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Yes, he was being stupid.
Yes, this could have been avoided.
No, he didn't think it over.
Randy lies in a hospital room listening to his heart rate on the monitor. His brain was a mucky fog that he couldn't even think through. Good thing thinking wasn't his thing. It led him to this exact moment.
Breaking your clavicle isn't fun; especially a wrestler. Stopping your passion to nurse an injury is not fun, but it's a part of the business. Sitting around at home with absolutely nothing to do bored him out of his vacant, cavernous mind. Wake up, eat, dread physical therapy, go home, repeat. He dragged his impressively large body through the whole cycle.
As a treat, he bought himself a motorcycle.
He always thought motorcycles were cool. When he was growing up, his neighbor had a Harley Davidson that he would just stare at from the front door. It was like a status of “coolness”. Once you were the guy with a motorcycle and a leather jacket (and maybe a helmet with a singular spike on the top), you were officially that guy. And Randy was ready to be him. So, he opened his wallet and picked the prettiest hog his money could buy. Once I’m healed , he thought, I’ll ride this thing on the highway.
He wasn't 100%, but he was better than 0% and broken down. It was time to ride his prized possession into the sunset for the first time! Although he was nervous at first, he slowly became comfortable with riding it. For a month straight, he would come home and go riding so he could “think”; there was not a thought in his brain. He rode the same road sometimes watching the sunset. It was a perfect way to clear his mind off of work, this injury that surely would never happen again, and his toxic (although he was perfect in his eyes) ex-”boyfriend”, Edge. It hadn’t been a while since they “broke up” but thinking about it opened the wounds back up for the younger man. For once, he thought he found the one.
Soon, it turned into Randy going for a ride every time he thought of the Canadian. It was embarrassing; it wouldn’t have been that way if Edge didn’t use him. Just a minuscule thought and Randy could blink and end up on his motorcycle riding off to God knows where. He just has to stop thinking of that man. He probably doesn’t think about him, so why should he?
This was the last thing Randy thought before he was run off the road by a truck. Dangerous and scary, but he only came out with a broken clavicle. Again.
He was back in a stuffy med bed, bored out of his mind. The hospital air made him feel sick. His sight was a mosaic, he couldn’t understand anything in front of him. Did he have to eat that nasty hospital food? It’s not like he has anyone who can sneak him in something better tasting.
“Mr. Orton,” He heard a nurse say. He looked towards the door to see her peeking in the door. ”You have a visitor.”
Oh. Someone’s here?
“Let them in,” Randy hoarsely says. Gross.
Randy’s mind searched around for who it could be. Maybe it’s his Dad? He couldn’t think of anyone from the roster that would care enough to come and visit him. How would they even know? Well whoever it is, they care enough about him to check on him.
“Randal,”
Randy’s heart drops to his stomach and he feels his senses come to when he hears that voice. His sight realigns and he sees the one person he didn’t think he would see but yet, there he is.
Edge stands at the foot of Randy’s hospital bed. He can’t read his expression; he might be wondering exactly why he’s there. Looks like they’re on the same page for once. He’s wearing a brown leather jacket and that’s all Randy can really make out. Is he even really there? Are the hospital drugs making him loopy?
“Adam…?” Randy says, his voice still gross from the tube they had down his throat.
“Yeah, it’s me,” Edge says. Okay, he is there. But why? “I know what you’re thinking.”
“Hm…?” is all Randy can get out. What he really wanted to say was lost at this point: What are you doing here?
Edge took a seat in the chair adjacent to the bed. His forearms rested on his knees. ”The hospital called me and told me about the crash.” Randy blinked a few times to make sure he wasn’t going crazy. “I asked them why I was called and they said you put me down as an emergency contact.”
Oh. Oh.
Randy remembers now. When everything seemed perfect . Randy was so far in the clouds and couldn’t see that Edge clearly felt nothing but lust for the younger man. “If anything happens to me,” Randy remembers thinking, “My boyfriend should know. It’s not like we’re going to break up anytime soon.” It was ironic that they split not too long after that. Randy forgot that he did that and “moved on”. Now, here he is, looking at his ex-boyfriend (Edge would have yelled at him for saying that) sitting across from his bed.
“It would be rude if I didn’t come,” Edge sighed,” I don’t know anyone else who would have come out here to see you. I might be all you have…for now.” Randy wanted to say something; he was dying to let him know how he felt. All he could do was take in the way the man he still, secretly yearns for sits with him.
This would have been different if the tag title had never been tossed to him and the argument had never happened. The two of them probably would have been living together and the motorcycle wouldn’t even be in the picture. But if Randy did make the impulsive purchase and did get into an accident, Edge would have insisted on riding in the ambulance with Randy and holding his hand: “It’s gonna be okay, Randal. I’m right here.”
He would be there for when he got discharged. He would insist that Randy sell the motorcycle. He would watch him in the house and ensure he doesn’t do anything stupid.
What was going through his head? Randy looked at the older man and tried to analyze his face. He looked lost in thought. What would he even say? He said all he could possibly say.
“-Leaving?” was all Randy could muster. He sees the Canadian snap out of his thoughts. He sees him shrug.
“When was your surgery?” Edge asked.
“A while,” Randy said. ”Stuck here.” The passage of time really fogs up when you’re in the hospital.
Edge nods. ”I can’t stay. I hope you know that.” Randy opens his mouth, but Edge interjects: “I have a job to do. It’s not because of you.”
Yes, it is , Randy thought. If he would, he would beg the man to stay; never leave. This would be the moment. Randy tells Edge how he felt after the breakup. Edge hears him out and they get back together. Storybook, but it was what Randy would have wanted.
“I should, uh…” Edge says, getting up and wiping his hands on his jeans. ”Get going.”
“-Just got here,” Randy says, feeling himself whining. His eyes pleaded to the older man: Please don't go. You're all I have. You're everything I've ever wanted. You're the cause of this accident.
“I don’t have anything to give you,” Edge said. ”I don’t think my company would even suffice.”
Yes, it would. Randy felt his face getting hot. “Adam…”
“You’re getting tired,” Edge said. “Go ahead and get some rest.” It was like he waved a wand in the air; he did feel tired. The man he loved so much had seemed to disappear from his room with every heavy blink he took. Randy let his heavy eyes flutter close as he was left to think about the man he couldn’t stop from getting away.
Maybe another time.