97**TW: Mentions of past suicidal thoughts**
All the snow was gone from the ground. The cold bite of spring had been driven away by then, only ever snaking its tendrils out in the early hours of the morning. The month of April had come and nearly gone, holding on by its final days. The semester had ended. Finals were taken; campus left desolate as students rushed to pack their things and return home as soon as they turned in their last exams. Only a few professors remained on campus, and hardly a handful of students. Check out had been Friday, though some students had permission to remain on campus past that.
Shiro, as one of the best students in the aviation program, was one of the few allowed to stay through the weekend. He'd been hired as a caretaker for the school's fleet of planes, and while he usually would have started working the next semester, he had proven his skills and would make prepping the fleet for summer classes and flights quicker. The university was more than happy to pay one more worker if it meant finishing up a day earlier than expected.
Sunday evening, the maintenance crew was nearly finished with their work. All the planes had been examined, and if any maintenance was required, fixed or sent to the rear of the hangar if any major work was needed. Each plane was taken for one last flight to calibrate instruments before being cleared for summer use.
The golden light of the setting sun warmed Shiro's skin through the cockpit windows. It glinted off the black band around his index finger, a gift he'd received just a week ago. The rainbow bands inside matched the ones on the ring he'd gifted Matt months ago for his birthday.
The relaxed smile of Shiro's face widened a fraction as he put the small craft on autopilot and turned his attention to his copilot. Matt grinned as he stared out the window, watching cars on the highway speed along like ants at their altitude.
"Like what you see?" Shiro asked, an amused huff following his words. Matt turned to face him, crossing his arms over his chest and smirking.
"It's not bad, but I think I like the view on this side better."
Shiro's face flushed red-hot as he hurriedly buried his face in his hands and groaned, nearly knocking the aviators off in the process. "I can and will crash this plane," he threatened.
"Wouldn't recommend it. I'm not sure anyone's gonna hire you as a pilot if you have a crash on your record, especially when you explain that your super awesome boyfriend called you hot and you got so embarrassed that you intentionally crashed the plane."
"Oh my god," Shiro wheezed.
"I mean, you could always resort to your strengths to save face, I guess." Matt held a finger across the bridge of his nose and shoved some of his hair over his forehead in a poor imitation of Shiro's bangs. The deep voice he attempted came out as more of a stereotypical nasally villain mastermind voice, but Shiro didn't waste any time thinking about it. Instead, he enjoyed the moment, allowing himself to laugh when Matt started muttering silly things like "I can fly a plane and pull, sir, my skill set is one of a kind," and "I could stop a nuke with my bulging muscles," as well as Shiro's person favorite, "if you refuse to hire me, I'll cry, and my boyfriend is gonna get so mad he'll hack your entire airline."
Shiro couldn't help but chuckle. "So if I apply to an airline and get rejected, you're going to commit a criminal act against an entire airline and cause a legitimate security crisis to get back at them?"
Matt shrugged. "Depends. If you cry over it, absolutely. If you aren't much more than just disappointed, I'll probably just rename all their flights to '420' and '69'. Probably '666' too if I feel like it."
"Thanks?"
"I gotchu."
Rolling his eyes on mock annoyance, Shiro turned his attention back to the controls. He checked that everything was still safely functioning, and after making a few slight adjustments, allowed his gaze to drift back to Matt.
The dying rays of sunlight turned Matt's sandy brown hair into fine strands of pure gold and his warm eyes into liquid pools of the same. He seemed to glow in the light. It was difficult for Shiro to look away, so he didn't. They were no longer friends pining for each other as they skirted around obvious crushes. Matt was Shiro's boyfriend. He could stare, and he would for as long as Matt would let him.
Shiro's life hadn't been the best thus far, but as he watched Matt smile softly as he stared out the window, he knew he was okay with it. All the suffering he'd gone through had pushed him toward dark temptations, and he'd nearly given in. In the past, all he wanted was to not feel, whether that meant drinking until everything went fuzzy, or letting his thoughts drift to the handgun hidden in his nightstand, one he'd purchased before joining the Air Force and left behind for Keith in case he was ever in danger while home alone. The gun was meant to protect, not harm, and only in the case of emergencies. Shiro had always hated himself the few times he considered using it on himself.
If someone asked Shiro what he thought about life, what it was supposed to be, he'd say that life is like a flight. Some never made it off the runway. Others did, but never reached their destination, lost somewhere along the way. Most had turbulence, some far more than others, but there were always moments when the skies were clear and the air smooth. There was the occasional close call, when it seemed that one would crash but managed to climb back into the sky by the skin of their teeth. No two were exactly the same. People crossed paths. Some collided. It was impossible to predict, and even more so to fully control. Sometimes, the best thing to do was to sit back, enjoy the view, and let the wind lead the way. Shiro didn't know how his flight would end, or when. He didn't know what awaited him before he got there. It didn't really matter much, though, not in the grand scheme of things. Whatever happened, would happen, and he would try his hardest to enjoy the smooth moments, and survive the turbulence.
Shiro was pulled from his thoughts when his aviators disappeared from his face. Their loss hardly made him squint; the sun was low enough that he didn't need them anymore. He smiled as he watched Matt slip them onto his own face and cross his arms, fixing the most serious expression he could manage on his face.
"How do I look?" Matt asked.
Shiro swallowed a laugh. "You look good."
"Do I look like a pilot?"
"Maybe more like someone who watches too many crime shows and desperately wants to work for the FBI?"
Matt snorted and took the glasses off, holding them out to Shiro, who folded them up and hung them on the collar of his shirt. "They definitely suit you better, considering you look like you actually work for the FBI instead of making you look like a wannabe."
"They didn't look bad on you."
"Yeah, but they actually look hot on you."
