Chapter Text
"Bar Brawl"
It had been a slow but steady night at the bar. There weren't any patrons that gave them trouble. The only problem was that there were a couple eighteen-year-olds that thought their fake IDs would get them into the bar, but Hunk was a seasoned bouncer that could spot a fake ID from a mile away, and if one managed to slip by him, it wouldn't slip by the two bar tenders.
Most knew them as Red and Blue due to their clothing. Red, whose name was Keith, had a distinctive red jacket that he wore all the time, and Blue, whose name was Lance, wore a blue and white shirt. Keith and Lance were dating, and the customers were treated to their witty banter as they served the drinks, double checking IDs and flirting with each other.
The flirting never distracted them from their customers. Lance even flirted with a few, but they knew that it wasn't serious as he was very in love with Keith. Their flirting only disgusted one person, Pidge. She was in charge of the lighting, music, and any other technological system in the bar. She was brilliant when it came to technology and was a close friend of Hunk, Lance, and Keith. She knew the main reason Lance flirted with Keith around her was because he liked her reactions, so she kept reacting, sometimes even overreacting (like pretending to vomit).
The bar itself, called Spirits of Marmora, was owned by Keith's uncle, Thace. The man didn't usually show up nowadays, allowing his nephew and his friends to run the place. It was a system that had been in place for several years now, and it worked out wonderfully to the point that Thace could go on a long waited honeymoon with his husband, Ulaz, who worked at a nearby hospital as a physical therapist.
Keith and Lance were refilling drinks and drying glasses while keeping an eye on a couple of regulars, who were a couple of drinks passed their limit. Normally, nothing ever came of people being too drunk. Once they were cut off from more drinks, Keith or Lance would call a cab for them and let them go once the cab arrived. However, these two particular regulars had a habit of being difficult.
Lotor was the son of the wealthiest man in the city, who owned several well to do businesses, and wasn't afraid of flaunting his father's status to get what he wanted. Sendak was a retired military man. He was honorably discharged when he lost an arm and an eye in the last war. Sendak and Lotor were usually civil with each other until they were drunk.
"You're nothing but a spoiled brat. You get everything you want served on a silver platter."
Lotor took offense to that rather true statement and threw the rest of his drink in Sendak's face. The vet stood up, his chair crashing to the floor. He grabbed Lotor by the front of his shirt, sending his chair crashing to the floor as well. The sound of the chairs hitting the floor drew Keith's and Lance's attention.
Lance sighed. "Looks like they're at it again, Red. Twenty bucks on Sendak?"
Keith lightly slapped Lance's arm. "We are not betting on the outcome of the fight, Blue. If it escalates any further, we might have to separate them."
Lance eyed the duo, who actually started throwing punches. "I'm not getting in the middle of that. I'll go get Hunk."
Lance left the area behind the bar to go get Hunk to assist in either defusing the fight or throwing them out of the bar. Keith actually left as well but went in the opposite direction as his boyfriend. He approached the two regulars. "All right, you two. Break it up. You need to calm down and go home. If you two sit down, I'll call separate cabs for you."
Keith was not expected a punch to hit him square in the right eye and was sent sprawling to the floor, hitting the chairs in the process. He got to his feet and grabbed the drunks by the backs of their shirts. He dragged them through the bar and threw them out the door. "You are lucky I don't call the police for disorderly conduct!"
Unfortunately for Keith, that was the wrong thing to say as the two drunks turned on him and started throwing punches. Keith wasn't really physically strong (regardless of him being able to drag two people), but he was quick and agile. However, it didn't help him much when it was two on one. Once Keith had fallen to the ground, he wasn't able to get back up as the punches rained down on him, but there were kicks added to the mix along with slashes from a broken beer bottle procured from the street.
Lance had returned with Hunk shortly after the bottle had ripped Keith's jacket to shreds, which had been the only thing saving Keith from having slashes cutting his skin. Seeing his boyfriend getting beaten up caused Lance to go ahead and call the police, while Hunk managed to disarm Lotor and was in the process of pulling Sendak off of Keith. Once Lance hung up the phone, he tried to pull Lotor off of Keith. Fortunately, the police didn't take long to show up. Officers James Griffin and Ryan Kinkade took the drunks into custody and carted them away to sleep it off in a holding cell. Detective Curtis stayed behind to take statements. Lance gave the detective all the details he could, but he was worried about Keith.
"We should call an ambulance. Pidge's brother is on duty tonight," Hunk suggested.
"No, I will drive him there myself," Lance countered. "Close down the bar. I will be back tomorrow and will cover my shift and Keith's."
"If you're sure buddy." Hunk reentered the bar to deliver the message to the few patrons that were left.
Lance scooped up Keith and carried him to his car. He was grateful that he drove in instead of letting Keith drive them on his motorcycle. He laid Keith on the back seat, managing to get a seat belt to secure Keith to the seat. He rushed to the nearby hospital.
He gingerly picked up Keith from the back seat and carried him into the ER. The receptionist, Adam, looked up when he heard the doors open. He gasped as he saw the condition Keith was in. Adam was engaged to Keith's brother, Shiro, who was a surgeon in the same hospital.
"What happened?"
"He broke up a brawl, and the two drunks beat him up."
"Set him down on this bed, Lance. We'll take it from here." Adam gestured to the rolling bed the head nurse, Allura, had quickly brought over.
Lance did as instructed but was reluctant to leave Keith's side. Allura laid a hand on Lance's arm. "You did right bringing him in. Now, let us do our jobs."
"Please save him. I can't lose him."
"You won't. Shiro wouldn't allow his brother to die on his watch."
Hearing that Shiro was on shift eased Lance's worry. He left the room, when Allura started taking Keith's vitals, calling out the numbers for her assistant, Romelle, to write down. She removed his ruined jacket and clothes, putting him in a hospital gown. She talked aloud about the numerous injuries Keith had sustained, so Romelle could record it. Both of his eyes were blackened, and his right one had swelled shut. There were numerous bruises littering his body of various colors. Allura felt around Keith's torso and realized there were broken ribs. "Quick! We need an x-ray to see if there's any internal bleeding or punctures!"
The two nurses wheeled Keith to the x-ray room and scanned him. To their relief, none of the three broken ribs punctured any organs. Since Keith was in no danger of dying, they set him up in a recovery room with a saline IV drip and a port for the sedative they gave him so he didn't aggravate his broken ribs. Keith would be staying for at least a few days in order to let the swelling in his eye go down. The two nurses knew that Shiro would be by later on to check on Keith, and Lance would be by as well. With those two watching over him, Keith would be in good hands and wouldn't need to stay in the hospital too long.
Fin