I was hoping to get this done by Christmas as I didn't have a holiday fic planned for this year, but it's only a few days late!
Inspired by all the times when the big bros want to protect the tinies, I wanted to see how they really felt about that.
"Are you mad at me?"
Gordon looked up at him briefly before his attention moved back down to the sandwich he was making in front of him.
"What makes you think I'm mad at you?" He asked to the slices of salami he placed on the bread, which sort of answered Virgil's question.
Virgil stumbled across the kitchen, still getting used to the crutches. Not that this was the first time he'd needed them, but it had been a while since the last. He sat down on the other side of the breakfast bar, and leant the crutches up against it next to him.
"I've barely seen you these past few days and," Virgil looked at the way Gordon barely made eye contact with him as he spoke. "And I feel like you're ignoring me."
"I've been..." Gordon paused, and Virgil didn't miss his hunched shoulders or the way his grip tightened around the knife as he cut the sandwich into triangles. Yeah, he was definitely mad about something. "Busy," he finally said.
As soon as Gordon finished his sentence, as if to prove his point, an alarm rang out across the villa, indicating that they were needed on another rescue.
Gordon sighed deeply and Virgil suspected his little brother didn't want Virgil to see the way he slumped slightly, as he quickly stood up straight again and moved past Virgil.
"You can have this." He slid the sandwich across the counter towards Virgil on his way, his voice sounding a little sad. "I won't need it now."
Virgil wanted to go after Gordon as his little brother headed out of the room, because he definitely knew something was up with him now, but he knew he shouldn't. Gordon needed to concentrate on whatever this next rescue was, he didn't need Virgil dividing his attention onto him as well. Besides, he didn't think he could clamber out of this chair and after Gordon before he headed off to suit up.
He turned back to the sandwich that had been placed in front of him. He felt bad eating it when Gordon had clearly wanted it and had made it for himself, but if he didn't eat it then it would just go to waste.
His thoughts were interrupted by his stomach rumbling loudly, which seemed to make his mind up for him. He didn't particularly like the idea of trying to make himself food right now, so with only a bit of reluctance, he tucked in.
It didn't take him long to eat and by the time he had finished, Scott had made his way into the kitchen. He came to sit down next to Virgil with two mugs of coffee that he had somehow managed to make with just one hand.
"Thanks." Virgil smiled appreciatively at Scott and took a sip of the still hot drink.
"What're you doing down here by yourself?" Scott asked him as he sipped on his own drink. The look on his face when he put the mug down showed just how much he had wanted that drink.
"I think Gordon's mad at me, but I don't know why," Virgil admitted with the hope that Scott would tell him that he was just imagining things.
However, what he wasn't expecting was for Scott to not only agree, but to also offer his own experience.
"Alan's been acting the same way with me."
"Really?" Virgil turned to him in surprise. It wasn't unlike Gordon to act this way, but for Alan it was quite unexpected. Although, the more Virgil thought about, the less surprising it seemed. "Actually, now that I think of it, Alan's been giving me the cold shoulder too." Virgil considered it a moment more, before another thought occurred to him. "Speaking of Alan, where is he?"
"He's out on the rescue. Thunderbird 1 was needed as well."
It had been hard to ignore the intrusive way that Thunderbird 1 had left the island, seeing as Virgil technically wasn't sitting too far from where it launched, but it still hadn't occurred to him that that had meant that Alan was joining Gordon on this rescue. The fact that it took him until now to realise that showed that his pain meds were doing a lot more to him than he thought.
The thought of his two youngest brothers going out on a rescue, without him and with his ship, had Virgil longing for when he could be back on his feet and could join them.
He looked down at the cast on his leg. There was still a dull throb even with the pain killers he had taken, and he knew that these next few weeks as he waited for it to heal were going to be a nightmare. Especially because Scott was going through the same thing as him at the same time, and Virgil knew they could be as bad as each other.
"You don't think that's why they're mad, do you?" Virgil gestured to his leg and then to Scott's arm. "Because of this?"
