(( Hi, Loves! When I finish my paper back novel, who all would want to buy it? I'm just curious.))

Keith's cheeks were puffy and swollen as he stood at the foot of Lance's bed, leaning heavily on his crutches. Lance looked... dead. His face was free from any emotion and his glistening blue eyes weren't shining. They were shut, essentially blocking Keith off from Lance's inner soul.

He sniffled and wiped away his tears, not wanting to cry in front of Lance and make him feel worse. Whoever even knew if Lance could hear him or not. Keith doubted it, but he still didn't care to chance it.

His crutches made a recoiling noise as he went over to the bedside, yanking over a chair and struggling. Keith well deserved it by the time he collapsed his ass into the seat, because it had been a fucking ordeal in itself.

Keith's eyes were blurred with tears as he sat there. Lance had an IV jabbed in his arm, and his heart monitor was steady beside him. He had visible bandages that resided under his gown, and they were applied where the gunshot had hit him. It had barely missed his heart, by two inches at most.

" I'm s-so sorry..." Keith choked and took Lance's hand, squeezing it as tears dropped onto his thighs. " I love you so much... please... just come back to me..."

Keith didn't know how long he could go without Lance's shitty jokes and flirtatious lines, or his raunchy humor. He knew he wouldn't last long without Lance there to save him from himself, and bring him back down to reality when his anger hit the fan. His boyfriend was everything, and Keith... Keith couldn't live without everything. He'd become too attached, to the point where weaning him off Lance was impossible. This whole cold turkey situation, it was hurting him even worse than the car crash had.

He scooted his chair closer and began squeezing Lance's tan hand more firmly.

" Lance... we're supposed to be forever... you promised..." Keith sniffled.

He wanted his future with Lance far away from the guns and madness, and he wanted a simpler life. He wanted to adopt and have a family, and he wanted Lance to be his partner in it all.

Keith leaned down and pressed a trembly kiss on Lance's cheek, praying that he wouldn't have to wait too long.

He leaned back in the chair, convincing himself that he wasn't going to leave, or let go of Lance's hand until the taller boy was up.

...

Matt and Shiro's faces both sank, and Adam pulled his hand back from Shiro. He was unsure why the unfamiliar man had been holding it in the first place. He squinted at them, feeling a headache due to not wearing his glasses for such an extended period of time.

The doctors looked between Adam, then the other two.

" Sir, can you tell me what your name is?" They asked Adam, needing to make sure.

" I'm Adam... now where the hell am I? And who are you two?" He asked Matt and Shiro, and Matt's lip quivered.

" Do you really not remember?" The shorter, ginger haired man inquired.

Adam rubbed his head.

" Remember what?" He went to sit up, but then grimaced. Feeling over his back, he found a bunch of bandages. " Where are my glasses? I can't see shit..."

Matt hugged Shiro and took a deep breath.

" Can you tell me the last thing you remember?" The doctor asked Adam, snapping his fingers to get his attention.

Adam seemed to be at a loss.

" Er... running errands... making a coffee run for everyone." Was his answer after a while. That was back at Lotor's mansion, but he couldn't tell them that much. He wasn't trying to get slaughtered.

" Please... no..." Matt murmured.

It was a short time later by the time the hospital made a conclusive diagnosis. Post traumatic amnesia, sustained by a lack of blood flow to Adam's brain during and after the stabbing. Shiro and Matt were both standing in the hall as it was explained to them, and Matt was squeezing Shiro's hand like a stress ball.

" Will... will he ever remember?" Shiro asked, hesitant. He didn't even know if he could handle hearing the answer to that.

" Well, since he's lost months worth of memories, we can't guarantee that he'll recover all of them. Often times, the amnesia will last for a couple weeks, then everything comes back over the course of a couple days. We're hoping he'll be able to fill in most of the gaps. If you can bring in certain significant objects, something that he was around a lot, that might help kickstart the process."

Matt looked back into the room at Adam, and Shiro pulled his smaller boyfriend in against his side reassuringly.

" Thank you." Shiro told him solemnly, and the white coat wearing doctor nodded before walking away.

" What the hell can we even do?" Matt asked. " His glasses burnt up in the fire..."

Shiro thought for a moment, then a lightbulb went off. He perked up, looking back at Adam, then down to Matt. They'd get him new glasses, but that wasn't quite his main plan.

