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"Hey, buddy."
Shiro merely turns his head to look at Keith. Keith, bags under his eyes because he hasn't slept in three days Keith, Keith in a doctor's lab coat with a clipboard in his left hand, the Keith he spent every aching minute of his childhood with and pinky promised to always be by his side, through anything.
The Keith who could have never predicted this.
Shiro, lying in a hospital bed helpless, hooked up to every machine imaginable just to keep him breathing. Shiro with a hundred different medications being pumped into his veins by an IV drip to make sure his heart didn't randomly stop in its current state, to make sure his blood pressure stays low. Shiro with little to no hope of survival from his illness.
If this is hard on Shiro, he can't imagine how it feels for Keith. To watch his best friend slowly deteriorate while lying on crystal clean white sheets and look over his vitals slowly getting worse and worse. His best friend who used to brave danger as it came, his best friend who broke his arm biking down a hill and Keith used his cast as a canvas.
The Shiro who Keith looked up to because he always survived everything was no match for cancer.
Nobody ever was. Keith was a doctor, he'd seen this before. He'd seen the absolute worst happen to people, but Shiro's case was the worst, only because Keith knew him at his best.
"You really can't just walk in here with that anymore." Shiro's voice was scratchy and weak, his vocal cords struggling with even the simplest words. He had a feeding tube in some of the time too.
"Can't I?" Keith replied without missing a bet. With Keith being a doctor and all, he'd become ever vigilant on replying to a statement the second after it had been made. In the event of a medical emergency, ordering a nurse to pump a medication into an IV has to be done at the exact minute Keith realized the patient needs the medicine, or the chance of survival decreases. Because of this, Keith has the habit of doing the same thing in regular conversation.
If this could count as regular conversation, which it didn't at all in Shiro's opinion.
"You have something to tell me. I can see it in your eyes." Shiro grins as much as he can with how weak he is. He can tell by the look in Keith's violet eyes that he has news. Good or bad, Shiro can't be sure, but it's news. At this point, any news for Shiro's condition is good news. Then they actually know what's going on.
Keith gives a playful smirk at how Shiro could read him even now.
"Yeah. Since the cancer started at your arm then lead to your heart…" Keith eyed the tightly wrapped bandages around Shiro's stump of a right arm. "... we're getting you into surgery into an hour. Me and a few lab friends kinda…" Keith bit his lip so hard Shiro was sure blood was going to drip down his chin and pool at the floor the second Keith removed his teeth.
"What? What did you guys do? Clone me?" It was a joke, anybody could tell it was a joke because Keith wouldn't have actually….
Keith turns his head away and refused to make eye contact with Shiro.
"Wait...you couldn't have….you didn't actually…"
Keith drops his fast replying. He stops, dead in his tracks for a few seconds, lip quivering and hand shaking so that the paperwork on his clipboard is swaying to and fro.
Keith finally nods after what felt like forever.
"Me and my partners believed the best way to get you a new heart, one with no imperfections and matches your DNA perfectly was…well, to make you the first human clone. First documented human clone, at least. This way, Doctor Holt and Doctor Garrett can also test a new robotic arm on the clone that will later be used to craft your new arm, and a robotic heart to run all bodily functions. Doctor Honevera and I have worked tirelessly on this project and he's finally ready to go. It just all depends on if you agree or not." Keith explains in a small voice, bitten-down nails tapping against the empty back of the clipboard.
Shiro weighs his options, and unfortunately it comes down to dying or getting a clone heart.
He reminds himself this will make Keith happy after all the suffering Shiro has put him through since he got sick. How hard Keith worked to build this clone and all the discoveries the clone could make if this all works out.
Shiro closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.
"I'll do it."
~~~~~~~~
There's a sort of brain fuzz when Shiro wakes up next.
He only remembers them prepping him for surgery and being given the anesthesia before everything went dark. Any memories after that were non-existent.
Keith was in his room when he woke up, adjusting the settings on one of the machines pumping chilly liquid into Shiro's veins and running through his body.
Weird. Usually that was done by a nurse.
