Chapter Text
Keith didn’t think he could open his eyes. It was much too bright out there anyways. If only he could sink back into the warmth of sleep…
His mind didn’t let him. He found panic rising through his body, adrenaline pushing away any sleepiness he had left. He opened his eyes, shooting into a seated position. His eyes couldn’t focus on anything. Nor could his brain. All he knew was the urge to get out. To escape. He had to get out of here.
Hunk took his time returning to his room. He still wasn’t fully healed from the crash. Sendak, and then that giant robot had really done a number on the team.
Hunk reached up, gently stretching through his spine as he walked back from the restroom. He mindlessly considered what he’d do upon returning to his room. He thought about contacting his mom, maybe asking for some of her signature white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. He’d share them with everyone else who was awake and healing. But in the meantime, maybe a nap was what his afternoon had in store.
The sound of fast moving feet down the hall caused Hunk to stop in his tracks, confused as to who would be running their way through a hospital wing. His feet instinctively started moving towards the sound though, after he heard a slam coming from the same direction. He’d feel wrong if he didn’t go and investigate. After all, they’d been saving people for a few years now, as paladins of Voltron. It was his nature to do so. Hunk grumbled a bit at his instincts though. That nap would have to wait. It’s just until a nurse shows up , he told himself.
Hunk continued down the hall, passing his own room in search for the source of the noise. And when he found it, it made his heart leap up into his throat. He found Keith, slumped against a wall, struggling to stand. Hunk ran over to his fellow paladin’s side as quick as he could. He knew something wasn’t right. Keith hadn’t been awake prior to this.
“Hey, Keith,” Hunk spoke, concerned, as he positioned himself into Keith’s line of vision. “What’s happening?”
Keith’s distant eyes spun with fear and uncertainty, filling the air around Keith’s head.
“I gotta get out of here,” Keith spoke way too fast, repeating his words as many times as he could, as if their meaning could get lost in the couple feet of space between his and Hunk’s heads. “I gotta get out of here. I gotta get out of here.”
“Keith?” Hunk started. He was going to say something, but nothing came out, his words soft and unsure. He opted to bring his hands out, gingerly placing them on Keith’s shoulders. It was, over all, a sorry attempt at trying to ground his friend.
Keith startled at the sudden contact. After a moment of shock, he pulled away. He barely knocked the wall behind him with his head as he moved, but it was enough. Hunk watched as Keith pulled himself into a ball, his hands gripping into his hair and scalp. Keith started shaking violently, groaning out with pain.
Keith had sustained a horrible head injury from his crash. It was what lead him to be the last of the paladins to wake up, and Hunk knew this. And from Keith’s current state, it was clear that it was far from being finished healing.
“Hey,” Hunk reached out, even more cautiously this time, “Let’s get you back to your room so we can call a nurse--”
“NO!” Keith shot up before Hunk could even make contact, darting a little ways down the hallway before being stopped again by his pain. He hung his head over, tears streaking down his face, holding his palms to his temples as tight as he could. “I can’t - I’m - I’m not going back there. I have to get out.” He forced out his words, trembling as he spoke.
Hunk once again moved towards him, noticing the strain and tension through Keith’s forehead, and tears marking dirty streaks down his hot cheeks. It was all Hunk could do to keep himself from succumbing to the panic. Whatever was going on in Keith’s head, it had to do with his injury. Hunk knew this and needed to be sure his friend was okay.
Hunk took a step forward, close enough that he reach out and touch the black paladin. “You know who you are right?” Hunk held his breath, hoping for a positive answer.
“Why should I tell you that?” Keith snapped back, his teeth gritted. Whether it was through panic or pain, Hunk wasn’t sure.
“Because I’m your friend and I want to help you.” Hunk inched a little closer with each word.
Keith gave no response to Hunk’s statement. So Hunk opted to try again, with a different question. He needed to break through to Keith somehow. He needed to make sure his friend was going to be okay.
“Keith…” Hunk spoke slowly, carefully choosing each word. “Do you know who I am?”
“Yes I-” Keith growled, but stopped. Hunk watched as his eyes darted across the linoleum flooring, digging through the mess that was currently his mind. Suddenly, Keith began to move his gaze up and towards Hunk, painfully aware of how the movement was affecting his injured head. As Keith studied Hunk’s face, his eyes became more clear, more present. He paused, searching through his brain once more, before finally parting his lips to speak. “Hunk?” he emitted, sorrow lining his tone.
Keith’s moment of clarity led the throbbing in his head to become even more explicit. Hunk shifted his own weight as he saw knees buckle, followed by a body starting to collapse. Keith’s body heavily collided with Hunk’s own. The boy’s dead weight in his arms was too disturbing to not pay attention to as Hunk lowered himself and Keith to the ground.
