The next day was filled with Nova enthusiastically nodding her head and pretending to understand what the Holt siblings meant when they mentioned anything with computers. Nova was hopeless with technology, strange considering her focus, but she couldn't explain her decision to be an engineer. She could fix things but she would never be able to create things from scratch. She had good instincts, at least that's what her instructor had said, and you can teach anyone with good instincts. The siblings had shown her a small monitor they had built, explaining what all the wires did and how they all connected while Nova stood over the device wondering how neither one of them had gotten electrocuted.
"You can diffuse a bomb don't know how to connect computer wires."
She shrugged. "It's my kryptonite." She then smiled cheekily. "But I'm lucky I have the best friend ever who can fix my laptop."
Matt started laughing until his attention was drawn towards a small hum from the machine.
The siblings then tried to introduce her to their favorite video game, killbot, which was just a small avatar defeating enemies seemingly to reach a treasure. Matt had coached her on the different buttons on the controllers, even telling her what to press as she was playing but she had died spectacularly. He had cheered her on as she fought the bad guy, telling her that she was doing great. "Stop patronizing me." She had replied with a smile on her face. Despite her failure she was having fun.
"New record." Katie has had calmly stated just as Nova's avatar was defeated once again.
"Pidge," Matt warned but Nova just laughed.
"I'm a much better spectator." It was true. She enjoyed watching Matt and Katie play the game. They were both so focused. Katie would lean forward on her feet and mutter to herself while Matt's eyes would narrow and he'd scowl at the screen. She watched as the two siblings surrounded the small screen. Occasionally one of them would cheer or groan at whatever was going on in the game. There didn't seem to be enough buttons for all the abilities their avatars were given.
The three had been so consumed with video games that before they realized the sun had gone down. Colleen has made her way down to the attic, where Matt and Katie's den was, to let them know that dinner would be ready. Matt hopped up to help his mother set dinner, leaving the controller in Nova's hands.
"I think you'd be better than me at this." She held the device out to Katie.
"Probably true, but it is fun watching you fail." Nova laughed as a few moments passed. "Do you like engineering?" Katie continued.
"It's fine," Nova started. " I think everyone wants to be a pilot but I wanted to be more in the background."
"I don't think it's possible for you to blend in."
Nova furrowed her brows. "What do you mean?"
Katie shrugged. "You don't look like a nerd like everyone else at the school. Plus your on a team with Shiro."
Nova wasn't sure how to respond to the slight compliment. She hadn't realized if anyone at the garrison was "nerdy". "Are you planning to go to the garrison?"
"Yep." Katie smiled. " I'm so excited. I'm going to be in communications and I want to include a device that can detect waves from beyond our own galaxy."
"That sounds amazing."
Nova and Matt were set to leave on Sunday afternoon so they both woke up early in an attempt to force Katie to take Bae Bae on a walk with them.
"Pidge," Matt knocked on the door. "Wake up."
"Open it." Nova whispered.
Matt shook his head. "Have you heard of boundaries."
"Where were the boundaries ten minutes ago when you bathed in to Katie's room to wake me up?" Her arms crossed at the memory of Matt poking her arm until she agreed to get up.
"I thought that'd wake both you and Pidge up." He shrugged before hitting the door again.
"Geez. I'm up." A bleary eyed Pidge opened the door. "I thought if I ignored you you'd go away."
"Not so lucky." Nova whispered as she caught Matt's faux glare.
Unsurprisingly the walk ended with Matt and Katie play fighting in the dirt as Nova watched over the dog, who had practically followed the girl around the entire weekend.
The scene in front of her was so unlike something she'd see at her own home. Her sister, for one, wouldn't be caught dead with mud on her clothes. Her mother and father would, like usual, be too busy at the hospital or in their office reading medical journals. She once had liked it. She liked the quiet stillness of the silver rooms, full of windows and the sterile cleanness of the furniture. When she visited her uncle's house she finally saw what a mess was. The absolute chaos in his living room was enough to make Nova completely interested in how other people lived.
