Thanks for the comments/follows! I have to admit to really getting the giggles with this one!
Scott sighed in relief, finally finding the right door. He had forgotten the spiralling maze of halls – used to the clean, straight lines of the barracks. Not that he was going to tell Virgil – his brothers had already started with the teasing comments that he was getting old.
There was a bag slung over one shoulder and a box of cookies in his hand. Grandma had pressed them on him as he was leaving, along with stern words that she would be checking in with Virgil to make sure he received them all. Scott had put them out of reach for the entire journey – he didn't trust himself.
Now though, he was looking forward to seeing his brother's reaction.
If he was honest, he was just looking forward to seeing his brother.
It felt like an age since he had seen Virgil, and even longer since it had been just the two of them. Vid-chats didn't count.
Scott hadn't told Virgil about his complete failure when it came to judging John. He didn't want his brother to be on his guard, ready to fob him off with excuses about why he couldn't run. He also didn't want to admit to how badly he had got it wrong with John – it was too much leverage to give Virgil willingly.
He knocked. Knowing Virgil's schedule had its advantages; there was a high chance he was in. He didn't have classes until the following morning and he hadn't mentioned plans when they had chatted the night before.
Hearing movement from in the room, Scott grinned. The door didn't open though, and he shifted from foot to foot.
His father had walked in on his conversation with Virgil the evening before. He, too, noticed that Virgil looked tired. His face was pale and there had been dark circles under his eyes that were more than just one all-nighter studying. Scott hadn't known how he was going to broach the subject of testing Virgil, but his dad beat him to it. He agreed Scott could go to Denver, with the promise he got Virgil out into fresh air and sunshine while he was there.
Scott had left first thing in the morning, catching the first flight that came this way and hiring a car for the rest of the journey. He only had two weeks' leave – he didn't have time to waste.
Finally, the door opened.
"Surprise!"
Virgil stared at him.
"Wha-?"
It wasn't the reaction Scott was after. Virgil looked horrified.
"Virg?"
His brother's gaze shifted to see if Scott was alone, took in the bag and the cookies. He winced, and Scott recognised a look of pure panic.
"What's wrong?"
Virgil didn't answer. At least, not verbally.
He slammed the door in Scott's face.
Completely stunned, Scott froze. He didn't even think of knocking again. He hadn't given much thought to how Virgil would feel about him turning up unexpected, but he thought his brother could at least pretend to be glad to see him.
The door opened. Virgil didn't meet his eye. Instead, he grabbed the box of cookies out of Scott's hand and shut the door again.
Scott made to knock, then paused, and leant closer, pressing his ear to the door. There was hurried movement from inside and a voice. It was too low for Scott to hear, but he was sure Virgil hadn't slipped so far that he was talking to himself. Someone else was in there.
Understanding started to dawn on Scott when the door opened again. This time, Virgil pulled it openly properly, refusing to look at his brother. Scott was right: he wasn't alone.
A girl with long blonde hair and startling green eyes kissed Virgil on the cheek before slipping out with a shy smile at Scott. She was wearing a pair of shorts and ankle boots that showed off her legs perfectly and Scott couldn't resist twisting to watch her walk away. Then he realised she was wearing Virgil's shirt and she turned to wink before disappearing around the corner.
Scott whistled. "I'm impressed."
"Shut up," Virgil grumbled, finally letting him in. Scott entered and laughed. Virgil was certainly enjoying not having their grandmother nagging about keeping his room clean and tidy.
"Seriously," Scott said, perching on the edge of the rumpled bed and trying not to think about what Virgil had been doing before he knocked on the door. He looked properly at his brother.
Virgil definitely looked tired and if hadn't been the passion in his voice when he spoke about his course, Scott might have questioned the truth of what these late-night study sessions included. It was two in the afternoon and it was obvious by his tussled hair that Scott's knock had woken him up. Scott tried to look at his brother critically, remembering why he was here, but something got in the way.
"That's my sweater."
"So?" Virgil tugged at it. It was too big on him – it had been too big on Scott (it had been a phase his grandmother had detested). It hung past his waist and Virgil had the sleeves rolled up. Scott had absolutely no idea what condition his brother was in.
Scott smiled softly. "You brought it to college with you."
"No," Virgil lied, scowling at him. He kicked around his desk chair, straddled it and opened the box of cookies. Scott reached forward and Virgil slapped him on the hand.
"They're mine."
"I brought them!" Scott protested, rubbing his hand in mock-indignation.
"Why did you?" Virgil took a bite before relenting and allowing Scott to have one. "What are you doing here?"
"Maybe I wanted to see you?"
