hello, go ahead and read on i hope you'll like it asdfghjkl

Keith is tired. The textbooks that don't fit in his satchel are heavy in his arms as he leaves his last class of the day. His eyes feel as dry as the desert, and he's sure he needs a fix of cappuccino since his day isn't even close to over yet. The assignments on his head and the tests later this week are proof of that.

Dodging people in the hallway, the young man makes his way towards the library, where he promised to meet Pidge and her friends—friends she claims that could help them pass the goddamn English Literature class that they're both suffering in together.

His phone vibrates in his jeans pocket and he considers ignoring it before realizing it's probably Shiro checking in on him like the mother hen he is. Keith struggles to press the answer button, slipping the device in between his ear and shoulder as he walks on.

"Hey, Shiro."

"Hey Keith. Classes over yet?"

"Yeah. I'm on my way to the library to meet some guys to study with."

There's a resounding gasp on the other line. "My child Keith… is socializing?!"

Keith rolls his eyes and swears under his breath. "It's for English Lit. You know how terrible I am at it."

"So you're saying that you're desperate."

"Very much so."

Shiro laughs and Keith smiles. "So, what do you want for dinner?"

Keith would shrug if he could and if this was a verbal conversation. "As long as it's not cup ramen, I'll devour it."

He opens the library door with his foot, because screw manners when he's probably late and he's sure Pidge—even though he's not really friends with her since he's only worked with her for assignments a couple of times before—would castrate him. He and Shiro exchange a few more words, when will I have to come to pick you up, before he says his goodbyes and sees Pidge's chestnut pixie cut among all the other heads in this god forsaken book haven.

Sitting with her are a couple of guys Keith's sure he hasn't seen around campus before. There's a big guy in a yellow shirt with an orange bandana tied around his head, and a cute tall lanky guy with a blue shirt under a dark green jacket with a white hoodie. They're both sniggering and throwing nuts at each other. Pidge herself is wearing her signature white and green turtleneck and shorts, and she has her nose buried in a complicated-looking programming book that Keith doesn't even wish to begin to decipher.

Keith places his books in the empty seat beside Pidge, avoiding the eyes of the two strangers sitting across the table as they quiet down at his arrival and nudging Pidge with his elbow.

"Hey, Pidge."

"Oh, Keith! Finally, you're here and we can get started." She places her book down, chirping up but deflating almost immediately as she remembers what the study group is for. "Urgh, English."

Keith sighs at that. "You and me both."

"Hey, English is beautiful! Broken and messed up at times, but beautiful." The tall guy says, looking mock offended, if the hand on his chest and screwed up expression any indication. The big guy nods, though he looks a lot like he's trying to hold back a laugh.

Keith sits down, and deadpans, "How poetic."

The tall guy sticks out his tongue at him and Keith rolls his eyes. That's twice in a span of ten minutes, a new record for him.

Pidge sniggers. She makes eye contact with Keith and points one hand at the big guy. "This is Hunk. He's the sweetest thing to ever bless the Earth. We peasants don't deserve him."

Hunk just smiles sheepishly and shakes hands with Keith. "Don't listen to her, I can be pretty mean too."

"Pretty mean at baking cakes, you mean." Pidge says, then points towards the tall guy. "Keith, this is Lance. English major, a big dumbass and will flirt with anything that has legs."

"Hey!"

"Lance, Hunk, this is Keith. My fellow suffer-buddy in English Literature, a Psychology major, and the school's number one people hater."

"Hey!" Keith glares at her.

"See, what'd I tell ya?" She says, jabbing one thumb in Keith's direction. "I'm probably the only person in the world who he can talk to without malice."

"That is far from the truth." Keith says, thinking of Shiro. Which, considering that's the only person he can think of off the top of his head, kind of proves her point.

Lance has an eyebrow raised. Keith can't help his scowl.

"Alright boys, let's get down to business. Keith and I have a test on this bullshit in a week, and mark my words I will pass it even if it's the last thing I'll do!" Pidge announces in a whisper-shout.

Keith groans.

They spend hours in that spot, Lance tutoring each of them on what they need to know, occasionally poking fun here and there because this is like ABC, Keith, come on, and Keith glaring back at him because we just met. How dare you.

We just met, and you already need me this much. A wiggle of the man's eyebrows.

Keith kicks him under the table.

By the time Pidge is satisfied and thinks they crammed enough, Keith really feels like studying is just a shortened version of student dying. He's slumped over his still open books, wondering if Shiro would mind if he just spent the night here on this table. Because moving is the last thing he wants to do.

"Same time tomorrow?" Lance asks the group in general. Hunk and Pidge nod their affirmations.

And killing all of them would be the first thing he wants to do.

They pack their things, each of them tired and practically dead on their feet, even after Hunk blessed them with sweets and snacks he snuck into the library. The only one who isn't as exhausted seems to be Lance, which just infuriates Keith.