He felt a sudden change in his awareness, a tingling sensation running through his body just under his skin.
Keith screamed his name multiple times, before running out of the room and screaming medical gibbish down the hallway and asking for backup. All the noise became muffled to Shiro after a while, even as other doctors and nurses flooded the room.
Machines made noises from next to him and behind him, nurses moved his stiff body into a new position and started to hook up even more machines and poke him with even more needles as his vision went dark and he slipped into unconsciousness yet again.
~~~~~~
The next time he woke up, he felt like his body was being laid down by bricks.
His muscles were stiff, his eyelids could barely open, and his chest felt like he'd just been stabbed in the heart multiple times.
He'd had heart surgeries before- a few to open up the ventricles so oxygen could better circulate throughout his body and various other smaller procedures. But waking up from those had never been this painful, and waking up then didn't feel like he'd been out for months.
Maybe he had been out for months. Maybe it had been years.
Fuck, it felt more like years now that he thought of it. He'd only lived twenty-nine years as far as he knew, eight of those spent in college and grad school. If he suddenly woke up and was informed he's actually thirty-five, it would be like a second college. It's not like he remembered much from college aside from almost all the known astronomy knowledge in the world and his exact coffee order that he could use to keep him awake for a week.
Losing eight years of his life where he saw nothing but emptiness was pretty similar to college after a cinnamon latte with eight espresso shots. Which Keith mentioned he's shocked Shiro didn't have a heart attack in college since eight is nearly double the amount of espresso shots healthy per day, but the past is the past.
It's fun having a friend who's a doctor. They tell you the stuff you do that is completely screwing up your body.
"Shiro?"
Speaking of Keith.
Keith was breathing heavy as he approached Shiro's unmoving body. He looked tired, his hair was a mess. It wasn't even in a braid or ponytail, just an unconditioned tangled mess. His white coat had wrinkles everywhere.
It had been a while. Maybe not a year, but a while.
"It's been three months…" Keith said, almost not believing that Shiro was awake.
Three months counted as a while.
"Regain your energy. Then we can take the feeding tube out and you can talk to us. Both your new arm and a future robotic heart are in development thanks to your clone." Keith reported off in his doctor voice, then turned back into a best friend.
"I'm glad you're back, Shiro."
Keith then left and Shiro fell back to sleep. But this time he woke up in hours instead of months.
~~~~~~
"I want to see my clone."
Keith's eyes widened.
The nurse who had helped remove his feeding tube looked incredibly alarmed. She looked like she wanted to escape the room that instant, and she probably would of if Keith wasn't watching her like a hawk.
Keith swallowed.
"I'm…I'm afraid that's something you'll have to take up with the state of Arizona."
~~~~~~~
"Mr. Shirogane, patient 489 is a major threat…" The officer said, looking at Shiro like he was made of glass and he would break. He spent two months in the hospital unable to see the man who saved his life. Genetic miracle or not, he doesn't care. Threat or not, he doesn't care.
If he was actually a threat.
"You asked a psychiatrist to run a test, and when they did you buried it because it came out that he was completely sane!" Shiro's throat was still raw, he was walking with the aid of crutches but he was going to see the man who saved his life, no matter how much it hurts him. He owes it to his savior.
The officer's lips curved into a frown.
"That is information sent out to Doctor Kogane and Miss Altea only-" The officer said with a disapproving glare at Shiro.
"You think my lawyer wouldn't tell me?" Shiro fought back. In reality, while Allura was a lawyer and agreed to fight for his right to see his clone, she really was an old friend. They were more unprofessional than professional due to their past in a partnering fraternity and sorority in college.
The officer sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose tight. Shiro almost thought her nails would break the skin.
"Fine. I'll get authorization."
Shiro smiled and forced out a thanks.
Later, Shiro was lead down various hallways. It seemed more like a mental institution than a jail, but Shiro had done enough arguing for one day.
Finally the officer lead him into a blank room. The walls were pure white, and a wooden bench sat in front of a wall.
