Disclaimer: I don't own Thunderbirds.
See you in the sky.
Scott says it a lot; Virgil suspects by now it's habit and he barely notices what he's saying. But then, there are very few phrases that encapsulate that particular aspect of his multifaceted big brother quite so well.
See you in the sky.
The sky might not be Scott's home – he has four little brothers who take dibs on that, wherever they might be – but it's where the part of him that isn't big brother lives. Virgil doesn't remember a time when Scott didn't want to be in the sky, whether in the cockpit of a plane or the more typical childhood stunts like throwing himself out of trees with a homemade parachute. Their parents, their grandparents, even Virgil himself once he was old enough, despaired, but you could no more take Scott from the sky than you could a bird.
See you in the sky.
It's an expectation, too. Because Scott isn't selfish, but also he is. He doesn't want to keep the freedom of the sky all to himself; he wants to share it with his brothers, so he pulls them up with him. In a way, it worked; all four of them are far from strangers to the sky, even if it's not their first love. Not their love at all in some cases, but Scott's there so that's where they go, too.
See you in the sky.
Virgil doesn't know if he'd have ever let his feet leave the ground if it wasn't for Scott. He knows he follows his eldest brother – wherever he goes, he'll always make sure he's right behind him, because it's Scott and that's just how the world works. He doesn't particularly care, either. The sky is what it is to him because it's what it is to Scott. Because it thrums through his brother's veins. If it was possible to bleed sky instead of blood, Virgil thinks Scott would.
See you in the sky.
Virgil follows Scott, but he balances him, too. It's not a tether, because to tether his brother to the ground would be the cruellest thing anyone could do, but it's a balance. Scott soars highest, fastest, furthest, but even the man with the sky in his veins needs a place to rest somewhere. Virgil is that place, arms always ready to catch him as he comes back down, steady as a rock and an undying beacon. It doesn't matter where Scott goes; he'll always come back, and Virgil will always be there.
See you in the sky.
Five words that say so much.
Happy landings.
Two words that say I'll be there.
Day One entry for Earth&Sky Week 2021 on tumblr, using the prompt "see you in the sky"/"happy landings".
Thanks for reading!
Tsari