"That's bull," Virgil said, yawning. "You've only got two weeks leave – you want something if you've come halfway across the country to see me."
Scott looked at him. The bare feet and artfully ripped jeans. The oversized sweater, messed up hair and yesterday's stubble.
"It can wait," he said fondly. "Get dressed – I'll buy you lunch."
He waited until Virgil had showered and shaved but didn't say anything when he pulled the same clothes back on, ran a hand through his hair and slipped shoes on. They left his room but Scott gestured for Virgil to lead the way. He had only been a couple of times and had no idea where he was going. This was Virgil's space.
"Why did you shut the door on me?" Scott asked, "you look terrified."
Virgil glared at him. "I wasn't expecting my big brother on the other side of the door! I…" he trailed off, wincing. "I panicked."
"You panicked?"
"What if you had Dad with you? Or Al? Or Grandma?"
Scott conceded the point. "Grandma might have been distracted by the state of your room."
"Shut up." Virgil dug his elbow into Scott's ribs. "Not all of us are control freaks."
"Charming. I come halfway across the country and bring you cookies and get insulted for my trouble."
"Didn't ask you to."
Scott looked at his brother. Virgil was avoiding his eye but grinning. Scott slung a companionable arm over his shoulders.
"It's good to see you, Virg."
"Yeah," Virgil said softly. "You too."
Virgil took them to a diner where one of the waitresses gave him such a dazzling smile that Scott was blinded by it. Virgil winked in return, slipping into a booth with faintly glowing cheeks. Scott lifted an eyebrow and slid in opposite him. His brother avoided his gaze.
"So-,"
"Don't." Virgil muttered, his blush getting worse. Scott chuckled and sat back. Virgil had had girlfriends through high school, even believing one was the one before she dumped him for a guy on the football team. But his brother had a different sort of confidence now and Scott knew that doing what he loved, away from the shadow of two older brothers, meant Virgil was really coming into his own here.
Scott felt guilty about why he had come. If Virgil joined their father's dream, he could lose this. He would lose the chance to truly be himself. But if Virgil didn't join, Scott wasn't convinced he would go through it without his brother by his side. In all his daydreams about their future, Virgil had been with him.
"What's her name?" Scott asked, thinking back to the girl leaving Virgil's room.
"Which one?" Virgil said distractedly and Scott gaped at him.
"Virgil!"
"What? Oh…go away, Scott, you can't ask me questions like that before I've had coffee."
"Like the name of the girl you're clearly sleeping with? You need coffee to remember that?"
Virgil flicked a sugar cube at him but neither of them said anything as the waitress brought over coffee and took their orders.
"Danielle," Virgil said. "And before you ask, the waitress is Candice and no, I haven't slept with her."
"Flirted by the look on her face though."
Virgil shrugged. "I'm young."
Scott snorted. "If I told you Gordon has a thing for one of the girls in his squad…"
"The kid needs to focus on his training," Virgil said sharply.
Scott burst out laughing. Virgil looked at him, then realised he had been played. He flicked another sugar cube.
"It's instinctual," Virgil protested. "You bring up Gordon and Alan and it just happens."
"Tell me about it," Scott said, folding his arms with a smile. "I don't get to turn it off. John seems to though."
"Are you kidding? John's worse than you at times."
"Have you spoken to him recently?" Scott spoke carefully, trying to judge whether Virgil had been warned about what was coming his way. Virgil shrugged.
"Not for a few days. He had something he wanted to focus on and I've had a few projects. We couldn't get it to work."
Secretly relieved, Scott sat back. He wanted to bring this up with Virgil in his own time, rather than have his brother on the defensive from the start. He couldn't test Virgil today – he had to give him more warning than tipping him out of bed, giving him lunch and telling him to prove himself.
The diner was busy though and Scott didn't want to risk being overheard. There was no way he could bring up the exercising without talking about why and he didn't want a hungover college kid to overhear their father's secret plans.
If he was honest, he also forgot about it. It might have been the reason why he had come to Denver, but having the chance to catch up with Virgil without the others around was nice. John was okay, and even Gordon now he had found his own path. But Alan would spend the entire time talking about what he was going to do when he got to college and there was never the chance for the two of them to just chat.
They dragged lunch on for most of the afternoon before Virgil said he would show him around. Scott paid, but Virgil tipped, causing Scott to be stunned by another smile from Candice.
"She likes you," he muttered as they left. Virgil shrugged.
"Not my fault." His brother hunched his shoulders and Scott grinned. It was clear Virgil had no intention for the others to find out quite how popular he was. He would never live it down – and Scott was already thinking of ways he could use this against his brother. It was great being the eldest – the others had still been in school when he was at college and none of them had been able to surprise him the way he had just done to Virgil. He was glad – there were several things he could think of that he had no intention of his family ever finding out.
