I was surprised myself by how quickly I came up with this. But since it's Gordon's birthday on Valentine's (somehow - thank you @squiddo-kiddo for the heads up) I thought I'd write something. So here it is.
EDIT: I forgot to say this earlier: in this fic Gordon is 11, making Alan 9 and the two older brothers in their late teens.
“Gordo, you sure about this?” asked a worried Alan as his older brother led the way through the cave with a flashlight in hand. It was supposedly one of the brightest you could buy nowadays, and yet the floodlight-like dispersal still failed to fully penetrate the eerie darkness of the cave.
“Don’t be such a baby, Alan. Of course it’s safe. What could possibly go wrong?” Alan’s comment failed to wipe the wide grin off Gordon’s face. His sandals made a quiet splash as he treaded through a puddle with Alan close behind him. The waters below flowed soundlessly through the cavern, appearing murky black even despite the lack of pollution in these parts.
“I don’t know about this,” Alan continued nervously. The diving kit Gordon had made him carry for him sank his left shoulder as they tiptoed as quietly as possible on the seawater-drowned rock.
Dad wouldn’t have approved. Neither would Scott—or either of his other older brothers, come to think of it. But when Gordon had dragged him out of bed early this morning, he hadn’t had much of a choice but to go on a crazy adventure resembling something out of Enid Blyton’s Treasure Island. Dad was sure to be out for most of today, but Scott was sure to be looking for them by now. Not to mention Virg.
“Doesn’t seem like there’s anything here.” Gordon waved the light around, illuminating the dark eroded boulders overhead.
“Then let’s go,” replied Alan, tugging the sleeve of his brother’s T-shirt. He turned around hastily, and a scream nearly deafened Gordon when it reached his ears. Alan was clutching his arm, and he directed the torch to the head of the unidentified figure with a frown.
“Virgil?” He raised a hand to shield his eyes from the blinding light before Gordon had the sense to lower it. “What are you doing here?”
“I was just about to ask you the same question. You don’t know it’s safe down here,” said the taller teenager with a stern look. Gordon held his ground, though he was already unsettled by his brother’s bushy eyebrows that were tightly crinkled.
“Come on…trust me, there’s nothing to worry about. But don’t tell Scott,” he added quickly, “or John. Or Dad,” he said with a hushed tone. Virgil ignored his plea, his eyes instead directed to the small kit that Alan was still holding onto.
“Anyway…” Gordon decided to ignore Virgil, taking the diving kit from his little brother. He took out his goggles and rebreather, and put the gear on.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” came Virgil’s muffled exasperated remark. Gordon toed off his sandals, and taking a deep breath, he dived into the icy water.
It was February. Arguably not a great month for swimming in the ocean, but that never posed a challenge for the Squid Kid. The ocean was his playground, the corals his home. Corals. He switched on his headlight, the weak beam piercing through the heavy waters beneath Tracy Island. Everything was as dark as it had been above, until he spotted a familiar structure, colourful, blooming with life.
He swam closer still, the small polyps waving in the soft currents. He smiled at the sight. But only a second later he realised what that meant. Corals meant sunlight. And sunlight meant he was no longer underneath the Island.
But he wasn’t ready to go back just yet.
He cruised past the corals, his thoughtful gaze caressing the colourful fingers protruding from the seabed. What a way to spend his birthday—only to have his brothers give him a good scolding when he got back. Not that it mattered, because they wouldn’t have agreed to let him go on a Pendergast exploration trip anyway, even if he asked nicely.
He wasn’t sure how long it had been before he reached the end of the small reef, and decided that it was time to go back. Everyone would be up by now, and probably looking for him as well as Alan.
He made it to the surface to find, just as he had expected, he was now in the middle of nowhere. Tracy Island was but a green dot in the distance, but fortunately he was in a good mood for swimming.
Scott Tracy stood on the cliff, his arms crossed. A sizeable bead of sweat rolled down his forehead, a side effect of the morning run he’d just had, his shirt partially soaked. He should have gone in to get a shower and clean up, but he was waiting for someone. Since Virgil had woken up and decided Gordon had gone on a solo adventure, he knew he was going to greet his maverick little brother personally and give him a good piece of his mind.
Gradually a murky yellow dot appeared in his view, growing larger to become a small boy with a golden mop for hair. Gordon reached the shore below him, greeting him with one of his mischievous, guilty grins. “Hey, Scotty…” He reached up to scratch his wet hair, his eldest brother showing no mercy in his stare. Gordon inched towards him warily, fully aware that this friendly Alsatian was about to turn into a wolf after his blood.
“Gordon, what did we tell you about going around exploring the Island like that?” Scott said simply. Gordon squeezed an awkward smile.
“Yep.” Scott said no more, hoping the boy would understand his meaning. He probably did, but pretended not to. He held the look for a second more before it collapsed into a petulant frown.
“Come on, Scott, none of you would’ve let me go down there anyway! You guys are no fun—and I can’t stand that,” he moaned, raising an eyebrow of his brother’s.
“You know why that is. And it’s not like you found a trough of treasure down there,” Scott said, standing firm. “But since it’s your birthday, I might just let this one slide.” His look softened, and Gordon’s eyes lit up in excitement.
“Really, Scott? That’s amazing!” Gordon sprang towards his brother, where he was greeted with a headlock from Scott that almost strangled the much smaller boy. He looked up with a dubious look to see that big brother was smiling.
“Happy birthday, Gordon.”
