Chapter Text
He knows he’s awake, because he’s aware of his surroundings. The sun filtering in through the blinds, gently ghosting over his body, warming him up like he’s some cat. The soft sound of people chattering outside reach his ears. The body pressed up against his back, and the arm wrapped snuggly around his waist, holding him tightly. He’s aware of it all, and he really does not want to get up. He’s warm and comfortable, and he finds no reason to get up, or to even open his eyes.
The sound of something vibrating against the side table causes him to whine, shrinking in on himself. His eyes flutter open, blinking sluggishly as he blindly reaches out, fingers curling around the device. He pulls it closer to himself, blinking rapidly as he presses the power button. One message blinks up at him.
[Unknown]
Keith. Don’t forget.
Frowning in confusion, he glances behind him, where Lance is drooling all over his pillow. A soft smile tugs at his lips at the sight, and he carefully-- with a lot of difficulty-- pries Lance’s arm off from around his waist. Typing in his password, he pulls up the message, eyes furrowing together.
Don’t forget what? He has no classes today. Though, now that he sits on the soft bed and thinks about it, he has a strange feeling that maybe he has forgotten something. But what could it be? God, this will annoy him forever if he doesn’t figure it out.
[Keith]
Um, forget what? And who is this?
Staring down at his phone, he lets his eyes close as he tries to think. None of his friends have gotten a new phone recently. Have they? None of them made plans with him, either. He’s never been more confused.
His phone vibrates, causing him to slowly turn his gaze back down to the device.
Sorry, but the number you’ve contacted has either been turned off for awhile, or does not exist.
Keith feels his blood run cold, eyes growing wide. The message was received a mere five minutes ago.
What the hell?
The feeling that he’s forgetting something doesn’t leave him alone as the day goes on. After the strange message, he forced himself to stand up and stumble to the kitchen. It’s entirely too early for shit like that. His tired brain can’t handle pranks this early in the morning.
As he makes some coffee for himself and Lance, he can’t help but think it over. The biggest tech genius he knows is Pidge, so it has to be her who did this, right? She probably teamed up with Allura, probably even Shiro. He can’t wait to see her, because he really wants to know how she pulled that off. It couldn’t of been easy. Plus, the prank worked. He’s thoroughly confused now.
“Hey,” a tired voice mumbles from the doorway. Keith lifts his gaze toward the entryway, not bothering to hide the sappy smile that filters across his face. The sight of Lance with messy hair and only wearing boxers is a sight he never gets used to.
“Morning,” Keith greets, holding out a mug for Lance. He gratefully takes it, tilting his head back as he chugs down the whole thing in under three minutes. Keith rolls his eyes, dodging the kiss Lance tries to place on his cheek.
Lance instantly whines, reaching out for his boyfriend. Keith knows what he’s trying to do, though, so he chuckles and takes another step back. Lance simply huffs, pout on his face as he collapses forward. He knows Keith will catch him, and he’s proven right as pale arms wrap around his waist, catching him before he hits the ground.
“You’re a pest,” Keith mutters.
Lance grins, leaning forward to capture Keith’s lips in a gentle kiss. Keith lets it happen, getting distracted as Lance stands to his full height.
It’s completely ruined as Lance reaches behind Keith, grabbing mug that’s supposed to be for Keith. He slides away, bringing to mug to his lips and chugging it all down in one go.
“Lance, what the fuck,” Keith hisses, crossing his arms.
He fucking knew this would happen.
Sliding into the booth, Keith grabs the menu, stifling a yawn with the back of his hand. Hunk smiles in greeting, instantly hitting up a conversation with Lance. As the two rope Coran and Allura into the debate, Keith slides his gaze over to the youngest of their friend group.
“Hey, Pidge?” He says, instantly catching her attention. She seems way too pleased to have an excuse to not listen to whatever the other’s are talking about.
“Yeah?”
“How did you do that thing this morning? With the message you sent?”
Pidge frowns, as if she’s trying to think of what he’s talking about. When nothing comes to mind, she tilts her head and shrugs. “No idea what you’re talking about, if I’m being honest.”
“...The message?” Keith says, reaching into his pocket. Pidge patiently waits as he types in the password, tapping on the message icon. He pulls up the earliest conversation, turning it around to show Pidge. “See?”
Pidge rolls her eyes. “I really don’t want to know what you and Lance talk about.”
“Wha--?” Keith blinks, turning the device back to himself. Indeed, instead of the strange message, it’s his conversation with Lance. He feels his face heat up. Quickly exiting that conversation, he goes back to the list of contacts he has.
The message is gone.
“But--! How-- I--”
“You were probably too tired to realize what it was,” Pidge says, trying not to show how amused she is.
“No, it was...it…” He trails off, hopelessly sagging his shoulders. He never deleted the conversation, and he knows he didn’t imagine it.
“Are you feeling okay?” Pidge decides to ask, leaning over the table, gaining the attention from the others. She places a hand to Keith’s forehead, humming in thought. “You seem a little warm.”
