The other day I thought 'what if one of the boys sleepwalks?' and then this happened XD
It all started when he was little. He didn't know it was a problem he had, how could he if he was never conscious through it? As far as Gordon was aware, he fell asleep in his bed and he woke up in his bed. No one decided to mention it when he was awake, either that or he just never bothered to listen.
It was later, a little older, when he found out why he never knew about it. His mom was always the one who found him, roaming the halls or staring blankly out a window. She would coax him back to bed without even waking him.
However, after she died, there was no one to get him back to bed.
It was the night following the funeral. He had barely gotten any sleep the past few days, and the sleep he had gotten was spent wrapped in an older brother's arms. That night was the first he had spent alone in his room, his brothers too wound up in their own grief to give him comfort this time. He couldn't blame them.
He had gone to bed early, the day too much for his young mind to take and exhaustion took an easy hold on him. He curled up under the sheets and was too tired to even think about the day before he was asleep.
He woke up staring at the front lawn.
Gordon panicked, not remembering how he had gotten there. The moon was high in the sky, so it was the middle of the night. He felt cold, very cold. He wasn't wearing any socks and the ground was freezing beneath his feet.
When he turned around, the front door was wide open. The house was dark, which meant that everyone was still fast asleep. That left Gordon confused as to how he ended up outside in the first place.
He was freezing and the cold was biting at his skin that wasn't covered by his pyjamas, so he hurried back indoors. The house was warm, but still did nothing for the shakiness from not knowing what was going on. Gordon shut the front door and headed back upstairs.
He didn't feel comfortable going back into his own room as he was sure he would not get back to sleep. He quietly headed into another room and padded across to the bed, and the person occupying it.
Virgil barely even woke up as Gordon climbed up beside him. He just wrapped his arms around him, used to Gordon being a constant presence in his room by now, and immediately fell back to sleep. Gordon tucked himself into his big brother's warm embrace and the incident was soon forgotten.
Gordon would have thought the event was a dream if he hadn't woken up in Virgil's room the next day. At some point, after he finally admitted to his brothers what had happened that night, he found out that he had been sleepwalking.
It was something that he'd never heard off before, but it made sense and explained his experience. His brothers said that it was expected that he was up and about, even in sleep. He was such a bundle of energy when he was awake, it was no wonder that when he slept, he still had to release that built up energy somehow.
They learnt about it. Partially through research, and partially through experience. Alan had learnt the hard way not to wake a sleepwalker.
He thought it would be funny to leap out at Gordon and make him jump one night when he was sleepwalking. He ended up with a black eye after Gordon accidentally punched him in the face in his fright, and he never tried to wake Gordon up again.
From that point on, if anyone caught him sleepwalking, they would either try and guide him back to bed or if that was unsuccessful, they would keep an eye on him until he woke up or got himself back to bed.
Mostly, he just roamed the hallway or went up and down the stairs until he'd tired himself out enough to go back to sleep. There were also a couple of times he'd made his way to the fridge and helped himself to a midnight snack. The only proof he had of those times were the empty wrappers he found under his sheets.
However, there was also the one time when his family found him sleeping on the bench in the backyard, fingers blue from the winter chill, but fast asleep and oblivious to where he'd ended up. Gordon knew that was the reason his brothers watched over him when he was up, in case he went walkabout again and ended up down the street or something.
As Gordon got older and they moved to the island, he started to grow out of it. His sleepwalking came less and less, and got to the point where it was almost gone completely. But then International Rescue started, and then his dad went missing.
That night, after he'd been told by his older brothers that his dad was gone and there was a good chance he wasn't coming back, Gordon found that he wasn't alone in his bed. Virgil had climbed in beside him and curled himself around Gordon. His brother's comfort was exactly what he needed in that moment, and although Gordon wasn't complaining, he knew the reason Virgil was there was partially because of what had happened after their mom's funeral.
His sleepwalking got bad for a little while after that, but just like before, he started to grow out of it. However, it never completely went away. It mostly happened when he was stressed, had little amount of sleep, or had just come off a particularly difficult rescue. Although, after all these years it had become manageable.
It still came with surprises. Like the day he was in the infirmary after a rescue gone wrong. His family had come running after they heard a loud thump from the sick bay and found him on the floor, barely awake and confused as to how he got there. In his sleep, he'd gotten out of the bed, but he was injured and too weak to be on his feet yet, so he'd collapsed.
There was also the other time that he and his brothers had just gotten back home after a long rescue. Thirty six hours, several lives lost, and despite being exhausted, sleep didn't come easy. However, Gordon did eventually get to sleep, but he woke up choking on water.
He didn't know what was happening or where he was. It took one disorienting moment to realise he was in water. When he realised where he was, he kicked in whatever direction he thought was up. It took several long moments, but eventually he broke through the surface.
Gordon coughed and gasped for breath, and after he noticed he was in the pool, he pushed himself over to the side. He heaved his body out of the water, but fell onto his hands and knees.
He panted as he leant on shaky arms. He started to shiver in the cold of the night and the events of what just happened caught up to him. He must have been sleepwalking, and somehow he ended up outside. He probably slipped, or his unconscious mind felt the need for a midnight swim. Either way, he ended up in the pool.
In all his years of sleepwalking, that had never happened.
He heard a noise come from the villa, and he looked towards the open door to find Scott hurrying out from the kitchen.
"Gordon?" Scott asked in concern as he knelt down in front of Gordon. He was dressed in his pyjamas and his hair was disheveled, like he had just woken up. "I heard a splash. What happened? Why are you out here so late?"
"Sleepwalking," was all Gordon said, because that was explanation enough. He had gotten his breath back, but he was still shaken up by the event.
"Are you alright? You're shivering."
Gordon didn't know if it was from the cold or shock, but he allowed Scott to pull him to his feet and guide him back inside. Scott pulled out a big, fluffy towel and wrapped it around his shoulders. Absentmindedly, Gordon saw Scott close and lock the patio door.
Gordon was fine with just a shower to warm up and wash the pool water off, but Scott wasn't satisfied until Gordon had drunk the honey tea he'd made for him. He claimed it was to fight off a possible cold from going for a swim in the middle of the night, but Gordon knew his brother wanted to help him in some way. Plus, the tea did sometimes help him sleep a bit better.
After he'd changed into new clothes that weren't sopping wet, he crawled back into his cozy bed and had the hot drink that Scott had made him. Scott sat on the edge of the bed, just like he would do when he got Gordon back to bed as kids.
Gordon knew he did it to make sure he didn't get back up again after falling back to sleep, but Gordon didn't mind. Scott carded his fingers through Gordon's hair as he settled against the pillows, drink finished and empty mug placed on the nightstand. The soothing motion sent Gordon to sleep easily; it always had.
When the morning came, he was still in his bed.
So, he did have good and bad nights, but they managed it. It got better, they learnt from their mistakes. Gordon also knew that John secretly kept track of him at night, even though John tried to be sneaky about it. It stopped him from going for a midnight swim, so he didn't mind it. It was just another show of how much his brothers cared for him, quirks and all.