Virgil took him on a walk around the campus. Scott had to admit it was beautiful and he could see why Virgil had fallen in love with it. They walked close to the engineering building and Scott made all the right noises at the way the architecture reflected the discipline. They stopped by a fence and Virgil lent his elbows on it, leaning forward and gazing at the building.
"I'm glad I picked here," he said quietly. Scott mirrored his position. "At least I can help out… with Dad. I'll know what to do."
"Is it truly what you want?" Scott asked. "You're giving up a career, Virg."
"So are you. And Johnny and Gords. Besides, can you see me just fixing monorail lines in five years' time?"
Scott chuckled. His brother had a point. With what their dad had planned, Virgil would continue to be challenged the entire time. It helped that they would be working alongside the best mind Scott had ever known – providing Brains let Virgil help.
"Do you think we can do it?"
Scott grinned. Gordon was obviously not the only one having doubts about their future.
"Yes," he said, echoing what he had told Gordon. "Actually, that's why-,"
"Virgil!"
The voice came from behind them, cutting Scott off. He turned, Virgil following suit, to see a group of three girls walking towards them. Scott raised an eyebrow.
"More fans?"
Virgil huffed a long-suffering sigh before straightening up. "What's a guy to do?" he said before grinning at the girls.
"Hayley."
"You're coming to Brad's thing tomorrow, aren't you?"
Virgil nodded, but Hayley's friend was looking at Scott.
"Hello."
"Hi," Scott said, leaning casually back against the fence while secretly hoping it wouldn't give way. She was gorgeous; cropped brown hair set off the freckles dusted across her cheeks and drawing attention to the mischievous sparkle in her eye.
"I haven't seen you before."
"No, you haven't." Scott grinned. Virgil groaned.
"Who are you?"
"Nobody." Virgil spoke quickly.
The girl shook her head. "They don't make nobody's like that."
"Fine. He's my older brother." Virgil said it with another groan, making it sound derogatory. It backfired – her eyes lit up.
"Older?"
"He's in the Air Force. Military. Very bor-,"
"Do you have a uniform?"
Scott winked. "I do."
Virgil shot him a disgusted look he pretended to ignore. His brothers seemed to forget he was as human as they were and wasn't above flirting with a very cute college girl if he wanted to.
"I bet you look good in it." She moved closer but Virgil stepped in the way.
"He's boring! A control freak! A stickler for the rules, never has any fun, doesn't even know what fun is if it bites him on the ass!"
Virgil's voice rose to a shout by the end of it. There was a long silence after he finished.
"Thanks, Virg," Scott said, drily.
"Come to Brad's tomorrow," Hayley said, "and bring your brother."
The girls turned to leave and Virgil glared at him.
"Look what you've done. I didn't even ask her for coffee."
"Hayley? How many do you have?"
"If you breathe a word of this to Gordon-," Virgil's tone held a warning note but Scott grinned, hit by an idea.
"It's not Gords you need to worry about," he said, "it's John."
He started walking, making a show of pulling out his cell as he did so.
"Don't you dare!" Virgil was following, just as Scott predicted. He broke into a run, jogging backwards as he taunted his brother, goading him into giving chase. Virgil took a few steps, then shook his head.
"I was up half the night," he said, "I don't have the energy for you."
"Well, you weren't studying last night." Scott waited for Virgil to catch up with him. If he wanted to trick his brother into revealing his level of fitness, he was going to have to try harder than that. Still, it had been worth a shot.
"Dad's worried about you," he continued when Virgil reached him. "He said you're too pale."
"I'm too pale? Has he seen John?"
"John's always been pale," Scott said, shrugging. "You just look tired."
Virgil rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. He suddenly reminded Scott of the ten-year-old who wanted to be part of the orchestra in a school-play. It was a far cry from the college-Virgil he had been with all day.
"What is it?"
"It's harder than I thought," Virgil admitted. "I've got all these ideas and there's so much I want to try but it doesn't always work."
"Tell me," Scott commanded. He knew what Virgil was like – if something was on his mind, he needed to talk through it. As his brother spoke, he realised it wasn't just his grades he was worried about. Virgil wanted to do really well because he knew what their future held. It wasn't just fixing a few monorail lines that would depend on his talents and Scott cursed himself for not realising the pressure his brother was putting himself under.
"It's not all up to you, Virg."
"It freaks me out, Scott," Virgil admitted. "The idea of all those lives being in our hands – in my hands."
"We'll be ready for it," Scott said. "That's why I'm here, Virg. I want to put together a training programme."
