Archive of Our Own ^beta

Adam Cole knew what it was like to be really sick. He’d been there before, back when he had to go to the hospital because he was drowning in his own mucus. That had been bad. This? This was just a cold. Which wasn’t to say it didn’t suck. Summer colds hit different, the chills feeling even more deep when there was a heatwave outside. His body didn’t know what was going , and his head and nose felt like they were stuffed with cotton.

Plus, Britt had to travel for work and wasn’t able to stay and look after him. She hadn’t wanted to go, but Adam had insisted that he’d be okay. Being on the road was just part of being a pro wrestler; they both knew that.

He picked up his phone and started typing up a text to Max. They had planned to meet up at the gym later today and do some planning for the tag team championship on Saturday. It was Tuesday today. How unreal his life had become. He’d never expected to become part of a tag team with MJF and…actually enjoy the ride.
He expected Max to be angry that he was bailing on their workout sesh. He’d certainly be disappointed. He knew how much the guy looked forward to the time they spent together, and if Adam were honest with himself, he felt the same way. Max was…a lot, but that wasn’t always a bad thing. The man loved wrestling more than oxygen. Almost literally; if God told Max he had to pick between wrestling and breathing, Max would start holding his breath then and there.
Plus, Max cared deeply for his friends. Well, for his friend. Adam was pretty sure he was MJF’s only friend. But that was just because it took a while to see Max’s charms. If other people had been forced to spend time with MJF the way Adam had, they’d come around to the guy as well.
Maybe.
Adam sighed and finished the text:
‘Hey Max I am down with a killer cold. Can’t make it to the gym today.’
He pressed send, and a second later he typed out a second text.
‘sorry.’
Max replied a millisecond later:
‘OMW Bay Bay’
Adam had no clue what ‘OMW’ meant, and he didn’t care. He was too tired, too stuffed up, too sick, to do anything but rest his head on his pillow and close his eyes.

Awhile later he woke to the sound of his front door opening.
“Britt?” he called out weakly.
Heavy footsteps rang out as someone came up the stairs. The bedroom door creaked open and MJF stood there in the doorway. He arched an eyebrow as he looked around the room.
“Damn, babe, you look like crap.”
“Well, yeah,” Adam said, his nose still stuffed up. “I told you, I’m sick.”
Max snorted. “Sure, but I didn’t know if you were ‘sick’ sick, or if you were ‘sick’ like you were during Forbidden Door.”
“I was really sick then, too, Max!”
Max didn’t seem to be listening. The younger wrestler strode into the room, opening the curtains. Adam winced and held a hand to block the sunlight. Max opened a window, then stood back with a satisfied smirk.
“There. Needed some fresh air in here. Place smelled worse than a Cincinnati airport.”
Adam had to admit the breeze coming in was nice, the wind pushing away the smell of vic’s vapor rub and cough drops that had settled in the room.
“Max, how did you get into my house…?”
Max chuckled. “As if I don’t know where you hide your spare key.”
But…there was no reason for MJF to know where the key was. Hell, he’d never even been to Adam’s house before. How did he even know his address? Adam figured he wasn’t going to get any easy answers out of Max, and he wasn’t feeling strong enough to push for them.
“Look, Max, you shouldn’t be here.” Adam felt somewhat conflicted saying this, because honestly it sucked being alone when you were sick. It would be nice to have company. On the other hand, the company in question was MJF. The man often required all of Adam’s energy and patience, and that took a lot out of him even when Adam was at full health.
“Really, Max, you should go. I don’t want you catching whatever I have.”
“Don’t worry, Bay Bay. I know you get sick when a housefly so much as lands on you. But me? I have a robust immune system. How else could I high-five all those poors week in and week out and not catch anything?” Max looked at him and cocked an eyebrow. “Speaking of catching things…you’re not laid up with an STD, are you? Your Panama City Playboy days catching up with you? Does Britt know?”
“What? No! It’s obviously just a cold!” He gestured to the balled-up tissues scattered around the bed.
Max grinned.
“Oh, I figured those tissues were from something else, if you know what I mean.”
Adam closed his eyes. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”
“I figured with Britt out of town, you developed into some sad video game nerd and was just jerking off left and right.”
Max had managed to imply he was an STD-riddled slut and a nerdy sex-starved sad sack in the space of twenty seconds.
“Max, I appreciate you coming here, but what I need most right now is rest. That’s it. It’s the only way I’ll be well enough to wrestle Saturday.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly why I had to come by! When you got pneumonia, that was really rough, right?”
Adam looked over at Max to concern deeply etched on the man’s big, stupid face.
“And you lost a lot of weight, and you became even more scrawny than you were before, right?” Max said, still radiating worry. “I can’t let my tag team partner waste away, can I?”
Adam sighed, accepting that he wasn’t going to get rid of the younger wrestler. “Right, well, thanks. That’s very sweet of you. But there’s really not much you can do.”
“C’mon, man! I don’t believe that. I’m sure there’s something I could do that would help you feel better.”
Adam mused it over.
“There is one thing I like to do when I’m under the weather.”
“Lay it on me, Bay Bay.”
“I like to watch other people’s streams.”
Max stared at him, his eyes narrowed. It was a full minute before he spoke again.
“Is this some piss-kink thing?”
“What?!! NO!” Adam actually sat up in bed. “No, no! You know how I play video games online and people watch? That’s streaming. And when I need to relax, I like to watch other people doing it.”
Max cocked his head to the side. “You like to watch other people play video games? That’s the lamest thing I’ve ever heard. Like, I didn’t think there was anything lamer than playing video games, but—”
“Okay, fine, whatever. Forget it.” Adam flopped down into bed and closed his eyes, pulling the blanket up to his neck. He’d just pretend to be asleep until MJF left.
Max sighed.
“Okay, fine. Get up, King Cole. Let’s go watch these streams.”
Adam almost didn’t want to at this point, but Max was insistent. They went to the living room, Adam still wrapped in his blanket, Max sitting next to him. Adam used his phone and put on an old Game Grumps Mario Maker stream. He figured their humor might appeal to MJF, and he was right: despite his attempts to stay stone-faced, the man was soon chuckling.
Adam was still too mentally fogged up to pay much attention to the screen. After awhile he closed his eyes and just listened to the familiar Mario music and sound effects. Max was a warm, solid presence next to him, comforting even if the man wasn’t doing anything except sitting there.
Adam started nodding off, falling into a deeper sleep until he slumped over, his face resting on Max’s shoulder. He jerked awake.
“Oh, sorry, man,” he said groggily.
“It’s okay,” Max said softly, and then slowly raised his arm up until it was around Adam’s shoulder.
“What’s this?” Adam said. Everything felt a little strange in his fogged-up state, but was he seriously cuddling with MJF?
“It’s what I want when I’m sick,” Max said, then looked away, eyes downcast. “Is it weird?”
“No, it’s…” ‘it’s sweet’ he wanted to say. But Roddy’s voice echoed in his head: don’t trust him. He’s just using you. He’ll turn on you. But no one else had ever seen Max in moments like this. No one but Adam.
“It’s okay,” Adam said, before falling asleep.

