Let Me Take You Back To The Time We Were In Love

Let Me Take You Back To The Time We Were In Love – SCMAnex OneShot

None of this was meant to happen, it could have been avoided; was all that ran through Steven's mind, as he looked down at Kevin’s sleeping and broken form in the too-white hospital room. What started out as a small disagreement, turned into a full blown, verbal fight between the two lovers, which lead to Kevin storming out of their shared apartment, only to trip and fall down the flight of stairs. No matter how much Steven called out to Kevin, he wouldn’t wake up. Blood freely flowed from his head, staining the carpet a disgusting red.

Kevin was rushed to hospital and straight into intensive care. After what seemed like forever, Steven was able to see him again. The sight before him was enough to bring tears to his eyes. Kevin lay unconscious on the bed, head wrapped in bandages and right wrist in a cast. He looked so peaceful, but so dead; sickly white. The doctor told Steven that he was unsure of when he would wake up and what damage had been done to his brain.

Steven just sobbed as he lent against the bed of his broken boyfriend.

---

It was a week later when Kevin woke up again. Steven hadn’t left his side, apart from going back to their apartment for new clothes and going to the hospital’s canteen. He just sat next to his lover, watching and waiting.

It was a small groan that made Steven quickly go to Kevin’s side.

“Kevin?” he asked, gripping said man's left hand carefully.

Another groan was heard, and this time, Kevin moved his head to the side. When Steven felt a light amount of pressure returning the grip on his hand, he called for the doctors.

After five minutes of quiet groaning and jerked movements, Kevin finally opened his eyes. He blinked a couple of times before looking to his left to see a tearful Steven. He smiled before whispering “Hey.”

---

Kevin recovered quick, enabling the doctors to see any possible brain damage. Everything seemed clear, brain scan showing nothing unusual, no speech impediment and knowledge of basic information about himself. However, when asked about recent activities, he blanked. Said he didn’t know and couldn’t remember. After countless attempts of questioning Kevin, with no achievement, Steven was pulled outside his room by one of the doctors.

“Please tell me this isn’t what I think it is” pleaded Steven.

The doctor gave a saddened look at the boy before saying “I’m afraid it is. It seems that Kevin has developed amnesia, more precisely, retrograde amnesia meaning loss of events prior to brain damage. It is patchy as he can recall some pieces of information, but I suspect that he has lost memory of the last two to three months.”

After a brief amount of silence, the doctor continued “Now, I believe that Kevin is well enough to be released this evening, so if you would kindly go collect some new clothes for him, that would save him the trouble of leaving here in the bloodstained items he came in. Oh, and you may want to put away anything that will cause him to remember anything suddenly. The best way to recall forgotten information is time.” And with that, he left.

Steven turned back to go into Kevin’s room. He needed to know something. He asked the nurse attending to Kevin to leave them in private for a moment. Once she was gone, he sat down on the bed, picking up Kevin’s hand.

“The doctor said you can leave later” he said, slowly rubbing his thumb on Kevin’s palm.

“That’s great, I’m getting sick of being here” Kevin replied with a smile. The same smile that made Steven’s heart flutter. He shook his head, he needed to focus.

“Uh, you okay there dude?” Kevin asked, with amusement in his voice.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m going back to our apartment for a bit, need to get you some clothes”

“Oh good, as much as I make this gown look fabulous, I don’t really want to be in this when I leave”

Steven laughed lightly, before looking at Kevin again. “Okay, but before I go, I need to ask you something really important” he said.

Kevin nodded for Steven to continue.

“What am I to you?” he questioned, concern lacing his voice.

Kevin smiled again before replying “You’re my best friend of course, what else would you be.”

And that was when Steven’s heart broke.

---

Steven slammed the apartment door shut and let out the pained cry he had been holding in ever since he found out. Kevin, his boyfriend of two and a half months, had forgotten about them ever dating. All the love-filled hugs and touches and kisses, gone. All the dates they went on together, never happened. Their first time having sex together, meaningless. All because of a stupid fight that Steven started.

He stumbled over to their sofa, ignoring the amount of snuggle sessions and movie nights that came to mind, and just cried. He let all his emotions pour out into the pillows, because once Kevin came home, he needed to act strong, needed to act like nothing was wrong and that he was here for Kevin, even if he never remembered the important times they shared together.

Once calm again, he rushed into the bathroom, washed his face, then went into Kevin’s room. He noticed all the things that were his littering the room and sighed. He’d need to clear all this stuff up before he headed out again.

Steven continued to clear up everything around the apartment that contained any part of his and Kevin’s relationship, and put them in a box. Gifts and photos filled the container, each bringing pain to Steven’s being as he put them away, never to be seen by the other's eyes. Once full, he placed the box in his cupboard in his room.

Quickly grabbing some clothes for Kevin, he looked at the apartment one last time, before closing the door on his happiness.

