Chapter Text
Shiro felt himself lose control over his arm. He could see what was happening, the normal purple glow (his standards for normal are probably very very wrong), was now switching to a red glow. His heart beats were beginning to ring far too loud for his ears and there was someone shouting. He looked up and found Pidge running towards him. He stood up, his legs wanting to give out, but Pidge was right there, running towards him and he was going to be okay. Except… maybe she wasn’t.
“Run,” he could hear himself yell at her. She didn’t run, but she kept her distance. It didn’t take too long for the fact to register on her head. He didn’t have control over his arm. She sent him a nod and a smile.
“Pidge, RUN!” Another yell, this time it was followed by his arm swinging at her and barely missing her abdomen. Pidge didn’t remain too far though, she was on her toes, typing away on the small system on her arm. Was she hacking into his arm?
“Don’t help me Pidge! Get away!” His arm sent a punch, only for Pidge to step away.
“I won’t leave you,” she stated calmly, almost as if it was that simple. As if she wouldn’t get hurt by staying with him.
After a couple more dodges, a kick and a punch that was far too close for comfort she managed to hack into his arm and delete whatever Galra system took over. They all got back to their lions and….
Mission accomplished, Allura’s voice rang through their helmets.
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They all knew there was trouble the moment Pidge stepped off her lion. They all trembled when she wiped off her glasses and looked up, a scowl visible on her face. Now, Pidge was the smallest member (despite the fact they were all now older), probably no taller than 5'3, but that expression right there made everyone feel tiny in comparison. Pidge Gunderson was a force to be reckoned with.
"TAKASHI SHIROGANE!" Shiro widened his eyes, and looked around only to find every single one of his friends avoiding his gaze. Great, his teammates were offering no help. Not that he needed it, but after that battle out there he wasn't quite in the best place to calm down Pidge, not when his brain was still running and spinning and his heart was still pounding against his chest.
The girl was glaring at him. Shiro felt his hands begin to sweat.
"You almost killed me."
Shiro felt a lump in his throat. He did almost hurt her, and he regretted it. The Galra army had managed to somehow hack into his arm and use it against him. Pidge being Pigde was the only one who could stop it... right after trying to approach him and getting attacked by him. Shiro felt guilty about it, god what kind of leader was he if he couldn't even control his arm!? And why was Pidge so damn stubborn?
"I know. I'm sorry, the Galra-" he was cut off when her hand was covering his mouth.
"I'm going to improve your arm. Install a new system, probably redo some of its programs-" Shiro widened his eyes. Letting Pidge near his arm was nowhere near what he was going to let her do.
"What? No!"
"You didn't let me help you out there, but you have to let me help you here. I can make sure that-"
"Pidge. I'm fine," Shiro knew that his response was bitter (and also a lie). But at this moment, talking about his proesthic arm and the galra wasn't something he was going to do. Much less let Pidge into his turmoil.
"You are fine? Right, I guess almost hurting one of your team mates isn't concerning at all!"
(Okay. She really shouldn't have said that. Very insensitive of her. VERY. She could see the hurt that flashed across his eyes as he took a step back. Quiznack! This wasn't going to end well. She already knew how insecure he was about his arm and how he cared about not hurting others with it... her bringing this up was one of her stupidest decisions ever.)
"So what? Let you take care of me? Like you took care of your family?"
If she felt sorry for spitting out whatever was said before, she wasn't anymore. Not when he stated that with anger and bitterness in his voice.
It only took a second for him to know that he really messed up. It took about 10 more to know that everyone else knew it too. And it took about a minute to know that he was going to die. Right there. By the hands of Pidge.
The girl was glaring at the floor, anger in her face and her hands were now fists, clenching and unclenching. Shiro counted the possibilities of how this was going to go down, all of them ending by a fist in his jaw. If not worse.
"Katie, I'm-" In less than a tick, she grabbed his shirt, pulled him towards her and opened her mouth. (Not a fist in his jaw...yet)
"Do not ever call me Katie again."
And that was it. The green paladin turned on her heels and disappeared down the castle. And for anyone else, being prohibited from using a name shouldn’t have been a big deal, it was just a name. But Katie was different, Katie was reserved only for him to use. No Katie meant…. He didn’t even know what it really meant, but by the way it ached him he knew it was important.
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"Dude, what the-" Hunk was cut off my Shiro.
"I know." Shiro had almost forgotten that everyone was there to watch their quarrel. Except for Coran and Allura, not that it made him feel any better. The room was getting to small for him, and his ears were ringing, (Do not ever call me Katie again Do not ever call me Katie again Do not ever call me Katie again). He shut his eyes, wanting nothing but to stop feeling for just a tick.
"I was thinking she was going to punch you," Keith muttered, only to receive a hum in agreement from Shiro. He thought so too, and he was sure even a punch from her wouldn’t have hurt nearly as much as the words that she gave him instead.
"Well, even I couldn't have messed up worse than that," Lance stated. Shiro groaned, knowing that Lance was right. Lance was right. Wow, that must explain a lot about his situation.
"I can't deal with this right now." He walked away, leaving everyone behind and ignoring the glances of Coran and Allura as he went past them. If his ache was anything to go by, he didn’t want to imagine how upset he must have made Kati- Pidge be. And he didn’t want to think about how he was the cause of it.