Keith, once again violently shaking, attempted to mutter something. Whatever he said wasn’t coherent to Hunk’s hears. Hunk gently asked him to repeat himself, but Keith never did, choosing to instead express his pain through gasps and grunts.
Hunk squeezed Keith closer with one arm, moving his other to rest on Keith’s head. Keith flinched once again, only this time much weaker, as Hunk ran his fingers through his hair. Hunk’s breath caught in his throat as he felt Keith resist his dislike of contact, sinking into the comfort of Hunk’s warm body.
Hunk knew he had to eventually get Keith back to his room and call a nurse, but for right now, he decided he’d stay here a little longer. Despite the pain, Keith was finally calming down. Hunk wasn’t sure how much clarity was actually in Keith’s mind - Hunk could possibly be the only thing that Keith knew right now. But it was better than full on panic and fear.
The yellow paladin shifted how he was sitting, getting ready to bring Keith back to his room. As he gently extracted the boy from his arms, he noticed something that made his heart ache. A large, bright purple bruise laced it’s way through the middle of Keith’s left arm. Hunk winced a little, thinking of how Keith must’ve ripped his IV out in his desperation, causing this extra injury.
Keith didn’t seem all that responsive at this time, Hunk took it upon himself to hoist the shaking boy up into his arms.
Hunk did his best to keep Keith in place as the nurse attempted to reinsert the IV, but it was no use. Keith was just too good at combat, and it was so ingrained into his nature that even his pained state couldn’t stop him.
The nurse yelped out in shock at Keith’s sudden outburst, and Hunk found himself moving to block the door, insuring that the paladin stayed inside the room. He didn’t have to though, as Keith didn’t get very far before collapsing onto the floor.
The nurse moved to assist Keith, but Hunk held a hand up, urging her to stay where she was. He didn’t want Keith to freak out more than he already was.
Hunk got down onto the floor with Keith, leaning down so he could see his face.
“Trashcan.” Keith muttered, almost too silent and muffled to hear.
Hunk wasn’t sure what he meant, no if he heard correctly, and replied with a simple “huh?”
“Trashcan.” Keith demanded through his distress, much louder this time.
Hunk understood, quickly looking up to locate the item of Keith’s request. The nurse obviously heard too, and was on her way back from retrieving the plastic bucket from the other side of the bed. She placed it carefully down next to Hunk, who slid it closer to Keith.
Upon seeing the bin in front of him, Keith’s hands swung up to grab it, and lifted his head up and above. A small amount of bile exited his mouth. His stomach twitched and constricted painfully. All of the pressure in his head was forcing him to throw up, but there was nothing in his stomach to do so. Hunk rubbed his hand up and down Keith’s back as he coughed and gagged in pain. Slowly, but surely, Keith’s spluttering subsided.
“How are you feeling?” Hunk asked softly once silence had fallen over the room.
Keith answered by weakly pushing away the trash can and groaning.
“Do you think you can lay back down on the bed for me?”
Keith kept his head down, not answering.
Hunk sighed inwardly, not liking this answer. “I know you’re confused, and your head hurts. We’re just trying to help you, okay?”
Keith let out the smallest hum.
“I’m not going away, okay? I won’t let anyone harm you.” Hunk didn’t wait for a response this time, immediately, but gently, lifting Keith’s arm up and over his shoulders. Hunk’s other arm laced behind Keith’s back and just below his opposite armpit, gripping firmly, ready to stand him up. Keith protested, unwilling to put any weight on his feet. It was a good thing that Hunk was strong, and Keith weighed even less than usual due to not eating as he slept. Soon enough, Keith was back on the hospital bed, his eyes as distant and fuzzy as they started out.
Hunk sat on the edge of the bed, and sent a nod to the nurse. He grabbed Keith’s hand, providing a physical reminder that he was safe.
“The nurse is just going to put the IV back in, okay?”
Keith nodded ever so slightly.
The nurse took Hunk’s cue, and got to work, manipulating Keith’s hand much more gently than she had the previous time. In just a few seconds, the IV was in, dodging the darkening bruise.
“You’re not going to pull this one out, do you understand, Keith?”
Keith let himself gently nod again, though Hunk wasn’t sure that any of his words were actually entering his mind.
The nurse reapproached the two paladins with a syringe in her hand. She quietly mentioned to Hunk that it was a sedative. Hunk nodded in approval as the nurse went to inject it into Keith’s arm. Keith didn’t even react anymore. Hunk was glad, in a way. With Keith calming down, he wasn’t able to hurt himself anymore. But to see his friend so unresponsive hurt him in more ways than he could describe.
