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He was all too familiar with the sensation of waking up in a cryopod, cold, confused, and with a dry mouth. He used to be hungry every time, but his stomach had acclimated to being empty. There was always someone waiting to catch him, and so without opening his eyes, he slumped forward, unable to remain upright for long.
He fell into waiting arms and heard a surprised little oof , but she held his weight all the same. He breathed in her scent for a moment, thankful to find her alive, before she shifted him to lean over her shoulder.
“Have a nice nap, dumbass?”
He scrunched up his face with a pout as she shoved him onto the waiting metal medical table. It was somehow even colder than the icy home he’d been basically living in for the past few months.
She continued her rant under her breath as he sluggishly moved to wipe the induced coma out of his eyes.
“Mr. Hero, all like, ‘Oh no, little damsel in distress, let me take the hit, because I’m a man and a whole five inches taller than you which obviously makes me a better target, and I love dying.’” She turned to look at him.
“That was me, being you. Because you’re just such a hero.”
He blinked at her and she let out a little hmph under her breath, returning to her task, scrounging through drawers until she found what she was looking for. The stethoscope she pulled out was surprisingly terran for a piece of alien medical equipment. The blood pressure gauge, while a small, non intrusive rubber armband on Earth, the Alteans had somehow developed as a massive laser.
Pidge was starting with the stethoscope for now.
“Where’s Coran?” Keith asked.
She hummed, putting the the ends of the stethoscope in her ears. “Fixing the teludav with Hunk and Slav.”
Keith nodded and Pidge approached him with the stethoscope. He shrugged out of the top half of his suit. She frowned, poking at the newest of his scars, a gash from his right shoulder and down his back.
“Any deeper and you’d need Shiro’s arm.”
Keith looked down and Pidge pretended not to notice. She placed the metal circle high on his chest.
“Deep breath.”
He complied, and she repeated the motion down his front before walking around to the other side of the table. She laid the disc lightly over the top of the cut.
“Deep breath.”
He breathed.
“You know, you don’t have to be him.”
Keith tensed under her fingers.
“This is exactly what took Shiro from us, and I don’t think we—” she interrupted herself. “ I could handle losing you, too.”
Keith hung his head before confiding. “I can’t lose you either.”
He was surprised by the hug from behind, clumsy and kind of uncomfortable as she squeezed his upper arms, head resting in the crook of his neck. Still, he leaned into the touch and held the hands clasped in front of his chest.
“We’re going to get him back,” she mumbled.
“I know.” he said.
“Please don’t get yourself killed before then.”
He sighed. “I’ll try my best, but I can’t promise anything, I’m—”
“Keith.”
He turned to look at her to see that she’d picked up her head to look at him. He tried not to notice the tears welling behind her glasses.
“You’re not alone.”
He clenched his jaw and looked back down.
“I know.”