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Sid groans and rolls off the row machine, sprawling out on the gym mat. “How the hell am I so tired?” He whines to Geno, who laughs and ducks his head as he pushes harder on the stationary bike. Pascal shouts something in French to Tanger from across the gym, to which Tanger laughs loudly and shouts back. Simon giggles to Sid’s right, causing Beau to smile and look up at him from where he was crouched on the mats doing stretches.
Sid huffs and rolls onto his stomach, laying his cheek against the cool mat. Beau and Simon bonded a few days ago. When Sid got the phone call from Shero he had expected some sort of PR nightmare and for at least some of the team to resent them. That hadn’t happened. Pascal did have to have a talk with a disrespectful Dougie Murray, but he seemed to have smoothed things over or threatened well enough. Sid isn’t exactly sure how the conversation went.
The music in the workout room changed suddenly, eliciting a collective groan from the guys as country music filled the room. Tanger puts Neal in a headlock as Neal tries to guard the radio from being changed and Duper quickly switches it back to the old station. Tanger throws Nealer down on the mat, laughing and taking up a defensive wrestling stance. Neal doesn’t hesitate to take the bait, lounging forward to spar with him.
Sid pushes himself to his feet and looks tiredly at Beau, who has taken up a spot on the row machine on the other side of Simon. They keep looking over at each other and smiling. He knows that they are communicating through their bond. He feels oddly put off and jealous at the same time.
Eventually, he gives up on working out. His whole body aches and his head is pounding. Geno looks at him suspiciously as he slips his feet into his crocs.
“You quit?” Geno asks, his voice edging on accusation.
Sid nods, “Yeah, something is off today. I think I’m just going to go home. Maybe watch some tv and take a nap.”
Geno makes a face and stands up, wiping his neck with a towel. Pascal gives Sid a judging look and runs faster on the treadmill.
He scowls right back at Duper and sneers, “Knock it off old man. Such an overachiever.”
Duper throws his head back laughing as Sid walks to the door. Geno is following him and he scowls. “Fuck you Geno!” Pascal yells at their backs.
“G, I don’t need a baby sitter. I’m not hurt. I’m just tired.” Geno grins anyway. “I come over, make sure Sid not lying. Make you feed me dinner.” Sid whines about Geno never believing him and hits the shower, Geno following him in and taking a shower stall a few away.
Geno, true to his word, drives to Sid’s house and invites himself in. He immediately goes to the kitchen, and starts rummaging through Sid’s pantry. Sid grumbles about him eating as much as four grown men and wanders past him to the den.
Last time he was in here watching movies he must have left in a hurry or been very tired. All the dvds are still spread out on the floor, as opposed to neatly put away. Sid kneels in front of the dvd case and looks at all the titles. He ends up settling on the first Harry Potter movie, and is popping it in when he hears Geno come into the room.
He scoffs at Geno, who is toting a big bowl of chips in one hand, a bowl of M+Ms in the other and and icepack gripped between his teeth. When he turns sideways Sid notices a bottle of water in each of his back pockets. Geno grins around the icepack, his eyes crinkling up in a way that Sid has to force himself to look away.
The icepack thumps onto the theater seating couch when Geno drops it from his teeth. He carefully sets the M+Ms on the coffee table and pulls one bottle of water out of his back pocket, tossing it to Sid.
Sid catches it and hits play on the movie. When he turns back around, Geno is settling in on the overstuffed theater chair and putting the footrest up, icepack once again gripped between his teeth. Sid shakes his head and grabs a handful of M+Ms on his way to the seat next to Geno.
The movie starts playing and Geno groans loudly, shooting Sid a reproachful look. “This movie again?” He says with an eye roll. Sid shrugs and pops a couple M+Ms in his mouth. Geno scowls and arranges the icepack on his knee. “You buy me dinner for suffering movie again.”
It isn’t long before Sid is squirming around, a pain settled low in his back that is making it impossible to get comfortable. Geno keeps shooting him side glances that he is trying to ignore. Sid eventually loses track of the movie and in engulfed in pain in his head and back.
It’s when he drops his head into his hands, leaning forward suddenly, that Geno finally jumps up. He crouches in front of Sid and repeats, “Sid, Sid, Sid…” over and over again. Sid just wants him to stop talking. His voice is like nails on a chalkboard and his touch makes Sid recoil. Geno looks at him with wide, frightened eyes. Sid wants to put on a brave face and pretend nothing is happening, but he can’t.
~~~
Sid wakes up with a pounding in his skull and an achy body. He instinctively does an assessment of where he is before he opens his eyes. He makes a slight face when he realizes what he just did, and immediately he feels a hand grab his and hears his name being whispered.
“Sid?” The hand squeezing his loosens and fingers brush across his forehead. “Sid?”
He thinks that it’s Geno holding his hand, and he wants to squeeze back or open his eyes or something, but he just doesn’t have the energy.
~~~
The next time he wakes up, he opens his eyes slowly and looks around blearily. He’s at the hospital. Why is he in the hospital?
He scrapes though his memories feeling like his brain is coated in something sticky. He feels slow and confused. Almost like a confussion. He dumps that thought away. But then wonders if he got hit and doesn’t know remember it.
Sid squeezes the hand wrapped loosely around his own experimentally. He looks down through his lashes at the blurry figure.
Geno lifts his head and sits up straighter, “Sid!?” he whispers desperately. Sid tries say ‘what’ but it comes out as a whimper. He sighs and closes his eyes again when Geno lays a hand on his forehead. Someone grabs his other hand and rubs his fingers. It feels like a woman’s hand.