There was a panel of glass and a locked door that looked into the other side of the wall. It was a tiny room, only a white bed, white toilet and sink, and what looked to be a plastic chair in the middle.
The room had no privacy. His clone had been living there for nearly half a month.
Shiro's surprised the evaluation from the psychiatrist didn't come back that he was going crazy from how bland everything was. Or that he was going stir crazy.
In the chair sat a man. His body frame was the same as Shiro's. It wasn't his same frame as months ago. The hospital had taken muscle and fat right off of his bones, and the isolation must have done the same thing for his clone. Shiro had cut his hair the second he was allowed, however the clone had his grown out- it seemed like he probably didn't have a choice. This place probably didn't even give him utensils to eat. They're all convinced he's crazy. He was wearing standard issue hospital clothes, a light blue t-shirt and pants made out of some flimsy fabric. He was slumped down on the chair, his hair covering his face like a mop.
God, this was dehumanizing. Nobody deserved this.
Shiro moved to sit down on the bench, getting sore after having to use crutches to go so far.
"What do you want."
The clone sounded like him. Shiro supposed he probably should have expected that.
Shiro sat on the bench, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and spoke.
"To talk."
The clone scoffed.
"Executing me is never going to make your life easier." The clone replied without skipping a beat.
Shiro choked on his own spit.
~~~~~~~
Shiro was released from the hospital the next morning.
And Allura was yelling at the state officials for one, not telling her that the clone was on plan for execution saved for horrible criminals, and two, for even thinking of executing him.
The state says it was a matter of security.
Allura scoffs at such an excuse.
"We're trying everything to make sure you aren't put on death row." Shiro reports back to the clone the next day.
The clone finally lifts his head up at that.
His face has the most shocked expression at Shiro's news. Shiro doesn't see himself in the mirror much anymore, but he guesses this is what he always looks like.
Does his jaw really always look like that? Are his eyes really that shiny? Do they always have that beautiful sparkle of hope?
Does he really look that….
Attractive?
Shiro knew he had an obvious blush on his face. God, he can't be in love with his clone, that's definitely not allowed by any stretch of the word. That's like being in love with himself, and while self-love is important and good and needed and all...this just didn't feel right.
Or it did.
It actually did.
A new heart and this is what happens. It might as well have been his brain that was transplanted if he was having these thoughts, then he'd actually have an explanation.
Right now, he has nothing to explain his crush on his clone.
Shiro ended that meeting short. He couldn't go on with it for long, especially when the clone started to go on about how nobody has ever believed him, that Shiro was the first to want to take any kind of action.
Shiro's entire face was red when he went to bed that night, thinking of the clone. Thinking about his face, touching his own skin to pretend like he could hold the clone's hand.
Calling him the clone wasn't sticking on Shiro anymore. He wasn't a clone to Shiro anymore. Maybe he was to the rest of the world, who don't know how different he actually is from Shiro personality wise- he was more impulsive, more enthusiastic when something exciting happened. More believing of what anybody decides to tell him, more gullible.
If only those people at the state knew how different they were. If only they knew that the clone was fine.
The only name the clone would know would be Shiro. If Allura works her magic and is able to get a jury to let the clone out, there couldn't be two Shiros.
Shiro thought back to his childhood. The time he lived in Japan, the woman who used to teach him English under a cherry blossom tree in front of his house.
Clone translated to…
If his brain could just work he could remember. He knew he could. The image of a smaller Shiro, living a simpler life, sitting under a blooming cherry blossom tree with the family friend holding a book out to him.
Kuron.
Kuron means clone. Clone means Kuron.
Shirogane meant silver. Tetsu meant iron. Kogane meant gold.
Kuron Tetsu.
That's the name.
~~~~~~
"I like it." Keith said that morning at the breakfast table.
"I just hope he does." Shiro looked sadly down at his bowl of soggy Cheerios.
"Eat your breakfast. Gotta get healthy again." Keith pointed a spoon at him in an accusing manner. Keith looked like he actually slept- he showered, he shaved- he looked like Keith again.
Because Shiro was back in the apartment living with him.
Like old times.
