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When I Wake

Summary:

Shiro wakes up from a long sleep, a little disoriented, but full of warmth and surround by his loved ones.

Modern AU, premise is that Shiro fought in Iraq and was injured and fell into a coma.

Notes:

Hi welcome to my first fic ever, conveniently posted in a mostly dead fandom. Hope you enjoy!

Work Text:

He looks over to his left and sees Allura sitting a hospital chair by his bed, holding his hand. She's sleeping, with her long, pale, hair spread across his arm. Behind her is an open door, and he can see greenish, vinyl waiting chairs and a closed door across the hall, with a small blue plaque reading a white number, 117. He shifts and sits up as much as possible in his weakened state, trying not to disturb Allura.

He turns his head to look to his right and sees a wall full of large windows and beautiful view of a city skyline....but he can't recall what city. It frustrates him, disturbs him, but only for a moment, because when he starts to turn away he sees the small, greenish blue couch beneath the windows. What distracts him is the sight of his brother curled up across it, fast asleep. Keith's head is resting in Lance’s lap, and Shiro can’t recall now how he knows Lance, but he can recall that they’re close in a brotherly way, so his failing memory hardly bothers him here (especially not when the two look so sweet sleeping there in the sun). Shiro briefly wonders why on earth the two argumentative boys were being so intimate - before he remembers the stolen glances cast between them when they thought the other wasn't looking. Shiro smiles softly at the awkward angle of Lance’s head, bent against the window sill, tilted all the way back, mouth wide open and gently breathing - almost loud enough to be a snore. Shiro also notes that Lance’s right hand is laced through Keith's long hair, and his left is laced with Keith's fingers, and wonders when this had developed between them, and is again left disturbed by the sense of loss.

He turns his head to look at Allura again, but notices another chair across the room, nearly behind the open door. In it, Pidge (Matt's younger sister, he remembers) is curled on her side facing him, her glasses askew and her feet sticking out of the left arm of the chair as she sleeps. Sitting on the floor at her feet with his head thrown back against the chair, hair gently brushing Pidges knees, is Hunk. Shiro fondly notes that hunk is sitting in a position strikingly similar to Lance’s. Must be the family resemblance Shiro thinks, recalling that the two are cousins.

Shiro sighs softly, feeling weak, and mildly apprehensive. His memory feels spotty at best, and he doesn't quite know what's happened, but he knows that the people surrounding him love him, and he loves them. But not all of his loved ones were present. For one, Coran - the man who had raised Allura, and was always willing to lend a fatherly hand to the rest of them - was missing. His eyes search the room again, but that apprehension settles in him further when he realizes that there was no sign of Matt in the room at all, either. But, before he can settle into true worry, he hears muted voices and soft footsteps from down the hall quietly arguing over some tv show. As they get closer, Shiro can't help chuckle lightly when he realizes that it's definitely Matt and Coran, and they're definitely arguing about some soap opera. Shiro briefly wonders if it's something they had been watching here, at the hospital, because he knows that Matt and Coran don't often hang out alone - simply because they have very different schedules. The thought is forgotten very soon though, when the two walk into the room, carrying bags of chinese takeout. They're still arguing in whispers, as they set down the bags on a table beside Pidge and Hunk. Shiro swears that Hunks nose twitches at the smell of food. He chuckles again at this, and Matt visibly freezes. He slowly turns around to face the hospital bed, and when he sees Shiro grinning, sitting half up, and so very awake, his wide eyes fill with tears and he falls back, grabbing the edge the table behind him, white-knuckled. Shiro sees the sunlight flashing off his wedding band, even as he zeroes in on his husbands wonderful, beautiful face.

"Hi Matt," Shiro’s voice is hoarse, soft, and his throat burns.

Matt throws himself at Shiro’s side, quietly sobbing into his shoulder. Shiro pulls Matt further to him with an arm that feels heavy and foreign from his long sleep, Shiro assumes, and Matt finds himself tumbling half onto Shiro’s chest.

Coran looked as though he had seen a ghost, standing paralyzed and pale. But when Matt moved, Coran grinned broadly, face still pale, and a suspicious glimmer in his eye. He touched Shiro’s leg lightly and softly said "We've missed you, lad," before turning to fetch a doctor. For the rest, Lance wakes first - as Matt had accidentally kicked his shin when he threw himself at Shiro. Lance stiffens at the sight of Shiro’s open eyes, and Keith gasps awake as he feels Lance’s grip on his hand and in his hair tighten ever so slightly. Coran touches Pidge’s shoulder gently as he leaves and Pidge wakes Hunk with a nudge of her knee against his head, perhaps harder than necessary, while she sat staring straight forward in shock, sure that she was still dreaming. Allura woke shortly after Lance, as Matt’s launch had jostled her hand out of Shiro’s. She lifts her head and looking into her best friend’s eyes, and his soft, loving smile. Then, suddenly reality hits her and her eyes open wide as she brings her hand to her mouth. Moments later, the quiet is broken by her shouting his name and Shiro’s delighted laughter as he wraps his free arm around her shoulders, still clinging to Matt.

Within moments all seven of them are laughing, crying, and clinging to each other and to Shiro, everyone touching him as much as possible, just to know it's real. Coran walks in moments later with Dr. Holt (Matt and Pidge’s father, and Shiro is delighted that it took almost no time for him to remember that - though he still can’t recall his first name), and they immediately join the heap. Dr. Holt pulls away far too soon and begins scolding the group for overstimulating Shiro, and Shiro for overexerting himself. Shiro laughs at this and states that after being bedridden for however long, a little exertion in the form of hugs and tears could hardly hurt him. Dr. Holt leans down to sweep Shiro’s too long hair from his face and says, with a bittersweet smile, "One can never be too careful in exercises of the heart, son."

Later, they will have to address the gaps in his memory, and the prosthetic limb that once was his arm. Later, they will discuss what happened and why, and fill him in on what he’s missed. Later, they will tell him how long he was gone. But for now? For now they would just enjoy each other’s company and rejoice in having Shiro back, safely in their arms.