Chapter Text
Taking a bit longer to choose what you want on your sandwich makes sense. Using an extra ten minutes in the bathroom is forgivable. But sleeping from nine one night until three in the afternoon the next day just simply was not acceptable for me. I had left him to sleep when I’d awoken early that morning. I even prepared him breakfast, which still sat on the kitchen table. And here he was, fast asleep still in the room. That, or he had been quietly up to something and I had been letting him get away with it. That might have been jumping to conclusions, but still I should have taken a peek earlier. I had a feeling it would have benefited me.
I gave a light tap of my knuckles on the door and leaned in close to it, listening for possible sleeping noises. I heard nothing of a response at all, not even a shifting around in the bed. There was total silence. Although I had a firm belief in proper privacy, I was beginning to worry about him and took it upon myself to enter.
I peered in to the sight of him sitting up, staring at his hands with eyes as wide as saucers. I knitted my brow, considering to myself how long he might have been doing that for and proceeded to feel guilty about the whole thing. He had been having fits in his sleep lately and I had a feeling I’d missed this particular fit.
After gawking for a moment, I moved quickly to sit next to him on the bed. Immediately, his gaze flicked up to me and his brows lowered with seeming anger.
“What?” he spat out, unmoving in his gaze as he curled his fingers into fists. He seemed frightened- what about I wasn’t sure. I looked him directly in the eye and I felt my hearts drop. His eyes were dull and empty. I could nearly see right through him at my first gaze. It was blatantly obvious what had happened now, and sadly I had been expecting this for a while. I was surprised it had not happened earlier.
The fits he’d been having lately were from something that he had contracted while we were vacationing in the solar system neighboring the Milky Way. Even I wasn’t totally positive what it was at first, but now that temporary amnesia was a symptom along with fits, things were narrowed down a bit for me.
“What are you staring at?” he said, voice feeble and nervous. I didn’t blame him either. “I’ve done nothing. Please, stop.” He curled himself up on the bed, knees pulled up to his chin and hands over head.
I reached forward and rubbed my palm around his back slowly. I had no idea what amnesia was like, not yet anyway. He recoiled away from me for a moment before moving back into my touch. At that, a warm feeling set into my chest. There was obviously a part of him that still felt comfortable around me and that was a relief.
“I’m sorry. You just seemed a little unnerved. What’s the matter?” I spoke softly so I wouldn’t intimidate him further. Asking too many questions might make him distant, so I had to be careful with that as well.
“Unnerved…” he repeated, sitting up and rubbing his forehead. He looked utterly lost. “Yes, I suppose. Well- I can’t quite recall where I am. And if it’s not too terribly rude, I don’t remember you either.”
I sucked a breath in through clenched teeth and shook my head. He was being polite. This wasn’t the side of him I was comfortable with. Of course I would have to see that it got fixed. Even with this side of him here, I would be lonely with someone who didn’t know who I was.
“No, it’s not rude. You’d just had a bit of trouble and I left you here to rest. Seems you’ve lost your memory.” I felt a certain level of mean for admitting that to him right away. It must have been a lot for him to take in. “Don’t you worry though; we’ll find a way to get it back.”
“Me? Worry? What do you take me for?” I would have been taken aback if I hadn’t felt like with smiling widely with relief. That was the side of him I was used to. But if the sudden switch meant anything, it was either that he was returning quickly, or that this was going to be a chore to fix. It could go either way, but no matter what, I would have to keep an eye on him. Knowing him, if he was going to be doing anything without a memory, it would be trying to learn everything he possibly could.
As much as I would usually love that about him, it unsettled me knowing that he could hurt himself or get himself lost. I tried to convince myself looking after him wouldn’t be so bad, but I knew I was fooling myself. I just hoped that this wouldn’t end with one of us hurt and the other feeling smug.