The room is quiet. Dimly lit. There's soft breathing from the bed, but in general, things are peaceful-
At least it is until the silence is broken by a strained gasp and the harsh rustle of sheets as Max sits up, grasping blindly at his arm in the dark. "Fuck," he breathes out, eyes wide. He can't see and he thinks maybe it'll be good for things to stay that way, but then there's movement next to him and a lamp clicks on.
"Max? What's wrong?" Adam is leaning over, curling an arm around him, squinting worriedly as he searches Max's face.
"I, I..." Max exhales and starts feeling his arm over. "I'm... I." He swallows. "My arm's ok?" he asks, breathless, a little high pitched. "Adam?"
"Of course your arm's ok," Adam says, rubbing his shoulder. "Right? Did something happen?"
Max breathes in sluggishly. "Sorry, I think wearing the brace the last few weeks fucked with my head. I, uh. I think I was dreaming."
Adam's lips twitch up sympathetically as he hugs Max closer. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Max exhales slowly. "Uh, I... I dreamed that rehab failed," he says quietly. "I had to have surgery, and they said I wouldn't be able to return for upwards of a year, and..." He's trembling, he realizes, and Adam's brows are furrowing in more and more concern as he brushes his fingers through Max's curls, trying to sooth him. "I think I dreamed I knocked a bunch of cups out of the shelf all over my head? It was fucked up, baybay."
Adam laughs a little, shaking his head as he presses a kiss to the side of Max's face. "It does sound fucked up," he agrees quietly, continuing to sooth him. "Thankfully none of that happened. Do you think you wanna try to fall back asleep? It's still pretty early. We have a big day ahead of us."
Max nods, turning to face him. "Yeah. I can try. Sorry I woke you up."
"Not your fault," Adam says. "God knows my subconscious has fucked up your sleep at times too."
"I guess," Max mumbles, burying his face in Adam's chest as he adjusts them against the pillows and gets comfortable.
Adam hums and rubs his back lazily until Max melts in his arms, falling back asleep after a few minutes.
-x
The arena is loud, bustling. Max has missed the madness. He looks around, drinking it all in, before turning to find Adam ready to head out and put everything into motion for Max's big return. "You ok with all of this?" he asks, tugging Adam closer and kissing him.
"Yep, of course I am." He winks at Max. "Save me one last hug for the road, Max?"
"Yeah," he agrees. He stands there and watches as Adam speaks to the crowd, leaning into being smarmy, insulting the crowd and talking about the Undisputed Kingdom until the video leading into Max's entrance plays.
Max nods and heads out when it's time, glowering and straightfaced as he walks down to the ring. Adam and he hugs and then it all kicks into overdrive as Max kicks him between the legs and brainbusters him, sending him out of the ring as referees and other staff surround him, helping him out of the ring.
Max then addresses the crowd, quickly giving them the answer they've been grinding their teeth over since late last year, flashing his tattoo at them and reinforcing where home is and will be for a very long time for him.
Once he finishes, he marches backstage and shrugs off the anger, everything he had to wrap himself up in to make everything work with Adam. He walks through to medical and finds Adam stretched out on a cot, relaxed and looking ok. "Hey," he says, resting his hand on Adam's hair. "You ok? I saw you were kind of limping."
"Oh," Adam says, leaning into his hand. "Yeah, just. You know. I haven't taken anything in the ring in so long, I'm ok. I'll make sure with rehab tomorrow, but nothing bad happened. I promise."
Max nods, solemnly looking him over. "You'd better be telling the truth, baybay," he says. "I wasn't trying to really hurt you out there."
"You didn't," Adam promises, reaching up to squeeze his hand.
"I'm coming with you to the airport tomorrow," Max warns him and Adam smiles up at him.
"I expected as much," he admits, kissing Max's wrist. "Do we need to stay and watch the show or can we go back to the hotel?"
"Who the hell willingly stays to watch these things?" Max asks, putting on the scum to make Adam laugh. "I'll talk to Tony for a minute, and then we can go." He leans in and kisses Adam. "Don't move a muscle, I'll be back for you."
"Yeah, alright," Adam says with a shake of his head, watching fondly as Max leaves the room.
It's going to be a slow road back for Adam, but at least things are still good between he and Max. He will cling to that through the long months of rehab ahead.