Adam wasn’t sure how long he’d slept this time, but when he woke up the room was grey, the sun having just dipped below the horizon. The TV was off, just a dark black screen. And his head was no longer resting on Max’s shoulder but had slipped down so it was now resting in Max’s lap.
Oh, and Max’s hand was in his hair, thumb gently rubbing Adam’s temple.
“Hey, you’re awake,” Max said in an almost sing-song voice. Something in it made Adam shiver. His spidey-senses told him that, despite the cozy scene, he was in danger here.
“How are you feeling?” Max asked.
“Much better actually.” It was true. His head felt a lot clearer, and once he blew his nose he’d probably be a lot less congested. He wanted to sit up, but Max’s hand was still firmly in place on the side of his head. Just how long had they been sitting there in that dark living room, Adam sleeping and Max just stroking his hair while staring down at him?
“While you were out cold, I was thinking about this Saturday’s match.” MJF’s tone was one Adam was familiar with: it harkened back to when they were enemies, back before they became tag team partners, back before they became friends. It was that friendly, cloying, sarcastic tone MJF used when trying to convince everyone he was the capital-‘D’ devil. “I was thinking about what we each had to gain by betraying each other.”
“Oh?” Adam didn’t like where this was going.
“See, me? I honestly have nothing to gain by betraying you. I’m already ready the AEW champ! What do I gain by stabbing you in the back? Nothing. And I’d lose…well, I’d lose you.”
“Max...”
“No, no, shhhh.” Max pressed a finger to his lips. “Now, you on the other hand? You’d gain everything by turning on me.”
“But I’d lose you,” Adam said, echoing Max’s own words back to him as his heart beat rapidly in his chest. Max had that manic look in his eyes, the twisted smile he wore when he was in pain and looking to inflict that pain on others. Adam knew he had to tread carefully. “What we have is something special, Max, a friendship that means a lot to me.”
Max snorted. “So what? You have lots of friends. You’ve got a nice house, a hot wife who loves you, a crowd that loves you too. The one thing you don’t have is the championship belt.” Max’s smile grew. “And I get it. I get why you’d want to screw me over. But I’m telling you right now, Adam, don’t do it. Don’t do it. I’m saying this not for my sake, but for your sake. Because if you hurt me like that, I just don’t know what I might do out there.”
Max’s face was so distorted he may as well have been wearing his devil mask.
Adam’s first instinct was to protest that no, he wasn’t going to betray Max. They’d been over this already. But he knew that denying it would just make Max even more paranoid.
“Okay,” he said. “Got it, Bay Bay.”
Max let out a sigh of relief at that, and some of the intensity bled from his eyes.
“Cool, just wanted to make sure we’re on the same page.” Max stopped stroking Adam’s head in order to stretch. Adam took the opportunity to sit up. Max gave him a smile, his usual slight smirk.
“Hey, you don’t look totally dead anymore, just kinda pale.”
“Yeah,” Adam replied, voice shaky. Maybe Max had gone back to normal, but Adam couldn’t quite change gears that fast. “I’m actually feeling hungry for the first time all day.”
Max’s eyes lit up at that. “Hey, that’s a sign you’re on the mend! Let me fire up the old takeout app. What do you feel like eating? It’s on me tonight. Just nothing spicy, unless you want me dropping some nasty deuces in the tank later.”
Adam knew he should probably ask the man to leave, but he also knew that Max wasn’t going anywhere. He sighed.
“Let’s get thai.”