someone other than shiro
"Hey Keith, do you remember anything from our Garrison days?" James asked. "Uh, no, not really." Keith admits. "Why?"
"Do you remember me?" James asked.
"Sorry, no. Should I?" Keith asked. He can't read the emotions in James's eyes.
"Um, I have to go." James says, stepping away. He heads out of the room and down the hall.
"Griffin! There you are! How'd it-" Pidge starts to ask, but he cuts her off. "Not now Katie." He tells her, brushing past. "James.." She says, grabbing his wrist. "It doesn't matter anymore Katie. He doesn't remember-" his voice cracks. "-he doesn't remember me."
He retreats further down the hall, disappearing around the corner. Pidge huffs and goes over to him. "What was that?" She asks him. "What was what?" She gestures to where James was. "That. How could you tell him you don't remember him?" "But I don't! Why should I? I know I decked him once, what else should I remember him for?"
Veronica came marching over and slapped him in the back of the head. "What the hell? What did you do?" "Ow! What was that for?" he asked, shooting her a glare. "You don't remember James? James Griffin? The kid you've had in literally every class since kinder and dated for three YEARS?"
Keith's eyes widened. "Wait, he was my boyfriend?"
"Yes! Did you hit your head up there? How do you not remember him?" Pidge asked. "I don't know! Maybe we broke up or something! I did get kicked out of the Garrison." Veronica rolled her eyes. "Oh, so you remember that, but not your boyfriend?" "I'm sorry, okay?" Keith huffed. "It's not us you have to apologize to." Veronica said. "Come on. you and James need to have a talk."
She grabbed his arm and dragged him to the hall where the MFE dorms were. When they got there, Nadia was leaning on James's door. "James, please open the door." She said softly. "We can talk about this."
Silence came from the other side. "James, please, talk to us." Ryan said.
"GO AWAY!" James yelled from inside.
"Did he lock himself in?" Veronica asks, approaching. Ian's eyes narrow when she sees Keith. She marches over and grabs his collar, slamming him into the wall. "What. Did. You. Do?" She growls. Her normally kind blue eye are like icicles, staring him down. "He said he doesn't remember James." Pidge answers. "How the fuck does he not remember him?" Ina asks, letting go of Keith. "I wasn't even here, but I know they were together for three years, and were affectionate all the time. How do you just forget that? How do you just forget James?" She's looking at Keith again, and he definently doesn't like the murderous look in her eye. "James? Can you open the door?" Veronica asks, knocking gently.
"What part of go away don't you understand?" He asked.
"James, you can't just shut yourself in." She tells him.
"I can do whatever the hell I want. Now go away." He orders, voice wavering.
"If you don't open the door I'll just get Kosmo to teleport me in there." Nadia threatens.
"Jokes on you, the dog is here with me." James says with a sniffle. They hear Kosmo bark.
"James, please?" Nadia asks. "If you don't open the door I'm gonna hack it and open it." Pidge declares.
"And then I'll either shoot you or throw something at you." He replies. "Look, can you guys just leave me alone?"
Nadia and Veronica exchange a look. "You sure?" "I've been telling you to go away this entire time. I'm sure."
"Okay well, do you have anything we could show him? Maybe that'd trigger his memory?" Pidge asks.
Some shuffling came from the other side, and the sound of something opening and closing.
Kosmo appears in front of them, a box lying on his back. Pidge takes it and he disappears again. "Thanks." Pidge says. She walks away from the door and back to Keith. "Let's go. We're gonna look through whatever's in this box, and you're going to try your best to remember James." They started down the hall, and her phone beeped. She glanced at it and grinned. "And he says not to let me see any of the messages. Interesting."
They went into an empty conference room, setting the box on the table. Pidge opened it, and her eyes widened. "Wow. That's a lot." She started pulling out different things.
A stuffed lion.
A deflated balloon sword.
Recipets from a paintball game. One for laser tag too.
