Chapter Text
"What do you remember?"
Keith stared at the blank wall, his hands wrapped around a small plastic cup of Gatorade. "I told you already."
The dark haired man who claimed he was Keith's brother sighed. "Keith..."
"What do you want me to say?" Keith said angrily, setting the cup down on the metal tray to his right. "I don't... I don't know."
"Do you remember my name?" The man asked gently, folding his hands on his knees.
Keith shook his head. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," the man said. "You've always called me Shiro."
A small pang of recognition sparked in Keith's head but quickly diminished. He cursed himself mentally. The metal springs in the hospital bed dug into his back and he readjusted with a grimace.
"What do you remember?" Shiro asked.
Keith took a minute to respond. "Weird things. I remember a red stuffed cat and sheets with spaceships. I remember big glasses and someone who always smelled like butter cookies. But..." He looked away.
"But?" Shiro prompted.
Keith scrunched his face up. "There's someone I keep... I don't know what it is. He- he's something important, I know it."
Shiro looked like he wanted to say something but closed his mouth tightly. "What do you remember about yourself?"
"My name is Keith, I'm 23, I think. I went to high school at the Garrison Academy but I don't know if I went to college. I liked to drink Cuban coffee, which is something weird to remember, I know. But that's it."
"Cuban coffee?" Shiro said, frowning. "You don't remember why?"
Keith shook his head. "It goes along with the boy... I just don't know," he said miserably, covering his face. "When do I get out of here? I don't like this."
"I'm not sure," said Shiro, "I'll ask your doctor."
"Thank you," Keith said.
Shiro looked at his phone. "Keith... uh, some of your friends want to come see you. Is that going to be okay, or too much?"
"I guess," Keith said, reaching for the Gatorade again. "I just don't want them to be upset if I don't recognize them."
"They know what happened, they'll understand," Shiro reassured him. Keith nodded thankfully and Shiro stood up, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"I'll go get them."
Keith watched him exit, closing the heavy door behind him. He let out a long sigh and chugged the remainder of what was in his cup and threw it in the bin next to his bed. This was so strange. He knew he got in an accident. How, he didn't know. All Keith knew was that he woke up yesterday morning in a stiff hospital bed with wires coming out of his body in unnatural places, not remembering anything but his name.
Small things were gradually coming back, but it seemed that the important things were either going to take longer, or just never reappear. And that was terrifying.
He heard the door open before he saw it. A small person wearing a green crop top and a cargo skirt walked in. Their face was younger, framed by a caramel pixie cut and thin, wide glasses.
"Your glasses," he said loudly, sitting up quickly. "I know your glasses."
They just stared at him. "What?"
"I remember your glasses," Keith explained. "I don't know why, but it's one of the only things I do."
"Oh," the kid replied. "I'm Pidge, by the way. That sounds so weird to say, but um, yeah."
"Hi," Keith said awkwardly, waving a little. "Um, how did we meet?"
Pidge entered the room fully and sat down in one of the chairs. "I should probably wait for Hunk. He'll be here in a minute."
The two sat in silence for a few moments. Eventually, a tall, broad man entered the room with one of the friendliest faces Keith had ever seen. He immediately rushed to Keith’s side and enveloped him in an awkward hug on the hospital bed. The smell of cookies wafted into Keith’s nose and his back went straight like a rod.
“Oh gosh,” the man said, pulling away. “That was probably so weird for you. I’m Hunk. Uh, how are you?”
“You smell like cookies,” Keith said, his eyebrows bunched together. “I know you, don’t I?”
Pidge and Hunk exchanged a pained look. “Uh, yeah. Both of us,” Hunk said, moving to sit down in another chair. “We’re your best friends.”
“Oh,” Keith said, voice small. “So, uh, how did we meet?”
“High school,” Pidge said, crossing their legs. “I was a sophomore and you and Hunk were seniors. Hunk was friends with Lance and-”
“Who’s Lance?” Keith interrupted. Pidge and Hunk froze.