"It ties him to us. Silver, iron, gold. We're a little found family together. Gives him a meaning." Keith poured some more cereal into Shiro's bowl despite none of it being eaten.
"I just hope Allura can get him out. Then he can live with us. I can have my best friend and the man who gave me a chance to live together. I can have a normal life again." Shiro swirled his spoon around, mixing the soggy Cheerios with the dry ones and still not taking a bite.
"I know this has been hard. But we'll get him out, and everything will be perfect. I promise." Keith said, holding out a pinky. "I pinky promise."
Shiro smiled and sealed the deal.
~~~~~~
Kuron's face lit up when Shiro told him the news.
"I love it." He said happily, looking like he was going to jump up and down in circles.
"Even the last name?" Shiro asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Are you kidding? I love it. I love it all. I love everything about it. I love you!"
Shiro knew it was just a spurt of the moment thing, Kuron didn't actually mean it the way Shiro wished he did.
But Shiro's dreams sure took the "I love you" in a different way.
Besides the attractive part, Kuron was amazing in personality. He told jokes, he was optimistic once he learned that people were fighting for him, and he was kind, over everything else.
His little crush formed into a bond of love.
~~~~~~~
Shiro gets daily talks with Kuron from there on out. Simple things, like how Shiro's week went or any stupid jokes Kuron told that Shiro pretended to hate but secretly adored, or chemistry ponderings Kuron had. Shiro's excessive knowledge had to be transferred into the clone, although Kuron preferred chemistry over astrophysics. Once he was done with everything, Shiro could go back to teaching astrophysics at the college and maybe Kuron could do something with chemistry. He would make a great scientist. That stuff wasn't Shiro's favorite, but Kuron would be perfect for it.
The day before the trial to decide Kuron's fate, Kuron had a tiny speech prepared.
"Shiro, I can't thank you enough for all you've done for me." Kuron started off with, eyes already starting to form tiny tears at the corners.
"I can't thank you enough for saving my life." Shiro butt in. Truly, Kuron shouldn't be the one thanking Shiro, it should be the other way around. It was all Allura with saving Kuron's life, if she manages to win.
Kuron smiled and continued, even as a single tear ran down his cheek.
"I know I'm just...a clone of you. I don't really mean anything-"
"That's not true, Kuron." Shiro cut him off as soon as the words fell from his mouth.
"I know it isn't. I know you and Keith and Allura are trying your hardest to help me out but I just...still feel bad taking all your time up. But you've been...so amazing. I can't believe you've been so amazing, so kind, fought so hard to see me through this all. I'm...not good at this. At all. I know you aren't either, that's one of the only nonphysical traits we share…" Kuron swallowed, hard, and Shiro felt like he knew exactly what was coming.
So he took a risk. One he was sure would ruin his relationship and friendship with Kuron if he misinterpreted the situation, but it was a risk he was one hundred percent ready to take.
"I love you."
The same voice repeated it back.
It lingered in the air for a while, sticking around to remind them both of the words they both said.
"I promise I'll kiss you when we win." Kuron said after a while of silence.
"Pinky promise." He added after a second.
Shiro had never had a pinky promise broken before.
They were going to win.
Shiro was sure of it.
And their lives would be perfect together when they do.
~~~~~~
“The urgent case of Kuron Tetsu.” The judge’s voice was sharp, booming over the courtroom. “Arizona Department of Safety versus Kuron Tetsu, represented by Miss Allura Altea.”
The judge's eyes widened over her square frames, reading over the case overview. Their court date was scheduled for a month later, but because the government agreed with Sanda's orders, they needed a trial and quick before Kuron's execution occurred in three hours on the dot.
Allura's heels clicked as she approached the center of the courtroom, looking straight towards the judge.
