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Shiro thrashed upright in bed, panting. He was drenched in a cold, clammy sweat. Such rude awakenings had become standard since his resurrection. Having inherited the clone’s brain meant inheriting its memories.
Mixed in were those of being indoctrinating into thinking it was Shiro and physical torture in the name of the staged escape looking less suspicious. Worst of all were the memories of what it-what he- had said and done to Keith.
He’d been unable to look Keith in the eye in anticipation of seeing resentment there. Or worse, fear. Keith had just been a kid, despite his instances to the contrary, when Shiro took him in. He’d been responsible for him and then he abandoned him just like all his other guardians. Even if getting captured from Kerberos had been far past his control, Shiro had never fully forgiven himself for disappearing on the man who was essentially his little brother.
Shiro looked up from his hands and startled backwards at the sight of Pidge inches from his face. He’d begun staying in the Green Lion both to avoid Keith's gaze and be sure the only member of their group who was still a kid wasn’t on their own for too long. Plus, Matt and Sam would both kill him if they knew he’d left Pidge unattended.
“What are you doing?” Shiro hissed, more agitated than intended.
“Checking on you,” their voice was low and slurred with sleep. “I heard you thrashing and you’ve been sitting there with your head in your hands for the past few minutes. Do you wanna talk about it?” they were quickly returning to their typical animated manner of speaking.
“Katie, you’re a kid and I’m an adult. It’s not your responsibility to look after my emotional state. It wouldn’t be fair when I’m the one who’s supposed to be taking care of you,” he answered.
“First of all, I’m 17, so stop treating me like a little kid. Two, are you at least going to talk to Keith about it?”
“First of all, still a kid. Second of all, how did you-“
Pidge sighed. “Keith knows you’ve been avoiding him. He asked me if you’d said anything about it.”
“I am a terrible babysitter,” Shiro chuckled.
“So, are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
“Nightmares about the fight we-the fight he and the clone had. I guess I’m just afraid of hurting him again,” Shiro relented.
“Personally, I think you’re hurting him a lot more by avoiding him.”
“You make a good point,” Shiro said. “But don’t think this is getting you away from adult supervision. No more staying up all night cycle then complaining about it when everyone else is awake.”
“Dammit,” Pidge swore under their breath. They stood and made their way to the makeshift doorway to Shiro’s side of the cargo hold and retreated to their own.