37

Thank you so much for the reviews and the reads. Sorry if I haven't replied to you the site has had some server issues so I couldn't access the reviews. I'm glad you enjoyed Scott's chapter. I promise we will revisit him soon but not just yet!

If his brothers thought it was annoying living with each other, nothing compared to being stuck in education together - again. Thankfully their dad had the foresight to ensure they had separate dorms or they might have killed each other by now. It was also a good thing that they naturally fell into two key specialisms. It meant that half their classes were separate which gave them both a welcome respite from each other.

John was working towards becoming a mission specialist astronaut (MSA). MSA's typically had a background in sciences, medicine or engineering and were responsible for the launch of satellites, maintaining equipment and conducting various experiments. With John's degree in communications and his physics degree it meant he was the most well suited for this role. It would prepare him well for his new role as space monitor with international rescue.

Alan was training to be a pilot astronaut. Their role was to shuttle all astronauts to and from the space stations as well as to manage and lead crew throughout space missions. It was their main duty to oversee the safety and success of the overall mission. Jeff had already started giving Alan flying lessons to start to build up his flight hours ahead of enrolling and to help him gain his pilot's licence. It had taken Virgil eighteen months to obtain his, Alan had completed it in four. The kid - much to his brothers' disgust was a natural. Instead of racing cars at the weekend he was now flying jets with an old retired friend of Jeff's who was a flight instructor. Alan was in his element; he loved the rush and the thrill of the high-octane flight. He could now see why his brother was hooked.

Today they were both sat next to each other in mathematics. Alan didn't know it but Jeff had been paying John to tutor Alan in his spare time to try and catch up on what he'd missed by not completing his degree. If anyone could get through to Alan it was John. John had protested at first but when his father had explained how it would benefit international rescue in the long run he had relented. They were currently completing an exercise on a scenario that involved them having to work out how much fuel they would burn on a trip between earth and the moon, as well as to determine the speed, distance and velocity of the journey. John had already calculated his in the first ten minutes. Alan was still working on his but he knew he was on the right track. Although not as superior as his brother's mathematical mind, Alan had been one of the highest scoring students on his degree. It was just trying to get him to engage his brain that was the issue. "So, Katie what are you doing this evening, only I've got tickets to see Riot at the Q club if you fancy it?" John rolled his eyes while Katie deliberated. Alan leaned on the desk with his back to John, entirely blocking him from view. "Yeah ok, sounds good. What time?"

"Meet you outside campus reception at 8pm?"

"Yeah sure." She wrote down her number and passed it to him "Just in case you need it". She fluttered her eyes.

"Thanks sweetheart." She blushed the colour radiating up her pale cheeks.

John tapped Alan on the shoulder. Alan smiled sweetly at Katie before turning to his brother. "What?" he hissed frowning.

"Now you've worked out your plans for this evening do you think you could concentrate on the task in hand and not the brunette next to you."

"Oh, John don't be so square, I've completed the exercise what more do you want?" Alan looked miffed, Katie was talking and giggling with her friend so he'd lost the opportunity to continue their conversation.

"I want you to double check it and work out where you've gone wrong."

"What? Where?" He started to scrutinise his figures again. John hid his smile behind his hand. He wasn't wrong he just wanted Alan to practice the art of double checking and to stop being such a cocky shit.

The bell rang just as their lecturer asked them to turn in their work. Alan clicked the button to submit his work before flying out the door not even waiting for John. He sighed. "Still can't keep up with him then John?" John turned round to see his friend Chloe grinning at him. She was of petite build with long blonde hair neatly scraped back into an immaculate bun with a few stray wisps that framed her pretty heart shaped face. She had stunning crystal ice blue eyes and a cute button nose. They'd met at the start of the semester and had become firm friends since.

"No, the kid's hard work. He's definitely doing better than at university though so I guess that's something. Gordon says he's going to give me an honorary degree in Alan taming if he passes his astronaut training." John grabbed the straps of his bag as Chloe giggled.

They walked to lunch together before the afternoon's session on space vehicles. "You know who you both remind me of?" she looked thoughtfully at John. They stood in the queue; John passed her a tray. "No, do I want to know?" he raised a quizzical eyebrow, blue eyes looking wary yet his face held an amused expression.

