After hours - A Thunderbirds Fanfiction
The lights across the Tracy Island villa were dim. The rest of the household had long since settled into a calm silence.
Outside, moonlight shimmered across the ocean surrounding each part of the island, broken only by the gentle rhythm of the waves smashing into the beach.
Back inside, Scott Tracy sat hunched over at his fathers desk. His posture resembling something that could be described as looking like the shape of a cashew nut whilst staring at maintenance reports on one of the islands many tablets. A mug of coffee growing cold beside him.
Every so often, he glanced towards the large windows overlooking the sea, his thoughts somewhere far away.
A soft click broke the silence.
"Thought I'd find you here."
Scott looked up to see Gordon stood a few feet away from him. He was barefoot, wearing a yellow hoodie he must've just thrown on, his hair still wet from his shower before bed.
"You should be in bed." Scott told him firmly.
"Funny." Gordon grinned, "I could say the same thing to you."
"I just need to sort out a few things first..." Scott trailed off.
"Mmm." Gordon mumbled, clearly unconvinced, before turning on his heels and walking in the direction of the kitchen.
A few moments later, he returned with a bottle of water. Straight from the fridge by the looks of it. Opening it up and taking a few loud gulps.
"Do you have to drink so loudly?" Scott muttered in a slight annoyance.
"It emphasises on how thirsty I am." Gordon insisted.
"If you say so..." Scott sighed, his gaze lowering back down to the report he was reading on Thunderbird 1's repairs that needed doing from the last mission.
"Why exactly are you up?" Scott spoke up again.
"Couldnt sleep." Gordon sighed, "And I was thirsty. You?"
"Maintenance reports that need finishing." Scott sighed tiredly.
Gordon leaned against the desk Scott was working on, their fathers old desk, before the accident. It was quiet again for a moment before Gordon broke that silence.
"You've got that look." Gordon told his older brother.
"The one where you're pretending to read reports while actually replaying the last mission over and over again in your head when you really should actually be in bed."
Scott couldnt help but give a small smile.
"I don't have a look." Scott insisted.
"You absolutely do." Gordon told him.
For another few moments, neither of them spoke.
The quiet between them wasn't in any way uncomfortable. After years of living and working together, silence had become its own language.
"I keep thinking about how close that shuttle came to losing complete altitude control." He finally admitted.
"But it didn't." Gordon reminded him.
"The crew got home safe." Gordon continued.
"I just keep thinking if I'd reacted two seconds later..." Scott trailed off again.
Gordon shifted until he was actually sat on the edge of the desk.
"But you didn't." he reminded his older brother.
Scott just stared down at the tablet, avoiding eye-contact.
"I should've seen it sooner."
"You say that almost every time something is cut close out on a mission."
"No." Gordon replied gently, "Because you're Scott."
Scott looked over at his blond younger brother, who was swinging his legs as he spoke.
"You know," Gordon began again, "If you had reacted two seconds later, we'd be having a very different conversation right now."
"Probably." Scott agreed, not denying it.
"You know what Virgil says?" Gordon asked.
Scott raised a very tired eyebrow.
"He says you carry every mission around like it's luggage. Doesn't matter if it all went perfectly. You'll still unpack all the mistakes that never actually happened."
Scott let out a reluctant laugh.
"That sounds like Virgil."
Another silence settled over them, while the waves could still be heard steadily against the shore.
"You ever get tired?" Scott asked quietly.
"Of swimming?" Gordon replied, unsure as to what Scott meant by that exactly.
"I meant of this." Scott made clear, "Of doing all these rescues."
"Sometimes." Gordon admitted after pausing for a moment to think.
"How do you deal with it?" the older brother asked.
"I'm totally serious." Gordon said, resting his elbows on his knees, "Down there, everything slows down. You can't rush and you can't overthink. You just breathe, look around, and remember the world's bigger than whatever's been bothering you."
Scott nodded thoughtfully after processing everything Gordon had just said. It wasn't often that something so poetic-sounding came out of Gordon's mouth so Scott honestly had to double-check he'd heard his brother right and wasn't just insanely sleep deprived.
Eventually, he said, "I don't always have an ocean to go diving in in the middle of a mission."
"No." Gordon admitted, "But you've got us."
Scott looked at him in confusion.
"When you start carrying too much, that's what brothers are for."
A small smile crossed Scott's face again.
"You rehearsing speeches now?" He asked his younger brother jokingly.
"Nah." Gordon shrugged, immediately returning to his usual lingo.
"You've definitely been talking to Grandma then."
Scott laughed properly that time.
"There he is." Gordon chuckled, "I'd wondered where he'd gone."
"You know," Scott spoke, "For someone usually so unserious, you're surprisingly wise."
"Surprisingly?" Gordon grinned, "Gee, thanks, I'll take it."
They both laughed at that.
That's when Gordon stood and stretched.
"Come on." Gordon told Scott.
"Bed." Gordon deadpanned.
"I'm not tired." Scott yawned.
"You have literally yawned twelve times since I've been down here with you. Not that I was counting or anything."
"You literally yawned while telling me you weren't tired, now come on."
Scott opened his mouth again to argue... and yawned again.
Gordon folded his arms with a smug grin.
Scott sighed dramatically, setting the tablet aside.
As they both headed towards the stairs, Gordon flicked off the last light.
Scott held his brothers gaze for a second before giving a quiet nod.
And with that, the two brothers disappeared upstairs, leaving the lounge in almost total darkness, while outside the sea continued its steady song beneath the stars.
(AHH, okay so I know it's been a while since my last fic but here it is!! I'd love to hear some feedback, also please forgive any mistakes, I wrote this at 2am...)
Credit goes to: @thebirdfantasy for the idea!
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