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Scott groaned, rolling over in bed and shoving the covers over his head in an effort to block out the sunlight.
It was a miracle they’d made it back to the hotel, to be honest. The whole lot of them - minus John, who’d elected to stay on Five as usual - had taken the weekend off, flying out to New York to spend the night out on the town. After a meal at a nice vegetarian place that Gordon had been begging to go back to for months, they’d gone to a nightclub - well, several nightclubs. Alan had been sent back to the hotel after dinner since he was still too young to drink (which he was not happy about), but the rest of them had stayed out until well after midnight. Scott wasn’t sure exactly how late, given he couldn’t actually remember any part of the journey back, but one of them apparently had been sober enough to get them all safely back to the hotel. Probably Virgil, given the track record the rest of them had with alcohol.
Anyway. Here he was, in bed with a killer hangover, wishing he could blow up the sun to stop it shining through the curtains and making his headache even worse.
Someone yanked the covers from over his head. He yelped.
“Hey, what-”
“Sorry, sorry. Here.”
A plaid-clad arm held out a glass of water and a couple painkillers. Scott accepted them gratefully, immediately dry swallowing the pills, much to the apparent despair of his brother.
“Drink the water too, Scooter, c’mon.”
“Yeah, yeah, Virg, keep your hair on.” But he knew the water would help, so he propped himself up against the headboard so that he could sip it without spilling it all over himself. Which he had done before.
“Gordon’s making breakfast right now, if you want any. Pancakes.”
“Hm. Breakfast does sound nice.”
Virgil closed the curtains properly on his way out. Scott shot him a grateful smile.
Right. Breakfast.
Scott was ninety percent sure he could stomach a few bites of something. He needed to get out of bed anyway, so he set the glass down on the bedside table and threw the covers the rest of the way off. Apparently, he’d just collapsed straight into bed upon getting back, because he was still in yesterday’s clothes. (At least he wasn't still wearing his shoes, because shoes in bed was absolutely where he drew the line). His outfit wasn't the most comfortable - he’d favoured style over practicality when deciding what to wear out last night - so Scott changed into a t-shirt and loose tracksuit bottoms before heading through.
“Morning,” he said brightly, sliding onto the seat next to a face-down Kayo on the kitchen counter.
“Ugh.” She burrowed her head further into the crook of her elbow. “Piss off.”
“Nice to see you too, Kay.”
“Scott, I have the worst headache of my life, so I swear to god, if you don’t shut up…”
“Aw, cheer up,” Gordon interjected, setting a plate of pancakes down in front of her. Virgil slid a glass of water and some painkillers over to Kayo as well. The pancakes themselves looked absolutely delicious, cooked to perfection; Gordon had outdone himself today. “Look, breakfast is ready. Scrumptiolicious.”
“That’s not a word,” Scott grumbled.
“Language is in a permanent state of evolution, Scotty.” Gordon set a similarly stacked plate of pancakes in front of him. “Have a little fun.”
Scott decided to risk having a few bites. The painkillers had begun to kick in (one of the perks of International Rescue was that they had access to the good stuff), so with a little bit of luck his stomach would be settled enough to handle it. Besides, he didn’t want good food to go to waste, and Gordon’s pancakes were always a treat. He hummed in appreciation as he swallowed his first forkful. “Gords, this is delicious.”
His brother shrugged modestly. “They’re not that hard to make, honestly. Flour and milk and stuff. It's more difficult doing the flippy pan thing.”
Scott didn't have the energy to make fun of the phrase flippy pan thing, but Kayo snorted into her elbow. She wasn't even attempting to eat her pancakes yet, and when she finally raised her head to drink some water and take the painkillers he could see yesterday's makeup smeared messily around her eyes.
“Kay, did you know you look like a raccoon right now?” Gordon said between mouthfuls of pancake as Virgil very kindly tried not to laugh at her disgruntled expression.