Scott's brow furrowed as he seemed to consider that. His gaze followed Virgil's to his sling, and then to Virgil's crutches.
"You think? But why would they be mad about that?"
"I don't know," Virgil frowned and thought about it too. "But I'm going to find out."
Virgil's plan was to catch Gordon once he got back from the rescue, but he had forgotten that Gordon often liked to unwind from a rescue by doing a few laps in the pool.
Virgil had been on the other side of the villa when Gordon and Alan had gotten back, and by the time that Virgil had managed to track Gordon down, his brother was already kicking himself through the water. It didn't help that Virgil was slowed down by only having one working leg and a pair of crutches that seemed more of a hinderance than anything else.
He knew that now Gordon was in the water, he wouldn't want to be disturbed unless it was urgent. Virgil didn't think his concerns were enough to stop his brother from enjoying some down time, so he decided to wait for Gordon on one of the sun loungers.
What Virgil hadn't planned for was how nice the warm, afternoon sun would feel on his face. Combined with the pain meds he was on and how being injured always made him feel exhausted at all times of the day, his eyes started to slip closed without him even realising.
Virgil didn't know he had fallen asleep until he was opening his eyes to find that the sun had almost set on the horizon. The water of the pool was calm and there was no sign of his little brother around, meaning that Gordon had finished with his session and had headed back inside.
Virgil wondered why Gordon hadn't woke him and had rather left him outside on his own. He thought that maybe it had to do with why Gordon was upset with him and he had abandoned Virgil to get bitten by bugs as revenge, but then he thought more about it. If he was in his brother's shoes and he saw an injured brother fast asleep, he would do whatever it took not to disturb them.
Yeah, he could see why his family had just left him there.
He rubbed his eyes and stretched, and then grabbed the crutches that were lying next to the chair and pushed himself up.
He hobbled back indoors and found some of his family in the kitchen as he entered through the door.
"Hey, Virg."
Virgil's attention was drawn to the table where Alan was sitting, like he was about to eat despite there being no food in front of him yet.
"Hi," Virgil replied as he made his way over to the table. He came to a stop next to it but didn't sit down as he wasn't intending to stick around.
"Oh, Virgil, you're just in time," their Grandma said from across the kitchen. She was standing over some pots on the stove that were bubbling with something that Virgil couldn't identify. "Dinner's almost ready."
"Where's Gordon?" Virgil asked them after he'd glanced around the room and found that the brother he was searching for was not nearby.
"On a rescue." Alan was speaking to Virgil, but his eyes were no longer on him. His attention was instead on their grandma as she poured whatever was in the pots into bowls. There was a look in his eyes that said that he didn't care what it was, he was going to eat it all anyway.
"Another one?" Virgil tried to pull his little brother's attention back to him. Virgil's concern grew and now it wasn't just about how his brother felt towards him. Gordon seemed to always be working lately. "How long has he been gone?"
Alan shrugged, but he still didn't look at him. "Not long. He launched Thunderbird 4 from the island because it wasn't that far away. Which means I didn't have to go with him, which is great because I'm starving."
Virgil kicked himself for falling asleep and just missing his chance to talk to Gordon. It seemed that the universe wanted them to keep avoiding each other, or that was just the work of Gordon.
"Alan?" Virgil slid into the seat across from his little brother now that he knew he'd have to wait longer before he could speak to Gordon.
"Yeah?" Alan turned to watch him a little apprehensively, like he knew he wasn't going to like what was coming next.
"What's up with Gordon?"
The smile that had been resting on his brother's face was wiped away immediately after Virgil spoke.
"What do you mean?" His voice shook a little and raised in pitch so it came out as a squeak, and Virgil could instantly tell that his brother was lying.
"Don't act like you're ignorant to it. I know you know what's wrong with him because this is the longest you've spoken to me all week." Virgil knew he'd caught his brother out when Alan's eyes moved down to the table between them, no longer able to make eye contact with him. "Whatever's got him upset is also bothering you. So, spill."
Alan's shoulders slumped and he let out a sigh, knowing that he'd been defeated. No matter how much he tried to avoid it, Virgil was not going to relent.