The Holt's reminded her of her uncle. He was usually the center of attention, loud and friendly, with an infectious laugh and dozens of stories. The Holt's had the same openness about them. Nova knew that when it came to them, what you see is what you get, and she was completely happy with that. There was no fake smiles just genuine happiness.
Nova watched as Katie hit Matt in the head with the stick she had been fighting with. Nova let out a laugh which, unfortunately for her, ended when the Holt siblings turned on her. She winced as she realized that her small noise had drawn attention to herself.
"No!" She squealed as she quickly picked up a stick. Desperately she swung the "weapon" smiling as it caught onto Matt's.
She laughed as Matt recreated a scene from Empire, "You killed my father" he cried as Nova yelled.
"No, I am your father."
"Nooo." Matt yelled as he dramatically fell to the floor, allowing Katie to take control. Katie's revenge was short lived as she soon grew tired of the play fighting and instead started teasing her brother on his lack of sword fighting skills. Nova couldn't remember the last time she had so much fun, maybe it was the time that her, Matt and Shiro had snuck out to the commissary after lights out to sneak food and Shiro had ended up falling, covering himself in brownies and ice cream.
"Pidge, we should get cleaned up." Matt told his sister, giving Nova the once over to make sure she wasn't muddy. "You good?"
Nova nodded as she wiped some mud off of her forearm. "I'm not too bad." Nova quickly called to Bae Bae, who had enthusiastically ran to grab a toy once her heard the others having fun.
After cleaning up, Matt dragged Nova up to his room to show her the book he had been ranting about for weeks. His room was exactly as she imagined. Posters of space shuttles and films were taped up. He had a large bookcase that was drowning in all the paperbacks. His desk was cluttered and disorganized.
"You didn't even clean for me?" She jokes as she took a seat on his unmade bed.
"Who do I need to impress?"
Nova laughed.
"Here it is." He yelled in victory as he pulled out a large book. "It about how we are descendants from aliens." He smiled. "Super interesting."
"Final verdict?" Nova asked as she flipped through the pages.
"I mean, have you seen cats, definitely extraterrestrial."
She shook her head. "You just hate cats."
Pidge and Colleen were just about to finish cooking lunch when they walked into the kitchen.
"Perfect timing. We just finished the meatloaf. Where were you two?"
Before either Nova or Matt could answer Pidge interrupted with a sly "they wanted alone time" eliciting a shove from Matt and a blush from his companion.
It hadn't taken long for Nova to realize that the family she wanted was the one sitting across from her. She lived the openness the family had, if she ever had kids she liked to believed she'd raise them with the same love and devotion the Holt's had. Both Sam and Colleen were smart, friendly people and they had welcomed Nova into their home like she belonged. Pidge reminded her of a bullet, she kept going, whether it was building a machine or playing with Bae Bae. Matt was the one who introduced her to this life, and to her he was the most important person.
Unfortunately the weekend ended too soon. Sunday afternoon came around leading to Nova and Matt to pack up their belongings to bring back to school. Nova was excited to see Shiro again but the brief look at the outside world led her to lose motivation in doing her school work.
"Honey, we hope to see you soon." Colleen held on to Nova, petting her hair as she talked.
"Me too." Nova smiled, turning towards the car where Matt and Pidge were saying their goodbyes. As Nova entered the car Pidge yelled a goodbye at her, giving her a wave that Nova reciprocated.
The drive back was full of the same energy as before. Matt and his dad sang to every song that played on the radio while Nova covered her ears and complained when they switched to country music.
Half an hour later Nova was walking down her dorm excited to put on pajamas and watch a movie. One of Matt's friend had dragged him away saying something about confusing physics homework with Matt mumbling apologies at the young girl.
"Hey. I'm back." Nova announced as she walked into her dorm. Lauren was sitting at the desk highlighting some book.
"How was the weekend with your boyfriend?" Lauren smirked, noticing Nova's discomfort at the question.
"We're just friends. And it was fun. How was your weekend?"
"Ugh. I had so much work for Salvanos' class. I was invited to this huge party at the other dorms but I couldn't go."
They made small talk for a few more minutes until Lauren decided to abandon her homework with the plan to dress up and go out with friends.
Nova was then left alone with her favorite movie playing and plenty of popcorn for two people.