“Are you not feeling okay? Why didn’t you tell me?” Lance instantly asks, worry flickering in his eyes.
“If you need to go rest, we understand,” Shiro comments.
“We can always get together again, so you won’t miss anything!” Hunk adds.
Keith hesitates, nervously looking away. Maybe he is sick? Imagining things, possibly hallucinating? Those are signs that he’s not okay, right?
“I’m fine,” he says, earning multiple different looks of disbelief.
“Keith,” Shiro says, his voice tinged with that sternness he gets when he’s about to scold one of them.
Keith glares. “Don’t even start,” he warns.
After another five minutes of slight arguing, they decide to let it slide. Lance still seems worried, glancing over at Keith every now and then as he continues to talk to Hunk and Coran. That’s when they get their drinks, Keith instantly relaxing.
Hot chocolate is the perfect way to relax. He knows he has to study tonight for some quiz tomorrow for math, and he’s nowhere near prepared. Yay for procrastination. This is his only slice of freedom for the next week, and goddamnit, he’s going to enjoy every moment of it.
He pulls the mug closer to him, smiling to himself. He goes to blow on it to cool it down, but freezes. On the whipped cream, somehow written in chocolate syrup, it says dn’t frget.
He knows he isn’t seeing things. This can’t be a coincidence. It’s kind of hard to actually see, but it’s there. Easy enough to read and understand it.
Lifting his gaze, he glares. “What kind of prank is this?”
The others all freeze, turning to him in confusion. Grabbing his mug, he makes sure the words are actually there before pushing it to the middle of the table. He waits, watching as they all study the drink before looking back at him.
“What, um, are we looking at?” Hunk questions, laughing nervously at Keith’s expression.
“It does seem like there’s less whipped cream then normal, if that’s what you mean!” Coran says.
Keith feels his eyebrow twitch. He quickly stands up. “Don’t you see?!” He snaps, looking down at the drink.
He audibly gulps. The words are gone, replaced by a normal zig-zag pattern. Slowly sitting back down, he looks at the table with confusion.
What the fuck?
What the actual fuck?
“You know what? Maybe I am feeling a bit under the weather,” he says, digging out his wallet. He pulls out enough money for the hot chocolate, handing it to Lance before shoving the wallet back in his pocket. Standing up, he doesn’t bother to say goodbye as he stalks out of the small cafe.
He has no idea what’s wrong with him today.
Setting his head down on his desk, he groans. The lines of his empty notebook are starting to blur together, and he isn’t sure how long he’s been at this. His creative writing class is usually so easy, so he isn’t sure why he’s suddenly hitting a block. Sitting up straight, he squints as he finds a sticky note on the next page of his journal.
He wants to scream. Written in big block letters, and in sharpie, it says Don’t forget, Keith. Grumbling angrily under his breath, he grabs his phone where it’s resting on his desk. Lifting it up, he quickly snaps a photo, making sure to see that it’s the same after taking it.
Seeing as it is, he sighs in relief. He doesn’t need his friends to think he’s crazy anymore than they already do, and there’s no way to tamper with a photo.
The door squeals open, causing him to look away from the phone screen. Lance pokes his head into the living room, eyes landing on his boyfriend. His blue eyes light up as he skips up to him, looking down at what he’s working on. “Having difficulties?”
Keith glances at his blank journal. “Um, yeah, but here!” He says quickly, handing Lance his phone. “Look, I’m not going crazy!”
Lance takes a moment to study to photo. He purses his lips and strokes his chin. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at, but yeah, I can see why you’re having so much trouble. Happiest moment? Please, you’re dating me! Your happiest moment is every day, so it’s understandable that you’re having problems picking just one thing.”
“Uh, what…” Keith says, quickly grabbing his phone back. On the photo of the sticky note, the message changed. Instead of the repeating message he’s been getting all day, it’s a message reminding him of what the theme for his next writing piece is to be centered around. Jaw dropping, he flips his page back over, looking down at the sticky note. It has changed as well.
“I think I’m going insane,” he whispers.
Lance laughs at that, bending down to kiss his forehead. “You do feel a bit warm, why don’t you call it a night?”
Keith frowns, which only makes Lance chuckle again. He ruffles Keith’s hair, shooing him towards the bedroom.
“But I still need to study…”
“Nope! Not when you’re sick and hallucinating you don’t!”
“I’m not--” He cuts himself off, hesitating. That’s the only logical explanation. He just...needs to sleep. Sleeping will clear his head and make him feel better. “Okay, you’re right.”
Lance’s lips twitch into a smirk, and he dramatically places a hand to his chest. “Is Keith Kogane admitting that I, Lance McClain, is right?”
Keith glares. “I’ll kick you.”
Lance snorts at that, causing Keith to roll his eyes. “Go to bed, you loser.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m going.”
“Good, And Keith?”
“Hm?” Keith says in reply, hand resting on the doorknob to the bedroom.
“Love you,” Lance sing-songs.
Keith smiles, rolling his eyes again. “Love you, too.”