~~~
A soft radio is playing the next time his eyes flutter open. He looks down and sees Geno leaned forward with his hands cupping the back of Sid’s hand and his cheek on Sid’s palm.
Sid strokes his thumb across Geno’s cheek, but he doesn’t stir. He has dark circles under his eyes and his face is pinched in an expression Sid has never seen on his face before.
The radio is still playing, but has gone to commercial and it is grating on Sid’s nerves. He looks around, trying to locate it. Instead, his eyes fall on his mom. She is sitting in a lounge chair to his right, a book in her lap and her head tipped back, asleep.
“Ma…” He croaks, his throat to dry and sore to do anything more. He looks down at Geno again, who is still dozing, but his face has relaxed a slight amount.
“G,” He tries, rubbing his thumb across his cheek as he does it. Geno stirs slightly, his lips moving silently.
“G.” He murmurs, digging his thumb into Geno’s cheek as hard as he can. It must not be very strong though, because Geno doesn’t budge.
“Sid?!” A melodic female voice cries. Sid looks over towards the door, seeing Taylor standing in the door way holding a cup of coffee. Geno’s head snaps up and he looks toward the door then quickly back at Sid.
“Sid!” Geno gasps, jumping to his feet. His mom and Taylor are by his other side immediately, his mom grabbing his hand and clutching it to her chest. Taylor rests her hand on his stomach. They are all looking at him like they expect him to say something.
He tries to clear his throat, but winces because it feels like someone took sandpaper to his throat. Taylor looks at him worriedly and says, “I’m gonna get the doctor…” and bounces away. His mom strokes the side of his face and clutches his hand tighter. Sid looks up at Geno, and tries to ask what happened, but all that comes out is “What…”
“Water?” Geno supplies hopefully. Sid nods anyway, since he needs that too. Geno drops his hand and turns away. Sid’s mom starts trying to help him sit up, propping pillows up behind him. Just as Geno holds the cup infront of Sid’s mouth, steadying the straw for him, Taylor comes bursting back into the room. A doctor and a pair of nurses come in, instantly busying themselves with looking at monitors and scanners. Geno helps him sip the water and then rubs a hand down Sid’s face, which Sid thinks is odd, but brushes off and Geno just have been very worried.
The doctors ask him seemingly endless questions. It seems like they have no idea what happened to him. He freezes when they say, “It can’t be subsequential pain carrying over from your bondmate, since he is obviously fine…” and gesture to Geno, who squeezes his hand and looks at him with wide pleading eyes. They also tell him he has been unconscious for 5 days.
As soon as the doctor leaves, Geno whispers in hushed tones to Sid’s mom and sister, asking them to leave for a couple minutes. Geno shushes Sid when he starts to ask why, and ushers the two out the door.
As soon as the door clicks shut, Geno rounds on Sid with a semi-panicked look. “Sid…” he starts, cutting himself off and running a hand through his hair. He gestures wildly in front of himself. “They say, must be bond pain, have to be bond pain. Reporters see me bring you in. They assume bondmate is me, I’m not know what to do!”
“So you lied to them?!” Sid rasps, his eyes wide. Geno shrugs and turns away. “Who. Who, Sid?” He turns back, looking at Sid with sad eyes. “Who you really bond with?”
Sid sighs, his head tipping back against the pillows. “I don’t know…I don’t fucking know…”
Geno sighs and flops into the chair to Sid’s left. “I been reading. Sid. Your bondmate must be really hurt. I think, maybe car accident… I check up on many hockey players. No one have major injury. It not one of them. So who, Sid?”
Sid swallows and wracks his brain. “Shouldn’t I be able to feel it…feel my bondmate?” He asks hesitantly. Geno shrugs a shoulder, giving Sid another sad look. “I thought so. Maybe bond not complete.”
Geno is quiet for a little bit. Then finally says, “I’m sorry. Maybe I should not have lie. Just wanted to protect you. Protect team. Media was everywhere.” He shakes his head and lets it fall forward into his hands.
“Geno, it’s okay. I’m glad you did it. Really.”
~~~
Sid’s status goes up and down over the next two days, sometimes feeling blissfully pain-free and slightly floaty, and other times being twitchy and irritable as well as nervous and itchy. He doesn’t tell anyone, but he feels empty and hollow most of the time. Sometimes it feels like someone is squeezing his heart. Then the pain will suddenly switch to the most bizarre feeling of warmth and just…good.
They manage to keep up the façade of being bonded while in the hospital. They even convince his mother and sister, who are both furious that he didn’t tell them. Sid sends them home the same day he leaves the hospital.
Sid gets to go home 7 days after he arrives at the hospital. Geno drives him home and takes over one of the spare bedrooms. Sid isn’t allowed to drive, and someone is supposed to be with him at all times. He can’t play hockey in case he has an ‘episode.’
Their first evening home, Sid is having a bad couple of hours. He feels cold and clammy, but sweaty at the same time. Geno silently hands him one of the pills the doctor prescribed. Sid takes the pill and swallows it with a sip of Gatorade. Geno looks at him for a long moment, until Sid snaps at him.
Geno turns away and sinks down unto the other couch, laying his hands in his lap and staring at them.
“I want to hire bond specialist. Find out who you bonded with. Will make it private, make them sign agreements…” Geno glances up at Sid when he trails off.
Sid huffs and lays his head on his hand. “I never wanted to be bonded. I hate it that someone else controls my life this way. I can’t even play because of this stupid bond!”
Seconds tick by in an uncomfortable silence before Geno speaks. “Sid, you will be better off if you find him. I know you know who it is. He’s hurting, making you hurt.”
Sid stands up shakes his head. “I don’t want him.” He murmurs under his breath as he walks away.