His smile shattered when the Doctor failed to recognize him and his eyes dimmed with a sharp flicker. He remembered how the Doctor said he could change but his face looked the same so why did he forget about him?

He opened his mouth to argue that he didn't just think he knew him. He did know him. The Doctor was his first friend here. The time when the Doctor stayed by his side when he died was real. The familiar loneliness that he had worked hard to fight against with the help of everyone here closed in around him. He stopped his thoughts from spiraling too far and hid his pain under a small smile.

"It's alright. It's not your fault and I get the chance to get to know you again."

Cruel timey wimey nonsense aside, all that mattered was that the Doctor came back. His eyes shone a bit brighter as he held onto that thought.