Title: Got it Memorized?

Day 1: Your OTP quote: "I know I won't forget you. Believe me. I try all the time,"

Drabble summary:"Hey," Axel said. "Remember me?" "You were here yesterday," Saïx answered. "Yeah, I was here yesterday, when you woke up," Axel swallowed. "Do you know who I am?" Saïx furrowed his brow and looked away. "I don't,"

- - x - -

Axel had grown to hate the smell of rubbing alcohol and iodine, the fluorescent lights, even the way his boots tapped on the tiles as he walked down the hallway looking for room number seven. The flowers in his hand gave off a pleasant scent, but the overpowering smell of sanitizer around him was like a punch to his already bruised gut.

Axel hated hospitals.

A familiar nurse greeted him as he walked by, and he waved weakly with the hand that was bandaged in a cast, before turning to the opened door of room number seven.

He knocked lightly on the doorframe with his cast; Saïx looked toward the door as a pretty, young nurse helped him sit up in his bed. The nurse situated Saïx before leaving the room, and Axel smiled when Saïx acknowledged him, but his smile faded at the blank expression in Saïx's eyes.

"Hey," Axel said. "Remember me?"

The nurse said a quick farewell to both Axel and Saïx before leaving the room and leaving the two men alone together. Axel almost wished she had stayed; he wasn't sure he was prepared for the awkwardness of trying to reintroduce himself to his own boyfriend.

Saïx's hair was unbrushed and hung almost like vines around his face, and a small patch at the side of his head barely showed where his hair had been shaved to the scalp to make room for the stitches in his temple. Bandages covered a deep gash over the bridge of his nose in the shape of a perfect 'x', peppered with darkened purple where the blood leaked through week-old scabs and stitches. The bruises on his body were beginning to fade, but the cast on his left leg and the sling keeping his fractured scapula in place were likely to remain there for a number of weeks.

But the empty look in Saïx's eyes were what hurt Axel the most.

"You were here yesterday," Saïx answered. He shifted in his seat, regarding Axel with a curious glance, the tubes sticking into his veins tugging at the plastic bag that was pumping fluids into his body to keep him hydrated while he healed.

It had been a little over a week, and Axel was certain he'd forever see the image of blinding headlights, and the other car plowing head-first into the front of Axel's jeep. Of Saïx lying ten feet from the site of the crash, mangled and unconscious. Axel couldn't close his eyes anymore.

Axel smiled weakly and entered the room, setting the flowers he'd brought down on the bedside table before sitting carefully on the bed next to Saïx.

"Yeah, I was here yesterday, when you woke up," Axel swallowed. "Do you know who I am?"

Saïx furrowed his brow and looked away. "I don't,"

It felt like a vice was squeezing the heart in Axel's chest. "I was afraid of that,"

They sat in silence for a moment, Saïx staring at his knees and Axel trying to discreetly glance over at the other man. Axel ran his injured hand through unruly red hair.

"Are you…" Saïx paused. " ...important to me?"

Axel laughed bitterly. "I guess you can say that,"

Saïx glanced sideways at Axel, before bringing his eyes back down to his knees. Axel was looking directly at him, and Saïx didn't know whether he was supposed to be uncomfortable or not.

"Are you going to tell me your name?" Saïx asked.

Axel smiled and leaned over, resting his head against Saïx's shoulder. Saïx looked curiously over at Axel when the redhead reached over and twined their fingers together.

"My name is Axel," He said, closing his eyes and smiling when he felt Saïx squeeze back. "Got it memorized?"

And Axel was certain he just felt his heart break.