"You should really talk to Gordon about it," he said quietly.
"Believe me, I would if I could. But he's avoiding me so you're my last hope."
"It's just that, I'm not even mad at you. It's more Scott that I'm..." He trailed off before he'd finished his sentence, like he didn't want to admit he was angry or upset or whatever it was that was making him act this way.
"Well, why are you mad at Scott?" Virgil paused and waited for a reply, but Alan was suddenly not willing to speak anymore. Virgil continued to prompt his brother to admit something more. "Because I'm sure that the reason Gordon is avoiding me is the same reason you're avoiding Scott, and I need to know what that is so I can fix it."
Alan's eyes had still been staring intently at the table, but after a long, silent moment, he eventually lifted his head to look at Virgil.
"It's because you two got hurt," he finally admitted.
Although Virgil had suspected that might be the reason, it still came as a shock to hear it. It was like Scott had said, he couldn't imagine why they would be mad about that.
Virgil opened his mouth to ask that very question, but before the words came out, there were suddenly bowls being placed in front of them.
"Dinner is served," their Grandma said with a smile, oblivious to the conversation that the two of them had been having. "Alan, go and get everybody else."
It was as if Alan couldn't wait to get out of their conversation, as he immediately darted out of his seat and hurried up the stairs.
Virgil watched him go, seeing the opportunity to progress this conversation further leave with him. Knowing that this was as far as he was going to get for now, he turned back to his Grandma, who was making her way back over the side where more dishes were sitting.
"Do you need any help?" Virgil offered when she came back to the table carrying more bowls.
"You stay right there, mister." Grandma gave him a glare that dared him to even think about moving. "I'll go get the rest; you just tuck in."
Virgil eyed up the contents of the bowl in front of him, but he still couldn't tell what it was meant to be. He didn't want to upset his Grandma, so he picked up a spoon and hesitantly scooped the food out of the bowl and lifted it to his mouth.
This time Virgil was determined to catch Gordon before he found another way to avoid him, which was how he ended up sitting on a crate in the hanger at almost two am.
Everyone else had gone to bed, but the nap that Virgil had that afternoon meant that he was still wide awake.
Well, that was a lie. He had been wide awake, hours ago. Now he was starting to feel the effects of his injury and he wanted nothing more than to go and lay down on his bed.
But he was determined. This was his only opportunity to talk to Gordon. He just didn't think that this rescue his brother was on was going to take so long.
Finally, when Virgil was starting to worry that he'd collapse right on top of these boxes, he heard the familiar noises of Thunderbird 4 returning to her little water hanger.
Virgil got up and made sure he was standing in the same path that Gordon would need to walk through to get back upstairs. This way, there was no avoiding him.
Sure enough, several minutes later Gordon appeared around the corner. It took him a moment to realise that Virgil was there, as he was staring at the floor, and he almost walked right into him.
"Virgil?" Gordon seemed surprised to see him standing there, which was understandable given the late hour.
"Hey." Virgil waved at his brother, hoping that if he was friendly enough Gordon wouldn't just dart past him and run off. "How did the rescue go?"
"Good," was Gordon's curt reply. His eyes scanned Virgil up and down as if to find some sort of hidden reason to this conversation. "What're you still doing up?"
"Just waiting up for you. Wanted to make sure you got back alright."
The raised eyebrow that Gordon sent him showed Virgil just how much his little brother believed his words.
"Fine," Virgil relented. He knew he was not going to the bottom of this if he wasn't honest himself. "I wanted to find out what's up with you, and I knew this would be the best time."
"There are better times to speak to me than the middle of the night."
"The last few days have proven otherwise."
Gordon looked guilty as his gaze fell back down to the ground. His arms were crossed, and it seemed that he had closed up again and was done talking for now.
Virgil was the one that should be feeling bad. If Alan was right, then it was his fault that Gordon was feeling this way.
"Gordon, I'm worried about you." Virgil hobbled forward a couple of steps. "I need to know what's wrong so I can fix it."
