Chapter 13.
Three mugs of ginger tea and one packet of anti-sickness pills later, and Virgil was feeling more like himself again.
Determined to outpace Scott more than anything, the engineer made sure to devote sufficient time to picking out a suitable outfit for his upcoming date with Kayo. He was confident that he could firmly eclipse his older brother in the fashion department, given Scott's failure to deviate from anything other than his trusty blue. No, Virgil was going to show off his Tracy genes in all their glory.
Shower – check.
Black shirt and matching jeans that worked perfectly with his dark hair and caramel eyes – check.
A spritz of cologne in a new fragrance he'd recently become particularly fond of called: 'Scott's cologne. Property of Scott. Do not touch except for Scott' – check.
Thunderbird Two cleaned and an air freshener discreetly tucked into the footwell – check.
A single red rose, because damnit if Alan was going to outclass him with that stupid hibiscus bouquet – check.
Virgil smiled confidently at his reflection, his thoughts far removed from the woman frantically brushing her hair two doors down. There were twenty five points up for grabs this evening, and he was determined to nab every single one of them. He couldn't wait to see Scott's expression when his brother realised how serious he was about beating him.
As far as Virgil was concerned, straight priorities were wrong priorities where winning was concerned.
-x-
Kayo looked more than a little confused as she descended the staircase at five to six, instantly comparing her own very casual outfit against Virgil's rather snappy one.
"I thought we were going somewhere involving water?" Kayo queried, staring dubiously at the old jeans and loose jumper she had on, "You said to wear something I wouldn't mind getting wet?"
Virgil smiled and offered Kayo the rose he'd been hiding behind his back, "You look lovely as always. And what you're wearing is fine, your comfort is my absolute priority."
Scott, who was busy pouring himself a glass of milk, gaped so spectacularly at Virgil's obvious peacocking that he missed his glass completely, splashing milk all over the floor and his shoes in the process. It wasn't until the carton was empty that the eldest Tracy realised his little mistake, compensating for his twenty seconds of silence with several loud profanities.
Virgil snickered inwardly, already keeping score inside his head. He was off to a great start.
"Oh my!" Kayo swooned, accepting the rose with a blush of girlish embarrassment, "Don't spoil me too much now, Virgil. We haven't even left the island yet."
Virgil gave a small bow and offered his arm to Kayo, who looked as thrilled as if she'd just been elected prom queen. With a rather coy wave at the still soggy Scott, the engineer swept out of the kitchen in the direction of the hanger, leaving a subtle waft of Scott's ridiculously expensive cologne behind.
"I'll kill him!" Scott vowed, squelching his way up to the lounge before wrenching his sodden shoes and socks off, "John, this is a big day for you. When Virgil returns, you will officially become the second eldest and inherit Thunderbird Two, along with Virgil's memory foam mattress, and his collection of Kip Harris memorabilia."
John remained impassive, barely looking up from his game of chess, "You might have to accept that he has you over a barrel, Scott. He's been able to watch Kayo's behaviour on three dates so far and has no doubt learnt from the mistakes you, Alan, and myself have made. He's in a favourable position, and you know what he can be like when he has the upper hand."
Scott snarled and channelled his frustration into seizing a cushion and walloping Gordon over the head with it.
"Hey!" the aquanaut squealed, sandwich crumbs spraying from his mouth in outrage, "What did I do?"
Scott didn't answer, opting instead to start syncing the mini cam with the holoprojector, "Do you still have that last remaining fart machine I brought home, Gordon?"
The aquanaut frowned in suspicion, his legs ready to carry him to safety if needed, "Maybe. Why?"
A common misconception outside of the Tracy family was that Scott was the most mature. This was in fact a biographical error, since the eldest was quite capable of descending to the maturity of a twelve year old with absolute ease. Whoopee cushions, buckets of water above the door, and green food colouring in the milk – he'd done it all. Nope, the trophy for 'most mature' was firmly on John's shelf, and had been for the last twenty odd years.
An expression of pure evil descended over Scott's features as the smiling holographic forms of a giggling Kayo and a sickeningly overconfident Virgil assaulted his eyes.
"Just in case."
-x-
Virgil could see Scott's face now.
Red cheeks, flashing blue eyes, shoulders hunched, eyebrows knitted together in anger, and hands balled into fists. All against the backdrop of John, Gordon, and Alan huddling together behind the piano in fear.