Hunk squeezed Keith’s hand in his own, taking in everything he could about the feeling. Keith’s hands were calloused from the constant hand to hand combat he partook in. The bones of his knuckles stood out, defined by a minor lack of nutrition. Hunk breathed into small amount of pressure that Keith gave back into the hand hold. He was here. He was alive.
Hunk snapped out of it when he heard a small gasp. He glanced up to see the nurse punching a code into the callbox on the wall, alerting a doctor to come to the room immediately.
“What’s going on?” Hunk asked before he could even process what was going on, squeezing Keith’s hand even tighter.
The nurse looked from the callbox to Hunk, assessing if it was okay to tell him. She surmised that since there was nothing for her to do until a doctor arrived, that it was okay to explain it to him.
She sighed, preparing herself to keep her voice steady. “Only one of his pupils is dilated.”
Hunk turned to look at Keith. His eyelids were drooping from the sedative, but the difference in his pupils was still clear. One was much larger than the other.
Hunk turned back to the nurse, begging for more information as he rubbed his thumb over Keith’s prominent knuckles.
“It can be a sign of hemorrhage or swelling in the brain.” The nurse stopped talking there, forcing herself to busy herself in something else. She stared at the bags of fluids connected to Keith’s IV, and studied them unnecessarily.
Hunk couldn’t stop his worryful tears from sliding down his cheeks.
“Hey,” Shiro spoke brightly as he sat down next to Hunk on the cold waiting room bench. “Aren’t you supposed to be waiting in your room?” He said with a small joking tone, a light smile sitting across his face. Shiro was doing a good job at hiding his distress. But it was what he needed to do as he held his high rank as captain of the Atlas.
Hunk gave him a sad grin back. “I couldn’t leave him alone like that. They’re saying I’ll be discharged soon anyways.” he looked down, staring at his hands in his lap.
“I’m sorry,” Shiro’s voice began to quaver, “that I couldn’t be here earlier.” Guild was dripping from his tone.
“Don’t worry about it,” Hunk reassured, “We know you’re busy and stuff.” He paused, preferring conversation over silence. “Krolia did come for a while. I think she went off to a training room somewhere after a bit. Work off some stress and all?” Hunk forced himself to let out a light laugh. “At least we know where Keith gets it from now.”
Shiro didn’t respond, sitting in silence. Hunk looked over him, almost begging him to say something. He’d been sitting here quietly for too long. He wanted to hear something.
“So…” Shiro began, hesitant, “They didn’t really tell me anything other than that he went in for surgery.” He stopped, seeing if Hunk would chime in without anymore explanation. When Hunk didn’t immediately speak up, he continued. “I was wondering if you had anymore information?”
Hunk threw a hand over his eyes, as they threatened to tear up again. “He woke up and freaked out,” Hunk began, his voice strangely low. “I found him in the hallway. He kept on saying he wanted to escape… or something. I dunno. He just - he wasn’t good. I think all that sudden movement wasn’t good for his injury. The doctor said his brain was swelling real bad. Something about relieving pressure? I dunno.”
The two continued to sit in silence as the light from the windows slowly turned into way too bright LEDs from the ceiling.
Sleep was ready to take over the two men sitting in the waiting room, when a doctor, equally as tired, joined them.
“You two must be waiting for Keith Kogane, yes?” The doctor smiled, recognizing them as his patient’s teammates.
Hunk and Shiro looked up at the doctor, wide-eyed and ready to hear whatever he had to say. Whether it was positive or negative didn’t matter as much right now as being able to hear any news at all.
“You’ll be able to sleep easy tonight,” the doctor beamed, “the surgery was highly successful.” He stopped, allowing his good news to fully process in everyone’s minds.
Hunk let his tears loose at this statement.
“Although, we have had to put him in a medically induced coma, to allow him to properly heal uninhibited. It shouldn’t be more than three weeks at most.”
“Can we see him?” Shiro asked before Hunk had the chance to.
“He’s asleep, but of course. You can see him for a moment.”
Once they got confirmation that he was back in the same room as before, Shiro and Hunk were off down the halls.
The room was dark, but no one chose to turn on the lights. It was if doing so would disturb Keith’s rest, even though his sleep was medically induced.
Keith lay with his head turned away from the door, keeping pressure off of where the incision was made. Parts of his hair was shaved away, his mullet gone. In place of it was a messy, high undercut. On the back of his head was a large white patch, covering whatever stitches lay below.
Shiro considered that Keith wouldn’t be impressed by his new haircut, but that didn’t really matter now. What mattered was that everyone was here, and everyone was okay.