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Normal people watched the sunset over the sea. Virgil was watching the sunrise. In his defence, this wasn’t by choice – that final rescue had overrun, and time zones were evil things which meant they’d finally landed only half-an-hour before dawn. It was almost impossible to fall asleep immediately post-rescue and so here he was, on the patio tiles with his feet dunked in the night-chilled swimming pool, watching the glimmers of a new day spread across the sky while he waited for the final remnants of his adrenaline rush to ebb away.
Tiredness had dulled his senses sufficiently for him to jump at Gordon’s sudden appearance, dropping down to sit at his side in a flash of obnoxiously bright shirt and hair still damp from a shower. For a moment they remained in silence. It would inevitably be broken because Gordon was incapable of remaining quiet for longer than five minutes at a time, but Virgil could appreciate the peace while it lasted.
The tide was on the turn, but for now the sea was low, revealing great swathes of flat sand. It glistened in the silvery light of pre-dawn. A few birds took flight from the trees, splashes of tropical colour against the pale sky. The brightest stars had yet to fade and Virgil tipped back against his hands to watch them.
Gordon twirled a vibrantly pink straw around his glass of OJ. “John’s being weird.”
Virgil eyed him dubiously, probably aided by the exhaustion plaguing his senses. “Well yeah,” he pointed out wryly, “No kidding. It’s John.”
“No, no,” Gordon sighed, drawing his knees up to his chest to balance his glass on top. “No, like… like a sad weird.” He propped his chin in one palm and examined the marble patterns thrown by the swimming pool as if he could read secrets between the ripples. “I don’t like it when he’s sad. Or when anyone’s sad, actually, but particularly when it’s one of you guys.”
Virgil reluctantly looked away from the sunrise to gauge whether Gordon just wanted to ramble, or whether he was actually seeking a solution. It seemed like it was the latter, so he returned his gaze to the stars while he thought for a second. It was difficult to come up with sensible plans when his brain was slowly staggering to a halt from tiredness.
“We could have a movie night?” he suggested at last, mostly because he was craving popcorn and had been wanting to catch up on the latest releases on his Netflix list for the past month.
Gordon shook his head. “He refuses to come down from Five.”
“Then we could have it up there.”
There was a brief pause.
Gordon went wide-eyed.
“Oh my god,” he whispered gleefully. “Movie night in outer space. Movie night on a satellite!” He shot Virgil a delighted look. “That’s so frickin’ cool! We can watch Gravity and give ourselves nightmares!”
“Why would we do that?”
“I don’t know, but it sounds like fun.”
“No,” Virgil said flatly. “It doesn’t.”
Gordon pointed the neon pink straw at him. “Spoilsport. Don’t ruin my genius schemes.”
“Not genius. Not even inspired.”
“I’m gonna push you in the pool in a minute, just you wait and see.”
It was possible that they were both delirious from exhaustion. Virgil flopped backwards and tried to convince himself not to fall asleep right there on the patio tiles. He dragged a hand down his face, fighting a yawn.
Gordon drummed a hand against the side of his glass. “We need to make a snack list so we don’t forget anything vital.”
“Vital? Do snacks really count as vital?”
“Abso-freaking-lutely.”
The glow of holograms turned the patio tiles a ghostly blue. Virgil propped himself on an elbow to glimpse Gordon taking notes, a list projected from his watch.
“Are you actually making a check list?”
“Duh.” Gordon deliberated over various popcorn toppings before adding toffee to the mix. “You should be proud. I’m being, like, proactive.”
It was too early for Gordon’s shenanigans.
Virgil draped an arm across his face to block out the blue glare. “Are you actually worried?”
“No.” Gordon’s reply was both too quick and too defensive. He drained the rest of the OJ and placed the glass out of reach of the thin trail of ants which were slowly consuming the crumbs left in the wake of some midnight snacker. “I dunno.” He ran a hand through his damp hair. “Maybe?”
Virgil was renowned for knowing the right thing to say at the precise moment someone needed to hear it, but Gordon was just as good at reading people, so Virgil tended to listen to him when his brother claimed there was cause for concern. He sat back up and studied Gordon’s expression, shadowed by the swaying palm fronds as the sun brushed the horizon with pearly peach.
“I think he’s just stressed,” Gordon confessed, tugging absently at one of the strings of his hoodie. He trailed a hand in the water. “It’s been a busy month. The rest of us talk and hang out, but John doesn’t really confide in anyone, other than maybe EOS? Or Penelope? Sometimes Scott too, but not as much when we’re busy, which is kind of the problem in the first place, so…”
The daytime hum of insect song and birdcalls slowly started to fill the air. There was a faint breeze working its way northward and with it came the floral scent of some blossoming plant. Those final brave stars were engulfed by the sunrise. Virgil repressed another yawn. It stung to blink. He was tempted to head to bed, but Gordon was still tossing and turning words over in his head, so the conversation wasn’t yet over.
“He’s isolating himself again,” Gordon said eventually, softly, as if John could overhear him if he spoke too loudly. “So, yeah, maybe I am a bit worried, because he’s really bad at admitting when he needs help. Hence the kinda over-the-top movie night.” He shook his head with a tired smile. “We need all the snacks, ‘cos Johnny’s got a worse sweet tooth than a damn wasp. So yes, I’m making a list. Hey, you’re good at recommending those weird, intellectual movies. You can make a watch list. Just add a couple of crappy action films for the sake of my sanity. Actually, for Scott and Alan’s sanity too. There are only so many arthouse movies we can sit through.”
Virgil hid a smile behind his hands. “Yeah, alright. I can do that. On one condition.”
“Name your price.”
“Can we, please, please, go to bed now?”
Gordon stared at him for a long moment. “Dude. You could have left twenty minutes ago. I was mostly just rambling. I mean, sure, your movie night idea has been a great help, but I wasn’t stopping you from leaving.”
“I’d have felt bad abandoning you in the middle of a conversation.”
“Don’t say abandoning me, I’m not a stray cat.”
“It just seemed rude, you know?”
“Oh my god,” Gordon sighed, scrambling upright and offering Virgil a hand. “Go to bed, Virg. You’re killing me here. We can plan the move night later.”
“Are you sure?”
“Sleep.”
“Okay, but-”
“Go.”
“Don’t order me around.”
“Go to bed before I push you in the pool.”