Gordon still remained quiet. He even appeared to tense up the closer Virgil got to him, which halted Virgil's movements.
"Alan said that it was because I got hurt," Virgil prompted, in a hope that he would finally get a response from Gordon.
He got the reaction he was hoping, as Gordon's head immediately snapped up.
"Alan said that?" His voice was quiet, shocked almost, like he hadn't been expecting Virgil to know that much.
"So, he's right?" Gordon's mouth snapped shut like he didn't want Virgil to know he was right, but it was too late now. "I don't understand. Why are you mad about that?"
There was pause, before Gordon replied quietly, "you wouldn't get it."
"I won't get it because you're not telling me anything!" Virgil could hear his own voice rising but he couldn't help it. All his frustrations from the past few days were coming to head as he was finally given the chance to make all this better, but his brother still wouldn't let him help. "Is it because I saved you? Why is that something to be upset about? If anything, you should be happy that I-"
"I'm not a kid anymore, so stop treating me like I am!"
Virgil was stunned into silence. It was the most words Gordon had spoken to him in days and it was certainly the most emotion he'd shown. Even Gordon seemed shocked at himself.
"I-I'm not treating you like a kid," Virgil eventually said when the surprise had worn off and he'd realised when Gordon had said.
"So, jumping in front of me so you get hurt instead isn't treating me like a child?" It seemed that now Gordon had started, he couldn't stop. His arms were unfolded, and his fists were clenched.
"What?" Virgil couldn't believe what he was hearing. He thought that his brother would appreciate the fact that he was saved from getting hurt like Virgil was. "I was protecting you. Would you rather you got hurt than me?"
"Yes!" Virgil hadn't actually been expecting that to be his brother's answer, but before he could question it, Gordon continued without even taking a breath. "Don't you see that just as much as you and Scott want to protect Alan and me from harm, we want to do the same for you? But you don't care about that, because you're older so you think you have some sort of right to throw yourselves into danger."
Gordon didn't understand that this was his job as an older brother. He was meant to protect them from harm, and if that meant he got hurt in the process, so be it.
Although, maybe Gordon had a point. Virgil certainly got annoyed when Scott put himself on the line to protect them all, he had just never realised it was something he was guilty of as well. Protecting his younger brothers from harm just came naturally to him.
"Gordon, that's not-" Virgil started, but was cut off again.
"But you just made everything worse!" Gordon was beyond listening to him as he let everything he had been bottling up out in one go. "Now we have to work twice as hard to cover for you two, and to top it off we have to deal with the guilt that you guys got hurt because of us."
Gordon suddenly went silent as he reached the end of his rant and had let everything out. Virgil struggled to find the words to respond to all of that. He hadn't realised that Gordon would be struggling with this so much.
"You have nothing to feel guilty for," he finally uttered. He had never intended for Gordon to feel like Virgil's own decisions were his fault.
"Tell that to Alan." Gordon's voice had quietened again now that his anger was subsiding. Until this moment, Virgil hadn't quite realised just how tired Gordon looked, and he had likely used up the last of his energy with this fight. "He can barely even look at Scott without being reminded of that rescue, and how Scott pushed Alan out of the way so that he got hit by falling debris instead. He thinks that it's his fault."
"I didn't realise..." Virgil thought over all the things that Gordon had said, and he truly hadn't thought that he and Scott getting injured had so much of an effect on their two littlest brothers. It had never even occurred to him just how much they needed to work to cover the two of them being on sick leave. "But what about John? If you two were struggling so much, why not ask him to come down to help?"
"I did, but he had to do maintenance on Thunderbird 5 that couldn't wait. He said he'd come down when he was done."
"And how long will it take?" Virgil asked him.
"Still a few more days."
Virgil frowned at both the fact that John couldn't come down sooner, and that he knew all of this was going on but didn't tell him.
"I told him not to tell you," Gordon said like he could read his mind. It was a testament to how much his little brother knew them by how he not only knew what was going on in Virgil's mind, but also how he knew John would try to go to Virgil the first moment he could.