Oh, Scott liked to think of himself as the lady's man of the family, with all of his relaxed charm and his stupid suave smile. Oh yes, he knew how to make his sapphire eyes, dimpled smile, and lush dark hair pay handsome dividends.
Unfortunately, so did Virgil. After all, he'd had an excellent teacher.
The engineer wasn't too concerned about making small talk with Kayo while on board Thunderbird Two. He wanted to build a bit of anticipation, plus they had a long flight ahead of them. While he was confident that his chosen destination would land him an almost instant win, he'd have to navigate around a couple of tropical storms to get there first.
Probably best to save the chatting for later.
Kayo seemed quite content to gaze out of the window, her chin resting on her hand as she stared lazily out towards the horizon.
Virgil had set the bar high with the single red rose and his choice of attire. Kayo shivered with anticipation, her mind racing to what he had planned for the rest of evening. She'd never admit it, but she was thoroughly enjoying this 'experiment' she and Penny had cooked up. She'd been spoilt rotten so far, and was confident that Virgil and Gordon would continue the rather exciting trend the other three had set. According to the unwritten rules of manhood (referred to as the Guy Bible, or Guyble, as Alan insisted on calling it), it was forbidden for a guy to back down from a challenge laid down by a fellow guy, lest his man card end up confiscated and cut in half.
Kayo smirked quietly to herself, glancing at Virgil out the corner of her eye.
Guys could be so gullible.
Even the devilishly handsome jetpack wearing, heavy lifting, gravity defying, water wallowing, and rocket flying types.
-x-
Sally dusted her hands against her legs, regarding the flower arrangement before her with satisfaction.
She'd been rather confused to find her beloved patch of wild hibiscus somewhat decimated, with most of the largest and healthiest flowers mysteriously missing. There were none of the tell-tale bite marks she'd come to associate with the island's local iguana population, so she'd deduced that one of her grandsons had to be responsible instead.
Reluctant to interfere with the silly game they had going on with Kayo, Sally had chalked her hibiscus's demise up to sibling rivalry and cut the remaining flowers herself, opting to save them before they too were wrenched out of the ground and fashioned into another bouquet for Kayo's bedroom.
The Tracy matriarch positioned the vase on top of the piano and set about watering one of her succulents, idly watching the commotion that was beginning to unfold in the lounge.
Gordon was lolloping around the holoprojector, doing and saying something that had his brothers in stitches. Sally smiled to herself at how much her fourth grandson resembled her daughter-in-law, both in terms of looks and personality. He shared Lucy's zest for life and addiction to humour, as well as her mane of strawberry blond hair and warm brown eyes. She could still remember how Gordon had followed Lucy everywhere when she'd been alive, always choosing to go horseback riding and bird watching with her over stealing rides in Jeff's Thunderbird prototypes like his older brothers had.
At the other end of the parental spectrum was Scott, who was practically Jeff's twin. Practical, helpful, and with those adorable dimples to boot, Sally could clearly see that her eldest grandson was the spit of his father, both inside and out. She considered herself very lucky to have such a grandboy, and was quietly grateful for the effect he had had on his youngest brothers. While Alan was too young to clearly remember Jeff and Gordon's memories were hazy at best, it made Sally happy to think that they were closer than they realised to their father through Scott's inadvertent influence.
John and Virgil quite neatly straddled both camps, sharing physical and behavioural characteristics with both their parents. While Virgil leant more towards Jeff in terms of looks and Lucy in terms of personality, John was the reverse, resembling Jeff in terms of his academic ability and Lucy in the appearance department (barring the red hair - nobody really knew where that had come from).
Alan was an interesting case. They wouldn't know who he physically resembled (if indeed he did) until he grew into his looks, but his character was already obvious. Unlike the other four, Alan's personality seemed to be a blend of that of his brothers. He had Scott's determination, Virgil's kindness, John's ingenuity, and a dash of Gordon's humour, plus a heathy serving of teenage hormones garnished on the side.
Sally's train of thought came to a halt when she spied Gordon twisting his face into a ridiculous expression, causing Scott to explode into laughter. The Tracy matriarch sighed as her fourth grandson responded to his brother's chortling by making a series of even sillier faces, one of which was obviously an impression of Virgil doing his famous 'peacocking'. Scott wiped a tear away and joined in with an attempt at John's 'morning face'.
Sally smiled.
Yes, she was indeed a very lucky grandmother.