" What?" Matt questioned.

Shiro ran a hand through his hair pridefully.

" You're not gonna like it, but I have an idea." He spoke, and Matt raised an eyebrow. " When we were in Hawaii, remember how we all had sex?"

" Uh... yeah." Matt blushed.

" That was the first time Adam bottomed for me... that has gotta mean something, right?" Shiro asked.

" If you're suggesting pulling out your dick and showing him, no."

Shiro gasped.

" Ew, no. I was thinking I could go get the bottle of glow in the dark lube. I remember we used that." He said, breaking a nervous sweat. He wasn't trying to get arrested for indecent exposure, especially if Adam didn't remember it.

" You're not discharged yet, and even then it's a stretch." Matt told him, and Shiro ran a hand over his cheek.

" You're right, I'm not... but I can tell Pidge and Hunk to get it." Shiro said.

Matt cringed, wondering what his sister would do if she knew they used something so crass as that. He knew he'd never hear the end of it... but if there was even a slight chance that it would help Adam, he was willing to try it.

" I guess."

...

Keith had fallen asleep by Lance's bedside, hunched over and in a very weird position. It would most likely leave him sore for days, but sleeping Keith couldn't have cared less about it. He was by Lance, and even if the taller boy wasn't awake... it was at least some reassurance.

The beep of the monitor was the ultimate gift, and the high pitched sound of it was never annoying like it might've been to some people. That beep was Lance's heart, and Keith's connection to it. It was the beat the heart thankfully still had.

It could've very easily been a different situation, though.

If the doctors wouldn't have succeeded in reviving Lance, Keith would've never been able to forgive himself. He, even in slumber, was focused on the fact that he had almost lost Lance.

The car was nearly rolling with every curve it took, and slipping and sliding, and he couldn't stop moving. Keith replayed it over and over again in his head, slamming into the pole and feeling the car smushing around it.

Over again, everything. It never stopped, like some sort of torture chamber that he couldn't escape from.

That was until Keith shot awake in a cold sweat, unable to shake the sight of Lance's bloody suit from his head. His eyes darted around the room, and his ears once again honed in on the heart monitor.

Beeping.

It was still beeping, and that meant Lance's heart hadn't been pierced by a bullet, like it very well might have been if he'd stayed locked in his nightmare, where anything could happen.

Keith looked at the clock behind him, seeing that it was almost seven at night. He'd been in there for a little over four hours, and nothing had changed.

His eyes fell back on his boyfriend, who still laid in the bed.

Keith could barely take it anymore, and he had no idea how he'd be able to last. If he had to wait the coma out... Keith didn't know if he could survive till the end.

" God damn it!" Keith exclaimed, beating his fist on the end of the bed. If he would've been able to walk, or let alone stand on his own, he could've trashed the room. He was practically steaming at the ears from how angry, hurt, just... emotional he was.

What did he have to do? How much did he have to give? There wasn't any price too high for Keith if it meant Lance could wake up. He felt hot tears gushing from his eyes as he sat there and squeezed Lance's hand.

" You have to come back... you can't just leave me like this..." He stammered, clenching his jaw and trying to keep it together. " I love you! Okay?! I'm s-so sorry I didn't tell you sooner! I'll t-tell you it everyday for th-the rest of my life-" Keith sobbed. " Un... unless it's too late..."

He stared down as tears dripped everywhere and moistened the front of his hospital gown. His hand was clasped in Lance's, and he intertwined their fingers soon enough.

Love.

That was the word he'd been unable to use, unable to fathom, and unable to believe in for so long. But... he'd found it in Lance. The previously foreign idea, Keith's mind had now been able to grasp it. And just as he did, the rug was ripped right out from under him.

He felt like he was falling, spiralling into some endless pit of doom. WIthout Lance, what did he even have? A family leader, multimillionaire, brother. Maybe a couple friends. That was it. He'd been ripped from the tattoo parlor, and could never find the time to draw anymore- his passion was put on hold.

So forgive Keith if his outlook for the future was grim without Lance.

Right as Keith was ready to beat his fist on the wall, he heard something that tore his attention away from everything else. His eyes darted over to Lance, who was in the middle of taking a shaky, raspy breath. His face was scrunching, and a weak cough left his throat. His fingers twitched and Keith felt it on his own.

