit of a nudge, smiling. "Hey, this was a good idea. This picnic is going to be perfect. Did you get the drinks?" "I got some apple juice! Did you want any soda?" "Apple juice sounds perfect." Cody smiled and sat down next to Y/N. "So, what else do we need to do to get ready? I've got the food packed up; what about you?" Cody grabbed a strawberry, biting into it. They put the apple juice boxes into the fruit basket. Cody watched as you did that, smiling and resting his head against your shoulder.

"That's a perfect picnic basket. I think we just about got everything we need. Our clothes, the food, everything. The only thing left is to go to the park." He snuggled into you a bit more, wrapping his arm around your waist. "To the park!" You exclaim. "Okay! Let's go!" Cody picked up the picnic basket, heading towards the door. After grabbing his car keys, he held the door open for you, smiling. "After you, my love." "Bold today, aren't we?" He grinned. "Well, you know what they always say. Always treat your partner like royalty, right? It's all about making sure you know how special you are." He held the basket in one hand and offered the other hand to you, wiggling his fingers. "Your chariot awaits, your majesty." You take his hand. "Aw, you're treating me like a prince/princess!" He smiled and laced their fingers together, holding that hand gently in his own as he led you outside to the parking lot. "Of course I am. Because you deserve the best treatment. My royalty deserves to be treated like the royalty they truly are."

He gently swung your hand up and planted a gentle kiss on the back of it before opening the door to his car and setting the picnic basket down to allow you to step inside. You step inside. Cody smiles and closes the door, circling around the car to get into the driver's side, slipping into his seat and putting on his seatbelt. "You ready for the best picnic date in the world? Everything's gonna be wonderful, I promise." He flashes you a smile and starts the car, pulling out of the parking lot and heading towards the park. "That's my Cody Heart~" You tease. He smiled, looking over at you and reaching over to take your hand in his, holding it as he kept his eyes fixed on the road. "And this is my Y/N, who deserves the world." He pulled your hand up and planted another gentle kiss on it, keeping it clasped tight as he drove, continuing towards the park.

Moments later, the car pulled up to the park, and Cody parked. He got out of the car, circled around to the passenger side, and opened the door for you. "Here we are. Park complete with a nice grassy field, beautiful trees, and some swings. All the makings of a picnic date." He grinned and held out a hand to you. You take his hand, smiling softly. He smiles and laces his fingers with yours, gently leading you toward a nice spot under a tree for the picnic. After a moment of walking, he finds just the right spot and sets down the picnic basket, opening it up and setting up the small meal he'd packed. "Perfect spot in the shade on this hot summer day with just a lovely bit of grass to sit on. What do you think?" "I love it. It's a nice quiet place for us to relax, away from all the paparazzi." He smiled. "I thought so too. I wanted to find a spot where we could be alone, and not have any paparazzi following us around and taking pictures for articles. Just one-on-one fun, with nobody bothering us. Just us, talking and laughing and having a nice meal."

He sat down, patting the spot next to him. "Come, my love. Join me; I want to be with you." You nod and sit next to Cody. Cody smiles, draping an arm over you and tugging you closer, giving your shoulder a gentle kiss before pulling away. "Now this is more like it, isn't it? No reporters, no cameras, just me and my love. This is the best." He rested his head against yours, gently running his fingers through your hair in affectionate strokes. "Peace... And tranquility. What more could you want?" "Aside from you and I spending a beautiful afternoon together? I couldn't ask for anything else. I wouldn't want anything else." He wrapped both his arms around you and gave you a little squeeze, planting a soft kiss on your cheek. "You're the most important thing in my life, after all. And the person I want to spend each day with." "Well, unless one of your band members or manager decides to come in." He snorted. "They better not. This is our time to be alone together, I told them not to bother us." 

He planted another kiss on your cheek, just to reassure you. "If one of them does come in, they're going to regret interrupting our date!" "Oh yeah? What would you do?" "Well, first I'd make sure they apologize to you. Then I'd give 'em a real tongue lashing. We're supposed to have this time to ourselves, and they know that. They know they better leave us alone, and if they don't it's gonna be their trouble." He wrapped his arm around you tighter. "But don't worry, my love. I won't let anything or anyone interrupt our perfect date." You laugh, amused by Cody's antics. He chuckled along with you, reaching over and ruffling your hair. "See? That's better. That's the laughter I wanna hear. Now come here, gorgeous." He pulled you close to him, wrapping his arms tight around you and holding you tight. "Shall we start eating? The food's gonna get cold." He nodded. "We shall. The food's not gonna eat itself, after all. Though I could stay like this forever, holding my lovely partner in my arms. That's all I need, really."

He pulled back from the hug and grabbed the picnic basket, pulling out some of the food he'd packed and laying it out for them to eat. After he laid out some food, his eyes widened. "Wait! The drinks!" You burst out laughing. "Dork, the juice is in there!" "I know, I know, stop laughing!"He pouted a bit, picking up the juices and handing one to you. "I almost forgot them, which would have been terrible on such a hot summer day. Luckily, I have my juice box and my partner to laugh at me, so it's all good." He chuckled and sat back down, biting into a strawberry. He gave you a loving glance as he chewed and swallowed the piece of fruit. "You know, I am so lucky. I could not have gotten a more perfect partner than you." He gently reached out and ran his hand through your hair, gently stroking it away from your face. 

"You're so loving and caring, you're beautiful, talented. Gosh, I could sit here and write you a list of your amazing qualities all day. But I know you're humble, so I won't go on a long and cheesy tangent." He smiled, taking your hand in his. "I'm lucky to have you, plain and simple. You're everything to me." "Me? Talented? Oh come on, Cody... You are literally a kpop idol." "I know, but you're talented too!" He protested, gently flicking your nose. "I don't care that you're not an idol. You still sing better than me, anyway. I have no idea how you just sing so beautifully, it's unbelievable. I'm sure you could rock one of my songs if you tried, maybe even better than me!" He leaned in, giving your nose a quick kiss before pulling back. "Well, if you wanna be like that... I guess we could work on your next album." "You think so? Gosh, that'd be absolutely amazing. I'd love that so much."

He beamed and sat up straight, his eyes lighting up with excitement. "Would you really help? How does it work? Do I write the songs and you sing them, or just offer input? Either way, I wanna work with you on my next album, for sure." He grinned, grabbing your hand and pulling you over to him so that you were sat in his lap. He held onto you tight, burying his face into your shoulder and hugging you from behind. His arms were locked around you tight, not wanting to let go just yet. "I can't wait. It's gonna be great. You and I, together on my next album."