“Your Honor, Kuron Tetsu was created for one simple purpose- to save Dr. Takashi Shirogane with a new heart. However, after this transplant, another experiment was tested out. A fully robotic heart, created by Mr. Hunk Garrett and Miss Katie Holt, both of which are here with us today, was given to Mr. Tetsu and brought him back to life. Mr. Tetsu has lived in exclusive isolation for the past two hundred days, behind a large window of glass where nobody could get to him. Now, the Arizona Department of Safety wants to perform lethal injection on Mr. Tetsu, which is only saved for those convicted of extreme crimes. My team and I are fighting to get Mr. Tetsu saved and released from isolation to live a normal life.” Allura's throat ran dry after delivering her opening.
The judge nodded. “You may be seated back down, Miss Altea.”
Allura obeyed as the judge turned to the other side.
“Defense, since I have been told you do not have an opening, do you have any comments with Miss Altea's opening statement?” The judge said as the opposing lawyer stood up. Sanda, a few officers very loyal to Sanda, and the lawyer were the only ones on their side.
“Your Honor, we are unsure of the safety problems Mr. Tetsu may bring.” The other lawyer spoke with practiced certainty.
“With respect, Your Honor, a psychological evaluation was done by Dr. Acxa Marmora, a certified psychologist, revealing that both his IQ is far above average and he is of a completely clear mind.” Allura stated matter of a factly.
The opposing lawyer stood down.
The judge looked to both sides, seemingly looking for any other oppositions.
“Let's begin.”
~~~~~~
"Tomorrow, I'm picking up a cake from the bakery down the street." Keith shook both Shiro and Kuron's pinky at that, setting his keys down on the counter.
In short, they won. Allura pulled her lawyer magic and it was decided no execution and the isolation was over. Kuron could live a normal life.
Keith knew about the romance between them now, since they kissed on the car ride back to the apartment, but he didn't mind.
"But for now, sleep. Shiro, you want to share a bed with Kuron?" Keith asked innocently.
"No, I'll sleep on the couch." Kuron insisted.
"No, you'll sleep in a bed. A nice one. You deserve it after six months. You're family now." Keith patted Kuron on the shoulder, and Shiro was sure he saw some tears in Kuron's eyes again.
Keith left them alone after that, retiring to his room and shutting the door. Shiro was certain he would be out like a light in no time, considering both him and Keith haven't slept for two days over nerves for the trial.
From the bags under Kuron's eyes, it sounded like he hadn't slept in who knows how long from nerves. Or maybe he couldn't sleep from the terrible bed they came him in his isolation.
When they went to bed, Shiro happily obligated to Kuron's wish for a cuddle before sleep.
They fell asleep with their bodies intertwined, listening to one another's heart beat.
~~~~~~~
Shiro’s mind brought him slowly back to consciousness, floating him gently from the cloud of endless dreams into the softness of his pillow from the best night's sleep he had since he got sick.
And the not-so-distant sound of crying.
It was familiar to Shiro- he’d heard his own cries in this bed many times prior. No matter the situation or reason, his sobs always seemed to sound the same.
But he wasn’t the one crying, at least not tonight.
It was the bundle of warmth lying next to him emitting the quiet weeps, curled up with his back turned to Shiro like a small kitten afraid of the booming thunder outside the window.
Shiro shook himself out of his sleepy haze, rubbing his eyes and adjusting to the glow of his bedside lamp as he flicked the switch to turn it on.
“Hey.” He greeted quietly, reaching out and placing a hand on Kuron’s bare shoulder. The tank top he went to bed in had sweat pooling at the back collar, and yet his skin was chilled and he was shivering.
“Please...don’t…” Pleas fell from Kuron’s lips in a repetitive series as he continued to sob and shake under Shiro’s touch.
“You’re okay.” Shiro reassured quietly, just in case Keith had decided to come home tonight. If he woke Keith up by being too loud after he had actually managed to fall asleep he'd never forgive himself- he'd been overworking himself since Shiro's original diagnosis nearly two years ago.
“Please...just please stop trying to make me feel like I'm nothing more than a throwaway…” Kuron got the words out scarily fast and fluent in the midst of his cries.
“Why would you ever think like that?” Shiro moved his hand down to Kuron's own, eyeing both their prosthetics tucked securely away on the dresser.