The world stopped. The universe stopped.

" L-Lance?" Keith asked, voice cracking. He squeezed his hand more so, and not but a few seconds later, a small slit of Lance's irises was visible. The slivers of blue became larger as he opened his eyes groggily. His heart rate slowly picked up, and Lance seemed almost... delirious. He was still in touch enough to recognize Keith, however.

" Keith..." He croaked. " What hit me?" Lance's hand moved over his chest, and he wheezed while trying to sit up. All his muscles were stiff, like they'd been stuck in a freezer and had to thaw.

" Stay still, Babe!" Keith sniffled. He wasn't sure how many stitches Lance had, and he didn't want his boyfriend to aggravate them. " I h-have to find a doctor!"

Lance squeezed Keith's hand, keeping him from getting up and crutching to the door.

" No..." Lance said. " Stay."

His head felt like a car had run it over, and his chest was tender as hell. He looked down, finding bandages there, and on his arm as well. There was a variety of small cuts on his arms, most likely from the car crash, but Lance didn't know that much.

Keith's eyes overfilled with tears and his lip quivered. He sobbed while leaning over the bed and wrapping his arms around Lance, carefully of course. His ass was still planted in the chair, being that he couldn't balance on one foot while trying much of anything. 

He cried into Lance's neck, incoherently spitting out words and nuzzling there.

Lance winced while putting a single arm behind Keith, rubbing his back softly. His mind was ever so slowly piecing things together.

" I love you so much! So so much!" Keith finally said something he could understand, and Lance's lips began tugging upward into a smile.

" I love you too..." Lance whispered, voice scratchy. He was questioning how the hell he was alive right then, being that he'd thought for sure he was a goner.

Keith placed a grateful kiss on Lance's lips, squeezing his eyes shut as tears tried to race from them. The taller boy's lips were dry, but Keith didn't give two fucks. Lance was safe and awake and that was all that mattered.

He ran a hand through Lance's chestnut brown hair and shook from all the nerves. If Lance hadn't been so injured, Keith would've allowed himself to collapse onto the taller boy. He would've crawled on top of the hospital bed and cuddled him right then and there. He would've slapped him for jumping in front of that bullet. He would've done so many things differently.

Keith pulled back once he decided Lance needed air. Lance leaned their foreheads together and held him.

" You need a doctor..." Keith whispered.

Lance's eyes widened once he saw that Keith had crutches, and that there was a scratch on his cheek.

" Baby... who h-hurt you?" He wheezed, not wanting to let Keith go. Keith pulled back and grabbed his crutches, leaning on them as he stood up on his good leg.

" I swear I can explain everything." Keith told him, rubbing his thumb over Lance's palm reassuringly. He felt like he'd lost his world, only to find out it had all been a nightmare.

Even though things were often nightmarish for him anyways, and even though some people would've still considered this hell on Earth, Keith didn't see it like that. Lotor was gone, and they'd all made it out.

And that made it a daydream overall.

Keith crutched toward the door to the room, pulling it open.

" Hey! We need a doctor in here!" He hollered into the hall. People in the hall began perking up and rushing toward the room, cutting past Keith. Keith was in a daze at first, but then he saw Shiro poke his head out from the room down the hall. He was one of the people making their way to Lance's room.

" Keith?!" Shiro asked, swiftly walking. He put a hand on his little brother's shoulder, looking down at him. " What's going on? Is Lance o-"

Keith smiled, tears streaming down his cheeks.

" He's up." The younger brother told him, his voice cracking again. Shiro's panicked expression began sinking into a content one. They both peered into the room, where Lance was being asked plenty of questions. Nurses were checking his vitals and making sure his heart was beating right, and giving him a much needed drink of water.

Lance didn't seem very focused on that, though. His eyes were focused somewhere outside the door frame, on someone who was more important to him.

" Sir, would you mind if we took a peek under your bandages?" One of the nurses asked him. Lance shook his head, and they began pulling his gown aside. There was an incision, where they'd had to cut Lance open and get the bullet out. There were also burn marks from him being defibrillated back to life.

Lance's eyes were huge once he saw them. His pupils were tiny from fear, and his eyes cut back to Keith.

'I died?' Lance thought to himself.

(( For the people who are asking, yes the scratch on Keith's cheek is supposed to be the equivalent of him getting his 'galra mark' in the show.))