"Spock and Kirk." She burst into laughter at the new incredulous look on his face. Suddenly they could hear Alan further down the line being congratulated on his latest flight simulator test where he had scored the fastest time for passing through a meteor field. At the end of the simulation your only choice was to take a hit from the projectiles but you had to calculate which one would cause the least damage and quickly as part of a survival exercise. His brother somehow managed to miss all of them by mere millimetres which was meant to be impossible. No one had ever got past it before. John had spent days running the calculations to check for errors. "My god your right!" John laughed out loud. "Don't tell him that though he'll become even more insufferable. Captain Kirk is his idol! I also don't need those nicknames bandied about; people already take the piss because two of daddy's rich kids are studying at the college daddy funded." John rolled his eyes pointing to the two girls at the table a couple of feet from the queue. They had their backs to them looking over their shoulder's thinking they hadn't been heard. "Yeah well just ignore them. They can't help it John, some people are just born as assholes." She glared at them angrily as they passed. "Chloe!" John hissed shocked. She burst out laughing loudly. "God I can't take you anywhere!" Grinned John as he passed the assistant dishing out the spaghetti Bolognese. "Maybe you can take me to the moon. I can't cause that much trouble up there." She waited for her portion to be dolloped out. "Hmmm. I respectfully disagree." He replied.

Later on, they were all stood in the mock vehicles room. It was the first time they had been in here. A lecturer took them through the different types of Buggies, shuttle pods and Rovers discussing their uses and models. John was taking notes at the front, Alan was getting rather handsy with Katie in the shadows at the back. She was doing her best to concentrate as Alan began to trail a hand down her back and into her waistband. She yanked his hand back out with an admonishing look but bumping him playfully away with her hip. The instructor's eyes fell on him. She was a hardcore ex-air force and astronaut veteran. Her dark eyes fixed him with a hard stare. He smiled back pleasantly like butter wouldn't melt. Hopefully she hadn't spied everything. "Alan tell me what model this rover is." She pointed to the one nearest to John. John watched Alan closely. "It's a 3000FX ma'am." Alan quickly supplied. "And it's main purpose?" She folded her arms, her dark complexion shimmering in the dim light of the room. "It's used to obtain scientific samples from the surface as well as to capture images it documents on its designated route." Satisfied she relented. "Very good." Alan caught John's look of disbelief as he smiled cheekily back.

"Right everyone into teams of four please! Then I will assign you to a vehicle. Each one has a problem to some degree. You need to complete a vehicle check to identify the faults and use the diagnostic software and tools to repair it if you can, hopefully you have familiarised yourself with the systems as you were asked you as part of your personal study time."

Somehow Chole and John ended up with Alan and Katie as everyone quickly paired up. They had been assigned the latest top model moon buggy. Seeing as most of the vehicles in the room was made by Tracy industries it was not hard for Alan and John to find the manuals. John had even asked his father for the schematics so they were well covered. The Girls picked up a clipboard each. "How about John and Katie do the interior as they have the communications knowledge and you and I Alan can tackle the exterior." John shot a thankful look at Chloe; the distraction of Katie had obviously been noticed by her too.

"Sounds good." Shrugged Alan his body language at odds with his peppy tone. Alan didn't want John talking to Katie for too long, he could tell all sorts of stories. He reluctantly followed Chloe to the pack of the buggy his face brightening as it dawned on him, he could do the same! John hoisted himself over the door and into the seat. Katie settled next to him. He began to systematically work through the radio transmissions. "Shall I look at the emergency lights?" John nodded not looking up from his checks. He was so different to his brother Katie reflected. So handsome but none of the chatty spunk his brother had. Alan was rebelliousness and spontaneous which was just what she liked in a man. John was studious and disinterested in anything that was outside his specialism. Maybe it was because he was older? Shame really, he was incredibly fit. She watched his abdomen muscles flex at her eye level as he grabbed on to the bars to lift himself out the shirt just allowing a peek at the abs below. "Erm are you done?" John looked down at her. Realising she had been on one, she blushed. "Yep! Just need to check the ignition." John went back to adjusting the Ariel, he was pretty sure it had a fault.

Outside Alan was checking the treads on the tyres for damage whilst Chloe was underneath the bonnet checking the batteries and their charge. "So, I see you've made friends with my brother. Your lucky you know, he doesn't engage with many people."

She poked her head around to look at him by the wing. "Yeah, well I like to think your brother just has good taste."

He chuckled, moving on to the next tyre. "You know he's a proper geek. He cosplays at conventions."

"Really? What's he dressed up as?" She disappeared further under the bonnet one foot suspended in the air.

"Erm some of them are way above my head but I think he's done Terrahawks, Luke Skywalker, Peter Quill and even Spock at one point." Chole smiled to herself under the hood.

"Cool!"

Not the reaction he expected. "Cool?"

"Yeah I like the sound of Quill, I bet your brother looked as fit as fuck in that long red overcoat and tight black jeans."

Alan dropped the bar he'd been using to retighten the loose nuts in shock. How could anyone find that attractive let alone fit as fuck? He thought girls hated geeky. Maybe he should try it.

"Err I guess?" he couldn't think of what else to say. John was sniggering above, his brother oblivious to the fact he had heard the entire conversation. Chloe chuckled as she checked the fuses. She brushed her hands together before rounding the corner. She bent down and whispered into his ear "Got any pictures? I'd love to see them sometime." She purred. Alan flushed crimson. He thought John was missing out on student life but maybe he had it better than he had realised.