---

A month had passed since the accident and everything was going smoothly. Kevin was going to weekly therapy to help get his memory back, which was going rather well. He was remembering certain things, but nothing about his relationship with Steven, much to said boy’s disappointment. The doctors were calling it a success, regardless.

As for Kevin and Steven’s relationship, it had gone back to being best friends that lived together. Kevin adapted well to this, considering he knew nothing else to compare it to But Steven had a hard time trying. The urge to do boyfriend things with Kevin was always present, but he pushed it aside. It would be easier for both of them that way.

---

“Kevin, I’m home!” Steven called out as he entered their apartment, hands full of bags containing groceries. He placed them on the kitchen counters, before heading out into the living area to find Kevin sitting there, a picture frame in his left hand.

“Steven, what’s this?” Kevin questioned, turning around to look at the boy behind him. Steven froze as he saw the picture within. It was the two of them, kissing under the night sky.

“Wh-where did you find this?” Steven stuttered.

“In your room.” He replied calmly before continuing. “I was looking for you, so I tried your room and I saw this. Why do you have this, more importantly, how do you have this, I don’t remember ever kissing you...”

“Of course you don’t remember it, you don’t remember anything about our relationship!” Steven snapped. Kevin flinched back.

Steven regretted everything as he saw Kevin flinch, so he took a deep breath before trying again. “What I was meant to say, is that out of everything to forget, you forgot something extremely important. We were in a relationship Kevin, for two and a half months before you fell and you have forgotten all of it. I’m sorry.”

Kevin just looked at Steven, slowly taking everything in.

“That photo was taken on our one month anniversary. It was a lovely evening; you took me to see a film before taking me to a restaurant. Afterwards, we went to the place where we became a couple, that’s where the photo is from.”

“Uh, can you leave me alone for a while?” Kevin asked, with confusion in his voice.

“Of course.” Steven whispered.

---

Steven was editing in his room when Kevin knocked on his door. With a quick “come in”, he entered the room and sat down on the other's unmade bed. Steven saved what he was working on before turning around in his chair to look at Kevin, noticing the photo frame once again in his hands.

“Is everything okay?” Steven enquired.

Kevin looked up at Steven, slightly biting his lip and said “Do you have anything else like this? It might help me remember”

Steven gave a surprised look before nodding and going over to get the discarded box of memories. He put it on his bed in front of the taller man before sitting back down in his chair. Kevin carefully took each object out, looking at each thing before going for the next. He did this for half an hour, showing a range of emotions as he did so.

When out of things to look at, he placed everything back in the box, then standing up to place the original photo back on Steven’s dresser. He turned to said boy before saying “I don’t remember anything, but I can feel something in my heart, telling me that this is right. And the doctors just called me saying I can have this stupid cast off my arm. So I was thinking that you could drive me there and then we can go to the place in the photo, maybe I’ll remember something that way.”

Steven smiled lovingly and nodded.

---

“It feels so good to be able to use my hand again” Kevin remarked as he got into the car. Steven laughed before handing the taller man a Starbucks and putting the car into gear to leave.

Kevin muttered a thank you before taking a sip. The shorter boy watched as his face lit up in delight. “This is really good!” he beamed then taking another sip.

“I know, you’ve told me before” was all the Steven replied.

---

The sun was beginning to set when the car pulled up onto the dirt track. Steven and Kevin got out silently. The view ahead of them from the hill showed the city of Seattle slowly lighting up for the evening life, the sky bursting with orange, red and pink, mixing together to form the sunset.

“This is beautiful” Kevin whispered, eyes dancing around the view.

“Yeah, but it’s better at night” Steven explained. He walked ahead onto the grass before sitting down. Kevin followed and sat down next to him very closely.

They stayed like that for a while, just watching the sun go down. It was Kevin that broke the silence. “Tell me about the time we became a couple” he insisted, taking Steven’s hand and entwining their fingers.

Steven looked down at their hands before nodding.

“It was probably about a month after we got the flat together. Whenever we were both free, you’d take me out to see the city, and one day, you took me here. It was amazing, a sight to see. While I was struck by the awe of Seattle, you pulled me close, wrapping your arms around me and nuzzling into my shoulder. When I asked you what you were doing, you just cupped my cheek and pulled me into a kiss.” Steven responded, happiness touching his words as he spoke them.

He turned to look at Kevin, and he felt a hand on his cheek. He smiled as he closed his eyes and let himself be pulled into a kiss. It was sweet and soft and full of love that made him lean into the other's embrace. As they pulled away, Steven opened his eyes to see the taller man smiling with love.

“Was the kiss just like that?” he asked.

“Yes” Steven breathed out, a faint blush rising in his cheeks.

“Good, because if I recall correctly, after we kissed, fireworks started and we watched them and when we were done, I asked you out.”

Steven looked at the other in shock. “You remember?!” he asked.

Kevin nodded and said “I remember that time and our anniversary date. It must have something to do with coming here. Maybe you should take me on more dates so I can remember everything again.”

Steven pulled him into a tight hug, whispering “of course” against his ear before kissing him again.