"Why not?" Virgil couldn't help but wonder. "Why didn't you want me to know about this sooner?"
"Because, like I said, I feel bad about you getting hurt. It's my fault I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and you had to come rescue me. But I was also mad at you, Virgil, and Scott. You're not expendable. You both put yourselves into danger to protect us and it's not fair on our part. It's like you don't trust us to protect ourselves."
"I do trust you, though, and Scott does too."
Gordon huffed and scuffed his shoe against a speck of dirt on the floor.
"It doesn't feel that way, not when we're on rescues. It really does feel like you treat us like kids, and not as a team."
"You're right."
Gordon looked up at him in surprise at seeing Virgil admit to everything Gordon was saying. But it was all true, and Virgil knew it deep down.
"We do treat you like kids, but that's because you're our little brothers and we can't help but see you that way." Gordon opened his mouth as if to protest, but Virgil held his hand up to keep him quiet until he had finished. "That is not how we should treat you, though, at least not out on rescues. We should remember that you both are capable enough on your own, and you don't always need protecting. I never realised that in doing so made everything so much worse, you have absolutely nothing to feel bad about for. I'm sorry."
Gordon seemed to physically deflate at that, which was when Virgil realised just how much weight his words held, and how much Gordon needed to hear them.
"Thank you." His voice was soft, and for what was probably the first time in several days, he smiled. It was one of exhaustion, and Virgil knew what he had to do next.
"When did you last eat?"
Gordon seemed surprised at the question, and it took him a moment to think about it, which was answer enough.
"Never mind. You're coming with me and you're going to eat something. Then you are going to bed and will be taken off rota for 48 hours."
"But-" Gordon started to protest, but Virgil was already trying to shuffle him towards the elevator. At least, as well as he could with both his arms occupied by crutches.
"No buts. Alan will get the same treatment, and the GDF will take care of any rescues until then. You both need a break, and despite everything I just said you are still my brothers and I don't want you to collapse in the middle of a rescue, at least for the sake of the people we're rescuing."
They reached the elevator and even though Gordon still tried to protest on the way up, Virgil could see the relived look on his face.
"Go take a shower and change." Virgil instructed when they got upstairs. Gordon was still in his wetsuit and Virgil could tell he was dying to get out of it. "There's some leftover dinner that I can heat up for you."
They parted ways long enough for Virgil to stumble back to the kitchen and pull out the rest of the stew that their Grandma had left just for Gordon to eat when he got back. He heated it up, and once it was in a bowl Gordon was already making his way into the kitchen, seeming more relaxed now he was in something more comfortable.
Gordon didn't even ask what the food was or complain about their Grandma's cooking, he just ate it. Virgil would have been amused if he didn't know why his brother was so hungry. He may have felt a little guilty at eating his brother's sandwich earlier that day, even if it was offered to him.
When Gordon was nearing the end of his meal, he suddenly looked over at Virgil, who was sitting across from him at the table.
"Could you talk to Scott about this?" He asked, seeming a little hesitant to ask him for something. "For Alan. I would do it, but I just feel so tired when I think about it."
"Of course," Virgil was quick to accept, willing to do anything to make his brother happy at that moment. "I will make sure he speaks to Alan, and I will too. I want him to know it wasn't his fault."
Gordon smiled gratefully across the table at him, and whispered his thanks to him before he turned back to his food to finish it off.
"If I find you out of your room before the afternoon you're getting sent straight back to bed," Virgil said with a smile as he and Gordon made their way to their bedrooms.
"I don't think you have to worry about that," Gordon chuckled as he reached his bedroom door. "Night, Virg."
"Night, Gordo." They waved goodnight and Gordon went into his room, but Virgil wasn't intending to go to sleep just yet. He waited just a few minutes and then also went into Gordon's room.
As expected, Gordon was already fast asleep. He hadn't even bothered to move the sheets back and instead had passed out on top of them.
The sight made Virgil smile, and he had to hold back a laugh to not disturb him.
He backed out of the room and gently closed the door behind him, before he headed to his own room and joined his brother in finally going to sleep.