Chapter Text
Distressed, Robert sat in the waiting room.
His legs were shaking, his eyes, staring in no direction.
The image of Aaron, walking onto the street and being hit by car,
was constantly replaying inside Robert’s head.
Robert, trying to get an unconscious Aaron to wake up.
Finally, the door opened and hopeful Robert stood up.
But it was only Adam and Robert’s sister Vic,
who he had previously called and informed about what happened.
“Where is he?”, Adam asked worried.
“I- I don’t know.
I was just told to stay here and then they’d inform me,
but that was what feels like ages ago.”
Vic must have seen how shaken up Robert was,
because she placed her arm around him as comfort,
and made them all sit down.
“Why don’t you just explain what happened?”, Vic asked calmly.
Robert was really glad she was here.
“Aaron and I.. we were talking and-”, Robert stopped,
as the door to the waiting room opened again.
A nurse came in, “You’re here for Aaron Dingle?”, she asked.
“Yeah, I was with him when the accident happened.”
The nurse nodded, “Do you know how to contact the parents,
or other family?”
“There’s not really someone, but I’m technically his brother.”, Adam said.
“Alright. Aaron’s just gotten out of surgery, he hasn’t woken up yet,
but we’re pretty certain that he will be alright.”
Adam, Vic and Robert all let out a big sigh of relieve.
Robert suddenly felt so much calmer.
He didn’t have to lose Aaron.
He was still there, still breathing.
“Can we go and see him?”, Robert asked hopeful.
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible until tomorrow.
Aaron needs to rest.”, the nurse answered.
“But-”
“Robert, come on, let’s go home.
You won’t do Aaron any good if he’s not even awake.”, Vic said.
The next morning was rough one,
Robert had barely been able to sleep,
constantly thinking about Aaron.
The doctors said he was gonna be alright,
but still that didn’t stop Robert from worrying about him.
Vic and Adam were going to accompany him,
visiting Aaron later.
So now Robert was just staring at the clock in his room,
waiting for his sister to finally wake up.
He started going through the pictures on his phone,
there were a few if him and Aaron, but not many.
Aaron had kept insisting he wasn’t really a “taking pictures”-person,
but Robert still had been able to get him to pose for a selfie once in a while.
There was one picture that Robert liked in particular,
it was a few weeks old, the last one they took before they had broken up.
Robert thought about getting it framed for Aaron,
so he could put it in his hospital room,
but he wasn’t sure if Aaron felt comfortable doing that.
They had gotten back together just moments ahead of the accident,
but they hadn’t properly discussed the whole coming out thing.
Robert put his phone away and got up, went to get a quick shower,
put on some clothes and went downstairs to get breakfast.
When Vic was finally ready to leave and they were picked up by Adam,
Robert realized his heart starting to beat faster.
He was nervous to go see Aaron, he didn’t really know why,
maybe because he was scared the accident had made Aaron
change his mind about getting back together,
or maybe it was because he didn’t know how Aaron was gonna look.
Was he gonna be bruised?
Was he gonna look as always?
He probably didn’t have tons of gel in his hair so that’d be a pleasant look.
“We’re here to see Aaron, Aaron Dingle?”, Adam asked the nurse
that had informed them about Aaron yesterday.
The nurse suddenly looked concerned,
definitely not as optimistic as she did yesterday.
“What’s wrong?”, Robert asked, “Hasn’t he woken up yet.”
The nursed sighed, “Yes he has, actually he woke up soon after you left,
but .. well the doctors diagnosed Aaron with retrograde amnesia,
which is very common with head injuries like Aaron’s.”
Robert felt a strong sting in his stomach,
and by the looks of it Adam felt the same.
“What does that mean?”, Vic now asked,
probably sensing the boys were too stunned to ask.
“Retrograde amnesia is a loss of memory-access to events that occurred,
or information that was learned, before an injury or the onset of a disease.
This means that Aaron can’t really remember much.
He still remembers his name and some stuff from his childhood,
it seems like he’d even be fit enough to return to school,
but retrograde amnesia means you’re likely to forget more recent memories,
closer to the traumatic incident than more distant memories.
He was very confused when he woke up,
we tried explaining what happened and he gladly understood really fast.
We don’t know yet how extended his amnesia is,
so we can’t promise that he’ll know who you are.”
The nurse must have noticed the massive shock she just brought to the three teenagers,
she gave an apologetic and comforting look.
“But on the bright side, the doctor says Aaron’s very likely to regain all his memories
within a few weeks.”
Robert was still in shock about what all this meant,
but at least this was some consolation.
“Can we go in and see him?”, Adam asked.
“Yeah sure, just keep in mind, you’re all probably strangers to him.”
Adam knocked and they heard a deep voice saying “Come in.”
Robert suddenly felt way better having heard Aaron talk,
even though it was just two words.
He was still there, still breathing, still talking.
He may not remember him but this could have ended so much worse.
They stepped in the room and looked over to Aaron’s bed.
There he was, sitting upright having some papers and a pen next to him,
looking somewhat happy.
A few bruises could be made out but besides his bandaged head,
he looked just as beautiful as always.
Robert’s eyes were fixed on Aaron, he didn’t really look around,
but the room probably looked like any other hospital room anyway.
Aaron looked at them but it was different,
he didn’t have the familiar glow in his eyes.
“The nurse told me there were friends here for me,
but I’m sorry I just have no idea who you are.”, Aaron said apologetic.
They gathered around Aaron, at first silent,
which seemed to make Aaron slightly uncomfortable,
but Robert wasn’t ready yet,
he wasn’t even sure how to explain who he was.
“I’m sorry, we should introduce ourselves, it’s just...”, Adam started,
“...so good to see you’re okay.”
“It’s fine, I guess I’m lucky I apparently do have friends that care.”, Aaron now glanced at Robert,
giving him a weird thoughtful look that Robert couldn’t make out.
“I’m Adam.”, Adam now introduced himself and Aaron’s eyes turned back to him,
“I’m like.. well your bro, best mate, whatever,
we’ve known each other ever since we were little,
been friends ever since, practically brothers.”
“I think I do remember you, at least somehow.”, Aaron explained,
“The doctors said memories that are very old were more likely to have stuck
and I don’t know I have this feeling I can trust you.”
Adam smiled, before he pointed to Vic.
“This is my girlfriend, Victoria and this is her brother.”,
Adam turned to Robert, forcing him to speak now.
“Robert.”, he tried to say without stuttering, “I’m… also a friend.”
Aaron looked at him a bit incredulous, but just nodded.
Robert didn’t turn around to Adam and Vic,
he just hoped they’d understand why he lied.
There was a bit of an awkward silence before Adam asked,
if he could have a glass of water and Aaron handed him one.
Aaron then kept giving Robert that weird look from before
that made Robert really nervous.
“You sure we just friends and not sleeping with each other?
I just feel this sort of sexual tension going on?”, Aaron ultimately asked Robert,
leaving him feeling stunned and Adam almost spitting his water.
Trying to hide his shock Robert nodded, “I’m sure.”