Garrison Academy

Chapter 14

Matt

Garrison Academy. The place of hopes and dreams.

It feels like Matt hadn't been here in ages; technically three years is indeed a long time. He owed a visit, not just to his great friend and past roommate Shiro, but he owed it to Pidge as well. It's not that he was avoiding coming back, he was just so busy with work that it was difficult to get the day off. Preparing to go to space was a hard job after all, everyone that was on the team was working hard; one day will come that their rockets would be good enough. He was at the same time terribly busy working on getting all the requirements checked off to go into space for the first time. Exploring was something that Matt always had the desire to do. Traveling with his family to different places when his father had conferences, it was exhilarating. Whenever they stepped into a new place for the first time it was like a breath of fresh air. He would want to never settle in life, if it weren't for his girlfriend that he met a year back. She was a part of his team, and it made him want to possibly settle down eventually in Florida; which was amazing considering how much he wanted to keep traveling. Funny how your whole life could change in an instant because of one person.

Though he should have known that before, his whole life was dedicated to keeping his sister safe. But then, it turned into supporting his brother no matter what happens. Then again when he arrived at Garrison Academy and met Shiro his roommate it was the same concept; he has yet to meet a more loyal friend. If Shiro wasn't in his life, Matt was unsure if he would have enjoyed his time at Garrison Academy much at all. He even helped Shiro hook up with Curtis freshman year – though that didn't last long into their sophomore year. Shiro and Matt, they were always together; it was as if they were the tweedle dee and tweedle dum of the school.

Matt made sure to only tell Shiro he was coming; Pidge had no clue that he would be even stepping onto campus. His younger brother never really liked surprises – but this was something that Matt was sure he wouldn't mind. They hadn't seen each other in a while after all. Not being able to visit home much at all made Matt miss his younger brother more than everything, they had an unbreakable bond which was like torture since they can't really see each other much at all. When he stepped off the plane, he was met with the familiar face of his past roommate, who was grinning widely.

"Hey Matt." Matt couldn't remember the last time he was enveloped in a Shiro hug. There was something that was always comforting about it; Matt never really knew what.

"Shiro, it's been a while. A long, long while." He responded, returning a smile. "Even if it's only been like, a year. It feels like it's been forever. How are you?"

His friend shrugged. "I'm okay. More importantly, how are you? What's been going on with you?"

"I have a lot to catch you up on."

Since it was around lunchtime, the two of them found a Johnny Rockets to have a bite to eat and chat for a while more. Pidge got out of classes at around three, so Matt and Shiro knew they had time to sit down and chat about their lives. Matt told stories about everything; his work, his girlfriend, his search for someplace where he could move to in the next year. Shiro caught him up with his interesting group of kids; Keith, Lance, Hunk and of course Pidge. The four of them were quite troublesome weeks ago, but it sounded like they were all coming together, and getting even stronger together. Shiro didn't mention much about himself or how he was doing, but the way he talked about these freshmen made Matt think of how good it must be for him to have them in his life. He had to admit, a part of Matt was worried about how his friend would be without him around, but it seemed like Shiro was doing just fine.

Once finished, they both headed to Shiro's car to make the trip to Garrison Academy. The ride was about thirty minutes from the airport, which seemed like no time at all thanks to them having conversation the whole way there. Well, it was mainly Matt talking Shiro's ear off; having someone to talk to that wasn't his girlfriend or coworkers made him ecstatic, especially because they hadn't seen each other in a while. But Shiro didn't seem to mind, he never seemed to mind. He was always more of a listener anyways