Kuron squeezed Shiro's hand unexpectedly sudden, and Shiro wondered if Kuron registered that it wasn't the prosthetic and his natural hand could still break.
“Because I am.” Kuron responded dully, turning around to face Shiro with his cheeks stained pink with tears and his gray eyes pooling.
“Why?” Kuron said before Shiro could get another word in.
“Why what?” Shiro asked, moving himself a little closer to Kuron on the mattress while still keeping a firm grip on his hand.
“Why do you love me?” Kuron says the complex question like it can be answered with just a simple yes or no.
“Because you're you.” Shiro responded, close enough to lean into Kuron and initiate a weird, one arm hug that Kuron accepts without resistance. “You're not me. You may genetically be, but you're nothing at all like me. I despise chem. And you're amazing at it. And you're better at emotions than me, better at cooking than me, better at following basic directions than me.” Shiro could lay for hours and list all the differences he and Kuron had if it washed away his scars.
But Shiro knew that didn't come easily.
“Fall asleep in my arms. It's going to be okay.” Shiro placed a gentle kiss to Kuron's forehead, brushing away a few strands of stray hairs that escape from his ponytail.
Kuron's sobs grew down in time, and only when Shiro saw his eyes close tightly shut did he let himself drift off again.
As long as Kuron was safe, Shiro could bare anything.
Even if it was just a half hour of lost sleep.
~~~~~~
Midnight, three years later.
They were fighting for the right to be married to one another.
Shiro had gone back to teaching at the college, doing a heavier workload now.
Kuron was a scientist now. An amazing one at that, dealing mostly in chemistry but dabbing in other sciences. They had bought a house along with Keith a year after Kuron was released.
Shiro entered Kuron's lab with a bag of fast food, grease already staining the brown paper bag a few minutes after Shiro had picked it up from the place down the street.
Kuron was the picture of elegance and a stereotypical scientist sitting in his lab chair.
The lab was dark at such a late hour, the only light being a gentle glow from Kuron's laptop screen. A white lab coat hung loosely from his broad shoulders, and his black and white locks were tied into a messy bun with a pencil tucked in the center, skewled ever so slightly.
“Hey babe.” Shiro greeted inches from Kuron's desk, watching him flinch in surprise.
“Push your stupid glasses up.” Shiro teased, although it was laced in obvious love for his fiance. He adored the square frames around Kuron's beautiful, shining orbs of smokey wonder, reflecting flakes of gold when the light hit the lens just right.
“It’s your fault I have to wear them.” Kuron responded with a gentle smirk as he continued typing up a report, already onto the thirtieth page and not even a quarter of the way done.
“You can’t blame a mess up in the system on me.” Shiro stated as he started unpacking the fast food bag, grease already staining his new prosthesis and giving the pads of the metal fingers a glossy glow.
Kuron's smokey gray eyes looked past the square frames of his glasses.
“Yeah, blame Keith I guess.” Shiro let out a quiet laugh, wrappers crinkling as he unfolded them from his burger, stacked high with cheese and patties and a million tons of grease.
“I'm not blaming Keith. I'm blaming your genes.” Kuron grabbed some stray fries out of the bottom of the bag without losing focus on his laptop screen.
Shiro jumped up onto Kuron's desk, leaning his back against the wall. In the corner of his vision, he could see the puppy calendar hanging up on the adjacent wall.
“You want a puppy?” Shiro asked suddenly, taking another bite of the burger.
Kuron's attention was immediately removed from the report, his eyes fixated on the glitter in Shiro's irises at even the mention of a dog.
“It seems like you do.” Kuron smirked, putting his feet up on his desk and taking another burger out of the bag, unwrapping a mound of lettuce and tomatoes adorned on only one patty. Shiro thought he was a heathen for filling his burgers up with vegetables.
“Is our child going to be a dog?” Shiro said, half jokingly and half serious.
“German Shepherd or Corgi only.” Kuron rolled his eyes.
“Would you consider a lab?” Shiro tried to argue against the only two breeds Kuron wanted.
“We'll see.” Kuron chuckled quietly as Shiro reached into the bag to grab another burger.