“You look like a fucking Twilight vampire, Gords, so shut up,” she retorted. Scott burst out laughing at that, because it was true. Every inch of Gordon's skin was shimmering in the sunlight, right up to the sleeves and collar of his t-shirt. There was even more glitter all over his face despite the fact Scott could tell he'd tried to wash it at some point that morning. Gordon scowled and mumbled something offensive under his breath. He was stabbing his pancake viciously, clearly imagining it was Kayo's face.
“I don't remember you putting on glitter spray before we left,” Scott remarked, still grinning. “How'd you end up like that?”
“Can't remember the name of the place, but at the third nightclub, I think?”
“Which one was that?”
“Uh, underground entrance, they were handing out glowsticks and shit…” Gordon snapped his fingers suddenly. “It was the one with that hot guy!”
“Huh?”
“You know, the one that kept flirting with you?”
Scott blinked. He did not remember any of this.
Virgil's eyes lit up. “I'd forgotten about that, oh my God.”
“Yeah, hot guy's sister had some glitter spray and she kinda went to town when I asked for some.” Gordon’s gaze flicked across to Scott, still staring blankly at him. He smirked mischievously. “Oh, c’mon Scott, there's no way you could forget a guy like that. He was so into you.”
“Uh, I don't - “ Scott paused, ephemeral flashes starting to solidify in his brain. “Wait, hang on. Hang on.”
“He was English, wasn’t he? Posh accent. What was his name again? Frederick? Gabriel?” Oh, Gordon was loving this. His pancakes had been abandoned and he was leaning across the counter, a devilish glint in his eye. He was grinning like the Cheshire cat, and even Virgil was chuckling a bit.
Nathaniel.
That was his name. Scott choked slightly and ducked under the table as the memories came crashing into glaring focus. Nathan for short, the guy had said, and he'd bought Scott a drink. They'd talked for a while, hadn't they? Scott had been pretty drunk by that point, but not so drunk that he didn't remember thinking how cute Nathan’s curly hair was, how his glasses framed his face beautifully. Gordon had even held his drink for him when the pair went off to dance, with a knowing expression on his face that was suspiciously similar to the face he was making now. They'd danced, getting closer as the songs played on, and then…
Scott shot back up again, his eyes wide. “What the hell?”
Gordon raised an eyebrow. “Remember yet?”
“I- he kissed me!”
“Actually, you kissed him,” Virgil supplied helpfully. “I was watching.”
Scott's face was turning bright red, he could just feel it. “But I'm not… I don't like men.”
“Scotty,” Gordon began, reaching across the table to pat his hand comfortingly. “Why don't you think about that one for a minute? Take your time.”
He slumped back into his chair, face down on the table. Now that the shock had worn off, the more he thought about it… He'd enjoyed the kiss. And he'd liked Nathan. Liked him a lot. In fact, even thinking about the guy set off butterflies in his stomach.
Ah, shit.
“I still like girls too, though?” he said, voice muffled by the table. “I think?”
“Bisexuality, dude,” Gordon deadpanned. “It's not rocket science.”
Oh yeah.
When he'd recovered somewhat, he sat up slowly, refusing to look at either of his brothers. Next to him, Kayo slid out of her seat as her phone rang. “So… I like guys?”
Virgil chuckled again. “It's impressive that you managed to make it to thirty without figuring it out, especially since all you do is talk about how hot everyone is.”
“I do?” Scott blinked, bewildered.
“Yeah,” Gordon agreed emphatically. “Literally only the other night we were watching that heist movie and you leaned over to me and asked what was going on because you were, and I quote, ‘too distracted by the main guy's muscles to focus on the plot’. I mean, seriously, dude.”
He had said that, hadn't he? Scott groaned and hid his face in his hands as Gordon cackled.
Kayo chose that particular moment to reappear, holding out her phone to him. “It's for you,” she said gleefully. At his blank look, she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “Nathan's on the line.”
“I- what?!”
“I got his sister's number last night and she's just said that he'd like to talk to you. I think he wants to ask you out on a proper date tonight.”