"Don't you ever get tired?" he asks the other man as all of them file out of the library and Lance is skipping on his feet.

Lance winks at a passing girl in stilettos, who giggles and smiles, before he answers. "Not when there are hot peeps around."

Keith rolls his eyes. He can tell that he'll never stop being annoyed at Lance.

After saying thanks and goodbye, because manners are important, Keith finds himself back home at the apartment he shares with Shiro.

They have dinner together, and Shiro asks him about the study group he was in. Keith doesn't say much about it, other than the tutor is an annoying flirt, and Shiro doesn't pry anymore than necessary.

After Keith manages to finish an assignment for one of his classes that night, he lays down in bed and realizes he's still thinking about Lance at the back of his mind.

He goes to sleep feeling annoyed.

When Keith opens his eyes, the first thing he notices is how tired he is.

The second is how dry his throat feels.

The third, the room that he doesn't recognize at all.

The ceilings and walls are white, with white tiles arranged neatly on the floor. There's one bedside table with a pitcher, some cups, and a plate with some cut apples and a small knife, and another bedside table loaded with half-wilted flower baskets and greeting cards.

The man finds himself trying to sit up, wanting to get a better look at the cards, almost to no avail. There's a cast on his left arm, and with his good hand he feels a bandage wrapped around his head. From all the evidence he's managed to find in the five seconds he's been up, he can only assume that he was involved in an accident and is now in a hospital.

Which explains the smell of medicine and sanitized room and all the flowers.

Keith only had a second to try and remember what happened that led him to this situation before the door slides open and a man with brown hair cut short wearing a blue shirt walks in. The stranger looks at him, at first confused, before astonishment and joy settles on his features.

"Keith! Oh my god, Keith, baby, you're awake!"

The other man is immediately by his bedside, holding his right hand, with baby tears forming at the ends of his deep blue eyes. Keith finds himself a little breathless at them.

But… baby?

Feeling a little awkward, and kind of freaked out, Keith pulls his hand away. "Um…" he starts, brows furrowing. His dry throat hurts and he coughs and swallows. In a hoarse voice he asks, "Who are you?"

The man's features drop instantly, but he quickly recovers himself with a small smile and a hollow laugh.

"Haha, that's right." He rubs the back of his neck before he shoves his hands into his pockets and looks away. "I was… told this might happen."

"What…?"

"Just wait a bit, I'll get someone to come over, okay?" the stranger flashes Keith a strained smile. Without waiting for confirmation from him, the man rushes out of the room.

What… just happened? That was strange beyond belief. Yet, despite all of that, something about his smile and his eyes seem to pull at Keith's heartstrings.

Huh.

Feeling the bandage around his head again, Keith notices that his hair feels oddly longer than he's used to. The strands are basically resting at his nape and his bangs are falling into his eyes. That's not right…

He doesn't have a chance to think about it further though, because the door opens again, and finally a familiar face pops in.

"Shiro!" Keith smiles, the relief evident on his face. "I'm so glad to see you. What happened to me?" and that's when he notices a particular item that his childhood friend is wearing. "And why do you have a doctor's coat…?"

Shiro smiles, that gentle smile he's always known for, and ruffles Keith's hair. "Well, at least you still remember me. That's good."

Keith pulls a face. "Stop that, I'm not a kid anymore."

The older man retracts his hand, chuckling slightly. "Can I ask you a question?"

"You didn't answer mine but sure."

An unreadable look settles on Shiro's face, and Keith feels himself straightening up, anticipating whatever it is that Shiro wants to ask him—even if he is the one with the boundless questions. Like, how did this happen? Why is Shiro here playing his doctor? When will he be able to leave?

Who was the man with the brown hair and blue eyes?

"What year is it?" Shiro asks.

Keith narrows his eyes. "It's… 2006. Right?"

The smile from before comes back, but laced with a sadness Keith doesn't quite understand. Shiro pats his good arm. "What I'm about to tell you might shock you a little but… it's 2017, Keith."

A moment's silence.

Keith feels the cold dread seizing him, from the ends of his hair to the tips of his feet. He takes in a deep breath, closing his eyes and trying to calm himself down.

Even with all of that, he can still feel the headache growing inside his head.

"So… you're saying that… I've been in a… coma? For eleven years?"

Shiro's eyes become softer. "Not exactly... You've lost eleven years of your memory, Keith. You have amnesia."

He can't tell which is worse.

After a number of checkups, and after Shiro telling him that no, he's not just playing Keith's doctor because yes, he is one who finished his residency seven years ago, Keith finds himself alone again, with an odd feeling of confusion and despair.

Eleven years of memories… So many things could have happened in eleven years. So many beautiful and awful things that Shiro knows he went through but not him. He wonders how his studies went. Did he graduate smoothly? Did he get a good job somewhere? Where does he live now? What happened in that one TV show he was following?