“Lance,” Hunk said slowly. “You know…”
“I don’t,” Keith said, shaking his head. “I’m sorry but I don’t know him.”
Pidge’s bottom lip quivered. “Hunk-”
“Shiro said we couldn’t mess with his healing process,” Hunk said softly.
Keith looked back and forth between them. “You guys know I’m here, right? Who’s this Lance guy?” Both of them looked down and didn’t respond. “Is he another one of my friends or something?” Keith pressed.
“He’s flying down as fast as he can,” Pidge said, obviously avoiding the questions. “He was in Florida when everything happened. He should be here in a few hours.”
“You mean the accident?” Keith asked, turning on his side. Pidge nodded.
“Lance is a good guy,” Hunk said, voice shaking. “He’s a really good guy.”
“His coffee is the best,” Pidge added. “That little Cuban boy won we over with his-”
“Cuban?” Keith spurted. “Cuban coffee?”
They looked at him weirdly. “Uh, yeah. Lance is Cuban. Is everything okay?”
Keith started breathing erratically, panic seizing his chest. He keeled over, his head pounding. Pidge shouted somewhere near his left but everything swam and he couldn’t comprehend it all at once. Something in his chest hurt and he let out a strangled cough. Thousands of memories flew through his mind but he couldn’t catch any of them. Letting out a scream, he dropped and everything went dark.
“Sir, he’s in a stable condition, but-”
“Then why can’t I see him, huh? Let me into the goddamn room.”
“Sir, he’s not-”
“I don’t fucking care!”
Keith blinked his eyes open, his vision bleary but quickly becoming more focused. Something plastic crinkled against his wrist as he rolled them. An IV. He groaned, arching his back but gasping when a jolt of pain ran down his spine.
“Keith?” The voice of the man who sounded so angry hit Keith’s ears. “Keith, oh my god, baby-”
“Sir-”
“I need to see him now. Now .”
Keith cleared his throat, looking over to his left to see his doctor holding back a tall, lanky man with a boyish, yet handsome face. He looked ragged, dark circles under his eyes and a wrinkled baseball shirt clinging to his torso. Keith blinked. He felt like he should know who this was, but his memory failed him again.
“I’m fine, doc,” Keith said, sitting up. “I’m not a child.”
“Keith, are you sure?”
“Yeah, doc, I’m okay,” Keith repeated. The doctor grimaced and reluctantly let go of the man. He surged forward, gripping the arms of the hospital bed, blue eyes boring into Keith’s skull. His skin was a warm brown and he smelled like… like home .
“Lance?” Keith asked, figuring this was the guy Pidge and Hunk were talking about.
The blue eyes widened. “You- oh my god, baby, Shiro told me- dios , I don’t care.” Without warning, the man gently grabbed Keith’s jaw and brought their lips together. Keith’s eyes widened at the contact, but it didn’t feel… wrong. It was the only thing that had felt right since he’d woken up. But he didn’t know this guy, this Lance , so he pushed him away.
“Who the hell are you?” Keith spat, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. Lance’s mouth dropped open and a look of pure pain crossed his face. His handsome features twisted into a face that looked absolutely, udderly, broken .
“You…” Lance’s mouth opened and closed a few times before he continued. “Keith, baby-”
“Don’t call me baby!” Keith shouted, inching away from the other man. “Who the fuck are you, thinking you can just come in here and fucking kiss me? What the hell is wrong with you, man?”
“You mean… you don’t recognize me?”
“Lance, we meant to tell you,” Pidge said, them and Hunk entering the room. “It’s… bad.”
Lance looked at Keith. In two seconds he was on the floor, hands pressed to his eyes and sobbing . Pidge went down and put their arm around his shoulders, muttering something into his ear. Keith stared.
“I’m sorry for yelling at you,” Keith supplied, hoping he would stop crying, but the man didn't stop. “I just don’t know who you are.”