Scott just sat there, dumbstruck.
Gordon made a face at Kayo. “Hey, why d'you have his sister's number?”
Kayo rolled her eyes. “We made out when you two were busy watching Scott and Nathan, duh. Where do you think I disappeared off to right after that? Anyway, Scott, take the damn phone and talk to your man, please.”
Like he was on autopilot, Scott stood up and took the phone, walking out of the kitchen and back to his bedroom. He could hear Gordon splutter “wait, you brought her back here??” as he shut the door behind him. He held the phone up to his ear.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Scott.”
Scott's spine tingled as Nathan's voice sounded down the line. He'd forgotten just how electric his accent was - less posh than Penelope's, but with a velvet undercurrent that made his heart sing.
“Uh, hi. I didn't expect to hear from you again.”
“Really?” Nathan asked. He sounded almost nervous, and Scott rushed to correct himself.
“Not- uh, it's not a bad thing, I'm glad to hear your voice. It's nice. You have a nice voice.” Jesus, Scott, are you actively trying to scare this guy off?
“Thank you,” Nathan said, chuckling softly. “Your voice is nice too.”
The compliment tugged at the corners of his mouth, and Scott found himself smiling. “My sister said you, uh, wanted to ask me something?”
“Yes.” Nathan cleared his throat. “I was wondering if you were free tonight? I know it's very forward of me, especially since you didn't actually give me your number or anything, but I'd like to go out with you. On a proper date.”
“Yeah,” Scott blurted out, almost cutting Nathan off. “I- yeah, I'd like that.”
Nathan almost sounded relieved. “Really? Tonight?”
“Yeah, I'm free tonight,” Scott confirmed. “Why don't I, uh, give you my number? Then you don't have to call my sister if you need to talk to me.”
“Okay,” Nathan chuckled. “I can give you mine too, if you like.”
“Yup- yeah, that'd be great!” Scott rattled off his number and added Nathan's to his contacts, then promised to call him back in a few minutes to properly arrange where and when they were meeting. He was giddy with excitement when he finally hung up, unable to wipe his stupid grin off his stupid face.
It was then that the door burst open, revealing a frankly overexcited Gordon. Kayo, Virgil and Alan (oh shit, he'd forgotten the kid was here too) were grinning just behind him.
“Were you listening in on me?” Scott demanded, shooting to his feet. Gordon ignored the question and bounded over to him and grabbed his hands, bouncing up and down excitedly.
“You've got a date! You've finally got a date!” he squealed at sonic pitch. Scott winced, leaning as far back as he could from his little brother without falling over.
“Wish it'd been that easy for me to find a date once I'd figured out my sexuality,” Kayo remarked, leaning against the doorframe. “That might just be the quickest I've ever seen anyone get over finding out they're queer. Maybe you could get into the Guinness Book of World Records with that one.”
Scott prised one of his hands free and flipped her off. Kayo threw back her head and laughed.
“I'm sure I'll have some kind of crisis at some point, don't hold your breath,” he sighed. Then he paused. “Hang on a minute, you made out with Nathan's sister?”
She smirked. “What can I say? Chicks dig first responders.”
“Guys dig first responders too,” Virgil intoned.
Gordon snorted. “Nathan certainly proved that last night.”
Alan made a face, pressing his hands over his ears. “Ew, ew, ew, I really don't wanna be hearing any of this. I'm suddenly very glad I got sent home early.”
Scott smacked Gordon with a pillow. Gordon completely failed to bat the thing away and waved his hands in Scott's face instead, still cackling like a maniac. Scott just sighed defeatedly and flopped back down onto the bed. Gordon sat down next to him, whilst Alan wormed his way past Virgil and Kayo to plop himself down on Scott's other side. “You love us really,” Gordon said teasingly, bumping his shoulder lightly against Scott's.
Scott bumped his shoulder back. “Yeah, I do, you absolute loser.”
“Hey!”