...It's strange, calling the future 'now' and thinking of what was his present as the world's past. It's strange.

It's going to take him a long while to get used to this.

Shiro told him to try and remember the last thing that he thinks happened to him, and he tries to recall what it is that he was doing before he ended up waking in the hospital. Keith thinks back on it. He vaguely remembers walking, carrying some books, but he can't seem to remember where he was going, or what kind of books they were. All he knows is that they were pretty thick books. Like, really really thick books.

Was he wearing red shoes?

Something sharp shoots through his head and he groans. Okay, that was a bad idea. Shiro warned him to take it easy with the recalling business.

The man also told him that he'd be here a while before he can be discharged. Which is perfectly fine by Keith, because he doesn't know where he can go or what he can do after this. It's not like he has a family to go back to.

He still needs some time to think about how he's in an entirely different timeline too. And all Shiro told him when he asked again what happened to him, was that he was involved in a car accident.

How and where, he didn't disclose that information, saying that someone else is more qualified to tell him all the details.

Keith wonders about that. Did that someone see him? Was he hit while he was crossing the road? Was he the one driving? In the passenger seat? Was he with anyone that he knew? Did anyone else get hurt?

So many questions, so much confusion, so little answers.

He wishes he has someone to talk to about this, but Shiro is a busy doctor, and he doesn't know anyone that would visit him in the hospital…

Except, maybe, the man with brown hair and blue eyes.

He briefly wonders then, could that man actually be…just perhaps, maybe...

He hears the familiar slide of the door opening and closing and footsteps walking in hesitantly. Looking up, Keith sees that it's the exact man he was thinking about.

Oh.

Taking a closer look, only now does he notice that there are pretty big bags under the other's eyes, and that his face seems tired and sad, even with the smile. Keith realizes he doesn't really like that defeated look in his eyes.

"Hi." The man says.

"Hey…"

"So…" the man rubs the back of his neck again. "What did Shiro tell you?"

"...That it's 2017 and I have amnesia." He says, not really able to hide the bitterness in his voice then, and he's sorry. He gets rid of the edge from his voice, opting for a softer curiouser tone. "Do you know him? Personally, I mean."

"Shiro? Yeah. We became friends through you."

"Oh."

"Are you… hungry?" the man asks.

"Not really…" Keith thinks about it. "I am thirsty though."

Without saying another word, the man nods and fills in a cup on the table using a pitcher. He brings the cup to the bed and gives it to Keith to hold with his good arm.

Keith drinks it with gusto.

Once he's done, he notices that the man has been staring at him. He raises his eyebrows at him in question.

The man smiles shyly. "Sorry, it's just… You're much more beautiful when you're awake."

Keith almost chokes at this. Baby? Beautiful? What…

"I…" Keith finds himself gaping now. He feels himself getting hot and dizzy, and he's kind of sure his face is red. "Are you... actually my… boyfriend…?"

"Close…" the man says, his voice having a tone that Keith doesn't quite understand. The man digs into one of his pockets and tells Keith to stretch out his hand. He obliges.

The man places his fist in Keith's open hand and he feels something cold and small drop into his palm. He looks at it. His breath hitches.

It's a golden ring.

"My name's Lance." The man starts. He raises his left hand to show the matching ring on his finger. He smiles, but his eyes betray his melancholic emotion. "And we've been married for six years."

The ring is beautiful. It's simple, elegant, and there's a carving on the inside that he can't read because his vision gets blurry when he tries. He thinks he should get that checked. He might have lost some of his eyesight from the brain trauma.

...He's not going to wonder how he knows that.

Keith brings this up to Lance when the other man drops himself in the driver's seat of his car on the day he's discharged. He's already said his goodbyes to Shiro, who set up appointments with him to check on the cast and on his head.

While he waited for Lance as the man and Shiro talked for some time a distance away from him, a lot of people in white coats looked at him and nodded in greeting, and some even wished him to get well soon. All he could do was look confused and said thanks.

"We can go to to an optometrist right now, if you'd like." Lance says, looking at him.

Keith fingers the ring that's now around his neck on a string, because his cast goes all the way up his knuckles and he can't wear it. He's not even… entirely sure yet if he'll wear it. The idea of him being married to someone is still kind of… weird, to him.

He really wonders how it all happened.

"No, it's okay." He looks back at Lance. "I think I want to…" go home.

But where is home?

Lance seems to understand him, though. He nods his head, pulls on his seatbelt, and drives off, not saying another word.

hello again! i hope you liked it, and i'll try to update once a week BUT I DONT PROMISE THAT... NO PROMISES...

also, if you like, check me out at tumblr and twitter under the username strawnillas

(this story is also in AO3 under the same title and username like on FFN!)