Based on the prompt from Gumnut: Scott and Lipstick.

Virgil walked past the living room on his way to dump the shopping in the kitchen, glancing in as he did. What he saw had him frowning. He quickly dumped the bags, putting the frozen and chilled food away, before backtracking to check what he had seen.

Yep. He'd seen right.

Gordon and Alan were seated at the table, a sight rare enough that it would have worried Virgil anyway. But they were staring at something, shared looks of vague horror on their faces. What on earth was causing his younger brothers to be, well, horrified. They didn't even acknowledge him as he stood behind them. No, their attention was firmly fixed on the table.

On the table was a lipstick.

Gloss black tube. A small decal on the end promising a 'Pink Plaid' colouring.

Artistic mind whirring away, Virgil tried his hardest to work out how plaid could be made into a lipstick. He glanced down at his own red tartan shirt, wondering how a pink version could possibly be contained in that tube. He pictured a pink tartan design, and his engineering brain took over. How to plaid lipstick…nope. Brain refused to go there.

'Where did you find it?'

Both boys jumped. Wow, Virgil had never seen anyone able to make Gordon jump, and he hadn't even been stealthy or anything! He walked around the table to sit in the chair opposite them, the lipstick becoming the focal point between them. Both looked immediately guilty and he guessed that this was an unexpected find.

'Gordon dared me to grab something from Scott's room.'

Oh. Scott's room was strictly off-limits to younger brothers when he wasn't in the house. The seventeen-year-old had suffered enough of boobytrapped doors and bathrooms that their Dad had made Gordon promise. And to give Gordon his due, he hadn't broken that promise. No, he'd sent in Alan. Poor sacrificial lamb Alan.

'And you came back with that?'

Alan nodded. There was something about all this that felt so wrong, as if he had unearthed some great secret and betrayed his oldest brother to his immediate brother. Why had he picked it up? It was innocuously lying on Scott's desk and was just so out of place he had been unable to resist.

The three continued to stare at the lipstick, ignoring the slamming car door, ignoring John bringing the last of the groceries in, ignoring John as he too joined them at the table.

'What are you all doing?'

It was pretty evident what they were doing, so no one answered. John rolled his eyes and left. He came back with four glasses of juice, and the four of them sipped their drinks and contemplated the meaning of the lipstick.

'Al found it in Scott's room,' Gordon eventually supplied. The information was a minor help to John, but all in all he wasn't really that interested in it. It was lipstick, so what? Eventually John got up again, looked at them and told them to put it back.

'If it's not back by the time Scott gets home there will be hell to pay, you know that.'

Oh yeah, they knew that. Scott had a place for everything, and he knew where it all was. His room was so neat that Gordon privately thought his brother had a screw loose somewhere. But John was right. Scott was due home soon and they needed to put it back.

It was Alan who voiced it.

'What would Scott be doing with lipstick?'

And all four sat back down to try and work out the riddle.

'Maybe it belongs to his girlfriend.' Trust Virgil to come up with the sensible option. Scott and girls were a thing. The youngest two did not understand it. Virgil kinda did. John didn't care. But most evenings, when he could, Scott was out now, and it almost always involved a girl. He still spent the majority of his time with the family, but he was starting to spread his wings. No one liked to think what that entailed.

'Maybe he wears it when he goes out.' Yep, typical Gordon. Suddenly visions of Scott, black jeans, blue shirt and leather jacket wearing pink lipstick while riding his motorbike assailed them all. It was not a good look.

'Maybe he has an excellent reason and that should be enough for you all.'

The sudden insertion of Scott's voice had them all jumping. And their brother was beyond furious. Snatching the lipstick up, he stormed up the stairs and slammed the door as he entered the room. The house shook with the force. Scott didn't come down until dinner was ready and his dad was home.

Jeff wasn't sure what had happened during the day, but dinner that night was really tense. Scott had a face of thunder and didn't talk at all, and his other boys were not much better. It was unusual that Scott was the upset one, although he had a quick temper he was also quick to forgive, so whatever had happened must have been really bad. His eldest finished quickly and asked to be excused, which Jeff was only too happy to do.

Five minutes later and Scott was roaring off on his bike. There was a collective sigh at the table and, judging from the furtive glances, it seemed all his boys were involved with this one. Jeff wasn't happy that Scott was out on his bike whilst angry, but he understood that his eldest obviously needed to get away for a bit.

'Is anyone going to tell me what is going on with you five?' he asked. Everyone stared at their plates. There was nothing unusual in that, and not for the first time Jeff wondered where he had gone wrong that his children didn't confide in him anymore. Then he ruthlessly quashed the thought. He damn well knew why.

'Since none of you are going to fill me in, you can all work together to clear the dishes and tidy the kitchen.' It was a usual punishment – do the dishes by hand rather than use the machines – but Jeff used it because the boys always used the opportunity to talk things over, and he hoped that today would be no different.

The evening passed pleasantly enough after that, Virgil doing his usual piano routine, John helping Gordon and Alan with any outstanding homework and Jeff taking the couple of hours before the boys went to bed to relax in their company. Gordon and Alan seemed to be arguing quietly, and Jeff, being the good parent that he now was, continued watching the news while listening to them bicker.

They didn't give up what the problem was with Scott, and as they all settled to watch the usual evening entertainment the subject was dropped altogether.

Until Scott didn't come home.