"Good idea," Virgil said, surprising him. "We can run through potential situations and I can show you some basic maintenance stuff."
"I didn't mean theoretical stuff, Virgil. I need to know you can handle it physically."
Virgil stopped walking, staring at him. "You don't think I can?"
"I thought the same about John."
"John? You realise he's holding the record on the station right now for being the most active?"
Scott scowled. How was he the only one who didn't know how hard John was training? "As I've just discovered," he muttered. "What about you?"
"What about me?" Virgil couldn't hold his gaze though, looking sheepish. Scott put a hand on his shoulder.
"I know what college life is like, Virg. I'm glad you're enjoying it. But building up stamina takes time."
Virgil opened his mouth but Scott held up a hand. "And I don't mean like that."
Virgil flushed, making Scott laugh. "Is that why you're here?"
Scott nodded. "I need to know what you're capable of."
Virgil nodded. He couldn't hold Scott's gaze, playing with the hem of the sweater. Scott realised this was awkward for his brother – they had all prided themselves on being fit and active while growing up. But this was a different type of fitness and he understood how hard it would be for Virgil to admit – to both himself and Scott – that he wasn't in the best shape.
"Now?"
Scott shook his head, taking pity on his brother. "No. You've only been awake a few hours. Get a good night tonight and we'll do it after your class tomorrow."
Virgil sighed. "Knew you wanted something."
"I did also want to see you, Virg."
His brother finally looked him in the eye and Scott was relieved that he didn't seem to be mad at him.
"Come on," Virgil said, "you can buy me dinner."
"We've just had lunch!"
"Poor college student," Virgil said theatrically, "you need to feed me. Imagine what Grandma would say if I told her you made me go hungry?"
"You realise the Air Force doesn't exactly pay well?"
Virgil shrugged. "You want me to build stamina, you're gonna have to feed me."
Scott realised he had no argument against that. Virgil took the lead again but he moved off campus to a small restaurant. It was set in the basement of another building and Scott instantly knew it wasn't the normal student scene. He also knew how Virgil had found it – the décor looked familiar and Scott was certain it was some of the artists that Virgil spoke about.
But without the fear of being overheard, or recognised, they were able to properly talk. About the past, the present and their future. Despite the pressure, Scott realised Virgil was as excited about it as he was. Not many people truly got the chance to make a difference and neither of them were going to let the opportunity pass them by.
Scott paid – again – and paused when they stepped outside.
"Where are you staying?" Virgil asked, pushing his hands into his pockets.
"There's a motel down the road. I was going to see if they had rooms."
"Nope." Virgil started walking away. "You can crash at mine."
Scott grinned. He didn't admit he had been hoping for that and the bag he had left at his brother's earlier that day had the necessities for such a stay.
"You've got class in the morning though."
"It's at ten," Virgil said. "You probably would have run the whole of the campus by then. At least this way, I can ignore you otherwise you'll turn up at my door at seven and wake the whole hall up until I let you in."
"You could come with me," Scott suggested tentatively. Virgil gave him a dark look.
"I agreed to do your test," he said, "but that happens on my terms at some civilised time of day."
"Do you have work to do tonight?"
Virgil shook his head. "Nothing that can't wait." He caught Scott's eye and grinned. "You did come all this way, after all."
Scott grinned. They picked up a few beers on the way back and Scott soon found himself propped up against Virgil's bed, watching his brother try and explain something in his latest design that made no sense to Scott. Judging by Virgil's gestures, it wasn't making a lot of sense to him either but that was probably the beer rather than the actual design.
He intended making sure that Virgil got an early night, agreeing with his father's assessment that his brother looked tired. But it had been too long since they had been by themselves and they stayed up talking until late in the night.
Virgil fell asleep first, sprawled across his bed, still fully dressed. Scott teased the almost-empty bottle from his brother's hand and awkwardly dragged the duvet out from under Virgil before dumping it on top of him. It came as no surprise his brother didn't move – once Virgil was asleep, that was it.
It didn't take him long to find some spare blankets – he knew what his grandmother was like and knew she would have sent Virgil off with far more than he actually needed – and made himself a bed on the floor. He had slept in worse places.
Sleep still took a long time to come though. Once he knew what he was dealing with from Virgil's side of things, he could start making a plan. John might not need to be trained in the way Scott had been hoping, but Virgil didn't have NASA or the military giving him a routine to stick to. It would be up to Scott to make sure his brother was ready to handle whatever their future held.
It should have daunted him but it didn't. He had been guiding his brothers for as long as he could remember. But for the first time since they were young children, Virgil needed him again.
He finally fell asleep, smiling at the thought.