Ticket stubs from movies.
A fake red rose, and a white one.
Pictures, and lot of them. Mort were small, pocket sized, but a few were bigger. Maybe the type you'd put in a picture frame.
Two phones, with little sticky notes on top of them with the passwords.
And a bunch of little notes, in a small red chocolate box.
And a chain. A silver one, with a dark purple gem on it.
And a star map. There were marks on it, in red, orange and yellow ink.
"Wonder what those are for." Pidge mutters, examining the marks. There's no pattern, and they seem to be at random points. "Where we could see them best. Red are the ones from my house, orange the Garrison, yellow the cliff." Keith blurts. "Hey! Improvement!" Pidge says. "Alright, now lets look at the pictures. Maybe they'll trigger something."
The first one was a selfie, the two of them in class. James was looking at the camera, eyebrow raised as Keith smiled, flipping the camera off.
The second was of them outside. James leaned against Keith's shoulder, looking outwards as Keith snapped the picture, gazing at James.
The third was a strip of them, from the kind you'd get in a photo booth. The first was then smiling, the second had them making silly faces, and in the third....
They were kissing, James's hand held the back of his head as Keith smiled into it.
The fourth had both of James's hands behind his head as Keith pushed him against the wall.
They kept going through the photos, hoping one would strike Keith's memory.
There was another photo strip, from a different time. They looked older, closer to the age Keith was around when they found the blue lion. Again, the first was smiling, the second silly faces, and the third, James smiled with one eyes closed as Keith kissed his cheek, grinning as he did so. The fourth had them smiling at each other, cheeks pink as they met the other's eyes.
There's some handwriting on the back.
"We'll keep this love in a photograph" and a red heart.
"What's that from?" Pidge asked. Keith shrugged. "Beats me. Maybe there was writing on the back of another one." He reaches for the box, sifting through the pictures.
Keith's holding a beat-up hippo plushie, blush on his cheeks. They're in his house, and with the blur the picture has, it's safe to assume the person is laughing.
"Every day discovering something brand new"
There's one of them outside, on the roof of Keith's house. He doesn't know how or who took it, but it's perfect. The silhouette of their bodies against the night sky. They're kissing, leaning into each other.
"Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars"
This one says.
They're on a cliff's edge, and Keith is sitting on his hoverbike, staring at the horizon. The sun is dipping under, and the sky is a stunning display of color.
"We watched the sunset, over the castle on the hill"
There's one where James looks younger than the previous, and is blushing furiously. he looks like he's saying something, but pictures don't capture words. There's one clipped to it too. Keith smirking at James, lips barely n inch apart as the other blushes.
"Had my first kiss on a Friday night, I don't recon I did it right"
The next is a picture of James smiling. There's a silver chain around his neck, with a small, bright purple gem, and a slim silver ring with a tiny red gem. It shines in the sun that dances across his sun-kissed skin, his white v-neck clinging to his body and water glistening in his hair. His eyes practically glow with the way the sun hits them, and he's looking lovingly at the person holding the camera. Water glitters behind him
"Baby, the best part of me is you" It says in Keith's handwriting.
"They're parts of songs." Pidge says. "But who are they by?" Keith shrugs helplessly, staring at the picture of James. It's familiar. He knows he took it. But when? "Maybe you'll find something useful on the phones." Pidge says, handing him one and heading for the door. "Where are you going?" He asks. "Um, I have work. Those new upgrades aren't going to do themselves." She answers. "Later." She says, heading for the door.
Keith sighs and unlocks the first of the phones, a red one with a crack in the upper left-hand corner.
It shows over 400 notifications, most mixed calls or unread texts, a few from social media.
He'd left his phone behind in his house. He'd forgotten to take it with them to the cave. Of course, he hadn't thought he'd need to. He thought they'd stop by then go back.
He took a deep breath, and opened the messages.
Hey babe
what's up
I want death
lol you always do