Shiro slapped a hand over his eyes and sighed at the heat that once again flushed his cheeks. "Remind me to never wear them when you're around."
"Why not, afraid I'll call you hot in front of all your classmates?" Matt teased.
"More like you'll slip up in front of your father and I'm gonna feel like a private again while a man every bit of the General he once was lectures me about safe sex again and reminds me of how many hundreds of contacts he has who could make me disappear without a trace if I hurt his son."
It was Matt's turn to hide his face and groan in embarrassment. "Oh my god he promised he wouldn't give you the stupid 'if you hurt my son I'll have you killed' talk. When did he do that? And he already lectured us both on safe sex after we told him we were going out. Are you kidding—You know what? Just kill me now. Kill me. Do it. Crash the plane. I repressed my memories of all the times he's given me that lecture I want to dieee! Like, yeah, parents usually give their kids the safe sex talk once they become horny teenagers, but who the fuck sits down their adult son and his adult boyfriend and lectures them both at the same time, I'm—" Matt cut off his own rambling with another embarrassed noise.
Shiro grimaced. "Your father is a great man and I have the utmost respect for him, but I couldn't look him in the eye for more than a week after that."
"You think you have it bad? I live with him! I couldn't even look at him for three days; I was so embarrassed! And then Pidge! She noticed and figured out what happened after I told her we were together, and that little shit has taken every opportunity to give me crap about it!"
"The 'you're both adults so I'm not going to tell you what you can and can't do' part did not make that any less awkward. If anything, I would have preferred 'don't fuck my son' over 'I won't tell you not to fuck my son because you're both adults but I'm still going to lecture you like you're sixteen,' honestly."
Matt scrubbed his face. "At least he let you leave before the 'If you fuck at home that's fine but keep it to your room and don't be noisy," part."
"That's it. I'm never going in your room again. Even if nothing happens, I won't survive the look your dad will give me when I leave." Scratch what Shiro thought earlier. He would not enjoy all of his flight. He would instead spontaneously combust out of pure embarrassment the next time he saw Samuel Holt. "Do you still want me to crash the plane because at the moment, I also want to crash it, and we've got about ten minutes before we have to land."
"I'd say yes, but I let Pidge borrow my switch this morning and if I die she's gonna keep it. She already has her own. She only borrowed mine because hers died and she wanted to play in a tournament. Two switches is too much power. They're like infinity stones to nerds," Matt warned.
Shiro frowned. "I don't know how a gaming console could at all be like an infinity stone, but I'll take your word for it."
Matt smiled sweetly. "Don't worry about it."
Shiro couldn't help but take those words as some sort of warning as he turned his attention back to the controls to start preparing for landing.
In the last few minutes before Shiro had to switch off autopilot to land, he felt something warm over one of his hands. He looked down at the space between himself and Matt, and felt his face warm when he saw Matt's hand laid over his. Their fingers slotted together loosely. When Shiro glanced up at Matt, he was looking out the window again, but he had the feeling that the view wasn't what made Matt smile a little wider when Shiro gave his hand a small squeeze.
Just as Shiro began to pull his hand from Matt's so he could turn off autopilot and go in for landing, Matt's grip on him tightened. Matt pulled his hand up with his own, and it was Shiro's turn to flush pink when Matt met his gaze and pressed his lips to Shiro's palm. Even after Matt let go, it took Shiro a moment to regain his bearings and rip his eyes off of his boyfriend's adoring smile before he could turn his attention back to the controls.
Whatever awaited him, whether it was good or bad, funny or embarrassing, big or small, Shiro would be okay. He knew how to enjoy the brightest lights and survive the darkest shadows. He didn't have to do any of it alone, either. There was Keith and the McClains back home. The Holts in his college town. Best of all, there was Matt, who had stolen Shiro's heart with his resilience, kindness, and intelligence. He was reliable. He was trustworthy. He was the best damn copilot Shiro could have asked for to help him navigate the flight that was his life.
A/N: This is it! I can't believe I've been writing this story of the course of the past five years. It seems crazy, except I can clearly remembering getting to the end of each month and panicking because I was suddenly super busy and had to find a way to squeeze in writing another update for this fic. Anyway, it was a flight, that's for sure. Not 100% smooth, but it has reached its destination in one piece. The journey from start to finish was way different than originally intended, too. When I first started writing out notes to begin this story, I was supposed to be WAY shorter. Matt and Shiro met at the IT Center and would become friends, but they weren't going to slowburn for FIVE FUCKING YEARS. Once they became good friends I was going to have some sort of accident occur in Shiro's aviation class, like a plane crashing during landing or something blowing up. Shiro was going to be present and rescue his injured classmates because that's the kind of person he is, only to get caught up in the flames and wreckage and end up hospitalized. Matt as going to find out about his arm upon visiting Shiro at the hospital and seeing it, and that was going to be a catalyst that pushed Matt to admit to liking Shiro in some very tropey realization of feelings. Buuuut I like the way this story played out better. It was incredible to write them growing and changing as people, both internally and externally. I loved writing this story and I'll definitely miss it, but it's nice to finally give them the ending they deserved, especially considering they were done pretty dirty in canon. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the story, thank you so much for reading, and I love you all so, so much. I don't care if you've been here since chapter 1 or if you binge read it in one night four years from now; I appreciate you. You have all been such a wonderful audience. I hope you enjoy this epilogue, and don't forget that life is a flight. It can be smooth. It can be turbulent. It can go as planned or be wildly different. It can be easy at times, or uncontrollable, but at the end of the day it is yours. Only you can judge you life, and I hope you all can look back on yours in the future and be happy with yours, or at least content, despite the ups and downs you may face. Thank you again. Mirai, out :)